“I told you I was playing,” she replied, grinning before leaning closer. “Now enjoy yourself. You deserve to have some fun for once.”
I shook my head, but a laugh still slipped out of me.
As the night went on, the attention never really stopped. Men kept glancing toward our section. A bottle appeared at the table from somebody across the club. Even the DJ shouted Giani out for her promotion before adding, “And welcome back to Koko too.”
The crowd reacted immediately, turning toward our section. I froze, but Giani laughed and raised her drink high like none of it bothered her.
And for the first time all night, I started realizing something that made my chest tighten. I might not remember this city…but apparently the city remembered me.
CHAPTER 11
Ileaned back against the booth, finally letting my eyes drift away from the table and the fake bitches surrounding me. I still hadn’t gotten past Giani’s little joke, but I chose to let it go for now. My attention was better focused elsewhere.
I was sober, alert, and taking everybody in when I finally spotted Booda. He was on the opposite side of the club, tucked inside a dark corner booth with his hoodie pulled low enough to shadow most of his face. One arm stretched across the back of the booth while his legs spread wide beneath the table.
His posture was relaxed in a way that would’ve looked harmless on anybody else, but on Booda, it made him look more dangerous. That was one of the things I loved most about him. He never had to act tough for people to feel it. Whenever he walked into rooms, he carried the kind of energy that made grown men move carefully around him.
The woman grinding in front of his booth was a different story. I liked nothing about her.
She was slowly rolling her hips to the beat, head thrown back, hands sliding down her own body, putting on a show just for him. When her ass bounced dangerously close to Booda’s lap, he just sat there, eyes forward, like none of it was happening.
But I knew better than that.
He didn’t miss a thing, least of all a beautiful woman.
I frowned, not only at what I saw, but at myself for feeling anything. Booda and I weren’t together. Hell, we barely even knew what we were anymore. We hadn’t kissed. Hadn’t had sex. Hadn’t even talked about fixing whatever had broken between us. For all I knew, we might never get back to that place again.
Still…
Watching another woman throw herself at him made irritation crawl all over me.
“Oh, hell nah,” I spat, leaning forward in my seat to get a better look.
“What?” Giani asked, distracted by her phone.
“That bitch.”
Giani looked up immediately. “Who?”
I didn’t answer.
My eyes stayed locked across the club, irritation steadily mounting the longer I watched the two. Booda didn’t seem to be enjoying her, but he hadn’t made her move around either.
I didn’t like that.
The girl was bending over, running her hands through her hair, and looking back at him every few seconds. She was doing entirely too much.
And Booda was just sitting there letting it happen.
“You good?” Giani asked, watching me closely.
“No, but I will be,” I replied, and before she could stop me, I slid out of the booth.
“Koko,” Giani called after me, laughing as though I were a comedian. “Girl, where the hell is your crazy ass going?”
I ignored her completely and pushed through the crowd. The closer I got to Booda’s section, the more irritated I became.
The woman dropped it low right in front of him just as I reached the booth, and that was enough for me.
