I eyed her out of the corner of my eye.Damn. In all the years I’d known her, I couldn’t say that I’d ever eaten anything she’d cooked. Probably because I made sure to keep our interactions cordial, professional … distant. That didn’t mean I never wanted something more. Alaiya was a beautiful woman. We had a natural connection, but she was off-limits to me. And I had to be good with that.
Shrugging, she said, “I’ll wrap you up a few pieces to take home.” She smiled at Ryker when he set a glass of water in front of her. Then, she glanced around the room. “Look at this. See that woman over there?” She pointed to my left. “With the silver glitter jumpsuit?”
I easily found the woman in the crowd. She was smiling from ear-to-ear, speaking in an outside voice. “You know her?”
Alaiya shook her head. “Yeah. I used to work with her at Hudsons.”
“That’s a long time ago.”
“Right? Anyway, she confessed to me that she’s hoping to find her fifth husband tonight. But she also said that she still hadn’t left her fourth husband.” She sighed. “I understand why people sign up for stuff like this, but I don’t trust it. People lie. They act good when they’re bad. Pretend to have money when they’re broke. Everyone is simply presenting the image they think someone would be attracted to. Like Yolanda.”
Tilting my head to the side, I waited for her to elaborate. When she didn’t, I pressed her. “Whatabout Yolanda?”
“I caught a glimpse of her profile.”
The pieces started to click together. “You just happened to see it?”
She cracked up. “Man, you know I looked at that shit on purpose.”
Chuckling, I teased, “Glad you cleared that up.”
“Anyway, I saw that you could use an assist, so I pulled Taylar to the side and told her what’s up.”
I held up my fist. “Good lookin’ out.”
She bumped hers with mine. “No problem.”
My eyes locked on hers. This time she didn’t look away. “You don’t like her.”
“Can’t stand her,” she admitted. “Or her daddy.”
My mind swirled with so many questions. I knew the bishop because I was twenty years younger than my oldest sibling and I’d seen with my own eyes the way he used to be out in these streets. Alaiya was only a few years younger than me, though. I wondered about her connection to that family. “How do you know them so well?”
“Church,” she grumbled. “My aunt used to drag me to Sunday school. Let’s just say, several people in my family were once clients of Bishop Matthews back in the day. And I know for a fact that he didn’t stop dealing after he became the associate pastor of that church.”
“And Yolanda? What did she do?”
She shrugged. “She’s just a bitch.”
I barked out a laugh. “You’re silly.”
“Anyway, it was either tell Taylar the truth, or ask to be your next date. Full disclosure—I was leaning toward the date idea.” She flashed a devious smirk. “Only because I knew it would piss Yolanda off.”
Now I had one more question. And a confession. Leaning closer, I whispered, “As long as we’re being honest, you could’ve been my final date tonight. I would’ve had no problem spending the rest of the evening with you. But …” my gaze dropped to her mouth, “I imagine that would be a problem for your husband.” I slid the list over to her, and her eyes widened. “Right?”
CHAPTER 2
On and On
Alaiya
Obviously, I fucked up.Or I’m just fucked.
It made sense when I made my list. I felt better afterward, too. Especially after that muthafucka stole my money. Instead of revenge, I just wanted to move the fuck on.
Iwantedaccess to my bank account.
Iwantedan empty house.
