Chapter 32
Indigo
I shouldn’t have said yes to lunch again. This was damn near ten times in the month he’d shown up. I had told myself when Diamond was gone I’d make an excuse to say no. Diamond had to rush back home last week because Malik was losing his shit without her up north.
But he had shown up at the studio with a massive bouquet of white peonies—my absolute favorite, the exact ones I used to buy for myself back in New York.
He’d looked at me and said, “Come eat with me, Midnight. Just lunch. I miss your company, plus I’ll be leaving soon.”
I told myself it was harmless.
We ended up at a Black-owned spot downtown in Tampa. Cooly pulled out my chair, then sat across from me looking entirely too good in a crisp black button-down with the sleeves rolled up. His locs were loose today, framing his face. His gaze never once left mine.
What was I doing? I did not need to be adding to my issues.
Me and Malachai were just getting back to some sense of normalcy, or whatever the hell that looked like for us.
If he found out I was spending days with Cooly, he’d freak the fuck out.
But a spiteful, bitter little voice in the back of my head whispered that he could just deal with it.
He’d told me to ignore Sasha for years. He could ignore my friendship with Cooly the exact same way.
“I watched Naked and Afraid like you told me to,” he said, his lips twitching into a slow smile.
“Two episodes. That shit is wild. They really out there eating raw snake and crying over fire. That’s not your dream anymore, right?
” His eyes dragged down my body for half a second before coming back up to lock onto mine.
“Because if you still wanna be on that island, I’ll buy you one.
Private. No cameras. Just you, me, and whatever the fuck you feel like being naked about. ”
I laughed before I could stop myself. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Nah. I’m serious.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
“I’d watch you survive. I’d watch you thrive.
I’d watch you do whatever the hell you want, as long as I get to watch.
I can make you afraid if you want to be, in all the ways that make your heart race and your thighs wet.
I’d chase you through the jungle. Pin you down. ”
I cleared my throat and readjusted in my seat, not daring to put any real thought behind the words he’d just said. “Change the subject,” I commanded.
He laughed, opening his mouth to say something, but luckily, our food arrived.
I’d ordered the ribeye, medium-rare. Before I could even pick up my knife, Cooly reached over, slid my plate in front of him, and started cutting the steak into neat, bite-sized pieces like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I froze.
He didn’t even look up as he did it. When he was entirely done, he slid the heavy plate back across the table to me, then wiped his hands on a linen napkin like he hadn’t just done something that felt way too intimate for two people who weren’t fucking.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Have you told Malachai about these lunches?” he asked before I could find my voice.
I shook my head. “No.”
He studied my face for a long second. “He gonna have a problem with it?”
I shrugged, even though my pulse was kicking hard against my ribs. “No.”
Lie. Big lie.
I pushed my fork around the perfectly cut steak, trying to shift the energy of the conversation. “Actually… I’ve been meaning to introduce you to someone. One of my advanced students. Tasha. She’s beautiful, and she can actually keep up with me on the pole. I think you two would—”
“I’m not interested in your students, Indigo.” His voice was still soft, but there was pure steel running right under it now. “I’m interested in you.”
There it was. The definitive line I’d been trying to blur this entire time.
I forced a small, tight smile. “Cooly…”
“I know,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You’re married. You’re figuring shit out. I’ll wait. But I’m not gonna pretend I’m here for anybody else.” He gave me that slow, hungry smile again. “Eat your steak, Midnight. Before it gets cold.”
I ate. Because it was easier than arguing.
When we finally left the restaurant, he walked me out to my car with his hand resting firmly at the small of my back. He left after helping me into the driver's seat.
I was buckling my seatbelt when my phone rang. Maya.
I answered on the second ring. “Hey.”
“What the fuck are you doing, girl?” Maya’s voice was half-hiss, half-shout through the speaker. “I just drove past you. You're out here laughing with the Nigerian like Malachai ain’t a whole psychopath? I saw Cooly feeding you steak, Indigo. Feeding you. Like a whole husband.”
I closed my eyes and dropped my head back against the headrest with a heavy sigh. “It wasn’t like that. He didn’t feed me, he cut my steak.”
“It looked exactly like that from the road. You better tell Malachai before he finds out some other way. Because trust me—men like him and my husband always find out.”
I swallowed hard, the back of my throat tight.
For the first time since I’d come back to Florida, I actually considered it. Telling him. Coming clean about the lunches. About the flowers. About how Cooly was pushing harder every single time we saw each other.
Because Maya was right. I had married a whole crazy man who threatened me a lot, and I didn’t want him actually thinking I was doing something foul behind his back.