Page 35 of You Deserve Good Things

“You wild,” she whispered.

“Nah,” I murmured, voice dropping lower, my gaze heavy. “But Iwillget wild if any nigga ever think he gon’ step to you.”

She blinked, like she didn’t know whether to melt or swing on me. “Chase?—”

I cut her off, my voice low, steady, final. I leaned in, fingers trailing slowly across her thigh under the table, my touch light, teasing. “Any nigga ever approach you? Ever try you?” I tilted my head. “You better be prepared to give his eulogy, ’cause I promise you, niggas will not play in my face about my wife.”

Her breath caught like a hiccup in time.

“Wife?” she echoed, like the word shocked her out of her seat.

“Yeah. Wife,” I said, bold and blunt. “You think I’m out here tryna wife just anybody?”

She looked away, lips pressing tight. Yeah. She was feeling it, but she still wanted to act tough.

“You don’t even do relationships,” she whispered.

“Yeah. Untilyou.”

I let the silence hang, like thunder before a storm.

Then I dragged my hand a little higher. She tensed, but her legs didn’t move. She didn’t stop me.

“Start getting used to the idea,” I said, voice firm, but low and soft.

She finally looked up at me, eyes wild with heat and confusion and hope all tangled up like wires behind an old stereo.

“You really think you own me?”

I chuckled, leaning in close enough to kiss her but pulling back just to make her want it more.

“Baby . . . I alreadydo.”

She sucked in a shaky breath and stood up, grabbing her purse like she was escaping the damn devil. I knew it was only a matter of time before she stopped fighting it. Before she let herself have me. When she did, she wasn’t ever gon’ be the same again.

I smirked, pulling my hand away, giving her a little space.

I wasn’t gon’ press her too hard. Not yet. She already knew what it was. When she was ready, she’d come to me.

She adjusted her purse, her face unreadable.

“Where you goin’, baby?” I asked, voice lazy, leaning back.

She turned her head, brows raised.

“Home,” she said. “I need to think.”

I grinned. “About me?”

She rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched, and I knew she was fucked up behind me. She didn’t answer. Just turned and walked off. I just sat there, letting her go for now.

But I knew the truth. She wasn’t going nowhere. Not from me. Not from this. She was already mine. She was gon’ stop fighting it and act like it eventually.

The night air wrapped around me like a velvet shroud, cool and comforting, yet heavy with the weight of unspoken truths. The city lights blinked in the distance, each one a silent witness to the turmoil brewing within me.

Chase’s words echoed in my mind, a melody I couldn’t escape.

“You mine. Ain’t no more playing like you don’t feel this. I’m done letting you pretend like we ain’t already wrapped up in each other.”

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