“Good. Also, for the record, I still meant it when I said you sound like Darth Vader,” he chuckled.
“Fu-” I slapped my hand over my mouth to cover the cuss word and subsequent giggle that I was about to let out. “I’ll have Jocelyn set up another meeting so we can go over everything. Just you and me, without all the extra noise… and Chase?”
“Yes, Amaya?”
What the fuck was THAT?!
I looked down and told my pussy to compose herself because the way she jumped when he said my name was enough to havebothof us in trouble.
“Don’t ever send me flowers again. That’s completely unprofessional, and Ihateflowers. Have a good day.” I said before hanging up quickly as I pulled into the parking lot of Pressing Matters. Mona’s ass had been dodging me since the day of that funeral, and I had to see what was up. I put the car in park and made my way inside, ready to let her have it for ignoring me.
“May,please!”Mona giggled as she did a twirl in the red dress that I convinced her would be perfect for her and Tahmir’s first date. She lookedsogood, and with any luck, this first date would be exactly what she needed to get her mind off Malik’s adulterous, decomposing ass. After the story she told me, I had smoke for his corpse, his wife, the kids,andthe fucking pastor. The universe was working in our favor when I got sent to LA because if I had been in that church, we would have worked that whole building over. Mona was with the shits, but she was too understanding—she gave niggas way too many chances before she popped off. Sometimes she just needed a little push, and that’s usually where I would come in.
“Girl, it’s perfect! Don’t even start with me. You can deny it all you want, but youlikehim, bitch!”
“I do,” she said with a nod. “But if you ain’t the pot calling thekettle black, then I don’t know what is,” she teased, pinching me playfully as she hung the dress up on a hanger.
“What?” I frowned, swatting her hands away.
“Chase,” she cooed with a knowing smile while quickly changing back into her regular clothes. I turned and looked at her like she had an orange dick growing from her forehead.
“What about him?” I asked with a warning tone because I knew she wasn’t about to say what I thought she was.
“You gon’ sit up in my face and act like you don’t like him?”
“Girl!” I damn near choked. “I don’t! He’s my client!”
“Yeah, your client that you fired and let come back. Iknowyou! You don’t give second chances like that.” I turned to give her another warning glance.
“It was for the job, and Oliver has been on my ass about him. Idon’tfucking like him, MoMo!” I snapped with absolutely no animosity.
“Okay,” she chuckled over her shoulder as we finished up to head up to the register.
“I don’t!” I repeated with my arms crossed.
“Amaya, I didn’t say anything else,” she exclaimed, throwing her arms up. I couldn’t stand her ass, acting like she knew me.
“So not him, but who? When do you plan on putting yourself out there again?” she asked sincerely.
“Girl,” I sighed and rolled my eyes, not trying to have this conversation yet again. “You already know what I’m about to say, I don’t need the headache.”
“But you deserve to be happy,” she whined.
“I am happy, MoMo,” I argued.
“You knowwhat I mean! May, you can’tlet his punk ass run your life forever. You don’t have to be ready now, but you have to at least start entertaining the idea of love.” I stopped and stared at her blankly. My girl wasn’t male centered, but she kept a nigga around. She was chasing that happily-ever-after, and I prayed that she found it, but I was realistic enough to know that was just adream. I only had to bump my head once before I got the fuck out of dodge.
“I’m not saying never, MoMo… I’m just saying it would take someone real special for me to even consider dating right now.”
“I can accept that,” she said with a huge smile. “As long as you’re open to it when it comes. Stop running from it.” I rolled my eyes and laughed at her, knowing that my Prince Charming was not lurking around the next corner. The pickings were slim, and bitches loved to scream about how niggas weren’t shit, never considering that they may be the problem—it was me, I was bitches.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in love, I just knew that statistically speaking, I would never find a man who could love me like I needed, fuck me the way I craved, and not manage to be a complete piece of shit in the process. We finished everything up with dinner, finally parting ways just as the sun went down.
Once I got home, showered, and comfortable, I pulled out my laptop and did the research that I should have done from day one. First, I pulled up Chase’s social media accounts… not too much to see there. His pages were most likely run by someone else because they seemed very polished, very professional, very boring. He wasn’t a flashy man by any means, and his interviews told a story of humble beginnings and a lowkey lifestyle.
I went a little deeper, finding a few newspaper, magazine, and online articles. I damn near dropped the laptop when I stumbled across one. He was lying in a bathtub, Pac-esque with nothing but a football covering up his nether regions… and the football looked… bigger than a normal one.
My God, today! This stupid ass nigga knows he’s fine!
