Page 10 of Soft On Her
“It means what I said,” I snipped, slipping into the backseat of the Suburban that Bill held open for me.
“She probably on her period. Leave her the fuck alone,” Levi shoved his older brother.
“Aye, keep them bear paws to yourself unless you want to lose a knee,” Terrel threatened. “If you needed a Tylenol, you could’ve just said that.” He redirected his attention to me, his arms spread wide, showing off the custom blue lining on his suit. Terrel hated wearing plain black or grey suits for most of the day, but that was his way of rebelling against the system.
“Fuck both of y’all,” I groaned, motioning for Bill to close my door. They stood outside the warehouse watching me drive off before climbing into their own awaiting trucks. I knew them well enough to know they were discussing me.
I was off my shit all day, and not because we still hadn’t located the missing truck. Leaning my head back in the seat, I relaxed and dug around in my purse for my blunt case. We hopped on the interstate and went straight to Oland. By the time we got through the Friday night traffic and I had showered, changed, and applied a light beat, it was pushing 12:30. That didn’t stop me from doing a quick once over in the floor length mirror.
The black side seam tie up dress that left a sliver of my sides completely exposed was molded to my body like it was designed just for me. I straightened the two gold necklaces that always remained on my neck and slipped on my black Dolce & Gabbana platform heels with the gold DG emblem on the heels. Stepping back, I nodded because the heels elongated my legs and set the look off.
My phone vibrated inside my black and gold Dolce & Gabbana purse on the vanity. I knew it was Quinn. Instead of wasting more time answering, I flung the chain strap over my shoulder and headed out the door. Bill was already waiting near the entrance when I made it to the lobby. My condo was a few blocks away, and I made it to the lounge in no time. It was nearing one o’clock, but I had already taken a few shots before pulling up.
When I approached the door, I chatted with the door attendant and security guard before I went inside. The music blasting inside the lounge instantly relaxed me. Music was still an integral part of my life. So much so that I learned how to DJ and would randomly take over when I felt like it. The vibes were right, and I moved through the crowd to find Quinn in our usual section with a cup in her hand. When I reached her, she hugged me, then shoved her cup in my hand. I needed it, so I guzzled it down while she waved over one of the bottle girls.
“I was starting to think yo ass wasn’t coming,” Quinn yelled over the music.
“Traffic was hell because I didn’t leave as early as I would’ve liked to. Then I had to take a shower and get fine,” I yelled into her ear.
“Which yo ass takes forever to do,” Quinn grumbled.
“Good to see you, Sneaux, happy belated birthday,” Candace, the bar manager, greeted me when she returned to our section with a new bottle of Don Julio Reposado. She bent over in front of me and mixed the tequila with the pineapple juice just the way she knew I liked it. I gripped her waist and leaned up to whisper in her ear.
“You trying to be my belated birthday present doing all of that, huh?” I suggested. She giggled, playing coy, knowing she was really a freak. Candace was easy to deal with. Didn’t ask a lot of questions, never tried to get serious, and liked doing her own thing since she was older and spent her twenties and thirties married.
Quinn roughly tapped my arm, and I released the grip I had on Candace, diverting my attention to her. Over her shoulder, I saw Deja strutting into our section wearing next to nothing. A black and grey snake print bandeau top covered her perky titties, and the tiny pair of black shorts she wore left her thighs on full display again. I couldn’t admire anything else because when my eyes trailed up to Deja’s face, her brows were furrowed and her lips pursed. She rudely squeezed between me and Candace, her low glossed eyes told me she was either high or taking full advantage of the bar.
“UMMMM! Excuse you!” Candace yelped, falling forward with her arms extended to break her fall on the small table she was bent over in front of.
“Beat it, girl,” Deja barked.
“Aye yo chill. You’re about to spill everything on the damn table,” Quinn snipped, helping Candace stand back up straight.
“Go ‘head Candace. Thank you for making my drink,” I dismissed her to stop any further altercation.
“And I’ll be making her drinks for the rest of the night,” Deja waved her off.
“Damn, how much have you had to drink?” I questioned Deja as she fell back into my chest, her back resting against my breasts. My hand instinctively went to her waist. Although she was pissing me off, her soft ass still felt good pressed up against me. Deja spun around and flung her arms around my neck and fell into me, whispering in my ear.
“I’ve had a few. But let me make this clear, I was never running from you. You clearly have other things going on so you were projecting your shit onto me,” Deja complained, picking up our conversation from earlier.
Even with our heels on, Deja was still shorter than me, and I stared down at her, searching for her real intentions. The Deja that kissed me on my cheek earlier and just shoved Candace away from me wasn’t the same standoffish woman who I met twice before. I searched for signs of sincerity, but I came up empty. I reached behind me, pulling Deja’s arms from around my neck. Deja’s phone was clasped tightly in her hands, so I felt it vibrate as I freed myself from her hold. She frowned at me before checking her phone. I side stepped her to grab my cup off the table.
“I see boss lady is gracing us with her presence tonight!” DJ Star called out over the music. “Come show the people what you can do! You know they go crazy when you bless us with a lil something.” She encouraged me.
After the shooting at my graduation party, I thought we’d never hear from DJ Star again. However, my father convinced her to take me under her wings during my gap year, and shetaught me everything I know. When I decided to go in on this lounge with my cousins, I offered her part ownership as long as she agreed to DJ three nights out of the week. She was older, in her late thirties, and that was exactly the crowd I wanted to draw in. Less risk of the younger crowd fucking our shit up, especially since it wasn’t in our jurisdiction. I was interested in buying the lounge a few counties over because it was an LGBTQ friendly area and crowd. We were losing our safe spaces left and right, so I swooped in to take over when their owners retired and wanted to sell it.
“This family never stops,” Deja grumbled, rolling her eyes. “I’m sure you can relate.”
“I can’t. They can handle themselves while I’m off the clock,” I quipped.
“Either way, I have to go outside and call my father back.”
“Candace!” I shouted her name when I saw her massive bushel of curls cutting through the crowd. She strutted over in our direction with an empty Hennessy bottle in her hand. “Perfect, you’re going to the back. After you toss that, can you take Deja to a quiet area in the back so she can make a call, please?”
“No, it’s really okay. I can just step outside. Plus, I need to find my sister-in-law. We were headed to the bathroom when I saw miss mama all in your space, so I told her to go without me,” Deja protested.
“Not a chance. I can’t have something happen to you and your last known location being my establishment. Don’t get scared of Candace now. She won’t beat your ass in the back,” I joked.
