Page 13 of Mister Artist

“I heard your brother coming in.”

“Oh.”

After putting the blunt on his ash tray, he squeezed my ass. “You regret last night, sweet girl?”

“No. Do you?”

“Not at all. I’ve wanted you since your eighteenth birthday.”

That made me smile. “You know… everything I did that day, I did to impress you.” Laughing softly, I ran my hand down the back of his head. “It sounds silly now, but I convinced myself if I looked more like a grown up, you’d notice me. I knew we were only three years apart, but back then, that felt like decades.”

“Yeah, it did. I always felt something for you but kept it hidden because of the age difference.”

“And now we have to keep it hidden because of my brother.”

He handed me the blunt and I took two puffs as he asked, “How do you feel about that?”

“It sucks.” I felt a pout spreading and couldn’t do anything about it. “I’ve already lost my father. I don’t want to lose my brother too. But I-I want you, Neko.”

“I want you too. Malik is like a brother to me, but if I had to choose between his friendship and my wife, I’d choose my wife.” Before I could fully process what he was saying, he added, “But I wouldn’t take him from you. So if we can’t find a way to do this with his approval, we can’t do it, Mal.”

I didn’t want to, but I nodded my agreement. My lips parted and eyes watered as my head hung. “You’re right.”

“Let’s continue to keep this between us for now and let me see what I can do, aight?”

Nodding, I stood. “Okay. Did you want the breakfast sandwich?”

“Yeah, that’s cool. Thank you.”

I left his room with a heaviness in my heart that only my brother’s acceptance of us could take away. Unfortunately, Iwasn’t sure if that would happen. Malik Gates stood firm on his principles—whether they were right on wrong. He’d made it clear he didn’t want any of his friends with me, and I honestly didn’t see his mind changing on that.

10

Neko

It was takingeverything inside of me not to go to WSC to see how my sweet girl’s interview was going. I was honest when I said all I did was have HR put her application at the top of the list, but with it, I included a note for Chapel telling her Malorie was my future wife if that had any weight at all.

I knew Malorie would get the job on her own if she got an interview, but I was concerned her lack of experience would keep her from getting a call back, and that was the only reason I stepped in. I really needed her to get this job, and Chapel and Jeremy were known for hiring people who had experience so the transition into the company would be a smoother process.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided to grab pastries for my office and theirs to take down there. I wasn’t expecting to see Malik atBrewed and Booked,which was a Black owned coffee shop and bookstore. In fact, the sight of him caught me so off guard I froze. From the looks of it, he’d gotten a book from the lower level and a small box of pastries, and I knew that shit wasn’t for him.

At the sight of me, his eyes widened, and he gripped the box tighter.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked, walking over to him with a chuckle.

“Huh?”

“If you can huh, you can hear. Who is this for?”

With a sigh, he shuffled slightly on his feet. “Lil shorty I was with last night.”

“She got you buying her books and pastries and shit?” I teased, looking into the small bag to see what book he had, but he quickly pulled it away.

“Mannn, say. I needed to come get her a coloring book ’cause the way she swallowed my seeds and babies all night and morning I know baby gon’ be acting real childish today.”

As hearty of a laugh as I released, I didn’t plan to let his joking hide the fact that he was buying something for a woman—which he never did.

“You can talk that shit, but you really like her huh?”

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