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Part II cont’d
April | Present Day
Iwoke to a stir. My eyes opened to the morning sun and momentarily, my body felt heavy. I’d slept hard, I could tell. What time was it? I rubbed my hazy eyes before glancing around the room. Like before, Jas’ bedroom seemed larger in daylight than it did at night. The fact of the matter was the area was enormous, almost twice the size of my master suite. The sitting room was empty and so was the left side of the bed. I wondered where he was.
When I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, I remembered I’d shut it down when theInstagramapp videos were glitching.Damn it. I fell asleep before powering it back on. After the phone loaded, I learned how late it was. Almost eight am.Shit!Had I slept that hard? Maybe after the night I’d had. Before I could gather my thoughts, the notifications began loading and seconds after that, the damn thing rang in my hand.
“Guh—” I cleared my throat. “Good morning.”
“Are you sleeping, Ms. Witherspoon?”
I blinked, clearing my throat again. “Apparently not, Marge-Jean, if I’m answering your call.”
“Nice of you to lieandbe flippant when you have the eight-fifteen meeting”—my eyes closed the second it came to memory—“with the cleaning company, Ms. Witherspoon!”
I rubbed my swollen face, not needing this first thing in the morning. Not after the night I’d had and the lack of sleep the few before it. “Yeah. I’m sorry, but do you think you could handle that for me?”
“But you said it would be best you did because of my temper.”
I cocked my head to the side, pressing the phone to my ear. “Well, you’re going to have to control it for the betterment of the company and in the name of professionalism. Right?”
“We’ll see,” she challenged, but conceded. “What time can we expect you in? There is a stack of contracts waiting for your review.”
“I know.” I finger-combed my hair, looking around for my purse. “Ummmm… I don’t quite know. Let me make a few calls to know for sure. I’ll call you back in a bit.”
“Oakie doakie,” she sang dryly.
When the call disconnected, a wave of arousal coursed through me. Call it female morning wood or whatever hocus-pocus shit Jas pulled on me a few hours ago, but I was horny as fuck. Horny and disoriented because I woke up in a foreign place. This couldn’t be a good thing.
Me:Where are you?
I checked my text messages, seeing one from my dad saying he was onMarye Islandand wouldn’t be returning until tomorrow. Cecil texted asking about hanging out this weekend. Noelle texted three times wondering why she hadn’t heard from me since I’d been back in town.Shit. I made a mental note to hit her back right away although she’d be in school.
The moment I shifted from the mattress to head to the bathroom, my phone vibrated.
Jas:On my second site. You good?
So, he’d left me here alone? Slowly, I began to regain my wits, turned on the shower, and drew my braids up into a ponytail on top of my head. Then I washed my face and brushed my teeth. While showering, my body began energizing and thoughts developed. Vitality had begun to mount, and that arousal didn’t calm. An idea occurred. I left the bathroom in search of clothes to throw on. A tee shirt and sweats could possibly do until I made it to my studio.
I dried off after the shower and wrapped the towel around, wondering what I’d throw on. My phone rang just as I left the bathroom. The caller was unknown, but I was too preoccupied with getting out of here to think twice about answering.
“Hello.”
“Oh, god,” she breathed. “You answered. Listen, Shi-Shi, I’ve really tried giving you your privacy.” That’s when I recognized her voice. “I stay out of grown folk’s business, but it’s been over two months.”
“Ms. Willimina, right now’s not a good time. Is there anything wrong?”
Finding my way to Jas’ walk-in closet, I was shocked by the hollowness of the space compared to how large it was. I immediately considered how unprepared Jas was for an estate of this enormity.
“Wrong?” She gasped. “Honey, I think we’re past those games, don’t you? Austin’s been sick, trying to reach out to you. I’ve even called your father. Do you know how evasive that was for me?”
And this call isn’t?
But I couldn’t focus on that—would never be rude to Austin’s mother. Besides that, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. The closet was a circular shape with two-tier hanging rods. Out of the ten cubbies, Jas only occupied two and very sparsely.
“I’m here now, Ms. Willimina. How can I help you?”
“By putting your selfishness aside and at least having a conversation with Austin.”
