Page 86 of Captivated By Danger

“Hey, Diesel. What you doing?”

“Working. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Everything is fine. The workout manual that you left me is ridiculous, but I made it through. The trainer girl was nice.”

“Tell your journal. Not me.” I ended the call.

I smirked because I knew that she was looking at the phone rolling her eyes. Almost immediately, she called me back. I answered again.

“You didn’t have to hang up in my face, Diesel. I’m just calling you because I am bored, and I don’t know anyone here. I could have made a friend here, but you snarled him and now he’s probably afraid to look at me. So, what do you want me to do?”

“You live near a hundred boutiques. Go shopping.”

“For what? The closet full of clothes is the same size as my room. I don’t need to buy anything else. Should I get on Tinder and try to find new friends?”

I blinked slowly. She knew that I’d say no to that. One thing I’ve learned about her was that she knew how to back me into a corner.

“What do you want to talk about, Grey?”

“I don’t know. Maybe your time at MIT. Mr. Mathematician. Tell me, how did you become so good at numbers?”

I chuckled. “Honestly, it came naturally. My mom noticed it when I was around ten. When my middle sister was born, she was really sick. I can remember my mom having to give her ten, fifteen, and sometimes twenty pills a day. We had to change her IV bags and medicines, even giving her shots; it was crazy. Helping out my mom, the numbers and formulas just got stuck in my head.”

“Oh wow. How is your sister doing?”

“She cool. She’s over the HR department here.”

“Oh, that’s nice. So about MIT. Tell me about your days there. I know that you have to have like five-point grade point average to get in that school, which means that you are like dumb smart, so how did you manage passing that school and being this dominant man. Like, was it hard? Did you have any of the professors strung up like a capital X?”

That made me laugh. She was funny without even trying. For a moment, I decided on telling her about the two professors that I’d been with.

“Just a couple of professors…”

“Yes. I knew you’d slung that dick for a grade or two.” She laughed.

“Actually, it wasn’t for a grade. They just wanted to sit on it, so I let them.”

“Ugh. Those women had to have been decades older than you. What did their husbands have to say about that? I am sure one of them has jacked you up before. Surely you can’t be super smartandcan fight. Now tell me.”

“On the contrary, Babygirl. I’m belted in Jiu Jitsu.”

She laughed so loud. “Of course you are! Of course, you do some form of karate. That is the type of shit that rich Black kids do.” She laughed some more. “Hopefully, I can see some of your old tapes. I know your parents recorded you.”

“Yes, I’m sure my parents have old tapes of me somewhere.”

“So, are you busy?”

“I’m always busy.”

“Okay, anyways…”

Before I knew it, she and I had been on the phone for hours. The conversation flowed like we weren’t eleven years apart and I hated to say that I enjoyed it. I’d never let her know that though. She didn’t need any more leverage than she already had.

ELEVEN

GREYSEN

Day 2/42

---