“It looks good, just like all that other shit you tried on then changed. Now can we go?” I said with a smirk before glancing down at my wrist.
That forced her cute lips into a pout as she looked at me.
“Trooper, it has to be perfect. So be honest.”
I put out the blunt in the ashtray next to me and stood so I towered over her. Keeping my hands at my side, I leaned down and kissed her neck first then both shoulders as I circled her body. When I was behind her, I kissed her collarbone and between her shoulder blades, which made her body shiver.
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Now let’s go before I change my mind and help you out of this.”
I walked away and stopped at the dresser to get my key before I left the room. I stood at the elevator door waiting and Sophie joined me moments later. A light scent of perfume trailed her, which made me want to taste her skin. But I kept my distance or dinner would be a wrap.
After we stepped off the elevator and entered the lobby, Oscar glared at me then stared lustfully at Sophie. I kept telling her this muthafucker had issues, but she tried to convince me it was innocent. I had a feeling I would be checking his ass soon enough.
“Big plans tonight, Sophie?” he said, glancing at me, but focusing on her.
Shit like this made me want to have a conversation with him.
“Yeah,wehave plans,” I answered before she got a chance, causing her to cut her eyes at me. Sophie was too gotdamn nice about certain things.
“Yes, dinner with Maddie and her friend,” she said, smiling.
“Tell her I said hello.”
“For what? Y’all tight like that?” I asked.
“Trooper…” Sophie looked at me like I was crazy.
“What? Damn. He acts like they tight. I’m just saying, if they are, he can call her ass and tell her what’s up. If not, he can say that shit next time he sees her.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me. We were taking my truck which I hadn’t bothered letting the valet take, so it was parked across the street.
“What was that all about?” Sophie asked as soon as we were inside.
“Shit, you tell me. Didn’t you say he was acting weird? You can’t overlook people like that, Sophie. You live alone and he has access to you. I get being friendly, but he’s taking things too far. I can be standing right next to you and he’ll ignore the fuck outta me and focus on you like he’s mad. It ain’t normal.”
“He’s harmless, Trooper, and he doesn’t have access to me. Technically, I don’t live alone because you’re here all the time or I’m at your place.”
“You don’t know if he’s harmless or not. Crazy people don’t show you their crazy until it’s too late. I promise you this though, if he crosses any gotdamn lines, I have no issues taking care of him.”
“Taking care of him? What’s that supposed to mean?”
I glanced at her and chuckled, but didn’t respond.
“Trooper!”
“Let it go, Sophie. I don’t want to fuck up our evening,” I said calmly. She just sat there burning a hole in the side of my face. I reached over and glided my finger across her neck before taking hold of her hand, bringing it to my lips, and kissing the back. This was the issue with coming from two different worlds. There were things she was okay with and I wasn’t. Not only was it about her safety, but it was disrespectful as fuck for another man to lust over my lady. I didn’t care who the fuck it was. Some things about me weren’t going to change and she would just have to get used to that. As of right now, Oscar’s ass had strikes one and two, three would mean a permanent resolution. That right there, I wasn’t fucking around with.
By the time we met Los and Maddie at the restaurant, Sophie had calmed and let the Oscar thing go. We had dinner and were now sitting on the rooftop working through our second round of drinks. Los and I stood at the building’s edge so we could speak freely while Sophie and Maddie sat on the sofas around the firepit whispering about us. Every so often they looked our way to giggle like teenagers.
“So what’s up? You find out anything about what went down?” I asked Los. We still had no idea why he’d gotten stopped and it was lowkey fucking with me. I didn’t like anyone coming for either of us.
“Hell no, but shit’s been cool though, so I’m not really worried at the moment.”
“You should be. You can handle a lot of issues, but five-o fucking with you is not an issue you want. Even if they don’t have shit on you,” I said in all seriousness.
“You right, but like you said, they don’t have shit on me. So right now, I’m just chilling. What’s up with you though? Rip has been running his mouth about you. That muthafucker is mad as fuck that you embarrassed his ass.”
I glanced at Sophie and she just happened to look up at me right at that moment. She blew me a kiss and I winked at her.
