I rolled my eyes and took another sip. “He really does act like we’re still together, like I’m just going through a phase and I’m going to come back.”
Joi pointed at me. “Because you keep giving him relationship benefits with no relationship responsibility.”
I pouted. “You’re right.”
Joi sat back, smiling like she was enjoying being right a little too much. “So, stop sleeping with him.”
“After the shit he pulled, I would be a goofy to continue sleeping with him.”
“You should have stopped fucking him when you broke up with him.”
I hesitated, then said it anyway. “The sex wasgood.”
Joi slapped the table once, laughing. “Of course, it was! Broke dick is always good.”
SINCERE BELLAMY
Ever since that first meeting with Rhythm, I couldn’t get her off my mind.
It didn’t make sense. I had just gotten out of a relationship that could have broke me if I was a weak nigga. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about another woman. I wasn’t supposed to be interested in anything that even looked like a relationship. I was supposed to be focused on work and making sure I never let my heart get played that reckless again.
But Rhythm had an aura that stuck with me. She was soft, but not weak. She was pretty in a way that didn’t beg for attention but still stole it, and her energy felt pure. She wasn’t trying to prove anything. She was just being herself, and you either respected it or moved around.
I kept telling myself it was curiosity, a lot of lust, and a little intrigue because she was different from what I was used to. Then I caught myself checking her page like I was thirteen. When she posted a story that night and tagged her location at a bar in her neighborhood, I decided to pull up.
I should’ve been embarrassed by the way that I was stalking this girl. But I needed to see her outside of businessto tell whether what I felt was real or if I was just lusting after a beautiful girl. I wasn’t going to cross any professional boundaries. I just needed to be around her. So, I drove to the South Side, parked a block away, and sat in my car for a second, questioning my own sanity.
This was stalkerish and thirsty.
And I wasstillgetting out my ride.
Inside the bar, I scanned the room and found her immediately. Rhythm sat at the bar with another woman. I stood there for a second too long, just watching her smile and wishing I could put that smile on her face every day.
I walked up and tried to play it off, “Rhythm?”
She turned her head, and her eyes widened. “Sincere? Wh-What are you doing here?”
“I was in the area. I was at the development site with some contractors and decided to pop in and have a drink before I head to the crib.”
She blinked. “You were at the development site this late?”
I shrugged. “Our business doesn’t have set hours.”
She nodded slowly, buying it. The woman next to her had been quiet this whole time, but I saw her looking at me out of the corner of my eye. She was giving me a full-on inspection. When I glanced at her directly, she didn’t even try to hide that she liked what she saw and was impressed. Rhythm saw it too. Her lips twitched like she was trying not to laugh.
“This is my friend, Joi,” Rhythm introduced, gesturing between us. “Joi, this is Sincere.”
Joi’s eyebrows lifted dramatically, and she smiled. “Oh,thisis Sincere.”
Rhythm shot her a look. “Joi.”
“What?” she asked innocently. “I’m just saying. You said he was fine, butdamn.”
I felt Rhythm’s embarrassment from the way her body froze, and I held back a laugh.
Then I nodded toward the empty stool on the other side of her. “Can I sit with y’all?”
Suddenly, I saw Rhythm get a bit nervous, then she swallowed it back. “S-sure.” Then she nodded toward the open stool on her other side.
