Chapter 16
Alana
“I don’t like being left out… and something about them felt like I was.”
One Week Later
Iwas out with the girls, ready for sushi and sake in Beverly Hills. I had a long week working on my podcast. All I wanted to do was have a drink and good sushi. But I also couldn’t wait to see Sade with her sneaky ass.
I showed up first and got our table. The girls showed up a few minutes later. Nia. Laila. Sade and our other friend named Jenny.
I stood up to greet them, all smiles… even Nia. I was still a little shocked she was fucking Vaughn, but I brushed it off. Now it was Sade I was side-eyeing.
We sat down, let the vibe start, but once the food and liquor got in us, my mouth got to moving.
“So, Miss Sade Bennett… when were you going to tell us you signed a deal with V Saint? When were you gonna say that?”
Sade looked at Laila. Laila looked at her. They both laughed.
I already knew, though. Vaughn had been ignoring me, so I had been checking his social media. He hardly posted, but his business page was active. Two days prior, he posted her company, congratulating them on the deal.
“Didn’t think it was a big deal to tell,” she said, sipping her drink like it was nothing.
Nia gasped and hugged her.
“I’m happy for you, friend. Get that bag,” she said.
“Thank you, friend,” Sade replied, and they toasted.
“For the record, I’m not hating. I just think it’s weird you ain’t tell us,” I said, looking right at her.
“What’s weird is you on that man business page lurking. You know now, what’s next? You gon’ come help us work on three buildings under construction for two years?” she shot back, raising her eyebrow.
I felt that, but I didn’t clap back.
“Never. But congrats, girl. Let’s drink to that,” I said, lifting my glass.
Everybody toasted.
Except her.
I brushed it off, and dinner moved on, but I couldn’t stop looking at her. Something was off.
She didn’t come off like the same quiet, innocent virgin I met three years ago. She had been dating more, especially after her breast reduction and tummy tuck surgery last year. I could tell she was fully healed, but that wasn’t it.
It was the way she moved.
The way she answered me.
The way she guarded that deal.
I started wondering if she really was a virgin still.
$$$$$$$
Later that night, I went to the club with another nigga. I wasn’t even pressed about him; I just wasn’t about to sit in the house thinking about Sade and Vaughn all night.
We walked in, trap music loud, section already set. I was halfway listening to him talk when I saw Vaughn across the room.
All black.
LA hat low.
Prada shades on.
Jewelry shining, but he wasn’t doing too much.
He looked… off.
Not in a bad way.
Just not how he usually carried himself.
He wasn’t laughing, wasn’t entertaining women, just sitting there like he was somewhere else mentally.
I stopped paying attention to my date.
“Give me a second,” I told him, already standing up.
He tried to grab my hand. “Where you going?”
“Bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
I made my way over to Vaughn, sliding into his section like I was invited.
He looked up at me.
“Alana.”
“Vaughn.” I smiled, but I was studying him. “You’ve been missing.”
“I’ve been working.”
I leaned in closer. “Yeah? Or have you been busy posting other bitches’ businesses?”
He smirked just a little. “You watching my page now?”
“I see what I see.”
He leaned back, looking at me through his shades. “It ain’t what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
“A deal.” He said it like it wasn’t nothing.
I tilted my head. “You don’t do nothing just to do it. So, what is it really?”
He didn’t answer that. Just looked at me for a second too long, then took a drink of his glass of cognac.
That told me everything I needed to know.
“If you say so,” he said, dryly.
I stood there, not leaving.
“Come on,” he said as he stood up.
I looked at him. “Where?”
“Your place, because I know you want some dick.”
I paused for a second, then walked off behind him because clearly, he had already decided.
We didn’t talk much on the way there. He had his music loud, blunt burning, and in his own world.
By the time we got inside, I was already pulling him toward me.
He gave me dick… but not like the first time.
He wasn’t all the way there. No foreplay, no going down on me, but he made me suck him off.
He let me do most of the work, moving when he needed to, but not leading it.
That alone had me clocking him.
When it was over, he got up quickly out of my bed.
Too quick.
Grabbing his clothes, moving like he had somewhere to be.
“You leaving already?” I asked, sitting up.
“Yeah.”
“That’s it?”
He looked at me, calm. “You good.”
I sat there for a second after the door closed, staring at it.
Something wasn’t right.
And it wasn’t just him.
It was Sade.
The deal.
The way he brushed it off.
The way she acted about it.
That wasn’t surface-level.
That was something else.
And whatever it was…
I was going to get to the bottom of it.