Chapter 30
CRESCENT
“‘Preciate it. You didn’t have to do that though,” I said to Reign, after she handed me a drink.
She shrugged and held her cup up. “I was already going to the bar, remember?”
I nodded and took a sip of my drink. Cranberry juice.
I wasn’t drinking. Had drank too much after moms passed away so I was chilling on it.
It would have made sense to drink tonight, considering it was a celebration, but I was smooth on it.
I was celebrating the completion of The House of Nova Ray with a few people I fucked with.
A couple of business associates, family, and of course Reign.
It was only right for her to be present.
The House of Nova Ray was hers damn near just as much as it was mine, considering I opened it in honor of our daughter.
I took a deep breath and looked across the venue at Uncle Lew and Auntie Augustine in the middle of the dance floor, grinding on each other.
With a light laugh, I looked away towards the entrance where Lil’ Marv stood, greeting Rahmir and his lady.
I had his lazy ass working the door. Had to throw him a couple hundred but it was money well spent.
I wanted him off the game and in his bag.
“Y’all look so damn cute,” said Auntie Shanny, approaching. “Purposely dressed alike, huh?”
I looked over at Reign and then down at my white jeans. Shaking my head I said, “Hell naw. Kind of happened that way.”
Reign was wearing an all-white, strapless floor length dress that covered her feet.
Me, I had on a pair of white Amiri jeans, a plain white tee, and a pair of red, black and white off-white Jordan ones.
We did look like we planned to dress in the same color but nah.
I would never. We weren’t on that type of time.
I’d never be on that type of time with Reign again. She was cool.
Since the funeral, she’d been around more than usual.
She was at the crib often, checking on me and I let her.
I had a deeper understanding and compassion for her.
Before, I was just looking at shit through my own lenses, going through what I was going through, not considering her feelings for real.
The talk we had at the repast put a lot into perspective.
Reign was smooth. We were cordial and that was about it.
Matching outfits, on that other shit… nah.
Reign laughed. “Right. When I pulled up and saw him I sucked my teeth so hard. Like… what are the damn odds.”
“Well, y’all look damn good together,” Auntie Shanny continued with a wink, before she gave my arm a light squeeze and walked off.
Reign shook her head and looked away with a smile.
I took a sip of my juice and chucked my chin at Rah who was walking my way, paying what auntie said no mind.
Since Reign and I had gotten closer, the family had been looking at us sideways.
Luna swore up and down we would be getting back together.
Orion thought the same thing. I didn’t think nothing of it.
Paid them very little attention, too because I knew what it was.
I hoped Reign wasn’t feeding into that shit.
I didn’t give off the impression of anything but friendship vibes. I hope she read them.
I was in no mood for a woman. Nothing serious anyway.
I was chilling. Still thought about ol’ girl like crazy.
It wasn’t as bad as it was months ago but there wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t cross my mind.
I wasn’t beating my dick to the thought of her anymore.
Didn’t have to put her face on Daija anymore neither.
I was surviving. Missed the hell out of her though.
So much that I was really looking forward to seeing her tonight.
I had my eyes on the door every five minutes, waiting to see her walk in.
Of course I invited her; it was only right.
“What up doe, cuzzo?” Rah spoke, slapping hands with me.
“What up doe?” I spoke back, as he gave Reign a hug.
“Congratulations y’all. I know it’s about to do numbers,” he continued before turning towards his date. “This Semone. Semone, my cousin Crescent and his… and um, Reign.”
I laughed, shook my head and looked off, my eyes immediately landing on a red dress.
With dipped brows, I stopped mid-drink and studied her.
She was standing at the bar with her back to me.
But it was something strikingly familiar about her.
My eyes traveled the length of her body, washing over her curves, until I got to her gold heels.
Shit. Who the fuck? And what the fuck was she doing here?
I prayed like hell she didn’t belong to one of my niggas.
If so, he might as well consider her took.
On my momma. I didn’t have to see her face to know she was bad.
I didn’t give a fuck about her face, for real.
I just wanted to bend her over. Fuck was that?
And why did it feel like I’d seen her before?
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and nodded at something Rahmir said. Something about the hotel. Seeing that my attention was fixed elsewhere, he shifted the conversation to Reign who was too excited about the hotel to notice my attention drifting.
“I’ll be right back,” I mumbled, as I walked off, heading in the direction of red dress.
On my way to the bar, I was stopped by a couple of my cousins. Young niggas complaining about how I gave Lil’ Marv a job and not them. They mentioned how much bread I threw him and everything. I made a mental note to chop it up with lil’ cuz about running his fuckin’ mouth.
After promising them niggas odd jobs, I continued towards the bar, hoping that when the crowd cleared she’d still be standing there.
I wasn’t really the type to chase a woman down at a party—especially not a business party— but there was something about her that called out to me.
I wondered if it was the bright red standing out in the sea of other colors.
Nobody else wore red. Nobody else wore a dress as short as hers neither.
I just wanted to know who she was. Felt like I had to know who she was.
It was like if I didn’t approach her, my night wouldn’t end right.
When I made it to the bar, the scent of her perfume hit my nostrils and even that felt familiar.
It was as if the neurons in my brain began to fire off.
Where in the hell had I smelled that before?
Like a picture book, faces of the women I’d been with flipped through my mental rolodex, but nothing came up.
With dipped brows, I stood next to her, leaned my elbow on the bar, and said, “Excuse me.”
When she turned around and faced me, my heart damn near dropped out of my chest. It was Mahogany.
But… not in a way I remembered her. She didn’t smell like vanilla.
Didn’t smell like candy like that other perfume neither.
Tonight was different. Very different. My eyes traveled down the front of her, lingering at the deep V-neck split in the top of her dress.
Had she worn it before? I looked away, up towards the ceiling, steady trying to jog my memory.
Nah, if she had worn this dress around me, I would have definitely remembered ripping it off of her.
She was usually on her business casual shit.
Never like this. She was like a distant memory.
Something that stayed buried for a long time before it was unburied tonight. What the fuck was that?
“Hey,” she spoke, with furrowed brows.
I chucked my chin a little, still baffled by why the dress and everything about her seemed very fucking familiar. “When you get here?”
“About ten minutes ago,” she flatly said, her eyes locked on mine.
“Ah damn,” I scratched at my cheek. “I didn’t see you come in.”
“I saw you.”
“And you didn’t come speak to a nigga?” I joked, before throwing my hand up at her assistant, Tamia, speaking.
“You were… occupied.”
She saw me with Reign and probably automatically assumed she was my girl.
“So? Still should have come over to speak.”
She shrugged, fingered through her hair and looked away.
I tilted my head to the side a bit, trying to catch her eyes.
However, she refused to give them to me.
She had an attitude. I could feel it coming off of her.
An attitude for what though? We hadn’t spent time together in months.
I couldn’t remember the last time… nah, I lied.
I could remember the last time we spent time alone.
I could remember it very well. That last time, at my crib, was the reason we were where we were.
I was nowhere near as bitter about it as I was before.
Felt like if she hadn’t put her foot down the way she had, The House of Nova Ray wouldn’t be ready.
We’d still be behind. So… in a sense… it was a good thing she’d pulled back.
Still didn’t like it though. Still had a tinge of bitterness in my heart about it.