“I love you, Seven.”
“I love you more, baby.”
For some reason, I believed that. The patience and persistence he exhibited showed just how much he wanted me. I thought he was impatient, but shit! It had been two years, and he was still trying to get me to see him. It had been a long time coming. Hopefully, we could get it together this time.
“I apologize. I’ll have your book cover to you later today. I got a little behind.”
“Girl, that’s okay. I appreciate you doing that for me.”
“It’s no problem.”
I ended the call with Mya. She was an indie author who was married to Seven’s cousin, Christian. When she found out I did book covers, she was excited to work with me for her next release. I was happy to work with her. We would be working on her rebranding soon. Seven had me so out of it, I was behind on almost everything.
It had been nearly a week since we’d committed to each other, and I still hadn’t caught up with all my work. He’d been dropping by nearly every day, and he took me to dinner Saturday night. It felt amazing having him cater to me. I’d already gotten a bouquet of flowers and a pandora bracelet. He was for sure spoiling me. He’d rearranged my insides to his liking and had been making sure his arrangement stayed intact every day since. I was worn the hell out.
I found myself smiling a lot more for no reason. After talking to my sister, she helped me to see how I’d been playing in Seven’s face. She felt like now that I was giving it up, he wouldn’t be so on edge. She said I was driving him crazy. I couldn’t help but laugh. I was always careful though, and I tended to overthink. Sometimes, in relationships, you just had to take a chance. The things I didn’t like about him were basically him just acting out because he was deprived.
However, I shared Maui’s sentiments. Something was going on. I noticed a guy watching us when we went to dinner. He was one of the ones that got out of one of those SUVs last week at the office after our meeting. I wanted to ask Seven about it, but I didn’t want to pry. If something was up, surely, he would tell me.
He was also a lot quieter than he’d been. He wasn’t talking as much shit. Most times, when we talked throughout the day, he was at home or with his dad. Something was definitely going on for him not to be hanging with his crew. He was always with Royal, PJ, Crew, Kingsley, Ace, Kane, and Ryder J when he was here, and he definitely spent time at the diner. He had only been going there to pick up food and go back home.
It seemed everyone knew except me. Whenever I asked him if he was okay, he would say that he was. While I was an overthinker, my intuition typically didn’t steer me wrong. Something shady was going on. I huffed as I put the finishing touches on flyers for a local cookie business, then began designing Mya’s cover. Her book was about a couple that met because their siblings were best friends. It would still be a friends-to-lovers romance.
I knew I would have fun with this. The main male character was brought up in a middle-class family, while the female main character was brought up in a single-parent household, close to the poverty level. They’d made something of themselves, but shestill had that edge to her. Since she was a dancer, I came up with the perfect idea for the cover.
As I was designing, my phone started ringing. I usually had it on ‘do not disturb’ when I was busy, but ever since Seven and I had decided to try again, I’d been leaving it off. He seemed to be lonely. While he could have come here to chill out, I knew I wouldn’t get any work done . . . at least not the kind of work I was getting paid to do.
Grabbing it, I saw it was Maui. I smiled, then answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, sis. Seven told me to call you to invite you to dinner at our parents’ house. He’s been busy today with meetings with promoters for a few rodeos. Your flyers and website page have been attracting them like bees to honey, girl!”
I chuckled. “That’s awesome! What time should I be there?”
“About six. That will give us time to go home and get our spouses. I just wanna prepare you, though. BaliandNoni are pregnant. Their attitudes have been a lot worse, especially Bali’s.”
“Oh Lord. I’ll do my best to just avoid them, chile. They are worse than Seven sometimes.”
“Absolutely. He’s been real mild lately, and I know it has everything to do with you. I’m so happy for y’all.”
“Thanks, sis. I’ll see y’all at six then.”
“Yep. See you then.”
Once I ended the call, I tried to go back to my design, but my phone chimed. This was why I never had my notifications on. The shit was so distracting. When I saw the group text thread from my family, I rolled my eyes. I would have to catch up with them later. Besides, I didn’t know why they had time to be going back and forth anyway. The only people that were typically free were my dad and my granny.
That acknowledgement had me picking up my phone to see what was going on.
Mama:Have y’all heard from Kareem?
Ayzjohnna:Not since yesterday morning.
Taj:No, not today. I talked to him last night.
Dad:Not since last night.
Kareem was missing? I just saw him this morning when he left for work. I was getting on to him about cleaning after himself. He had clothes all over the couch from when he washed and hadn’t put them away. I told him he needed to take his clothes in his room if he didn’t feel like folding them right then. He didn’t live alone.
Me:I saw him this morning when he left for work. Is he not there?
