Page 44 of A Kingpin's Weakness
Noah caught up. “Actually, Stormi, Dre’s taking me home. Trying to see my lady anyway. You know you don’t wanna deal with all that.”
“I thought we could spend some time before I leave,” I said, my voice soft, like I was testing the air between us, trying not to make it too heavy.
Noah leaned back, running a hand over the back of his neck. “We will. I promise,” he said.
Jo gave me a little push toward the door. “Girl, go spend time with Seth and secure that bag.”
I rolled my eyes.
Ring! Ring!
My phone started going off the second I made it to the car and got in. I sighed, slouched against the seat, and answered.
“Hello?”
“What you doing, baby?” Seth’s voice came smooth and soft through the phone, like velvet over trouble.
“Leaving the hospital,” I said, dragging the words.
“Noah coming home?”
“Yeah, but he’d rather hang out with his friends.”
“You sound jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” I said, staring out the windshield. “Just wanted to spend some time with him. Maybe talk him into moving in with me.”
There was a pause on the other end. A long one. The kind that doesn’t need words to say everything. I already knew what he was thinking. Seth always got a little quiet when I broughtup going back home. Like maybe if we didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t happen. But that silence said more than he ever did.
This right here, this is why I knew a long-distance relationship with him wouldn’t work. Not because I didn’t care. But because I cared too much.
I knew me. If he didn’t answer the phone, if he went ghost for too long, I’d start spinning, thinking the worst. And honestly, I had a feeling he’d do the same with me.
“I enjoyed you yesterday,” he finally said, voice low.
“Same,” I whispered. And I meant it.
Seth was talking, but I wasn’t really hearing him at first. My mind kept drifting back to this past weekend. Seth and I had stayed up talking until nearly sunrise Sunday morning, just laying in bed, laughing, and sharing things I didn’t even know I’d been holding in. His mama had breakfast waiting on us; pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, the whole nine. We sat around that table like we’d done it a hundred times. Like I belonged there, and that scared me.
After that, we went shopping. He blew money like it was water; designer bags, shoes, perfumes. I didn’t ask for anything, but he handed it all to me like it was nothing. Like I was nothing but pleasure and prize. It felt good. But I knew what came with all that. The control. The expectations. The strings he hadn’t pulled yet.
Then came the movies some new Marvel joint he had been hyped about and after that, lunch, dinner, and a walk on the beach that lasted way longer than either of us expected. Just talking. About everything and nothing.
That’s what I liked most about Seth. He could actually talk. And not that surface-level small talk either. We laughed, debated, shared favorite movies, hated the same TV shows, and agreed that pineapple had no business on pizza. It was easy. Too easy. And that’s what made it dangerous.
“Stormi,” Seth’s voice snapped me back, smooth but laced with that edge he always carried.
“Huh?” I said, blinking like he could see me through the line.
“I said, you still with me?” he chuckled, low and knowing.
I smiled into the phone even though he couldn’t see it. “Yeah… I’m here.”
But inside, I was still tangled in my own thoughts—half in the moment, half wondering just how long easy with Seth could last before the storm hit.
“When can I see you again, Stormi?”
His voice was low, almost pleading.
