Chapter 13
Aunt Addison’s words didn’t eliminate the guilt I felt, but it made me feel at ease enough to send a text.
Jazmyn Payne: Thank you so much for the journal, Lamar.
I don’t know how you knew but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
And I know I said it in the comments I made on your business plan, but you are brilliant.
I hope you’ll keep me updated with what your lawyer and accountant say about your business plan because it’s ready.
I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to reply via text or to call.
I know I haven’t been a good friend over the last several weeks, but I hope preseason is treating you well.
Lamar Anderson: Why are you texting me like you’re going away? Did you deploy?
I laughed out loud.
Jazmyn Payne: That’s hilarious! Why would you say that?
Lamar Anderson: You disappeared for weeks. I thought you might be in basic training or some shit.
Jazmyn Payne: I’m so weak right now! I gave you a compliment and sent you good vibes and this is the thanks I get?
Lamar Anderson: I’m just messing with you.
Jazmyn Payne: You haven’t called me either so we’re even. I’ve been busy. You’ve been busy. It’s the nature of adult friendships.
My phone vibrated in my hand, lighting up the darkened room as his name flashed across the screen.
“Hello?” I answered quietly.
Even though my door was closed and Aunt Addy had been asleep for half an hour, I kept my voice low.
“Did I wake you?” Lamar’s deep voice tickled my eardrums, and warmth swept through my entire body.
“No.” My voice was breathy. I swallowed hard and regrouped. “Just in bed because I have to wake up early. How are you?”
“I’m good, tired. How are you? It’s been a minute.”
“Yeah, it has,” I acknowledged.
“Why do you have to wake up early?”
“I have a swim lesson.”
“A swim lesson?! That’s what’s up. I thought you were scared of the water.”
“I never said that.” I giggled. “But you see how I told you something and you used it against me?”
He chuckled. “I didn’t use anything against you! I’m just asking! When did you decide to face your fears?”
“Mm-hmm, I’m choosing to ignore the shade,” I replied, grinning. “My aunt and I came up with lists of things to do this summer, and learning to swim was one of mine. So my last couple of weeks here will have some very early mornings.”
“That’s what’s up.” He paused. “Wait, you’re going to be in Chance for two more weeks?”
“Yeah. Two and a half, actually.”
“You moved back?”
I scoffed. “Absolutely not. Even though my property manager probably thinks so.”
“You’ve been gone all summer. You need somebody to check on it? Make sure it’s still standing?”
I snickered lightly. “I’m more worried about paying rent at a place I’m not staying than I am that Richland Hills is still standing.”
“Richland Hills,” he repeated. “Is that the place that—”
“That’s the one,” I interrupted.
We both laughed.
“So, you’re still in Chance…?”
I sighed. “I am.”
“Everything okay?”
I rolled over to my side, pressing the phone to my ear.
Everything about his tone and his energy put me at ease, but when I opened my mouth, the words wouldn’t come out.
It wasn’t because I didn’t trust him or because I didn’t feel like I could.
But I didn’t want the lightness between us to disappear.
Sickness and death were so dark and heavy.
I needed his light, and I needed things between us to remain light.
But I also couldn’t lie to him.
I swallowed hard. “I decided to spend the summer with my aunt,” I told him, choosing my words carefully. “I wanted to help her get through her list, and she wanted to see me get a start on mine.”
“How’s it been going?”
“So far, so good.”
I ran down the list of things we’d accomplished.
He laughed when I recapped our picnic and when I told him how my aunt and her friends got down at the drive-in movie.
I described the blue hair and the tattoos.
I filled him in on the jazz festival, and he asked questions about the photoshoot, the book club, and the mystery party.
But he was in a stunned silence when I told him about the yoni steam.
“She wanted to do what?” he balked.
I snickered into my pillow. “It was an interesting experience.”
“What made her want to do— You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know!” He let out a laugh. “But it sounds like you two knocked a lot off her list. No wonder I couldn’t get you on the phone. You were busy as hell.”
“Just like you! You went to training camp, and I barely got a call.”
“Training camp ran from six o’clock in the morning until nine o’clock at night, then lights out at eleven. After a shower, I was crashing around ten.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was that intense.”
“Yeah, it’s a rough few weeks. But I did try to hit you up here and there when I had a little more energy. Definitely not on the days we had two-a-days. But I did call you—not that you picked up when I did.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Family is important, and after hearing how you and your aunt were moving, I know you were busy.
And I can’t complain too much—every time I had a chance to update my business plan, I checked before bed, and you had tweaked and added things to make it better.
I’m this close to hiring you on the spot. ”
“So what I hear you saying is that I wasn’t the most present friend, but I was pretty great. So great, in fact, that you’d hire me to be a senior partner!”
He chuckled, and that deep, rich sound put a smile on my face. “Yeah, I think I’ll keep you.”
“Good. I like being kept.”
“You’ll have to let me take you out again when our schedules free up. I’m off tomorrow, but then practice picks back up, and the first preseason game is coming up.”
“Yeah, I’d like that. I won’t be back in Maryland until the regular season is about to start. But we should definitely get together.”
“The way you talked about Chance, I just knew you’d be back up here already. It’s clear your aunt means a lot to you.”
“She does. She’s…” I sighed a little thinking about why we’d gotten so much done so fast. “Aunt Addy was the first person to show me that life was more than Chance. She lives her life to the fullest. She’s always been my inspiration.”
“That’s why you’re getting the same tattoo?”
My lips tugged upward. “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons. For my first tattoo, I—”
“Oh, this will be your first one?”
“Yeah, I was always curious about tattoos, but I thought they’d hurt, so I never got one. Do you have any?”
I’d checked out his arms every time I saw him, and I hadn’t noticed any.
“Yeah, I have one on my back,” he told me. “It goes from one shoulder to the other, and it’s pretty detailed.”
My phone pinged and I ignored it.
“Did it hurt?” I asked.
“Hell yeah.”
Remembering what he looked like from behind, I smirked. “You have broad shoulders, so I bet! What’s it of?”
“It’s angel wings and a cross with my dad’s name, date of birth, and death. I just sent you a picture of it.”
“Oh, let me check.”
I’d just opened the text when he continued. “That was from Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. I got the tour guide to take this of me about fifteen minutes before I dropped my shit in the ocean. It was the last picture that had backed up.”
Well, damn!
I couldn’t even respond verbally to what he was saying because I was gawking at his sexy-ass image splayed on my phone.
I definitely saved it to my photo album and continued staring.
The different shades of blue between the water and the sky were beautiful, but water droplets adorning Lamar’s brown skin as he stretched his arms to the side showing off his tattoo and his wingspan really stole the show.
His tall, thick build, muscular arms, and intricate wing tattoo only made him sexier.
“Oh wow,” I breathed finally. “It’s beautiful.”
“You can’t really see all the details, but I’ll show it to you the next time we see each other.”
The thought of seeing him again made my stomach flutter. But the thought of seeing him again at least partially naked for me to see the details of his tattoo sent a wave of heat through my body. My mouth went dry for a moment.
“I’d like that,” I murmured. “To see you—it. I’d like to see it.” I put my hand over my face. “Okay, it’s late, and my brain just malfunctioned. I should go to bed.”
“It’s not even eleven o’clock,” he pointed out in a teasing tone, ignoring my attempt to get off the phone. “Now, were you saying you’d like to see me or the tattoo?”
I let out an embarrassed laugh. I wasn’t embarrassed by my admission. It was the way I’d stumbled over my words that had my face aflame.
“Okay, what I was trying to say is that I’d like to see the tattoo,” I clarified. “What came out was that I’d like to see you. Both things are true. I just don’t know why I got so tongue-tied there.”
His soft chuckle was seductive. “I liked it.”
“You like that my brain and my mouth weren’t on the same page?”
“I like your brain and your mouth.”
My stomach flipped. “Oh?”
“Yeah, you’re smart. You think outside the box. I like the way you make connections in your head. I like that I never know exactly what you’re thinking or what you’re about to say. I could go on, but I’ll just say that, for a lot of reasons, I like your brain and your mouth … a lot.”
The air left my lungs.
His words hit my ears, my heart, and my pussy simultaneously.
He cleared his throat. “You told me about your fake tattoo, but you didn’t send me a picture of it.”
Grateful for the distraction, I sent him the picture I’d taken right before the book club meeting. I was sitting with my fist against my cheek and the inside of my wrist facing the camera. I was smiling, but the purpose of the photo was to show off my tattoo.
“Nice,” he reacted. “That purple looks good on your skin.”