AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Peach’s attention was snatched by her phone.
I reached toward the middle of the table for bread. “That’s quite presumptuous of you.”
“What?” Corinne asked.
“You saw the man one time—didn’t even formally meet him—but accuse him of being a drug dealer?”
“Well…” Shizu urged me with her expectant expression and asked, “Is he?”
“A drug dealer?” I cackled hard. “No. Hell no!He—” I stopped because I honestly didn’t know what in the hell Jas did. Needing to stand strong for the sake of an argument, I continued, “he’s in construction. In fact, from our conversations, he made clear he didn’t sell drugs in his foolish youthful days in the hood.”
“Oh. Okay,” was all Corinne commented with a twisted mouth.
I wouldn’t hold her to her wild assumption. She wasn’t the judgmental type.
“What was he then?” Peach asked.
Then it dawned on me she was referring to his time in prison. “A typical wild Harlem kid. Excuse me.” I pushed my chair back from the table. “I need the bathroom.”
“What about your order, Shi-Shi?” Shizu asked as I sauntered off. “The waitress should be back soon.”
“I’m not all that hungry. I may ditch dinner and jump to dessert.” When I finally took off, I just knew my friends talked about me. Not in a mean way, but in the manner we did when concerned.
Having a lot of shit I didn’t want to talk about, I didn’t care. I went to the restroom, threading through tables, wait staff, and other guests. When I arrived at the back of the restaurant, I was happy to see no line. Then I recalled the waitress telling us about the four areas of the place where the restrooms were located. There were a few ladies standing at the sink, busy with washing their hands and touching up their faces, but a few stalls were vacant. I slid inside one and did my business. When I was done, I washed and dried my hands.
I’d just breezed through the doorjamb when a distinct scent tickled my nostrils, and a zapping energy awakened in me. A shiver coursed the back of my neck and head, leaving me vulnerable. I glanced up, hyper-self-aware and there he stood. He leaned into the wall on his shoulder. One hand was pushed into his pocket, the other on a toothpick hanging from his mouth. And he looked damn good. Jeans, white cotton t-shirt, and blazer was a deliciously disarming costume on him tonight.
Bizarrely nervous, I swiped the back of my neck with my hand. “And you’re here,” I murmured dryly, unable to look him in the face while saying it.
“You look beautiful, Witherspoon.”
My inspection rolled down my body. “That was the intent. Bad bitch status.”
“Forever that.” He nodded.
When I had to move to make way for a woman leaving the ladies’ room, he reached for me, enlivening goosebumps all over. “Look.” I swallowed. “I need to go. They’re waiting on me.”
“Hold up a minute.” His touch on my arm was electrifying. I peered down at our connection with disdain. “I wanna be cool with you.”
“For what? To continue to play on my naïveté?” I snorted. “I have real friends. They don’t do that.”
Beneath the mocha shell, the full pillowy lips, the naturally dark shaded beard, and bushy brows was a fire peeking through his irises. It felt dangerous. It was narrowly specific and exclusively for me. The magnetic pull was cove-molded and akin to what I felt last weekend at his place. My emotions suddenly shot to my throat, threatening to spill. The shit made me weak in the knees, hella vulnerable.
I needed to go. Jas didn’t deserve my nakedness—in bed or in emotion. But the way he pinned me with that searing gaze made it hard to speak. Jas felt determined and anything but indifferent, something I’d never seen from him. I tried thinking of my escape route.
“Ashir—”
“What’s your name?” my cords so deep, they hurt. My nostrils spread as the disgusting feelings I left his place with resurfaced, eclipsing the vulnerability. “Your full birth name. What’s your name?”
His spirit deflated visibly. I saw it in the narrowing of his eyes and the slight dipping of his shoulders. “Say less, Witherspoon.”
The waitress who served our table drinks was headed toward us. “You’ve done enough of that already. Excuse me.” I pivoted to get her attention. “Could you send the entire bill for my table to this gentleman here? He’s seated over there, just over the plant display.” I pointed.
With a faint smile, she peered over to Jas for clarity or direction.
“You read the letter yet?”
I shrugged. “It’s in the purse I wore yesterday. Bad bitch move.”
