“Aye, you good,” I told her, tapping on the top of her head. “I’m tired so I’m about to get in the bed.”
Jerking away, I pulled out of her mouth while softly nudging her back. I could feel myself going limp. It wasn’t her fault, but she was going to take it personally regardless of what I said.
“Some other bitch must got your attention… again,” she said.
She already knew I wasn’t about to respond so I didn’t feel any type of way about ignoring her as I grabbed my clothes and started to walk away. Behind me, I sensed that she was staring, heating my back with her rage. The things that she wanted from me, the emotions she wanted me to feel for her, she would never again experience. Dick was all I could give her but with Sage fuckin’ up my head, pretty soon, I wouldn’t even be able to give her that either.
“I hope you enjoyed that because I’ll never let you fuck me again!” Tami shouted as I walked out of her bedroom door.
Her ego was bruised, and I was used to her talking shit when she was trying to work through her pain. She would get over it. She always did.
12
Sage
* * *
“Bitch, you lyin’!”
With her mouth wide, Lola ogled me incredulously like I’d told her that I’d seen a three-legged man walking down the road. She was sitting Indian-style, listening intently, as I filled her in on everything that had happened the night before at Ink’s shop. We were video-chatting because I needed her to see every bit of my expressions so she knew I was real.
“I’m definitely not lying,” I replied, smiling wide. My phone chirped and I jumped to check it, hoping it was Ink texting me. When I saw it was spam mail, I tossed it back on my nightstand, somewhat disappointed. Though I was still swooning over the night at the shop, I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t contacted me.
“So, he got an eyeful of your boobs and then what?”
I shrugged a little before answering and then fell back on the stack of pillows behind me.
“I could tell he wanted to do something, but he tried to play it cool. His dick gave him away. That thing was hard as hell and I could see it through his pants. It’s long, too… and thick with a curve.”
Flicking my tongue over my lips, I squeezed my pussy lips at the thought of Ink’s dick, imagining I was gripping it between my walls. I gushed, wishing that he was lying beside me on the bed.
“Let me get this straight,” Lola spoke, interrupting my thoughts. “You and Ink were alone, your shirt was off, titties on display, and he was standing there with a hard dick but y’all ain’t fuck? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed and then rolled my eyes as I continued. “He said that what messed him and Tami up was that they argued all the time. She went in on him about everything and he wanted her to trust him. So I’m trying not to rock the boat. We are just getting started and I like him a lot.”
“Kale told me a lot about her, too. She’s a bitch!”
I snorted out a laugh. “Lola, that’s rude.”
She rolled her eyes and cocked her head to the side. “Well, it’s true! And the craziest part of it all is that he talks about her as if she is a victim. Like it’s Ink’s fault that she is the way she is. I really feel like he blames Ink for her being a miserable bitch.”
“Hmm… that’s crazy,” I said, thinking about what Lola was saying. “I actually got that feeling from Ink, too, though. He won’t say anything against her. Makes it feel like she acts how she does because she’s miserable in love.”
“Nah, that bitch is just miserable.”
I laughed so hard at that, by the time I was done, I was wiping tears from my eyes.
“I can’t mess with you anymore. I have to get ready for work.”
“Work? Ew.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I’m supposed to be in by now but I’m not since…” I raised my hands in the air like I was putting a crown on my head. “…I’m the boss.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah… you’re still wasting time in an office when there is a whole world out here that you could be helping me explore, but I’ll let you go. Call me when you’re done. I need to hear about you about your new man that I hooked you with. When y’all get married, I want your firstborn named after me.”
I rolled my eyes at that, but I couldn’t deny that I loved thinking about Ink as my new man and me being the mother of his future kids.
13
Sage
* * *
“Welcome to McMillian Enterprises. We are excited to have you on the board.”
I looked back and forth at all of the smiling faces in front of me, sporting a smile of my own, although I didn’t trust any of the people around me.
“I’m delighted to be here,” I said with honesty because I was.
Although everyone around me probably believed that I was there solely based off my last name, I knew the truth. Not only was I smart enough to be on the board and to take on the leadership role of running my father’s business, I was more than capable of doing so. I’d trained for this moment my entire life. The art of getting what I wanted was a lesson that my stepmother had taught me very early on.
“I never let anyone tell me what I can or can’t do or what I can or can’t own,” she said one day. “A McMillian is a boss in every sense of the word. As a boss, we don’t ask permission. If we want something, we create a plan and we take what should be ours.”
After shaking hands and saying the necessary pleasantries, I left the boardroom and took the elevator up to my office on the top level of McMillian Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city. The entire top floor belonged to me; my office took up half, with my receptionist sitting outside. On the other end, I had a private kitchen, a boardroom of my own for when I brought in clients and even a small exercise room, shower and bedroom for any late nights spent at the office. It was built and designed with a queen in mind; perfect for me.
“Good to see you again, Ms. McMillian,” Sherelle, my assistant and receptionist, greeted me as soon as I stepped off the elevator. She raised a coffee cup to me and smiled. She seemed genuine. I wasn’t pleased about not being involved in the process of selecting my assistant, but I had to admit that there was something about her that I liked immediately.
“Based on the questionnaire of your personal preferences that I emailed you, I saw that you enjoyed Caramel Lattes, so I grabbed one for you.” She handed the cup over and I thanked her with a gracious smile before taking a sip.
“It’s perfect. Thank you so much. You didn’t have to do that,” I told her.
“Of course, I did. That’s what I’m here for… to make your days easy, pleasant and ensure that you stay on point. I typed up your schedule as well as a brief of everything that is happening this week that you’ll need to be aware of. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything further. I’ll be right outside.”
With that said, Sherelle gave me a polite nod before leaving to take her place at her desk. I took a deep breath and then turned to walk towards my office, already loving the start of the day. Just as she’d said, there was a small stack of papers on my desk and as soon as I made myself comfortable in my large, leather office chair, I grabbed them in my hands to look them over. There wasn’t anything there that I hadn’t already seen and prepared for. Turns out… I was still rich.
My father started the McMillian empire from a cleaning company and then branched out into other areas of business, including real estate, interior decorating, furniture and other household products from there. He made something of a ‘one-stop shop’ for his clients and was able to continue doing business with them for years after the purchase of their home was final. Once he placed them in the home of their dreams, he would also fully furnish it with premium décor and then contract them through his cleaning service during the time they lived in it. When and if they decided to sell, he handled that as well, which led to him gaining new clients as well as keeping the old ones when
he found them a new home through services that his other businesses provided. It was a business that continued to grow.
After a few minutes of going through my business emails, my mind went back to Ink and I found myself looking at the hummingbird tattoo on my wrist. It was peeling, as he said it would, so I grabbed the ointment that he’d given me and was applying it when my phone started to ring. My heart almost stopped when I saw the name that flashed across the screen.
“Hello?”
“Congratulations are in order, right? Tell me, how does it feel to be running your own shit, Ms. Business Lady?”
A smile curved my lips.
“Actually, it feels damn good. Better than I expected. But you should know that. Plus, you built your business from the ground up. I was handed mine, so I have a lot to prove.” I rolled my eyes, thinking about all the fake smiles and kind words that flowed through them during the board meeting earlier. They could pretend but I wasn’t dumb.
“What do you mean? Prove to who?”
I sighed and began clicking my pen against the top of my desk. “The other board members. They don’t truly want me here. They don’t think I’ve earned the right to be in charge of them. They’ve had decades in the business and I just happened to be the child of the founder.”
“Fuck ‘em,” Ink said so casually that I snorted a suppressed giggle through my nose. “They old asses are just jealous. You’re young, sexy, smart and now you’re running shit and telling them what to do. It’s human nature to be salty about it but you’ve worked hard to get where you are and, in time, they will see that you aren’t some dumb chick who was given a company to run. You deserve to be there.”
Sticking the tip of the pen between my teeth, I smiled, feeling my body go warm. He spoke to me in a way that I wasn’t accustomed to but it was so real. So authentic. Maybe that’s why it made me feel like he was right and I could trust him.
“Aye, listen... your building isn’t too far from mine. Can I take you to lunch? Just to celebrate your first day.”
“How do you know I don’t already have plans?” I asked, though it didn’t matter if I did. My schedule was clear but, even if it wasn’t, I would’ve cancelled everything to meet up with Ink.
“You’re a busy woman and you have a lot to do but you gotta eat… and I’m hoping you could do that with me. I’m easy. Even if we gotta grab something off a hotdog stand, it’s cool. I wanna see you.”
I couldn’t play it tough any longer. He had said all the right things to make me feel the right ways.
“I’ll be ready by noon if that works for you.”
“Bet.”
I was taught to always make a man wait. It was another of the few lessons given to me by my stepmother. She didn’t teach me much because she didn’t like to have me around that long. But one thing I do remember from when I had just turned ten years old was sitting in her room watching in awe as she got dressed to go out with my father.
It was my birthday but instead of spending it with me, he was taking her to a charity dinner for some women’s club that she worked with. My daddy promised me that he would give me the best birthday party ever over the weekend if I forgave him for skipping out on me that night and I agreed with tears in my eyes.
Truthfully, I didn’t want a party. I didn’t have any friends to invite so what was the use? But when it came to my daddy, my stepmother always won out over me. Choosing her seemed to be his way of earning her infinite forgiveness for my existence.
“Even if you’re on time, always be late,” she had said that night. “You must always make sure a man is reminded that you are the prize. Make him anticipate your presence. The more anxious he is for you to arrive, the more pleased he will be to see you. A gracious man is a man who won’t forget what he has. He won’t take you for granted.”
With those words in mind, I glanced out of the tenth-story window of my office down to the front of the building, watching Ink who was sitting on a concrete ledge down below. It was twelve-fifteen and he’d glanced at his watch a few times already in between watching the double doors at the entrance, anxiously anticipating the moment when I would walk through them.
“I’m heading to lunch. I’ll be back soon.”
Sherelle looked up from her computer and nodded her head.
“I’ll be here. Have a good lunch.” She smiled and then went back to what she’d been doing.
Stepping onto the elevator, I frowned slightly when I felt something vibrating against my side. It only took a second to realize it was my phone.
“Hey,” I said, answering as soon as I saw who was calling. “I’m heading down now. Sorry, I was caught up on something and fell behind.”
“You’re good. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being stood up,” he replied. I could almost hear his smile through the phone.
“Never that,” I said, stepping off the elevator. “I would never stand you up.”
“I like the sound of that.”
My eyes focused on him through the glass double doors and I was able to see the smile in person. It was much sexier in reality than in my mind’s eye. Hanging up the line, I slid the phone into my purse and stepped out the building, straight to Ink who greeted me with a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“You ready?” he asked with one brow lifted.
Was he serious? I was more than ready... and for more than what he was offering. Holding my words back for a beat, I checked him out as he stood before me in rugged designer jeans, a soft black tee that hugged his muscles just right and designer shoes. He was casual but dressy in his own way.
“Of course,” I answered him.
He held his hand out to me and I hesitated briefly before giving in. He wasted no time lacing his fingers through mine and I relaxed into him, feeling like that moment was the most natural thing on Earth.
It felt so good. So right. I didn’t want the moment to end.
14
Ink
* * *
Sage was growing on me like no other woman had before. It wasn’t merely that I was finally in a place where I was ready for a grown-up relationship, but she was a different type of woman than what I was used to in every way.
Most women didn’t demand me to level up when it came to how I treated them, but she expected it and wouldn’t go for less. She made me behave like a man and I did it because I wanted her. When I took her out to eat, she wouldn’t step foot in anything that wasn’t five stars. I mean that literally. She checked the ratings on her phone before even walking inside. She waited for me to open doors, pull out her chairs and when the bills came, she acted like they weren’t even there. She was a pampered princess in every way but that was cool with me. I considered myself a king so what else would I go for but a woman I could make my queen? I was convinced that Sage was it.
Every day for weeks, I showed up like clockwork to take her out to lunch until it became our thing. Even if I didn’t tell her I was coming, she would walk out her building, late as usual, expecting to see me.
What we had going was cool, but I wanted to take our relationship deeper than the lunchtime dates, texts and calls that we had going on. It was my idea to take things slow, but I was ready to go all in. My only problem was Tami. I had to find a way to get rid of her ass that didn’t compromise me being around my daughter. Once I figured that out, then I could really make things official with Sage.
As if summoned, as soon as my mind was on Sage, she hit my phone. It was crazy how things seemed to always happen that way when it came to us.
* * *
Sage: What you doin’?
I didn’t even notice the smirk on my face as I read the text until I heard Kale’s nosey ass all in my business.
“Yo, Ink, what fine-ass shorty got you smiling like that? Bet not be Brisha!”
I waved him off. “Hell nah. I ain’t fucking with that girl ever again.”
Ignoring him, I went back to my phone and quickly responded.
Me: Working. The club I wa
s at before asked me to swing through, pretend like I’m having a good time so they could take pics and shit.
Sage: Pretend? Lol. Why you gotta pretend?
Me: Because you ain’t here this time so shit ain’t sweet. Anyways, what were you up to?
Sage: Definitely not thinking about you.
Me: Yeah? So you hit me up because you weren’t thinking about me?
Sage: Yeah, that sounds about right.
Me: Why don’t you swing through?
Sage: I’ll think about it.
* * *
“Yo, tell me again why you ain’t fucked hummingbird chick yet?”
Glancing up, I cut my eyes at Kale who was sitting across from me, his arms spread out across the booth. From the smirk on his face and the question he’d asked, he must’ve made an assumption about who I’d been texting.
“I told you already. She ain’t the type of chick that you put on the side. When I take it there with her, I want to have all my shit in order so we can build something real. I can’t have Tami fuckin’ up what we got going before it even gets started.”
“Am I talking to Infamous Ink right now or somebody else?” Kale laughed, rubbing his eyes for added affect. “Because you ain’t sounded like the nigga I’ve known for damn near all his life.” He turned to Indie who was sitting next to him, looking down at her phone. “Indie… do you believe this?”
With her lips pressed together, she slowly brought her eyes up, giving me a hard look before replying.
“Ink has the ability to do anything he decides to,” she said before rolling her eyes and adding, “I simply want him to make better decisions about the women he chooses to deal with.”
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