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“Somewhat. I distanced myself because I hate that street shit. I have my reasons other than Daddy getting killed. It’s time I come clean about that. So, whenever you have time, I need to talk to you, Sasha, and Mama. I’d rather talk to y’all all at once, but we’ll see if we can get our schedules in sync.”
“Wow. Okay. I’m a little nervous.”
“Me too. But umm… go ahead, and I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll start a group thread between the four of us.”
“Okay. I love you, Yunique.”
“I love you too.”
She ended the call, and suddenly, I wasn’t as excited about brunch. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to her. Mama and Daddy had done a decent job at shielding us from the life and making sure we always felt protected. I knew that didn’t make us exempt from bullshit, but I knew if she’d told Mama and Daddy, the shit would have been handled immediately.
I felt like someone had touched her or something, and I was already in my feelings, preparing to hear her truth. It seemed like sexual abuse was in more black women’s pasts than not. While I knew I was making an assumption about what she had to say, I couldn’t see it being anything else.
When I pulled into the parking lot, I could see that Fawn and Law were just arriving. They were so damn lovey dovey. All this love in the air had me tripping. Law was clearly a gangsta ass nigga too. Smoke was his brother, and from what ‘Vegas’ had insinuated, he’d come in and helped Fawn when Ice got killed. Well, he helped her all right. They were clearly in love, and she informed me that they moved quick as hell.
She’d asked me about what was going on between Vegas and me. I told her the whole truth too. Fucking. That was all we were doing. I was pretty sure she could tell my feelings were somewhat involved, but whatever.
I got out of my car then checked my reflection in the glass. When I turned around to head inside, I saw Joel meeting Fawn at the door. I rolled my eyes, but I put on my best model strut. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he wanted me to be his and nobody else’s. When I got to the door, I saw the hostess taking them to their seats. The music was loud, and it seemed like a whole vibe inside.
As I was about to open the door, a man inside opened it for me. I smiled and said, “Thank you.”
He tucked his bottom lip in his mouth and scanned my curves. “You’re welcome, beautiful.”
I pretended to look around like I didn’t know which way they went. Then I noticed Sasha waving in my direction. Everyone was here but me. There were a few more people here that I wasn’t expecting. I recognized most of them from the club last night. All the men were either married or had a woman with them. The one I recognized as Chelsea’s brother, Jericho, stood from his seat, and all the men followed suit, Joel being the last one to stand. Jackass.
“Hey, everybody!” I said excitedly.
“Damn, sis! Stunt on them niggas!” Fawn said, then high-fived Amiko.
Everyone spoke back as I giggled and said, “Thank you, girl.”
I could see Joel eyeballing me something fierce in my peripheral. He looked pissed though. He didn’t have a reason to be pissed. Giving him the attention he wanted since he didn’t speak back, I said, “Hey, Vegas.”
That nigga gave me a head nod. Oh, like that? He had me fucked up. I should have called him Joel. When I sat, all the men sat as well. “Keondra, this is Arrow’s wife, Lynn; that’s Brittany and Shyrón; Ali’s wife, Riley; Jericho’s wife, Whitney; Seneca’s wife, Kaysyn; and those two over there are Chad and Lexi.”
I politely nodded to everyone as she told them I was Sasha’s sister and one of her new besties. The people she introduced me to were the ones that weren’t with us last night at the club. Amiko added to the introductions by saying, “All the women here attend Sandrene’s classes in Beaumont on Sundays. They are practically family to us now. The Berotte family. There’s way more of them, but the ones here are a part of Ali’s company, Watchful Eyes.”
I wouldn’t remember half of this shit. The only thing I would remember was how Joel was staring the fucking clothes off me until Jungle nudged him. Before he could look away, I met his gaze and smiled big like hadn’t shit happened between us. He looked away, but I could see his irritation in the frown he was sporting.
After the waitress got our drink orders, Sandrene and her husband got up to dance. Smoke and Amiko joined them. I was having a great time watching them. More of the couples got up. Here I was, in my feelings again, wishing I was in love. Before I could dwell on it too much, the man that opened the door for me approached our table.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Would you like to dance?”
I looked up at his sexy ass and said, “Sure.”
When I stood from my seat, I saw Joel’s eyes make their way back to me. He didn’t want to acknowledge me, but I bet he was gon’ acknowledge this shit. I turned my back, giving him the view I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. My entire back was out. The dress tied around my neck and tied again a little past midway of my back. The multicolored material picked up at the small of my back and stopped at my ankles.
My legs were still seen, though, because the split up the back came up to my mid-thigh area. It didn’t help that my titties were somewhat visible on the sides. As Fawn stated earlier, I was stuntin’ on ’em big time. The man grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”
“Keondra. What about yours?”
“Steven.”
I smiled. Steven was tall, dark, and handsome. He was nowhere near the streets, and that was okay. He would suffice for what I needed him for. I recognized the song playing as “& Then Some” by Kenyon Dixon. It was a nice mid-tempo cut. I swayed with Steven to the beat. When I slid my hands up his chest, he pulled me closer to him.
I smiled as his hands slid to the small of my back. Dancing with him felt good. I nearly forgot I was using him, until Joel appeared next to us. I glanced at him and so did Steven. He gave him a head nod, and Steven asked, “This you, bruh?”
“Yeah. She playing games though.”
