Chapter 11
The urge to reach out and grab Savio’s hand was strong as they walked into the store.
It had been three days since they shared a kiss, and she had yearned to have another one.
She suddenly didn’t know how to act in his presence, but she noticed that there were more intentional touches and flirty banter between them.
The way she craved him at night when they were in separate rooms was new for her. It was like Savio had given her a taste of something she didn’t know she needed, and now she craved it all the time.
“Oh, these are so cute,” Ivoree said with a squeal as soon as they walked into the store.
Cashmere stopped focusing on Savio’s big, strong hands and looked at her sister.
They were at a store that sold scrubs. Ivoree collected them and couldn’t wait to wear them every day.
Cashmere couldn’t relate. She didn’t understand the hype, but she absolutely loved seeing her sister happy.
Twizz had the day off, and they were still getting a couple of new guards for Ivoree, so Savio offered to take her to the store. Cashmere decided to tag along.
Over the past few days, Cashmere had been keeping a low profile.
“You should get them,” Cashmere encouraged as she wearily peered at the pink scrubs with rubber duckies on them. Ivoree knew how to dress her ass off, but when it came to scrubs, Cashmere couldn’t compliment her baby sis. The things were hideous if you asked her.
“You think I’m not?” Ivoree asked in a playful tone.
Cashmere giggled and turned so she could get her sister a basket because she knew Ivoree was about to go crazy in this damn store.
“Where you goin’?” Savio asked as he gently grabbed her arm.
It wasn’t that long ago that his question and him grabbing on her would have gotten him a good tongue lashing. Now? Aw, baby. Now, she wanted to melt into him.
With a soft smile, she pointed her manicured nail toward the baskets by the entrance of the store. “Just getting a basket. That okay?”
He glanced at the baskets and then back at her with a smile of his own. “I’ll allow it.”
She giggled and quickly grabbed a basket before she joined her sister. Cashmere had been doing her best to keep things professional with Savio in front of others, but as the days went on, it only got harder. Ivoree’s next words proved that point.
“What’s goin’ on with you and Sav?”
“Sav, huh? That’s what you call him?” Cashmere asked playfully as she nudged her sister.
“Uh-uh. You aren’t slick. Don’t try to change the subject. Besides, that’s what Twizz calls him.”
“What’s going on with you and Twizz?” Cashmere asked, hoping that the question threw her sister off enough to move away from the topic of Savio.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have some girl talk with her sister.
She just didn’t really want Ivoree to think it was okay to get involved with a guard.
Twizz, mainly. It wasn’t that Cashmere disliked him.
He’d actually grown on her, but Ivoree needed to stay focused on her studies and graduate.
Then she could focus on having fun and finding love.
Ivoree suddenly busied herself with looking at a pair of dark blue scrubs with smiley faces on them. “Nothing.”
Cashmere hummed. “You sure it’s nothing?”
“Yeah. He’s cool and we get along well, but I kind of have a crush on someone else. Besides, I don’t think Twizz is good for me. He’s a friend. That’s it.” Ivoree shrugged.
“A crush on someone else?” Cashmere’s brows rose and her interest piqued.
Ivoree’s brows pulled in. “Hey, we were talking about you and Sav. Not me and my nonexistent love life.”
“Mine is pretty nonexistent too,” Cashmere argued.
“You sure about that? The tension between you two is wild,” Ivoree said as she tossed two more sets of scrubs into her basket.
Chancing a glance behind her, Cashmere caught sight of Savio, who followed them at a respectful distance with his eyes scanning the store.
When their gazes caught, she couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face.
Savio licked his lips and grinned back at her.
Cashmere blushed and focused back on Ivoree.
“He’s cool. A friend.” Cashmere tried to play it cool and mimic Ivoree’s response about Twizz, but she knew she had failed miserably.
“Yeah, okay. Have you guys had sex yet?”
Cashmere almost choked on her spit at the same time she stumbled over her feet. Savio was there in an instant with his hand on her waist to steady her. “You good?”
Embarrassed, Cashmere nodded as she straightened herself out. “Just clumsy.”
“Gotta keep an extra heavy eye on you,” Savio said before he pinched her cheek and fell back away from them again.
Cashmere watched him with a silly grin, but Ivoree’s hum of nosiness pulled her gaze away from the fine ass man and back to her baby sister.
“What?” Cashmere asked. By now, she was positive her cheeks glowed a deep red.
“Friend my ass.”
Cashmere giggled. “Girl, focus on buying your damn scrubs and leave me alone.”
“I’m just sayin’, if you got a crush on that man, just say that. It’s clear he’s feelin’ you.”
Cashmere watched as Ivoree threw three more sets into the basket. Baby girl was about to put a dent in her pockets, but Cashmere didn’t mind. Literally anything for Ivoree.
“I got a crush, okay? But that’s as far as it’s gotten,” Cashmere finally admitted.
To her relief, Ivoree didn’t ask any more questions.
She made quick work of buying what seemed like one of each set in the store.
When Cashmere pulled out her card to pay for her sister’s items, her eyes ballooned.
How someone could spend four thousand dollars in a damn scrubs store was beyond her, but she happily paid it.
When they walked out of the store, a deep voice called out. It was to nobody in particular, so Cashmere kept walking, but when she heard him say, “Aye, shorty!” she glanced over at him again.
He jogged toward them, and Savio immediately got in front of them as several more guards came from out of nowhere to stop the man from getting to them.
“Who the fuck is that?” Cashmere asked as she tried to see around Savio, who ushered them toward the car.
“Aye, shorty in the purple! You owe me ten grand, bitch! You know who the fuck I am. Don’t try to play dumb,” the man shouted.
Cashmere stopped dead in her tracks and glanced at Ivoree, who wore a purple T-shirt. She looked back at the man and opened her mouth to snap on him, but Savio grabbed her by the waist. “In the car. Now.”
The last thing Cashmere wanted to do was get in the car, but the look on Savio’s face told her he wasn’t playing, so she listened to him and got in. As soon as she was in the front seat and Ivoree was behind her, Cashmere turned in her seat and glared at Ivoree. “What the fuck? Who was that?”
Ivoree had tears in her eyes, but before she could speak, Savio hopped into the driver’s seat and started the car. As he rushed out of the parking lot, he looked into the rearview mirror and asked, “How the fuck you know Harold?”
“Harold? Who is Harold?” Cashmere asked as she twisted in her seat so she could look between Ivoree and Savio. Ivoree cried into her hands. Cashmere looked thoroughly confused. “Sav? Who is Harold? Why is my sister crying?”
“What I’m tryna figure out. Aye, Ivoree, you gotta answer me, ma.”
“H-he was at that party we went to the other night,” Ivoree finally said.
Savio cursed under his breath. Cashmere felt more lost than before.
“Party? What party? What night? What the fuck is going on?” Her irritation at not understanding what just happened was about to boil over. Someone needed to start talking.
“Twizz . . . He wanted to go to a party the other night. I was studying and didn’t want to g-go, but he convinced me to have some fun.
It was out in the Ellwood Projects, not far from where we grew up, Cash.
It was fun at first, but then Twizz got into a fight with that guy .
. . Harold? I think it was over some money, so I stepped in and offered to just pay it so we could get out of there safely, but Twizz punched him.
It was a brawl. We got out of there, but I guess the man thought I was still going to pay him—” Ivoree hiccupped because she was so hysterical now.
Cashmere’s blood turned cold. Seeing her sister so upset made ice feel like it floated through her veins.
She cut her eyes at Savio, who kept his eyes on the road.
His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly, she thought he was about to break it in half.
His jaw clenched, and he looked even more pissed than Cashmere was.
He didn’t even look at Cashmere when he said, “I’ll talk to him.”
His words calmed her some. If she knew nothing else about Savio, it was that he would handle any threat that came her way. She appreciated that it seemed to spill over to her sister too.
She returned her gaze back to Ivoree and reached back to pat her knee. “It’s okay, Sis. We’ll handle it.”
Ivoree nodded and wiped her tears. The rest of the ride was spent in tense silence as Cashmere wondered what the hell Twizz had gotten her baby sister caught up in.