Chapter 9 #2
“Hey. Can you take the table that just came in? I don’t think I feel so well.”
I didn’t, so it wasn’t a lie. Whenever Luca was involved, I felt foreign in my own skin. It was as if I was having an out-of-body experience. He ignited something within me that had never been discovered before – not by me or anyone else.
“OK. Sure. I’ve seen the thin one in here several times. He tips exceptionally well, so I’m down.”
“Thanks. I’m going to take a second and sit in the waiting room in the restroom. If anyone needs me, tell them that’s where I am.”
“Of course.”
Ria was an angel. She was about her money and didn’t care about much else. She had three children at home counting on her to make it happen so that’s exactly what she did on a daily basis. She was the only employee besides Baisleigh that worked six days a week.
Though I felt slightly guilty for handing Luca and Laike off to someone else, I didn’t have the capacity to wait on them. To be honest, I didn’t even want to see them. Not here. I loved my job, but it might not have looked so appealing to others.
As I pushed the door of the restroom open, my mind returned to my night at the bar.
Luca had draped his arms around the prettiest girl with the prettiest skin that drove an even prettier car.
That wasn’t me. My fresh start was a bit ugly.
I’d chosen the first job that was hiring and where I could make the quickest, easiest money, never considering Luca into my plans.
Now that he was here, I was wondering if I looked a bit different in his eyes.
I’ll just stay here until they leave, I thought to myself, sitting in the large waiting room that was inside of the restroom.
There were two velvety couches, two accent chairs, four floor mirrors that lined the longest wall, and small vanities in between each of them.
Baisleigh had captured the powder room essence really well.
Making myself comfortable, I rested my head on the back of the couch.
I was ready to wait out the duo for as long as it took.
My sweaty palms rested against the couch’s cushion, keeping them dry and keeping perspiration off my uniform.
I closed my eyes and considered what I’d make us all for dinner.
Lyric wasn’t much of a cook prior to us joining her, but now we took turns cooking dinner.
There was food on our table five to six out of seven days of the week. The other days we went with leftovers.
Five minutes into my stay, I heard the door open and a set of footsteps followed. I prayed Baisleigh hadn’t come to see where I was and why I’d disappeared. Explaining my situation was not the easiest. And, frankly, I didn’t want to. Not to my boss or anyone else.
“I thought we had this conversation, Ever.” His voice startled me. I looked up to find Luca standing before me with his hands clasped in front of him.
“Luca, what are you doing in here?” I looked around to see if I was the only one seeing this – seeing him. He wasn’t supposed to be here.
“I thought I told you about that shit,” coolly, he stated.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” I rushed out, my eyes roaming the area as if someone was watching us.
“I’m supposed to be wherever the fuck I’m at. What’s your issue?”
“I don’t have one.” I frowned, unsure of what he was referring to.
“Then why haven’t I seen you since I sat down, and why the fuck did our waitress change?”
“Luca, she’s great at her job. Even better than me.”
“Nobody is better than you, Ever. And, fuck her. I want you.”
His words gripped at my chest, squeezing my heart upon impact. I wanted to know how one could be so brutal and so enchanting at once. Luca was utterly and uncompromisingly both.
“I just need a minute,” I explained to him with a sigh.
“For what?”
“Because I need a minute.” He frustrated me with his persistence. It was as striking as he was, keeping me in a chokehold.
“To waddle in shame that is completely unnecessary?”
“It’s not that simple, Luca.”
“Listen, if you were sitting on your ass not doing shit, I still wouldn’t look at you any differently because you’d deserve it.
A nigga is supposed to make sure that you don’t have to lift a finger.
But since that isn’t the case, you’re hustling the clock, and I respect you even more for it.
Money is money, no matter how you get it.
That shame you’re feeling right now, ball that shit up and toss it in the garbage because it ain’t ’bout shit from my standpoint.
If you like your job, then I love it. If you don’t, then I got something else in mind for you. Just say the word.”
“The word,” I said without flinching.
“Giving me your undivided attention.”
“What?”
“That’s the job. And, it pays well. Starting bonus includes a fully furnished, fully paid for pad, a new whip, and unlimited credit card usage.”
“I can’t,” I told Luca, lowering my head in my hands.
“Keep your head up, Ever. I’ve told you this already. And, why not?”
“Because my independence means more to me than you know right now. I just left a man who made it easy for me to be a stay-at-home mom and not have to work, but not working kept me tied down to him for so long. I just got my freedom and it includes being financially stable, without a man’s help.”
“I’m not that nigga, Ever.”
“I know. Trust me, I know you aren’t. I feel it. I just can’t risk my sanity banking on a man again. I won’t do it. I have children to consider and their happiness means the world to me.”
“Let me help.”
“By offering me money and worldly things? The best thing you can do for me, Luca, is have patience and understanding. I’m a mess right now, and I’m trying to clean myself up. I don’t know what that looks like on a day to day, but I’m trying.”
“Trying is enough.”
“I thought about you fucking that girl all night and all morning. Did you?” I wasn’t sure where the question had come from, but I needed to clear my conscience. So, he needed to answer me.
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m waiting for you. You the only person I’m trying to fuck in the future.”
With a chuckle, I responded, “Can you use another word? That sounds so, I don’t know.”
“Fuck, make love… same shit, Ever. I’m trying to slide up in you again and again and again. Is that better?”
“I don’t know.” I laughed, finally giving him my eyes.
“Be ready around seven, tonight. I’m taking you out.”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“I’m telling you because I’m not giving you another chance to tell me you aren’t ready. I know you are. Ready enough, at least.”
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
A knock on the door put a halt to my thoughts. My eyes darted between the door and Luca. Then again. The smirk on his face told me everything I needed to know.
“Did you lock the door?”
“Yeah. I didn’t need any interruptions.”
“They’re going to think we’re in here screwing.”
“I don’t give a fuck what they think and if you want to make it happen so their chatter isn’t in vain, we still have time.”
“Goodbye, Luca.” I tittered.
Stepping backward, he nodded. “Seven.”
“Seven,” I repeated.
I watched from afar as he put more and more distance between us.
He was dressed in a pair of red Nike shorts with a white shirt to match.
He wore a thick chain around his neck and a watch on his arm that looked like it cost a pretty penny.
It reminded me of the bracelets I’d left with him after our night at the bar.
“Can I have my bracelets back?” I teased.
“When you bring your ass back out here and take my order.”
“I’m coming,” I assured him as he turned and unlocked the door.
I wasn’t surprised to see that it was Baisleigh who’d come knocking to see if I was alright. She probably wasn’t expecting to see Luca when the door finally opened, but when she did, I didn’t miss the smile that followed.
“Luca! I didn’t know you were home.”
“Shit, not too many people do. I like ya spot. I’m ’bout to see what this food talking ’bout.”
“It’s so good to see you, and the food is everything they’ve said it is. You’ll love it. Tell your mother I said hello.”
“I will. On the way to see her as soon as we leave here.”
She moved out of the way so that Luca could exit while I considered the ways they might know each other. Before I could fix my mouth to ask, Baisleigh was standing in front of me.
“Everything alright?”
“Yes. He wanted to ask me on a date,” I admitted, palming my face because I couldn’t believe he’d come to my job. “Well, tell me he’s taking me on a date.”
“Go.”
“Huh?” My head popped up as I questioned her.
“Go. He’s one of the good ones, Ever, and you don’t want to let him slip away. His brother, Laike, now that’s a different story.” She rolled her eyes as she said his name.
“You and Laike?” I chuckled, not believing my eyes.
“Um hmm. As teenagers, though. He was my first, honey. I don’t regret it, but I’m so happy I have that out of my system. That dick was hard to let go of. I was still fiending for it and giving it up to him well into adulthood, but I’ve been delivered for the last six years, and I ain’t going back.”
“How do you guys know each other?”
“We lived on the same block. Our parents still do.”
“It’s such a small city.”
“Very. Anyway, don’t stand the man up. Make sure you enjoy yourself and spare no expense. His pockets can stand it.”
“I know. He got me matching bracelets the first day I met him.”
“Sounds like an Einsenberg boy.” She giggled with a shake of the head.
“I gave them back.”
“You what?”
“I gave them back after he was mean to me last night,” I shared with her.
“Was he mean to you, or did he give you the honest, hard truth?”
“That one.”
“Okay, because that doesn’t even sound like Luca. He’s brutally honest, but not mean. Not toward the people he cares about, at least. I can’t speak for the rest of Channing.”
“He told me he wanted to pursue me, and I turned him down. I told him I wasn’t ready but when I saw him entertaining a girl he met at the bar we went to last night, I couldn’t help but feel jealous. He picked up on it.”
“And tore right into your ass, huh?”
“He did,” I told her. “ Imagine me offering you the world but you’d rather have crumbs because another bird has access. You really not ready. That’s what he said to me.”
“Sounds like Luca to me. Why don’t you think you’re ready? I’ve seen broken hearts, Ever, and you don’t have one. Your heart is relieved, love. It’s written all over your pretty face.”
“I don’t. I expected to feel like pieces of me were missing when I left, but I actually feel complete for once. Me telling him I wasn’t ready had nothing to with love but everything to do with me being able to stand on my own two feet before I get involved with anyone.”
“You’re standing, Ever. Trust me. If you’re looking and comparing what you have to what they have, you’ll probably never be ready.
The Einsenbergs are no strangers to money.
They’ve been the richest on the block since I can remember.
The only reason they’re still in Channing is because they love to be surrounded by Black folk.
They have long, old money. The kind the hairy white men have and hate to see Black people with.
That’s whose level they’re on. They stick around us common folk because it’s us who they love and relate to most. Liam, their father, ask about him one day. ”
“I haven’t met him yet. Only their mother.”
“If you’ve never seen a drug lord in the flesh, that’ll change when you meet him.
The smartest criminal you’ll ever encounter.
The only reason I know his prior occupation is because I was screwing Laike for too many years not to.
I’d overheard a conversation or two, but never had any concrete proof.
No one did and the same goes for his sons.
No one knows what they do, yet everyone knows what they do. ”
“And that’s the other thing. I promised myself that I wouldn’t go down that path again. My ex is into the streets.”
“Your ex ain’t an Einsenberg and the nigga sure isn’t Luca. Don’t even put the two in the same sentence. Now, get out of here and go get your money, Ever.”
I stood from the comfortable bench in the waiting room of the restroom and made my way to the sink to wash up, although I hadn’t been in the stalls.
I grabbed a paper towel to open the door after shaking my hands dry.
Before stepping back out of the floor, I smoothed my clothes, making sure they were free of wrinkles.
With my head held high, I stepped out – in route to Luca’s handsome face .