Page 13 of His Obsession Her Cure

Pepper

T he weather today was beautiful. It was sunny and warm unlike the first couple days I was here, that had me feeling like I was going to catch fire.

We got to the mall early trying to avoid the huge weekend crowds.

I hadn’t been shopping for myself in so long I almost forgot how.

Taye insisted on choosing my clothes for me after we got together.

He said if he didn’t, I would walk around looking like a baby stud.

Even after telling him why I chose to dress in comfortable baggy clothes he still acted like it was a life choice that he had to break me out of.

Since Char was the fashionista of our tiny friend group she thought it was her job to pick out each and every one of my outfits choices.

She pulled out outfit after outfit that she thought complimented my full figure.

I kept my face neutral sliding pieces that I didn’t agree with back on the racks to Char’s displeasure.

“Will you stop putting back everything that I pick for you? Keep on you gon’ be walking around in yoga pants and graphic tees every day,” she groaned.

“You do know I’m on a budget right. I can’t afford all this, plus most of these things are your style not mine,” I said.

“I didn’t ask you what you could afford, but if it makes you feel better you can buy me a pretzel from Auntie Anne's and call it even,” she giggled.

“Thank you, Charlotte,” I said, really meaning it. I may not have been able to express my feelings the way Char did, but I appreciated her for being a friend to me.

“Anyway girl. I wanted to ask you about what made you change your mind about coming here for school?”

“Let’s just say I got rid of the baggage that was holding me back.” I said, my expression giving away nothing.

“Okay, that means you’re free to do what you want with your life now, right? Including my cousin.” She smirked, giving me a wink.

“That’s not a good idea.”

“You’re killin’ me, Pepper. Why not? You just said you got rid of your baggage. You’re in a new town, with a fresh start, and a new name.” She said, eyeing me. “I saw your admission paperwork on the counter at home. Is there a reason you are going by your middle name?

“It sounds more mature. I want to be taken seriously in the medical field. Would you trust a doctor named Pepper?” I asked her.

Hopefully that would be enough and as close to the truth as I was willing to get right now. I wasn’t scared that Char would ask me to leave if she knew what I had done to get away, but I didn’t want to take that chance. She was the only person I had in my corner, and I didn’t want to lose that.

“You are so crazy. But anyway, I think this will be perfect for tonight.” She said holding up a short, olive-green sundress that barely looked like it would cover my ass let alone my thick ass thighs.

“Do you think that dress is appropriate for anything other than street walking?” I asked her, with an exasperated expression.

“Come on Pepper. Live a little is gonna be the start of you and Gunner’s love story and I for one am here for it.”

“Even Char sees it. He is ours already and we are his.”

I pressed my lips together and rolled my eyes at her declaration. “I don’t want to…” I paused gathering the right words. “I don’t want to lose myself to a dangerous obsession. And that’s just what Gunner could become an obsession.”

“What does Nyx say?” she asked.

“You know what she says.”

“Well maybe this time you should listen, Pep.”

“See I told you. That’s why I love Char.”

Attempting to change the subject I grabbed the outfit and walked to the changing room to try on the dress.

After a long day of shopping and pampering we finally arrived at the guy’s house ready to step outside of my comfort zones.

Char had helped me comb and detangle my hair into a cute shoulder length wash and go.

I had on the olive-green sundress we had picked up from the mall with gold strappy sandals and gold accessories.

I had painted my toes and nails to match the dress.

Char wore a similar outfit, her colors for the night were blue and gold.

We looked good, if I must say so myself. She pulled up to the house and parked.

“Wait, I don’t think I can go in there. What if he decides Gunner thinks I’m too strange or that he’s not really interested in me?” I spoke.

“Come here Pepper. Look in this mirror.” She said holding up a small mirror from her bag.

“Why?”

“Girl, just do it.” I pulled the mirror down and looked at my reflection of the broken woman before me.

“Do you see that drop dead gorgeous woman staring back at you? She is not weird she is fun, kind, loving and most of all fucking hot. My cousin would be crazy not to choose you. Any man would be for that matter. I know Taye made you believe that you weren’t worthy of love but that’s a fucking lie.

You deserve everything this world has to give and that includes nasty, freaky sex with my cousin if you want to.

Now get your ass out of this car and go get your man bitch, Char hyped me up.

” Giggling as she pushed me towards that stairs.

Char used the key Alestar gave her the last time we were here to enter the back door.

As soon as we walked in, we heard music playing but didn’t see too many people.

It was a cool little vibe, not too much like Gunner had said.

They had food and drinks, and mellow music.

I was impressed because I thought bitches would be sliding down poles and dancing on tables up in here.

I had prepared myself in advance for this social gathering, but I wasn’t ready to be around a whole slew of people at a house party.

We moved further into the house looking for the guys when we found Aren sitting in the living room on the couch with a thick pretty girl curled up in his lap and a fine ass dude next to them whispering in his ear.

I guess when you were that fine as Aren, you didn’t have to choose.

“Where is everybody else?” Char said, getting Aren’s attention.

“Outside on the back deck, I think,” he said. “But then again, they could be in the hot tub.” He said before whispering something in the girl's ear, then looking back at us.

“Pepper, this is my girlfriend Miko and my boyfriend Liam.” He said introducing his company.

“This nigga living in a real life why choose novel.”

They untangled themselves from each other and then smiled at me warmly.

“Hi, Pepper. Nice to meet you." Miko said, getting up to give me a hug before doing the same to Char.

“Hey, pretty girls.” Liam said with a kiss on each of our cheeks.

“It’s nice meeting you both.” I said, my eyes bounced between the three, taking in their beauty.

“You too, welcome to Brookview. We would love to take you out some time to get to know you better if you’re not busy.” He said with a bright white smile. “Char you know you’re invited too so stop pouting,” Liam said laughing at Char, whose bottom lip was poked out.

“Well, thank you cousin in-law I thought I was left out,” she giggled.

“Girl, you know they love you." Miko told her.

“Okay now that we made that clear let me go look for the other two troublemakers. We’ll leave y’all to it.” Char said, pulling me out of the room.

I followed Char through the den to find Alestar and Gunner outside smoking on the deck with two girls who were laughing a little hard at something he had just said, they were both barefoot in nothing but string bikinis not at all appropriate for an intimate get together in my opinion.

Gunner and Alestar were shirtless, in swim trunks like they had already been in the water.

“Who invited these hoes?”

I noticed that the girl closest to Gunner was being overly familiar and for some reason it was causing this weird feeling in my belly.

“Why the fuck is that bitch touchin our nigga?”

I rolled my eyes at Nyx’s dramatics, standing just inside the door, not wanting to disturb their conversation.

Char clearly had other ideas because she walked straight up to Alestar and took her spot at his side.

He didn’t miss a beat as he draped his arm around her and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Gunner looked around the half-naked girl in front of him and his eyes caught mine, and my mouth watered.

He held out his hand for me to come to him and my feet moved with a mind of their own like I was being drawn to him by a magnet.

My mind was screaming what the fuck, but my body was on that hoe shit.

I could hear Char and Nyx snickering as I took his hand.

And he used it to pull me around the girl that hadn’t moved, right between his legs, looping his arms around my waist. He smelled so fucking good as he held me close.

And then someone cleared their throat, and I remembered the girl standing behind me. I turned and saw the girl who no one had introduced, eyeing me like she wanted to slit my throat. But if she knew what was good for her, she’d run far away from me.

“Hi, I’m Missy and this is my sister Mattie. And you are?” she asked with a tight-lipped smile. Her sister waved at me and gave me a kind smile unlike Missy.

“Her name is Pepper.” Char said like she was waiting for her to try it.

“I’m sure she can speak for herself Char.” She said, turning to me. “You’re new…where did you come from?”

“You know this bitch don’t like us, right? Please tell me you brought the box cutter?”

“Lil baby, Missy is Aren’s assistant, but she helps Alestar and I with our projects too.” Gunner said, like he could feel my energy shift and wanted to clear the air. Little did he know I wasn’t worried about ol’ girl.

“Nice to meet you both.” I said and then turned my attention back to Gunner. But I didn’t miss the scowl on Missy’s face.

“Why you got on this little ass skirt? Showing everybody what’s mine." Gunner asked, returning all of his attention to me, looking down at my sundress like he wanted to rip it off.