What Goes Around Read Online Free Page B

know, you really ought to watch what you say to him,” Lauren said. “Altimususually has no problem giving me exactly what I want, but giving him lip isn’t going to convince him to leave you and your family alone.”
    â€œI’m from the West End, baby—the SWATS,” Jermaine countered. “I can handle myself.”
    â€œWhatev, straight-A boy,” Lauren joked as Jermaine opened his car door for her. “And what was all that ’I get good grades and help in the community’ bull about, anyway?”
    â€œWhat, a brotha from the hood can’t be smart and helpful?” Jermaine said as he climbed into the driver’s seat and started his engine.
    â€œAin’t nobody say all of that. Dang, why you gotta assume that’s the way I think?” Lauren questioned defensively.
    â€œAw, baby, if I were making assumptions about you, you wouldn’t be riding shotgun,” he said as he pulled out into traffic.
    â€œThen why are you with me? I mean, with everything you know about my family and what happened to your brother and all the questions about how he died and who killed him, why are you with me?”
    Jermaine was silent.
    â€œDang, you don’t even have an answer? Pull this car over, boy,” Lauren demanded, punctuating her every word with a punch to his arm.
    â€œChill, chill,” he laughed. “You’re going to get us into an accident. But then you know all about crashing into other people’s cars, don’t you.”
    â€œSee how you do me?” Lauren said, cracking up. “Why you gotta bring up the car wreck?”
    â€œWell, if it weren’t for that car wreck, I would never have found you, so I’m glad you took a brother’s bumper out,” he said quietly as he put on his signal and slowly pulled into the right lane. He turned into the parking lot of a Kroger shopping center and slowly came to a stop next to a large red minivan.
    â€œWhat, we going shopping now?” Lauren said, eyeballing the shopping center; she and Jermaine watched as a mom struggled to get her two children and all of her groceries into a car just across the way from Jermaine’s.
    â€œThough I’m quite aware of how much you like the pastime, we’re not going shopping,” Jermaine said, shifting his body to face Lauren. “I have something much more fun for us to do.” And with that, he leaned in and kissed Lauren on her lips so gently, she felt herself get a little dizzy. “I’ve been waiting for way too long to do that,” he finally said after a long kissing session.
    â€œI dreamed about this so many times,” Lauren said, smiling. “I’m so glad we’re back together again.”
    â€œLook,” Jermaine said, his face turning serious. “You should know this much about me: I’m still real upset aboutwhat happened to my brother—I don’t think he deserved to die that way. But I don’t want to be like him, either. See, his problem was that he didn’t want to leave the hood. That’s the mentality of a lot of the people I live with. But there are some of us who want to leave and do something with ourselves, and then bring back what we earn and learn to help make the neighborhood better. People outside the hood don’t ever see people like me getting good grades, staying out of trouble, trying to do right. And I don’t care if they see it in me. What counts is I see it for myself.”
    Jermaine leaned in and kissed Lauren again. He ran his fingers over her eyebrow and took one more look into her eyes before turning back to the steering wheel. He put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the street.
    Lauren rubbed his arm and snuggled into the passenger seat. Every time she got with Jermaine, she learned something new about him—and herself. She turned each of his words around in her mind as she watched the ATL skyline