Page 18 of For the Love of City

PORSHA

“PORSHA!”

“What?”

I was taking the rare moment to calm down my day and actually do the behind-the-scenes work of my business. The orders had been placed and my limited books had been opened up for the following month. Things were calm so I didn’t understand who could be hollering my name.

I’d been thinking about the week that had sealed my fate.

That sounded so dramatic but that’s how it felt.

The Desperados had won the Super Bowl last February and that weekend was memorable for multiple reasons.

The main being I’d started to get some consistent dick and tripped up and fell into a situationship .

Corey was a force and that week that we linked up he had my ass doing shit that I hadn’t thought I’d enjoy the entire seven days.

The sex was phenomenal but the connection had far surpassed the physical chemistry.

Or it was enhanced because of it.

We talked and he kept me captive in the place he was renting in the city for when he had business.

When that week was done I didn’t want him to leave.

I could tell he was feeling the same way but he followed the rules I set down between us.

That shit went out the window once I was in Atlanta two weeks later, delivering a wig to the singer Yasmine.

Lyric told him to look out for me while I was there, which was wild because she’d never done that before, and he hit me up for dinner.

I wasn’t foolish enough to not accept the free meal and my reward was having my ankles by my ears for hours.

The rules about skinny niggas having big dicks was not a lie thank the good Lord.

Corey was blessed with two handfuls of dick that kept me sore and satisfied.

And now it was over a year later and we’d been doing this thing ever since.

Candace, the girl who was the lead makeup artist for the shop, was standing in my doorway with her face pulled into a smile. Her energy was bright, tone excited and I needed her to take it down a notch.

“There’s a delivery out here for you.”

I frowned and folded my arms wondering why she was so giddy over a delivery. We got them several times a day.

“They can leave it near the break room. I’ll get it in a second.”

“It ain’t that kind of delivery and they said that you have to personally sign for it.”

The grin on her face had me wary of leaving my office. I trusted the women that I worked with without a doubt, but I was also wondering what the hell was waiting outside for me. Instead of waiting like a sitting duck, I pushed back from my chair and headed out of my office.

Like normal, I was in heels and all black.

The woman I worked for when I came to town from Houston was adamant about dressing for the clients you wanted.

I was already kinda prissy, but she gave me a reason to be okay with being prissy all the time.

I had no issue with how my clients wanted to come into the shop, but I wanted the people who worked here to be presentable at all times.

I didn’t care if your hair was neon yellow, it better be laid when you walked through the door.

I wasn’t one for respectability politics, but if I’m charging somebody two thousand dollars for a service, I for damn sure ain’t showing up in my damn pajamas.

And to be real, even my pajamas were silk.

I blamed my mama and my brother for how spoiled I was.

My daddy started it, they continued it and Corey, well, his ass seemed to like doing random shit just because.

The confines of this no strings shit seemed to blur more and more.

I was partially at fault because I was more than okay with that but I did worry how Lyric might take it.

She’d already had one friend betray her in the worst way, I didn’t want her to think I was doing the same.

But of course, I wasn’t being honest with her about how I was fucking her brother.

Or daddy. Or adoptive parent. Or guardian.

Hell, was he even her guardian anymore since she was an adult and married?

Whatever, they were family. And it was fucked up that he knew what the inside of my pussy looked like better than my gynecologist and she ain’t know about us.

My heels clicked on the marble tile because I truly didn’t half step in anything I did. This place was my baby and when I was finally able to break away and start my own salon, I spared no expense.

Candace seemed too giddy for me to see where I was going so I could only hope she wasn’t leading me into some bullshit.

Things had been calm since I got back from LA and I hadn’t wanted to think that anything would be getting ready to disturb my peace.

City was in Atlanta for work on the label and I couldn’t lie like I didn’t miss his ass.

Even worse, it’d been a few days since I could link up with him, so I didn’t even get going away dick.

Maybe that’s why my ass was so damn moody.

I glanced at the customers being serviced up front waving to a few that I knew and the ones I didn’t before I looked around for the delivery. The champagne bar didn’t have anyone standing next to it and neither did the front desk.

“Where is it?” I turned back to Candace wanting her to explain what the hell she’d gotten me up for.

She grinned again, her smile damn near wider than her face, before tilting her head toward the wall of windows. “It’s out front.”

I turned back to the front still not seeing what she was talking about. I shot her a look that had her giggling and the slight gap in her teeth showed through her smile

“You know if this some foolishness I gotta drag you all over these floors and then fire you, right?”

She put a hand to her chest clutching her imaginary pearls over the TLC t-shirt she had tucked into black Ponte pants. “Such violence. Would I ever do that boss lady?”

I had to roll my eyes because she really was being good and damn ridiculous. “Youth. Y’all act like the world is your oyster. I’m a 90s baby. I know there’s wild shit out there.”

“Yeah but look at how you survived. This is good, I promise.”

I rubbed my forehead and mumbled under my breath as I headed to the front door. “Swear to God I gotta hire older people in this bitch.”

“But how much fun would that be, Porsha?”

I rolled my eyes to keep from smiling because I wanted to stay irritated. Candace was just so damn happy and lovable that it was hard to stay mad.

I stepped out of the shop and into the early April weather. I was in a sleeveless dress and despite it having been damn near snowing last week; it was in the high seventies today.

Gotta love Texas.

I looked around again trying to figure out what the delivery was when a man with a uniform on, came walking up with a man in a suit.

“Are you Miss Porsha?”

I stood back with my spine straight hoping I wasn’t about to be pulled into some bullshit. “Who’s asking?”

“I can’t deliver this car until I get a verbal yes. I already have your picture and driver’s license miss, this is just a legal formality.” He was in a shirt and tie but I felt like this wasn’t his normal attire. He didn’t look uncomfortable, but he also didn’t look relaxed.

“Car? What are you talkin’ bout?”

I looked around the lot and saw a luxury SUV being unloaded off of the back of a flatbed. It wasn’t something that was run of the mill, I could see even from this far away that there were custom features all over the car.

What the hell?

“Are you Miss Porsha?”

“Yes.”

He held out a tablet and a stylus pen toward me. “Sign here that you acknowledge receipt of the vehicle.”

“But wait I didn’t order this.” I was still confused and I knew better than to sign some shit without reading it. Billy would cuss my ass out about doing it as she got me out of whatever trouble I’d caused.

“No ma’am. We know you didn’t. It’s a gift. Ordered before Christmas and we just got the custom color to the client’s satisfaction. Do you like the color shift?”

I was rendered speechless so all I could do was nod. The sales rep was a young Black man and he had a smile on his face like he was used to making people’s day.

“I still need you to sign, miss.”

I hurriedly scribbled my name and watched the car roll off the back of the truck. I held my breath hoping they didn’t do something tragic like drop it before I could even look inside. I didn’t take my eyes off of it until it was firmly on the ground.

The car was beautiful. It paid a nod to the slabs of my hometown with a candy paint shift that went from black to money green. It was playful and sophisticated at the same time. The rims were sleek but still had an element of flashiness that would make anybody, including my brother, proud.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s very well designed, if I say so myself.

Here are your keys and your ownership paperwork.

I was instructed to tell you that the car is yours no matter what and the insurance has already been paid for the first year.

” He sounded proud as hell and I knew from the details who was responsible for this purchase.

“Gave you a whole script, huh?”

“Miss, this is tame in comparison to some of the shit I have to say. When it’s a man dropping something off to his side chick, I gotta give a whole if we end this shit the car comes back to him and you still can’t say his name speech.

It’s’ wild.” He was shaking his head and I could tell he was grateful that I wasn’t the worst part of his day.

“Glad I could be normal for you.”

“This how thing has been a pleasure. I hope you enjoy the car and if you or anyone els you know needs something, tell them to reach out to Marcus.”

He extended his phone airdropping his digital card into my contact list. A little much but I understood the need to move away from paper cards. He had his shit together and I could see that he was damn good at his job.

“Wait, do y’all take tips—”