“Yeah, I bet.” Even if he had lowkey just dissed her by calling her skinny, Joi was still intrigued by everything about East. His confidence smothered her in a sense. It was so overwhelming and palpable that she wondered if he had ever in life doubtedhimself. She also noticed it wasn’t as if he even attempted to promote it either. It was just who he was.
After being in his presence all night, Joi quickly learned East was unbothered by attention. She noted how men and women would openly stare, waiting for East to notice them. When he did, he only offered a slight nod or a one-word acknowledgment. Some didn’t even qualify for that, while those who fell over themselves to approach him showered him with attention East barely entertained. It all seemed to annoy him.
East wanted to be left alone, but it was impossible because the same as Joi was drawn to him, others were naturally drawn to East as well. It didn’t make sense because East was a man of few words with everyone except Joi. It wasn’t like he was rude, but he was definitely unwelcoming unless he deemed them necessary.
“You’ll learn about me soon enough.” East winked at Joi, who rolled her eyes before looking around in an effort to send her focus anywhere but to East.
He was slowly winning her over and she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. In her attempt to avoid him, she noticed a barely dressed, very shapely woman heading his, or rather their, way. Joi laughed lightly to herself when the woman stopped right between East’s legs, pushing her hip to the side and placing a hand there. Joi was instantly curious as to how he would react and his first move was strike one, in her opinion. East took in the woman from what was eye level to him until his chin lifted slightly so he could see her face. It wasn’t until then that the woman spoke.
“Hey, East, I haven’t seen you in a minute.”
“You’ve been in my face all night and you just saw me a few days ago at Presidential.” He spoke with no emotion one way or another.
Joi wasn’t sure if she should leave to give them privacy or stay to see how it was going to turn out.
“Yeah, I know, but I didn’treallyget to see you. Not the way I like.”
A slow smile spread across Nae’s face while she waited for East to respond. For the past few hours, she had watched him giving all of his attention to the woman sitting next to him and she wasn’t feeling it. The ten grand she showed up with that night could have been used to shop, but she wanted a chance at possibly spending the night in East’s bed. The second she realized that might not happen, she got pissed and decided to try one last thing before he left with the woman who apparently had all his attention.
East knew the deal. This wasn’t new to him. Women liked to feel as if they were more relevant in his life than they were. Sex didn’t give any of the women he dealt with any more of a claim to him than the next. Placing his hand over his mouth and moving it down slightly to caress his beard before he spoke gave East a minute to decide how he wanted to handle the situation.
“If you not seeing me the way youlikeis referring to me not fucking you, then that was by choice, Nae. I could have made it happen if it’s what I wanted. I went home alone, which means I didn’t. The fact that you’re here trying to let her know we have some type of situation is really childish as fuck. Go home, Nae, you look dumb right now.”
Upon delivering his last thoughts, his eyes lifted to Nae, causing her to drop hers. She was well aware that she had messed up, trying East like she had a right to. But, this chick, whoever the hell she was, was not about to step into a position Nae had put in work to secure. East was acting out of character. He wasn’t an affectionate person, at least not that Nae had ever seen. Even during sex, there were rules. No kissing, no cuddling, no intimacy. East barely held a conversation past telling youwhat position to be in, but tonight, Nae had seen him giving attention she had never received.
After two years of dealing with East, she had never been with him any way other than sexually. To see him the way he was now had Nae flooded with jealousy. East had a girl in his lap, laughing and talking to her, and allowing her to control his bets. Now, the two were ducked off in the corner, sharing drinks like they were a happy little couple. Nae had never seen the woman before, but he seemed comfortable with her. East hadneverbeencomfortable with anything other than being alone. He was all about business but never comfortable.
“Ay, why you still standing here, Nae? Is there something else you need to run by me?” His expression showed nothing, but his eyes held a threat she wasn’t prepared to challenge.
“No, sorry.”
With a barely noticeable nod, East dismissed Nae with the intent of further addressing her behavior in more detail, just at a later date,in private.He didn’t appreciate the picture she attempted to paint and would make sure she understood it was to never happen again ortheywould never happen again.
Joi rolled her eyes when Nae walked away with a little too much effort directed at her ass. She was trying hard to be noticed and Joi assumed it was because she had been dismissed. While Joi watched Nae, East kept an eye on Joi. Although he didn’t give her his total focus, he could see her in his periphery.
There was no need for him to pay attention to the path Nae had taken. After he dismissed her presence, he dismissed any thoughts of her as well. East’s focus was on a dispute at the poker table. He had already motioned for Bad Boy to head that way just in case, but the men settled it on their own without getting physical. With the stakes as high as they were, people tended to act out when they lost and felt cheated by a loss.
“Friend of yours?”
“Something like that.” East brought his eyes back to Joi to read her mood. He had already assumed what it was but wanted to know for sure.
“You have a lot ofthosetypes of friends?”
An easy smile surfaced before East laughed under his breath. “I might. You have an issue with me having friends? Because last I recall, you had a whole ass man you were claiming.”
Joi narrowed her eyes at him before she eased up and shrugged off his comment. “I do, so your friends don’t matter to me.”
This time, East’s laugh was vocal. “You sure? Because the way you were checking for Nae was like you wanted to put your hands on her.”
Joi smirked and shrugged again, this time with one shoulder. “I did, but not because of you.”
“Then what was it about? She didn’t do shit to you. All she did was talk to me.”
“WhileIwas talking to you. I didn’t like it.”
East chuckled again and moved his hand over his head once before he raked his fingers through the curls.
“What else don’t you like?”
