Page 41 of Safest With You
“She might just be. Brandy is…” I smirked and lost my train of thought.
She was everything. It was hard to put into words the essence of her beauty or the unique way she did things like twirling her pasta with a spoon and fork. There were too many things to say about her that I got caught up and couldn't say anything at all.
“Oh, man. You love her. I can see it all over that ugly face. What she do to you? She must have platinum kitty, huh?”
“Lando, shut up. I haven't gone there with her yet. She's special. That's it.”
“You mean to tell me she got your nose wide open and you ain't even sniffed it yet?” He laughed and all I could do was shake my head. I wasn't about to keep appeasing this fool. My private life was now off limits.
“You took care of Avery?” I asked, becoming serious. His smile faded and he nodded once. That was all I needed to see.
“Good. Did Father know this was our shipment?”
“From my understanding, no. He wasn't even aware of who he was getting it from. False names and since he never saw them before he wouldn't have known any better. And if I'm not mistaken, he wasn't the one to link up with them either. It was Roderick.” That pompous bastard.”
“That sounds about right. Always sending someone else to do his dirty work.”
“Oh, for sure. He's kicking it in Moscow with that Philomena chick. He hasn't done any real work in months. You'd think he was retired. Bastard.”
“Speaking of bastards, why have you been letting Mum stay with you lately? She got tired of her other family?”
“I hate to admit that I missed her dusty ass.”
“That's real, brother. I respect that. She met your girl yet?”
“No. We're trying to plan something special where she can finally meet the family. Bring us all together instead of separate links. Less stress.”
“You've been seeing her for a long time. This should've been happened. What has really taken you so long?”
“I had to make sure, man. Ease up. Our life is crazy. I had to make sure she was here for the long haul.”
“Anything longer than three months should've shown you that. You just needed to make sure you were done being a playboy so Mum wouldn't beat your ass for playing with her.”
Arlando punched my arm and we both laughed. He knew I was right. Before his girl Chardonnay came along, there wasn'ta woman on earth he didn't play with. They were all come and please, then please go. The minute he saw her, that was it. He shut those side pieces down and committed to her. If that wasn't enough for her to meet our mum, I didn’t know what would've been. Two years was bananas to me.
“As long as y'all are happy together then I'm with it. Just tell me when and I'll make sure to be in attendance.”
“Yeah, and you can bring your wife too.”
“Wife?”
“Oh, you thought I didn't see that purchase at the jeweler’s in Puerto Rico. No way it was anything other than a ring. You know any large transaction through our accounts pops up for each other. Of course I peeped that.”
“You think you know me, Arlando?”
“Better than anyone on this planet.”
I chuckled and nodded. He was right about that. I didn't walk into the jeweler with the intention of getting a ring. I was sold on a diamond necklace I saw when I bought my watch a few days prior. Meeting Brandy reminded me of it and I wanted to get it for her.
I saw the diamond ring beside it and couldn't draw my eyes away. They were a perfect combination and I bought a tennis bracelet to finish the look. She just happened to get the ring first. It was so sudden that I forgot all about the other pieces. I would just give it to her later.
“See, look at you. Ain't heard a word I said thinking about Brandy,” he said, taking me out of my reverie.
“What?”
“I said monkeys ass cheeks rub together and sound like leather pants peeling off a sweaty hog.” He smiled and I shook my head, trying to withhold my laughter. What part of that statement made any kind of sense? He stared at me seriouslyand I fell right into it. The laughter poured out of me and he laughed even harder.
“You're a fool.”
