Theirs

Chapter 15

I smiled and slapped the man in front of me as hard as I could. He yelled with his hands in the air and shook his head, the water on his face sliding and flying off. He dug into his wallet and handed me two hundreds.

“Keep the change, baby.”

“Thank you. Thank you.” I winked at him and walked to the register, quickly paying out the shots he’d gotten for him and his three friends.

I split the change in half for me and the fellow bartender who’d slapped half of the group with me.

I walked over and slid her half right in her pocket and she smiled at me as she fixed the next drink.

My eyes automatically drifted over to where Stone stood near the entrance, his muscular arms crossed over his chest while he spoke to another security guard who laughed at something he said while frisking someone.

Once the woman was done, she walked inside and stopped to talk to Stone.

I felt my eyebrow lift immediately. She said something that had him grinning.

She laughed fully and loudly, the other security guard jumping in.

When her hand landed on his chest, I circled the bar.

I pulled my hair back as I walked toward them.

When I got to the door and Stone was still standing there looking fucking stupid, I got ready to punch his head off his shoulders.

He leaned down now, with that woman yelling something into his ear. He stood and nodded. My eyes remained on the hand on his chest.

“Get your hand off my man before I stomp you the fuck out,” I warned.

The woman’s eyebrows knitted as she looked back at me.

“Excuse me?”

“Bitch, you heard me.”

“Selle—”

I cut him off. “And you can shut the fuck up too, Stone.”

He scoffed and walked around the woman to stand before me.

“You’re being a little crazy, baby.”

“Do you want me to show you fucking crazy? Don’t play with me in here.”

“A’ight.”

“Yeah. Alright.” I looked over at the other security guard who was looking between the two of us and laughing. “That shit is not funny, Brian.”

“It’s a lil funny, Jazz.” He shrugged.

I cut my eyes at him.

“Nah. Some bartender is trippin’ and talking about I was all over her man but obviously her man didn’t have an issue with it because he damn sure didn’t say anything.”

“Well I’m saying it.” I peered at her around Stone. “I have a problem with it, so now what?”

“Come on, baby. It ain’t that deep,” Stone pleaded.

“Check your man, bitch! Don’t check me!” she snapped.

I nodded once, then moved around Stone and smacked her ass as hard as I could after slapping men for the last two hours before I turned and slapped the taste out of Stone’s mouth too.

“There you go. Now y’all got matching ones.” I glared at her. “You want me to make that matching ass whoopings?”

Stone stepped in front of me and the woman took a swing that made me reach around Stone to try to hit her too.

“Man, calm that bitch down!” some nigga screeched as he grabbed the other woman.

“Ay.” Stone turned toward him. “Watch yo’ mothafuckin’ mouth before it end up being a 2v2 in this bitch.”

I reached around him and hit ol’ girl again, right in her nose, successfully knocking her head back. She started swinging again.

Kiano looked, in pure shock, as he made it to the entrance of the club, no doubt just to meet us as he usually did after work.

“Damn! What's going on?” Kiano shoved his way in, grabbed me by my waist, and jerked me backwards. I kicked a little bit as he pulled me further into the club.

He got me to a vacant table, set me on my feet, spun me around, and grabbed my face. He looked at the door where the woman was still screaming, then back at me, confusion etched on his face.

“What’s going on, Jiselle?”

“That bitch was rubbing on Stone’s chest and he was just standing there looking fucking stupid.” I crossed my arms over my chest and did my best to ignore the way tears threatened to spill from my eyes.

Stone was right. I was acting slightly crazy but I couldn’t help it.

The sheer thought of him cheating on me with some random woman from the bar was enough for me to lose it on him and her.

Plus, if there was a man in the bar rubbing my chest, I knew for a fact he wouldn’t be okay with it.

He’d thrown people out of the bar onto their necks for less.

“She was rubbing his chest?” Kiano repeated.

“Yeah.”

“No,” Stone said as he came up behind me. “She wasn’t rubbing my chest.”

“I’d hope not,” Kiano deadpanned.

“Not you too. Please,” Stone said. He leaned in and kissed Kiano briefly before gripping me by my waist and yanking me.

“She wasn’t rubbing my chest,” he appealed.

“I mean, yeah, she had a hand on my chest but she wasn’t rubbing and plenty of women have touched my chest on this job, Selle.

They be drunk and unbalanced. The bitch asked my opinion on a drink by screaming in my damn ear and had a whole ass nigga with her.

And even if she didn’t, you know how I feel about you and Kiano. I wouldn’t even play like that.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Baby,” Stone said carefully. “We’ve worked together for years. Have you ever seen me take someone home from the bar?”

I just blinked at him. Stone was always personable and joked with everyone but he definitely didn’t bring anyone home whether they were customers or other bartenders. It wasn’t from a lack of offers either.

I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted. He grinned.

“Stop smiling at me like that.”

“I can’t help it. I like that crazy shit.

” He licked his lips and I turned my head to stop him from seeing me grin.

“All jokes aside, Jiselle. I love you, baby, and I know you’re used to seeing someone not care about their commitments or marriage but that’s not me and it’ll never be us. I just want you to know that.”

“Okay.” I exhaled and nodded. “I hear you.”

I looked at Kiano when he placed a hand on the small of my back.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded and gave him a small smile. “I’m okay.”

“Good..”

“Ay!” The bar’s manager whistled to get me and Stone’s attention and waved us over.

Stone’s hands fell away from me and I rolled my eyes.

“We’ll be right back.”

Stone grabbed my hand and we waded through the crowd together to get to our manager’s office. She’d left it open so we just walked inside. Stone closed the door behind us.

The second the door was shut, our manager started going off. Apparently the woman I’d hit was complaining and she’d been forced to comp the liquor the woman drank to avoid social media slander. She let us know that she’d already looked at the cameras and saw I had thrown the first hit.

The only positive thing was Stone hadn’t thrown one and had clearly been trying to defuse the situation.

She tapped her pen on her desk.

“Look, it’s fine if you two want to fuck each other, but if it’s going to cause issues in the bar, we’re going to have to let one of you go,” she blurted.

“We’d prefer not to because our staff is currently really good and works together well, but the next time there’s an altercation with you in the center because of your relationship, you’ll be forced to choose who walks away. ”

“A’ight.” Stone nodded once. “We hear you.”

“Do you?” She looked at me pointedly and glared until I nodded. “Good. Maybe you should take the rest of the night off,” she suggested.

“Sure.” I spun with my hand balled into a fist at my side.

Stone yanked the door open and we both filed out.

“You okay, Selle?”

“Yep.” I pivoted toward the room where all the bartenders kept their purses and bags and grabbed mine.

Stone kept his mouth shut, just staying beside me while I verified everything I’d come with to the bar was leaving with me.

By the time we walked out of the little side hall, Kiano leaned against the entrance. He smiled as we walked over to him.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

“One of us is going to have to quit,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Damn. You okay?”

“Yeah. I make good money doing cam work anyway, so it is what it is.”

“When did we decide you were going to be the one to quit?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“It just makes sense for me to be the one to step off. No shade but I’m almost positive I make more money online than you make at the mechanic shop.”

Stone snickered.

“Yeah, probably.” He exhaled. “Either way, let’s take the free night off and go from there.”

“Come on. I’ll drive,” Kiano offered and we followed him to his car.

He drove us to my place where we showered, ate, and collapsed in my bed. I sat against my headboard while they each massaged one of my feet and I looked between them, truly thankful for my job at the bar.

It had connected me with both of my men. Whether I had to quit or not, I’d always have a soft spot for it.

After the men were done rubbing my feet, Stone and I rubbed Kiano’s feet. Then Stone lay on his stomach while Kiano massaged his back.

Once done, we all sat in bed together to smoke. I set up my little bong while Stone rolled a joint.

“I think y’all should both get therapy,” Kiano said after a second in silence.

“What?” I forced a little laugh.

“Therapy,” he reiterated.

“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Stone asked.

“Calm down. It’s not a slight.” Kiano chuckled.

“My parents have had me in therapy for most of my life. It’s good to help figure out healthy communication and talk shit out with someone unbiased.

It couldn’t hurt to talk about not being in survival mode all the time.

” Kiano looked at Stone as he spoke then turned to me.

“And I don’t think it would hurt for you to unpack some of the shit you had to see growing up. ”

I exhaled. “I’ll consider it.”

“Good.” He took a hit from the joint then offered it to Stone. “What do you think?”

Stone took the joint, shook his head, then took a hit.

“Look, if y’all want to do couple’s counseling or if there is a support group or something, I’d try it out, but I’m good on the one-on-one thing.” He took another hit then offered it to Kiano. “I don’t think having a hustler mentality requires therapy."

“I never said it did.” Kiano gave him a dazzling smile. “I’m just saying I think everyone can gain something from therapy.” He shrugged.

“I’m not writing it off. I’ll even look into it but I think I’m good.”

“Looking into it is a lot more than some people,” I offered.

“It is and we’re proud of you,” Kiano said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Stone waved us off.

We talked a little bit more about random things as we finished smoking then cut all the lights out and settled into bed.

Kiano and Stone had quickly become constants in my life.

Stone did my morning run with me when he slept over and Kiano came along when I got my weekly pedicures.

Kiano and Stone both worked Monday through Friday while I didn’t, so I was able to film, do cam work, and get anything done that I didn’t want to drag them along for.

I sighed contentedly, wrapped between them.

“I love you guys,” I muttered.

“What?” Kiano ran his thumb over my bare hip.

“Say that again,” Stone whispered.

“I love you guys,” I echoed.

“That’s what I thought you said.” Kiano kissed the side of my head and I looked back so he could kiss my lips. “I love you too.”

I smiled against his mouth but faced forward in time to kiss Stone too.

“I love you too, baby,” he said.

“I know.”

He swatted me and I giggled as I snuggled into them and closed my eyes.

The sound of my phone ringing was what pulled me from the best sleep I’d ever gotten. Stone shifted to reach for it.

“It’s Rene,” he grumbled.

I jerked up in bed and took the phone from his hand. The fact that it was nearly three in the morning had alarm bells going off. I answered immediately.

“Are our parents okay?” I asked.

“What the fuck are you doing, doing porn, Jiselle?” Rene barked.

I blinked a few times in the darkness of the room.

“What?” I forced a little laugh.

“Why the fuck are people texting me that they can see your entire naked ass online for ten fucking dollars, Jiselle?”

“Probably because they can?” I was genuinely confused by this conversation.

“Take it the fuck down now!”

“First of all, calm the fuck down screaming at me. Let’s start there. If you can’t communicate like a fucking adult, we’re not going to communicate at all.”

Stone reached over, turned the light on, and sat up. Kiano propped his head up on his hand.

“Jiselle, I’m not fucking playing with you,” Rene hissed.

“I’ll talk to you later then.” I hung up the call and immediately put my phone on do not disturb.

“Is everything okay?” Kiano asked.

“Who was that yelling at you, Selle?”

“Rene.” I forced a tight smile. “He, uhm, may have found my cam site.”