Savio grinned down at her. “I’m on duty.”
“What? I didn’t think you started until tomorrow or something.”
“You thought wrong, Precious.” Savio shrugged.
“Precious? Don’t call me that.” Cashmere wanted to push him away, but the smell of his cologne kept her body planted in place, praying for a few more moments to inhale the scent.
“Why not?” he asked. He leaned a hand against the bar behind her, effectively trapping her in.
“Because that ain’t my name.”
“Ever heard of a nickname?”
“Of course, but ain’t that what people call a baby that’s ugly? Precious?”
Savio tilted his head back and laughed, which only made Cashmere frown harder.
“Man, I don’t know about all that. I just know I’m paid to keep you safe. Precious cargo, if you will. Precious.”
Cashmere’s mouth opened and closed as she searched for something to say to that. The small voice deep inside her screamed that it loved the nickname. The hardened part of her rejected it.
“Yeah, so Cash or Cashmere will do.” She turned back toward the bar and did her best to ignore him, but he wasn’t letting her off the hook that easily.
“Cash sounds like some shit you have other niggas call you. Cashmere seems to formal. I like Precious.”
Cashmere rolled her eyes to the ceiling and kept them there for several seconds as she tried to find some patience. Finally, she turned to him and asked, “You aren’t going to let go of this shit, are you?”
He shook his head with a dazzling grin. “Nah.”
She didn’t respond. The bartender placed their drinks on a couple of napkins, and she immediately asked for another one before she chugged the one in front of her.
“Oh, you tryna get turnt tonight? Maybe I’ll lay off the drinks for the night so I can be on point since you won’t be,” Savio joked.
“I can hold my liquor, nigga.”
He took a step toward her and invaded her personal space. “You can call me Savio or Sav. A few other things, too, but we’ll get to that in due time. I ain’t ya nigga or a nigga. Talk to me correct, Precious.”
Cashmere would have taken a step back if the bar wasn’t already pressed against her back. She wondered if audacity was on sale that night. Nobody ever told her what to do. Her whacked out ass parents never even told her what to do. Marcellus and Cassydie were about the only people who tried that shit with her, but they did it out of love. She didn’t know Savio to know what his angle was. This was new for her.
Not knowing what else to say, she muttered, “Whatever.”
Savio eyed her for a moment before he threw her for a loop. “You ready for me to move in?”
It seemed like he had already figured out how to press her buttons because that shit eating grin spread across his face again like he enjoyed watching her be flustered.
“Uh . . . I mean . . .”
“Because I was thinkin’ I’ll just handle that tonight. What you think?”
Cashmere didn’t know what to think anymore. Marcellus hadn’t warned her that her new head of security would start that night, so she felt thrown off-kilter. She worked best with a structured plan, and something told her that Savio was about to shake a lot of shit up for her.
Finally, she pulled some coolness up out of her and shrugged. “If that’s what you want to do.”
His smiled seemed to take on a different meaning as he looked down at her. When he licked his lips, she knew she wasn’t trippin’.
“I do,” he said. With that, he walked away and posted up on the wall opposite the bar. He didn’t go too far away to where he couldn’t see her, but he finally gave her some much-needed space. She exhaled a deep breath just as the bartender placed her second drink on the bar top. She sipped that one slower as she eyed Savio, who watched her like a hawk. Something in her spirit told her that Savio was about to shake things up for her, and she didn’t know yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
For the restof the night, Savio stayed put in the corner of the bar area with his eyes on Cashmere. Shorty stayed by the bar and nursed her drink. He noticed that she didn’t seem as enthusiastic about drinking as she did when they first got to the bar. Savio smirked. He wondered if that had anything to do with him.
