It was so overwhelming for a minute there that I forgot how to breathe. He was quick about getting us away from the crowd and safely inside his car, but I was still a little rattled. I’d never had my personal space violated like that. Since his arrival in Solaire, I’d kind of forgotten that Symphony was a popular R&B singer. This was his normal, not mine.
Taking notice of my silence, Sym reached for my hand. “Are you okay?” I allowed him to capture my hand, which he lifted to kiss the back of before intertwining our fingers and resting them on the center console.
My mouth filled with cotton, so I nodded instead of responding. He left me alone for the rest of the ride while I was busy asking myself if I could live with being in the public’s eye. I loved having a private life, where I only shared what I wanted to be known. In Sym’s world, there was no privacy. Everything was up for scrutiny, including me, when those photos hit the internet. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that either. I started to feel as if it was perfect timing— a culture shock back to reality before I allowed myself to get too lost in Symphony.
8
SYMPHONY
Ipulled my phone from my pocket when I heard it chime. I smiled when I saw my baby’s name on the screen. She’d sent me a text message, and since I was thirsty for her attention, I opened it immediately with a grin.
Squirt: I don’t know if I can do this, Sym. That was too much for me last night. I just need some space right now . . .
My smile disappeared as quickly as it’d come. I sucked my teeth, reading her text message again as if it would change the words. What the fuck was this girl talking about? She couldn’t do what? Life with me? I shook my head, blowing out a hard breath. At the same time, my leg began to bounce in place. Leigh knew how to stress me the fuck out. She wanted to be hot then cold on a nigga, like, no, just lock the fuck in. We were meant to be together.
I got ready to text her back, but I decided pulling up on her was the best option. I needed her to be able to see and feel me when I spoke. Nobody gave a fuck about paparazzi or what anyone else had to say. Yes, they’d violated what was supposed to be a private night, but I’d already handled it. The janitor who leaked my location would be walking with a wired jaw for a minute. I was almost certain he would never open his mouthto speak on something that wasn’t his business again in his life. Problem solved.
I needed to pull up on Leigh like right then. I wasn’t leaving any more time for those thoughts of hers to ruminate, implanting nonsense into our story. We were going to be good. It was a little mishap, but there was nothing that would stop us or even should.
Standing quickly, I glanced at Rhap on the other couch, casually watching TV. Iylah was lying on his chest, taking a nap. She was so at peace that I didn’t want to disturb her. I didn’t plan on being gone for very long, just enough time to talk to Leigh and eat her pussy. Yes, I was willing to pull out every trick in my book to get us back vibrating on the right frequency. Right then, she was vibing too low, and it was suffocating our chemistry.
“Um, y’all good? I need to go handle something.”
Rhap slowly turned to look at me. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t we be?” he questioned as if he hadn’t been missing for the last few weeks, leaving his daughter in my charge.
Instead of speaking on it, I nodded once. “You’re right. My bad. I’ll be back a little later. Call me if you need me. I’ll bring dinner.”
He shrugged. “A’ight.”
I stood there for a minute longer, debating whether it was the right decision. What could I really say when Iylah was his daughter? He’d even cleaned up the place, so I felt like that was a good sign. They looked content, and I knew Iylah was happy to be back with him. I heaved a sigh, then began to back away toward the door. I wouldn’t be gone too long, just long enough to handle what I needed.
Glancing down at my vibrating phone, I saw a call coming in from my mother. I already knew what the conversation would be about, and I wasn’t in the mood. That was another reason I fucked that janitor up. No one knew where I was until he openedhis mouth. I quickly shut my phone off because I would deal with her later.
I opened the door, then rushed out to the Benz parked in the driveway. I was pulling out of Rhap’s driveway within seconds. I pushed the engine to the max as I made the short ten-minute drive over to Leigh’s crib. I parked and hopped out before taking long strides to get to her porch.
Pulling open the screen door, I banged on it like the police.
“Who is it?” she called out cautiously.
I remained quiet with a racing heart. The longer I stood there, waiting, the more frustrated I became. As soon as she snatched the door open, I stepped inside, towering over her. Using my foot, I slammed the door shut behind me.
“Symphony, what are you doing here?” She barely got her question out because I snatched her to me by the front of her shirt and slammed my lips into hers. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I picked her up with ease. She circled her legs around my waist like a good girl. Walking over to the couch, I sat us down, not once breaking the connection building between our souls. When she pulled away, she was breathing heavily while staring at me with drunken eyes.
“You didn’t get my text message?”
“I just showed you how I feel about your text message. And in case you didn’t understand, that kiss can be translated asfuck your text. You can’t get rid of me, Squirt. You’re my soulmate.” She rushed to hide her face in the crook of my neck. I began to rub small circles on her back. “What you over here doing, other than losing your damn mind?”
She snickered. Her breath tickled my skin when she spoke. “I was about to make a pizza and watch a movie.”
I placed a soft kiss on her cheek, then hugged her tighter to my body. That was all I needed for real. I’d never felt more peacethan when I was sharing the same air as Valleigh. “Okay, let’s do it.”
“You’re going to make a pizza with me?”
“Mhm,” I mumbled because I was lowkey getting sleepy.
“Okay,” she whispered, but she didn’t move. I held her tighter while allowing my body to melt deeper into the couch. She was so fucking snugable that the next thing I knew, the world was fading to darkness.
When I woke up an hour later, I had a damn cramp in my back from the way we were napping. I smiled when I saw the way Leigh was cuddled against my chest, sleeping like a damn baby. Talking about some, she couldn’t do this? The whole time, it was exactly where her ass wanted to be. I began to place kisses all over her face, waking her up.
