Nathaniel #2
Samp leaned back in his seat but kept his hand fixed on Yz’s waist. “I wouldn’t have been that suspicious of her or you if I would’ve known that you cost the girl her damn job.”
Yzzy thumped his thigh chiding him for giving me a hard time. Which only had me grinning and him mad. He wasn’t gonna do shit since she gave him the warning to chill. “Moving on since that’s over and done with. What are you going to have her do for you, Nate?”
“She’s going to handle all the phone calls and scheduling with the business.
It’s too much for me to do now. Especially since I’m trying to get back to competing.
The business is doing well, but we can get better and that’s what I’m aiming for.
The ability to schedule everyone and have the center running smoothly is my goal.
And she’s going to look at all the stuff that’s inside the house.
So she’s going to more than earn her keep. ”
I knew Yzzy could understand because she’d even helped me out on the land and she’d long since advised I needed to get someone in even if it was only part time. “And her staying here?”
“I made it a condition of her employment so that she had a roof over her head. There ain’t a lot to choose from in the Valley and she don’t know anybody.”
Yzzy cocked her head at me with a frown on her face. “She don’t know your ass either, Nate.”
I folded my arms because that truth irritated something in me. Sampson’s brows shot up daring me to offend his wife. “She knows I’m a good dude. I told her to ask about me—”
“Was that wise since people aren’t going to be shy about the fact that you’re a ho?” Yzzy’s comment was made that much more funny because she looked completely skeptical of my advice to Charmy.
“Sis, I thought we were better than that.”
She looked at Samp confused and then back at me. “We are, I’m just not wrong right now. You might not have been picking up every pussy that wanted to be down but you were never shy about being…flirtatious.”
“He wasn’t that bad.” I was thankful my big brother was stepping in for me even though I could tell he was just playing devil’s advocate.
Yzzy’s eyes were back on him and her jaw dropped at his words. “He had a damn rotation!”
I waved my hands at the two of them so they could stop bickering amongst themselves.
They finally locked back in and focused on me.
“I had a few friends with benefits. It wasn’t like I was sitting there knocking down different women every night.
I still know my body count number. It might not be as puritan as the two of y’all but whose is? ”
Yzzy flipped me off with a smile but Sampson was the one to speak up. “Shut up.”
“To be real, Samp, your forty-year-old virgin ass been doing far more in the last year than I have.”
“I’m married!”
I could only nod because he was that. And looking at the comfortable way Yzzy was sitting on him he was doing our bloodline proud. “And you got a lifetime of not fucking to make up for so what’s your point?”
They glanced between each other then back at me.
“I’m not the one cracking jokes, Buck! That’s you.
I swear your ass is so damn silly all the time.
All I’m saying is that you gotta be careful if she’s working for you, Bucky.
You don’t want to get hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit or some shit like that because you wanted to let your ever friendly dick come out to play. ”
I leaned forward and glanced between the two of them because this nigga had some nerve talking to me. Yzzy had the good sense to blush while Sampson just stayed in his big brother role not realizing he was a hypocrite.
I motioned in the air between the three of us with a blank look on my face. This nigga had the nerve to just stare back like he was challenging me.
Okay, bet.
“You wanna take your own advice? But I guess it’s too late since y’all have the same last name now and shit.”
Sampson waved me off. and Yzzy just folded her lips to keep from laughing. At least her ass understood that her husband was being ridiculous. “It’s different.”
“How?”
He turned to his wife and then back to me and did the Vanna White wave down her body. “Because..it’s Yzzy.”
“Okay?”
“I wasn’t just trying to sleep with her. I felt something for her. So when I made a move it had a purpose.”
“And you don’t think I would have the same type of discernment as you?” The offense was mild but it was there. I understood why he was so worried. Being the head of the company meant all fuck ups were on his shoulders. If Charisma was the type of chick who would go after money
“You saying this is going to be your wife?”
My Black ass wasn’t about to say anything of the sort because marriage was too serious for me to be throwing it out there after one meeting.
But there was something about this woman that had me captivated to a point where I couldn’t shake her.
I’d stayed up all night thinking of the best way I could help her.
This was after I followed her discretely back to her room to make sure she didn’t have anyone else trailing her.
Was it weird? Yeah. But I wasn’t going to let anyone get the drop on her.
A man would be angry at being embarrassed and instead of coming to me he’d take out his aggression on her.
I wasn’t about to let that happen. I would’ve felt that way about anyone but there was still something else driving me behind this girl.
I just couldn’t or wouldn’t put a name on it.
“Not my wife but I like her. I wouldn’t do anything that could put myself or the family in jeopardy. But she needed a helping hand and I could lend it. That’s all it is.”
“For now.” My eyes flickered to Yzzy and I saw her battling a grin on her face.
“Why you say it like that?”
“Because you don’t see the way your face changes already when you talk about her.”
I had to clear my throat because the way her face softened when she dropped that bomb on me that felt too close to her touching on something that wasn’t ready to be revealed yet.
“And how is that?”
“Like you’re intrigued. She’s a puzzle that you’re trying to figure out but you already feel comfortable enough to defend her. That says a lot.”
“It’s says she’s a Black woman in a new town that needs someone to look out for her. Hell, we need more of that, don’t you think?” I didn’t need to bring up the past in code because they shared everything with each other. Yzzy was right there when we handled business. Well, most of the time.
“You won’t hear me say that. I’m very much appreciative of the way everyone here welcomed me, so we’ll do the same for your—”
“She’s not my anything. Her name is Charisma.”
Sampson barked a laugh so hard even Yzzy turned to see what the hell was wrong with him. “Charisma? If that ain’t fate kicking you in the nuts.”
“What in the fuck is that supposed to mean, Sampson?”
“That’s the one word that has been used to describe you your entire life: Charismatic.
When you got in trouble, they would always say that you were charming, charismatic and well-mannered.
And now you gonna introduce us to some girl that you’re obviously attracted to that you’re going to have out on the property while you work closely with her?
Next thing you know you’ll be having her travel with you to events and shit.
” My brother was enjoying this teasing entirely too much.
“I need her back at the center.” The argument was a weak one and they both saw through it.
I couldn’t predict what, if anything, was going to happen with Charisma but if she became mine, I’d want her with me.
I’d take codependency to a whole new level because I knew when I fell I would fall hard. Probably why I avoided it for so long.
“Don’t mean your ass won’t change your mind. When you start to miss her and want to be with her. I’ll get her spot in the RV set aside.”
My family traveled to several of the rodeos I competed in and they’d purchased RVs so that everyone who wanted to travel could do so in comfort.
We hadn’t gotten use out of them last year but I was eager for them to see me compete again.
Between my rodeos and the events we would need to attend for the horse races, once we entered the stock we’d purchased last year, the RVs were going to get used often.
“We offer that to everyone so it would only be right to include her.” I was still trying to avoid giving them any concrete commitment.
Admitting that to them made me feel…bad.
Like I was plotting on Charisma and given the way I met her, I didn’t want that in the back of my head whenever we interacted.
If something was going to happen, it needed to happen organically.
Not because I set a trap so perfectly she had no choice but to get snared in it.
Yzzy’s giggle brought me out of my head and I was thankful for it. At least until she opened her mouth. “I can’t wait to meet this girl. She’s got you looking at life a little different.”
“How so?”
“You’re not a bad guy but I’ve never seen you this considerate of a woman before. I’m sure you take care of them physically—”
“Yzabel Briggs Chisholm-Love I know you not thinking about my brother’s dick.
” My laughter echoed off the walls of the room with how thoroughly disturbed Sampson looked at the thought of his wife thinking about me and sex in the same sentence.
She didn’t take his blowing up to heart and just gave him one of those shut the fuck up embarrassing me pats women gave when you’d insulted their intelligence but love kept them from murdering you.
“There is something wrong with you, Sampson. Settle down, cowboy, I’m talking about it in the abstract sense.”
Sampson looked only remotely mollified by that answer and I was sure this conversation would continue between them when I wasn’t around. I couldn’t help but stir the pot since he wanted to joke at my expense. “Ain’t a damn thing abstract—”