Waiting For You & I

Chapter 1-Devon West

The smell of sausage, bacon and maple syrup jolted me out of my sleep.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, pulled myself from the Egyptian cotton sheets that hugged my bed and proceeded to walk into my master bedroom, brush my teeth and get the crust out of my eyes.

Normally, I’d take a shower first thing in the morning, but my hunger mixed with the aroma in the air wouldn’t let me.

With every step I took in that direction, flashbacks of the night before plagued my mind.

It was just obvious she’d woken up before me, so I couldn’t figure out why her clothes and mine were still sprawled across the bedroom floor. If my kitchen looked anything like my bedroom, that was gonna be her ass.

I walked down to my kitchen, and to my surprise, she was standing near the sink washing what appeared to be the last messy bowl.The only problem was that she was butt-ass naked.

“Aye, the next time you decide to walk around my house, put some clothes on. My son could’ve been here.”

She looked over her shoulder and smirked. “I’m sure I don’t have anything that your son hasn’t seen before.”

My face twisted in disgust at her words.

“Do you know how got damn stupid you sound? He’s a kid.”

“He’s a boy, and he’s anything like you, I’d bet money that he’s seen one of these fast girls naked.Kids are more advanced these days, Dee.”

Her words pissed me off because she didn’t know my son to be judging him, and at the rate she was going she would never meet him. It also didn’t help her that I didn’t know her name, yet she was standing in my kitchen acting like she was making me breakfast.

I said, acting like she was making breakfast because with one look at the two plates she had set out for us, I already knew what time it was.

A smirk covered my face when she turned to face me.

“Are you ready to eat? I made us breakfast.” She did her best to seductively walk over to me, placing her hand on my chest and allowing it to trail down. Her move wasn’t hitting for anything because her mouth and comment about my son had turned me off.

As a grown ass man, it took a lot more than a cute face and a fat ass to move me, and by the looks of it, that was all she had to offer.

On an average day of the week, I didn’t eat breakfast, but this morning I had a few minutes to spare.

“I could eat,” I responded, and she smiled like she’d hit the lottery with numbers she’d been playing for years.

“Good, I made everything from scratch.” I chuckled under my breath as she turned away from me. “What’s funny?”

“What’s funny is that I didn’t ask you to tell a lie, but you told it anyway. You ain’t gotta lie to kick it.”

I leaned back in my seat as I sat at the glass-topped metal table, tapping my fingertips against the cool surface, watching her across the kitchen. Tension seized her, transforming her natural gait into a stiff, forced progression. She didn’t know what to say or how to react.

It was like she was debating whether she wanted to give me the food or not.

A few seconds of silence went by before she removed the plates from the cabinet and walked over to where I was sitting.

“What you mean? I didn’t lie to you. If this is the thanks I get for making you breakfast, I won’t do it again.”

I chuckled. Bowing my head, I said a quick grace, blessing my food. When my head came back up, I found her staring at me.“Is there a problem?” I cut into the stack of pancakes, and they were just as fluffy as they always were. My mouth watered in anticipation as I brought the pancakes up to lips.

“Yes, there is. You’re being an asshole when you should saying thank you. When was last time a woman thought enough of you to cook you a meal? And I made those pancakes from scratch.”

“Again with the lies.” I shook my head, chewing the rest of my food before responding. “Baby girl, not only do I recognize these pancakes from anywhere, but you forgot to throw the containers in the trash.” With my fork, I pointed to the lone container on my granite countertop.

The color drained from her face as her eyes frantically bounced around the room, searching for the smoking gun her scheming ass forgot to get rid of. When it finally popped out to her, her eyes widened, and she raced to the container and covered it up like that would make me unsee it.

I couldn’t do anything but laugh and shake my head as I continued to eat my breakfast. A few minutes passed before she opened her mouth to speak again.

“I ordered breakfast and then threw it in the trash. You deserved a home cooked meal, and I wanted to give you that.”

“Right.” I knew without a doubt that she could hear the sarcasm in my tone. “Quit playing yourself and definitely don’t play with me.”

“Dumbass ni—”

“Aye, you might want to choose your next words carefully.” My gaze shifted to her, and she rolled her eyes so hard she had to close them for a few seconds and then sucked her teeth.

“Ass—”

“Man, take yo’ lying ass somewhere before I lose my patience.” I turned back to my food and continued eating. No more than a few seconds later, I heard her heavy-footed ass marching up the steps.

A chuckle fell from my lips when the door slammed a few seconds later. I could hear her moving from one side of my room to the other before another door opened and then slammed shut again. Ole girl was really testing my patience, and her luck was about to run out.

She walked back into the kitchen, this time wearing the club dress from the night before. “Don’t call me.”

“Baby girl, I don’t even remember your name. Best believe I had no plans of calling you.”

“Ugh!” She released a growl of frustration before exiting the kitchen and then the house.

I knew I’d met her last night, and the fact that I didn’t remember her name told me all I needed to know. Last night was a night to remember, but she wasn’t part of what made it special.

The previous night was a successful grand opening for me, and while I wasn’t new to owning a business, I wouldn’t dare let my existing track record take away from the significance.

I hadn’t been out of the drug game for a year, and I had already managed to open three nightclubs and a barber shop.

But my latest club was different, being that it was strictly for the grown and sexy.

While my other clubs donned the name Crossroads , Deluxe was something strictly for those over thirty.

When I finished breakfast, I cleaned up and then proceeded to handle the rest of my hygiene.

When I was in my master bathroom, I turned on the shower, waited for the water temperature to get right, and then I hopped in.

As I proceeded to handle my morning hygiene, I thought about my reason for getting out of the game in the first place: my homeboy, Cross.

Cross and I came up in the game together, and our hustle came to an end when he was gunned down in front of me. Experiencing the loss of the man I loved like a brother really put everything in perspective for me.

Back then, I was worried about making money fast to provide for my son.

Growing up, there were too many times where we lacked things in my household, and I vowed to never put my kid through any of what I went through.

Going to bed hungry was a way of life for me as I kid.

The day my baby mama popped up pregnant, I vowed that it wasn’t going to be something my son could attest to.

My mindset was dedicated to providing for him by any means necessary, but I didn’t think that by making that money, I was chancing not seeing him again.

Up until Cross got murdered, a nigga was feeling invincible, but the day after he died, I went to our connect with a bag full of money and told him I wanted out.

He respected my decision, and we parted ways.

I took some of the money I had stashed and started investing it.

The drug game and the club game weren’t as different as you’d expect. I still had the same hustle; I was just applying it in a legal way.

Now I hustled in a way that would keep me around for my son, Dreux. Move smart and hustle hard; that had always been my motto, and I didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

I hopped out of the shower, completed my skin and hair regimen, and headed out of the bathroom. Then I got dressed and headed to Deluxe to get some work done. There wasn’t much traffic, so the commute happened in little to no time.

“Nigga, what is you over there grinning for?” I asked Levi, Cross’s little brother, when I walked into the club.

He was sitting at the downstairs bar, staring at his phone, smiling like he didn’t have no damn sense. Only one thing besides money could make a man smile like that; a woman.

“What’s good, my boy?” he asked me as he put his phone down, stood up from the bar stool, and dapped me up.

Before I could occupy the barstool across from him, that damn phone was back in his hands.

Levi ran for Cross and me when we were in the streets, and when I left, I took him with me. Cross wouldn’t have wanted him to become a casualty or another statistic, and I didn’t need that on my conscience.

There was no doubt in my mind that he would’ve done the same if I had a brother and if the roles were reversed. I couldn’t look out for my boy anymore, but I damn sure could honor him by looking out for his baby brother.

“I’m good, but what the hell has you smiling like that?”

“Man, I been chopping it up with this chick, and I’m really feeling her.”

“Word? Where you meet her at?” I shifted slightly, all ears. Levi dealt with females in the same way I did. Hitting it and quitting it was a mentality we shared and one of the many things we had in common.

“We ain’t met yet.” He briefly glanced at me, the smile on his face never wavering.

“ You ain’t met yet . What the hell kind of sense does that make? You talking to her, but haven’t met her? So how the hell do you know her? Make that make sense for me.”

“Damn, folk, why are you in my business so tough?” He dropped his phone face down on the bar and stared at me.