Page 27 of Nothing Without You

“Keegan, please,” she hissed as she tugged on my hand.

I looked at her like she was crazy but dropped the subject.

As soon as we sat down, the hostess scurried away.

“Fuck is her problem?” I asked as I snatched the menu up and glanced over it.

“You’re impossible.” Chyna laughed as she shook her head.

“How? What I do?”

“Nothing, baby. Nothing at all.”

I grunted and resumed looking over the menu. After I decided what I wanted, I put my menu down and saw Chyna scrolling on her phone.

“What you wanna do when we get home?” I asked. I was a bit bummed that the date didn’t go the way I planned it, but there would be many more, so I decided not to dwell on it.

Chyna put her phone down and sighed. “I’ve been looking at apartments online. I think I want to reach out to a few of them and set up some tours.”

I frowned. “Why?”

“Because I need a place to live. Even if Mr. Chang gets my place fixed up, I don’t feel comfortable staying there anymore. I just hate that there’s so much I have to replace. All my furniture . . .”

Her words trailed off, and I stared at her in confusion. “But you live wit’ me now.”

Her brows pulled in. “No, baby. I’m staying with you for now, but me and Liam need to find a new place to stay.”

“Why?” I asked again because I really didn’t understand.

She laughed like something was funny. “I can’t just live with you, Kee.”

“Why?” I would keep asking until I understood.

She stared at me incredulously. “Because . . . because we’re so new. Like, brand new. Don’t you think we need time to settle into this new relationship before taking that step?”

“No.”

“Okay . . . I mean, we don’t even fully know each other. Do you even want to get married? Do you want more children?”

“To you? Yes. With you? Yes.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “But how do we know we can live together long term? I mean, we don’t really know⁠—”

“If you say we don’t know each other one more time, I’ma throw this fork at the back of that lady’s head.” I grasped the fork in front of me and nodded to a lady sitting not far from us.

Chyna laughed. “Keegan!”

“What? I’m serious. I know you, Doll. Stop sayin’ that shit.”

“You don’t⁠—”

I sighed loudly. “I know your middle name is Elise, which is hilarious to me because where ya mama get that white-ass name from?”

Her smile faltered. “It was my grandmother’s name.”

I grunted. “I know you hate tomatoes, but you love ketchup. I know you love Disney movies and swear you ain’t cryin’ when you watch them, but yo’ soft ass can’t help but drop a few thug tears. I know you want a long-lasting marriage like your parents, even though you won’t ever admit it out loud because you gave up on love after Darnell⁠—”

“Damien—”