Page 5 of Breaking the Rules
FIVE
All of this was too much. Though appreciative, Noble was cool with a kick back with close friends and more privacy than this.
After Sincere’s announcement, he fell into the background and roamed down the beach.
His phone in hand, hoping to have a missed call or text back from his sister.
They had plans for the morning, and by now, she would’ve at least called two or three times to confirm, wish him a happy birthday, and let his niece fill his ears with ramblings of all the things she did and what she couldn’t wait to do with Unc-Unc.
Chopping it up to her being busy, he put it out of his mind for the night.
There was a meeting with the Royals tomorrow, and more than anything, he wanted to be back home.
In his own space, taking care of his family and minding his business.
Majestic Heights had become too much. The team was pushing him out, and he was ready to go.
Noble slid his phone in his pocket and roamed to a set of beach chairs he’d had his eyes on since earlier in the night.
Being that the party was toppling over with women who wanted to be close to the celebrities at the party, he was surprised to find a woman alone, staring into the light of the moon.
If his eyes weren’t deceiving him and the weed he smoked earlier with Sincere wasn’t still in his system, he would have believed that she swiped a tear from her cheek.
As if she could sense his presence, her sad eyes found his. Just for a moment, he could see her pain before she turned it off. She didn’t recognize him like the other partygoers had; she just offered a soft smile, expecting him to keep passing by.
Noble was stuck. He was a sucker for a beautiful woman, but even more of a sucker for tears. He had his sister and niece to thank for that.
“There’s a whole party going on,” he started. “Out here alone?”
She rolled her lips over one another and pushed her hair out of her face. “It’s your party, you should be the one up there. I’m not on no creep shit or nothing, just spotted you on stage earlier with Sincere.”
Noble nodded. “Yeah, he’s just using my birthday as a reason to piss his neighbors off with this party.”
“I don’t know, the looks of it, they might be up there partying too,” she stated as she stood. “I don’t mean to impede on your space or anything. It looks like you’re looking for a quiet moment.”
“Yeah, the shit is too wild. Ain’t really my scene.”
“I can feel that. Enjoy, though,” she stated before starting down the beach.
“There’s a spot further down. Quieter.”
She stopped and looked over him. Then she furrowed her perfectly filled brows. “Is this a play? Lonely girl, you on some weird type shit?”
If he wasn’t stuck before, the spiciness she let slip made his feet sink further into the sand.
“I’m from 74 th and Huey, and it might not look like it, but I can fight. You’re big, but I’ll find a way to take you down.”
Noble chuckled, amused by the thought of this woman barely over five feet four inches having to fight about her respect. “80 th and Mecca and nah, no weird type shit, just if you down to sit in silence with me. No pressure.”
She pressed the tip of her tongue against the corner of her mouth and thought it over. It would serve as a distraction, if just for a minute. She was good at listening to men talk about themselves and holding space. She did it successfully three nights a week.
She gestured her hand down the shore. “Lead the way.”
Noble nodded at the access and closed the space between them. Quietly at first, they walked shoulder to shoulder.
“I’m Noble by the way,” he shared.
“Oh, wow that’s a heavy name.”
Noble groaned softly. “Yeah, it holds some weight I haven’t always had the courage to live up to.”
“Hoping this year is different? Heard turning thirty is some big shit.”
“Yeah, hoping to make my father proud. Be the man my sister and niece need me to be.”
“Sounds like a good resolution.”
“What about you?”
She looked up at him and he mused as she silently went back and forth with giving him her real name or another.
“Don’t give me no fake shit like Rachel or Sarah or something,” Noble joked, making a tiny smile pierce the corners of her mouth.
“Savanhi. There’s no meaning to it. My brother named me. Apparently, he’d just learned about the savannah and was obsessed with it, so there came my name. It has no meaning. But if you ask my brother, he’ll say it fits me.”
“Why is that?” Noble posed.
Savanhi bit her lip and hummed, then shrugged. “The savannah is large, and it holds life when watered, kills when it’s not.”
“Oh, so you’re dangerous,” he joked, stepping back. “Let me step back.”
“Only when I’m not tended to correctly. But you don’t need to know all of that. Tonight’s about you.”
Silence settled between the two as they approached the private dock Sincere rarely used that housed a boat he’d only bought for show. Noble followed as Savanhi took a seat on the bench of the dock and went back to staring at the moon.
“How often do you do that?”
“Do what?” Savanhi retorted.
“Focus on someone else other than yourself?”
Her brows raised, a scoff muffled between her lips as she blinked away the remnants of pain. “Ashamed to admit how often actually. That and no one really asks. I’ve gotten good at holding it until I can’t.”
“That shit sucks though. Being the strong one. The one that always has to hold it together.”
“What else are we supposed to do? Cry about it?” Savanhi posed and shook her head. “I’ve done enough of that in life. You just hold it and keep moving on.”
“Holdin’ it is heavy as fuck though,” Noble admitted, twisting his mouth and staring into the moon. “I can hold a lot, but sometimes I need to get it off my shoulders just for a second so I can breathe.”
“Well, get it off your shoulders for a second.”
“Nah, I’m not putting that on you.”
“Listen, I crashed your party, no gift in hand. I’m impeding all on your space. I doubt we’ll see each other after tonight. So whatever it is, it’s safe here.”
Noble studied her under the moonlight. Large eyes that shone like diamonds, full lips, and a nose that fit her face perfectly.
He cooly examined her body while they walked – not for any other reason than the fact she was a work of art.
He remembered his rule. As captivating as she was, he wasn’t going to fall back into the shit he’d just gotten out of.
But he couldn’t help himself. There was a magnetic pull she had that provided comfort.
“Ever been cheated on?” he asked.
Savanhi scoffed bitterly and looked down at her hands. “Yeah. It’s a pain like death.”
“Splits you in two. I’m supposed to be a married man now. Somewhere on an island.”
“Damn. So, you’re mourning? That makes sense now,” Savanhi muttered.
“Makes sense now?” Noble questioned brows furrow.
Savanhi nodded. “Earlier, when Sincere was on the mic, you looked…distant. Appreciative but like you would rather be alone.”
Noble chuckled. “I got scared for a second.”
“Why…”
“I might’ve had a stalker or two.”
Savanhi scoffed, laughing softly. “Probably some of your own doing. But outside of this right now, I have no vested interest in who you are or what you do.”
“Straight like that?”
“Straight like that.”
“All that make sense now too,” he spoke putting his eyes back on hers. “You got a glimmer of sadness in your eyes, but you know how to turn it off like you’ve mastered it.”
Savanhi nodded. “I am the master of the mask. I’ve learned how to make people see only what I want them to see.”
“What do you want me to see?”
She shrugged. “I have no vested interest.”
“What if you did?”
Rolling her plump lips over one another, she hummed. “Probably someone whole.”
“Don’t hold back.”
She looked up at him. “In general, someone worth loving, I guess.”
“When’s the last time you had that?”
“Romantically? Never. You?”
“Thought I had it with my ex. Now that I sit back and think about it, never had it either.”
“I thought my cousin was tripping when she said I needed to feel something else to get over the sting of it.”
“I’ve heard that too. Not sure how much that works.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Savanhi softly replied, looking away.
Moving off impulse, Noble reached over and turned her face back to his, a gentle motion of his pointer finger. “Would you like to see if it does?”
Savanhi bit the softness of her lip. “No vested interest.”
“None whatsoever. Just something to take the fuckin’ edge of this shit off.”
Regardless of who he was, he’d never made a request like this. Somewhere lost in the heartbreak, embarrassment, the weed and liquor. The same for Savanhi.
“I have rules though. One rule. This is for tonight, right now in this moment. When it’s done, it’s done.”
“It’s a deal.”