Page 8 of One Lonely Night In Dubai
Salty, I rolled my eyes and sat back, curling my legs under me. “It is. Remember I told you he showed me his MyChart,” I pointed out, but she waved me off.
“Semantics!” Her silly ass had us all cackling until I got another flashback of his face while he was digging me out, and I grew quiet.
“Does it mean I’m dickmatized if I’d be willing to pay for it, though?” My brow shot up, even though I was dead ass serious.
“Biiiitch!”
“Oh, you’re gone!”
They shouted at the same time, and Micah hit me with one of my throw pillows, but Bliss stood up, waving her hands. “See, nah, ’cause fuck that! I don’t care how fine the nigga is or how good the dick was, ain’t no nigga bouta have my big sister out here pressed enough to pay for it!”
“Preach!” Micah chimed, and I threw the pillow back at her cosigning ass.
“Bliss, we’re literally eleven months apart.”
“Semantics!” She rolled her eyes, and Micah frowned.
“Did you just learn that damn word or something?”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” Bliss stated proudly. “Anyway,backto the matter at hand. The best way to get that nigga out of your system is to let another one get your attention.”
I already had my face balled up, but Micah jumped in before I could. “I know you ain’t telling her to go out and have another one-night stand!” she shrieked.
“No… I mean not unless she wants to.” Bliss looked my way and groaned disappointedly when I shook my head emphatically. “Fine, but you could at least go out. You’ve already been dating anyway. Let a nigga take you out and wine and dine you. Shit, you might end up meeting a man that’ll have you forgetting allll about Valentino.” She smirked, folding her arms like she’d just said the most profound shit ever, but I couldn’t lie, there may have been some truth to her advice. Not the sleeping with a nigga part, but maybe letting someone else catch my interest was just the thing I needed to forget all about Valentino Baptiste.
Despite pumping myself up to go out, three days had passed, and I was still following the same routine; work, sleep, gym, and repeat. I was heading into my second week of work and still hadn’t fully mastered my schedule, but things were getting better, just not enough for me to try to go out of my way to squeeze in a date. Fortunately for me, God must’ve been working in my favor because a random stop to get coffee at a new café near my house had me running into Maxwell Scott. He was someone I’d gone on a few dates with before, and along with his stacked credentials, he looked the fuck goodt!
“Essence? Damn, its crazy running into you. I was just thinking about you the other day.” He stood up from the small table near the door and towered over me. Immediately, the smell of his masculine cologne filled my nose, and butterflies filled my stomach.
“Hey, Maxwell, how are you?”
He reached for my elbow, easing me away from the busy doorway as he answered with a grin. “Better now that I’m seeing you.”Corny,but I was willing to work with him.
“Mmhmm, is that so?”
“Yeah. Things have been crazy at the firm since my promotion, but I’ve definitely been meaning to get in touch. Are you on a new assignment?” he quizzed, taking in my mauve, scrub jumpsuit.
I simpered at the lustful look in his eyes.
“I am, actually. Just started last week, so I’m still getting the swing of things.”
“I know how that is, but if you’re not busy this weekend, I’d love to take you out and catch up. Maybe dinner and a movie?” His thick eyebrows rose as he waited for me to give him an answer, and since I was going to be off work, I readily agreed.
“That sounds great!” I gushed, checking the time on my watch. “I have to run but give me a call.” I was already inching toward the door.
“I’ll be sure to,” he called out, watching as I pranced away. As soon as I hit the sidewalk, I couldn’t stop a smile from stretching across my cheeks. I was back!
CHAPTER 6
VEGA
“So, you ain’t found Bear yet?” My pops sat across from me, looking completely calm, but I knew his ass was mad. Truthfully, I was mad as hell, too, but his hovering wasn’t going to help shit.
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs as I absentmindedly flipped through the cameras on the casino floor. There wasn’t shit going on, but ever since the robbery, I’d been micromanaging like a motherfucker. “Nah, but we got a lead on whoever hacked our system. After I finish up here with Mauricio, we’re gonna go over there and see what we can find out about the crew that hit us.”
I wasn’t sure how, but our tech guy was able to find some type of tag from the goofy ass nigga who had corrupted our system. For as savvy as the robbers were, obviously they had some dummies in their crew because that shit wasn’t smart at all. I wasn’t complaining, though, because every mistake their goofy asses made was going to get me closer to getting my money back.
My pops let out a low grunt, and I took my eyes off the computer screen to look him over. I was the spitting image of Valentino Baptiste Sr, so looking at him was like looking intothe face of my future self. Even our mannerisms and facial expressions were the same, so I immediately knew what it meant when he rubbed at his clean-shaven jaw before he even spoke. That shit didn’t make it any less harsh, though. “It sounds like you muthafuckas are chasing your tails instead of going after the shit that’s right in your face. Bear is the anomaly, and that’s who you need to be getting ahold of, and quickly, too, boy. Your cousin is laid up in the hospital, and your mother is beside herself because the niggas who put him there are still running the streets. Now, I let you run things because I thought you’d be able to handle the responsibility?”
