Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Falcon
Wednesday
I hadn’t seen Eli since last Friday, so I was excited to see her at this photo shoot. Justine had the idea to take some professional pictures that we’d use to announce our relationship. While we waited for her to arrive, I read the email from my attorney.
This shit was all fun and games for Lauren when she thought all that would happen to her was being sued for an amount of money she didn’t have.
I pressed charges against her ass, and ironically, she was arrested while she was live on Facebook.
When she was released, she deleted all the videos she’d posted, but it didn’t matter at that point.
They’d been downloaded and reposted on so many sites that it was seeming impossible to get everything down.
Since she was released, Lauren had been reaching out constantly to see what she had to do to get me to drop the charges.
I wasn’t dropping shit. Not only was she going to have to go to trial for the criminal charges, but as soon as that was over, I was going to file the civil lawsuit as well for breaching the contract and NDA.
Even if her ass didn’t pay back a dime, I was going to make an example out of her and make sure no one ever tried me again.
Outside of being a continuous conversation on social media, blogs, and radio stations, things had started to slowly return to normal.
The team tried to talk shit and clown me, but nobody could deny a nigga’s stroke game and how good I made Lauren’s dumb ass feel.
All the praise in the world meant nothing in a situation like this.
I would have preferred it if the world never saw my dick or how well I used it, but there was nothing to gain in being depressed over the shit.
At the sound of clacking heels, I lifted my eyes from my phone.
My mouth literally dropped at the sight of Eli.
I’d seen her dressed for several different kinds of occasions before, but today, she looked better than I’d ever seen her.
Her natural curls were long, wild, and all over the place, framing her face beautifully.
She had makeup on for a change, which only highlighted her natural beauty.
The minidress she had on was the same color as her hair, and it looked like it was painted on her skin.
Every curve on her short frame was on display, and there was nothing I could do to keep my dick from growing.
Her normally wide and beautiful smile was replaced with a frown, and that was the only thing that stopped me from lusting after her any longer. I closed the space between us and quickly asked, “Who made you mad?”
“Justin. I thought me blocking him and Isaac beating him up would make him get the point, but clearly, I was wrong. He’s started calling me from an unknown number talking about us getting back together.”
She scoffed and looked around the studio. Since she was the last to arrive, everyone was set up. The bright space had a white backdrop where we’d be taking the pictures. Nothing overly extra—just a few pictures of us hugged up and holding hands and shit I supposed.
“Do I need to make him an appointment for a closed casket funeral?” I checked, and though I was serious, she grabbed my hand and laughed.
“Oh God. I thought I only had to worry about Isaac being crazy. Now I’m concerned about you.”
“I’m just saying. It’s my responsibility to protect you now. Not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. I’m not about to let him bother you. Plus, I’m territorial, and I’on like the idea of no nigga tryna take what’s mine. Not that he has a chance.”
Her eyes rolled playfully as a comfortable smile settled on her face, and her body relaxed.
“When you say stuff like that, I forget this relationship isn’t real.”
Oh yeah.
It wasn’t, . . . was it?
“Now that the lady of the hour is here, we can get started,” Justine announced.
I led Eli over to where the photographer was. They introduced themselves, and then Matthew gave us a few notes on posing before we went behind the camera to get started.
I noticed her twiddling her thumbs, so I asked, “You nervous?”
She looked up at me sweetly. “A little. I want these to look good. Look real. We have a lot riding on this.”
I took her hands into mine and kissed them, blocking out the flashing camera. “Focus on me. Don’t overthink it.”
Eli nodded and released a shaky breath. “I’m shy,” she whispered, as if I didn’t already know. For some reason, that made me like her more and want to put her in my pocket and take her the fuck home.
“It’s just you and me,” I said, swirling one of her curls around my finger. “How does that John Legend song go? I’ma sing it to you and make you relax.”
“Fally . . . I’m not sure that’s a good—”
As soon as I started belting out the lyrics to “You & I (Nobody in the World),” she went from mortified to laughing so hard it made me laugh.
“You laughing like I’m not good enough to do a duet with you or some shit.”
“Falcon, please,” she said through her laughter.
A picture was taken of her covering my mouth while I tried to sing, then one of me pulling her into my arms and lowering myself to kiss her neck while the last of her giggles died down. She wrapped her arms around me while I cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes.
“I really like you, and that sucks,” she muttered, tugging me closer.
“I really like you too, Smiley,” I confessed against her lips before kissing her.
When she moaned against my lips, I forgot we weren’t alone for real.
My hands roamed her body just like the first time we kissed.
Gripping her ass, I held her against me.
Needing her closer, I picked her up and wrapped her legs around me.
The sound of Justine whistling pulled me from her lips.
Our eyes remained locked for a few seconds as Eli brushed her thumb against my bottom lip.
“My teddy bear. Trouble,” she whispered before giving me another quick peck.
I didn’t have to ask her to clarify, because I knew exactly what she meant. This—us—her—definite trouble. I set her on her feet and put some space between us. Running my hand down my black tee, I asked Matthew, “You got enough to work with?”
“More than enough. Y’all made my job easy. Great work, guys.”
Justine clapped as she walked over to us. “If I didn’t know this was fake, I’d swear you two were in love for real.”
Eli looked from her to me bashfully before saying, “I um . . . have to go. Studio session.”
“O-okay, Eli. We’ll talk soon,” Justine said to Eli’s retreating back. “Is she okay?” she asked, turning her attention to me.
“Yeah. I’d say she’s more than okay. Scary ass just running from me and how she feels.”
“So there is something there then? Something real.”
“Doesn’t matter. Once this is over, we’ll go back to normal.”
“Well, seeing as I can’t ignore or deny the chemistry you two just had, I will give you some unsolicited advice. Take full advantage of the next few months. Maybe things will get so real she won’t be able to or even want to run.”
Justine gave my arm a gentle squeeze before walking away.
For a brief moment, I considered her advice.
Regardless of how deep things got between me and Eli, they’d be over this fall.
No matter how much I liked her, I couldn’t betray Isaac and pursue her.
Not only would I lose my best friend, but there was a chance it would affect our team as well.
We flowed well and were unstoppable when we were in sync.
I had no guarantee it would stay that way if me dating his sister created conflict between us.
With that truth in mind, I reminded myself that this wasn’t real and that it had an expiration date, but I was damn sure going to enjoy the hell out of my fake girlfriend while I could.