Page 26 of Unexpected Pass

My mouth dropped. He was paying me without even receiving the service. I thought briefly about sending it back, but quickly changed my mind. Everything about this was too much too fast, and I should have been pumping the brakes, but it seemed like I was already in too deep.

“You like this girl,don’t you?” my mother acknowledged as she entered my dressing room at theBrittani Shepard Show.

I had been waiting for her to pull me aside since she found out Phileigh was joining us in New York. With Phileigh out in the studio audience, I guess this was the perfect chance for her ass to be nosy.

“I do,” I said, speaking my truth. “She’s… different.”

I glanced at my mom through the mirror, awaiting her reply. My mom was strict about who I dated. She was quick to call out a red flag on every girl I’d ever called myself seeing. I was intrigued to know what she thought about Phileigh.

“Hmm,” was all she said in response, but I knew there was more.

There was always more with Charlie Barnes. Ma didn’t have a man, so she always poked her nose in my business. Sometimes, it was annoying as fuck. Other times, I welcomed the intrusion.

“I think I might want to get to know her better,” I continued.

My connection to Phileigh was strange, especially given her news about being pregnant by some lame nigga, but there was something magnetic about her that I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t even bring myself to stop feasting on her sweet ass pussy when she’d first broke the news. I was down bad behind Phileigh, and I’d only known shorty for a couple of hours.

“You want to date her?” My mom’s eyebrows raised.

“Get to know her first, and then yeah... maybe.”

I hadn’t dated anyone in about three years. I didn’t have time to try to sort the good ones from the boppers. Every woman I encountered, I had to ensure she was genuine, understood my schedule, and wasn’t after me for a come up. It was exhausting and draining. It was easier to take them to bed when I wanted and have them sign NDAs. I didn’t have to worry about that with Phileigh, though. She was different. I could sense that shit.

“If that’s the case, you just have to make sure she understands your lifestyle, how complicated things are, how important your image is.” She took a few steps closer to me, catching me off guard with her statement. “And you have to understand that this is a different world for her.”

That wasn’t what I expected her to say. I expected her to start building a case against Phileigh, but this was the opposite. This was a case for Phileigh and our future relationship. I turned to my mom with a huge grin on my face.

“You like this girl, don’t you?” I threw her question back because it was the only logical reason for her behavior.

“The background check came back.” She ignored my question and pulled an envelope out of her purse. “According to this, she’s a good girl.”

She handed me the envelope. I opened it, scanning through the pages quickly. There it was—everything about Phileigh Read that I needed to know. She was an only child who grew up in a low-income neighborhood with her mother and father. I glanced at the thin file. She had no criminal record and no scandalous posts or exes on social media. Her image was clean. She was just a regular girl making an honest living as a barber.

“She’s a good girl,” I murmured, repeating what my mother had said.

It made me wonder how a nice girl like Phileigh even got involved with the type of bum that would abandon his seed. My heart went out to her. I guess she thought her pregnancy was supposed to push me away, but it only made me want to get closer to her. She didn’t deserve to go through this alone, and I wouldn’t let her.

“I like her for you. She brings out the grown man, protector side of you. Reminds me of your grandfather.”

I stared at my mom. She didn’t like anybody, so I knew Phileigh was something special. I wish I could ask Ma Dukes about navigating dating a woman in Phileigh’s unique situation, but I didn’t want to ruin this moment or her opinion of Phileigh. Besides, Phileigh’s condition was none of her business.

One of the show producers stuck their head in and announced, “You’re on in five.”

I peered down at my watch. Five minutes to clear my mind so I could go out there and do my job.

“Alright. I’m going to take my seat out front.” She patted me on the back before heading to the door. “Oh, wait. Where should I book Phileigh’s room?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

We’d rushed straight here as soon as the plane had landed. There had been no time to discuss the logistics of Phileigh’s stay.

I shook my head. “No room. Just some more clothes. She can stay at the house.”

There was no sense in putting her in a hotel room when I had a two-story condo here in New York City.

“Your house?”

My mom’s feet halted as she did an about face. I never brought any female to my properties, so I knew she was shocked.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I like her, Kellon, but we still don’t know her like that.”

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