Chapter 6
The only thing Boogie hoped for the night was that he didn’t need to fuck someone up because he was in a bad mood.
Sweetie not answering his calls or texts pissed him off, only because he was terrified that, deep down, she was trying to run from him.
That thought made him crazy. He wasn’t possessive, normally, but Sweetie pulled a lot of emotions out of him and reached a place in his heart that had never been explored before.
He didn’t know how to deal with all these big feelings, and it made him come across as an asshole.
That was the last thing he wanted because he didn’t want to run her off, so as he stepped into The Honey Pot, he did his best to get his emotions under control.
The space was smoky, dark, and loud. His mood threatened to take another dive just from the atmosphere alone, but he held it together and moved through the space.
Boogie had to dodge greedy ass strippers who wanted to give him a dance and drunk niggas who needed to be in a damn retirement home and not there, but he finally spotted Sweetie.
She looked like she was getting ready to go on stage.
He had to admit she looked damn good, but even from several feet away, he could tell something was bothering her.
Her pretty face looked like it was etched in a permanent frown, and that wasn’t like her.
Even though life hadn’t been that great to her, she seemed to keep a smile on her face.
Something changed that, and suddenly, his mission to find her and talk about why she left the house turned into him wanting to figure out who put that frown on her face.
Before he could reach her, a dusty nigga approached her and said something that made her frown deepen. Fresh irritation spiked within Boogie. When he reached them, he inserted himself between the man and Sweetie, completely ignoring the dust bunny.
“What’s wrong?” Boogie asked. He grabbed her chin and turned her face to inspect it. Her eyes were swollen.
She looked confused by the question, as if she didn’t understand how connected they were. When something was wrong with her, she wouldn’t be able to hide it from him.
Before she could respond, the dust bunny tapped on Boogie’s shoulder. “Aye, my man, I was talkin’ to the lady.”
Boogie’s face hardened as he turned slowly to look at the man who was a head shorter than him.
“You was talkin’ to my lady. Scram.” Boogie must have put the fear of God in him because the dusty man stumbled away before catching himself and rushing off.
Boogie watched him disappear before he turned back to Sweetie and asked his question again. “What’s wrong?”
“What are you doing here?” She crossed her arms over her barely covered chest and looked up at him with her face scrunched up like she had every reason to be annoyed and not him.
“Nah, baby, what are you doin’ here?”
She waved her hands down her body in exasperation. “Working, Boogie. What’s the problem?”
Boogie blinked down at her as he processed her question.
What was the problem? He knew what Sweetie did for a living.
He just thought she knew she didn’t have to strip anymore.
She had him now. Then he realized that she wasn’t built like that.
She went on and on last night about how stifling it had been living with her pops and how he used his money to control her.
The last thing Boogie wanted was to act like Vernon Bishop.
He sighed and ran his hand down her face as he realized he had been acting like a maniac. The thought of her leaving him had him scared, but he couldn’t lie . . . The thought of her grinding that big ass and sweet ass pussy on another nigga for a dollar was what had him hot.
“It ain’t no problem. I’m sorry I pulled up on you like this. I thought you left . . . for good,” he finally said.
She took a step back and frowned. “Left for good? Why would you think that?”
“Thought you might have got scared. Left you alone for a little while and you had time to think . . . thought you might have dipped.”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t do you like that.”
“You tried to do me exactly like that this morning, ain’t you?” Boogie asked with a lopsided smile, though the thought caused his heart literal pain.
She looked down at her tall ass heels. “I guess you’re right, but that was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before we connected.”
He grinned and pulled her into him by her waist. “You sayin’ I dicked you down so good you ain’t gon’ leave me?”
There was that laugh he loved. She tilted her head back, and her smile showed off all her pretty white teeth. “Yeah, I guess.”
He kissed her cheek. “Aight, I’m sorry. I got tight thinkin’ you was tryina run from me, so I acted out. My bad. You think you can take the night off though? I feel like we need to talk about what we’re doin’ and what shit needs to look like goin’ forward.”
Sweetie glanced at the stage where another woman twirled around a pole before her eyes landed back on him. “Let me just go talk to my boss. Stay right here. I’ll be back.”
She leaned up and kissed his lips before rushing off.
He grinned. He was glad she didn’t put up a big fuss about missing work.
His biggest thing at the moment was talking about their communication and boundaries while she worked.
If she was going to go somewhere, he wanted her to tell him so he didn’t panic again.
Same went for him. Matter of fact, he wanted them to share locations.
As far as her dancing up on other niggas, .
. . he breathed deeply at that thought. His mama always told him relationships were about compromise.
He didn’t know how to compromise on that.
Boogie only had to wait ten minutes before he spotted Sweetie making her way back through the crowd with her duffel bag and fully dressed. He met her halfway and grabbed her bag before slinging his arm around her shoulders. “You good?”
She nodded but opted not to respond. Something still nagged at him that she wasn’t in the best mood.
He wanted to know why, so as soon as they walked outside into the night air, he ushered her right to his car.
Once they were inside and pulling away from the strip club, he asked her the same question again. “What’s wrong?”
She let out a shaky breath. “My mom called today.”
Boogie’s jaw tensed, and a warning bell went off. It felt suspicious to him that her family contacted her right after they connected again.
“Oh yeah?” he asked.
She nodded. “My grandmother is sick, so I went over there to see her. She’s dying, Boog.”
She whispered the last part, and it broke his heart. He remembered from when they were young how close she and her grandmother had been. It was no wonder she looked so sad.
He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Sweetie.”
He caught her wiping a tear from her eye before she spoke again. “And then my dad was there, and we got into a huge argument. He told me I wasn’t welcome there. I don’t give a fuck about that house, but Boog, my granny is there. What if this was the last time I got to see her?”
A sob tore out of her, and Boogie was torn between pulling over and comforting her and speeding toward home so they could get there quickly. He decided to pull over. He couldn’t keep driving while she cried like that.
When they were tucked safely in a Target parking lot, he got out of the car and opened her door.
He pulled her into him, and she cried into his stomach from the passenger seat.
A flash of hatred overtook Boogie as he thought about Vernon Bishop.
How could he treat his daughter so badly simply because she would no longer comply with his controlling ways?
This was something he couldn’t fix, and he hated that.
“What can I do?” he finally asked. She shook her head and dug it more into his abs. Boogie stroked her hair.
Eventually, she pulled back and looked up at him. “I just want to go home.”
He smiled. “Our home?”
She chewed her bottom lip before she nodded hesitantly. “That’s what you call it.”
He chuckled. “I know I’m kind of pushin’ all this on you. I apologize. How about we go home, cuddle, and watch movies, and then in the morning, we can talk about everything.”
“That sounds perfect.” Her voice was hoarse, and his heart ached for her.
Boogie kissed her forehead and made sure she was tucked safely back inside the car before he got back in himself.
For the rest of the drive, he focused on Sweetie’s emotions and needs and pushed the conversation he wanted to have with her to the side. Tonight would be all about her.
Waking up to Sweetie for the second day in a row felt like a dream.
This time, he woke up first and had a moment to watch her while she slept.
Last night had been hard for him. As a fixer and someone who took whatever he wanted, seeing Sweetie cry about her granny was hard.
There was nothing he could do but hold her and mumble occasional words of encouragement.
Her swollen eyes were closed peacefully, and she breathed lightly. Boogie wondered what she was dreaming about. He hoped it was something good.
He stayed like that for a while longer before she stirred. Boogie peppered her face with kisses when he saw her waking up, and she opened her eyes with a smile.
“Good morning,” she said in a raspy voice.
“Morning, beautiful.”
She stretched before she rolled onto her back. Her head flopped to the side, and she smiled at him with one eye open. “How long have you been up?”
“Not too long. Yo’ snoring woke me,” he joked.
She scoffed. “I do not snore.”
“Yeah, aight.” He pulled her close to him and kissed her lips three times. “How you feeling?”
The smile slowly slipped from her face. “I’m hurting, but I’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, you gon’ be aight.”
“How you know?” she asked with a slight smile.
He kissed her forehead. “Because I’ll make sure of it.”