Sterling #3
“Uh huh well I don’t think that’s it. You give a man a place of safety and security for his troubles and he starts to see you differently. Besides, you’re fine as hell, Sterling. Who knows what could happen?”
A knock sounded on the door and we both looked up as it opened. “Pretty?”
A grin broke over her face, and she looked at me.
“Sorry, this is my fiancé. He has this thing with feeding me like I’m not a whole adult!
” She raised her voice for that last part probably to ensure he heard her as she opened the door.
A man who looked like a professional basketball player but had the swag of a man who owned the streets and the boardrooms walked into the door and bent down to kiss her.
He didn’t care about her attitude and with his height he legitimately had to bend down to get to get her.
“Pretty, I’m taking the load off of you. Let me do that. I ain’t seen you in like four hours and I missed y’all.”
Oh, even I wasn’t gone be mad anymore after he said that shit, so I knew she wasn’t going to.
She had the nerve to look embarrassed at what he said but I could tell she was tickled to hear it. “Corey, this is one of my new clients, Sterling. She’s Money’s girl.”
See now I take all that niceness about her right back. “Ma’am, I am his nanny. Don’t go around spreading rumors like that. Folks talk and then I have to fight rumors and have people questioning my professionalism.”
“Nah, if she said it then it’s true. Pretty knows how to tell when everyone is supposed to be matched up together. Well, except for herself.” He shot her a look and I had to cover my face at how he was clearly throwing shade at her.
“Damn are you still on that?” Porsha rolled her eyes playfully but even I could see there was no attitude behind it. Especially not when he pulled her closer and kissed the side of her neck. Like any woman, she absolutely melted into the move and now I was blushing for her.
“What I tell you it was gone take for me to get over it?” Corey gave her a pointed look and she was blushing and I felt like I needed to leave the room and give them a minute. “Aight then.”
He tore his eyes away from her to smile at me. “It’s good to meet you, Sterling. I brought food for the salon since Pretty seems to forget she got my baby riding shotgun for the next five months. Make sure she eats.”
I glanced down and saw his hand splayed over her midsection possessively. There was no sign she was pregnant but she was so tall and lean the baby had plenty of room to spread out. Judging by its parents, the kid was going to be huge though. “Oh, I’m a nurse, I don’t play that.”
He grinned broadly and it was clear why she’d fallen for him. Corey was extremely handsome, with rich dark skin and a pretty smile. I clearly had a thing for smiles because Aldrich’s was a sight to behold.
Now, wait a minute. Where did that thought come from?
“I like you. Pretty, I got her services for the day.” Corey was nodding at me like it was a done deal and I had to stop him cause that was just too much niceness for me in one day.
“No, sir, that’s not—”
He pulled out a wad of money and peeled off a stack that was at least a quarter inch thick. “It’s already done, lil lady.” Definitely a street nigga. Or a reformed one.
“Corey, this is too much.”
He shrugged as he slid the wad of money back into his pocket.
Corey was making it clear he didn’t give a damn about that money and he wasn’t taking it back.
“Then give her some extra shit or raise your prices. I ain’t paying you change to be working while you pregnant with my baby.
Got me fucked up.” He kissed her lips and then bent down on one knee to kiss her stomach, which was doing a damn good job of hiding a whole four-month along fetus.
“I’ll see y’all at home. I love you both. ”
Well, damn am I crying?
“We love you too.”
He gave me a nod of the head, and I gave a friendly wave as he walked out the door. She turned to me like she was about to get right back to business but I had to speak my piece first.
“Girl, just let me send you something for the wedding cause you're not gone be wearing anything for the honeymoon.”
We both cracked up laughing and that big-ass rock he’d obviously placed on her finger seemed to sparkle even brighter with her emotions.
“That’s how I got in this predicament to begin with.
I’m really thinking about just doing something small with our close friends and family and having something big later.
If I even feel like it. I can wear a bomb-ass dress any time and with his profession we always have some reason to get dressed up. ”
“Is he an athlete?” Because he had the height for it and just because I didn’t watch sports didn’t mean he didn’t play one.
Even though that wasn’t the vibe he gave off.
Athletes had swagger but this man had an air about him that he didn’t answer to anyone.
Him being calm enough to play by anyone else’s rules besides his own didn’t really fit the air he gave off.
He might be a teddy bear around Porsha, but it was clear he’d seen a lot of life.
She scoffed as if I was a long way off and when she gave his title I understood why she had. “He’s co-CEO of Lyrically Sound.”
“The label that Finesse started? That was City?” I didn’t want to sound like a groupie but I knew a lot about the music industry.
It was yet another pot my family had a hand in but I was only on the periphery of it.
Being the founders of the lifestyle magazine for Black excellence the way we’d been, we’d grown up surrounded by some of the biggest names in the business.
Christmas with the founders of Motown or having living legends attend my family galas was something that was normal for me.
But Lyrically Sound was making waves in the business and not being tethered to any of the usual bullshit, bots or bribery was something to be proud of.
Add to the fact that the founders were rumored to run the streets of Atlanta, or had at one point, and people had a lot of admiration for them: professional and otherwise.
“Yep.” I could hear the wariness in her voice and I had to dial back my admiration before I walked out of this place bald.
“Sorry, it’s not like that at all. My people have connections to the music industry so I have a lot of respect for what they’ve built. He seems so normal. But then again, I’m sure that the success they’ve been able to achieve means that there’s a lot of toughness there too.”
She giggled slightly as her hands went back to my hair. “I mean, he’s human. What’s he supposed to be like?”
“I don’t know. Not normal. Definitely not the kind and gentle man that just came in here and kissed you like you were his reason for living.” Because he absolutely had and I was damn sure happy for this lady.
She stood bewildered at my words and I had to wonder what had her looking like that. “Damn.”
“What?”
She shook her head and pulled out a serum that she worked into my strands.
“That nigga was right. If you saw it in two seconds I was really tripping.” She didn’t even have to elaborate, I could tell she had been leading that man on a merry chase.
He looked too geeked to check in with her to make sure they were still good.
Like someone of his stature needed reassurance from his woman and it was so precious to see.
I mean that rock on her finger and his baby in her belly should’ve been enough but clearly men needed affirmation too.
Damn. Is that what Aldrich is missing? “Happens to the best of us.”
“Yeah, but that also means he was right about me knowing what I was talking about with you and Money.” The knowing grin on her face once again had me wanting to take back all my nice thoughts but I wouldn’t. I liked her too much.
“Ma’am, how did we circle back to me?”
“We would’ve never left if his big ass hadn’t interrupt.”
“Well, I think you’re wrong. This is just about work.
” I tried to shrug her off mainly because I didn’t want to give in to what my mother called my fantastical notions.
Aldrich was an explosive waiting for the match to be lit.
I wasn’t about to willingly pick up a bomb and then get mad when it blew up in my face.
I had far more sense than that. Right? There was way too much at stake besides my cousin’s business.
My pride would be hit if I got rejected after thinking something could happen between us.
“That’s fine. But when y’all get together just let me come to the wedding.”
“If that happens you’ll be in the bridal party. But back to this hair, you have free rein to do whatever you want to.”
A devilish smile crossed Porsha’s beautiful face. “Carte blanche?”
“Yes ma’am. You change your hair you’re ready to change your life. I’m going to enjoy being surprised with what you do.”
Porsha was grinning as she stood behind me. “Oh, I like this. Sit back and enjoy. Let me get you some champagne in here. We’re about to celebrate.”
“She did a good job.” Aldrich was staring at me with a type of fascination that I wasn’t used to.
It wasn’t scrutiny; it was something else.
Something deeper than the simplistic compliment he gave me.
It was almost a curiosity. Like he was seeing me in yet another light and I wasn’t sure if he liked it or didn’t.
And with the mild confusion that covered his features neither could Aldrich.
“Thank you.”
“Your people all got heads full of hair like that?” He was still staring at my face, not my hair, and I was wondering if the change was all that drastic.