Chapter 4
The Next Afternoon
The sound of my phone vibrating sent waves of pain through my skull.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, but I knew that wasn’t gon’ get rid of the massive headache that I had.
“Fuuuuck,” I groaned and stared over at the clock on the nightstand. It was two in the afternoon, and I was still sleeping.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“I’m coming!” I yelled as I tossed the covers back and climbed out of bed. The entire room spun.
Gripping the wall, I leaned my head down to try and gain my composure.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Squeezing my eyes shut, I yelled, “You bang on that door one more fucking time! I said I’m coming!”
Removing myself from the wall, I headed to the door and yanked it open to see Imani standing there with her arms folded over her chest. “Where have you been?” she asked and brushed past me into the suite.
“Sleep, . . . obviously.” Dragging my feet, I went into the kitchen to make some coffee to wake myself up. Sleeping this late in the day was never me. I had to have gone too hard last night.
“What happened to you last night?”
My brows scrunched as I squeezed my eyes shut. I groaned. “Why are you screaming?”
“I’m talking regular.” Imani stopped next to the counter as I searched the coffee for the Keurig packs.
“Whisper. Your voice is making my head hurt.”
“Sol, this is serious. You disappeared last night from the club, and we couldn’t find you anywhere. Not even in your suite.” She stood there with her arms folded over her chest, wearing a scowl.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’m here now, though.” I brushed my hair out of my face, and Imani gasped. “What?” My eyes cut to her, and hers damn near popped from her head.
“What the hell is this?” she asked when she snatched my left hand. That was when I noticed the massive rock sitting on it. The shit was so freaking huge. Heart cut. Pink diamond. Small pink diamonds covering the entire band.
“What the fuck?” I frowned. “This a joke, right? I know you came in here and put this shit on me while I was sleep.” I snatched the ring from my finger and shoved it into her chest. “I don’t have time for y’all games today.”
“Bitch, where the fuck do you think I can get money from to afford this?” She stared inside the band of the ring. “This shit is real.”
“Maybe I bought it while I was out last night. I don’t know why I’d put it on my ring finger.” I took the ring from Imani and carefully examined it. “It is my style. That’s the only explanation. Yeah, . . . I bought this.”
“Well, you need to snap back from that hangover. We got stuff to do today. You got two hours.” Imani peeled away from the counter and strutted toward the door.
Stopping in her tracks, she turned back to face me and said, “And don’t ever pull some shit like that again.
You know we always leave together. No matter what. ”
I hit her with a head nod, and she exited the suite.
* * *
We were sitting at dinner as my mind drifted to Savion. I remembered seeing him last night, but that was about it. That man was fine as hell, but I knew he was off-limits. That was why I planned on staying as far away from him as possible ’til I made it back home.
I found it crazy as fuck that I was running into him now, when I didn’t even cross paths with him ’til the whole shit with my family happened—when I was being set up by Wicked’s fuck buddy, Zola. I guessed I could thank her crazy ass for bringing him into my life.
“Sol?” I snapped from my thoughts when I heard my name.
“You good?” Imani questioned me.
“Yeah.” I twirled the straw inside my French 75.
She briefly stared at me before turning her attention to Ashley.
I saw a guy near the bar that looked like Savion from behind.
Sandalwood crept up my nostrils, the scent that I’d smelt on Savion.
I know it had to have been a figment of my imagination just because I was thinking of him.
The guy turned around just for me to find out it wasn’t him at all.
Get it together, Solei.
We finished up dinner. The girls decided that they were going out, but I really wasn’t up for it. I took one of the vehicles back to the hotel. As I stepped off the elevator, I noticed a bouquet of pink roses sitting at my door.
Stopping, I leaned down to remove the card, but there wasn’t one. Sitting on the floor next to the flowers was a small black gift bag. Picking it up, I reached inside and removed the box from it. When I popped it open, I saw a huge heart diamond necklace that almost resembled the ring on my finger.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone else was around, but the hallway was quiet. I wasn’t sure who left this shit at my door, but I wasn’t about to turn down some jewelry.