Page 18 of Jaeda

Slowly, I looked over at him.

“I apologize. Word to my mother, I never looked through your personal information. Anything I learn about you, I want it to be a natural and consensual thing. I just looked at your cases to see where I could lighten your load. I work with Titan a lot, and I know how stressful this shit gets. I’m capable, but even I wish I had help at times, especially with sensitive cases.”

My face softened a little. “At least someone knows how I feel.”

“Trust me, I do.”

“Look, I get you were nervous. Honestly, it’s the reason I never messaged you on Sweet Meets. But hacking my computer was a bit extreme, Quaid.”

He blushed at me saying his name. “I know. I uh . . . I kinda anticipated this happening, knowing who your family was.”

“Oh, so you wanted me to have you snatched up?”

He chuckled. “Maybe not to this extent. Your brother, the big one, fucked up one of my monitors, and I’ma need him to pay for that.”

“You don’t know Smoke.”

“No. Smoke doesn’t know me. I’m not some punk he can push around. I haven’t been friends with Titan all these years and not learn a thing or two about defending myself. Now, I’d hate to have to fight your brother to prove a point, but I’m not the bitch ass nigga he insists on calling me.”

The roughness in his voice when he said that had me a little hot. I shouldn’t have been hot and bothered by a man not afraid to fight my brother, but dammit, I was. Of course, I’d never let that happen, but still.

Clearing my throat, I spoke. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll call him off, and I’ll replace the monitor?—”

“No. He broke it, he replaces it.”

“Fine. I’ll have him replace it on one condition: You stop with the spyware. You know what Titan does for a living, so I’m sure you’re aware of what my family does as well. I can’t have them at risk. If anything ever happens to any of them and I find out you’re behind it, I will kill you myself.”

He licked his lips as he looked at me. “I promise, I would never bring harm to you or your family.”

“Good to know.”

We stared at each other for a moment. I didn’t realize we were still holding hands until he gently stroked mine with his thumb.

“I guess I should formally introduce myself,” he said with a smile. “My name is Quaid Michaels. I’m twenty-six years old. I own a cyber security company, I’m a big ass nerd, and I would really love to get to know you, Jaeda Dillinger.”

I couldn’t help but blush.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Quaid.”

“Wait a damn minute,” Titan said, blowing smoke from his blunt. “You mean to tell me she had them roll up in here, rough you up, break your shit, kidnap you, Jaeda put a gun to your head, and youstillwant to date her?”

A few days had passed since the incident, and he was finally back in town, so I told him everything.

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“Because itisbad, nigga!”

Maybe it was. I’d never been kidnapped before, and the fact that I wasn’t shaken up by it told me that I’d been around Titan too long. His nonchalant ways were bound to rub off on me at some point. I just didn’t think it would be during a life-or-death situation.

Once Jaeda and I were left alone, and I put it all on the table, I left the ball in her court. I didn’t expect her to give me ananswer right away. I halfway expected her to flat out say no. We sat in that basement for a good hour, getting to know each other, before her father came in to check things out. He wasn’t too happy to find us laughing and smiling, but he kept quiet about it.

Jaeda offered to return me to my apartment, but her brothers said no. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them just yet, especially that big nigga Smoke. If I got into it with anybody, it was going to be him. I understood defending his sister’s honor, but he was doing too much for me. In the end, Maceo was the one that took me home, but not before Jaeda and I exchanged numbers.

The whole ride was a little awkward.

It was mostly silence. We were about five minutes out from my loft when he finally said something.

“Aye, man. I apologize for the way we had to snatch you up.”

---