Nairobi laughed. “She not letting up on that, huh?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “She likes you. Says you got good energy. She really wants to be your friend. And your ass really could use them. You can’t be hanging with the niggas all the time—you not even a tomboy.”
Nairobi smirked. “She’s cool people. I got her. I like her. Monica too.”
“Good,” I said. “You know most of her people are in New York. She needs friends here.”
She reached for the bottle behind the bar and grabbed anempty glass. “To peace… however temporary,” she said after pouring some out and handing it to me.
I raised it. “To family. However messy.”
We clinked glasses and for the first time in a week, it felt like we were on the same side again. “You need anything, I got you.”
“I know,” she said, voice steady. “I’m happy for you, Cash. Jasmine and Aspen are beautiful. You got lucky.”
“Yeah. And I’m happy you and Fontaine stopped all the bullshit and finally decided to make shit official.”
I left her sitting there, the early 2000s R&B fading behind me as I stepped out into the crisp evening.
15 /NAIROBI CRAWFORD
“We’re going on a date,”Fontaine announced.
I looked up from my phone, caught off guard. We were at my condo, not working for once. Things with the Order were still hanging over my head. Fontaine insisted I keep stalling, and I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me. I didn’t press, but the waiting was starting to wear on me. I knew it was only a matter of time before they did something else that might get someone killed.
“Okay…” I said, setting my phone down. “What brought this on?”
“I’m tryna give you the real thing,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist. “We’re together, right? That means we gotta do things real couples do. Grown people activities that involve you wearing something that’s gon’ distract me all night.”
The warmth of his breath on my neck made me squeeze my thighs together. I wriggled against him, trying to suppress the smile creeping up my face. Heat rose to my cheeks—not just from the way he held me, but from the weight of what he said.
I'd had plenty of lovers. Dinners, drinks, and situations—both personal and by way of work—thatblurred into each other. But not someone carving out time just to spend time with me. CJ had come the closest, but that had always been casual.
But Fontaine, after everything, still wanted to court me. Woo me. Show me what it was like to simply be with someone. It didn't matter that I was pushing forty, or that I was just discovering soft parts of myself I never knew existed. He was here, willing to give me something resembling normal.
I turned in his arms, looking up at him. “Where are we going, Mr. Jackson?”
He licked his lips and smiled. “It’s a surprise,” he said, eyes gleaming. “Just be ready in three hours.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “And wear something I’ll wanna shoot a nigga for looking at you too hard in.”
“That’s not really helpful.”
He chuckled. “Good.”
It took me forty minutes to decide what to wear—forty minutes of tossing dresses around and overthinking, trying to tell myself this was just another night.
I finally settled on a long-sleeved black lace paneled mini dress. It was sexy but still classy. Absolutely the type of dress that would make people turn heads.
I showered and took my time getting ready, feeling…giddy. It was stupid, but there was something about this that brought out a version of myself I didn’t know existed. Having short hair made things easy—a little water, some mousse, and my tiny coils sprang into place. I beat my face and gave myself a dark red lip.
Fontaine was waiting on the couch, phone in hand. He’d gone home to change and came back looking like he walked out of a high fashion magazine ad—tailored black slacks, and a black cashmere sweater that clung lightly to his chest and arms that made me bite my lip as I took him in.
“Shit,” he said when he looked up and saw me. His gazeswept from my heels to my face, lingering there before he exhaled. “You look…yeah.”
I smirked, grabbing my clutch off the table. “I just followed your instructions.”
“You might’ve followed them a little too well,” he said, pulling me to him and nuzzling my neck. His hand drifted down and grabbed my ass.
“See, you about to have us miss whatever you planned,” I laughed, pushing him off.
