quickly, holding up both of her hands and glaring at him. "Not until I say so."
"Aw'ight, aw'ight," he said, holding up his hands to match her stance so she could pass. "I'm sorry. I just want to talk to you. Okay, baby? There's something dark around you that I just saw come out in this--"
"You can cut the 'baby' crap. My name is Damali."
"Aw'ight, my bad." He had to get through to her, get her mind focused on the, potential threat. "Let's just talk, for real. Let's get this thing worked out, girl," he said, his voice faltering as he watched her cross the room. "I don't want you blaming me for something that I really couldn't control. You've got something trying to attach to you--been there, and I know what I'm talking about. This time, D, you need to listen to what I'm saying." Carlos folded his arms over his chest. "You have to stop blaming me, get past the hurt, and stop thinking this was--"
"I'm not blaming you," she said, snatching up her underwear and trying to step into them without removing her towel.
He just watched her. She was covering her body from him? After all they'd been through and done with each other? Now she didn't want him to see her naked? This was really bad and had kicked it up a dangerous notch. Whatever had come out of her head, had taken something with it.
"Baby, listen--"
"No, you listen," she said, her voice beginning to escalate. "What would happen if I had an aberrant moment and lost my damned mind, huh? What if some tall, fine, ridiculously sexy brother opened my nose for a minute while under the so-called influence, and let's say, I had sex
that really wasn't sex because I didn't go all the way, but would have if I could have--and mighta gotten pregnant, too, if my Guardian brother hadn't walked up on me, and I had nearly busted a nut for him and did it in your house or your lair, and whatnot, and was ready to have a baby for him but didn't have time to really get my swerve on correct, so I postponed that vibe only because of time, not commitment? Feel me?"
"I was possessed, baby, I swear," he said holding his hands out in front of him, imploring her to relent and to give him another chance to explain. "I just saw that dark smoke exit you, so it's got your thinking jacked! That's why I cut that motherfucker's head off, all right? I'd never make a baby with nobody but you, mi corazon. C'mon, now, D, this is me you're talking to. You sound crazy. You ain't making sense, girl; don't go there. Let's just calm down, discuss this rationally. We'll work this out, together, and go see Mar to purge you righteous, and things will be fine."
Damali began walking around the room to put the bed between them so she could yank on her jeans and shirt under the shield of her towel. She gave him her back as she pulled on her tank top and snatched off her towel in one deft move without allowing him to see her breasts. "Say he was a warlock and put a spell on me, or it was a fine voodoo priest that whipped down some dark ritual that blew my mind. Would you be okay with it when I came out of the haze?"
"Yeah," Carlos said, louder than he'd wanted, "because it wouldn't be your fault!"
"If you saw it, you could just shake the image out of your mind with no problem? It wouldn't take a little while for the impressions to fade, for the thing eating at your brain and your heart to go away?" She nodded and chuckled angrily. "The Carlos Rivera would just be smooth, wouldn't care if his woman arched her back and called another man's name? Gave up the cold-blooded puss--"
"Damali, it wasn't like that and you know it! You're not being fair."
She glared at him, wanting to just unload a full clip of verbal obscenities at him like rounds from a semiautomatic, but was so suddenly enraged that for a moment she couldn't speak. His eyes held a frantic quality that she oddly enjoyed. Let him twist. She knew it was sick, but hurt fury had a grip on her logic that was unraveling by the second. She wasn't sure what about any of it hurt her more, the fact that he'd ignored an