Chapter 4
Devyn Frost.
Baby has to know she’s fine as hell. Haze couldn’t believe that after three years, he finally laid eyes on her again.
He knew they would run into each other again.
He didn’t think it would take so long, but he knew God worked in mysterious ways.
Now that she was back in his line of sight, he wasn’t about to let up on her.
He watched as she switched her fine ass through the lot of her dealership. He was so mesmerized by the sway of her hips and the fact that her little ass somehow got thicker while maintaining her Coke bottle shape, that he didn’t realize she had led him to a rose gold truck.
He frowned. “What you doin’, ma?”
She looked at him hesitantly. She always looked so uncertain around him. Haze was determined to change that. In his eyes, this woman was a queen, and she needed to carry herself like one at all times, even around him.
He frowned as he dissected his thoughts. He’d never thought so highly of a woman before. The shit had him confused from the moment he’d met her. The fact that there hadn’t been a day that he hadn’t thought about her ass since then was wild to him.
“I thought you said we were going to lunch.” Her voice stole his attention from his thoughts.
He nodded. “We are, love, but I’m drivin’.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why can’t I drive?”
He chuckled and flicked his nose as he looked off to the side. “’Cause you don’t know where we goin’. You always gonna be this difficult?”
“Always? Who said I’ll be seeing you after lunch?” Her nose scrunched up, and he found it cute. Everything about her ass was adorable.
“I did, so you gonna have to learn to go wit’ the flow kickin’ it wit’ me.”
Haze turned on his heels and walked toward his new car.
It had taken them a few hours, but he finally got rid of the piece of junk still sitting on the side of the road and got into something just as luxurious but more reliable.
Devyn even arranged for a tow company to get his old car and bring it back to the lot so he wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Working with her had been a pleasure, and he hoped to do more business with her in the future, with plenty of play, of course.
When he made it to his new matte-black truck, he opened the passenger door and grinned when he saw Devyn trailing him with a pout on her face. He didn’t care about none of that. She climbed into the truck, and he fought the urge to keep his hands to himself before he closed the door.
He remembered how soft her skin was and how she’d felt in his hands. Patience, he kept reminding himself. All in due time.
After he hopped into his new whip, he took off out of the dealership parking lot. While he drove, he could feel Devyn stealing glances at him. Her gaze felt like a flash of heat on his skin. He loved that shit.
“You got somethin’ to say, Thicka?”
He could tell that she was startled by his voice because when he glanced over at her as he spoke, he saw her jump slightly.
“N-no,” she stammered.
Haze focused back on the road. He suddenly wished they were on his bike so he could feel her arms wrapped around his waist.
“You ever been on a motorcycle before?” he asked out of the blue. He remembered asking her that a few years ago, and she’d said no. He wanted to know if her answer had changed.
He felt Devyn eying him, so he glanced at her. She stared at him like she was trying to figure him out. She had no idea they were on the exact same wavelength. He wanted to tap into her mind and learn everything about her.
This woman has my head all fucked up. He scoffed.
“You good?” Her right brow rose as she peered at him.
“You gonna answer my question?” His deflection reflected how messed up in the head he was because Haze almost never deflected a question. For what? Nobody on this planet could put fear in him, so why wouldn’t he mind answering a simple ass question?
Because his answer was that he wasn’t good. That was why. He didn’t expect to see her today, and she had thrown him off his game. He had every intention of going up to her business and wreaking havoc, but he ended up playing nice and even calling off Gideon because he was cool as a cucumber.
“Yes, I’ve been on a bike a few times.”
Haze frowned. “Who the fuck took you out riding?”
It was her turn to scoff. “Who said someone took me?”
His brows rose. “You ride now?”
She shrugged. “I got my license a few years back. Been testing out a few bikes because I’m thinking of expanding to a luxury bike shop.”
Haze’s dick was brick hard. The thought of her sexy ass on a bike had him damn near drooling.
“See, God knew what he was doin’ bringing us together again. I can help you wit’ that shit, real talk.”
“I’m good.”
Haze snorted. “You gonna learn to stop pulling away from me.”
“Says who and why?”
He loved that she didn’t ask questions with an attitude. She seemed to genuinely want to know, unlike most women who got offended by the slightest things.
“Me and because you gonna be my wife.”
He heard her gasp, and he chuckled. When he said that to her three years ago, he meant it, though he didn’t really know why.
It was like the moment he laid eyes on her, everything he knew to be true no longer was.
His world tilted on its axis, and there was only her.
It had only ever been her. She needed to get with the program because Haze was not a patient man.
“Why do you say that?”
He grinned. She remembered when he said it the first time they met too.
“Because it’s true.”
His words hung between them like an unspoken promise that neither of them fully understood.
The rest of the ride was spent in silence.
Haze was lost in thought about this woman next to him, wondering what it was about her that made him want to risk it all.
He felt like he was the walking epitome of that SZA song “Snooze” because he would definitely touch that fire for Devyn.
He would tell a lie, kill a bitch, and do what everyone else around her was scared to do.
When he pulled up to NellanNem’s Corner Store, Devyn eyed him. “This is where we’re having lunch?”
“Is there a problem wit’ that, love?”
Her eyes traveled to the brick bodega and then back to him. “A corner store?”
“Yeah, I know yo’ ass ain’t from the hood. You ain’t ever had a sandwich from NellanNem’s?”
She shook her head. “Never even heard of it.”
“I’m about to change ya life in more ways than one, I see.” Haze got out of the truck. When he got to her side, he frowned because she was already climbing out. “Fuck you doin’?”
She eyed him hesitantly. “Getting out of the truck?”
He noticed she said it like a question, so he shook his head and pushed her gently back inside his new whip. Once she was secured with a confused expression, he slammed the door in her face.
“Hey!” Her muffled voice took on an angry edge, which caused Haze to laugh.
He purposely kept her in there for a few seconds before he gracefully opened the door and grabbed her hand to help her out. “You don’t open doors when you’re wit’ me. You got that?”
Her eyes grew wide in surprise before they narrowed. “I don’t know if slamming the door in my face was very gentleman-like.”
Haze shrugged. “I never said I was a gentleman.”
Devyn looked like she wanted to argue, but she must have thought better of it because she clamped her mouth closed and walked ahead of him toward the door of the store.
“Let’s get this over with,” he heard her mutter.
“You bet’ not open that damn door!”
To spite him, she yanked the door open and walked inside. Haze stood outside, scratching the back of his neck. Slowly, he counted to ten before he walked inside the store. Habib, the store owner, was inside sitting at the register with his feet propped up. When he spotted Haze, his face lit up.
“What’s good, my guy? Ain’t seen ya in about a week.
” Habib’s thick accent was just barely masked by his hood slang.
The man was a true hustler and had given Haze a bit of direction when he was younger.
Showed him good work ethic by hiring him at the store so he would stay out of trouble.
It only helped a little, but Habib would always have Haze’s respect.
The man was a staple in the hood and always did right by his community.
“Shit’s been hectic. Where that beautiful queen go that just walked in here? ’Bout yay high, fat ass, probably a stank ass look on her face,” Haze asked as he looked around the large store.
Habib laughed. “Check the candy aisle, and don’t be in here on no BS, Haze. I’ll beat ya ass ’bout my shit.”
Haze held his hands up in mock surrender as he backed away from the register.
One would think he was an angel with the innocent look he had on his face, but Haze and Habib knew better.
Haze had many domestic disputes with hos in that very store back in his day.
He was wild and always getting caught up in some shit, but over the past few years, he had settled down significantly.
Not to say he wasn’t still a menace in the streets, but he didn’t have a whole lot of energy for the toxic shit anymore.
He found Devyn in the candy aisle bent over a row of sour candies.
He admired her for a second, salivating at the curve of her hips and ass, before he walked over to her and grabbed a handful of her jiggly flesh.
Devyn straightened up, and before she could even fix her mouth to curse him out, Haze grabbed her neck from behind and pulled her soft body into his.
“You don’t want to piss me off again, Thicka. I ain’t did shit to you but ask you not to open a mothafuckin door. You gonna listen to me from now on?”
“No—”
“Rethink that answer, love.” Haze muttered in her ear as his hand moved down the front of her body.
She dropped the sour Skittles she had been holding and gasped. He felt her nipples harden, and he knew her body had missed his just as much as he had missed her.
“Yes,” she murmured.
“Yes what?”