Tasha hugged me while I cried. “He’s not gone, babe. Men just take longer to figure out their shit. Maybe he’s just figuring out his shit.”
“I feel dumb. I feel dumb for thinking he would want something beyond a nice fuck. I was a paycheck for him, and we crossed a stupid line.”
Tasha sighed and said, “You ready to playBurnby Usher?I’ve been on a big Usher kick lately.” That made me laugh.
“Maybe.”
She stood up and said, “Okay, girl. Tell me about that cutie in the hallway!”
“Chase! What? Are you serious?”
“Mama gotta have a man too.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, now you’re quoting Baby Boy. You are too much, girl. Come on, let’s order some food. We gotta find you a man.”
Tasha got up and said, “Are you done crying now? Where’s my spicy, Serayah? Put on that bunny guy you like!”
Laughing hysterically, I said, “That bunny guy? You’re hilarious. His name is Bad Bunny. And you know what? You’reright.” I ran over to my stereo to flip the Bluetooth switch on and then pulled up DtMf by Bad Bunny on my phone. The song started to play, so I cranked it up loud and started dancing.
Tasha yelled, “That’s my girl!”
She was my best friend for a reason. I thought,This too shall pass.
Chapter 17
King
It was almost Valentine’s Day, which had me thinking about Serayah. I’d been avoiding her, letting Chase or Mack take the lead upstairs. It was killing me.
I was grumpier than normal, and it was starting to show. Mack and Chase were guarding Serayah, so I could meet up with Gabe to grab some food. While we ate, Gabe looked at me and asked, “Man, what thefuckare youdoing?”
I balked at his question and the way he asked it. “What do you mean?”
“It’s been a week. You guys caught the stalker. There’s been no activity since. Serayah is safe, and that guy isn’t getting out of jail anytime soon.”
I shrugged as I took a bite of my sandwich. “Yeah, so what?”
Gabe shook his head. “So, your/our security detail is going to end with her soon.”
“Gabe, just say what the fuck you mean.”
He took a drink of his water. “I’m saying you act like none of us know what’s going on between you two. It’s not a secret, even though you were trying to keep it one.” He paused and then said, “Even Cass knows.”
That made me choke. I scrambled for my soda so I didn’t die before I could pull my head out of my ass about Serayah and chugged it down until I could breathe again. “What thefuckdo you mean,Cassknows?”
“Just what I said. He’s been keeping tabs. Asking us if it’s affecting you on the job.” Gabe shrugged. “I told him, no, it wasn’t. If anything, it made you more protective, more alert, to what’s going on around her and around us, too.” I sat there, stunned. He went on. “So, back to my original question. What thefuckare youdoing? You’re staying away from her, putting space or whatever, for no reason. You know, you’re a lot nicer when she’s around, too.”
“I’m nice all the time.”
Gabe shook his head, hard. “No. You’re a fucking grumpy asshole when she’s not around.” I laughed because it was true. Gabe laughed with me, and added, “If everyone knows and no one gives a shit, what are you waiting for? Life is meant to be lived, man, and don’t tell me about your past getting her in trouble or whatever that Nico business was about. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your past. In the words of my dude, Rafiki,It doesn’t matta. It’s in da past.”
I laughed and asked, “Did you just quoteThe Lion Kingto me, man?”
He laughed and stuffed fries in his mouth. “Yeah. I fuckin’ love that movie.”
Gabe was right. Plus, I heard he had his own little security detail client that he was falling for, but he was keeping it under wraps. She was some pop star or something with a stalker of her own.
I needed to make things right with Serayah and fast. I asked Gabe, “Can you help me with something?”
