Chapter 32 Montana
montana
. . .
Her sassy response could stop a second line mid-parade. With her breast pressed against my chest? Damn. I felt that. I cleared my throat and proceeded with caution and stupidity. Please. When getting on a woman’s bad side? You play dumb. Ain’t no shame in that.
“The ranch is located in Glendale, Arizona.” I hugged her naked body to me, tugging the blanket to keep her warmer, while my ass froze on a cold bench.
Scratching the back of my neck, I hoped the shifts in conversation threw her off guard.
Made her less angry. “Contract handled. Probation lifted. Let’s celebrate. You know how we do?”
“How do we do?” She smacked her lips against mine, more of a threat than anything. Then she shoved my chest.
Yeah. Saw that coming.
“Montana, you know good and well I wasn’t asking about the location. When did you learn they hadn’t benched you for spring training?”
“What happen was …” I began.
“Save it.” She growled, climbing off me. With a shiver, she slipped back onto my lap. “Too cold … too cold.”
She fell into me again, soft in the places that made a man forget his name. “That’s right. Stay right here, bébé.”
Zuri smirked. “They lifted your sanctions last month, huh?”
“Yep.”
“So instead of celebrating me and my monologue, you created this stupid contract. Don’t worry. We can celebrate me later. Come clean. Now.”
Please. “You made it seem important, Zuri. Had those my-precious eyes. You know, from that corny-ass movie.”
“First, Lord of the Rings wasn’t corny. I can imagine four Baby-Nos binge-watching as snot-nosed kids. Second, you loved it. Every moment with me and those movies. The books were page-turners too.” She cleared her throat. Should I tell her I read ‘em too? Nah. “Second—”
“You’re on third.”
“Thank you,” she said, “Third, my eyes aren’t like Gollum’s.”
“Who’s Gollum?” I knew. But I was a dude, a Dodger. Had to put on a front.
“The tiny, weird thing that says, ‘My Precious!’ ”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Say, bébé …”
She melted into me. “Mm-hmm.”
“I want to show you something,” I said.
“Tell me, ‘Say, baby’ again.”
“What?”
With a dreamy tone, she breathed, “Repeat it.”
I chuckled. “Nah. I’ll use that against you later.”
“Mm-hmm, Montana. So you know you’re no good.”
“Won’t be a lot of trouble. Never that. Just a little trouble. Or when I really need your attention because you’re stuck inside your head.”
She rolled her eyes away. I turned her on my lap and grabbed my phone from the bench next to me so that we could look at my social media. “You never looked up the images online?” I asked.
“No. I’ve hidden so long.” Her voice got wobbly. “I was scared to see myself.”
Bruh, where you at with an update on Edwin and that gang?
I clicked into the app and showed her what I’d been posting.
“Wait, I don’t get it.” Zuri stared at the black background and white text I’d used, basically for the last three weeks.
“Besides the Lives, which disappear after twenty-four hours, there’s only one photo of us.
But you have that vague picture of me holding the sun near the Eiffel Tower and by the rail near the ?le de la Cité.
I looked too cute near the Pont Neuf. Why didn’t you …
? Oh …” She realized. “You were respecting my privacy.”
“Yep.”
“But what does this mean? Mon c?ur est à Paris …”
“Bébé, you just butchered it. Not sure what you said, but that there says, My heart’s in Paris with her.”
She scrolled over the days and read out, “Bourbon Street, St. Louis Cathedral. So, you said my heart is with you in all those places we’ve been?”
“Except for when we spent one day at Crescent Park with Darius. Then us at City Park,” I told her.
“These are the places we visited in the past couple of weeks. I figured, you, my bébé, the world didn’t need to have you.
That honor goes to me. So, they get what I’m willing to give them.
Basically, they know my heart stays wherever you go, Zuri. ”
“Oh, Montana. I’m not leaving.”
“Now, Big Country’s alive and well, ready for round two,” I said, tugging her back around toward me. I pressed a kiss to the hollow at her throat, and her pulse beat against my mouth like a hidden message meant just for me.
She looked up at me, her voice a whisper wrapped in laughter. “Just make me forget how cold it is, Montana.”
The next morning, I drank coffee in a home I hadn’t known would get so loud in the silence. Must be why Momma passed on this multi-million-dollar home. My Valentine’s Day plans were in full effect. Just one last piece. I knew who’d pull this off for me.
I made a call, smashed the Speaker button, and placed the phone on the counter.
“I said no already,” Madison answered, tone salty.
“Chill, I got all the vases I need. You get your invitation to my Mardi Gras Valentine’s Ball?”
“Yep.”
“You ain’t respond.”
“Don’t want to see Judge Baby-No, dang!”
“Do me a solid, Maddy.”
“You mean, Mad. Your girl is totes adorbs by the way.”
“Don’t start.”
“I’m not. I’ve taken her under my wing. Teaching her how to navigate. Anyway, I can tell she got more brains than all the women you’ve screwed. Hell, so many brains she probably really assumed y’all’s crap talk was normal. Calling me Mad.”
I took a sip of coffee. “Ain’t nobody talk about you, sis. We just … thought the title stuck. You made it stick.”
Her voice became a taunting song. “Sure did.” Mad put Zuri’s ass to shame when she put on a front.
“Madison. I need you to make me one glass mask. Just one.”
“A glass mask? Montana, that’s ridiculous! It will be too heavy. If you plan to wear it.”
“Zuri’s wearing it.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, then snapped my fingers. “Make a Venetian half mask.”
“What color?” She sighed. “This must be some party.”
“Gold. Come, Maddy. Remind everyone of the girl who gave my brotha all his swag. How much you want for the mask?”
“A lot!”
“A lot works. Just add the fam-bam discount at the end.” I tapped the Off button and stared at a text.
Ezekiel. Bruh? Right now? Since nobody I knew spoke to him, he definitely didn’t find out about my party.
Or did he?
Damn, though, he had me sounding like a little kid handing out invites from Party City back in the day. Like, not you, to the dork in fifth grade.
I left him on read. Set a reminder on my iPhone for one month out.
Respond to old head about meeting at Li’l Dizzy’s.