Chapter 14
A FEW DAYS LATER…
I sprayed down the surfaces within my studio and then wiped them down. Every Wednesday or Thursday, I tried to keep a routine going with cleaning or handling business with the other artists. I preached repeatedly about keeping their spaces clean, not because they weren’t on it to begin with, but I didn’t want their asses to forget.
One thing about Off the Wall , nobody was ever going to say we didn’t handle business or keep a clean establishment. It was one thing that brought me clients from all over the world. I grabbed the broom from the storage closet and began sweeping until I heard my phone going off. I rushed behind the counter in case it was about Charlie. She was with my mom and although I knew she would keep her safe, accidents happen.
I picked up my phone only to see Jordan’s name glowing on the screen. I kissed my teeth, then answered. I grabbed my Air pods and connected the call to them.
“Aye, can you hear me?” Jordan asked.
Clearly, he had been talking while I was trying to connect the car to my headphones.
“I can hear you now. What’s up?” I asked.
I continued sweeping after slipping my phone into my pocket so it wouldn’t get disconnected while I continued to clean the studio.
“I can’t call you just to check in with you?”
I craned my head to the side and stopped sweeping for a moment.
“Man, if you don’t tell me what you want.”
Jordan laughed.
“I swear you one grumpy muthafucka sometimes. All yo’ ass probably doing is cleaning that damn studio. You not busy, so stop pretending like you are. Now, I’m busy. You should be glad I’m taking time out of my busy schedule to check in on you.” He lectured.
I swear, he got on my nerves sometimes, but that was my boy, and I did appreciate him calling to check in. I wasn’t really the best communicator when it came down to calling and checking in on folks. I would love to blame it on being focused on work and Charlie. But, most times, I didn’t feel like being bothered.
“Yeah, aight. I’m glad you called anyway because you are always in something.”
Jordan chuckled, “What I do?”
“You know damn well what you did. I’m trying to figure out how a fuck session turned into you and Shirah being Hitch.”
“Now you know I’ve always had a thing for that woman. So it was more than a fuck session. Second, you should be saying, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to pull this woman because I never would have had the balls to do it my damn self.”
I stopped sweeping and tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn’t. This man got on my damn nerves sometimes. I laughed.
“Fuck you. I didn’t ask for your help or need it. I know how to talk to a woman and not to mention, Willow makes that shit easy.”
“I heard.” Jordan quipped back.
“I’m sure. The way I kept catching Shirah trying to duck behind shit at that fundraiser, she should be ashamed of her damn self.”
Jordan cracked up as I described the many different times I caught her ass. I just never mentioned it to Willow; I wasn’t concerned about it, but it was definitely funny.
“How was the fundraiser? Duke able to get everything he needed?” Jordan asked.
“After how much you sent, it wasn’t a need for the damn fundraiser. Then, a few of your other teammates sending shit. Duke was able to use their money to give the neighborhood a good time. Shit, the town. Charlie had a ball and has been talking about everything we did for a few days now.”
“It’s the least I can do. If nobody else is going to help our people, we have to. Not to mention, it’s not like I have anyone besides myself to spend much of my money on. I try to help where I’m needed. You know I say this all the time, if I got it, so do you.”
Jordan was a lot of things, but selfish or greedy wasn’t one of them. So many people around here thought that I should have so many things on account of him. But, we were brothers. I wasn’t looking to take anything that he earned, not to mention, I was far from struggling.
“I appreciate that, and it’s the same thing here. Did Duke call you?” I asked.
“Hell yeah, right after I had the money wired over. He was trying to give some back, but you know I wasn’t going for that. I had to tell his ass he wasn’t getting in the way of my damn tax write off!”
I cracked up because this man didn’t have any sense, but I felt him on that. If you were well off and not giving back, you were definitely going to be beat upside the head come tax time.
“I’m sure he got a kick out of that,” I replied.
“Hell yeah. But what you getting into today?” he asked.
Before I could reply, the bell that alerted me someone had come into the shop went off. I placed my broom to the side and walked to the front to greet whoever it was. The moment I walked around the corner, Willow was standing there in a pair of jean shorts that showed off her tattoo that covered a good portion of her right thigh. Her hair was in a ponytail today, showing off her high cheekbones.
“You taking any customers today?” she asked with a smile.
I almost forgot that Jordan was on the phone until he cleared his throat.
“Aye yo’, can you hear me? Is that Willow?” Jordan asked.
I reached into my back pocket and pulled my phone out.
“I’m gone get at you later.”
I didn’t give him a chance to say anything else before I hung up. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked her over one more time.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked, while strolling over to her.
She reached into her pocket, then pulled out her phone. I waited a moment until she turned her phone to face me. She had a picture of a woman holding a mask but slightly pulled away from her face. A zodiac Gemini sign was over her head and I think a few flowers. I nodded, impressed by her choice.
“I can definitely do that. Where do you want it?” I asked, moving a little closer.
I just wanted to be in her space and it didn’t help that I now knew what her lips felt like and how she felt in my arms. I needed a taste, but I wasn’t sure if that was just a spur-of-the-moment thing that happened between us, so I kept my distance.
She held her wrist out, then turned it over to show me where she wanted it. I reached out and traced the place the tattoo would go with my fingertips.
“Alright, hold up.” I told her.
I walked around her then changed the light in the window that said open to closed. I was the only one at the shop right now and would be until tomorrow. I locked the door, then placed my hand on the small of her back to lead her to my studio. The moment we were inside, I grabbed the broom to bring into the storage closet.
“Have a seat. I’m going to put up this broom real quick,” I told her.
I quickly brought the broom back to the storage closet and stood outside the door for a moment to take a deep breath. I don’t know why the hell I was so nervous when I did this all the time. This is what I got paid to do, but by the way my heart was beating out of control, it felt like the first time.
I walked back into the room with pen and paper so I could sketch her design and we could get started. I asked her to pull up the picture once more and took a seat beside her. The sweet aroma of her perfume was filling the room, and I couldn’t say I minded it.
“I’m so intrigued, watching you look at a picture and just draw it. Have you been drawing all your life?” Willow asked.
I smiled. It was nice to hear someone truly interested in the process.
“Yeah, before I found myself helping out here. I used to draw all types of things back then. I wasn’t as into sports as my pops, so I would bring my pen and paper to chill with him. He would be going on about sports and I would draw but we still got to kick it.”
I smiled, thinking back on those days. At first, my dad used to be confused as hell. He just knew because he had a son, we would do all kinds of sports and things, but it was never my thing. When I finally told him, I just knew he was going to flip out. But, he respected that I came to him as a man and spoke up for myself. After that, he took an interest in some things I did, and I gave him sports Sundays on the couch – even though I didn’t care what was happening.
“I love to hear that. Most dads feel slighted if their sons or children don’t like some things they do. Kudos to pops,” she said and clapped her hands.
I shook my head and continued to draw out the design.
“Since we’re talking about professions, tell me about what you do again.”
She perked up instantly, letting me know this was something she was passionate about. She pulled out her phone and began scrolling, so I knew she intended to show me a few things.
“So, my company is called Ship Happens. Clever, right?” she asked with a wiggle of her shoulders.
I chuckled and nodded. “Hell yeah.”
“It’s a drop shipping company. I kind of fell into it. In college, I made extra money by doing product reviews. I guess you could say I was an influencer. My major was business and marketing, so it was great practice. I fell in love with it after a year and by the time I graduated, I had my entire business plan together.
“I wanted to keep money in our black pockets, if you know what I mean. Almost all of my vendors are black. Honestly, it just started out as a way of trying to make a difference. There are so many small businesses that sell great products, but don’t have the platform to market them effectively.”
“That’s dope. I love to hear that. A’ight, what do you think of this?” I asked.
Then showed her the picture I had quickly sketched.
“I love it! That’s going to look so good.”
I nodded and smiled. I stood and walked over to the counter to spray the tattoo chair off. Although I had cleaned it earlier; I like to do it again in front of the client. Once I finished wiping it down, I reached a hand out to her to help her up. The moment her hand slipped into mine, I didn’t want to let it go. It felt so right.
I placed my hands on her hips, then lifted her onto the table.
“Mr. Davis, do you help all your clients onto the table like that?” she asked with a lift of her brow.
Her lips quirked as she fought to hold back her smile.
“Nah, you getting special treatment, love.”
The smile she had been trying to hold back broke free. I turned my back to her to set up my tools I needed to get started. Her tattoo was mainly line work with a bit of shading, so it wouldn’t take long.
“How do you do with pain? I can assume you good if I based it off that big ass tattoo covering your thigh.” I asked over my shoulder.
I turned around to place everything I needed down, then grabbed my phone to allow a bit of 90’s R I reached out, gently cupping her chin. Bringing her eyes back to mine.
“No pressure. If you want to think about it and let me know later, you can.”
I waited a moment for her response. It had been a minute since I felt the need to ask a woman out. But, If I was going to ask any woman, it damn sure would be Willow. A few more minutes went by and I just knew she was gone turn my ass down.
“Yes, I would love to.”
That was all I needed to hear before I leaned in to place another kiss against her lips, but this time, it held a bit more urgency. I stepped away from her before I did anything else that I knew I wouldn’t regret, but she might not be ready for.
“It’s a date, then.”
“It’s a date,” she replied with a smile.