“Wait, that was less than a week ago.”
He had sex with his ex less than a week ago…
She wanted to pull away but knew the move would be received as childish. Regardless of what he was talking, he hadn’t been her man when he’d slept with his ex and he wasn’t her man now. Who he had sex with wasn’t a topic she had a say in.
“When did you end things?”
“A year ago.”
“Why?”
He grinned and peeled his eyes open, lowering his gaze to her pretty face. “In order to have room in your life for something new, you have to let go of things that no longer serve your purpose.” When Asao winked, she rolled her eyes.
“But you still have sex with her.”
“Contrary to what you’re building in that pretty little head of yours, I don’t trust my dick to any woman willing to open her legs for me. Tori served a purpose.”
Samari narrowed her eyes. “And if that purpose needs to be served again?”
“That depends on whether or not you’re fucking with me.”
Samari wanted to be upset but she had to respect his honesty. Instead of being childish about the situation, she accepted what they were, two grown ass people with pasts and situations that put them on very different paths. They were here now and she decided to letnowbe her focus.
“Why did you bring me out here?”
Asao opened his eyes again, this time he stared into her pools of brown for a minute before responding. When he handed over his answer, it was honest and raw. “Because I know what it feels like to need peace, a place to just be without pretense or expectations. I also know what it feels like to be too gotdamn hardheaded and stubborn to let someone be that for you.”
The words gut punched because they were more true than she wanted to admit. Sheree was her girl. Samari could be open and honest with her about anything but just because she could didn’t mean she was.
Sheree had her own shit to deal with, her daughter and the weight of a new marriage, Samari refused to be another line item on the check list of stressors in her girl’s life. She also felt like a failure because of the deal with Cobra. Sheree had been so proud and the L Samari took felt not just personal but like she was letting her girl down too.
“If you understand, does that mean you’re hardheaded and stubborn too?”
Asao chuckled. “Yeah, I am.”
His hand moved to the side of her head and the pads of his fingers glided over the soft curls that sprouted. Samari was a couple months past needing to get them shaved again but she hadn’t yet decided if she would keep her signature look. The feel of his fingers massaging her scalp had her sidetracked.
“This you or did the label make you cut your hair like this?”
“Me. It’s been that way since high school. I tried to dye half of my hair blue for homecoming and messed it up. When it turned out purple, I just shaved it off. My mother thought I was going through something and made me see a therapist for like a month.” Samari rolled her eyes.
“Damn, that’s fucked up.” Asao lifted one of the ringlets from the side that wasn’t shaven. “You didn’t let it grow back?”
“No, it was cute. You don’t like it?”
She really didn’t care whether or not he did. One thing she vowed to never do was change herself for a man or mold her image to fit anyone’s expectations.
“Yeah, I’m feeling it.” Asao smirked before adding, “But I don’t think you would give a damn whether I liked it or not.”
He was already learning Samari and confidence was at the top of the list for characteristics he loved about her. She knew who she was and leaned into that shit full force.
“I would care enough to acknowledge your opinion but not do a damn thing about it.”
Asao chuckled, believing exactly that. “When I asked what you were willing to sacrifice to gain control again and you said everything, did you mean that?”
He lowered his eyes and waited. It took a minute for Samari to respond but she lifted her head and nodded. “Yes, because I’m pretty much nothing without my music. So I don’t have much to sacrifice.”
His expression became volatile while his trigger finger tensed with need to be a problem for Cobra giving her a reason to throwthem words around. It took more effort than it should have to keep his voice level. “I get what you mean, but hear me this one time, because it’s the only time I’m ever gonna say this shit. Speak life into yourself, Mari. Your dreams, your worth, your potential to be bigger than even I can imagine.Nothingdoesn’t belong in the same breath as your existence.”
