“She’s that good and then some. I’m being completely honest when I say that your best chance of winning this relies on Amaya,” he stated, looking me dead in my eyes to make sure I understood every word he said.
“What you mean our best chance? J, I didn’t do shit! YouknowI would never put my hands on a woman like that.”
“I do, but sometimes it doesn’t matter what you know, it matters what you can prove.” He tapped his fingers on the table anxiously as I watched him sort through every possible scenario in his head. Justin was the most levelheaded person that I knew, and it wasn’t often that I saw him off his game, so him being rattled scared the fuck out of me enough to straighten my ass up.
“So, what do I do?” I asked with my brows raised.
“Apologize to her… beg… whatever you need to do to get her back,” Justin urged.
“Fuck.” I ran my hand across my beard. Suddenly the graveness of the situation hit me square in my chest and I found it difficult to breathe as everything sank in. I could live with a lot of things, but the fear of losing everything I worked so hard to achieve because I was too proud to apologize wasn’t one of them.
“I will,” I assured them both. “I’ll do whatever I need to do to get her back on the team, even if I have to beg.”
CHAPTER 4
HE COULD NEVER BE MY NIGGA
“Hello?”I called as I walked in the door of my parents’ house. A few years ago, they upgraded from my childhood home to a gorgeous Southern style house with a big yard and a wraparound porch like my mama always wanted. Regardless of it not being the house I grew up in, wherever my parents were would always be home to me.
“Hey my Baby Doll,” my daddy said as I rounded the corner to his man cave. When they said that every spoiled ass girl has a bald ass daddy, I knew they were talking about me because I had that man and his bald head wrapped around my finger from the moment I came kicking and screaming into the world.
“Heyyy,” I sang as I ran into his arms. I had always been a Daddy’s girl, while my mom acted like her boys hung the sun. Our relationship was amazing too—my whole family was close—but I could do no wrong in my daddy’s eyes and vice versa.
“What you doing in here old man?” I teased once he finally released me from his bear hug.
“Not much, working on this old TV. Trying to see if I can get it to work again.” My eyes lowered to the mess of tangled wires and metal laying in front of him and I cackled. That man was always doing something.
“Daddy! This box TV? If you don’t throw this away! I will buy you a TV!”
“Now why would you go and do something like that? I got a perfectly good one right here,” he fussed as he waved his hands at me dramatically. I shook my head and laughed again at the stubborn old man in front of me. My parents had enough money to buy anything they wanted three times over, and if they didn’t, I would get it for them in a heartbeat. Regardless, there were still certain things that he would never part with, no matter how old and decrepit they were. I guessed that old ass box set that he had since MLK marched for freedom was one of them.
“So, how was your trip?” he asked, pausing his project to look at me. He never failed to give me his full attention when we had a conversation.
“A complete waste of time. He’s an idiot,” I huffed with an eye roll as Chase Andrews crossed my mind. I could still see his effortlessly flawless golden skin, penetrating brown eyes, and perfectly chiseled face, looking dumb as fuck.
“Baby Doll,” he scolded. “Did you cuss that man out?”
“I didn’t say anything to him that wasn’t true!” I replied stubbornly, making him let out a thunderous laugh. He knew his child all too well because I had cussed him outagainvia text that morning. Imagine my shock when I walked into the office to take care of some paperwork, and that nigga had sent me five dozen bouquets of apology roses. I was embarrassed as hell and knew I would spend the next few weeks dodging questions about whether I had a new man or not.
It didn’t help that Oliver and I went multiple rounds that morning about why I decided not to take him on. I politely reminded him that he told me I had a choice depending on how the meeting went. He did not like that shit.
“Amaya, what have I told you about that temper?”
“Ireallydidn’t start it this time, Daddy. He’s just loud, wrong, and obnoxious! And now he won’t stop calling me trying to apologize!”
He stared at me for a full minute with a smirk on his face like he knew something that I didn’t.
“What?” He chuckled and shook his head at the perplexed expression on my face.
“So have you answered any of his calls to see what he wants?”
“Nope,” I shrugged like I didn’t care. “I told you, he’s trying to apologize. I’m sure his people told him that heneededme. If he acts the way he did at lunch the other day, nobody else is gonna deal with him.”
“Amaya.” He gave me a pointed look.
“Daddy.” I sighed.
“I’m not saying you have to take him as a client, just hear him out, Baby Doll. For me?” He gave me the same eyes that I was sure I tossed at him whenever I wanted something, and just like he always did for me, I immediately folded.
