Page 9

I watched as she stood up, kissed my cheek and strutted up back toward the house. As much as her advice was solid, I didn’t want to hear that shit right now. Not when she was just texting me to pick her up and spending the weekend with me last month.

Kora’s advice was the last thing I wanted to hear right now. I didn’t want to hear shit when she had all this time to tell me, and she hid that shit from me. Fucking lied to me, while telling me that she wanted to be with me, and it was fear that was stopping her.

It was never fear.

She was fucking engaged on the low and didn’t know how to tell me the truth, so she continued to string me along, hoping that eventually I would be the one that stepped away, so she didn’t have to.

Greene looked at me. “I wanted to tell you, but I knew it wasn’t my place.”

“You good… wasn’t your place and I respect that you minded your business.”

She smiled, then jumped up. “Oh shit, she has to have her ice cream before she naps.” I watched as she jogged back up toward the house, catching up with Kora.

Navy tried to busy herself with fixing her dress and looking out at the pool now that it was just the two of us left. Greene wasn’t worried about no damn ice cream; she was leaving us alone on purpose.

“I said if it was meant for me to see you again, then I would.”

She smiled, sitting her plate and drink onto the table. “You did say that. Universe works quick.”

“Or we got people in the same circles.” I watched as she crossed her legs and fixed her hair, knowing that it was already perfect.

Messing with her hair was something she did whenever she was nervous.

The simple black linen dress she wore was loose, but I could tell that it gripped her ass and thighs the minute that she stood up.

There wasn’t too much that could hide that ass she was carrying around.

A different purse from her knock off was sitting beside her, and matched her sandals, with her cute white toes.

“Why are you staring at me so hard?”

“Can’t appreciate art?”

“Ha, funny.”

“I got something for you, Bleu… B…L…E…U,” I spelled it out for her, and she was impressed.

“Did Greene tell you or did you go home to your huge mansion and google little ol’ me?” she teased.

“Don’t live in a big ass mansion but did go home to my penthouse and googled you though. Is that a problem for you?”

She smiled. “We’re even because I googled your car and then slammed the laptop shut when I saw the price and how exclusive it was.”

“What’s the matter?” I asked, not acknowledging the conversation about my car. It was the way she looked when she mentioned going home to google my car.

Navy messed around with a loose piece of thread on her dress, then looked up at me, confused. “What do you mean?”

I wasn’t pretending like I knew Navy, but something told me that everything wasn’t good with her.

Her eyes seemed sadder than the last time I saw her, although she tried to laugh and maintain regular conversation.

I didn’t miss how she held onto Greene’s dress to prevent her from getting up and leaving us alone.

Like she couldn’t trust herself to be around me alone.

“I’m a stranger, right?”

“Pretty much.”

“Then treat me like one… don’t lie to me. You don’t have to pretend, either, because you don’t owe me shit.” I leaned forward.

Navy turned her attention to the pool before looking back at me. Tears tapped danced on her waterline, and her eyes slowly became red. Standing up, I walked over toward her and held my hand out.

Reluctantly, she took my hand, and I pulled her up off the couch and behind me. “I cannot go in there looking like you made me cry.”

“Would never, either. Chill, I got you, I’m gonna take you around the side of the house,” I explained as she allowed me to pull her toward the front of the house.

We bypassed Menace’s extra ass rose garden that had its own area as you rounded the side of the house. I quickly double looked and noticed that there was a bench in the middle of it, with a plaque with our parent’s name on it.

I never noticed it because I hardly came over here and I damn sure wasn’t walking around the side of this big ass house when I did come.

Holding her hand tighter, I pulled her in front of me as we exited the side gate.

The gardener smiled at us as we continued walking toward where my car was parked.

They were in the process of rinsing down Menace’s Rezvani he had just came in, before pulling it into the garage.

She still held onto my hand as I pulled the door open with the other one.

I looked down at her as the tear fell down her cheek.

Navy slipped into the seat like she had a few nights before.

I couldn’t front like we didn’t look good together.

She fit perfectly right next to me, as if she was always meant to be there.

Rounding the car, I got into the driver's seat and looked over at her. “Got something for you.”

She smiled. “What could you possibly have for….” Her voice trailed off when I held up her kindle she left behind.

“Gotta believe what I say. If it was meant for me to see you, God was gonna make that happen. You left this in my car the other night because you were so busy flirting with me.”

Navy busted out laughing, and it was a real laugh that came from the stomach and soul at the same time. “I was not flirting with you at all…so please. That is the way that I talk.”

“Fluttering your eyelashes and talking all soft like this,” I mocked her.

“Um yes.” She messed with her hair and then looked over at me. “He broke up with me.”

“Damn, I’m sorry.”

“It was for the best, right?” she stared at me for confirmation, although she didn’t need it. She wanted it so she could feel better about the situation.

“Can’t tell you that.” As much as I wanted to tell her that she was better off without him, that wasn’t my place because I didn’t know that man personally or their situation. Only Navy knew what was best for her when it came to her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

“I’ve been in bed for three days and Greene came and dragged me out. Shit been weird with us, but he claimed that I’ve been different since he been back. How he didn’t sign up for me to be hopping in and out random nigga’s cars.”

As much as homie wanted to punish her for getting out of my car, that wasn’t the reason.

He had a plan to end things with her. All men did, and he used this situation to push through with his plan.

He wanted to break up with her, but place that blame on her like she was at fault for the demise of their relationship.

The shit pissed me off because she had tears sliding down her face and was hurt behind him. Meanwhile, he probably had mad bitches in his phone ready to suck his dick because he was now single and heading to the NBA.

“I don’t like that.”

“What does it matter to you? We just met.” She sniffled and wiped her face as she waited for my answer.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t like to see a woman crying over a man she’s better than. I don’t know that man, so I won’t speak on him. I will speak on knowing that you’re a good person.”

“Can you tell, or did you go down a rabbit hole of my videos?”

I laughed. “Both.”

“The part that sucks is that I have to tell my parents that we broke up and look at their face. All he kept telling them was that we would get married and have a bunch of babies together.” She gagged.

“The fuck is wrong with marriage and kids?”

It was the first genuine smile I saw since seeing her today.

As she leaned against the door, she stared straight at me.

“Never against marriage. My parents have been married for twenty-eight years. I would love to be married in a nice ceremony where my daddy walks me down the aisle and I have all the different wedding festivities.”

“But?”

“Why are you assuming there is a but ?”

My phone interrupted our conversation when it started ringing. I silenced the call from Kennedy and gave Navy my full attention. No sooner than I silenced the call, a shit ton of back-to-back text messages came through, which let me know she was pissed that I was ignoring her.

“You can answer your phone. I promise I won’t speak and get you in trouble,” she continued to tease, as I stared at her.

“ But ?” I pushed.

She dropped her shoulders. “I don’t want children.”

“Everyone says that shit when they’re our age… how old are you?”

“Twenty-two. My birthday is in a couple weeks.” She did a little dance in her seat, and I smirked ‘cause she was so fucking cute.

“Eventually you’ll change your mind.” I flipped open her kindle and was surprised that it wasn’t dead.

“How old are you?”

“Turning twenty-five in a few weeks.”

She side-eyed me. “When is your birthday?”

“June fifteenth.”

Navy nearly launched herself through the closed roof when I told her my birthday. “I’m June seventeenth… are you being serious?”

“I am.”

“See, I knew there was a reason we were locked in with each other. Real recognizes real.” She smiled at me. “And you’re not that much older than me… so please. Don’t ever plan on changing my mind, either. Children aren’t something that I want or feel I need to make my life complete.”

“I can respect it.”

“What about you?”

I stared at her. “I’m good with having them or not having them… never really thought about it.”

She folded her arms. “You’ve never thought about if you wanted to have children or not?”

It was like the thought was so mind-boggling to her that I, as a man, never sat down and decided whether I ever wanted to have children. It wasn’t something that I had time to think about.

“A girlfriend… maybe even a fiancée, I may have thought about a time or two. Children… never. Not because I dislike them, but because it wasn’t on my mental.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm, what?”

She smirked. “Nothing… just interesting.”

I swiped up on her kindle and she tried to grab it from me. “Nah, don’t be shy now… what you be reading about?”

“Fucking,” she blurted.

I paused and then started laughing. “Long distance was hard on you, huh?”

She covered her face with both her hands. “Omg, please leave me alone. I just like some spicy shit.”

“Same.”

“You like to read spicy books, too?”

I looked up from the book she happened to be reading. “Nah, I like to do the spicy shit that you be reading about in books.”

Navy sank down in the chair and covered her face. “Don, please.”

“Landon.”

“Everyone calls you Don, though,” she replied, peeking through her fingers with a goofy smile on her face.

“I can tell you not about to be everyone .”

She smiled bashfully and then held her hand out. “No kids club… me and you. First one to break it owes the other thirty-thousand dollars.”

“You gonna give me thirty bands?”

She faked like she was offended. “You think I’m gonna be the first one that breaks this pact? Wow, Don… thought you believed in me.”

“Landon,” I corrected her.

Her small hand slipped into mine. “ Landon ,” she corrected, doing that voice and fluttering her eyelashes.

Navy Bleu was trouble.