She leaned up and kissed his lips before rushing off. He grinned. He was glad she didn’t put up a big fuss about missing work. His biggest thing at the moment was talking about their communication and boundaries while she worked. If she was going to go somewhere, he wanted her to tell him so he didn’t panic again. Same went for him. Matter of fact, he wanted them to share locations. As far as her dancing up on other niggas, . . . he breathed deeply at that thought. His mama always told him relationships were about compromise. He didn’t know how to compromise on that.
Boogie only had to wait ten minutes before he spotted Sweetie making her way back through the crowd with her duffel bag and fully dressed. He met her halfway and grabbed her bag before slinging his arm around her shoulders. “You good?”
She nodded but opted not to respond. Something still nagged at him that she wasn’t in the best mood. He wanted to know why, so as soon as they walked outside into the night air, he ushered her right to his car. Once they were inside and pulling away from the strip club, he asked her the same question again. “What’s wrong?”
She let out a shaky breath. “My mom called today.”
Boogie’s jaw tensed, and a warning bell went off. It felt suspicious to him that her family contacted her right after they connected again.
“Oh yeah?” he asked.
She nodded. “My grandmother is sick, so I went over there to see her. She’s dying, Boog.”
She whispered the last part, and it broke his heart. He remembered from when they were young how close she and her grandmother had been. It was no wonder she looked so sad.
He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Sweetie.”
He caught her wiping a tear from her eye before she spoke again. “And then my dad was there, and we got into a huge argument. He told me I wasn’t welcome there. I don’t give a fuck about that house, but Boog, my granny is there. What if this was the last time I got to see her?”
A sob tore out of her, and Boogie was torn between pulling over and comforting her and speeding toward home so they could get there quickly. He decided to pull over. He couldn’t keep driving while she cried like that.
When they were tucked safely in a Target parking lot, he got out of the car and opened her door. He pulled her into him, and she cried into his stomach from the passenger seat. A flash of hatred overtook Boogie as he thought about Vernon Bishop. How could he treat his daughter so badly simply because she would no longer comply with his controlling ways?
This was something he couldn’t fix, and he hated that.
“What can I do?” he finally asked. She shook her head and dug it more into his abs. Boogie stroked her hair.
Eventually, she pulled back and looked up at him. “I just want to go home.”
He smiled. “Our home?”
She chewed her bottom lip before she nodded hesitantly. “That’s what you call it.”
He chuckled. “I know I’m kind of pushin’ all this on you. I apologize. How about we go home, cuddle, and watch movies, and then in the morning, we can talk about everything.”
“That sounds perfect.” Her voice was hoarse, and his heart ached for her.
Boogie kissed her forehead and made sure she was tucked safely back inside the car before he got back in himself.
For the rest of the drive, he focused on Sweetie’s emotions and needs and pushed the conversation he wanted to have with her to the side. Tonight would be all about her.
Waking up to Sweetie for the second day in a row felt like a dream. This time, he woke up first and had a moment to watch her while she slept. Last night had been hard for him. As a fixer and someone who took whatever he wanted, seeing Sweetie cry about her granny was hard. There was nothing he could do but hold her and mumble occasional words of encouragement.
Her swollen eyes were closed peacefully, and she breathed lightly. Boogie wondered what she was dreaming about. He hoped it was something good.
He stayed like that for a while longer before she stirred. Boogie peppered her face with kisses when he saw her waking up, and she opened her eyes with a smile.
“Good morning,” she said in a raspy voice.
“Morning, beautiful.”
She stretched before she rolled onto her back. Her head flopped to the side, and she smiled at him with one eye open. “How long have you been up?”
“Not too long. Yo’ snoring woke me,” he joked.
She scoffed. “I do not snore.”
“Yeah, aight.” He pulled her close to him and kissed her lips three times. “How you feeling?”
