Page 11 of Only if You Catch Me
“I don’t want you to have to sell your rings, Persia. Let me figure some shit out.”
I chuckled angrily. “Now, you want to figure some shit out. Wow. You know what? I might as well sell the rings because they don’t mean shit to me anymore.”
“Man, don’t say that shit. I was just trying to stay alive. I was even thinking of ways to kill that nigga and get away with it. Youknow damn well, you being with him for even twelve minutes wasn’t sitting well with me.”
“Yet, you agreed to it.” I pivoted and left the room. I was officially disgusted. Disgusted and done.
Two days later, I sat in my office staring at my computer screen. I couldn’t concentrate for shit. For two days, I’d been feeling sick to my stomach. The tension in my house was thick enough to cut with a knife. I also wasn’t comfortable with the fact that I was down to $16,000. I knew how important it was to have money saved for an emergency or a rainy day. And all because David was reckless with his business, I just had to hand my hard-earned money over to him, so he could give it to Kastian. I was livid. On top of that, David’s entire savings had been wiped out. All we had to our name was the $16,000 I had left. And that wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been David’s idea for me to put up money for his debt.
The fact that he was going to hand me over to Kastian for twelve hours made my skin crawl. It was a slight turn off when Kastian punked him in the strip club. Knowing Kastian had treated him like a bitch a second time and pretty much had the man agreeing to let him spend twelve hours with me, I was beyond turned off. I was pretty sure I’d never look at David the same. There had been times that I was pissed with David and even in my anger, I could admit that I still loved him. This time was different. Even the anger was a different kind, or the love I had for him had dissipated. Leaving him had crossed my mind more than once.
How could he say he loved me and be comfortable with Kastian treating me like a possession. A notification popped upon my screen, and I breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the offer Tesha put in on a house had been accepted. The house wasn’t her first choice, but the house she wanted initially was sold to someone else. The house that she was going to get would earn me a $30,000 commission. That was more than I had to give Kastian, so it made me feel a little better. It would still take about forty-five days for the closing, but I did have a closing in a week. That commission was significantly lower because the property had only sold for $300,000. Still, it was five figures and better than nothing.
A light tap on my cracked door made my gaze lift. “Come in.”
When the door opened, and Kastian stepped into my office I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream, then claw his eyes out, then mace him. Maybe even kick him. The fine bastard walked into my office smelling like weed and heaven looking like an African God. I was repulsed, so why my yoni began to ache I had no clue. I hated him. But I knew what horny felt like, and Ms. Kitty wanted his ignorant ass.
“What are you doing here?” I snapped. “You got your money, so we don’t have anything to discuss,” I sneered.
Kastian seemed completely unfazed by my attitude. In fact, he smirked a bit. That smirk did things to me that I was ashamed to admit. “I come in peace.” Kastian held his palms up, and I simply stared. It didn’t matter how fine he was. I didn’t trust him. “May I?” he stood by the chair in front of my desk.
“You still haven’t told me what you want,” I glared ignoring his question.
Keeping his gaze trained on my face, Kastian took a seat. “I came to ask you if you helped your husband to pay his debt.”
My head jerked back, and my eyes narrowed. “I don’t think that’s any of your business. As long as you got paid, that’s all that matters. I don’t think your being here is appropriate.”
Kastian sat back. The way he was staring at me made my pulse quicken. “I’m asking because it wasn’t your debt to pay. That being said, if you lose the attitude, I’d be willing to give you the money back.”
I didn’t trust him. Not at all. “The money is yours. Keep it,” I stated dryly.
Kastian’s orbs roamed over my hands. “Where’s your wedding ring?”
Leaning forward, I cut my eyes into slits. “Are you hard of hearing?”
Kastian flicked the tip of his nose and sat up as well. “I understand the attitude. One band one sound. Yo’ fuck ass nigga has an issue with me, so you do too. That’s cute. I like that. But that nigga doesn’t deserve you. He didn’t put up too much of a fight at my request to spend twelve hours with you. If you were mine, a nigga asking for twelve seconds with you would get his tongue cut out of his mouth. You deserve better.” With that, Kastian stood up and trekked out of my office.
The fact that he was right pissed me off to no end. Knowing that David didn’t even put up a fight was like a punch to the gut. Shaking Kastian’s visit off, I picked up my phone to call Tesha and tell her the good news. I couldn’t let personal issues get in the way of my business. I knew that she was waiting to hear if her offer had been accepted. She was trying to move into the next phase of her life, and I was happy for her. It had nothing to do with me getting a commission but everything to do with the fact that she bossed up and was leaving a man that took her for granted.
I wasn’t sure how me and David were going to come back from what had occurred. Maybe in due time I would get over it. That idea seemed farfetched, but it had to be a possibility. Tesha’s excitement made me forget my problems temporarily. Until, I was gathering my things to leave and glanced down atmy empty ring finger. Kastian’s offer to give my money back entered my mind, and I had to wonder if I was stupid for not accepting it. Quickly, I decided the answer was no. I didn’t want to owe him anything.
I could work hard and make that money back times two. David had promised to return the money to me, but I wasn’t holding my breath. Not because he wasn’t a provider. David had always been good at holding us down. In my eyes, he wasn’t a weak man because he got jammed up. He was weak because he was going to let a man that didn’t hide the fact he was lusting after me spend twelve hours with me.
Walking out to my car, I found myself wondering what Kastian would have done with me for twelve hours. When my mind began to go places that it shouldn’t, I knew I was in deep shit.
CHAPTER 6
KASTIAN
Looking downat my phone screen, I saw that Toya was calling. “Hello?”
“Thank you for the flowers.”
“No problem. How are you doing?”
“Do you really care?”
Her tone was soft, but I knew her question was serious all the same, and I wasn’t in the mood to argue. That was one of the reasons I hadn’t called or visited her, but it was on my mind to send her flowers, so I did.
