Orlando had the whole upper level of the club reserved for us. More photos of Hell lined the walls up here too. I found myself a seat in the corner, facing the stairs, and made myself a drink. I was on edge and needed something to help me calm down.
Sony entered with his group of friends being loud as fuck as usual. He nodded his head at me and went over to Hell. Immediately, they started popping bottles and being all excited and shit. I looked down into the crowd of people and sighed. Maybe I was just overthinking things.
Orlando was somewhere in the building with his old ass friends, probably trying to find some young, naive females to trick outta their panties. I never understood what my mama loved so much about him or why Kelechi’s mama allowed him to play in her face like that.
I knew I didn’t run around in the streets like that with different females because I hated that Orlando did it, and I didn’t want to be anything like that man. I hadn’t even had a real girlfriend or anything before because every girl I knew had been mixed up in this shit, and I didn’t want that. I wanted something else—someone else who was mine only. Someone like Kairi.
Although she was still connected to The Society, it was on a much lower scale compared to the other females I had been exposed to. Like Ocean. Most of the daughters in this shit wanted to be seen and heard and would be out in the clubs doing all types of shit. On top of that, everybody was fucking on everybody. I was yet to meet a female from The Society whohadn’t fucked another nigga in this shit except Kairi. Even my best friend Trini had been with a nigga or two in The Society.
That’s what drew me to her. She was different. Set apart and kept away from it all, just how I wish I could. If it wasn’t for the fact that Orlando was my father and I had Kelechi, I damn sure wouldn’t be anywhere near this bullshit.
I lifted my head and froze when I saw Kairi step into our section. I hadn’t seen her since I pulled up on her at the Sports Bar and Shakur came for her. It took a lot of fucking willpower to allow him to take her away from me. To be handed something you wanted but thought you would never find wasn’t easy to let go of. But I did—for her, not for me.
The selfish part of me wanted to keep her in my life no matter what Shakur, Ocean, or anyone else said about it, but I couldn’t do that to her. Just like Ocean said she would, she went to her father about us getting married, and now there were whispers about it happening. Before, nobody cared, but now it was all everyone wanted to happen. Orlando was all for it, whereas before he simply left me to plan my own shit. I knew it was because Ocean found out about Kairi, and that was why I let her go. It wasn’t fair for her to sit there and watch me marry someone else, even if it wasn’t something I wanted to do. She deserved better than that.
Kairi headed for the table with the tray of drinks she was carrying. She hadn’t seen me yet, but she was all I could see in that moment.
Her hair was styled in a bun with a few curls loose. Her makeup was minimal, and her skin seemed to glow even in the dark club. Each time the blue and green fluorescent lights bounced across her skin, something in my heart skipped. My eyes fell to her body, and I felt my pulse quicken, remembering how she felt beneath me. Her skin on mine. The smell of her skin was forever etched into my brain.
There was no denying I felt something for this girl, and it only made me hate myself even more for being born a Sanchez.
I watched her maneuver around the VIP section as if she was gliding on air and then she looked at me.
Her heart-shaped lips parted in a gasp, her big baby-like eyes locked on my face. She froze, but I could see her body was dying to move and come to me, just like mine was.
Her coworker suddenly said something to her. Kairi nodded while she continued to look at me, and then she left. I let my head fall back, and I sighed. There were so many things I wanted to do and say to her, but I fought my desires and remained in my seat.
For the next few minutes, she came in and out of the section, bringing more and more drinks. I wondered why the fuck my brother needed all these damn drinks but knew even if I said anything, he was gonna still do him. Still, at least I was able to look at her a few times. I noticed Hell tryna be in my business to see if I was looking at her, but I just acted like I was watching what drinks they were bringing into the section.
She came back with the last tray of drinks and glasses. I thought about ordering something random just so I could get a chance to talk to her, but again, I chose to stay in my seat and just look at her.
Sony suddenly looked my way, and I swear he even smirked at me, but I just put it down to my imagining it.
I almost stood to my feet when I saw him pull on her wrist.
“I know what drink you want, Sony,” Kairi snapped, snatching her wrist from his grasp. She then stormed out of the section while Sony laughed with his friends. I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he was just trying to show off in front of his little bitches.
I noticed Orlando brought his old ass into the section, completely pissing me off. Hell turned to look at me, and allI could do was shake my head. No matter what, I didn’t think I would ever be okay being around that damn man. I used to wonder if he would have treated me better if he wasn’t part of The Society, but I gave up those childish thoughts a long time ago.
I decided to ignore him, since he wasn’t there for me, but I quickly realized I was wrong when he headed my way. My brother was standing between us before I could blink.
“The fuck is your problem now, Orlando?” I barked, mad that he just couldn’t leave me alone. This section was filled with at least thirty fucking people, yet he had to come fuck with me.
“I just came to say that it’s time for you to go now,” Orlando said. Everyone around us was now tuned into our shit. I chuckled bitterly. Orlando knew I wasn’t someone who liked being the center of attention, and here he was putting on a show and including me. All I wanted to do was sit in the corner and have a few drinks until my brother was ready to call it quits. But here comes this nigga!
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked and laughed. I even had to look at Hell to see if he was hearing the same shit. My brother sighed.
“Come on, Pops, it’s a celebration,” he said and tapped his chest. Orlando slapped his hand down and kept his eyes on me.
“Exactly, this is a celebration. It’s all about you tonight, son; we don’t need him here.”
I looked away from him and laughed again to keep myself from rocking on him. This was why I knew I would always hate this man. Even when I didn’t bother him, he always found a reason to be in my face with some bullshit. I was starting to think that he didn’t feel well unless he messed with me some way, somehow.
Just then, Kairi stepped back into the section holding a drink. Her eyes widened at the scene before her. She looked back and forth between me and Orlando. The devil inside of mewanted to beat the shit out of him for all the things he’d said and done to me over the years, but Kairi hadn’t seen that side of me before. I peered around the section to see that everyone still had their eyes on me. Sighing heavily, I simpered and looked at Orlando.
“You sure you want me to leave?” I asked him one final time.
Orlando’s eyes bounced around, like he was unsure, something I had never seen before. But then he quickly blinked and nodded at me.
