Material Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

pulled out his cell phone and checked to see who was calling. “I got another spot I wanna hit up before we go home.”
    Dylan hated to be nosey, but she couldn’t help but sneak a look at his screen. The only thing she could make out was the first three letters of the name. Who the fuck is Ash? she thought as her stomach dropped. Dylan also wondered if State would be bold enough to answer the phone while she was right there. Thankfully for him, he didn’t. Instead of answering, he sent her call to voice mail and placed his phone back into his pocket.
    “Who was that?” Dylan quizzed, hoping he wouldn’t lie.
    “This chick.”
    “Why you ain’t answer the phone?”
    “What you mean, why I ain’t answer?” He turned up his face and looked at her like she was insane. “Why would I?”
    “I’m just asking you a question, State. You don’t have to get an attitude,” she stressed as the State she knew appeared.
    “Nah, but that’s stupid.” He took his arm from around her shoulder. “I’m here wit’ you. What I need to talk to somebody else for?” He looked her square in the eye and lied.
    “I don’t know. You tell me.” She gave him the evil eye.
    “Like, straight up, Dylan, we having a good time. Don’t start with that insecure shit. It turns me off.”
    Dylan stopped and looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
    “And you can stop lookin’ at me like that. I’m here tryin’ to show you that I’m on some other shit this time, but you hung up on a fuckin’ phone call. I’m tellin’ you now I ain’t got time for a whole bunch of petty-ass shit. I love you.” He placed his right hand on the nape of her neck and looked her square in the eyes. “You the one I wanna be wit’, and the sooner you realize that, the better off we’ll both be.”
    Dylan didn’t even respond. State had hit her with the same speech so many times it had gotten to the point where all she heard was the Charlie Brown sound: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa . She wanted desperately to believe him when he said he loved her, but deep down, she knew that what they shared wasn’t love, but a relationship of convenience. She needed him to give her the illusion of being loved until he got it together and could love her for real, or until she could find someone new. Until then, Dylan settled for a bunch of words she couldn’t fully believe in for the sake of feeling wanted.
    “Why you think I’m going so hard? I want you to see that I’m for real this time. Ain’t no going back.”
    “So, what does that mean? Are we back together again officially?” She said, dying to see how he would reply.
    “If you say so.” He shrugged, unsure of what he was getting himself into.
    “Seriously, State.” She lightly pushed his arm.
    “I mean, I don’t know. I guess.”
    “ I guess is not good enough. I need to know that this time it’s gonna be different.”
    “I already told you I’m on some other shit. I wanna be wit’ you; that is, if you’ll have me.” He pulled her into him.
    Dylan couldn’t even utter the words she felt because on the inside, she felt like she was repeating the same fucked-up cycle of settling for a man she knew wasn’t the one, just so she could say she had somebody. Dylan just prayed that this time would be the time they finally got it right and he’d love her like she’d wanted him to all these years.
    For a while they walked in silence, hand in hand, stewing in their own thoughts.
    If he could, State would give Dylan the world and everything it had to offer. She was a special woman with a gentle spirit. He felt good when he was around her. She fed his ego, but visions of Ashton’s face haunted his conscience. If she found out what was going on, she was sure to leave him for good.
    He shook off the thought and asked, “Anything else on your mind?”
    “Yeah.” Dylan met her eyes with his. She desperately wanted to tell him that she was afraid he would never love her, and that if given the chance, he’d