I snorted. “Oh my God. Deja will lose herdamnedmind.”
Just saying her name made me smile.
Deja was this hilarious, no-filter woman in her early fifties who did hair out of her brownstone in Bed-Stuy. She kept a little folding chair set up by the window. The TV was always on low blastingYoung & the RestlessorGeneral Hospital, and she had something to say abouteverybody.
One didn’t book appointments with Deja so much asearn them. Women had to call, then follow up with a text, then wait to be summoned by her cousin, Nika who had a whole conversation which felt more like being on trial.
But when Deja braided?
Flawless.
Clean parts.
Edges laid.
Scalp oiled just right.
Deja could doeverything—lemonade braids, feed-ins, goddess locs, boho knotless, Senegalese twists that made me feel like a queen.
Corporate girls went to her.
Video vixens.
Girls from the block. Everybody knew: if you wanted your crown tight and pretty, you went to Deja.
If she came out here. . .tothisisland and got flown in first-class as well as put up in a luxury villa with a masseuse. . .this would be the trip of a lifetime for her. She’d be talking about it until 2075. Hell, she might never leave.
I shook my head, laughing to myself.
Sako, of course, didn’t smile. “Would you like us to make contact?”
I sighed, still grinning. “Yes. Go ahead. And thanks.”
“No problem.”
Good looking out, Zo. I guess you’re like. . .“Bitch we’re going to be swimming and lounging on the beach during this war.”
Once Sako left, I took a quick shower and put on silky pajamas.
Kenji still hadn’t come up. Surely, he had a lot on his mind, and even more to execute before dawn. I just wished I could be there for him, standing by his side. However, I didn’t want to get in his way either. I wasn’t about this gangster life. I didn’t know shit about where and what to bomb.
Fuck. I cannot be useless while he is doing this. I’ll have to figure out a way I can help him.
I got in the bed and made myself absolutely comfortable.
Never had I thought that after our date I would be on his private island and in his bed. My plans had been to get right back on Zo’s futon and swoon over the awesome date.
But life had other plans.
Although danger thickened the air all around me, there was still this giddiness too.
Damn, girl.
Of course, I couldn’t go to sleep. I doubted I would be able to until Kenji appeared. So, I grabbed the book off the stand.
When the Dragon Swallowed the Moon.
My fingers found the tasseled gold bookmark and paused, thinking about where I had left off.
