Navi felt a tinge of jealousy as she watched him comfort another woman after he had basically just shut her down. She could have slipped away unnoticed by East had she chosen to. Their business was handled, but for some reason, watching the way he handled Joi had Navi in her feelings. There was no way to miss the rage he felt from seeing this woman bruised and emotionally upset. The tender way he handled her let Navi know she was important to him.
At the sound of a woman’s voice calling out East’s name, Joi lifted her head and pulled away from him. Her heated gaze landed on Navi then moved up to East as she created more space between the two.
“Who the fuck is she?”
East pushed out an annoyed breath, sensing the bullshit that was about to pop off. “Not important.”
East noticed the shift in Joi and it didn’t look good. He wasn’t even sure why she was there, which should have been addressed, but he knew better than to play that card. Instead, he attempted to defuse the situation by giving a more detailed explanation, something he wasn’t used to.
“Business. She made a late delivery , so I had to move some shit around, but you don’t need to worry about that right now.”
“Wow…” Joi shook her head, backing away from East as her eyes moved back over to the woman who had called his name.
“Shawty, chill. I can already see what you’re thinking and it’s not that.”
Navi still hadn’t moved and Joi wasn’t falling for it. Joi kept her eyes on the woman, and when East noticed she wasn’t letting up, his voice made them both jump.
“The fuck you still standing here for?”
Navi’s face tightened, but she knew better than to say a word. She dropped her eyes and started walking, only to stop when she heard him speak again.
“And tell Cabo not to send you again,ever.”
The demand had Navi’s spine straight and her feet moving fast. East was a valued customer and it wasn’t going to sit well that he had banned her from deliveries. East watched her for a minute longer before he turned back to Joi. The woman next to her was whispering something in her ear, too low for East to pick up on, but he assumed she was questioning Joi’s safety with him.
After Joi nodded and offered her a forced smile, the woman glanced at East then hesitantly walked away, checking over her shoulder as she distanced herself.
“Let’s go.”
“Go? Nah, I’m good. You can go. My apologies for cutting your time short with?—”
Not in the mood for a fight, East barked her name to really get her attention and to shut her up.
“Joi!” The look he offered was deadly since his patience had left a while ago. East was more concerned with what was going on with Joi than he was about her thinking he was fucking with Navi.
“What?”
“I said, let’s go. Bring your ass on, so that?—”
“No, I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going home.”
“What you’re gonna do is stop fucking cutting me off and take your ass in there.” He pointed to his shop and the two had a stare down, with Joi refusing to move. East’s teeth gritted as he dragged his hand down his face. “It’s late as hell, your neck is all fucked up, and to be honest, I don’t even know why the fuck you’re down here in the first place. I told you to go home.”
“So you could creep with that hoe…” Joi pointed toward the direction Navi had just gone.
If I wanted her, I would have fucked her after I made sure my product was good.
East walked up on Joi, only stopping when their bodies made contact. His voice was calm and deceptive, considering that at the moment, he could send his fist through a brick wall with ease.
“Fuck her, and fuck what you think you know or are building in your head about me and her right now because you aren’t even close. Bring your ass on, so I can lock up the shop and we can figure out what I need to do about that before I go put a gotdamn bullet in the muthafucker who did it.”
The two had a stare down until Joi stepped around him and pushed through the door of the shop. East shut his eyes briefly, allowing his head to fall back before he walked in a few paces behind, hitting the lights right after the door closed.
“Now, you want to tell me why you’re here and how that shit happened?”
“You want to tell me why you’re here supposedly doinginventorywith a woman who I know for sure doesn’t work at this shop?”
“Shawty…” East released it slowly and as calmly as he could. His patience was failing him, but before he could finish, he heard another male voice.
