How to Knock a Bravebird from Her Perch : The First Novel in the Morrow Girls Series (9780985751616) by D. Bryant Simmons Page B

sweet little good girl. Ain’t you? Hmm?”
    “Yeah.”
    He tugged at the sheet, damn near ripping it off the bed. And his eyes got real big, watching me shivering in the night air. “I love you, girl. You know that?”
    “Yeah—Ricky, I’m cold.”
    “I love you more than I love anybody. You know that, don’t you?” Then he went about tucking me in like I was a chile. Pushed the edge of the sheet in under the mattress, pushed it so far in I was wrapped up in a cocoon. “You hear me, Pecan? You mine. Always been mine, always gonna be mine.” He got in on the other side of me, giving me that hard look and pulling me back against him. “You know what I’d do if you ever left me?” He whispered in my ear.
    “I ain’t gonna...why you s-s-saying that?”
    “Just feel like it gotta be said. Since you acting all different—”
    “But I ain’t. I ain’t acting different.”
    His breath got real hot on me, smelling like leftovers as he went about exploring my body. When he wanted to, Ricky could have my body swooning to his drum. He wasn’t clueless, when he ain’t wanna be that is. It started off just as a little pat, then he started stroking it. He closed in on my womanness and gave it a real good squeeze. A chill ran through me and I was dying to blame it on the night.
    “You like that, don’t you? Hmm? I know what my girl like. Don’t I?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Yeah. That why you love me ain’t it, Pecan? You ain’t never gonna love nobody else. Just me. Only me.”
    Soon as he said it I knew it wasn’t true. None of it was. Love a tricky thing. It don’t just show up where you want it to and you can’t keep it away neither. Love go where it want. It don’t need nobody’s permission, least of all mine.

Code of Honor

    "I’ VE NEVER BEEN HERE before.” Heziah looked around the room like he was searching for tiny enemies. “Didn’t even know this motel was over here. Did you?”
    Course I did. It was my idea. I’d seen it on the few trips I’d taken to Helen’s house. But I ain’t say that to Heziah. He kept on wringing his hat like it was soaked with water, he was so nervous. Like he ain’t never been with a woman before. I was the one should’ve been nervous.
    “How are the girls? You said something before about them being sick...?”
    “They’re okay.”
    I had the key even though Heziah’d paid for the room. The wiry little guy in the office gave it to me because Heziah just stood there, staring at the receipt. So it was up to me. Take the key...find the room...unlock the door. Because Heziah was in another world.
    “Is it a stomach flu? Or a fever? I heard that strep throat is going around. It’s not that, is it?”
    “It’s just a cold. They fine.”
    “You know forty years ago they were worried about all sorts of sicknesses. Scarlet fever...polio...leprosy—did you know that was a real disease? It wasn’t just made up for the Bible’s sake.”
    The motel room smelt of rotten green tomatoes and bleach. The walls were covered in wallpaper that’d probably lived more life than I had. If I had asked the walls would’ve probably told me what to do to get Heziah to relax. They’d have known. Tell me to say something sexy. I was never no good at that sorta thing. Never had to be…
    “Belinda?”
    “Hmm?”
    “You did take them to the doctor, didn’t you? What if something happens? Maybe you should be with them.”
    “They not sick, Heziah. I just kinda said that so...um...so we could be alone.”
    “Oh.”
    “I lied.”
    “Yeah. I get that.”
    “I know. I just wanted to say it so...so it was said. I’m sorry.”
    All the jittery little coffee beans that was dancing under his skin must have got up and left at the same time. A mellow wave washed over Heziah and he sat on the edge of the bed. Disappointment written all over him. Disappointment in me.
    “I ain’t never lied to you before—it’s just I ain’t know how to...um...well I ain’t never had to ask no man