“You serious?”
“I said no, didn’t I?”
He studied me for a second, then nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t feeling it. Randy worked with people I ain’t rock with.
I walked off, checking on a shipment that had just come in, flipping through a couple of numbers in my head while I talked to one of the workers. Everything lined up how it was supposed to, but I still went over it again, asking questions I already knew the answers to.
That wasn’t like me, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud.
CK called something out from behind me, asking about a delivery window. I answered him, but I had to think about what he said for a second before I responded, and that alone had me slightly irritated.
I grabbed a water, took a sip, and set it down without even remembering where I put it.
Brain fog,I thought. That was always a red flag for my mental health.
Everything was running how it should.
Everything was in place.
Still ain’t sit right.
I pulled my phone out, scrolling through messages I hadn’t touched.
Alana. Nia.
I stared at both names for a second, thumb hovering like I was really about to make a decision off it.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” I muttered under my breath, shaking my head at myself.
I locked the phone and slid it back in my pocket.
“I’m about to slide,” I told CK, walking back toward the front.
He looked at me. “You good?”
“I’m straight.”
He nodded, but I could tell he clocked something. He just wasn’t about to press it.
I stepped outside, pulled my keys out, and got in the truck, sitting there for a second before starting it.
My jaw tightened, head still not slowing down.
“I need to bust a nut,” I said low, more to myself than anything.
No thought behind it. Just needed something easy that didn’t require anything from me.
I pulled my phone back out, opened the thread, and typed.
Me: You free?
I sent it and pulled off.
Nia Bashra
“I know exactly what I am to him… but this time, it didn’t feel the same.”
Ihad two days off work, and today was my rest day. Working as a hotel manager at the Beverly Hills, dealing with people who thought money made them important. That’s why I didn’t talk much when Vaughn brought up money and thought I was with him for it. I made good money, my family came from money, so I didn’t need money from a man. Only time… and dick.
