Rage
My jaw muscles flexed as I entered my shop.
It had been three weeks since I got shot.
Jabar and Wanda had cleaned the place for me.
There was blood on the floor. My shop had been an entire crime scene, and I was lucky to be alive.
They also had to straighten my office up from the illegal ass search the police did when I was taken away in the ambulance.
Of course, they assumed there were drugs in the shop.
I stood in the center of the room and sighed.
The same shop that previously brought me so much joy now had a sour taste in my mouth.
I tried to rationalize that I could have been robbed anywhere.
Luxurious, fancy, shops in nice areas, got robbed too.
And the ones that didn’t get robbed, it was because they had security.
I was sore as shit for two and half weeks.
I didn’t think the pain would ever go away.
Vanity had never been my thing, but I hated the scar that ran down the center of my chest. I walked over to the counter, eyes landing on the sketch pad that had been abandoned when I realized I was being robbed.
I had shit to do. Even though I’d reached out to my customers and let them know what was up, they’d still paid deposits, and I knew they wanted their shit.
Flipping the page, I stared at a blank sheet of paper.
I was a heavy weed smoker, but high from edibles hit different than being high from smoking.
My lids weren’t heavy, but my body was. Staring at the white paper, I brainstormed trying to think of some dope shit.
The door opened, and my head lifted. Maybe it was the edible, but time seemed to slow down like the corny ass scenes in movies when a bad chick walked into the room in slow motion.
I almost thought I was tripping, but as she nervously bit her bottom lip and inched toward me, it couldn’t be anybody but her.
The only female that wasn’t blood that I ever loved.
Her five-foot four frame advanced closer.
Leighton’s brown skin was flawless. The lashes that she wore gave her almond shaped eyes an even more slanted appearance.
My dick stirred as I took in her thick thighs and her breasts.
I knew Leighton’s body inside and out. She had put on at least fifteen pounds, and her breasts were fuller.
“Hi,” she stated bashfully.
The edible had me slow as hell. Damn near discombobulated. “What’s up?” I tried to appear cool, but got damn I had missed her. It didn’t hit me just how much until I was staring in her face.
Getting over my breakup with Leighton wasn’t easy, but her being in Charlotte made it easier than it would have been if she was still in Diamond Cove.
It didn’t even feel right having her in my presence and not grabbing her waist and pulling her into me.
I was never a kisser until I fell in love with Leighton. I wanted my lips on hers.
“I saw the grills that you made for Lexi, and I want a few pair. One for me and two more for some models. I’m having a fashion show here in Diamond Cove in a few weeks, and I want the models to have the grills in for campaign pictures.”
“Woah,” I couldn’t hide my astonishment. “A fashion show, Leigh? That’s dope as fuck.” My chest swelled as she blushed. That was all she’d ever wanted. She dreamed about that shit, and it was happening in real time. It was the reason she left Diamond Cove. And me.
“Thank you. I’m still in shock kind of. And scared as hell. But I know I have to put my big girl panties on.” The smile slowly left her face.
Maybe she realized she was talking a lot. Leighton appeared comfortable engaging in conversation with me. I didn’t mind but obviously, she didn’t think it was a good idea.
“But um,” she cleared her throat and shifted her weight. “I’d like for you to design something for me, and then I can send the models in on their own in a few days for you to get their molds done.”
“Okay tell me the concept. What kind of grills do you want, or do you just want me to freestyle some shit?”
Leighton’s head dropped as she unlocked her phone. “I’ll show you some of the pieces. I had an idea for the first model. I want her grills colorful because in the first promo picture, she’s going to be wearing this,” Leighton held her phone out, so I could see.
The dress had a piece of fabric wrapped around the model’s breasts.
One strip of fabric snaked around her back, but left the model’s entire stomach and most of her back exposed.
The fabric started again underneath the model’s belly button and from there to her ankles, she was wrapped like a mummy.
The dress was fire as fuck, different, and it was black, so colorful grills would set it off.
“Damn I like that,” my head bobbed. “That shit is fye as fuck,” I stared at the piece for a few more seconds, so I could engrave the dress into my mental.
While she looked for the next piece, I grabbed a pad to write on.
“The second model will be wearing these jeans.” Leighton placed her phone back in front of my face, and I took in the jeans that were so baggy in the legs it looked as if they’d been filled with air, but they were dope. They had a street edge but a classy look too.
Leighton’s pieces were getting my creative juices flowing. My head bobbed as the wheels in my brain began to turn.
“I have no clue what I want for mine. Lexi’s is so nice. I think I can just let you come up with something, and I’m sure I’ll love it.”
“You know I got you.”
Leighton gave me a small smile before looking away.
I didn’t mean for my tone to be soft or sensual as I spoke to her and told her I had her, but that was how it came out.
Somethings just came natural to me when it came to dealing with Leighton, and I had no control over it.
I stood. “Let me get the stuff, so I can do your molds.”
After putting gloves on, I grabbed a tray to place the putty in, and everything that I needed to mix the putty.
A million questions ran through my mind, but I wasn’t sure I should ask Leighton any of them.
She came to spend her money with me, and she wasn’t acting like she hated me.
However, that didn’t mean that she wanted to update me on her life and chat like we were old friends.
I didn’t have to ask her anything because she was the one to break the silence.
“Allison told me what happened. Are you okay? I mean you look okay.”
I continued mixing the putty with a passive shrug. “I’m always gonna be good. I’m tough. One bullet can’t stop shit.”
Leighton’s simper was small. “Yes, you are tough.”
“How have you been though?” I poured the mixture into the tray.
“I’ve been pretty good. Extremely busy, but I won’t complain.”
“It damn sure looks like Charlotte has been good to you. I hope I’m not overstepping.” Honestly, I didn’t give a damn if she had a man, but I couldn’t come across as cocky. I was the one that fumbled her, and I regretted it often.
“You’re not. I’m single.”
Moving toward Leighton, I held the tray out. “Bite down and hold it until I tell you to stop.”
As Leighton took the tray from my hand, Kira sauntered through the door, and I wanted to kiss my teeth.
I knew she was about to do the damn most. Anyone that had known me for a while knew Leighton was my ex.
They also knew that since her, I hadn’t been attached to anyone else.
Kira had been trying with everything in her to get me to lock her down, and I refused.
Something told me that seeing Leighton was going to have her on some dumb shit, and I wasn’t in the mood.
“Hey, bae. I just came to see if you were good. You need anything?”
Kira had called me bae before, and I’d kindly told her I didn’t care for that shit.
Leighton used to call me babe. Truth be told, I didn’t mind pet names, but I didn’t want Kira thinking we were more than we were.
She hadn’t called me bae since I checked her.
Just as I suspected, she was doing the most. I didn’t want to be rude or have to check her in front of Leighton, but Kira knew me well enough to know that I didn’t indulge in bullshit.
“I’m good. I don’t need anything.”
“Okay. You need me to come by later?” she leaned against the glass case.
Ignoring the question, I stood in front of Leighton and placed two fingers on the small bar attached to the tray. “Okay let it go.”
Leighton stopped biting down, and I pulled the tray from her mouth. “I’ll show you the design before I make the grills. But it won’t take me long. Give me like a day or two.”
“Okay that sounds good. Thank you. So, do I pay now?”
I could feel Kira’s eyes burning a hole in my back. Looking over my shoulder, I raised my brows. “You need something?”
“I came up here to see you,” I could hear a hint of defense in her tone.
“This is my place of business, shawty. I’m working. If you’re not buying, I’ll holla at you later.”
Kira drew back a bit, but she knew better than to make a scene. Clicking her tongue, she spun around and stalked toward the door.
“You didn’t have to do all that. I was just going to pay and go.” Leighton didn’t seem bothered, and that lowkey bothered a nigga. I didn’t want her to be jealous. I wanted her to care.
“I did have to do all that. This isn’t a hangout spot, and she’s not my girl. And you don’t have to pay.”
“Rodney, yes, I do. You’re not making them for free. I’m not accepting no for an answer.”
“You just gonna leave the money on the counter? Because I’m not taking it. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“I do.”
“What is it that you feel you owe me?” I couldn’t quite read the look on her face. She almost looked angry.
“I owe you more than what I gave you. I owed Charlotte a chance. I just said fuck it. I didn’t fight or anything because I felt you’d be better off without me. You were chasing big things, and I had dope boy dreams.”