Chapter 25
V Saint
“I was starting to enjoy her outside the tension, and that was dangerous for a nigga like me.”
Since Sade and I got an understanding, things have been real copasetic.
I was tired of looking like a jerk, so I made things as comfortable as possible for her.
I wasn’t walking on eggshells, and neither was she.
I didn’t snap when she asked a question, and she wasn’t rolling her eyes when I needed something done.
Even our assistants seemed at ease, and the workers.
We’d all been having lunch together, joking, talking about things outside of work. Shit was how it was supposed to be. But today, I wanted her in my space alone to see where her head really was with me.
I saw her and Laila headed for lunch, but I had different plans for her, and I hoped she would accept.
I stopped them at the entrance.
Sade looked at me. “You need something?” she asked, smiling.
“Yeah, you,” I smirked.
“Stop it, Vaughn, I’m hungry.”
“I know. I was wondering if I could borrow you for lunch. Wanna talk business.”
She looked at Laila and laughed.
“Should I?” she asked Laila.
Laila shrugged. “That’s up to you. You were going to be the third wheel to me and hubby.”
Sade looked at me. “What’s on your menu?”
“Mexican.” I knew that was her favorite.
“You got me there.” She smiled.
“I know the way to your heart.”
She side-eyed me. “Yeah, sure.”
We walked Laila to her car, then went to my office, where food was waiting, and I had the works for her.
We walked in and started opening the food pans.
“Damn, you want me to be bigger than I am,” she laughed, grabbing a plate. I had everything we needed for taco salads and street tacos.
“You ain’t big, ma. We gon’ give the rest to the ground’s workers.”
We made our food and sat down.
As we ate, I started the convo.
“We’re ahead of the curve thanks to you and your crew. We can probably be doing the grand opening in less than two years.”
She smiled. “That sounds lovely. Your crew has been doing their thing, too, with the flooring.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but just a lil constructive criticism from my dad. He says cool down with the soft colors. MEN are going to live here too.”
I bit into my steak burrito, which I would regret later.
She started crunching up her taco salad and giggled. “I’ll slow it down. Order some black interior.”
I nodded, but my eyes went to the small gold-and-diamond crucifix necklace she was wearing.
“You used to always wear that necklace in high school.”
She touched it softly. “How do you remember that? You hardly saw me. I was in an all-girls school.”
“You don’t remember anything like I do. You forgot my school was down the street. Me and my crew used to sneak up there. I complimented you all the time.”
She laughed. “I try to forget that era in my life. But my mother gave me this necklace three days before she was murdered. She gave me a ring too,” she said the last part softly, almost childlike.
“I remember that. My parents watched it every day on the news, so I saw it. You know, dude works in our field? I just turned down somebody on his team who tried to buy material from me. I don’t play like that.”
She glared at me. “Really? I haven’t seen him in decades. I was hoping he was dead.”
I looked at her seriously. “I can make that happen.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this. It’s a heavy topic for me.”
“Let’s lighten the mood then.”
I pulled a black envelope from my top pocket and handed it to her.
“That’s the second payment.”
She smiled. “That’s what I wanna hear. Thank you for those weekly payments, too.”
“Almost thought you ain’t notice with the attitude you were giving.”
“I noticed, and my apologies again. You take good care of me and my team. I don’t want you to think I’m taking you for granted.”
“Trust me, I don’t think that.”
We finished lunch on a good note, and it wasn’t our last lunch alone.
But I kept being reminded that she had a nigga…