"Why are you here?" Malia asked Devon. "I'm at work and you're sitting over there very confidently for someone who the cops are still looking for."
Devon sighed. "Mali, please listen to me."
Malia leaned on the counter getting really close to his face. "Listen, I have a headache. My grandma is in the hospital and I'm dealing with a whole bunch of other shit right now. So, unless you want me to turn into you and start beating peoples ass when I have a problem, then get the hell out."
"I deserve to be beaten, Malia." Devon said. "Talk to me, please."
She moved away from him, rolling her eyes. "What?"
"I know I've been horrible to you."
"Really? All you did was pull a gun on me and leave marks that I'll be telling my grandchildren about."
"Malia." Devon sighed. "I've started anger management and therapy. I've done a lot of terrible things and I want to correct them. I'll do anything to prove that to you."
She stared at him as she wiped down shot glasses, in no mood for Devon.
As she'd said, Nana was in the hospital but was doing better now. It was stressful, but scary as well. This was the woman that raised her and taught her everything she knew. Malia knew her grandmother was getting up in age, meaning it was normal for her to have more concerns with her body. She just wasn't ready.
Malia wasn't speaking with Ja right now, and had him blocked. Brooklyn thought she was being extreme but tried being understanding.
Tyus' confession was still weighing heavily on her brain, when it shouldn't be. She didn't like Tyus and never would, in the nicest was possible. Apparently, he wasn't her type. Apparently her type was point guards that didn't know when to stop drinking.
She huffed, glaring at nothing in particular. "I hate men."
"You have every right to." Devon said.
"Damn right. You beat the shit out of me and the person I want now..." Malia laughed humorlessly. "He just wants liquor."
"I get it." He said, attempting to be part of the way on her good side. "It's fair, though. He is in the public eye-"
"Fuck you." She said, sitting in her stool. "Fair would be you treating me better then. Or, fair would be him getting him shit together to be with me now."
Malia crossed her arms, wishing that Brooklyn was working tonight. She wasn't though, and was instead making her smooth transition from one DB to another.
Dillon to Desmond.
At least Desmond was nice and not a raging shit stirrer.
"So..."
"Shut up." Malia said, holding her hand up. "I'm never, ever going to forgive you. Like in my life. And if you left here and got hit by a car... I would consider that karma."
"I respect that."
She felt good about saying everything to him right now. "I really don't know what you were doing the entire time you were in rehab. It feels like all they taught you in there was how to be even more of a sick piece of shit."
The bar was mostly empty because it was a Monday. So, the bar was mostly empty. It was dead in here, giving Malia the opportunity to curse Devon with the promise the security had her back.
"You're right."
"What's your fucking problem anyway?"
Devon sighed. "I couldn't stand the idea of you being with anyone else. I know I went about it the wrong way."
