Even looking a hot sweaty mess with grocery bags in my arms, I could tell that he wanted to know who I was. His eyes wandered my body, no longer listening to whatever his sister was saying, his tongue licked his thick lips as he was fully locked in on me and what I was doing.

Zay was handsome with his toffee skin tone that was covered with tattoos, and his thick beard that was placed perfectly around those thick brown lips of his. He rocked a short Cesar that was perfectly lined up, right along with his thick eyebrows.

He was tall, muscular, and looked like he could do some damage to me. I wanted someone to do some sexual damage to me in the worst way, and seeing how those sweats clung to his meat told me all that I needed to know.

While he was so smitten with me, I was trying to play it cool like a whole celebrity wasn’t in my presence. Ivory’s husband, Jamal Williams, wasn’t anything special to me because I wasn’t into sports. The only reason I kept up with sports was because of Jaiden. Zay, on the other hand, was someone I knew and listened to.

He helped me into the kitchen with the groceries and stuck around to sit in the kitchen while I prepared his sister’s dinner.It was a menu filled with things to jump-kick labor for her. While I cooked, we talked about so much and I enjoyed him.

He gave me that feeling that I was missing from home. Ivory was from New York, but she was so into trying to fit in with these people out here that you wouldn’t have known. Ivory had finished her dinner and went out with some girlfriends for drinks, although she couldn’t drink, and Zay was still there.

By the time Jamal came in from practice, he decided to leave, but not without my number. He was back and forth from here to New York to wrap up his next album and prepare for his next tour.

Zay: outside… I’ll beg in person.

I shook my head before slipping out the side door and walking through the backyard until I was in the front and saw Zay’s Lamborghini parked in the driveway. He climbed out the car and walked over toward me.

“You gonna make me get on my knees, huh?”

I put my hand on my hip and laughed. “Hmm, Zay on his knees begging some girl… what would the blogs say?”

He laughed and then walked toward me, pulling me into his arms. “How you doing, my love?”

My body froze and I instantly thought about Quasim when he mentioned those two words. I was Sim’s love, and he always referred to me as his love. It switched between Anjo and my love, and I loved both names.

Mainly because he had seen what I was capable of, and he deemed me worthy of still having that angel nickname that I craved to hear him say right now.

Zay pulled me back and peered down into my eyes. “You good, Blair?”

I quickly shook it off.

Shookhimoff.

“I’m alright… just thought about something.” I lied and then looked up into his eyes. “I am doing good… what about you?”

“Tired but I need to lay down this last track for the deluxe album before flying out tomorrow.” Zay was always on go and I admired that about him. The life of a rapper was intriguing to me.

I reached up and touched his face. “Make sure you’re taking care of you, too. As much as everyone loves the album, we need you here.” I reminded him.

Zay hustled because he wanted his family to have everything they never had. He took care of him and Ivory’s mother, and made sure their extended family was good, too. He was the breadwinner for his family, so that hustle wasn’t going to die down anytime soon. If anything, he was going to amplify it and make sure that he continued to secure the bag for generations to come.

He leaned back on his sister’s G wagon and pulled me in front of him. “You leave next week… gonna be sad without you around here.”

“You probably won’t even notice that I’m gone. I know your sister is happy to get me gone so her nanny can start.” Ivory had the roles of a postpartum doula and a nanny confused.

Some mornings, she would call me over the intercom to come and watch her son while she went to get her hair or nails done. I cared for the baby and her, but there were limitations. I wasn’t here to watch her child while she got back to her life.

Since the contract we signed was for two months, and she would have to pay to break that contract, she decided to keep me around until her nanny could start the minute I was gone. I was ready to get the hell out of here and I made sure to make a personal note not to let her book me again if she got pregnant in the future.

Not that she would.

“Ivory always been funny acting. She mad because Jamal finally sat her ass down and made her have a baby.” He waved his sister off. “Don’t think she would have made it after delivery without you being there for her.”

“You’re sweet.”

“I’m gonna miss having a piece of home here on the west coast. Every time I can’t focus at the studio, you not being twenty minutes away is gonna take some getting used to.”

Zay was being so sweet and making my heart melt with his words. What scared me was that I could tell they were genuine. Whenever he came over, we would sit in his car of choice and just talk.