Chapter 1
REINA
“You dog ass bitch!” Enrico yelled at me. I bristled inwardly at his choice of words, but outwardly I smiled. Here this nigga was cursing me out, probably with the vein in the middle of his forehead strained, and all I could do was laugh about it.
“I’ll be whatever bitch I need to be. You still the one who couldn’t even get it up.”
Niggas gotta stop drinking all that liquor, eating fast food, and doing drugs, man.
But what do I know?
Enrico continued to curse me out, from his burner phone at that, and the only reason I answered was that I thought it was money calling.
Seeing that it was just another very mad man, upset because I blocked him, I hung up on him mid-rant and blocked that number too.
You ain’t finna be cursing me out on the phone I pay for.
Especially when you’re the one with erectile dysfunction.
Let’s be so for real.
I showered, got dressed, and headed down to Vibes and Lines.
I wanted a glass or two of wine, see what new books they had in, and have some much-needed girl talk.
Despite my reputation of being a man-eater, I did want to love and be loved.
I just… didn’t know where to start. I knew I wasn’t incapable of loving in general.
But romantic love had me confused. I had never really been on a date.
I had niggas who would buy me things (because Rule #1- Never entertain a broke one), I had niggas who would pay for trips, I had niggas who would send bottles and give me free sections in the clubs, but…
never a real date. Nothing that I or a nigga intentionally planned.
The twins went on dates. My twin and Rae went on dates. Hell, even my mama went on dates.
So what was wrong with me?
Nah… something being wrong with me doesn’t even sound right, I concluded.
I glanced at myself one last time in the mirror and nodded my approval of my cute, yet simple outfit.
High-waisted jeans, a cropped Hustle Honeyz shirt in powder blue, and a pair of matching Ugg slides with a burgundy Dior saddlebag with my cowprint .
22 in it were my uniform for the night. I was letting my natural hair breathe, and it touched the top of my shoulders in a freshly dyed, jet black silk press.
Walking into Vibes and Lines, the aroma of vanilla cashmere hit my nose, and the store was buzzing with activity. Joyy was behind the bar while Cherrice was on the floor assisting a customer. I took my usual seat in the middle of the bar, and that’s when I smelled him first.
He smelled of mahogany teakwood, a scent that I was familiar with, but it lingered on him.
He had locs that were well-maintained and kinda crinkly, loosely wrapped in a bun.
His face was chiseled by God himself – strong cheekbones, a sharp chin, full, dark lips, and a slender nose.
Big, black square-frame glasses. Warm, brown eyes that seemed to drink you in.
Dressed in a black graphic tee that had Huey and Riley on it from The Boondocks and a pair of black jeans, he was nursing a glass of something dark and flipping through a manga.
He looked tall too, with a slender build and only one visible tattoo, a word I couldn’t quite make out yet on his forearm.
Who was this nigga?
“Joyy… who is that?” I tilted my head in his direction without shame. Joyy paused midpour and snickered.
“Oh, him? That’s Vasiah. He comes in here a lot now that we have an extensive Black-authored anime section,” she divulged.
Vasiah.
I even liked the way his name sounded; it was unique. I nodded and sipped my wine, wondering if I should break my own rule.
It was something that I was always taught, something I lived by. But this Vasiah character… I needed to know him. Needed to see who and what he was about.
“He’s super cool. Kinda shy and quiet, but is very easy to talk to once you get him to open up,” Joyy continued, coming from behind the bar to sit and talk to me. I side-eyed her. Because how did she know so much about my man already, and what do they be talking about?
“Did you fuck him?” I blurted. That was another rule of mine.
Rule #222: Don’t fuck behind your friends. There’s plenty of dick to go around.
“No, crazy! We make small talk because he’s a customer!” she laughed, amused by my out-of-character-ness today, I’m sure. I stared at her, and she stared at me, and then she broke out into a grin.
“Let me find out the strictest lady ever got a crush!” she cackled again, smacking me on the arm. I felt my face warming because this shit was a foreign feeling. I never just looked at a man and decided that he would be my man before. We hadn’t even exchanged pleasantries yet!
I gulped my second glass down and stood abruptly. I was about to break one of my rules and wanted to get it over with before I changed my mind.
Why so many rules, you may ask? Because if you didn’t have any rules, these niggas would think it’s shake that ass time 24/7, and Reign already told me that he wasn’t bailing me out anymore the next time I went upside a nigga’s head.
But it was something that was drawing me to this unknown man at the bar.
Something that had me wanting to break my rules.
As I approached, he looked up and gave me a nervous yet warm smile. Curiously, he eyed me as I sat down next to him.
“Hey. I’m Reina.”
“I’m Vasiah,” he said in a mid-tone voice. It wasn’t super deep, but it wasn’t high-pitched or anything either.
“What are you reading?” I asked, taking note of how his eyes lit up, then went back to normal.
“Just this cool manga I’ve been wanting to read for a minute…
It’s about this group of kids who come upon this magic rock that grants them all types of superpowers and abilities.
They can time-travel, teleport, move inanimate objects…
all types of shit. Everything’s cool until the monster that the magic rock belongs to tries to take it back.
So now they gotta fight this nigga. Are you into manga? ”
I wasn’t, but this shit sounded interesting, so I let him know. I figured that women probably made fun of him for his nerdy interests, but I wasn’t like that. My baby could be as nerdy as he wanted to be.
My baby? Oh my God… who the fuck was I turning into?
“Are you new to the city?” I asked. Vasiah shook his head.
“Nah. Grew up in Chicago Heights…went away to SIUC, then came back once I studied abroad in Japan. I’ve been here for the last decade.”
“Japan? That’s so dope. I wanna go there one day,” I sighed wistfully. As a hairstylist, I didn’t get too much time away from the chair yet, so I usually only traveled around my birthday. We chatted for a few more minutes, and then I decided I would break yet another one of my rules.
Rule #111: Never hint or directly tell a nigga what you wanna do… You let a man be a man and plan.
“Imma let you get back to your reading, but before I do… I wanted to see if you wanted to exchange numbers? I would like to go on a date with you.”
Vasiah’s perfect brows shot to his forehead as he held my stare. He was stunned. I was too, hell. I was straightforward, but never this straightforward.
Shit… maybe this rule shit was fake anyway.
“I’ve never really been on a date before,” he admitted, and I snorted. I found that hard to believe. Nerdiness aside, Vasiah was attractive to me. I’m sure some nerdy hoes were doing whatever to get his attention.
The idea made my trigger finger itch.
“I guess that makes two of us.” I smiled as he handed me his phone to punch my number in.
After a while, we parted ways, and I drove home feeling giddy. Imagine that! Me, giddy! Oh my God… I think I was going to throw up. Breaking my own rules was different… liberating even. I wonder where it would take me?