Chapter 14 #2
“Here you go,” she said, handing Renae a fresh bouquet of pink roses and carnations, lavender stock, white cremones, daisy poms, and monte casinos.
Her eyes brightened as she smelled them. “Thank you. They’re gorgeous like always.”
“You’re more than welcome. I like freestyling for you every week.”
“I didn’t know you liked flowers like that,” Najee said.
Renae eyed him wearily and gave a sad smile. “I didn’t at first, but I figured I’d rather receive them from myself while I’m alive because I can’t enjoy them from my grave.”
“Damn.” That was the only thing Najee could say. Her words had left him speechless.
“Goodness. That’s a way to look at it,” the girl said, utterly stunned by her words as well.
Renae shrugged. “Hard facts but needed truths. We have to accept them sometimes.”
She was saying a lot, without having to say much at all, and Najee caught it. When his phone vibrated in his pocket, he broke their eye contact and grabbed Orielle’s flowers.
“Aye. I appreciate you. I’ll be back through here, fasho,” he said.
The girl smiled. “You’re welcome. Have a great day!”
Najee told her to do the same, then stopped in front of Renae. “Be safe, a’ight?”
His words were heavy, and he hoped they weighed Renae down enough to stick. All she did was nod and watch him walk away. It felt like she’d broken her own heart again, but this time the pain was worse.
“Najee.”
He turned at the sound of his name. Pausing, he waited to hear what she had to say.
“I’m sorry for everything,” she said sadly. Voice thick with clogged tears. “I hope she’s treating you better than I did.”
She was and always had been. Orielle was everything for and to Najee that Renae could never be.
So, he was sorry, too. Not because they didn’t work out, but because he wasted his time.
Najee gave her one last glance and pushed out the door.
The chime this time around settled Renae’s nerves, as she thumbed the card in her pocket.
She took it as Najee’s sign of forgiveness, and she accepted it. It was the least she could do.
A fter placing the flowers in his backseat, Najee hopped in his truck and pulled out of the parking lot.
The phone icon on his screen with a red dot in the corner of it indicated he had a missed call.
He had a few, actually, and was relieved to see that none of them were from Orielle, calling to tell him that she was about to leave.
He tapped Lune’s name and waited for him to pick up.
“Yo. What’s good?” Najee said when he answered.
He heard Lune suck his teeth, and he already knew whatever he was about to tell him was going to be some bullshit.
“Nigga, you do not be that busy. Fuck was you doing? Joyriding the company’s cars?”
Chuckling, Najee shook his head. He was grateful his lil’ homie could make him crack a smile after the situation he’d just walked away from.
“There’s always a hating ass nigga somewhere,” Najee jested. “I was picking up my girl some flowers. What’s good?”
On the other end of the phone, Lune smirked. “Aye. You sure she ain’t got any sisters? I saw her posing with this bad bitch on IG the other day.”
“Nah. Thank goodness she’s an only child. I don’t need a brother-in-law.”
“Man. Fuck you,” Lune said, laughing. “I’d be the best in-law ever. Plus, you big bro anyway. I ain’t gotta be married into the family, cuz.”
“Yeah, I hear you. What’s up, though.”
Lune cleared his throat and got serious. “That nigga Dante still owe you some paper?”
“Hell yeah.” Najee didn’t let the man’s name roll through his mental Rolodex for one second before replying.
A nigga who owed him and his folks money would forever be remembered, even in death. Fortunately, Dante hadn’t made it there yet. Unfortunately, his time was up on paying Najee his bread. He owed him before Najee got locked up and hadn’t been heard from or seen until today.
“Bet. I saw that nigga leaving the neighborhood market on 39 th like shit was sweet wit’ his fat ass. I shouldn’t have let that wobbly, weak-legged mothafucka make it.”
Najee laughed. Dante was a bigger dude, much bigger than most, and swayed from side to side when he walked. Leave it to Lune to crack a joke while plotting his demise.
“Next time, don’t. That’s all you,” Najee told him.
“Breathing?”
“Even heavier than he already does but keep his eyes open. Pocket that money with interest.”
Lune smiled. “Bet.”
“Don’t do anything too stupid, a’ight? You just sending a message.”
“Yeah... and he not gon’ remember it after I knock the nigga’s thoughts out his head.”
Najee shook his head. “A’ight. You heard what I said, though.”
“Nigga, you can’t check me. I respect you, though, so I’ma play nice today.”
“Get off my phone, man.” Najee laughed.
“A’ight,” Lune said, laughing. “Tell RiRi I said hi,” he joked, knowing it’d pissed Najee off.
He gritted his teeth, and before he could say anything about calling her that, Lune hung up in his face.
While Najee could’ve made the executive decision for Lune to end Dante’s life, he didn’t want that power anymore.
He’d been on the straight and narrow for too long to have shit go bad.
Ending Dante’s life wasn’t worth throwing away everything he’d worked hard for.
Najee made the type of money Dante owed him in a few hours, was giving it to Lune, and could get more. It had stopped being about his cash a long time ago. It was the principle, and Lune was going to make sure he understood that one way or another.
Najee pulled up to Orielle’s place and parked.
Hopping out, he grabbed her flowers out of the backseat and another small gift bag from the floor.
As much as he loved her loft, he hated how difficult it was to get to her place.
He had to go through too many doors, down a hallway, take an elevator, and then another hallway just to get to the door.
The city skyline view was somewhat worth the hassle once you were inside, but Najee was ready to put her in another place.
It was an inconvenience some days, just as much as it was a safety issue, and he wanted to be able to get to her quickly if something was wrong.
He didn’t even mind that he’d be paying her rent still; he just wanted his Pretty Girl somewhere safer.
Thankfully, she’d given him her extra keycard, so he didn’t have to call and wait for her to answer.
When he made it inside her place and heard her on IG live, he was glad she had.
Placing the bags down, Najee used the bathroom in her guest bedroom, which doubled as her at-home studio, before heading to her bedroom.
Orielle saw his grin through the mirror, and she smiled.
“I think we have an intruder, y’all,” she teased as he snuck up on the side of her.
She was at her vanity playing in makeup and chatting with whoever was tuned in.
Najee leaned in just enough to plant a kiss on her cheek.
His face was halfway in the camera, giving her viewers and fans just enough of his sexy side profile.
They knew Orielle was seeing someone, but they didn’t know who.
She and Najee were private, but not a secret.
If people knew, then they knew. If they didn’t, they weren’t supposed to know, because that meant that they didn’t know them.
“What’s up, baby?”
Orielle’s cheeks ballooned as she smiled. “Hey, you.”
“You in here wasting money,” he said, observing all the brushes, pallets, powders, liquids, pencils, and something he said looked like a surgical utensil.
When she told him she wanted to start really doing her makeup outside of a light, natural face, Najee told her to send him the total.
The amount of products she had on the dresser didn’t look like it nearly amounted to the almost eight hundred dollar bill he footed, but she was smiling and looked like she was having a grand time, and that was all that mattered.
“No.” Orielle giggled. “I’m actually in here showing the girls how I do my everyday look. Is that okay with you?”
Najee smirked. “Yeah. Someone on your live just asked if I’m your boyfriend.”
Smacking her lips, she leaned into the screen, trying to see if she could find the comment or if he was bluffing.
“Didn’t nobody ask me that,” Orielle said, after scrolling upward and not finding the comment.
“Damn. Why you don’t want to be my girlfriend? You gon’ turn me down with all these people on here?”
Orielle looked mortified as Najee casually teased her. This was them every day but he had taken it too far while she was on live. She turned to face him and laughed while swatting at him.
“Stop. Don’t do that,” she said, giggling. “Y’all see how this man be acting, y’all. We practically live together.”
Najee read another comment. “Look. They said answer the question.”
Orielle playfully rolled her eyes. “We know what it is and that’s all that matters.”
Najee didn’t like that answer at all. It sounded weak as fuck, like she was just some random bitch he was fucking on.
That wasn’t the case, and he wanted it to be known.
Not to her viewers because he couldn’t give a fuck less what they thought, but to her because she meant so much more to him.
When he walked out of the room, Orielle made a face like she was in trouble.
“Ooh. I don’t think he liked that answer, y’all,” she whispered into the screen.
“Aye,” Najee called out from the doorway. His arms were full of her gifts. “Come here.”
Hopping up, Orielle didn’t even tell her viewers to hold on. Her eyes lit up at all the beautiful roses he had set down on her dresser, and she smiled so big.
“Baaabe,” she cooed, picking up the gold box first. “You remembered the white roses.”
His heart swelled seeing how happy she was for remembering the small detail. Najee nodded. “Yeah. These right here fire, too, so I got both. That little one, you can put on your desk or something. I just thought you’d like it ‘cause it’s small.”