Page 19 of Love's Most Wanted

Thank God. His question sounded as if he believed my last statement.

“No. I don’t plan to tell him either, because I’m getting rid of it, so it doesn’t matter.” I shrugged one shoulder only, looking into his pretty eyes once I was done speaking.

“Well, whatever you need, I got you. It’ll be like a truce.”

“I can’t ask for help. I won’t ask for help. Had I not gotten help from a nigga in the past, I would be fine right now.”

“Too bad, then, ’cause I’m gon’ help you in any way you need.” He rose to his feet. “I owe you for not telling you what I knew.And, you my wife until further notice. Look at the shit that way. Aight?” He smirked.

“What is so funny about that?” I chuckled myself, putting the last bit of the ice cream into my mouth.

“I kind of like saying you my wife.”

“Well don’t get used to it, okay?”

“Well, Mack better hurry the fuck up.” His crooked smile appeared again, and I had to look away from him. He even flirted with his damn eyes and lips alone. “Speaking of him, he said he got to Las Vegas last night, and he gon’ spend all day interviewing and investigating as much as possible.”

“Ooh, perfect!” I felt some relief.

“Yeah, but like I said, I’m gon’ help you out while you still mine.”

“I’m not yours, just your wife and only by law.”

“By law takes precedence over every-fucking-thing, love.” His eyes drank me in and it rendered me speechless for a moment. “Tell me you gon’ take my help though. I need us to be even and shit.”

“I will.” I nodded, but I knew I wouldn’t be taking anything from him or any other man.

I hated men right now. They were all shit, and if they weren’t shit, they were ugly or broke or both. Even Unique, who was as fine as they come and made good money, wasn’t a good man in my opinion. His decision to have two girlfriends was a huge turn off and proof of his immaturity and inability to commit.

His brothers didn’t seem to be on the same vibe he was, especially Asif. The way he looked at his girlfriend on that yacht during the proposal told me a lot. I had just met them, but I could tell straight off the bat that any woman attempting to infiltrate their relationship would be setting herself up for failure. He only sawher,and that was what I wanted. It seemed like niggas like that were a dime a dozen, however.

“I need ya number though.”

“Unique.” I squinted at him. “You think you’re slick. I’m not giving my number to a man with one girlfriend, let alone two.”

“Ain’t even like that, for real. I swear if I call you on some other shit, hang up in a nigga’s face.”

I contemplated for a while before sighing and reading my number off to him.

“Do not use that for anything but business.” I stood, pointing at him.

“Yes, ma’am.” He tossed his hands up in mock surrender, sexy smile on his face as he backed away.

He might’ve thought shit was a game, but if he called me trying to kick it via telephone, I was hanging up on his ass. Unique might’ve been fine and a cool person, but I was done with these niggas for a nice while, and he wasn’t an exception.

* * *

As soon as I stepped into my packed-up bedroom in my robe, my phone rang. I hoped it wasn’t the front desk calling me about AJ wanting me out, because I was going to let his ass have it this time.

AJ was only doing it to manipulate me into asking to stay and then agreeing to be his side chick. I would go live with my annoying, money hungry aunt before I did that. Only reason I wasn’t now was because she and I didn’t get along when we spent too much time together. She was that family member you had to love mostly from afar.

Seeing Unique’s name on my phone screen made me pause. I didn’t know exactly why he was calling, because I didn’t know how he could help me. I wouldn’t take money from him for several reasons, and I wasn’t about to stay at his house. Those were the only two things I needed assistance with, other than my abortion, and having him help me pay for that felt like it would be crossing a boundary. I had other options before going to Unique.

“Hey.” I rested the phone between my face and shoulder as I grabbed a pair of panties to slip on.

“Aye, so I was waiting on confirmation from my property management team, and they got back to me. I got a studio available. Nothing bigger than that, unfortunately.”

“Wait,” I gripped the phone in my hand with a frown, “you own an apartment building?”