Page 18 of Ride

“The bidding for an hour-long visit on the race track with Lakin Trenton is now closed in the amount of seventy thousand dollars.”

The entire room erupted in applause. I marched over to the stage and hugged the older brown skinned woman and shook hands with her husband. My donation would help, and seeing us hit close to Four hundred thousand this year was amazing. Every time I visited different youth centers, the look in their eyes as they thought about what the future held seemed so far away, and I wanted to make a difference and teach them that nothing was impossible with hard work.

“Baby, can we go now?” Callie met me halfway before I made it to the table and cuffed my arm. The nagging got irritating.

“I need to grab my mom and check with my people before we go.”

“How long is that going to take?” Callie pouted, fixing my tie.

Removing her hands from my chest, I sighed in frustration. All night she’d had snarky comments and a pissed off attitude.

I swallowed hard before asking, “What’s up with the attitude?”

“I thought tonight we would come out as a real couple.”

“Since when are we a couple?” My neck jerked back in surprise at her suggestion.

“Laikin, it’s been three years of fucking and showing up at your events,” Callie hissed, getting loud and in my face, causing a few people to stare at us. Tamping down my anger, I ignored her and walked back to the table to finish hanging with my friends. Callie staggered back to the table, avoiding a few people holding up their phones to get any type of gossip. She sat and waited for me to leave.

* * *

Morning sunlight beamed into my bedroom, and I felt a heavy arm across my back. I slowly popped open my eyes and cringed at seeing Callie cuddled up in my sheets.

“Shit.”

Normally I wouldn't bring anyone back to my condo or my house in Malibu, but feeling a banging headache let me know I got too wasted last night. Brett suggested we all go out to the club after the fundraiser and like always I went to kick off some steam. Stretching and sitting up in bed, I gently nudged Callie to wake up.

My stomach revolted in terror at the thought that we didn’t use protection. “Callie.” I scanned the wastebasket near the bed and saw an open condom wrapper.

“Mmmm, Laikin…fuck me harder,” she mumbled, rubbing my chest.

“Callie, time to wake up.” I threw the covers back, stood from the bed in only my boxers, and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

Callie sat up, a teasing smirk on her face. “Laikin, why can't I stay?”

I stepped out of the bathroom with my toothbrush, shaking my head at her sitting up with her breasts out trying to entice me.

After rinsing my mouth and turning on the shower, I came back to grab her things and shoved them in her hand, so she could get dressed. “You already know we’re not like that, Callie.”

“Your parents and friends like me, on top of what it can do for your brand. Laikin, we can be good together.” Callie pleaded, sliding her dress on and slipping into her heels.

“Not happening and take this as our last outing or whatever you want to call it.” I kissed her cheek, went back into the bathroom, and locked the door.

Bang!

“I hate you, Laikin!” Callie screamed.

Chuckling, I jumped in the shower and prepared for all the bullshit Sarai would bring my way after last night. If Callie slept over, that meant paparazzi saw us come into my building together, and social media would blow it out of proportion.

Soon as I was ready to leave for the day, I locked the door behind me and almost tripped when I ran into something and dropped my keys.

“Kayne, I told you to be careful with the ball.” Amena’s sweet voice carried through the quiet hall.

“Laikin!” Kayne stood up, dropped the ball, and wrapped his hands around my legs.

“Sorry about him.” Amena tried to grab him, and I tugged her back.

“He’s cool. High five, Kayne.”

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