“Yeah. I’m glad she’s doing better.”
“She is. Her test came back clean. Just make sure she stays away from all that extra activity at that club,” he insisted.
I looked at him and smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ma make sure she stays as far away from that club as possible. By the way, how do you know about that club?”
Chauncey gave me a sly grin. “Same way I knew you weren’t really her sister. Besides, I talked to her and she told me the story. She’s lucky Nikki and you found her when y’all did. She could have easily died in that hotel room.”
“Oh, well, thank you for letting me be there for her.”
He looked me up and down, checking me out, then focused on my eyes. “No problem. She needs all the friends she can get now, and you look like a real good friend.”
“I’m trying to be.” I turned to head to Kandi’s room.
“Before you go, can I ask you something?” Chauncey asked.
I turned back around. “Sure. What’s on your mind?”
“Would you mind if I call you sometime? Maybe we could go out somewhere?”
I was taken aback by his offer. I’d never had a man dressed in scrubs ask me for my number before. I usually didn’t date men unless I was on the clock, but Nurse Chauncey was very different from the men I usually dealt with—not to mention that he was fine as hell with his big, brown eyes and handsome face.
“I think that would be nice,” I replied.
He took out his phone and we exchanged numbers. After he saved my number in his phone, he went and got Kandi a wheelchair.
I walked into Kandi’s room, and she was sitting up in bed.
“Hey, Kandi, you ready to go?”
“Very ready,” she eagerly replied. “I hate being in hospitals. I need to eat some real food! Plus the smell here is killing me.”
I handed her a plastic bag with some clean clothes she could change into. A few minutes later, she was dressed and ready to go. Chauncey came into the room, pushing the wheelchair for Kandi.
“Here we go,” Chauncey said and pushed the chair next to the bed for Kandi.
“Do I have to ride in the chair? My legs are fine. I can walk,” Kandi protested.
“Hospital policy,” he replied.
“C’mon, Kandi. Just get in so we can go. We have a lot of things to take care of,” I told her.
She sighed and then sat in the wheelchair. Chauncey smiled at me, and we went down to the hospital lobby. Once outside, Kandi jumped out of the chair, and we laughed.
“You couldn’t wait to do that, huh?” Chauncey asked between chuckles.
“You know it,” she retorted.
“Well, you take care of yourself, Candice, and I’ll call you soon, Jasmine.”
I smiled at him. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Kandi gave me a surprised look and we walked over to the parking garage to my car.
“You two are going out?”
“Maybe. He asked me for my number, so we’ll see what happens.”
“Well, he is fine. But I thought you said you only mess with ballers with cash to spend. Chauncey is nice, but he’s a nurse. Why the change of heart?” Kandi inquired.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m tired of the same old thing.”
17
Daddy’s home
College Park, GA
NIKKI
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Jayson Harper, Janelle’s husband, in the car next to me. I hadn’t seen him in months. What was he doing yhere at Tyler’s daycare center? Oh my God . . . Tyler!
“Jayson, what are you doing here? Did something happen to Tyler?” I yelled as I jumped out of my car.
“No, no, calm down. Tyler is safe. He’s at my house with Janelle, but I need you to come with me now,” Jayson said seriously.
Jayson and I had a long history together. When I first met him five years earlier, I knew him by the alias Tommy Holloway. He was running with a nigga named Damien, who I was messing with, as his partner. In actuality, he was an undercover police officer infiltrating the Flip Set drug organization. After I was raped and nearly beaten to death by Damien and his niggas, Jayson was the one who came to my rescue and took me to the hospital. I owed him my life, so I trusted him completely. I quickly jumped in his car.
“What’s going on, Jayson? Why does Janelle have Tyler?” I asked him as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street.
“We just needed him to be somewhere safe.”
“Why? Where are we going, Jay?”
He looked at me and smiled. “I’ll explain everything once we get there. Trust me.”
I nodded my head and sat back. Less than ten minutes later, we were in a neighborhood in Morrow. We pulled up to a house and parked inside the garage.
“Okay, Jayson, what’s going on?”
“Come with me,” he replied and got out of the car.
I followed him into the house. This was a new house that was empty. What the hell is going on? I thought, and then I saw him standing in the living room. My mouth fell open, my heart started rapidly beating, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Hey, baby, I’ve missed you,” Dre said.
I ran into his arms. I couldn’t even form words at that moment.
“It’s okay, Nikki. I’m here now.”
“Oh my God . . . How . . .?”
“Come here, baby. Have a seat,” Dre said and took me to the couch.
I looked at him again just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, or that this was some kind of illusion. “The FBI? The doctors told me the FBI took you into protective custody.”
“That would be me,” Jayson spoke up. “I told the hospital to give everybody that story. We needed to get Dre somewhere safe.”
“But why? I don’t understand.” I looked at Dre.
“Okay, babe. Let me explain.” Dre took a deep breath then continued. “When I woke up in Emory Hospital, I was as weak as a kitten. I wanted to call you, but I realized that if Malachi knew I was out of my coma, he would send somebody to finish me off, and I couldn’t put you and Tyler in danger. I needed to talk to someone I could trust, and the first person I called was Jayson.”
Jayson stepped closer. “After Dre got shot, I started to investigate Malachi. I went back to The Pink Palace and started to watch his operation from the inside. Then one night, I saw you walk up in there, and you went straight to Malachi’s office. I imagine you came there that night to make a deal with him to spare Dre’s life?” he asked, and I confirmed it with a head nod. “I couldn’t let you know I was there, so I decided to fall back and watch you. The next thing I knew, you were back dancing at The Pink Palace, and I could tell you weren’t happy about that.
“A week later, I got a call from Dre in the hospital, and I filled him in on what was going on.”
Dre nodded. “When Jayson told me, I knew that Malachi had eyes on you. So we knew I had to go somewhere safe to recover before we contacted you. I hated it, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Jayson was the only other person I could trust.”
“Did Janelle know about this too?” I asked Jayson.
“I just recently told her.”
“No offense to you, Jayson”—I looked at Dre—“but why do you keep on saying he was the only person you could trust? What about Polo? He’s your best friend.”
Dre frowned. “Who do you think shot me in the back?”
“What? But Polo—”
“Is a snake in the grass,” Dre said with disgust. “The day in front of the shop when that white Crown Victoria car screeched out in front of me, that punk-ass nigga Reggie was behind the wheel, and that bitch-ass nigga Polo was sitting on the passenger side with a .45 in his hand, pointing it at me.”
Once again, my jaw hit the ground. “Oh my God. All this time he’s been . . . Dre, I know why he did it.”
“I do too. So he could get rid of me so he could get to you.”
I grew even more disgusted with Polo than I was with Malachi. “That fucking traitor! I can’t believe I felt sorry for him. I’m going to kill him!”
Dre caressed my face. “Not before I do.”
I looked at Jayson. “I mean it, Jayson. You can arrest me now, ’cause he’s a dead man.”
Jayson nodded. “I understand how you feel. Believe me, I do. What we’re doing here now is completely off the books. I owe Dre this after what he did for Janelle back when.” Jayson was referring to Dre killing Damien, my crazy ex-lover, after he went after her and almost raped Janelle three years ago. “But Malachi isn’t going to rest until Dre is dead.”
“Polo is going after him too,” I informed them.
“How do you know? Last time we checked, Polo was trying to get down with his crew,” Dre inquired.
“He’s Don P. He’s the one that sent those killers after Malachi in Lenox Mall.”
“What? He’s Don P,” Jayson said, stunned. “We’ve been trying to figure out for weeks who was behind that hit. And everybody has been trying to find out who Don P is on the streets.”
“He told me everything. He even wants me to give him information about when Malachi is most vulnerable so he can take him out,” I told them.
“We can use this to our advantage,” Jayson said to Dre.
“Yeah, we can,” he confirmed.
I stared at Dre. “Are you sure you’re okay? You lost so much blood.”
“I was in a lot of fucking pain, and I’ve been popping painkillers like Tic Tacs. I was lucky the bullet hit nothing vital. Once I got here and started rehabbing with a friend Jayson brought over, I started to gain my strength back. Jayson has been keeping me off of the police radar for the past month.”
“I’ma give you guys some time to catch up. Janelle and I will keep Tyler at our place tonight,” Jayson told us.
“Thanks, man.”
I got up and hugged Jayson. “Thank you for taking care of Dre.”
“That’s what family is for,” he replied. “I’ll be back in the morning,” Jayson said and went to the garage and pulled out in his car.
I still couldn’t believe this was happening. I was there with Dre, and he was okay.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said to him.
“Not as much as I’ve missed you, baby,” Dre replied and hugged me tight. “It’s been torture knowing you were back in The Pink Palace dancing for that nigga.”
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I said, breaking down in tears. “I . . . had to.”
“Ssshh. You don’t have to tell me. I know you were trying to protect me. But I’m here now, and I’m going to protect you now.”
I kissed him with all the passion and love I had inside me. Dre pulled off my jacket and kissed my neck. My pussy instantly became moist, feeling his lips on my soft spot as his big, strong hands caressed my body. He pulled down the straps of my dress, and it dropped to the floor. Dre stared at my body then picked me up and carried me to the bedroom and laid me on the bed.
We spent the next few hours making love like we never had before, and for the first time in weeks, I felt whole.
JASMINE
After we picked up Kandi’s clothes and a few items from her apartment, I settled her into a room in my condo. She was so blown away by the size of my place and all of the amenities. We ordered a pizza and watched DVDs most of the night, until she was tired and went to bed. She may not have wanted to admit it, but she still needed some more rest after her binge Sunday night.
The next day, I took her grocery and clothing shopping. To be honest, most of the clothes she had from her old apartment weren’t worth keeping. I wanted her to have a new look and a fresh start before she went back to Clark. Later on that week, we would go down to the campus and get her registered for classes that fall. I was going to make sure she stayed on course this time around.
As we were shopping at Old Navy in Buckhead Station, my phone started to play Ludacris’s “My Chick Bad,” and I saw Chauncey’s name illuminate on the display.
“Hello,” I said playfully.
“Hey, Jasmine. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing good.”
“How’s Candice?” he inquired.
“She’s doing good. She’s here with me, and we’re doing a little retail therapy.”
“Sounds like fun.” He paused then continued. “Listen, I was wondering if you’d like to go out for drinks tonight.”
I smiled. “Where?”
“The Apache Club. We can hear a little jazz, drink a little something, and get to know each other a little better,” he said.
“Sounds like fun.”
“So can I pick you up?”
I hesitated for a moment. I didn’t tell dudes where I lived. “Ah, how about I pick you up instead?” I asked.
“Ah, sure. That’s fine,” Chauncey replied.
After he gave me his address, I hung up and finished shopping with Kandi.
Later that night, we stopped at Chipotle and got some food and headed home. It was time for me to get dressed, and I was feeling excited. It was weird, because I hadn’t been on a real date with a man in years. I’d been so caught up in dancing and making money that I didn’t even miss dating for fun. Besides, I was fucking niggas who was giving me so much cash I didn’t care if it wasn’t a real date.
I decided to wear a black BCBG dress with a single twisted strap over my left shoulder. It had a pleated waist with side-knotted detail at the waist. I wore my hair down, with a little MAC makeup on my face.
I walked out of my bedroom, and Kandi saw me and smiled. “Damn, don’t you look good! Poor Chauncey ain’t going to know what to do with himself,” she affirmed.
“Well, he better figure it out,” I quipped. “Don’t wait up.”
I walked out the front door and to my car. Once inside, I put Chauncey’s address into my GPS and took off.
Once I arrived at his house over on Lynn Avenue, I parked in the driveway and walked up to his front door. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. Damn, this felt like a real first date.
I rang his doorbell, and a few seconds later, Chauncey opened the door. He looked so damn handsome. This was my first time seeing him outside of his scrubs, and boy did he clean up well. He was wearing a white button-down shirt with black jeans and black loafers. The scent of his Vera Wang cologne filled my nostrils, and I was turned on by him.
“Wow. You look great,” he droned, as he looked me up and down.
“You don’t look half bad yourself, Nurse Chauncey.”
He grinned. “I’m off the clock. You can just call me Chauncey.”
“Cool. Are you ready to go?”
“Anywhere with you,” he replied.
We got in my car, and I jumped on I-20 West to midtown.
It had been a while since I’d been to the Apache Club, but after a couple of wrong turns, we found the little club in the cut near the Varsity. We went inside, and it was pretty much the same as I remembered. It was dimly lit, with a live band playing in the front. It was a very eclectic club that had a gallery of erotic S&M pictures and paintings on the walls.
Chauncey checked us in, and we found a small table in the back. After the waitress took our drink orders, Chauncey and I listened to the band on stage play a few sets. The waitress returned with my Long Island Iced Tea and his Hypnotiq and grapefruit juice.
“They’re good,” I insisted to Chauncey.
“Yeah, they got a real original style. Kinda like you,” he flirted.
“And what do you know about my style?”
“I’ve learned quite a bit about you.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Like what?”
“Well, I see you have quite a following on Facebook.” He laughed.
“I guess I do. So, are you a fan?”
“You didn’t get my friend request?” he quipped.
I laughed. “What else do you know about me?”
Chauncey stared at me and then took a sip of h
is drink. “Well, it appears that you’re an exotic dancer at The Pink Palace. You have calendars and posters for sale on your Web site. And you’re a registered Democrat, according to your Facebook page.”
I sipped on my iced tea. “Did you know all this before you asked me for my number?”
“No, I didn’t.”
I started to feel weird, sitting there with him like he didn’t know what type of chick I was. “Did you also go to The Pink Palace to watch me dance? Throw a couple of dollars on the stage?”
“I don’t really do strip clubs.”
I chuckled. “You don’t? Why not?”
“Well, to me it’s kind of like going to a restaurant and watching them cook a nice, big, juicy steak and not being able to eat it. If I wanna tease myself, I’ll just buy some porn,” he joked, but I didn’t laugh. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just wondering, why did you ask me out in the first place? I’m not exactly your type.”
“And how do you know what’s my type?” he asked.
I sighed. “You’re in the medical field. I’m sure you have dozens of nurses, doctors, and interns you can ask out. You’re not an ugly man.”
“Thank you. That’s true, but why don’t you think I would date somebody like you?”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t even know who I am.”
“But that’s the reason why we’re both here—to get to know each other.”
“Really? Sounds like you know everything already.”
“Do you always try to sabotage the dates you go on?” he joked.
I took a swig of my drink. “Okay, you wanna get to know me? The real me?”
“I’m dying to.”
“Okay, let’s put it all on the table. I’m a stripper.”
“I already knew that,” he quipped.
“I dance for money.”
“Isn’t that by definition what a stripper does?”
“I normally don’t fuck with guys like you. If you don’t have money, I don’t have time for you.”
He grinned. “But yet you’re here with me, so I’m doing something right.”
“I’m bisexual.”
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