Page 6 of No Gemini Does it Better (BLP Signs of Love #2)

As soon as the lights went out, the first thing I thought about was her.

She still hadn’t told me her fucking name, but as pretty as she was, I knew she had to have a name to match.

I couldn’t deny the fact that shawty was fine.

Her face was a breath of fresh air I needed after being surrounded by hard-faced criminals all the goddamn time.

She was sporting long box braids in a half-up, half-down style.

She was short as hell, so the tips of her braids ended right above her lil round ass.

Yeah, I noticed she had a lil body on her the minute she walked through the door wearing that wet-ass jumpsuit.

The way the fabric clung to her curves and solidly carved thighs had me glad I’d tossed that fuckin’ throw pillow over my shit before it started to brick up.

The hot pink French tips on her nails and toes told me she was timeless but a bit rebellious.

I admired her slim body type and how her braids complemented her butterscotch complexion and full dark brown eyebrows.

Her almond-shaped eyes were deep-set, and she had a set of long, wispy lashes that fanned over them.

Her golden skin looked as smooth as buttermilk, and her full lips were the color of red blush like a Georgia peach.

There was an innocence about her that I appreciated.

Attitude aside, I could almost smell the green on her.

Lucky for her, green was my favorite color.

Although she hadn’t smiled since I’d met her, I could tell she had some pearly whites behind that sassy mouth of hers.

A slowed-down recap of her body replayed in my mind as I felt my way down the dark hallway.

Shawty definitely had a set of lips I could see myself diving between if ever given the opportunity, and I didn’t mean the ones on her pretty ass face.

Regardless of how she looked, I knew there was a strong chance she was freaking the fuck out on the other side of the door.

I stepped up to the door and heard the familiar growl of that annoying ass brown pooch.

For a second, I reconsidered knocking to check in on her, but I needed to know where her flashlights were so a nigga could see.

I was tired of getting my Stevie Wonder on.

I balled up my fist and knocked, which set off the yapping of both her and the damn dog.

That lil nigga obviously held grudges. His ass should’ve been glad I didn’t punt his ass into the fuckin’ woods.

“Yo, you good?”

“I’m fine. Go away.”

“I was just trying to be nice to your rude ass, but fuck it,” I growled.

Before I could walk away, she snatched the door open, letting out whatever amount of steam she’d accumulated in there before her shower ended so abruptly.

My eyes caught hers before traveling down the rest of her body.

All she had on was a towel, and her braids were wrapped up in a high bun on top of her head, which made her at least three inches taller.

For a second, I almost forgot my train of thought.

Then the sound of her annoying ass dog and her nagging quickly brought me back around.

“I’m rude when you’re the one who broke into my shit?” she grumbled, her arched brows downturned into a scowl.

“Candles?” I challenged, ignoring her.

“I dropped them by the door.”

“Matches?”

“No, but there’s a lighter in the drawer in the kitchen. I’ll get it.”

“What about a flashlight?”

“The batteries are dead.”

I smacked my lips. “Go fuckin’ figure. You really oughta be more prepared for shit like this.”

“Shut up. I bought more. They’re at the door too.”

“Aight, bet.”

We split up—me getting the candles and batteries from the shopping bags she’d dropped at the front door and her grabbing the lighter and flashlight.

We lit candles and replaced dead batteries in silence before she took one of the three-wick candles into her bedroom to get dressed.

She returned a few minutes later wearing a tank top and some black biker shorts that showed off the lil round peach she was toting from behind.

I was a Georgia nigga, so I appreciated a beautiful Southern woman with a nice ass.

It didn’t have to be big or take up two seats on a plane.

It just had to sit up nicely and be easy to cuff. Shawty’s was both.

After setting the dog’s crate in the living room, she met me in the kitchen, where I was scrounging around through her cabinets, looking for food.

“You got anything to snack on around this mothafucka? I’m hungry.”

“That’s not my problem. Plus, the power’s out, so I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”

“Okay, Hot Head Helen,” I quipped.

Her brows cinched together. “What?”

“If you don’t tell me your name, I’ma just keep making shit up for you.”

She rolled her eyes skyward, refusing to hide her annoyance. “Whatever.”

“Yeah. It is whatever, Eye Rollin’ Eva.”

“Please shut the hell up.”

“You know what you gotta do to shut me up, shawty.”

She scoffed for the thousandth time, and it made me smirk.

I liked fucking with her. It was like a game, getting under her skin, and I was winning.

I hadn’t been in the presence of a woman in years, let alone one as beautiful as her.

I kept myself from staring too hard, so as not to weird her out or piss her off even more than she already was.

“Oh my God! It’s Sawyer, okay? My name is Sawyer,” she finally admitted.

One side of my mouth curved into a satisfied smirk. “Now, how painful was that?”

“Excruciating.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, aight, shawty.”

“What happened?” she quizzed, eyes stationed on the dried blood stains on my white t-shirt.

My eyes followed hers, remembering that I had some cuts from the glass from the bus accident, plus my knuckles were a little swollen after busting through her back door. “Told you I was in an accident.”

“Are you okay?”

“It’s just a few scrapes. I’ll survive.”

“Good, and you better not have gotten any blood on my floors.”

“And if I did?”

“Then you’re the one who’s going to be on your hands and knees cleaning it up. Not me. I draw the line at bodily fluids.”

I snickered. “Fair.”

“I have some Band-Aids and some rubbing alcohol underneath the bathroom sink, but since you basically moved in while I was away, I’m sure you already know that.”

“I didn’t.”

She twisted her lips to the side. “I’m surprised.”

“Patch me up then,” I insisted.

“What, nigga? Patch yourself up.” I stared her down for a few seconds until she blinked and tore her eyes to the floor, smacking her lips together in the process. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”

She took the flashlight and disappeared down the hall, reappearing a few minutes later with some first-aid supplies.

“So, what happened with your accident? How’d you wreck?” she inquired while walking over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.

“Oh, uh, a tree fell into the road. I swerved, hydroplaned, and hit a tree.”

“And you couldn’t call for help?”

“No phone.”

“Dead like mine?”

“Yeah, something like that.” I agreed with a quick nod.

“I’m not gonna lie; I thought the weatherman was gassing this hurricane up.

I’m low-key one of those people who can see a conspiracy in everything.

For instance, the store owners are in the ear of the weather forecaster to instill fear in listeners, which drives them to the store to buy supplies they probably won’t even need.

And who gets rich at the end of the day?

The store owners. I should’ve believed it this time, though.

This has to be one of the windiest freakin’ days in history. Mother Nature is going crazy outside!”

I bobbed my head in agreement. “Hell yeah. It’s wetter than a water park out there.”

“All of Jacksonville is shutting down behind this one.”

“Jacksonville?” I inquired, finally realizing that we’d made it into Florida.

“Yeah, Jacksonville. Did you hit your head and forget where you were?”

I swung my head in a no. “This is exactly why you’re single.”

She frowned before starting to clean my cuts. “Excuse me?”

“You always gotta be right, or at least you think you do.”

“There’s a difference between wanting to be right and actually always being right. I can’t help that I’m the latter,” she retorted, asserting her chest.

“All that mouth you got, your ass must be a lawyer or something.”

Her brows snapped together. “Why do you say that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“No.”

“See. I told you.”

“Shut up.”

“So, you be in a courtroom all day and shit?”

“No. I’m a legal aid, which means I provide free or low-cost legal counsel to low-income clients who typically can’t afford a high-priced attorney.

Long story short, I work behind a desk, meet with clients all day, and try to save the fucking world.

It’s a pretty demanding job, to say the least, so there’s no days off. ”

“And you like that?” I challenged her while she was placing a couple of Band-Aids over my scrapes.

“I love it,” she admitted with a half-smile.

There it was. The perfect sliver of a smile I always knew was there.

“So, you like helping people?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“So why you got a problem with me being here if you like lending out helping hands and shit?”

Her recognizable frown returned. “Am I not helping you out right now?”

“You’re right. My bad.”

She huffed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’d been planning a girls’ trip to Miami for over six months now.

And then Mother Nature just fucked all that up,” she said, glancing outside.

“I don’t know why I thought I’d be able to hop on a plane and beat the hurricane, but as I said, my job is a no days off type of environment, and I really wanted that getaway. ”

“What you was gon’ do when you got to Miami besides get into unnecessary trouble?”

“I didn’t have plans, per se. I just wanted to unwind with my girls and have a good fucking time.”

“You been to Miami before?”

“Yeah. You?”

I shrugged. “A few times.”

“You like it?”

“Nah. I don’t fuck with Dade County like that.”

“Why not?”

I brushed off her question and asked one of my own instead. “So for real, why you ain’t got no nigga around to protect you when niggas like me show up?”

“Why does that matter?” she asked, stepping back to clean up the first-aid supplies and throw them in the trash. “And I don’t need protecting.”

I chuckled. “Says the woman with the baseball bat beside her bed.”

Her eyebrows heightened. “You found that?”

“Sure did. I had to know what the fuck I was dealing with.”

“Did you rummage through my entire house while I was gone? That’s creepy as fuck.”

“You act like I was sniffing your panties or something.”

“Maybe you were.”

I scoffed. “Nah, shawty. That’s not my style.”

“Right, just typical B&Es.”

“So, you gon’ answer my question?”

“Why are you so pressed about why I’m single?”

“Because all women have something of their ex’s still lying around.”

“How old are you? Your view on women is so outdated. There’s nothing like that here.”

“You a lesbian?” I questioned. “Be honest with a nigga.”

Her eyebrows shot up to her forehead in surprise at my blunt question. “What? Nigga, no! There’s only room for one pussy in this apartment, and that’s mine. And I don’t have anything laying around from an ex because I haven’t been in a relationship in . . . a while.”

“What’s a while?”

“Mind your business.”

“I was just making conversation, damn. Who else you gon’ talk to around this mothafucka in the dark? The dog?” I said, glancing over at the crate that was in the living room.

“He might not be a human being, but it’s not like he’s a fucking stuffed animal. He has feelings too.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, aight.”

“Are you gonna trip if I let him out of his crate to stretch his legs?”

“I’m not the one you should be asking.”

“All this nigga-on-dog hostility I’m feeling from you is really uncalled for. He’s just doing his job to protect me. He is the man of the house,” she said with a soft chuckle.

“If you had a real nigga around, you wouldn’t need that lil wind-up dog you call a pet for protection.”

She scoffed. “And you’re a real nigga?”

“The realest one you’ll ever meet,” I asserted, standing on business.

“Yeah, real homeless,” she jested before walking over to let the dog out.

I couldn’t lie. She’d gotten one over on me. A soft chuckle belted from my lips, and we shared a laugh for the first time. A few seconds later, my stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in hours.

“Yo, Sawyer, you think you can point a nigga to some food or something? I told you I was hungry.”

“Nigga, are your hands broken? You were brave enough to barge your big black ass into my place unannounced. I’m sure you have no trouble finding some sustenance in the kitchen.”

“Say less.”

I marched into the kitchen carrying one of the candles and started opening all the cabinets high and low, knocking around pots and pans and shit like a bull in a pie shop to piss her off.

“So that’s what we’re doing? Fucking up my kitchen?” she griped.

“You the one who told me to do it myself. Come help my ass then.”

She sucked her teeth before stomping into the kitchen to take over the situation. “Your ass is bossy, just like Soleil,” she muttered.

“Who the fuck is Soleil?”

She cut her eyes at me. “My older sister.”

“Oh, word?”

“Yeah. You got any siblings?”

“One. A brother.”

“Younger or older?”

“We’re the same age—twins, actually. But I’m older by two minutes. I never let that nigga forget it, either,” I boasted.

She chuckled. “I bet. You look like the type to hold something over a nigga’s head forever.”

I shrugged. “Maybe it’s a Gemini thing.”

She paused her search for snack foods to turn and look at me. “Hold up. You’re a Gemini?”

“Yeah. Why?”

She scoffed. “Ew.”

My brows creased. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, . . . just . . . ew,” she said before swinging her neck back around to the cabinet.

“Sawyer,” my deep voice boomed, causing her to turn around instantly.

“What?”

“Why the fuck do you keep saying ew?”

“Because Gemini men are . . . two faced and . . . self-centered. At least the one I encountered was.”

“And I’m no different?”

“The jury is still out on that.”

“Yeah, aight. We’ll see about that,” I said, leaning over her petite frame to snatch a bag of chips out of the cabinet above her head.

“I guess we will.”

“If I’m so bad, when’s your birthday? Let me turn up my nose to your shit.”

“I’m a proud Aquarius born on February fourth. You can’t turn up your nose to an Aquarius woman. We’re literally perfect.”

“Bullshit. Ain’t no female perfect.”

“That may be true, but I’m the closest thing you’ll find.”

I scoffed. “Yeah. I think the jury’s still out on that too.”