Chapter 5 #3
I’d noticed that the women here didn’t play around with their appearance.
In the month I’d been here, I’d seen women of all shapes, sizes, and nationalities and hadn’t come across a lemon yet.
Of course, I only looked briefly because I wasn’t on that, but damn, Jagoda Bay had to be heaven for niggas.
Being from Memphis and then moving to the A, I wasn’t new to bad bitches, but damn, Jagoda Bay was different, and so far, miss lady was leading the fucking pack.
She had a beauty mark near the outer corner of her left eye and a birthmark on the same side near her chin.
Both were the kind she would’ve had to work around not to cover because whenever Tuscany did her makeup routine, all her markings and moles disappeared.
I wasn’t the type of nigga that hated makeup—I actually loved that shit.
Anything that enhanced a woman and made them even more beautiful, I was down for.
But then again, I was biased because I’d grown up with a sister and had sat on FaceTime way too many times while Tuscany beat her face, even in adulthood.
“Excuse me? Could you leave?” Her mouth was saying for me to get the fuck out of her face, but the way her taut nipples were poking through the thin fabric of her dress said another.
Slouching in my chair, I licked my lips. “Nah.”
The frown on her pretty face deepened, and even under her heavy makeup, I could see her cheeks redden. She was flushed, and I was happy to see it. With the way she had my dick fighting for his motherfucking life in my jeans, she ought to feel something.
Her eyes scanned the restaurant. She was looking for security, the manager, a waitress, hell, a patron would do if they could get me away from this table.
But that shit would be in vain. Wasn’t a soul in the restaurant that could go toe to toe with me, and I didn’t need the heat tucked in my pants to prove that point.
I was like that and dared a nigga to try me.
“No?”
Leaning back further in my seat, I eased my arm slightly over the backrest, making myself comfortable, and looked into her dark eyes. I wouldn’t repeat myself, but she’d understood the message by the way I relaxed into the chair.
“I have a date that’s showing up soon.”
Holding my phone up, I displayed the time since my wrist was bare.
Thinking about my watches I’d left at the crib back in the M before I got locked up, I started to cuss.
Instead, I looked at the fine ass in front of me.
“That nigga shouldn’t be showin’ up at all if he’s ten minutes late, and if he did, you should make him pay you for your wasted time and get the fuck outta dodge, my baby. ”
“Your baby?”
I nodded.
A chuckle escaped her lips. Her eyes roamed as far as she could see, and mine did the same.
A comfortable silence blanketed us even though the restaurant was buzzing with quiet conversations and a live singer playing the piano somewhere in the distance.
Her pink tongue swept over her lips, and she used her hand to toss her long-ass braids over her shoulder. “He sent you, didn’t he?”
“He did.”
“Fuuuuuck!” she silently cursed. When her hand pounded the table in a mini-crashout, I was no more good. She all but groaned, continuing her tantrum. “Ohmyfuckinggod! I’m never getting in the circle.”
“The circle?”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! I said he wasn’t doing enough, and then as soon as I put all that aside to see where this went, he sends his fucking store runner.”
I sat up so fast in my seat, my back popped as I interjected, “Hold up now, my baby. The store runner?”
She glared at me as if I were the one who had offended her.
When her glare didn’t faze or illicit a response from me, she answered, “The flunkie, store runner, do boy… whatever it is they call your type these days. That’s no disrespect to you because, I’m sure you don’t give a damn what the loser bitch that got stood up thinks.
I’m just… I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you. ”
Holding my hands up, I sat back in my seat. “None taken, my baby.”
She began rubbing her temples as her elbows rested on top of the white-clothed table.
She was doing that thing again, where she quietly cursed to herself, and it took everything in me not to laugh.
Although she’d put a title on me that I’ve never worn and never would, I didn’t want to add insult to injury by embarrassing her and laughing in her face.
After a few minutes, she stopped rubbing her temples with her milky-white manicured, oval-shaped nails, which had an assortment of gold rings decorating her fingers, and sighed. When I saw her gather her bag, I sat back up.
“I’m so sorry about this. Again, I meant no offense. I just thought that I would—”
“Be gettin’ in the circle?” I threw her words back at her.
She squinted her eyes at me in a scolding manner. Hell, she was the one who’d said it; I was just repeating it.
“Yeah. That. Forget you even heard that. Enjoy a meal on me.” She reached into her purse, and I didn’t know what she thought this was, but I reached over and covered her hands with mine. I didn’t know if it was the linen from the table, but the zap had us both flinching on impact.
“My bad,” I apologized for shocking her. “But Shio had some shit that came up and sent me in his place. There’s no reason for you to waste a perfect-ass outfit for nuttin’. Have a steak witcha boy, and a few of them fruity-ass lime drinks y’all women like to toss back.”
She squinted her eyes again. “You mean Lemon Drops?”
“Yeah, them. Have as many of those as you can take down. But my treat… I appreciate your generosity, but I think I can scrape up enough to feed us both.”
She ran her hand down her braids again while scanning the restaurant.
My eyes couldn’t help but to go back to her cleavage. Her shit was just sitting so perfectly. I could tell that she was about to turn me down, so I spoke up again. “Aye. Whatchu got to lose?”
“Hunh?”
“Havin’ dinner with me. Whatchu got to lose from it?”
“Time. I have work to do that I put off for this date.”
“Cap. He planned this date last week. I was with him when he was textin’ you the details. Whatever work you had to do, you either already did it or rearranged your schedule because you knew you weren’t gettin' to that shit today.”
Her mouth shut tight, and I knew then I had her. She wouldn’t be getting her pretty ass away from me just yet. At least not before I fed her and had a conversation with her.
“Okay… you got me there. I’ll stay, but under one condition…”
“What’s that?” I ignored my racing heart, trying to play it cool, knowing damn well I was going to agree to whatever she tossed out as long as she would stay with me.
“You don’t mind that I work here.”
Confusion plagued me. I didn’t know what type of work she did, and I knew I wasn’t dressed for the occasion, but I was almost certain she couldn’t break out a laptop over a candlelit dinner.
A grin broke out over her face, showing her stark white teeth.
I was a sucker for pretty teeth and pretty feet. Those two were my fucking weakness.
“I use my phone for work.” She held her device up. “I’m a food vlogger. I go to different restaurants around the city and give reviews.”
“So you one of dem greedy muthafuckas that be eating seventy pieces of fried chicken, lookin’ like you ’bout to pass out on camera?”
Her head flew back in laughter, and when she snorted like a fucking pig, I chuckled too.
“Yeah, something like that. So I need to order more than usual. This restaurant is fancy, and people are already looking at us due to my embarrassing-ass laugh, so I won’t order too much. That’s why I don’t mind paying. I can swipe it on my business debit card and use it as a tax write-off.”
“Mane, fuck these folks. You laugh as loud as you want to. And I respect the hustle, my baby, but still, you’ll never fork over some money for anything when with me. I can pay in cash and give you the receipt, though; that way, you can still write it off.”
Cash was the only option, regardless of whether she needed the receipt or not.
Stella had run my fucking credit to the ceiling before my brother had a block put on my social security number and a fraud alert on the one bank card and one credit card I had before going in.
Shaking that sour bitch from my thoughts, I focused back on the fine-ass woman in my space.
She debated internally just as the waitress arrived.
The ball was in her court, and I locked my eyes on her as she continued to ponder. “What we doing, my baby? You gone fuck witcha boy?”
She cleared her throat and nodded. “We can stay.”
I hadn’t been happier since the day I got out. I ain’t lying. Smiling, I picked up the menu and scanned it as she gave her order to the waiting waitress.
I hadn’t been here before, but all these fancy-ass places were the same. Steak and potatoes with a green veggie were all I needed, and maybe a shot of yak.
“By the way, I’m Glow.”
“Glow, hunh? Well, it’s nice to meet your pretty ass, Glow. I’m Tunan.”
“Oh my God! Those drinks were strong!”
Glow was leaning on me as I ushered her through the restaurant.
She wasn’t drunk at all. She had only taken one sip from each of the Lemon Drops I ordered her.
Her fucking feet were hurting, and she was wobbling in those heels and trying to pull the drunk card as an excuse to lean on a nigga.
Her body was so soft and velvety that I didn’t mind her invading my space.