Chapter 3
Thicka. The name had swirled around her mind countless nights when she remembered how he slow stroked her and how good he felt inside her.
The attraction Devyn had for him was undeniable, but it was masked by nerves bouncing around her. How could this be happening to her right now? She felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Panic set in as she gazed into the eyes that were so identical to her daughter’s.
When her staff told her there was a disturbance on the showroom floor, she never thought Haze would be at the center of it.
“Thinkin’ ’bout how you gonna run off again?”
His voice broke through her thoughts and snapped her out of her daze. She blinked slowly a few times before she finally decided to bless him with her voice.
“Can you come with me to my office?” Her tone came out clipped and sharp. She could feel her defense mechanisms shooting up.
With one last sneer at John, her poor employee Haze had just been assaulting, Haze looked at her and nodded.
She turned and rushed away from the scene Haze had just made.
When she passed by one of her managers, Hailey, she muttered, “Make sure everyone is okay. If anyone needs to take the rest of the day off, let them know they can do so with pay. I’ll handle the situation from here. ”
Hailey nodded, her shiny brunette hair falling behind her shoulder before she scurried off to do as she was told.
Devyn glanced behind her to make sure Haze was still following her before she continued on her way.
Nerves bounced around her, but she kept a mask of indifference as she moved through the dealership.
The building was her father’s pride and joy and had been handed down to her.
She always walked through it with a sense of pride, but at the moment, she felt shame and guilt weighing her back down like a deranged monkey.
When they reached the back of the dealership, she cleared her throat and gestured for him to enter her pristine office. The floors were white marble that matched her sleek marble desk. Every folder and paper was in its place, and the large windows overlooked the beautiful lot full of luxury cars.
Devyn entered behind him and closed the door.
She sucked in a breath when she noticed the photo of her and Hazel on her desk, framed in gold and on display for anyone to see.
On display for Haze to see. Discreetly, she slid behind her desk and sat down before she grabbed the frame.
After sliding it into her desk drawer, she looked at Haze, who looked out at all the cars on the lot.
Her heart pounded, but she silently thanked God for saving her from having to explain the photo to him.
Because best believe if he saw it, he would have questions.
Hazel was his damn replica, and there would be nothing she could do but tell him the truth.
You should tell him, bitch.
Devyn’s teeth clenched.
Not like this.
She needed time to process Haze randomly popping back up into her life. God clearly wanted her to do the right thing, but that didn’t feel so easy to her.
Think of Hazel.
A sharp pain of guilt hit her chest. She was thinking of Hazel. From the moment she found out that she was pregnant, Hazel became her entire world.
You aren’t seeing the bigger picture.
At this point, Devyn realized she wasn’t arguing with herself. God spoke directly to her, and she needed to tighten up. As she blinked away tears after her inner battle, Haze caught her off guard and turned toward her. His eyes pierced her. Paranoia ate at her.
Does he know?
“How long you worked here, Thicka?”
The question caught her off guard. She had been so sure he was about to ask her about the daughter he didn’t even know he had.
After taking a deep breath, she finally responded in a shaky voice. “I own this place.”
Haze’s brows rose in surprise. “Ain’t no way.”
Devyn shrugged like it was no big deal. “My father built this place from the ground up and spent his life making it the best luxury dealership in The Bay. I worked my whole life to take it over, and I finally have.”
Haze looked at her with a growing grin. Wicked. That was what the grin gave. Devyn wondered if he always looked like he was up to no good. That same gleam in his eyes was the same one she noticed the night she met him.
The night she met him. Her stomach gave an involuntary jolt, and she shook the curiosity about Haze away.
She couldn’t sit here all googly-eyed at him, knowing what was at stake.
Not just that she had a daughter to protect, but that she felt like God placed Haze back in her life so she could do the right thing.
She couldn’t do that if her brain was clouded with anything but what was right for Hazel.
“You amaze me. Why you ain’t ever find me?” Haze asked as his gaze bore into her.
Devyn squirmed in her seat. She had no idea that Haze had wanted her to find him. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find the response to that question. Finally, she gave up and said, “Why were you terrorizing my employees?”
Haze chuckled before he took a step toward her desk. Everything about him screamed unpredictable, so she had no idea what his next move would be. Relief hit her when he dropped down into one of the chairs in front of her desk. Still, his eyes never left her.
“Because y’all sold me a whack ass car last week that just left me a sitting nigga on the side of the road.”
Devyn bit back a groan. Haze didn’t even need to tell her which car it was to know.
She had been having a lot of trouble with that car.
The manufacturer had yet to do a recall, and she had a dozen of them sitting on her lot.
It was a waste of money that she was highly pissed about, so she felt Haze’s frustration, but she was also willing to bet that whichever employee had sold him the car warned him of the issues with it.
She told them all to be upfront if anyone came in interested in that car, to help minimize situations like these.
She sighed heavily. “Look, the best we can do is trade the car in since it’s past the three-day return guarantee, but you will take a slight loss on what you paid for it.”
“That’s bullshit. You know that, right?”
“I do, but it’s the name of the game.” Devyn sat back in her chair and crossed her legs.
Haze stared at her for a moment, which caused her to squirm some more, before he finally said, “It’s only a deal if you give me your name, number, and let me take you to lunch.”
Devyn’s eyes grew wide. “Why?”
Haze slowly leaned forward, his gaze still not wavering.
When his forearms touched the desk, he finally spoke.
“You gave me the best pussy a nigga ever had and then disappeared. God dropped you into my life again, so you damn right I’m taking advantage.
” He leaned back in his seat again with a shrug.
“But I can continue to raise hell instead. Your call.”
Devyn immediately shook her head. Haze raising hell could mean a lot of money lost for her if he started fucking up the cars or harming her employees. Her father worked too hard for this place, for Haze to come in like a damn thunder cloud and ruin everything.
With a sigh, she said, “Fine. My name is Devyn Frost.”
She watched as Haze stored that information into his brain. Another slow grin graced his face, and Devyn somehow knew that her life was about to change forever.