Nathaniel #3
She was nodding again letting my words marinate. Her body leaned into mine slightly and damn if that contact didn’t feel like heaven. “The love is there. Undoubtedly. I think I let myself stray so far from who I’d grown to be when I was in college trying to escape any hint of impropriety.”
“So you changed everything about yourself.”
Charisma shrugged like it was no big deal. “Kinda.”
Since she didn’t offer more I pressed her further.
“What about dude? This ain’t me hating on him this is me concerned about Charisma and her dreams.” I tapped her knee to emphasize I wasn’t hating on the nigga.
At least not right now. A nigga name Trent wasn’t going to ever get the best of me.
And it was clear he ain’t deserve to be in the same room as Charmy. I just needed her to see that.
“I understand now.”
I didn’t understand where the hell that comment came from. “Understand what?”
“How you were so easily considered a whore.” Charmy had the nerve to say it like she was paying me a compliment with her voice all light and sweet. She even had the gall to bat her damn eyes at me.
Her playfulness was contagious and I was grinning when I responded to her. “Damn a whole whore?”
“You have the gift of gab so I’m sure you have absolutely gone from ho to full-fledged whore.”
“Hoin’ is for whores who get paid.”
“So you were underutilizing your talents then.” Charmy shook her head and looked completely disappointed that my dick wasn’t getting financial compensation. She’d seen that muthafucka so I’m sure with the visual she knew he deserved it. I couldn’t wait until she got to feel him for herself.
“Are you flirting with me?”
Her head rolled back as she cut her eyes at me. I only winked at her and she closed her eyes like I was making shit hard for her. “Nate—”
I took a chance and intertwined our fingers testing to see if she would snatch her hand away.
As I expected, she didn’t but she looked down at them like the weight of the world was on her shoulders.
“It won’t work. I already told you I’m not worried about looking like a hater. I’m thinking about you. So what’s up?”
“Trent has a very straight-laced image—”
“That uptight ass name is really coming out to play, huh?”
She pushed me again laughing but didn’t drop my hand. It felt idyllic as hell holding her hand beneath this tree on the property we were making into something more than what it had been.
“Stop it. It’s a family name. I think. But he’s always been a social person looking at moving up and through the different high society circles in the city. It’s annoying but he only encourages the business side of my brain and not the creative side. It’s unfortunate because—”
“Because you don’t have a partner that believes in you.”
Something was off when she talked about this nigga. Her tone was flat, like she were reading his supposedly good traits off of a résumé. She had more passion in the kiss with me, a man she only knew for a few weeks, than this nigga she was claiming.
Something ain’t adding up.
“He’s too focused on being serious and I’m way more whimsical than that.” Charisma acted like a difference that major wasn’t something that could drive a wedge between two people long-term. From the way she spoke it seemed it already had.
“So let me ask you a question, Charmy.”
Her gaze was apprehensive as she battled with whether she was going to follow me up. Curiosity got the best of her so she pushed through. “What?”
“Why are you with a man that doesn’t feed every part of you? I’ve seen that you can handle your business and I watch the way your creativity comes out. From your clothes to your hair, you have ways of displaying it. You should let it all out. In every aspect of your life.”
“There’s a lot going on. I can’t really talk about it—”
Her hesitation scared me. Had me worried that something was going on that she was too afraid to talk about and that had my blood boiling.
I got too hype and turned her around so she could face me.
Her eyes were wide but from surprise not fear.
“He ain’t putting his fucking hands on you is it?
Is that why you got away? Because this nigga is a threat? ”
“What? Trent? Hell no. My daddy would shoot him dead.”
I studied her face to see if she was telling me the truth or not.
Her eyes were clear and I didn’t see any hint that she was lying.
When she broke into a smile and squeezed my nose between her thumb and forefinger I relaxed slightly.
But only slightly because the way she spoke about that nigga still didn’t sit well with me.
“Then I’m good.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah. It’s clear that you know where I stand so I’m just waiting on you to catch up.”
“The Rodeo Romeo strikes again.”
I was gonna have to wrestle Doc’s ass for saying that shit in front of her but that would come later.
For right now I needed to show her my past wasn’t going to be indicative of the future I was going to provide her.
I took her hand again and brought it to my lips.
I placed a kiss on it as I stared in her eyes.
“Nah, this is Nathaniel Chisholm-Love speaking from his heart.”