Page 37 of Obsessive Love

PYRITE

“What’s wrong?” Diara, the coach for the Queens, asked. We were seated in the back of the room, watching Fable give her presentation. We didn’t need to be sold on the idea of her work because we’d already sampled it.

“Nothing,” I answered. My eyes followed Fable as she walked around and spoke to different staff. Her comment about going back replayed in my head over and over. What the fuck did she mean when she went back home? Did she think she was leaving? Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Not now, not ever.

“Then why do you look like you’re about to gut someone?” Diara questioned, and I shook my head. “I’m begging you not to do whatever you’re thinking.”

“Ara, how long have you known me? Seven years at this point, have I ever done anything without thinking it through?” I glanced at her and smirked.

“Then let me say this: don’t make me call Morning to bail you out,” she sighed. “I’m not in the mood to deal with his mean ass.” She shook her head. “He scares me a little.”

“You’re starting to sound like Legacy,” I chuckled.

Fable walked around the table to shake hands with A’zal Warren, the owner of one of the Texas teams, and immediately I was ready to snatch her ass up.

They shared a quick exchange, and then A’zal bent and whispered something in Fable’s ear.

She smiled at him, moved a piece of hair from her face, and nodded.

“If she does that shit again, I’m going to kill him. ”

“Lord,” she sighed. “I’m going to have to call Morning.” Diara shook her head, and I chuckled. “I really don’t want to.”

“Why?” I smirked and looked over at her. “You not ready to admit you’re attracted to that nigga?”

“Mind your business, Pyrite Stone,” she scolded, and I smirked. “Worry about your woman being flirted with by A’zal.” I looked up just in time to see Fable taking A’zal’s card and tucking it into her pocket. “Looks like she just got the digits; I bet they’ll be talking tonight.”

“With what phone?” I asked with a grunt. “And hands because she won’t be able to use hers once I’m done with her.”

“You know you can’t cut them off, right?” Diara playfully said. “She needs them to bake.”

“Nah, I’d never take her hands from her like that,” I said, shaking my head. “I've got other plans for her.”

“That sounds nasty,” Diara replied, and I shrugged.

She stood, wiped her hands over her pants, and looked around.

“I enjoy working for you, but I refused to be associated with whatever freaky shit you got going in your mind. So, I’m going to head home, maybe pick up something to eat on the way, and enjoy my last few days of peace before I run your players to death. ”

“You need anything?”

“Nope,” she said. “I’m good.”

“I’ll have Morning check on you tomorrow,” I joked, and she shook her head. “He ain’t that bad of a guy, Diara.”

“You run with killers, menaces, and hood niggas that wear suits,” she said. I looked up at her and smirked because there was no reason to deny what we both knew was the truth. “I left that life alone when my ex-husband went to jail.”

“Oh, so you like Legacy and enjoy that suburban life and shit now?”

“Exactly,” she nodded. “Didn’t she say she wanted a nine-to-five nigga or something like that?”

“And her ass ended up with Hood,” I reminded her.

Diara scrunched her nose like she smelled something funny and then shook her head. “A nine-to-five nigga is the last thing I would ever describe Hood as.” She laughed softly. “That poor girl has no idea how deranged he is, does she?”

“I don’t think she’s seen him at his worst yet.”

“That’s the thing about you and the people you’re associated with, Pyrite; you all don’t even have to be at your worst to be considered unhinged.”

“Damn, I didn’t think you were about to compliment me,” I laughed.

“Bye,” she laughed and walked away. I watched to make sure she got to Yeti, who I knew would walk her to her car, and then I turned back to watch Fable.

For the next three hours, she worked the entire room.

Talking with each coach or team representative and gathering feedback on what they liked or disliked.

She was voted to do the desserts for the following two events.

I was proud of her hustle, but the different niggas in here flirting with her wasn’t going to work.

“You ready?” I approached her and asked.

“Yeah,” Fable answered as she packed up the empty containers. She looked up at me and smiled. “I think this went better than I thought it would.”

“What do you mean?” I was trying to hold my temper back, but the way she was smiling and looking around was pissing me off.

Don’t get me wrong, I wanted her happy, and if doing shit like this made her happy, then I would speak her name in every room I was in, but I couldn’t handle seeing niggas following behind her. That was my damn job.

“A’zal offered me a front at his arena when I get back home,” she replied. “He wants to talk tomorrow about his exclusive line.”

I turned to find A’zal and saw him standing beside Georgio, his team doctor.

They were eating the last of the pecan pie bites.

Both their eyes locked on Fable. I stepped into their line of sight and stared them down.

A’zal’s bitch ass lifted the pie in the air, nodded in acknowledgment, then took a bite.

“Hey,” Fable said, tapping my arm. “You think you can grab those containers, and I’ll take these?” Fable pointed to the stack on the table, and I nodded.

I grabbed a few off her stack, put them on mine, and then picked them up. We were less than five feet from the table when A’zal approached us.

“Here, Ms. Walters, let me take those off your hands,” A’zal said as he took the empty containers from her.

“Thank you,” Fable said, giving them to him. “The car is parked in the front.” Fable didn’t wait for him to say anything as she took the keys from my pocket and walked ahead of us. Yeti noticed her, opened the door, and walked with her.

“My nigga,” I chuckled and shook my head as we followed behind Fable. I was trying my hardest not to show the fuck out, but from the way A’zal was acting, he didn’t give a fuck about how tense the air was between us. “You playin’ with your life right now.”

“She's worth it, though, ain’t she?” A’zal smirked and walked away.

“Ay, Yeti,” I called out as we approached the car.

He turned around, and I nodded at Fable, signaling she needed to get out of the way.

He stepped around the car, opened the passenger door, and helped her into the car.

I set the empty containers in the trunk.

A’zal slick ass dropped his containers in the truck and quickly walked around the car to get to Fable.

I pulled my gun from the back of my slacks, checked the clip, and followed behind him.

Yeti stood at the back passenger door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He knew what time it was.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out-”

“Wrong fucking move,” I said, snatching A’zal by the collar of his shirt and dragging him away from the car.

He would've dropped to the ground if I didn’t have the back of his shirt.

Instead, he fell backward, and his hands caught him.

I kept walking, making sure that he was far enough away from Fable that she didn’t get hurt but close enough for her to know this shit was not going to be tolerated.

“Pyrite!” she yelled, and I shook my head. “Got damn it, Pyrite, let him go!”

“Girl, fuck him,” I said, then hit him in the middle of his forehead with the butt of my gun. Blood rolled down the middle of his forehead, but I didn’t give a fuck.

“Move the fuck out the way, Yeti,” she yelled.

“Can’t do that,” he replied, shaking his head. Yeti knew that touching Fable would have his ass on the front of a shirt, so he used his weight to keep from pushing the door open. “Let him handle this so y’all can go home and work this shit out.”

“Work it out?” she laughed. “His crazy ass is pistol-whooping that man in the middle of the street!”

“First off, call it a Glock. Pistol sounds old, and secondly, I’m on the sidewalk,” I replied, then hit A’zal again.

I let go of his shirt, he fell to the ground, curled up into the fetal position, and I tried to stomp his head into the cement.

“I told you not to try it, but your stupid ass didn’t listen! ”

“Pyrite,” Fable continued to yell.

“All you had to do was vote yes to the treats and go on with your life, but your stupid ass wanted to flirt.” I stopped kicking him and grabbed the front of his shirt to make him look at me. “Do you have a fucking death wish! You have to because that’s the only logical explanation!”

“I didn’t know she belonged to you,” A’zal mumbled. His face was fucked up, and I’m pretty sure I knocked out a few of his teeth. “She never said.”

“She never said?” I questioned with a laugh. “She shouldn’t have to tell you. You saw me walk in with her; you saw me standing guard over her. That should’ve told you something, and if you chose to ignore it, then how this shit ends is your fault.”

“Ay, yo Pyrite?” Yeti called out.

I looked up to see Fable sliding her little ass off my car and dropped A’zal.

“Why the fuck you didn’t stop her?” I questioned Yeti, as I stood to my full height and tucked my gun into the back of my pants.

“Nigga, ain’t the first rule when it comes to the baker is not to touch her?” he laughed and shook his head. “Boys or not, you're not killing me for touching your woman. Rage would live up to her name and come after your ass if it came down to it.”

“Where the fuck is she going?” I asked out loud as I watched Fable walk away.

Her little ass legs were creating space between us, and I chuckled.

“You might as well stop walking because I can find you no matter where you go.” To prove my point, I took my phone from my pocket and pulled up the app for the monitor.

She didn’t know it because I’d never had to show her, but there were different security options for the monitor.

I debated between giving her a slight shock or having the alarm blast. “If I shock her, she’ll never forgive me.

” I pressed the button to sound the alarm, and Fable stopped walking.

“You may as well come back because it won't stop until I put in the code.”

Fable turned around with a mug on her face and stomped back to me. “Take this shit off my ankle!” she demanded, and I shook my head. “Fine, I’ll walk to the nearest police station and tell them I’m being held against my will.”

“Go ahead; it's three blocks that way,” I said, pointing toward the nearest police station.

“You think I won’t?” she stared up at me in disbelief.

I shrugged, kissed her cheek, walked to the curb, and sat down. “I’ll be here waiting.” I turned the alarm back on and pulled up a game on my phone.

“Bet,” she laughed and walked away.

“You’re really going to let her go to the police station?” Yeti asked as Fable walked away.

“Yeah,” I answered, then exited the game and pulled up my contacts. “She won’t make it past the front door, though.” I found the person I was looking for and called them.

“Yeah?”

“Fable is about to walk into the police station where Gift works. Have him take her, make her feel like she’s doing something, drive her around like she’s trying to show him where I live, and then drop her off at home to me.”

“Nigga, what kind of shit are you into now?” Morning asked with a laugh. “Every damn time I turn around, someone from your damn company is calling my phone. Asking me to handle some crazy shit.”

“Who has called besides me and Hood?” I stood and walked back to A’zal, still laid out on the sidewalk.

“That fucking nigga hockey player,” Morning said.

“Rhodes?” My face twisted in confusion. “The fuck that nigga do?”

“Nothing yet, but he’s getting his shit in order because he’s going after KO’s baby daddy. Nigga snatched her daughter last night, and Rhodes has been seeing red since.”

“Fuck,” I groaned and wiped my hand over my face. “Alright, reach out to Gift and then take care of the shit with Rhodes and KO. Bill me, not them.”

“You sure?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” I said, then kicked A’zal in the face one last time. “It’s on me.”

“Noted,” he said, then disconnected the call.

I returned to the car, and Yeti threw the keys to me. “I’m headed home; I’ll catch you later.”

“Bet,” Yeti said, nodding. He looked over at A’zal and laughed. “What you want to do about his ass?”

“Leave him there so every nigga in there knows what will happen if they approach Fable.” I got into the car, started it, and pulled off.

When I got to the light, Morning texted me that Gift was on board.

I relaxed, turned up the music, and drove home.

Fable was about to learn to stop playing with me once and for all.