Page 12 of The Prettiest Outlaw

“Well, me and this baby,” she gently cupped her belly, “are gonna have to be the taste testers, because I want some d-a-m-n cookies and cupcakes.”

I tried not to laugh as she slammed her balled fist on the marble countertop. Jianna was generally a very calm and level-headed person. Pregnancy hormones, though. They turned her into an unpredictable, impulsive drama queen.

“Okay. Calm down.” I tried to hold it, but the snicker bubbled out of me. “You’re gonna hurt your hand and I’m not about to have to explain to Dolton why his wife’s hand is in a cast. I’ll bring you some d-a-m-n cookies.”

“Butter cookies, please. I don’t like sugar cookies.”

“Got it. And cupcakes for my nephew and nieces.”

“I like cupcakes. Yes, bring me some of those, too. When can you bring them?”

“I’ll bring them by in the morning. I have a date tomorrow afternoon,” I confessed.

After the death of my father, almost everything in my life went under a microscope. Most things didn’t survive the scrutiny. One of the main things to go by the wayside were serious relationships with men. The relationship I’d been in the process of building with a dude named Carlos quickly went by the wayside not long after the funeral. I just didn’t have the energy to put forth the effort that most men required.

Her brown eyes went wide in surprise. “With who?”

I shrugged vaguely. “Some dude from an app. It’s calledFix Me Up.”

“You looking for something serious?”

I eyed her. “Right now I’m just looking to get out of the house and have some fun. He let me pick, so we’re going axe throwing.”

Her brown eyes ballooned. “Axe throwing?”

“Yeah. I have some anger that I need to release. I would’ve chosen a rage room, but I didn’t want to scare him.” I chuckled softly. “If the date goes okay, I’ll let him pick the next time.”

I stood from my seat at the island to give my nephew and both of my nieces big kisses on their chubby cheeks. I glanced over my shoulder at Jianna. “I told you that you and Dolton were gonna make some pretty babies.”

She grinned. “You did.”

I grinned back at her. “And you did.”

* * *

Jameer Jenkins and I pulled into the parking lot ofAxe Marks the Spotat the exact same time.I watched him climb out of his van, as I climbed out of my Acura MDX.

When I originally saw his profile picture on theFix Me Upapp, I thought he looked like Drake. I requested more pictures, and he sent more. In some pictures, he looked more like Drake. In other pictures, he looked less like Drake. The person who approached me in front of the axe throwing spot really didn’t have anything in common with Drake, except maybe their complexions. He definitely looked mulatto, but that was the only resemblance to any of the pictures he’d sent or to Drake.

Jameer was handsome, though, albeit a tad chubbier than what I usually went for. He sported a mustache and goatee and was over six feet tall. What threw me off was the fact that his shirt was too small. His stomach was literally hanging out from under it.

Me being a silly person, I immediately thought of Winnie the Pooh with his little half hoodie and no bottoms. Of course Jameer was wearing bottoms, but the shirt was so little. I purposed in my mind that I was going to ignore it and give the date my best effort. I did make sure to mentally clock the fact that his vibe was weird, though. It wasn’t scary, but there was definitely something… closed off there. We were supposed to use the date as an opportunity to get to know each other. The fact that he showed up with a closed-off energy put me on guard.

“So, this is what you like to do in your spare time?” he asked once we’d greeted each other as he stared at the building like I asked him to meet me at the cemetery or the trap house.

“Actually, I’ve never done this.” I pulled the door open since it didn’t seem like he was going to do it. “The holiday season was a little rough this go ‘round.” I gave a light but fake little chuckle. “This seemed like a good and healthy way to blow off some steam.”

He eyed me in a way that made me feel self-conscious. The fact that I was dealing with the blues made feeling self-conscious something that I really didn’t need. I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around, and faced him.

“Listen, I get that we don’t know each other and I picked this, but please know that we don’t have to do it. We can walk out of here and go our separate ways.”

“Nah.” He fingered the toothpick that hung from his mouth. “Nah. We good. I’ve just never heard of…axe throwing. Doesn’t seem like something that a brother would be out here doing.”

I was about to tell him fuck it. I wasn’t about to sell him on doing it. Either he was with it, or he wasn’t.

“Come on, little angry girl. Let’s go throw some axes.”

* * *

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