“I didn’t say talk,” he declares, then quickly pecks my lips when I try to rebut. “If anything else happens, I’m dealing with it. It’s no longer your problem, okay?”
“Okay,” I utter back because the seriousness in his eyes reveals no other response will be accepted.
“Okay,” he repeats, kissing my forehead. “Now eat, pretty girl. Your lunch hour is almost over.”
He hands me the Blue Ocean roll, and using my chopsticks, I eat a piece. He joins me and we kill both rolls. I save the Kani salad for Romi because she loves it with crackers. She’ll want to eat it instead of our leftover spaghetti I have planned.
“I’m done. Can I talk about the festival now, Mr. Xai?” I tease. He had been so serious minutes earlier and his face is still a little tight. I want to change the vibe in here. After placing the empty roll containers back into the bag, I scoot closer to him and drape my legs over his lap. When he doesn’t say anything, I nudge him. “Smile,” I tell him.
“I’m straight,” he says so nonchalantly,too nonchalantly.I straddle him and lift his hands to my ass. “Adora,” he says.
“What? You gon’ let me go back to work with a frown after brightening my fucked-up day?” I ask, throwing in a little pout for effect. I rest my forehead on his and he shakes his head, then sighs. “Can I get a smile before I go in?”
He shakes his head again then his hands grip my ass. “If they reach out again in any way, you tell me, even if it’s a call or text,” he says, glaring, waiting for my response.
“I will.”
His hands move up my back and he caresses me. “Good. Now kiss your man,” he says with a smile.
Chapter 15
Xai
“Nobody claimed that old ass phone yet?” Trista asks, startling me and causing me to drop the phone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” she apologizes quickly.
“Don’t worry about it. What’s up?” I ask, trying not to act fazed.
Truth is though, I’m fazed. I’ve been fazed as hell since Monday when Adora told me about her mom’s accident. I felt like shit and didn’t know what to say. I wanted to say a lot though. I wanted to tell her that my brother had been involved in the accident with her mom, that I’d gotten her mom out of her car and took her to the hospital, that I had her mom’s phone. Iwanted to tell her everything but I froze. My guilt paralyzed me and the only words I managed to utter were “I’m sorry”.
I regretted the night of the accident and now, all week, I’ve regretted my inability to open my damn mouth and tell her the truth.I need to tell her the truth. But how the fuck can I?
Trista steps in from the doorway and sits in front of my desk. She has a stack of papers, and as soon as she’s comfortable, she spreads the sheets in front of me.
“I emailed you this Monday and you still haven’t responded. These are the final candidates for the front counter. These are for this location and these are for Two,” she says, using her name for the second location. “We have to pick two so we can start the background checks.”
Since the front counter position has extended duties that include handling cash, they have to complete and pass a background check before hire. I don’t worry about that shit for outside, ’cause if I did, over half of them wouldn’t have a damn job. I hired who I knew on the block and niggas fresh out who needed a change.
“Which two are you feeling?” I ask her because the reality is both will be working closely with her, especially in her new management role.
“These two,” she says while tapping the resumes.
We spend the next thirty minutes weighing her top two versus the others. She did most of the talking because I kept looking at the phone in my lap and thinking about Adora.
I have to tell her.
“You’re off tomorrow, right?” Trista asks.
“Yes. Off until Monday.”
“Adora?” she asks and I furrow my eyebrows.We cool but not that damn cool.“My bad. I just think she’s a good look for you. My sister’s braiding her hair today for the Music Festival so I was just putting two and two together. But let me mind the businessthat pays me,” she says while gathering the resumes. “What time you leaving?” she asks and I answer that question.
“I’m here till five. Did Kadean get here? I haven’t seen him out there.”
Slowly, she shakes her head then shrugs. “No. I was hoping he was just running late but he was scheduled for ten. It’s after one now. He was doing so good too,” she says and I have to agree.
Since our little talk in here before Easter, Kadean had been on his shit. He came on time, worked his whole shift, and hadn’t missed a day. I was real hopeful that he was finally on his grown man shit. He was also on his way out of my house. He’s been with Peaches all week.
“Did you call him?” I ask.
