Page 12 of Own It

“Morgin, and this is Daylin.”

The man peered down at the clipboard, flipping enough pages for me to realize this wasn’t a small party by any means, before he nodded in approval and pulled out what appeared to be a stamp.

We held out our hands to be branded and then were granted entry into the party.

“Small yet he had a damn five-hundred-page list on that clipboard,” I spoke lowly to Morgin who chuckled.

“More niggas for us to dig through.”

“Us? Did we forget you’re the only single one?” My brow hiked as we made our way through, toward the backyard where loud music was coming from.

Though there were a lot of people in attendance, because the home was so vast, it seemed to still be sparsely populated.

“Well, if the right man comes up checking for you, you’d better act single. What is the saying, ‘don’t let your man keep you from finding your husband.’”

She and I giggled as I rolled my eyes playfully, being careful not to trip over the threshold in these Alaia Infradito heels. I may have been a taken woman, but I wasn’t wrapped up in Shaun enough to evade embarrassment if a bitch went flying into this backyard filled with people.

Morgin and I stayed silent, bobbing our heads to “Kacey Talk” by NBA YoungBoy. There were a lot of affluent looking men, but there were mainly women and everywhere. Some were dressed normally in short dresses, heels, and typical nightlife attire, while others had their whole asses out or were topless already, making me check my watch to see the time. After confirming the party had only been going for an hour, I could only snicker in disbelief at the disrobed women wasting no time.

“You’re overdressed, Morgin,” I joked.

“Oh shit. They’re over there.” Morgin pointed, ignoring my joke and switching off in the direction of who I recognized to be Josias. I spotted another man who looked identical to him, only he had a small G tattooed between his eyes while Josias didn’t. “Heeeyy,” Morgin dragged out just as I came to a stop behind her.

“Oh, this is . . .” Josias frowned, trying to recall her name, and when laughter ensued, I felt embarrassed for Morgin.

“Morgin, nigga.” She sucked her teeth.

“My bad, lil mama. I’m lit already,” he said, just as I peeped the woman beside him’s legs thrown over his lap. I noticed Morgin’s eyes catching on to the same thing.

“And your name?” a tall man with a brown complexion and the same eye shape as Josias asked. He was handsome and a couple inches taller than the pretty tall Josias.

“Daylin,” I replied, nodding with a simple smile.

“Ayan Godfrey, but I’m sure you knew that.” He stepped up, dwarfing me some.

His handsome looks had already begun to fade in my eyes as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Right. I actually just found out who you were today when your brother invited us here,” I shot back, making Josias and who clearly was his identical twin comment, egging things on.

“Sure,” Ayan replied, making it evident that he didn’t believe a word I was saying.

Ew.

He was too cocky for my taste, and even if I had been single, he wouldn’t get my time.

“Baby, if she don’t want it, just know I do!” one of the women nearby hollered.

“Exactly.” Morgin set her sights on Ayan since Josias was putting his attention on the lady beside him in lieu of making a move on her.

“She wants it,” Ayan said, and I sadly could not hold in my laughter, making his brows dip for a quick second out of befuddlement.

I’d met a lot of pretentious, entitled men in my days, but Ayan was definitely in the top two. He was ridiculous, causing his demeanor that he probably deemed smooth and confident to come off comical instead.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Godfrey, but I have a man, so no, I in fact don’t want it,” I argued, doing my best not to roll my eyes and sport a permanent look of disgust.

Leaning in, he said, “I got a woman, but that don’t mean we can’t have fun.”

“Oh, that’s exactly what it means.” I tried to glance at Morgin and non-verbally communicate how nonsensical this man before me was but instead caught a glimpse of envy radiating off my friend/assistant. It was a shock to my system because though Morgin lacked decorum, she never gave jealous.