Chapter Nine: Guilt

Mercedes stood in the living room with Kentrell who was seated on the couch watching TV. She was anxious and she felt bad for what she did to DeSean.

"You know you can sit, right?" Kentrell spoke with a small smile, making her look at him.

"I know, but is he going to be okay? I mean he was bleeding really bad." Mercedes spoke and the worry was clear in her voice.

"You should have thought about that before you punched him." Maisha spoke with a frown as she came down the stairs with Tiana following behind her.

"Cut the pretty girl some slack. She didn't know he was injured." Tiana spoke as they entered the living room. Mercedes just stood there feeling bad.

"Then why did she punch him?" Maisha questioned her mother with a frown on her face.

"You know DeSean is annoying and he might've probably said something to annoy her." Tiana said and shrugged.

Maisha looked at her in disbelief. "That's your grandson you're talking about, Ma."

Tiana ignored her daughter and turned to Mercedes. She plastered a smile on her face. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" She asked sweetly.

"Uh-" Mercedes started, feeling confused.

"She'd be taking her leave now." DeSean's deep voice came from the stairs and everyone looked at him as he came down the stairs. He was now in a black shirt and his face held no expression. Melvin was behind him.

"DeSean, what are you doing out of bed?" Maisha questioned with a frown.

"I'm fine, Ma." DeSean answered as he stepped into the living room and stood beside his grandma. He glanced at Mercedes and frowned.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Maisha questioned, the frustration and anger were clear in her voice.

DeSean looked at his mother. "I'm not stubborn. I am fine. No need to worry." He said with assurance but it was obvious Maisha didn't believe him. She rolled her eyes and turned to Kentrell who was focused on the TV.

"Kentrell, come let's have dinner." She said to the twelve year old who listened to her and turned off the TV and got up from the couch and followed his mother.

"You should listen to your Ma, son." Melvin spoke and left to the dining room.

"You're really annoying." Tiana said with an eye roll. "Petit morveux ennuyeux." Tiana muttered in French and the look on DeSean's face showed that he understood what she said.

"You can't say that to me. I'm your grandson." He yelled as Tiana walked away. She gave him the peace sign as a response. He mumbled something under his breath and turned to face Mercedes.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked in a calm voice which was surprising to her.

"Uh, your grandma invited me for dinner." Mercedes answered in a low voice as she tried her best to maintain eye contact since his emotionless blue orbs stared at her gray ones.

"She didn't. Please leave, Miss Lexington." He said and walked away, to another side of the house, not where the others went to.

She sighed. "Sure." She said to no one and walked out of the house. She walked out of the beautiful compound with her mind on her lawyer. She wondered what he thought about her whenever he sees her. She walked to where she parked her black Toyota Corolla which was far from the house she was at earlier before she met DeSean.

She unlocked the car and entered it. She strapped her seatbelt and started the car and drove home. She got home and found Christy in the living room munching on some snacks and watching a TV show.

"Hey." She spoke so tiredly as she went to the armchair and plopped down in it, sighing loudly.

Christy looked at her. "Why do you look so gloomy? Where's the bag?" Right, the bag. She had forgotten about the bag.

"I fucked up, Chris." Mercedes said as she facepalmed.

Christy immediately sat up straight. "How? You didn't kill anyone, did you?" Mercedes rolled her eyes at the questions. She didn't blame Christy though because the last time she came home looking gloomy, she had killed their only male friend.

"I ran into the lawyer." She said.

"Tall, sexy, handsome Attorney Savage?" Christy asked with a smile.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "He's none of that."

"Shut up. He's very handsome and you know it. Even his name is sexy." Christy gushed. She had a crush on the lawyer.

"Whatever." Mercedes rolled her eyes again.

"Your eyes are gonna get stuck if you keep rolling them." Christy said and Mercedes gave her the middle finger.

"So you ran into him, then?" Christy questioned and Mercedes narrated all that happened from when she got caught jumping the fence to when she left the Savage's residence.

"Holy shit." Christy cussed.

"This is all your fault you know?"

Christy frowned. "What the fuck? How's it my fault?"

"If you hadn't misplaced the key and sent me there to pick up your old underwear, I wouldn't have climbed the fence and he wouldn't have caught me." Mercedes blamed.

"First of, I didn't misplace the key. Dad is with it. You should know he has the keys to the numerous houses he owns." Christy said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mercedes asked.

"You said you didn't want him talking you into working at the company." Christy shrugged and Mercedes couldn't say anything because her best friend was right.

"But why did you want your old underwear and why's your underwear at the old house?" Mercedes asked.

"This is not the first time I'm wanting my old underwear." Christy said nonchalantly.

"Answer the question, Chris." Mercedes said sternly.

After moments of silence, Christy spoke. "I sell them."

It took some time before Christy's sentence registered in Mercedes's brain. "You what?" Mercedes was surprised.

"I sell them okay? It's like a side hustle. I don't wanna depend on Dad, so I do what I do." Christy justified herself.

"You do know it's still his money that bought you those underwear." Mercedes pointed out.

"Whatever, Cedes. It's a side hustle." Christy shrugged.

"Well, your stupid side hustle got me called a pervert and a thief." Mercedes frowned. She was still angry at the thought of DeSean calling her names.

"That's because you looked fucking suspicious. Who wears a fucking cloak to their old house?" Christy said nonchalantly.

Mercedes frowned deeper. "You know what? Fuck you. It's all your fault. You told me to wear the cloak cause you knew I didn't want to talk to our old neighbors." She raised her voice.

"Why did you listen to me?" Christy smirked.

"I hate you Chris." Mercedes said threw Christy a throw pillow which hit her face.

Christy laughed. "I love you too. But Cedes, it's not the first time you've gone to the old house with the cloak."

"Then, I didn't get caught by my fucking lawyer. He called me a pervert and a thief. His mother fucking hates me." She thought of the disgusted look Maisha gave her.

"Which is why you should learn to control your anger. If you hadn't punched him-" Christy started.

"I didn't know he was stabbed." Mercedes yelled.

"But who did that though?" Christy wondered.

"Probably someone he annoyed. His grandma said he's annoying which is true." Mercedes shrugged. She thought of Tiana and she knew she was a nice woman.

"He's not. He's quiet and reserved which you guys find annoying but it's actually cute." Christy said with a smile.

"Get married to him then." Mercedes rolled her eyes. Christy's crush was starting to annoy her.

Christy shook her head. "Nah, he's not for me. I'm young and he's like thirty. I don't have daddy issues."

Mercedes chuckled. "Whatever." She got up from the armchair and stretched.

"I'm going in." Mercedes spoke while yawning.

"He'll be fine, Cedes. You didn't know he was hurt." Christy assured as she knew her best friend was feeling guilty about hurting the lawyer.

"Yeah." Mercedes nodded and smiled gratefully at her best friend.