Page 10 of Jaeda

“Daddy, that was rude,” I said as he went to self-checkout.

“Nah, I watched him watching you before he came over. I’d hate to have to put a bullet in his ass in the middle of this store.”

He made haste in scanning my items. I stood there with my arms crossed, a little irritated that I didn’t even get the guy’s name. He seemed a little shy . . . harmless. There was no vibe of danger from him. Then again, DeWayne’s ass didn’t give me dangerous vibes until he grabbed me in the parking lot.

“I know you aren’t pouting,” my father said with a chuckle.

“Daddy, how do you expect me to find a man if you run them off? I didn’t even get his name.”

“If he has the right intentions, he will immediately introduce himself. You spoke to him for a good five minutes, and the man couldn’t even look you in the eye. That ain’t suspicious to you?”

“He seemed a little shy.”

“He’s too big for that shit,” he mumbled, swiping his card.

“I’m twenty-six and shy as hell. You don’t think I’m too big for that shit?”

He cupped my chin and grinned. “You’re my baby. You can be shy your entire life, and I’ll be okay with that.” He kissed my forehead, then placed the bags in the cart. “Come on. Let’s go get some food.”

“I thought we had business?”

“I lied.”

I shook my head as I followed him to the doors. As I looked back, I caught the guy I was speaking to watching me leave. He offered a small wave. I gave one in return and continued out of the store.

Maybe we would meet again, . . . hopefully without my father.

“I wishI could have seen the look on your face,” Mia said, laughing.

We were sitting in my office while I continued to try my hand at tracking down the source of the spyware. Every time I got close, something came up to stop me in my tracks. If I didn’t know any better, I would think the person behind it was orchestrating it.

“I was so embarrassed, Mia.”

“I bet. Daddy is just as worse as his sons.”

“I’m just surprised you were even interested,” Salima said. “After that dinner fiasco, I thought you swore off men. You even deleted the app.”

Ihadsaid I was done with men. I should have listened when my brothers first told me to get off the app. When I told the girls about DeWayne getting handsy with me, of course, they told my brothers. It was ten o’clock at night when the four of them came banging on my door, yelling at me about why I hadn’t told them or put a bullet in him myself.

I barely got a word in before Deuce practically dragged me to my office to look up DeWayne’s address. I was reluctant to give it up, but I knew they wouldn’t leave my house until I did. The next thing I knew, there was a missing person report out on that man. I wasn’t sure what they did to him, and I didn’t ask questions.

“He was cute,” I said. “Fine, . . . sexy, . . . beautiful?—”

Mia smacked my arm. “Damn, bitch. Are you in love or something?”

“Girl, please. He was attractive, okay? And he looked familiar. I can’t place where I might have seen him before.”

“Did he make your virgin kitty purr?”

“Fuck you.”

“That’s what you should have proposed to him. You could have been somewhere face down, ass up by now.”

I rolled my eyes. “This is why I don’t tell you shit. Everybody isn’t as horny as you and Sharina.”

“Aht, aht!” Shar said, walking into the room with my sleeping nephew, Marino, strapped to her chest. “I didn’t even say shit! Me and Marino were minding our own business, and y’all are in here talking about me when I couldn’t defend myself.”

I laughed. “What defense could you have? You and Maceo left the table at Mama Stephanie’s rehearsal dinner to fornicate in the bathroom. You tried to leave your official engagement party to go hump in your childhood bedroom. And . . . this is the big one . . . We started your wedding reception thirty minutes late because you two couldn’t wait to consummate your already six-month-old marriage.”

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