Page 54 of The Need to Know

I looked over and immediately understood what Paisley was upset about.

Ezekiel had just walked into Shéc, and he wasn’t alone. With him was a young, gorgeous woman, who wasn’t standing too far from his side. They were casually looking around, seeing what Shéc had to offer, and for some reason, I didn’t like the scene before me at all.

Did he say he had a sister?

I ran every conversation we had through my mind just then and came up short.

The woman was tall, like a model, with impeccable dark brown skin like Ezekiel’s, but she didn’t look like him in any way. Her strong cheekbones, full lips, and big eyes had me almost certain she was a model.

Just as I caught myself feeling some type of way, I snapped out of it. I had no right to be mad or annoyed. This was what we’d agreed on. Ezekiel could see and be with whoever he pleased, because we weren’t together, and we never would be exclusively.

“She’s cute,” Paisley whispered to me.

“Stunning,” I echoed.

Ezekiel looked over, spotting us, shooting us a grin and a nod as if this wasn’t weird at all. What more, he leaned over to the girl and said something to her before breaking away and coming to the checkout counter.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” he greeted us collectively.

“Hey,” I let out.

“Looking for something?” Paisley wanted to know. She’d activated protective mode as she sized Ezekiel up with no shame.

“Actually, I was hoping I could steal Nas for lunch,” Ezekiel said.

“We’re working,” I said. “It’s busy.”

“Ah.” He stepped back and showed a hand toward the young woman browsing our selection of purses and handbags. “I figured you might say that, so I brought a hand. Jonelle’s got retail experience and she’s great on register at the club.”

Paisley eyed Jonelle. “Who is that?”

“One of our bottle girls,” Ezekiel explained.

“We don’t know her,” I said. While I was relieved he wasn’t here being an asshole and rubbing the next woman in my face, I couldn’t just let her work in my shop.

“I’m good to my people, so they’re good to me. I wouldn’t have brought her if I didn’t trust her. She’s doing me this solid in exchange for the night off, plus, I want her to wear something from the store for when we promote Shéc at the Ladies’ Night event.”

He’d thought it out. He’d take me to lunch and have one of his employees take my place to help Paisley while I was gone. It was sincere and sweet. Not at all what I was used to.

Again, Paisley nudged me. “You gotta hand it to him, that’s considerate.”

“A little spontaneous, but I was thinking about you,” Ezekiel admitted. He touched his chest. “I’m sorry if I’m putting you on the spot, or if you’re not in the mood.”

I did feel lousy, but so effortlessly he brought a smile to my face. “No. Thank you, for this, Zeke.”

He smiled and eyed Paisley. “I’ll even bring you back something.”

Paisley didn’t need much convincing after that. “You know what I like,” she said to me before looking over at Jonelle. “Well, let’s see how this goes.”

Ezekiel called Jonelle over and introduced us all to each other. She got behind the register and Paisley showed her the way we ran things, and thankfully she was a fast learner. I was nervous about this whole thing, but something about Ezekiel made it all too easy to trust in his word. That he wouldn’t put me in harm’s way, and as naïve as it was, I put faith in him.

“I guess you always dress like that,” I teased as I met up with Ezekiel at the shop’s exit.

In his long-sleeved black shirt and navy slacks, Ezekiel was business casual.

Ezekiel peered down and examined himself. “I like to dress like I’m doing something important.”

His pants didn’t sag and he looked about his time and his money. I couldn’t fault him. He was successful.