“You saw who?” Cash’s voice came from the entryway.
I yelped, phone nearly flying out of my hand as I whipped around, my heart leaping to my throat. He stood in the entryway with an amused look, head cocked, coat half-off.
I snatched up the phone. “I gotta call you back,” I mumbled.
Monica was cracking up. “Good luck, friend. Let me know if I need to send help.”
I hung up and turned back to him, chest still tight. “Baby, you scared me.”
“You saw Nairobi?” he asked, stepping into the room.
I grimaced. “Maybe…”
As if the baby knew I was trying to get out of my mess, she kicked me, sending a sharp pain through my side. “Shit,” I groaned, holding my stomach.
“Mmhmm. Even my daughter knows you full of shit,” he said, dropping on the couch beside me. “It’s either yes or no.” His hands found my feet and pulled them into his lap.
I noticed a small speck of blood on the collar of his shirt. “You killed somebody today?”
“No,” he said, unfazed by my question. “And you didn’t answer me.”
I sighed and let my head fall back against the cushion as his fingers worked slow, delicious circles into the arch of my foot. Cash had this way of switching between being a certified crash-out and doting husband with suchease, like he was made for both worlds. He knew how to rub a knot out of my legs and end a man’s life with the same set of hands. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t turn me on.
“What question,Money?” I teased as my eyes fluttered closed.
A low rumble came from him. “You know how I feel when you call me that, Jas…” His hands crept higher, fingers skimming the backs of my thighs now.
“Baby, please,” I whined, half annoyed, half aroused.
“Mm.” His hands moved back to my feet. “You really saw her?”
I opened my eyes again. “Yeah. At Sweetie’s. I went to grab lunch, and she was just sitting by herself, like she hadn’t been gone for the last two years.”
“You speak?”
“Of course I did,” I said, rubbing my belly. “I don’t have beef with her.”
“Ain’t nobody got beef with Nai. But what she did was fucked up.”
He wasn’t wrong. Nairobi ghosted Fontaine, well, ghosted all of us really, with no explanation. Still, she and I were never friends. I’d wanted to get to know her, but it was what it was.
“Well, she’s back,” I shrugged and reached for the remote.
“She say why?”
“Her dad passed, and she’s here to help her mom with the arrangements.”
Cash hummed and sat back, licking his lips as he processed the news.
I sat up a little. “Don’t tell Fontaine,” I added quickly. “Or Slim, or Jelani.”
He let out a short laugh. “Well damn, shorty. Anyone else you wanna add?”
I grabbed a pillow and tossed it at him weakly. “I’m serious,Cash! She asked me not to say anything, which means she doesn’t want Fontaine knowing she’s back.”
He caught the pillow easily and rolled his eyes. “Yet you was running your mouth to Monica.”
“Whatever,” I waved him off. “Isn’t Fontaine dating somebody?”
