Once again, Valentino’s eyes were on me, silently studying me before he answered, and I wondered if he was going to do that shit every time. “Yeah, we run all our businesses together since our pops retired, even though he’s constantly keeping up with them anyway instead of taking our OG on vacation like he’s supposed to,” he cracked with a smirk, and I bit back a smile of my own.
He was telling me details without realizing it, and the fact that his parents were together for over thirty-three years was encouraging. I was just about to ask more about the couple, but his phone rang before I could open my mouth. Unlike most people, his didn’t immediately connect to the car’s speaker, so I didn’t hear what the other person said, but his entire demeanorchanged. The conversation was short and clipped, sucking the good vibes from the car.
“Ayite, I’ll be right there.”
Before I knew it, he’d hung up and hit the accelerator. I’d been so engrossed in our talk that I hadn’t been paying any attention to where he was driving or the fact that I hadn’t told him my address, but he turned onto my street with ease. I didn’t know if I was more upset that he knew where I lived or that he was about to leave me. Coming to a stop in front of my house, he wasted no time getting out and coming around to open my door.
Once my feet hit the curb, he pressed me up against the car and tilted my chin up. “I gotta run, but I’ll see you later. Okay?”
Damn.He had me so thirsty for his lips to touch mine that I didn’t ask any of the obvious questions. “Okay,” I simpered, and he finally covered my mouth with his, sending a tingle down my spine.Good God, this man!
“Don’t forgot what I said,” he warned, stepping back once the kiss was over.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his demanding ass. I made sure to put an extra sway in my hips as I made my way up to my porch, feeling his eyes on me. Like a gentleman, he waited until I’d unlocked my door and was safely inside before he even moved from his spot on the sidewalk. I watched him get back in the car and pull off, feeling like a whole groupie. After talking all that shit, I’d ended up worse off than I’d started.
CHAPTER 8
BLISS JAMES
Iwoke up, and instead of climbing out of bed, I snuggled closer to my boo with a sigh. It felt too good being in his arms, and I wasn’t in a rush to get up anyway since I was off work. I was just about to close my eyes and drift back to sleep, but a FaceTime call came through on my phone. Sitting up on my elbow, I checked to see who it was and went to accept my sister’s call when Jordan grumbled from behind me.
“Don’t answer that shit right here, man.”
My nose turned up at him starting the morning on that bullshit because I already knew exactly why he was saying that. He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet and was still comfortably wrapped around me. “It’s just my sister, baby. She doesn’t even know you,” I said defensively, and his eyes squinted open.
“Did I ask that? A nigga just tryna sleep, bro, and you already on one. Damn!” Sucking his teeth, he slipped away from me and sat up on his side of the bed.
I stared at his back, too caught off guard to even care that my sister’s call had gone to voicemail.
“I know you’re not serious right now! Where are you going?” Now it was my turn to sit up, unable to stop my attitude from emerging as he slid on his boxers and headed toward the door.He left without answering, and I rolled my eyes with a frustrated growl.
We’d had such a good night, just for him to start acting crazy over nothing first thing in the morning. At that point, I should’ve been used to the back and forth with Jordan, but somehow, his moody ass caught me off guard every time.
I’d been messing with Jordan for a little over six months. We met one day while I was at Micah’s doing her hair, and he just happened to be there with her boyfriend, Travis. He waited until I was finished and on the way to my car to approach away from everyone’s eyes, which should’ve been a red flag. Matter of fact, him even being friends with Micah’s nigga should’ve told me everything I needed to know about his ass, but I realized that Travis was more of a flunky than anything. Jordan was the more attractive one, obviously had more money, and he carried himself different, so instead of listening to my gut, I gave him my number.
The fact that he actually called with plans to take me out set him even further apart from Travis’ bum ass. Not only did Jordan spend weeks wining and dining me, but he only trapped me further by putting the most amazing dick in my life. That should’ve been another red flag. As a grown ass woman, I was well aware of how toxic niggas always had the best dick, but that didn’t stop me from getting sucked into the bullshit that came with Jordan.
When he first told me to keep things quiet between us, I wasn’t immediately alarmed. I mean, I’d been all through the man’s social media and hadn’t seen any reason to think he had a baby mama, girlfriend, or worse, a wife tucked away somewhere. I’d even gone so far as to search for tags with him and had come up short. That gave me a sense of security, but I’d quickly learned his secrecy was because of my size.
As a full-figured woman, coming from a family of the same, I’d been plus sized all my life and had grown to accept and love the body I’d been blessed with. In my life, there’d been no shortage of men vying for my attention, but, for some reason, the nigga who wanted to hide me had my heart. If my family knew the type of shit I was dealing with, they’d be ready to have an intervention, and my honey would probably try to shoot his ass. Which was probably why I hadn’t told them. I put up a good front and walked around, oozing confidence, but when it came to Jordan Black, all that shit went out the window.
I was still sitting there looking stupid when he returned a few minutes later, casually guzzling a bottle of water like he hadn’t just fucked up my morning. I wasn’t about to let him slide today, though. Crossing my arms, I leaned against his headboard, hating how good he looked, even after only just waking up. Just like me, Jordan was lighter skinned. He had slanted eyes with the longest, prettiest eyelashes, a narrow nose that he wore a small stud in, and the most suckable lips that had a darkened tint to them from years of smoking weed. If he had light eyes, he’d look just like prison bae. He knew it, too, and used his looks to his advantage whenever he could. When that didn’t work, he put that amazing dick on me, but I wasn’t falling for it today. He’d been super busy lately and had promised to finally spend a weekend with me, only to act an ass before the day even got started.
“So, you’re not gon’ explain what’s got you all snappy this morning?” I asked when he still hadn’t said shit.
“My bad, B. I’m just tired, and you’re up early as hell, tryna talk on the phone and bringing up some shit that I’m not tryna deal with right now. Work and shit stressful for me right now, and instead of being a nigga’s peace, you’re adding to the shit.” His eyebrows dipped, and instead of being able to call him out on the string of words he’d sown together, my soft ass felt guilty.
Jordan was in the streets on some Robin Hood shit, so I knew when he mentioned work being stressful, he was talking about heists. Being in a life-or-death business was definitely something that had him tense as fuck and another reason he claimed to keep me out the way, which I didn’t mind at all. I may have liked his thug appeal, but I was not trying to be the Bonnie to his Clyde and have myself at risk.
The rebuttal I’d been prepared to hit him with quickly died in my throat. I climbed to my knees and made my way to the edge of the bed where he was standing and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry, babe. I’m not tryna stress you out. Let’s just forget about all that and get our day together started the right way.” I grinned devilishly and started kissing his neck. The low growl he let out had me excited, but instead of embracing me, he planted his hands on my hips and gently pushed me away.
“Shit, my bad, baby. I forgot the guys supposed to be coming over so we can talk business.” He looked in my eyes pleadingly as the smile dropped from my face, and my attitude reemerged.
“When the fuck did you find that out? You were just too sleepy to let me talk to my damn sister, but now you’re wide awake and postponing plans for some niggas!” My voice shrilled, and it was taking everything in me not to slap the fuck out of him. Every time I looked up, I was being put on the back burner, and as understanding and in love as I was, I also wasn’t a damn fool.
Jordan had the nerve to look mad that I was mad, or maybe it was because I’d called him out. “Who the fuck you yellin’ at? Yo’ ass trippin’ about one day when a nigga go out his way to spend time with you whenever the fuck I can! Didn’t I just take you to fuckin’ Hawaii? You don’t be complaining about them niggas when they’re putting in work so I can lace you up!”
Normally, that shit would’ve had me feeling bad, but I wasn’t in the mood for it today. I was honestly starting to get fedup with everything that came with Jordan, and it was obvious in the way I was beginning to handle our conflicts. The whole reason we were supposed to be spending the day together was because he’d been blowing me off. Once I picked up on the vibe and started moving accordingly, though, he came begging and pleading, coming up with a “bae day” for us to make up for it. Here we were, right back where we’d started, and it was probably going to be the last time.
