Page 46 of Beacon Grove Chronicles 1: Hassan & Sylvia

“YOU REALLY ONLY have eyes for him, huh?”

My head snapped up to find that Maggie Cunningham was staring at me with a big smile on her face. Her face was fuller than the last time we’d seen one another since she had a little Cunningham baking. She looked so pretty in her brightly colored sundress and her hair in a big curly puff. The deep melanin spots on her face were uncovered and I understood how being loved deeply could make you even more confident in yourself.

“I’m sorry?”

She nodded toward the direction of Hassan with a knowing look on her face. “Your eyes track him the ways that mine track JJ. I never saw you looking at Dave that way.”

I scoffed because it was offensive as hell to put Hassan and Dave in the same sentence. “Dave never gave me much of a reason to look at him that way.”

“But he does?”

I smiled thinking of all the ways that Hassan had shown me he was all about me and my kids in the last few months. “Hassan is a good man. A little wild and a Beacon. The one family I thought I’d never date, but here I am.”

“They’re not all bad.” Maggie was the consummate nice girl which is why it was so shocking that she’d dealt with that bitch Bianca on any level. But then again, nice girls try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

“Not bad, but they’re kinda wild. Every one of us has a story of a Beacon raising hell when we were growing up.”

“Was Hassan your wild child?” Her eyes sparkled and I knew it was because she wanted our story to end like hers and JJ’s. They’d been in one another’s orbit for years but never made a move until two years ago. Now they were married and expecting their first baby together.

“No, his cousin Cass was.”

“Casanova Beacon?” I could hear and see her surprise at the idea that laid back Cass was wild but that calm about him had only developed recently.

“One and the same. You forget that I’m older than you are by a few years. It’s shocking that you’ve heard that name.”

“Cass Beacon is legendary.”

“Infamous more like it. I’m shocked he’s not out here causing hell.”

“So Hassan was the good guy?”

“I wouldn’t know. He moved away before you probably even remembered him. We lost contact especially as I was focused on the free use dick that’s running around here.”

Maggie covered her mouth with her hand trying not to laugh but lost the battle when I did. “Not Free Use.”

“Yeah, free use. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about him. Just like she has. I want nothing more than for her to leave me out of their shit. Unfortunately my kids have to be around both of them so I can’t forget they exist.”

Maggie was watching Bianca who seemed hell bent on looking me in my mouth. She’d been shooting daggers at me since her so called man had tried to approach mine on what I was sure was some bullshit. “You think that she’s going to make a scene?”

“He’s literally over there talking to someone else so I would say it’s only a matter of time.” Dave was making his rounds and had managed to linger in the faces of a lot of the women in the tents he’d stepped into. I felt bad that Bianca was just sitting there being ignored but this was the life she asked for.

“Hey, Sylvia. Baby, should you still be on your feet?” JJ Cunningham gave me a friendly nod before he immediately started fawning over his wife. Maggie gave him a bashful smile and they were adorable to see. His arm went immediately around her shoulders and she leaned into him with a smile.

Damn, is that how I look around Hassan?

“I’m good I was just talking to Sylvia.”

“JJ, I know it’s been a minute but I’m sorry for how I showed out that day.” I didn’t want him to think I was unrepentant about how I’d behaved. I hadn’t broached the topic with him the few times I’d seen him over the last few years because I wasn’t healed enough then to be remorseful.

JJ only smiled and waved me off in that jovial nature that he and his family all seemed to possess.

“Sylvia, if we weren’t on school grounds I would’ve helped you with Dave. I mean you handled them both by yourself, Laila Ali.”

I dropped my head in my hands embarrassed. “Please don’t be like that.”

His laugh bellowed out as he kissed his wife on the head. “It’s all good. Your man is making his way over here and I gotta get my wife to our tent before my mama and hers cuss me out for letting her overheat.” JJ nodded toward Hassan who did the same before he led his wife back to their families.

Hassan wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled the side of my neck. It was hot as hell out here but I didn’t mind him being this close. Open affection in public wasn’t something I was used to since I’d never had it before but I felt like giggling at the way Hassan’s lips on my neck made me feel.