Page 30 of I Need It

I giggled. “So, who’s in your crew?”

“My younger brother and my cousins, Jacob and Kendrall. Sometimes, Karima hangs with us when she isn’t rodeoing. That’s KJ’s sister.”

“KJ?”

“Sorry. KJ and Kendrall are the same person. He goes by both names. He’s Kendrall Junior, but we call his dad Kenny. Since Rylan married Angel, my younger girl cousins hang around us quite a bit. They are around your age. The twins are at Baylor College of Medicine. They are twenty-two, I think. Angel is twenty-three, almost twenty-four. The other two are twenty-one, and Milana is the youngest. She’s twenty.”

I smiled slightly as he opened the door. His family was huge, and I knew I hadn’t scratched the surface on who they all were yet. When we walked inside, I practically stopped breathing. His house was so beautiful. The fireplace was huge, and so was the mantle around it. His color schemes seemed to be shades of brown, beige, and shades of blue.

“So, I’m gonna go get something to eat from the diner. Make yourself at home. I’m still somewhat shocked to see you.”

I smiled slightly. “I feel like you’re trying to pull away from me. I guess you don’t want to be my friend anymore. I had to come to town for you to tell me what’s up.”

He nodded. “We’ll talk when I get back and take a shower.”

“Okay.”

He walked out of the back door, and I couldn’t help but wonder just what we had to talk about. I sat on his couch and stared at the pictures on the mantle. Whatever he wanted to talk about, I hoped it didn’t result in him eventually sending me home.

CHAPTER 11

CHRISTIAN

“Hey, Mama. How’s your day been going?” I asked her when I walked through the doors of the diner.

She gave me the most beautiful smile. “Hey, baby. Today has been good so far. How about yours?”

“It’s been busy, but good.”

She came around the counter and kissed my cheek. I refused to lean over the counter to kiss her when I’d been working all morning. She wiped her lipstick from my cheek and walked back behind the counter. She grabbed a container and a card. “Umm… Mya came and left this for you. She got something to eat, then she left. I think Storm and Jasper may have overwhelmed her, introducing her to everyone. I believed she thought they wouldn’t recognize her. I didn’t know who she was until she gave me a name for her order.”

“Yeah. She was overwhelmed. I think it’s more because we aren’t anything more than friends right now. I mean, I want us to be, but she ain’t feeling that right now. She doesn’t want anyone thinking it’s more than what it is. Because of me, I’m sure Aunt Jen tried to give her her food for free.”

My mama smiled slightly. “She did, but she refused to take it without paying for it. I can tell she’s extremely independent. That card is kind of thick, baby. I believe there may be money in it.”

I frowned. Mya was tripping. I didn’t help her because I knew she would reimburse me. I helped her because that was what a man did, especially for a woman he wanted to be his. I slowly shook my head. She and I were surely going to have to talk about this when I got back.

“She’s at my house. Apparently, she must have felt bad about leaving and sent me a text.” I shook my head again. “I’m not accepting her money. Honestly, I’m slightly offended by this shit.”

“Try to understand her, baby. Don’t go off immediately. Henderson men can be overwhelming at times. Y’all step in and try to take over before fully getting to know her, Storm and WJ especially. Jasper was that way, somewhat, but Chas wasn’t having that shit. Kenny was too, but Keisha allowed him to be that way without any push back. I know y’all mean well, but try to be patient.”

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Thanks for fixing my food and for your words of advice. I’ll try to understand and be patient.”

“Anytime, baby. I know you aren’t a very patient person, so please let me know how this goes.”

She chuckled as I glanced over at my family turning up and having a good time. KJ and Jacob seemed to be in deep discussion, but I didn’t have time to get into it with them. I’d call them when Mya left. Thankfully, I was able to slip out without anyone noticing me. That was saying a lot because those niggas paid attention to everything.

When I got back home, Mya was on the couch sound asleep. I was shocked as hell that she’d made the trip to town. I just knew that I would have to drive to Houston to see her again. She’d made it clear that she didn’t really want to get to know my family on a personal level. We would just be fucking, and she didn’t want the pressure of them thinking it was more than that.

Before Mama said so, I already knew Uncle Jasper and Uncle Storm had probably given her a hard time. Had Uncle Marcus been with them, it would have been even worse. Thankfully, he and Aunt Syn were out of town with their kids. His son, Ace, typically hung with KJ’s brothers, Kingsley and Kane, SS, Royal, Crew, and Ryder J. Thankfully, all those niggas weren’t at the diner when Mya was there. They would have been on her like white on rice. Mya would have left Nome and never came back.

I made my way to my bathroom to take a shower. I needed to be able to hold Mya in my arms and assure her that I was the man for her. Pulling the card out of my shirt pocket, I opened it. When I pulled it out of the envelope, several hundred-dollar bills fell out of it. What the fuck was she on?

I could feel the heat on my neck. This shit was making me tight as fuck. Doing my best to calm down, I bent over and grabbed the bills, setting them on the vanity, and read the card. The generic message was her simply thanking me for going out of my way to look out for her. However, there was a written message on the blank side of the card.

Christian,

You’ve been a great friend in such a short amount of time. The things you’ve done for me are overwhelming. There are people that have been around me for years that wouldn’t have done the things you have. This was only meant to be a card of thanks and appreciation for being a man in this vast sea of fuck boys, manipulators, and liars… nothing more.

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