Page 10 of B.D.E: Falling Hard For A BBW

She walked in like she owned the place with her burgundy curls, bouncing oversized sunglasses still on despite the cloudy morning and her gold hoops swinging.

She was wearing a cropped graphic tee that read “ Bad Decisions Build Character ” and biker shorts that left very little to the imagination.

We embraced each other then I stepped back, eyeing the too little shorts she was wearing with a raised brow.

“Girl please, don’t start with me. These thighs deserve fresh air.”

“You are so dramatic.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” she said, giving me an exaggerating swirl. “Now, where is my cinnamon roll? My uterus is PMS’ing and I will absolutely cuss somebody out in public today for playing with me.”

I walked back around the counter and handed her the warm pastry that I’d already prepared for her beforehand.

She made an actual moaning sound before taking a huge bite.

Tori was a certified mess, the good kind though.

She was loud, loyal and always ten seconds away from dragging me out of the house for something reckless I had no damn business doing.

Tori and I met in college. She was studying cosmetology and was my roommate for two semesters before she moved off-campus and officially launched her “hot girl era,” as she loved to call it, and she loved to remind me that I needed one too.

Tori grew up with strict, old school Southern parents who made sure she was in church every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

She never had sleepovers and boys were out of the question.

But the minute she left home, she snapped every rule in half and never looked back.

By the time we were twenty-three, she’d opened her own beauty bar, was booked solid for lashes and facials, and had a waitlist that was two months long.

Tori had been there for me through everything since we’d met and became a constant in my life, especially after my parents passed away.

She offered to take some time off from her business and help me run the book café, but I refused to let her put her dreams on hold to help make mine.

She wasn’t hearing me at all, cause she ended up taking a month off just to stay here with me while I worked through my grief and helped run the shop.

Tori didn’t take shit for nobody and she didn’t allow me to hide from life either.

She works my nerves at times with all her wild and crazy shenanigans that she loves dragging me into but at the same time, she protects and respects my innocence and doesn’t judge me for it.

“So, what’s tea? Your still not dating?” She asked, chewing and eyeing me suspiciously.

“Not since you asked me that same question last week,” I responded, rolling my eyes.

“Well, you didn’t text me back yesterday. Did you finally download one of those dating apps I sent you?”

“I didn’t open the store yesterday,” I admitted, hesitantly.

Tori stopped mid-bite. “Wait, what? Ivy Monroe, you never skip work. Not even when you had the flu and could barely fucking breath. What is going on with you?”

I forced a shrug. “I just—wasn’t feeling well.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Girl, you always don’t feel well when your emotions are involved.

So, what is it? Are we talking anxiety spiral, random emotional break down, or did a man say something crazy to you and you’re just now processing it?

Wait—no it can’t be the last part because that would mean that you would actually have to converse with a man, any man other than bad breath Jesse that comes in here flirting with you every damn day before brushing his damn teeth and I know you fucking lying. ”

I smirked at her then looked away.

“Oh my God,” she whispered dramatically. “You’re fucking with Jesse?!”

“What—no! Definitely not him!”

“So, not him but there is a man.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“You’ve always been a bad liar Ivy,” she said, hopping up to sit on the front counter. “Who is he, chile?” Her eyes lit up while she waited for me to spill the tea on Ghost.

I didn’t know what this was with us or even if it was something at all, but I knew I wasn’t ready to tell her about him and what had transpired the past few days.

It’s not every day that you tell your best friend that a fine ass stranger broke into your store in the middle of the night bleeding to death with a gun pointed at you and instead of running or calling the cops, you take him in and nurture him back to health while secretly lusting over him while he sleeps in your bed.

I busied myself, wiping down a perfectly clean expresso machine.

“Nobody… just a guy from my past that resurfaced. It kind of rattled me, so I wasn’t in the right headspace to be around people, that’s all,” I lied.

Tori eyed me carefully, like she could read right through the lie I’d given her.

“Someone from your past, huh? Anyone I know?” She questioned.

I shook my head. “Not at all. Just some guy from high school.”

“Well, ok. At least he was fine as hell, but what could he have done to have you so ‘rattled’ that you couldn’t open your damn store?”

I knew that she was never going to let this conversation go, which is why I gave her the bullshit lie about a high school ex.

Tori always meant well, but she could be very pushy at times, and I wasn’t easily influenced these days, especially to be out dating different guys with no real intentions.

If she knew the truth about who was upstairs in my bedroom right now and why, she would really go nuts.

Then again, she would probably jump into a split, thinking that I’d finally got my ‘split hit’, as she would say. Whatever that meant.

“I never said he was fine, Tor?—”

“You didn’t have to, boo. That fidgeting you do with your hands, and those rosy cheeks told me all I needed to know about him.

He got you hot and bothered, Ivy. Now is the time to use that toy I gave you since you ain’t trying hit a split on the dick,” she chuckled, clearly amused by me being flustered.

“Girl! That thing had me almost going into cardiac arrest in less than 30 seconds. Absolutely not!”

“Sis, that’s all you need to get you right. It will definitely hold you off until you get the real thing,” she shrugged like having heart attack symptoms from a sex toy was normal. Freaky ass!

“For you to be so bothered by this man, you shol’ is glowing.” She gasped. “Ivy Monroe, did you fuck him?! Oh my God, bitch spill it! Tell me everything. Was his dick big? Did it hurt? Do he eat coo?—”

“TORI, STOP!” I yelled out. She was really being ridiculous and too damn invested in my life and who I gave my coochie too.

“No, I haven’t fucked anybody. Yes, he is fine as hell, but you know I’m in no rush to give up the goods. I want real love, not some bend me over fuck session and never talk again type shit.”

“Mm mm don’t threaten me with a good time hunny,” she smirked, sticking her tongue out.

“I’m not doing this with you right now,” I said, giggling.

Ghost most definitely had me hot and bothered since he’d showed up.

It was everything about him for me—his voice, his eyes, the way he moved, even hurt, I could just tell that he was a force to be wreckened with.

He had me second guessing everything I thought I wanted.

The way he looked at me told me that he wanted to devour me, and the worst part was that I wanted him to, in the worst and best way.

I knew better, though. I’d read about men like him that come into your life, make you fall in love, cause chaos and then leave you heartbroken—something that I wasn’t ready to experience, so I told myself to be smart and keep my feelings locked tight, at least until he was gone.

But even then…. I wasn’t sure if I’d make it out of this untouched.

“You’re being weird,” Tori said, studying me. “You always get all squirmy and weird when it’s some real shit.

I cleared my throat. “Okay, pot. I’m kettle.”

She grinned. “Touche, bitch. Anyway, I plan to date all these niggas until one of em’ decide to act right. Speaking of, I had a date last night with that chef dude, girl it was fucking horrible. The nigga had the nerve to order for me, and then when the food came, he chewed with his mouth open.”

“Ewwww,” I blurted.

“Then what put the fucking icing on the cake for me was the nigga didn’t believe in zodiac signs and refused to tip the waiter. Bitch, I skedaddled out of the restaurant so damn fast and had his number blocked and deleted by the time I left the parking lot.”

“But you did tip the waiter first though, right?” I questioned.

“Uh, no! I wasn’t paying for shit on no date with a nigga. I shot that waitress a sad face and kept it moving.”

I doubled over laughing at Tori. Like I said before, she was crazy and wild, but we meshed so well together.

Tori was the sister I never had and never knew I needed.

I knew that eventually I would have to tell her about Ghost because there was no way in hell, I’d be able to keep these feelings and crazy emotions to myself.

I was thanking God that he hadn’t stepped out of the shadows again and blew my cover.

Tori and I chatted for a little while longer before she left to get ready for her next date tonight, promising to call me after with the details.

Listening to her love life or lack of was the only excitement I had outside of these walls.

Well, until he appeared. Now I just had to make it through the next couple of days of him healing with my mind and virginity intact, I wasn’t sure if either was possible.