Malora Kingston
Miami, Florida
8/27/25
"GOD I REALLY missed it here," She couldn't hide the small smile forming when she entered the house and Zach followed behind her. It all felt like Deja vu to her, she was just so happy to be back.
"Aww, you kept all my stuff?!" The first thing she noticed when she got to the room was all of her old clothes neatly folded on the bed, just how she left it.
For some reason she thought Zach would've gotten rid of everything, or at least returned it all so he could get his money back.
"Well yeah, I wasn't gon' throw it away or nun'. I knew you'd be back soon enough," He shrugged. It never even crossed his mind to get rid of her things because she wasn't going anywhere, well for now at least.
"Remember those cousins I told you 'bout? They on their way so ima try to get shit ready for them," She did remember him saying something about having to help out family and give them some place to stay.
"And just to warn you.. they can be a bit of a handful. They gon' bombard you with questions, being nosey and shit. So if you feel uncomfortable just let me know."
"Wait how old are they?" From the way he was describing them she assumed they were in teenagers, had to be somewhere from 14-18.
"15 and 17, but they're not mature for they age at all. Muhfucka's act like they still 10."
The whole reason they were kicked out from home now was because they tried to light the house on fire. Their mom didn't let them go to a block party and that's how they retaliated.. amongst other things.
"Oh okay! I can help you get things ready just let me kn-"
"Nah go lay down, you said you were tired earlier. Ima make us some food in a minute and I'll wake you up when it's done." He recalled her saying she was sleepy, and he figured it's already been a long day for her.
Playfully rolling her eyes, she sat her duffle bag down. Thank god she was able to get all her stuff from her old house, some of her feminine hygiene essentials among other things, now she officially felt content.
She was finally ready to let go of her past and focus on her future.. with Zach.
"Ughhh fine," she dramatically sighed while dragging out the 'ugh'. "But I'm gonna shower first, I feel so.. ew."
Zach understood what she meant, that's how he felt after he had his first kill too, but after a while you get used to it.
"Ight ima run you a warm bath after we eat so you can let your bruises soak. It helps em' heal." She watched him take his glasses off and turn the stove on.
A/N: hood niggas that occasionally wear glasses >>>
She got tempted to get up and help him cook but then remembered the only thing she knew how to make was eggs..
'Let me sit my ass right the fuck down.'
"What you want to eat mama?"
"Umm that thing you made last time! Spicy jerk chicken curry? I think that's what it's called.."
Zach slowly shook his head because he just knew she was going to say that. 'Her ass love jerk chicken.'
"It's gon' take a while, youn' want me to make something that's faster?"
"Nopeee! I can wait." She gave him a playful grin before plopping down on the couch- for some reason she was full of energy.
"Thought I told yo' lil ass to go to sleep?"
"Well now I'm not sleepy anymore.. I wanna stay up and talk to you"
"Ight shut up."
She giggled to herself at how quickly his mood changed. Whenever she said something that made him blush he'd just tell her to shut up- or down right ignore her. Instead of getting annoyed by it she kind of found it to be cute. "When's your birthday!?"
"May 21st." He didn't even bother asking why, he knew how talkative she could get when she was energetic.
"How old are you? Actually no ima guess, like 24?"
It may have seemed weird that she didn't already know his age, but it just never crossed her mind. They had only known each other for a couple weeks and they didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances..
"You was close, but I'm 25."
"Ugh of course I was a year off," She groaned, now she was waiting for him to ask her age and birthday. "Aren't you gonna ask me now?"
"Ask you what?" He continued to season the chicken while occasionally glancing at her here and there.
"My age or my birthday.. you know what I told you about engaging in conversations!" Time and time again she had to tell this man that conversations go both ways, and she couldn't be the only one starting them.
"I am engaging in the conversation Mal.. don't start." He mugged her and she just flipped him off. "Plus, I already know your birthday and shit."
Her face scrunched up as she thought back to their previous conversations.. she never told him anything about herself other than her name?
"Uh no you don't.. I never told you any of that. So you sitting up here lying!"
"September 13th, and you 20 years olds-turning 21 in a month."
Her jaw dropped as he listed every single detail correctly.. 'how the fuck does he know all of this!?'
"Now that I'm thinking 'bout it, you were born on Friday the 13th.. No wonder you crazy,"
...
"Nigga you're the crazy one, what the hell!?"
Loud knocking woke Zach up from his sleep as he let out an annoyed sigh. He wasn't expecting his cousins to come this late, it was nearly 4 in the morning.
The knocks only got louder the longer that he took, 'They better not wake her up.'
"Knock knock bitch.. open the fuck up!" A squeaky voice that belonged to Lyric, yelled out.
"Yeah nigga come on! It's cold as fuck out here," T'araj added on. They didn't understand why he was taking so long to answer the damn door, he knew they were coming.
"Man shut up banging on my door and yellin'. It's 4 in the fuckin' mornin," Zach yanked the door open with a mug plastered on his face.
These kids had no manners whatsoever, and that's the reason he's the only one they had. Everyone else gave up on them years ago, except Zach.
"Don't even act like that cause you knew we was comin'. T'araj go get my shit from the car!" Lyric playfully pushed Zach out the way, and walked in like she owned the place.
"Bitch I'm not yo' slave the fuck? Better go get that shit on your own," T'araj was so sick of her bossing him around. Just because she's older don't mean she run shit, period.
"Ight then nigga, ima remember that shit next time you ask me for a ride,"
"Lyric.. I do not care. Nobody wanna ride around in that fuckin' bucket anyways!" The two continued to bicker back and forth while Zachariah stood there watching them.
He regretted even offering to help at this point, they just got here and were already working up his nerves.
"Man we ain't doing this, I promise you we not. Lyric go get yo' shit from the car, and T'araj go lay the fuck down or sumn'," He wasn't about to deal with their nonstop bickering, especially this early in the morning.
"My.. friend is here sleep and y'all not 'bout to wake her up. So shut the fuck up and get situated."
That was quick to shut the two teenagers up, they knew how Zach could get when he was mad and they did not want to test him, they knew better than that.
"Okay.. T'araj can you at least walk with me outside so I don't go out there alone?" She hated when it was dark and she had to go outside, anything could happen. She just felt more comfortable having someone go with her.
"Yeah fine.. and sorry Zach, we ain't mean to piss you off."
"Y'all good, just be considerate cause it's other people that live here too."
'Let's see how this shit play out man..'
━━━━━
"Oh she's bad as fuck!" T'araj harshly whispered when he saw Malora come out of the room. His eyes followed her every move, he was surprised she didn't see him yet. Probably too tired to notice?
"Stop staring at her like that weirdo," Lyric slapped his neck hard- snapping him out of his trance.
The sound was loud enough to gain her attention and she quickly whipped her head towards the two. Mal's natural mug had Lyric looking at her funny, along with T'araj. Did she not like them or something?
"Oh you guys must be Zach's cousins!? I'm Malora, nice to meet you!" Her face immediately turned and she gave them a small smile. Granted, she wasn't the best at first impressions but she felt it was only polite to greet them.
The two siblings let out a sigh of relief at her introduction, thankful she was just one of those people with a natural mean face.
"Hi! I'm Lyric, you're so pretty by the-wassup ma, I'm T'araj. You single?"
Lyric side eyed him in pure embarrassment once he interrupted her.. 'How the fuck am I related to him?'
Mal tucked her lips together, trying not to laugh at the boy's attempt in flirting, but she quickly failed.
"Wheww.. I'm sorry! That was rude of me, but you do know I'm 20 right?" She finally caught her breath from all the laughter. At first she didn't think he was serious but he quickly proved her wrong.
"I knew you was older but ion care. I like my women older."
...
"Uhm.. I apologize for him. He's going through puberty and shit, just ignore him honestly," Lyric warned that some of her brother's behaviors were just better to ignore.
Mal slowly nodded, clearly confused but she didn't say anything else about the topic "Oh okay.. do you guys know where Zach went?"
"He's moving your stuff into the new place." Lyric was the first to reply, since she was the only one that knew.
"New place..?" Mal was confused at first but then she remembered him saying something about moving out and giving his cousins this place.
"Yeah, instead of moving to a different city you guys are gonna move like 20 minutes away. Cause he wants to 'keep an eye on us', which is weird cause I'm 'bout to be 18 but whatever.."
From there, she tuned the younger girl out and pulled out her phone to text Zach.
ZACH 💋💗
you left me here ??????
so it's just fuck how i feel huh ???
Zach 💋💗
well yeah cause you was
sleep?
okay but i wanted
to wake up next to you..
and you left me in the damn
bed by myself 😐 plain rudeness.
Zach 💋💗
i'm sorry mama but
i'm tryna move shit into
this new place.
I COULD'VE HELPEDDD
Zach 💋💗
YOU WERE SLEEP.
NOT AN EXCUSE, IF
YOU HATE ME JUST
SAY THAT.
Zach 💋💗
i hate you, bye 👋🏽👋🏽👋🏽
you punk motherfucker.
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authors note
ermm so how y'all feel about lyric and t'araj??