Page 19 of Know Your Place

She sighed. “See? This. This shit is too much. I’m all for being a crazy bitch, but you bring out a whole new level. I don’t know if I even like myself anymore.”

That somehow hurt more than her being tired of us. The thought of her not liking herself when I liked her so much. Damn . . . I really, really liked her ass. I didn’t know what to do with that, but for once, I let my heart do the talking instead of my slick-ass mouth and brain.

“Go on a date with me.”

Her head whipped up. “What?”

“A date.” I shifted from foot to foot. After a second, she laughed. My brows pulled in, and my heart ached more than ever, but I immediately felt ironclad walls go up to protect me from the vulnerability I just felt by asking her that shit. I had never in my life asked a woman on a date, so I definitely never thought it would result in the woman laughing in my face. I waved her off and turned to walk away. “Never mind.”

She rushed over to me and grabbed my wrist to stop me. “No, stop. I’m sorry. I’m laughing because I didn’t expect you to say that. You know we don’t date. It’s just not what we do. It’s why we get along so well . . . sometimes.”

“Maybe we need to try somethin’ new. It was just a thought.” I wanted more than anything to get the fuck away from here and never think about this moment again, but Icelynn’s grip on my wrist kept me in place, tethered to her like she was my lifeline to happiness.

“Okay,” she finally whispered.

My brows dipped. “Okay?”

It was her turn to shift from foot to foot. “Okay. Let’s go on a date.”

My heart soared as those walls surrounding it crumpled. “Yeah?”

She smiled a little while looking at everything but me. “Yeah, but don’t do no cutesy shit, nigga. That ain’t me. Remember you’re bringing a thug on a date, not a pretty princess.”

I chuckled, and I couldn’t help it. I palmed her face and made her look at me. “I got you. Tomorrow night?”

She nodded. “Tomorrow night.”

She slowly backed away from me, that small smile still dancing on her lips.

“Aye, where you goin’?” I asked when I realized I’d gotten way too caught up in her mesmerizing gaze. “You still payin’ for this shit.”

She giggled and let go of my hand, despite me trying to hold on to the tips of her fingers. “If the date goes well, I promise to pay up.”

Pre-cum oozed from my dick as I watched her sexy ass walk out of my shop like she hadn’t come through here like a damn hurricane and rocked my entire world.

The carpet in my room should have had deep divots in them along the length of the space because of all the pacing I’d done since last night. I’d barely gotten any sleep because I couldn’t really wrap my mind around the decision I’d made the day before.

How I went from pointing a gun at a bitch because of Beretta to agreeing to a date within five minutes was beyond me. Granted, I knew the gun wasn’t loaded. Beretta had told me a while ago that none of the display guns had bullets in them, but I hoped the graphic designer bitch hadn’t known that. A smile creased my face as I thought about how scared she looked when I stood over her with the gun.

“You really are nutty, you know that?” Capri said from her spot on my bed.

I glared at her before I stuck my middle finger up. Why I called her, I had no idea. I felt like I was in a damn crisis and had a lapse in judgement. I loved my sister dearly, but we couldn’t be more opposite. Baby sis was calm and in her soft girl era from the moment our mama pushed her big ass head out. I had always been the rowdy, rough girl who protected her. She was my best friend, along with Chyna and Chiara, but none of them could understand what I was going through right now.

“Shut the hell up, Pri, and help me come up with an excuse to get out of this date.” My heart squeezed painfully at the thought, but I ignored it. I didn’t know how to go on a damn date. There was no way this would be a good idea. Beretta and I did well physically, but when it came to emotions, we were liable to fuck the whole city up. Wouldn’t going on an actual date mean getting emotions involved?

They’re already involved, bitch.

I shook my head in frustration and muttered to myself, trying to make sense of my predicament, and, better yet, how I could get out of it.

“I’ll do no such thing,” she muttered as she scrolled nonchalantly on her phone. Irritation flared within me, and I snatched her phone out of her hand and chucked it onto the floor. “Hey, psycho! Cut it out. You really do entirely too much.”

Once again, I stuck my middle finger up at her. It was childish, I knew, but she really wasn’t any help at the moment, which irritated my soul.

“Come on, Capri. Help me. It’s why I called you,” I begged, and I wasn’t even a begging type of bitch, but I felt desperate.

Capri got up and bent to grab her phone. Once she had it in her hand, she looked at me and shook her head. “I am helping you. I helped you get ready for your first date ever, and now I’m attempting to force you to go through with it.”

I huffed out a breath as I flopped onto my bed. “I can’t, Pri. Dating ain’t for me.”