Chapter 8 #5
“Oh, okay. Just let me know,” Nae announced to East’s back as he pushed the door open, allowing Joi to leave first, which gave Joi a small feeling of vindication.
“I guess I’ll see you whenever,” Joi tossed out, still a little moved by his interaction with Nae.
“Tonight.”
“What?” Joi frowned at him, tenting her eyes from the sun, which was in her face and at East’s back.
“I’ma see you tonight. The shop closes at nine. I need to swing by my place to shower and change, so like ten, if that’s cool.”
“Like a date?”
East smirked at the label she placed on it just that fast. “I don’t date. I just want to kick it with you. See where your head is at.”
Red flag. Hell no! A man who didn’t date was a man who had no interest in commitment.
Joi wasn’t necessarily looking for a husband, but she did want something solid.
It wasn’t like she was getting any younger, and after Reg, she decided that moving forward, she would date with a purpose.
East didn’t date, so there could be no purpose.
“No, that’s not cool.”
Everything in Joi was screaming yes, but she had just ended things with Reg, a habitual cheater.
Even if she still didn’t have proof. A man like East would only land her right back in the same position or possibly worse off.
She was already considering the possibility of East and that meant she was already a little too invested with a man she knew nothing about.
At least with Reg, she was able to end things without being affected by a tailspin of emotions. Joi cared about Reg.
After a year of connecting to the man emotionally and intimately, it was hard not to, but with East…she had a feeling it wouldn’t be as easy to rid herself of the effects of him.
East was still processing her response, causing his demeanor to switch within seconds. Joi could tell that he was not expecting her answer to be no, which he confirmed right after.
“You have plans?” His features hardened a little, matching his brusque tone.
She noticed his disposition turn slightly aggressive as his spine straightened and he angled his chin toward his chest so he was peering down at her.
“No, I just….” She paused, searching for a softer delivery. “You have a lot going on.”
Without meaning to, Joi’s eyes moved to the restaurant the two had just left.
“I don’t have shit going on but chasing my paper and you, if you let me.”
“Well, maybe you should send out a newsletter to alert your fan club. Apparently, they’re very confused about their role in your life.”
“Have I disrespected you once since you’ve been around me?” East’s posture relaxed a little, but his expression didn’t change.
“No, but…”
“I don’t explain my moves to anyone, but I’ve extended that courtesy to you more than once, so let me be clear. Nae doesn’t mean shit to me past the nut she produces when I feel like allowing her in my bed. I haven’t come at you like that because you aren’t her and she isn’t you.”
East walked up on Joi. He was so close that Joi could feel his long body brush against hers, giving him the advantage.
East somehow had her body yielding to him already and he hadn’t done anything other than just be him.
“I want to kick it with you later. If you say no, there isn’t a damn thing that I can do but accept the rejection. ”
Rejection? Why would this man be concerned about being rejected by me?
“I, uhh, can I just let you know?” Joi was tense.
East already had her mind gone, so spending more time with him would only intensify things. Did she need that type of trouble in her life? Hell no. But she wanted it.
East smirked and nodded. He could feel her internal struggle pulsing through her body. A body he wanted to explore.
“Bet, just hit me up.”
When he took a step back to remove his phone, Joi released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. It moved from the pit of her stomach through her chest at a slow, deliberate pace. When she exhaled, it was like her entire body relaxed.
After offering a final nod, East placed his phone to his ear and left Joi as he rattled off, “Yeah I’m on my way now.”
She watched his confident stride while he distanced himself from her, body straight and erect, slightly bowed legs kept her attention until he entered his barbershop.
Joi’s eyes closed briefly, but she quickly shook the thought of East, delivering a smile she was grateful he was no longer around to witness.
“Damn,” hissed through her lips before she followed the same path he had taken but headed to her car instead of his shop.
The next couple hours of considering her next move were going to be torture.
Joi could already feel herself falling and that was a dangerous space to be in.
During the short walk back to his shop, East wore a grimace on his face. The time he spent with Joi left him craving more. The feeling was ruined by the call he received at the end of their little lunch date. Date? He smirked at his word choice.
“The fuck I use that word?” he mumbled to himself, his brows edging in closer together just as he reached the door to his shop.
Once inside, it took East no time to locate who was waiting to see him. The man looked out of place with his pale skin, dark pants and white shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His Oxford shoes had a few too many miles on them and the Crayola brown color contrasted against his clothes.
Detective Patterson also recognized East from the photos of East sharing an intimate conversation with Alester Orr on the night he hosted a welcome home party for Vega, the youngest of the Orr lineage.
“You looking for me?” East’s expression remained hard as he walked up on Patterson.
He moved close, only leaving roughly a foot’s distance between the two.
For East, the tactic was used as a sign of disrespect.
He wasn’t pleased to get a call from Chuck informing him that a detective was at his shop asking questions.
It wasn’t a good look. It had been years since East had been on anyone’s radar and he wasn’t interested in that changing.
“Mr. Joseph? Eastland Joseph?”
A slow, controlled smile eased onto Patterson’s face.
He was happy to know that what seemed on the surface like an impromptu visit annoyed East. It was, however, anything but impromptu.
The morning after the photos and video from Presidential were sent to his personal phone from the burner he issued to his informant, Patterson began his investigation of the man known as East.
On the surface, his attendance could have been viewed as coincidental, but Patterson had been studying men like Alester “Ace” Orr and Eastland Joseph for years.
The men were connected. If East was there, he had business dealings of some kind with Ace.
Patterson wanted to know what they were, so he could place East appropriately on his list of targets.
At the top, of course, was Ace. Either of the two men could be a permanent payday for him, and with the amount of debt Patterson was in, he was eager to get in the pockets of one or both men.
“You know who the fuck I am. Unfortunately for you, I don’t have any fucks to give as to who you are.
My only concern is why you’re here.” East’s eyes swept the man in a way that could be perceived in no other manner than disrespectful before their eyes met again.
“You’re not here for my services. I’m sure you could use a cut, but this doesn’t seem like your type of establishment.
Supercuts is a few blocks over if you’re lost.”
Patterson’s smirk grew. East was as disrespectful as any of the others he had encountered like him, but East had a little more arrogance.
Patterson immediately sensed East wasn’t going to be cooperative.
Lifting a hand and running it over his sandy blond tresses that were thinning in the center, Patterson shrugged.
“I hear you’re the best in the city. I pride myself on employing the best.”
East’s expression didn’t change nor did his body move or adjust even an inch. “You can’t handle the best, trust.” The hidden message was clear. East was challenging Patterson, a challenge he was well prepared to take on.
“You were at Presidential a few weeks ago. What’s your relation to the Orr family?”
“There isn’t one.”
Patterson snorted before his eyes darted around the crowded space they were in. Clients lined the walls and all the stations were full. Some avoided his eyes and others glared at him with the same challenge and confidence that emanated from East.
“You were in his private section that night and it was reported that Vega was here at your establishment for a few hours a couple days after. A private get together or something like that, I’m told.”
East didn’t give anything away, even though he was exploding on the inside.
The exact reason he didn’t want to be associated with Ace was now staring him in the face.
East had done ten years in the streets and not once had he been so much as questioned about his activities.
Now that he had made adjustments in his life, here was a gotdamn pig inquiring about his association with Ace when he no longer had one beyond the respect they developed over the years.
“It’s illegal to photograph or video civilians without consent. Sounds to me like I might need to check in with the mayor to see how my tax dollars are being spent with the city.”
“The photos weren’t of you. They were of Mr. Orr. You just happened to be in them.” Patterson shrugged, knowing he didn’t have consent for the surveillance that took place at Presidential that night.