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“I notice you haven’t blocked me,” she replied with her annoying girlish giggle.
“I’m not at all afraid of you and I believe in keeping my enemies in front of me,” he replied. “Don’t take that for me wanting to speak to you.”
“We aren’t enemies, Bassy, we’re lovers,” she purred.
“We’ve never been lovers and we never will be. I don’t know at what point in your life you turned into this woman, but if you attempt to change, you might stand a chance of not burning in hell,” he told her.
“Now, Bassy, that’s not very nice at all,” she sing-songed to him. “I want to meet for lunch. Come and pick me up.”
“Not going to happen,” he said. He was getting ready to hang up when she spoke next.
“I get what I want, Bassy. Just as you said, you shouldn’t keep an enemy behind you. Don’t turn me into your worst nightmare.”
The scary thing about her words was that she was saying them with such coolness, and the laugh she managed at the end was filled with so much evil glee he wondered if she’d snapped in the years since he’d seen her last. She might very well be dangerous. He should heed her advice.
“Goodbye, Sharron,” he said before he ended the call. She tried calling back and he ignored her. He didn’t block her as he felt it was wiser to see how many times she’d try to call or text him. He might have to do something other than tell her to go away if she kept being persistent. So far she hadn’t pushed him enough to involve anyone else. He hoped she kept it that way.
Bass walked to the end of the pier, ignoring the tourists’ snapping pictures and shopping for souvenirs that would end up in the bottom of a drawer somewhere to never be seen again. He wasn’t going to complain because that’s how capitalism worked. What was one person’s meal on the table was another’s trophy possession. The system worked because everyone worked, and it went around and around. He loved capitalism because it had taken him from horrific tragedy to being a very wealthy man.
A woman passed by and giggled as her long blonde hair flowed behind her, and he immediately thought of Ella. The little girl had grown into such a beautiful woman. He wasn’t going to kid himself that he’d begun to enjoy sitting there alone with her on Nana Bee’s front porch. He also wasn’t going to deny he wouldn’t mind a nice little summer romance happening while they were doing the project.
Bass didn’t think he’d have to worry about Rafe being in the way because as soon as any kind of work was done for the day that man would run away as fast as he could. Should Bass pursue a romantic relationship with Ella? He smiled.
He knew very well she’d had a crush on him when she was little. He hadn’t looked at her that way at all back then. She’d been way too young for his sixteen-year-old self. But now, their six-year age gap was nothing. They were both adults, and she was certainlyallwoman. There was no doubt whatsoever about that. His mouth watered a bit thinking of her. He’d bet his fortune she’d make his knees shake with little more than a kiss.
Thinking about Ella made him realize he hadn’t had a good romance in a while. Sure, he’d had a lot of one-night stands. He usually preferred those. But there was also something nice about having the same woman for a while, getting to learn her body as well as your own, getting to figure out what made her scream from the softest or roughest of touches.
Damn, he was getting hard with no one around to do anything about it. He’d never think of hiring a call girl and he didn’t want to put in the effort of picking some woman up. He could do it by simply popping into a high-end bar and picking out the right woman to buy drinks for. He knew what he looked like, and the women who inhabited those places were looking for men just like him.
The thought was unappealing though. There was only one woman on his mind, and he didn’t want to settle for anything else. That pretty much made the decision for him. Ella was going to be his. He smiled as he turned and left the pier.
How long would it take him to win her over? He struggled with wanting it to be instant while also wanting a bit of a challenge. He hadn’t had a challenge in a long time. When a person was as successful as he was, women fell at his feet. That became boring pretty fast. He had a feeling Ella would be a bit of a challenge . . . he only hoped not too much.
There had been one or two women he’d wanted that he couldn’t have. They’d played hard to get, and he’d grown bored before the game was over. One of them had chased after him. He’d been done by then, having no interest in her. He didn’t like games . . . most of the time. He guessed he did like them when he was in the right mood. He brought his phone out again.
Bass:Meet me at Nana Bees in an hour.
There was a long pause before he saw the dots letting him know Ella was reading his message. Then the dots disappeared without a reply. He stared at his phone and waited. Nothing. What the actual hell?
Bass:I can clearly see you read that. Meet me in one hour.
He was a little surprised at his impatience. Did he really expect her to jump when he told her to? He sort of did. He had a feeling he was going to be mightily disappointed if that’s what he wanted. He was a mixture of excitement and frustration. The dots appeared again . . . then disappeared. It was five more minutes before the reply came in.
Ella:With clients. Can’t do it. I’ll be there tomorrow as planned.
The dots disappeared as soon as the message came in. She wasn’t waiting for a reply from him like he’d been waiting for hers.
Bass:It doesn’t matter how late. Meet me there tonight.
He waited. She didn’t check this time. He stared at his phone a solid two minutes, which might not seem like a long time, but it was eons when you wanted someone to answer. He picked his phone back up and tried to call her, but it went straight to voicemail. He squeezed his phone in his fingers and had to fight himself to stop from throwing it over the pier into the water. Women! They were damn frustrating.
She wasn’t going to show. He had no doubt about it. Tomorrow was Saturday and they were gathering at the house to pack up Nana Bee’s stuff. They weren’t allowed to have movers. The belongings could be split up any way the three of them saw fit. They hadn’t agreed on anything so far. If they couldn’t even pack and distribute the old woman’s items, how were they going to get the house finished? They’d all find out soon enough.
Bass went back to the luxury hotel he’d been staying at since he returned a week earlier and he didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. He didn’t care about the cost, and it was comfortable with room service. He should go out, but he couldn’t find the stomach for it. He didn’t want to flirt with a stranger. He wanted one fiery-eyed woman or nothing at all.
Bass hated how much he checked his phone the rest of the night, but no matter how much he internally yelled at himself, he kept doing it. After a while he ordered room service, then sat back with a stiff drink and turned on the movie,Taken. He needed a good action movie. He might have to go into theRamboseries next. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night.
Even if he was frustrated, he was also excited. He had a plan . . . and it had been a long time since Bass hadn’t gotten something he truly wanted. He’d get the girl . . . it was only a matter of time.
