Chapter 6
Day
I’m sending a car for you in an hour.
Stassi frowned as the text came through to her phone. It had been two days since the showcase. She hadn’t heard from him. She knew he had a lot going on, so she didn’t necessarily expect to hear from him, but to burst into her head out of the blue so casually annoyed her soul.
Stassi
So, your mama didn’t raise you with any manners, huh? Hi, Day. I’m fine and you?
No sooner than she had pressed send, Day was calling. Stassi hadn’t expected a phone call. He was clearly not in the mood for games. She answered on the third ring.
“My day is already hard enough, Anastassia. Why you got to make it harder?” he asked.
She felt an instant sympathy for giving him attitude because he sounded drained.
“Not trying to make your day hard, sir. Just making sure you know that rude shit you do with other women won’t fly around here.”
“Now, if I was texting you good morning, beautiful, you’d have a fit, call a nigga cliché,” he said.
She laughed. The one thing she loved about Day was this back-and-forth shit.
The witty banter, the making her smile, even in the midst of a bad day like the one today where she was trying to get a new car, but the salesman was making it hard for her.
She held up one finger to the older white man that she had walked away from to take this call.
“One second, I’m on a very important call,” she said, stalling him out.
“Don’t spit that starter kit game on me. You got to try a little harder than that.”
“How about this?” he proposed. “I’m fucked up over here over my nephew’s death, and I really want to see you. Can’t lie, though; I don’t have the best intentions. I’m looking for a distraction.”
Lauren knew the exact distraction he was talking about, and as tempted as she was, she wasn’t going to be that for him.
“Then I think you need to call Kiara Da’vi or one of your other little girlfriends,” she said. She hadn’t forgotten the smart remarks the singer had dropped on her.
“Here you go,” Day said. “I thought we were past this?”
“Past what?” Lauren asked.
“Past…playing…games,” Day replied. His tone was indifferent, and he paused between each word like he was smoking or doing something in between time.
“No games. I just don’t want to be a dumping ground for your trauma, Day.
We started in a crazy way. Everything else we do, if we do anything at all, I’d just like it to be normal, you know?
I don’t want to fall down a rabbit hole of dysfunction with you again.
Which means, no, I don’t want to be your fuck buddy while you’re grieving. ”
“My what?” He laughed. “I swear you overthink every mu’fucking thing. But cool. No dick for you.”
Stassi chuckled against her will because she was trying her hardest to establish boundaries with this man.
“Ma’am, we have other customers. I don’t think we’re going to be able to get you approved. I need to see about this couple over here.” The salesman was hasty as he interrupted her call.
“Yo, where you at?” Day asked, annoyed that their conversation was being interrupted.
“Wait! I need a car, and I need it today. It doesn’t even have to be new. I know you have something I qualify for. My credit score isn’t that bad.”
“You have a recent repossession, ma’am. Now, there are customers here who can afford to be here, and then there’s you.
I don’t want to waste any more of your time or mine.
Have a good day,” he said, walking away.
The man was so damn nice and nasty at the same time that Stassi didn’t even know how to respond.
She was mortified. She felt small in this building like everyone’s eyes were panning on her.
“Yo, where you at?” Day asked again. The annoyance in his voice embarrassed her even more. Although he knew she was down on her luck, she didn’t need him to hear it. She had a quarter million sitting in her bank account from him, but she hadn’t touched it. It just didn’t feel right to spend.
“I’m at the dealership,” she said. “I was trying to get a car. Can I just call you back? I was in the middle of something. They acting like I’m asking to drive off this lot in a Benz. I just need a little used Honda to get around. Damn.”
“Which dealership?”
“Day, I don’t…”
“Anastassia. You need a ride. I’m sending a driver for you. Which dealership?” he insisted.
“The Honda lot off 23 in Fenton.” She surrendered the information, and he hung up the phone instantly.
She knew his driver was on the way, but she was so embarrassed that she just wanted to get out of there.
She walked outside and waited on the curb.
She would rather be in the cold than spend another second inside.
Within 20 minutes, she saw Day’s driver pull into the parking lot. She was freezing by that time and shuffling from foot to foot to generate heat. When the back door popped open and Day hopped out, she was stunned.
Okay, nigga, in your Chelsea boots, pea coat, and your Tom Ford sweater, she thought. He looked like money, and when he pulled her in for a hug, she discovered that he smelled like it, too. She didn’t know where he was coming from, but he had cleaned up for the occasion.
“They made you wait outside?” he asked, brow dipped in aggression as he headed toward the entrance.
“No, I just needed some air, Day. Really, it’s fine. Let’s get out of here,” she said.
“Nah, who was you working with?” he asked as he pulled open the door and marched inside. She followed behind him, wondering if he knew how much authority he exuded. It just infected the air whenever he was around. Dark-ass, fine-ass nigga. Stassi could feel the intrigue dancing up her spine.
“Day, please don’t act like no nigga up in these people’s establishment. I already did. I’m a walking stereotype with my Black ass and my fucked-up credit,” she whispered. Day pinched her chin and tilted her head back slightly so that she was staring into his eyes.
“Which one?” he demanded.
Stassi sighed because she knew they weren’t leaving without making a scene.
“That guy over there,” she said, looking past his shoulder. Day turned around and saw the middle-aged white man in his Docker pants and cheap collar shirt shaking hands with a couple he was helping.
“Let them have him,” he said. “Come on.” He walked over to a man sitting in one of the side offices.
“Excuse me. Are you the manager?” Day asked.
“Yes, sir, I am. Dave Mitchell. What can I do for ya, big fella? I saw this pretty lady test-driving earlier. Did Jake take care of you? You ready to write up a contract?”
Another white man with faux authority. Stassi just wanted to get out of there.
“He didn’t, in fact. He told my lady here she was wasting his time,” Day explained.
“Well, there must be some kind of misunderstanding. I’m sure he didn’t mean to rub her the wrong way,” the man said. “Hey, Jake. Come on over here.”
Jake, the asshole, strolled over cockily.
“We’re trying to get this young lady in a car. What seemed to be the problem?”
“Well…she didn’t qualify. Can’t get her financed,” Jake answered. “If you don’t mind, I need to pull some keys for that couple. They want to test drive.”
“No, we don’t mind,” Day said. He turned to the manager. “I’d like to buy whatever she wants.”
“I take it you’re going to co-sign? We’ll have to run your credit app,” the manager said.
“You can put it on this,” he said, pulling out a Black American Express card. “Matter of fact, I’ll take three of ‘em. Whatever she chooses, I need three. I trust that the commission won’t go to someone who didn’t earn it. Do we have a deal?”
“We’ve got a deal,” the manager said.
Jake’s face flushed red, and he stammered as he tried to find words to defend himself. “I didn’t realize that she didn’t need financing. I would have been happy to…”
“No worries, Jake. Too much of your time has already been wasted, my man. You missed this one. Might catch the next one. Better go fetch them keys,” Day said.
Stassi folded her lips in to stop herself from gloating, but damn it, Day had saved her pride, and she just wanted to rub it in.
With your bitch ass, she thought.
“Let me come from behind this computer and put on my salesman hat. You two look around, and we’ll take something out for a spin,” the manager said happily.
When he walked away, Day turned to Stassi. “You got a bank account full of money. Why you choosing struggle?”
“Your money,” she said.
“Spend the money, Stassi. I can’t take it with me. You tripping on it more than you need to.” He tossed an arm around her shoulder, and she relaxed into his body as they walked around the showroom.
“You really buying three cars?” she asked. “What you gon’ do with the other two?”
“Give them shits to my aunties or something,” he said.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Not you dropping off whole vehicles like they’re flowers,” she said.
“I have more money than I can spend; more than I can invest even. It’s not a big deal. People with money don’t talk about money. Which is why we don’t have to do all this overthinking about you spending whatever I give to you,” he stressed.
He shrugged and opened the car door to one of the floor models. She climbed inside, and he watched her as she gripped the steering wheel. “Day, this is really not necessary,” she asked.
“Nigga, quit playing coy. That game over. You want it?” he asked.
“I swear I’ll pay you back,” she promised.
He didn’t respond, and she knew he was letting her ego win the moment.
“Thank you, Day,” she said, smiling.
“Anytime,” he replied. If he didn’t value money, then how could she measure his affection for her?
If gifting a car was no big deal, what gesture would signify a grand gesture?
She decided to take his advice and not dwell on it.
For now, this was a major resolution to a big problem, and she was appreciative.
An hour later, they were walking out, and Day had arranged for her car to be delivered to her place because he needed more of her time.
He escorted her to the back of the awaiting SUV. As they pulled away from the dealership, Day stared out the window.
“Thank you for covering for me the other night,” he said.
“Of course. I’m really sorry about DJ,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s fucked up,” he answered, voice drenched in a sudden sorrow that seemed to spread over the entire car. “I forgot about it for a minute when I saw you.”
It was the strangest and most flattering compliment she had ever received.
“Have you eaten?” she asked.
“Damn, honestly, I don’t even remember the last time I ate. I ain’t even hungry for real. I just been on go, trying to make sure bro good.”
“And is he?” she asked.
“Nah,” Day responded vaguely. “Shit is all bad. Lauren can’t even plan the funeral.”
“How about we get you fed, then we start doing some of the things Demi and Lauren can’t handle? I can take care of the planning part if they need help.”
“You’d do that? I mean, I know y’all ain’t got the best history with her firing you and all,” he said.
Stassi scoffed. “I would hope that somebody would step up for me if I ever lost someone I loved so tragically. It’s not about the past. I just want to help.”
Day turned back to the cityscape as it passed by his window.
“This conversation didn’t help me, Anastassia,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked, confused.
Day leaned over and whispered in her ear so that his driver wouldn’t overhear.
“Cuz a nigga really, really want to lay his head between your thighs now,” he said.
The way Stassi felt her pussy jump, shit, she wanted to let him.
She blushed and shook her head. “Boy, go to your side of the car.” She may have been dismissive aloud, but she lusted after him in her head.
She hadn’t forgotten the ways he had made her body sing.
She hoped to get back to that place with him one day, where she felt comfortable enough to be the girl in his bed, but first, she had to be sure she was the girl who was in his heart.
If she didn’t occupy both spaces, she couldn’t risk it.
It would only lead to toxic attachment and disappointment.
She had learned to lower her expectations with Day and to make her boundaries higher.
Did she want him around? Yes. Did she need him around?
No. So, if he was going to be around, it would be in a capacity that she knew she could handle.
They were going to take this thing slow or not at all.
“Not that far,” she said, closing the distance between them. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he placed one hand on her thigh as they rode in silence.
“You’re starting something, Day,” she whispered.
“Seems like it,” he replied.