Page 49 of Like You Love Me

Sheyna sent Bianca a curious look. “So, who has the date, the widow, or your mother?”

“Knowing Mother, she’s going to insist that she joins them and will drag Father along with her.” The women were still laughing when Danica came over and dropped down in the chair between them. “Oh, my feet are going to hurt in the morning.”

Bianca and Sheyna exchanged a knowing look. “Why do you think we are sitting here?”

“Me too,” Debra added. Bianca wagged her head. The things women put themselves through just to look cute.

Danica slipped her feet from the stiletto pumps as she said, “I stopped to see Christina. They are still counting the cash, but the proceeds from this event are huge. We will be able to cover housing expenses for so many families.”

Sheyna gave a humble grin. “That’s wonderful.”

They began chatting about ideas for next year’s event when the room went black.

“What happened to the power?” Bianca asked.

“I don’t know but let me go find out.” Sheyna was turning on the flashlight app on her phone when a man’s low soothing voice bellowed through the air.

“Which one of y'all, which, which one.”

“Which one of y'all goin' home with Remy?”

A spotlight appeared on the stage, and then there he was, sauntering out from behind the curtain with so much swag the crowd went crazy.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Danica cried.

Bianca gasped. “No, he didn’t.”

The lights raised, and the music exploded, and Remy danced across the stage in a white beater that hugged his muscular chest, and a pair of khaki slacks that hung low on his waist. A Philadelphia Sixers cap was worn down over his face but there was no mistaking the smile on Remy’s lips that was cocky and sexy. Bianca marveled at the way he glided around the stage with casual, lazy confidence in a pair of butter brown Timberlands with the laces loose. There was no denying the women loved the bad boy look. Bianca held her breath as the bass thrummed through the room, and Remy started moving with dance moves that would have challenged Chris Brown. What was supposed to be a bachelor auction changed into a music concert. Remy bellowed the chorus of Trey Song’sI Invented Sexthrough the small microphone hooked over his right ear. Women rushed from their seats to surround the stage. They were waving their cards and screaming so loud the poor auctioneer had no way of telling who was bidding.

Bianca inhaled a slow breath when Remy began a slow, enticing striptease, starting with him lowering the zipper on his pants, displaying his red and white boxers.

“Should we do something?” Danica asked.

“Nope,” Sheyna smirked.

Debra nodded and leaned back against the chair. “I agree. Let my brother-in-law do his thing.”

Bianca’s eyes shifted around the room. Everyone was bobbing their heads and smiling; even the three J’s were tapping their feet. All eyes were glued to the stage where Remy stood at the edge. A security guard had to keep a woman from dragging him off onto the floor. As he kneeled, he lowered his cap down over a young woman’s short brown afro. Remy leaned forward and whispered the lyrics to the song in her ear, “You gon' think I invented sex.”The woman started screaming and bouncing up and down.

Debra laughed. “Is this for real?”

“He does have an amazing voice,” Sheyna admitted with a shrug.

Danica nodded. “Unbelievable.”

“It’s Remy,” Bianca replied with a snort. “What’s there not to believe?” As a radio host, there were times when he would sing on the air, and the women sucked it up. “He is in his element.”

While licking his lips, Remy ripped the white beater and slowly peeled it away from his chest and shoulders, revealing a chiseled chest and abs. He gyrated his hips with moves you’d expected from a Chippendale, and the women screamed.

“Did that chick just faint?” Debra gasped.

Bianca laughed. “I think she did.” Her girlfriends were lifting her back to her feet. Bianca’s eyes shifted to the front table, where the three J’s practically fell from their chairs with laughter. She looked over at her mother, who was clapping along with the rest of the crowd.

Women were waving their bidding cards, and the auctioneer tried hard to be heard over the crowd, but there was insane whistling, foot-stomping, and chanting.

“Your little cousin is kinda sexy,” Sheyna murmured with her eyes filled with female appreciation.

Danica nodded. “I agree.”

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