Page 21 of He Thugged Me First

GAYZE

“ I t’s been a minute. You wanna catch me up on you?” Kenya asked.

I smiled and mentally sorted through my brain. I mean, I didn’t know where I should start. It was Monday, and I had spent my entire weekend wrapped up in Mazz’s presence.

“You’re smiling, so that has to be something.”

I giggled. “It is. I spent the weekend with Mazzier.”

She nodded for me to continue.

“It was wonderful, actually. It was like I was able to just let go, to not be in control of something for once. I felt so at peace and so relaxed.” I explained.

“As for Chase?”

I didn’t mean to laugh when she said his name, but I did.

“So I went to talk to him at work Friday because we had a few words earlier that day. I had finally planned on having that talk. So we were talking, and this woman walked up to us, and she asked him who I was and referred to him as babe .” I twisted my lips up, looking at her.

Kenya was rarely surprised, but at this moment, she was. I could see it in her posture and the way she took her glasses off of her face. “How did that make you feel?”

“Like a weight had been lifted from my chest. The thing is, even if I wasn’t dealing with Mazzier, Chase and I weren’t working.

There were too many things we wouldn’t talk about, too many things we wouldn’t say to one another unless we were arguing.

Then and only then would we say things to hurt one another’s feelings. ”

She nodded. “How do you feel now?”

“Like I’m suspended in the air.” I closed my eyes and rested back against the sofa.

“Is there a downside to that?”

I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know yet. I’m trying not to allow my mind to summon all of the wrong thoughts. I wanna think positive and be?—”

“Happy,” she finished.

I opened my eyes and I peered at her. “Yes, happy. So I choose not to question things and think of all that could go bad. I choose to keep my mind on all that is going right.”

“I like that. Then stay suspended.” She closed her book and looked at me.

Today’s session went faster than most of our meetings.

I didn’t know why I was surprised, but I was.

The full ride back to my job, I talked to Nadeen.

She made me promise that I’d come out to eat with her and Autumn.

I knew I’d been lacking on girl time and damn near giving more time to my job and Mazz.

The thing is my job took up 99 percent of my week, so whatever was left over was for sleep, and these days Mazz fit in with that.

I was no fool, and I knew for sure he’d demand more of my time because he was a man.

For now, it worked, and I liked the idea of him shifting his schedule around me.

Actually, I liked him, so this worked. Once I entered my hospital, I smiled seeing that it was another slow day.

That was good because it meant I’d be going home on time.

“Dr. Fields, there is a man who insisted that he wait in your office for you.” The nurse at the front desk stopped me before I walked into my office.

I nodded and proceeded to my office. I expected it to be Mazz, because I had snuck out of his house today while he was asleep. When I opened my door, I was sadly mistaken. It was Chase.

“What are you doing here?” I set my purse on the sofa and proceeded to walk past him to my desk.

“We need to talk.”

I laughed. “About?”

He mugged me before exhaling harshly. “Us. I know I fu?—”

“There is no us, Chase. There is you, and there’s me. We are no longer intertwined.” I corrected him.

“I refuse to believe that. I messed up pretty bad, but I love you. She’s just an intern.” He shrugged it off like it meant nothing.

In reality, it didn’t because I didn’t even care. My ability to not give a damn was because he’d given me an easy way out of having one of the hardest conversations of my being.

“Do you love me, Gayze?”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t matter. What matters are the facts. You and I are not a match. It didn’t work, and I accept that. You should do the same.”

He looked at me, pissed. I always knew when he got pissed because he became the color of a tomato. I mean, literally, his lips would tighten, and he would just transform right before my eyes.

“What don’t you understand? She didn’t matter. Thi?—”

“Have you removed all of your things from my home?” I asked. I was done going back and forth about spoiled milk.

“No. I waited all night for you to come home. We need to?—”

“Coordinate when you’re gonna get your things out of my home. Yes, we do. As of nine this morning, my lock codes were changed by building management,” I said, never taking my eyes off of him.

“Did you have to take it this far? I mean, I fouled up, but now you’re doing too fucking much.”

“No. I’m not doing enough. I mean, seriously, do you really want to be with me? You don?—”

My door opened, and I could’ve pissed myself.

Mazz walked his fine ass in with a morning glare and food.

This man was simply fucking breathtaking.

He was sculpted and put together by the gods to walk this earth as proof they existed.

I could tell he’d just gotten his taper touched up because he still had the chalk slightly on his face.

Mazz was the type of man who gave a fuck about the little shit that men these days had long ago done away with.

From the moment his athletic build walked into my office, I could smell the expensive cologne that agreed with his natural scent.

Today, he wore the simplest items, but the small things demanded attention.

Never mind the fact that he had on a pair of sweats and a hoodie, one could still see the Phillipe Patek that adorned his wrist along with the small gold rosary that adorned his neck.

I watched him set my food in front of me before he took a seat on my sofa. He rested like he owned the joint.

I looked back from him at Chase who foolishly still stood at my desk, glaring at me.

“Excuse me, we were talking.” He looked over at Mazz who was now blowing the grits on the spoon before he put it to his lips. Fuck! I would’ve loved to be that spoon.

“No. We’re done talking. Just hit me up when you’re ready to get your things.” My eyes cut from Mazz to him.

Chase didn’t move. He folded his arms and looked at me before looking back at Mazz.

“C’mon now, lil’ man. I’m tryna enjoy breakfast with my lady, and you really fucking that up.

Thing is, this is her place of business, so I’m not gonna act the fuck up.

I’mma just ask you to go about yo’ day before I make it hard for ya moms to identify you.

” Mazz spoke, not even looking at Chase.

He was too busy focused on his food, and I was too damn focused on him.

His threat to Chase sent a chill down my spine and made me wet.

I mean damn, he eluded power, and his presence demanded all the respect.

Chase had to have taken the hint because when I looked back to where he was standing, it was empty, and my door was just closing.

I stood and walked from behind my desk toward him. I took a seat on the opposite end of the sofa, and I just looked at him. “How’d you know I was hungry?”

“I didn’t. Mama Dolly insisted I bring you something while she’s downstairs getting checked out by her heart doctor.”

I nodded. Before I knew it, he had the spoon from the grits to my lips. Of course I took them. All this man wanted to do was feed me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was trying to help me gain weight.

“You coming to my crib tonight?” he asked, gazing at me with his brown irises.

“If that’s what you want, after I have dinner with the girls.”

He looked at me and tilted his head. “How you know I didn’t wanna have dinner with?—”

“Because we had dinner this entire weekend.” I smiled.

He laughed. “I gotta take care of some shit tonight anyways.”

My eyebrow raised. “Should I be worried?”

“Nope. You should be already there waiting on me when I get in.” He winked at me.

“How would I do that?”

Without another word he reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key. He placed it on my thigh and just looked at me. “That’s how.”

I smiled nervously. Mentally, I couldn’t decipher if things were moving too fast or if this speed was good for me.

The thing is, I felt like I needed to recalibrate my brain.

Mazz was different from what I had become accustomed to.

With Chase, things happened slow and begrudgingly, whereas with Mazzier, I was learning that whatever he was feeling happened.

Whatever flowed and felt right was the move.

There wasn’t some handbook of rules or bullet points on what was next.

It was just him and me. From being around him, I knew for a fact that Mazzier wasn’t a man that waited on things to happen; he made them happen and took what he wanted.

That’s because he was a man who knew what he wanted.

I just wished I were in the same place. All that I knew right now was that I loved how he made me feel.

I liked the giddy rush that I got whenever he was near.

KASAIR - ONE WEEK LATER