"I can't sleep." She sighed. Even as she said the words, her shoulders sagged with fatigue.
I noticed the slight bags under her eyes and said, "Yeah I can see that."
She prettily smacked her teeth. "Just straight up, huh?" She chuckled.
I nodded. "Would you prefer me to bullshit you?"
"Never," she quickly replied. “I haven’t been able to sleep much since everything happened with my brother and like I said in the text, for some reason, you calm me. It’s easy for me to clear my head when I’m around you. Even if I’m just here while you work or at home with you. My mood is always… calm,” she confessed. "I was a mess before I got here.”
“Shawty, you just lost your brother. Don’t beat ya’self up for losin’ sleep over it. What Iwillfuss at you about is I told you if you needed me, to call. You waited a whole week before you reached out to me. Knowing I’ve been missing yo’ ass like crazy and worried about chu’. I’ve been texting Zoo and Sin nonstop so they can ask Naomi and PJ if you were good. I asked them so much to the point they would send me a text first saying,she’s good, before I had the chance to ask them again. They knew I missed you so much.”
Bri’s delicately shrugged her shoulders. “My sister just went back home this morning. She’s been my little piece of comfort. I did okay when she was here, but now…”
I nodded, understanding.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll come over and stay as long as you need me to,” I offered. She smiled.
“I wouldn’t want to interfere with what you have going on,” she muttered.
“You can’t call it interfering if it’s something I want to do. You already know that I’m usually in here late, so if you want, you can always skate by here and chill until I leave.”
Her gaze danced over the interior of the studio as she thought about it.
“As long as you promise to feed me each time I come,” she said after a while. “I won’t be in your way.”
Smirking, I stood. “Come on, let me show you around in case you need to find shit. I’m glad you came, my next step was to break in. Zoo and I have been planning that shit for three days now.”
“Y’all crazy.” She chuckled.
She followed me out of the studio room through the hall leading to my office. I flicked on the light and showed her where the restroom was.
“It’s always clean. I’on do that dirty shit so don’t worry. You can hang out in here or in the studio, that’s up to you. Of course, it’s loud in there and I have people in and out. I own everything in the building, though, so feel free to make ya’self at home.” I’d been so wrapped up into the things that happened that I’d never thought about bringing Bri to my studio. We were good in our own lil’ bubble at her crib or mine. She’s the type that you want to date in private and pop out married. Just so the world wouldn’t have a chance to mess us up.
Smiling, she turned to me and said, “Thank you.”
I led her back to the studio where she grabbed her bookbag and made herself comfortable on the leather couch. She retrieved a thick notebook, and a pen, then dove into whatever she was doing. Leaving her to it, I put the headphones onmy head to begin the process of mixing down one of Kim’s completed songs. I tried to concentrate, but every breath I took was filled with Brianna.
She had no clue of how she’d just made my night. I kept looking back, stealing glances at her as she worked until one time I looked back and she was knocked out. It was time for me to go by then, so I grabbed her things, the keys, then lifted her from the couch.
My baby was right, she hadn’t had sleep in a while because she was so deep in this one that she didn’t even move while we rode the elevator down. Instead of making her drive home exhausted, I placed her in my front seat and drove her to my place.
She slightly woke up when we arrived, staying up long enough to shower and climb in the bed. Once her head hit my chest, she was out. Meanwhile, I was taking in this moment and making memories for us as I took pictures of her knocked out on my chest.
CHAPTER 11
BROOKLYN
I’d been planning this trip since I told her it would be our first one. Delta drivers picked us up from my house and took us to the airport. Instead of us going through the front with everyone else, they drove us straight to the plane. They handled our bags, passes, and everything. Bri was sitting next to me on the flight, anxious as hell because she didn’t have an inkling of an idea as to where we were going.
I only told her to pack enough for a week. She started running around the room, going back and forth into the closet andthrowing things everywhere. Her excitement turned into her being nervous and swearing that I didn’t know how to plan a trip. How I’d have us sleeping in a Motel 6 off the highway and I should have let her help me. That was mostly so her bean head ass would know the details already.
“Baby, my stomach is doing flips because I just know you booked our flights through Spirit Airline.”
I started laughing before I knew it. “What type of man do you think I am? Did you realize you didn’t go through an airport, or bump into anyone, but you are already on the plane?”
“I did but you know you, you’ll hold someone at gunpoint, in a minute. You got this damn blindfold on me, and I don’t know what’s going on around me.”
“Again, what type of man do you think I am? My family taught me a lot, including what you just added, but this time, I ain’t have to do none of that. You can take your blindfold off and—”
