Chapter 10

  Kiesha successfully made it through her first three days as an intern for Parks Realty, and she could honestly say that she was still on a cloud. She didn’t know what she expected before, but the actual experience was way better than what she could have imagined. She’d hoped to work closely with Antonio, but he would be back by the end of the week, so she could wait a little longer. Also, working closely with Adrian proved to be pretty cool. Not only did she get to work with a fine and young black man, but he was also truly gifted at what he did. And that made it even more of a treat to know that he was impressed by her.

  “Girl, I know you aren’t over there thinking about that man again.”

  London’s voice interrupted Kiesha’s thoughts. When she snapped back to reality, she realized that there was a small smile on her lips. She tried to stop, but that made her smile even harder. London was looking at her like she was crazy, and she had to laugh.

  “I’m just in a good mood, that’s all!” Kiesha said and fell back into the pillows on London’s bed.

  She had done that day what she had done every day since she started her internship, and that was go straight to London’s house when she was off. Kiesha was in her normal spot on the bed, and London swiveled back and forth in her computer chair, eating a bowl of peaches. Of course, Kiesha told her all about Adrian. There was no way she would be able to hold that water, not when the man gave her insane butterflies whenever he was around.

  “I’m just glad you’re in a better mood, because for a second there I was a little bit concerned.”

  “It just took me a little bit of time to remember what matters, that’s all.”

  “Has Stace tried to reach out to you at all?”

  “She knows better.” Kiesha made a face at the thought. “After all the shit she said to me, there ain’t no coming back from that.”

  “I hear you, but aren’t your moms like really good friends?” London asked, slurping a peach in her mouth.

  “And they can stay really good friends. That has nothing to do with me,” Kiesha said and felt her vibration lower. “You know what really bothers me? It’s the fact that Stacy was in my life for years. Like, how did I not see that she didn’t like me?”

  “Because I’m sure she loved you. It’s hard to explain, or to understand for that matter, but it’s possible for someone to love you and not like you. Especially if they’re envious of you. Envy is one of those feelings that just will fester until a person can’t control it anymore.”

  “Look at you being wise,” Kiesha teased.

  “Shut up. I’m serious. Have you ever looked at yourself? I mean, really looked at yourself?”

  “In the mirror every day.”

  “Okay, have you ever really seen who you are? And I’m not talking about the shit that’s just on the surface.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “I’m telling you that Stacy saw you. It’s hard for people to touch greatness and realize that they’re only a fragment of that. I don’t think it hit a lot of our peers that high school was just a part of our journey and who you grow into after is what really matters. Fucking idiots. Most of those hoes are going to crash and burn. Crash and burn, I say!”

  London was the only one who could make Kiesha belly laugh in a moment of seriousness. And while she was in the middle of cracking up, she felt her stomach growl. Her eyes went instantly to the bowl of peaches in London’s hand, but she was in the middle of eating the last one.

  “Are there any more of those?”

  “Last can. But we can go to the store real quick. Grocery shopping for the house is my summer chore.”

  They left London’s room, and Kiesha waited for her to grab the money her mom left her from the kitchen before they left. They took London’s white Dodge Charger and rolled the windows all the way down, enjoying the Miami air. They sang their hearts out to Summer Walker’s latest album until they reached their destination.

  “Damn, I forgot to make a list,” London groaned when they got inside and grabbed a basket.

  “Bitch, we don’t need a list. We just need food!”

  The girls laughed and proceeded to throw things into the cart. It wasn’t until they reached the meat section that Kiesha felt the undeniable urge to use the restroom. Public restrooms were disgusting, but she couldn’t wait. She told London she would be right back and made her way to the back of the store where the restrooms were. As soon as she stepped inside, she remembered why she usually waited. It wasn’t dirty in there, but it smelled strongly of vagina and poop. All she could do was hurry up and squat over a toilet and relieve herself, which she did in a hurry. One more minute in there and she was going to throw up all the nothingness in her stomach. She all but ran out of there after she washed her hands, and apparently she wasn’t paying attention, because she crashed into somebody.

  “I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, looking up into the man’s face.

  “You’re good,” he said and then looked quizzically behind her. “I mean, are you good? You ran up out of there like Michael Myers was behind you.”

  “Have you ever smelled a girl’s restroom? That shit is worse than Michael Myers!” she stated seriously, but he laughed.

  He was handsome. Beyond it. He had brown skin and a cocaine white smile. Fresh, too. Kiesha took notice of the Amiri jeans and T-shirt he rocked with a pair of Jordans. He didn’t look much older than her, and she liked that he didn’t have a ton of facial hair. She liked the baby-face look.

  “You’re funny and beautiful. Maybe you bumping into me was a sign.”

  “Not hitting me with the game!” she teased, and he cheesed harder.

  “I’m just talking how I talk, shawty.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “For real. I’m just saying it’s not every day a beautiful woman falls into your arms like this. I don’t think I’m supposed to let this moment pass without at least getting your name.”

  “It’s Kiesha.”

  “Well, Kiesha, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Cameron. Call me Cam. Are you from around here?”

  “Yeah, I am. I just stopped by to grab a few things.”

  “Same. Would it be too forward to ask for your number?” he asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

  “Um . . .”

  “What, you got a man or something?”

  “I gotta have a man to not give you my number?” she asked, putting her hand on her hip.

  “Either that or crazy.”

  “Confident. I like that.” She bit her lip and thought about it. She didn’t know about them meeting by fate, but she did know that later on, when she thought about the sexy man in the grocery store, she would regret it if she didn’t at least take his number. “Put your number in my phone.”

  Kiesha handed him the device. Her intention was to take his number and hit him up when she was ready, but Cam had other plans. After he put his number in, he called himself from her phone so that he would have her number too. She smiled because she had to admit he was smooth with it. He winked at her when he handed her phone back.

  “You thought I was going to wait two weeks to hear from your fine ass? Nah. You’re crazy.”

  “It wouldn’t have been two weeks. Maybe two days though.” She grinned.

  “That’s still too long when I’m trying to take you out tomorrow.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, really. But we can talk about that later. I need to get out of here and make some moves. Have a good day, Kiesha.”

  Cam smiled at her one more time and walked away. Even his walk was smooth. She couldn’t lie. He had definitely sparked her interest, and she found herself wondering what kinds of moves he had to make. She could tell by the diamonds on his neck that he made some big money, but she didn’t want to make any assumption of what his job could be. She guessed she would find all of that out on their date. If he really followed through.

  Unexpected things just kept happening in her life. It wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, she welcomed them, because when she moved away for school, she knew her life was going to change drastically. That was why she didn’t see any harm in having a ball until then.

  As she walked to the meat section, she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. It was Cam sending her a message with a location and a time for them to meet up the next day. She guessed he was serious. She felt a small flutter in her stomach. The summer vacation had just started, and it was looking up already.

  Chapter 11

  The next day came faster than expected, and Kiesha tried to keep her head out of the clouds in the office. She and Adrian were working on putting the showing together and wanted it to be like a celebration, complete with food and drinks. There would even be a DJ. If everything went as planned, Adrian had high hopes that someone would make an offer on at least one of the houses at the showing. “Rich people and alcohol are always a good mix,” he’d told her.

  She couldn’t believe she hadn’t even been there a week and was already working on her first big campaign. And because of that, she and Adrian had to spend almost every minute together. She ignored Megan’s mean mugs because she knew the woman was just mad. But she would be too if someone like Adrian were treating her like nothing but a fly on the wall. She tried not to rub it too much in Megan’s face. She knew what it was like to want someone who was only interested in one thing.

  At lunchtime, Kiesha sat alone in her newly decorated office eating a salad and watching a show on her phone. She understood why, in the movies, people spent so much time in their offices. It was peaceful and quiet there. She had filled it with all the things she loved and stocked her fridge with all her favorite snacks. The sun was peeking in through the window, and she had a beautiful view of the company’s garden. It was the most perfect place for her. There was a knock at the door, and when she looked up, she saw Adrian standing there. She stopped eating and took her earbud out, smiling at him.

  “Hey,” she greeted him.

  “Hey.” He smiled back and pointed at her salad. “Please don’t tell me that’s all you’re having for lunch.”

  “Um, it’s all I brought today,” she said, glancing down at the half-eaten chicken Caesar.

  “There’s this amazing taco joint I was about to head to. I was coming to see if you wanted to join me.”

  “Oh.” She checked the clock and saw that she only had fifteen minutes left on her break. “My lunch is almost over.”

  “Girl, ain’t nobody tripping over your lunch breaks. Come on.”

  He waved for her to follow him, and she had to admit, tacos would taste so much better than the Caesar salad. She didn’t make him ask her twice. She threw the salad away and followed him outside to his car.

  “This is your car?” she asked, impressed with the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

  “Yeah. It was a gift from my old man. You wanna drive?” He held up the keys to her, and she shook her head feverishly.

  “Nope! I cannot afford this car, and my mama would kill me if I hit something in it. The passenger seat is fine with me.”

  “I hear you,” he said, and they got in.

  The seats in the vehicle were powder white, and it was so clean inside that Kiesha almost didn’t want to even put her feet on the floor. The car freshener smelled like the cologne Adrian wore, and she inhaled a big breath of it. She had never sat in anything so expensive, and there he was, driving it casually. It was lunchtime, and traffic was congested even on the regular streets, so the two of them just spent time trading off songs in the car. They had similar tastes in music. However, when Adrian told her that he wasn’t too big a fan of Summer Walker, she almost set it off in that Rolls-Royce.

  “You what?”

  “I don’t rock with her like that. I mean she can sing, but damn, all she does is cry over niggas. Like damn, let that hurt go, shawty.”

  She almost didn’t even care that he was slowly but surely letting his professional guard down with her. Kiesha just couldn’t believe he didn’t like her girl. Summer was the one who helped her get over the Malcom situation, and she wasn’t about to let anybody up and slander her.

  “She makes music for people going through real things. A lot of women can relate to the words in her music.”

  “Well, I’m a man who wants to vibe out, not have the vibe killed. I like listening to old-school R&B. You know, from the ’90s and early 2000s. They talked about the same kind of stuff, but the delivery wasn’t all sad.”

  “I can agree with you on that. My mama put me on to all the old-school jams. She said she thinks the world went dark after men stopped crying and singing in the rain. Now all the music is doing is telling men to have multiple women and treat them like shit. They’ve even made money and gifts regular because it doesn’t mean anything.”

  “You might be on to something there.”

  “You must relate,” she said, and he shrugged.

  “I mean, a little bit. I would feel like I’m disrespecting shawty if I hit and didn’t at least get her some flowers or something. Women are beautiful and delicate creatures. Just because you as a man aren’t ready to settle down doesn’t mean you have to treat them like shit.”

  Kiesha was almost stuck. She knew Adrian was 23, but at times she felt like he was much older. He had a surety and wisdom about him, so much so that when he spoke, even when his opinion was different from hers, she couldn’t do anything but respect it. He lived his truth unapologetically and reminded her that although life between the two sexes wasn’t always a fairy tale, there was still magic.

  “You’re not ready to settle down? I mean, you’re young and successful. That’s the only thing that’s missing, right?”

  “Wrong. There’s a lot missing still, and that’s why I can wait on love. My life doesn’t really have room for all of that right now.”

  “I see. Is that why Megan is mad?”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged again. “But I’m upfront with every woman I connect with.”

  “They probably think they can change your mind,” she teased.

  “Ha. Yeah, right. You see how strenuous the work is that we do. That’s the only thing that’s on my mind. What about you?”

  “Are you asking if I have a boyfriend?” she asked, and he nodded with his eyes on the road. “No. I’m just chilling.”

  “That was a nigga answer!” He laughed and she laughed too.

  “Definitely a nigga answer,” she agreed. “But for real, I’m trying to enjoy my summer. Be beautiful, let my hair down a little bit. I just want to become the person I need to be right now. So if love comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, I know it will eventually.”

  They grew quiet, and she wondered if it was because there was nothing left to say or because they had finally gotten to the taco spot. Either way she was glad. The last thing she wanted to do was vent to her boss’s son about her life. Her phone vibrated in her pocket as he ordered their food at the window. She pulled it out of her purse and smiled when she saw Cam’s number pop up. Her head instantly went back up into the clouds as she thought about their date that evening.

  Chapter 12

  After shooting Kiesha a reminder text about their date that evening, Cam tucked his phone back in his pocket. There was something about her that he liked, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, and that was why he wanted to find out more about her. He could tell that she was a little younger than him, but he liked the way she carried herself as a lady. He hoped it wasn’t just a façade like the hood rats he was used to dealing with. They weren’t good for much but some head and a quick nut.

  He leaned back in the seat of his car and surveyed the area. He wasn’t in his convertible. That day, he’d opted for his black Tahoe. It was a common car, not the flashy kind that made a person stare. And he was definitely trying to be inconspicuous as he scoped out one of Drako’s trap houses. There was something about him that Cam just didn’t trust. Men like him didn’t just conform to a new order. They pretended until they could find a weak spot. And that was why Cam had to find one first.

  “What you think is going on in there?” a voice in the passenger’s seat asked him.

  It belonged to his blood cousin and best friend, Hoody. Hoody was the only one who Cam told about the run-in with Drako because he was the only one he knew would see things for what they were. Something was just off. And the last time Cam had that feeling it was about a man named Steelo. He was the same age as Carrington and Antonio. He had come up with them since they were boys, but Cam never trusted him or regarded him as an uncle. Adrian didn’t either. It was one of the only times the two agreed on anything. And they were right to not trust Steelo. Not only did he single-handedly try to take down their entire operation from the inside, but he was also working with a dirty cop. If it weren’t for Antonio’s moles in the Feds, they all would have gone down. But that situation was handled clean, and Steelo was exiled from the state of Florida. If anybody in their camp were to see him, they would gun him down on sight.

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out. Something ain’t right about these niggas here, man,” Cam said with a sigh as they watched people leave and enter the house.

  “I coulda told you that. Them niggas ain’t nothing to take lightly. I heard they’re the reason Jerry went down in the first place.”

  That was news to Cam. He hadn’t heard anything like that before. Hoody’s serious expression sparked his curiosity. Jerry had gone down on federal charges, and in order for that to have happened, there had to be some kind of airtight evidence against him. Jerry had always been the type to cross his t’s and dot his i’s. In fact, when he went down, it made Cam tighten up everywhere. “You think somebody in his camp was snitching?”