Page 20

Brice

W e’d just come from Porter’s Steakhouse.

I was shocked when I asked Tayla what she had a taste for, and she quickly replied that it was steak.

Usually, women don’t know what the hell they want to eat.

I drove straight there before she changed her mind.

I’d told her that tonight we’d have dinner and a movie.

We decided to walk since the theater was only a few blocks away.

It also allowed us to walk off our heavy meal.

“You checked on Breezy?” I asked as we walked hand in hand.

“Yeah, he and Angel both knocked out an hour ago,” Tay responded. I shook my head. I knew she’d texted Jourdan again because she’d been sneaking and checking in all night.

The closer we got to the theater, the more the marquee lights bounced off the surrounding downtown buildings.

I pulled her into me as we approached. It was a warm night, and everyone was out seeking entertainment, so I wanted to keep her close.

Aside from that, I always wanted to be touching her.

It was opening weekend for the movie Sinners, and the theater was packed with patrons.

We pushed through the crowd and found ourselves a spot among them.

We stood in a line of about twenty couples; three more were just like it.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with this many people around gave me anxiety.

It didn’t help that the people coming out weren’t dispersing and going on about their business; they were congregating around the theater as we tried to get in.

My head was always on a swivel in these situations because at any given moment, anything could happen.

It didn’t matter to me that we were downtown in a popular, deemed safe part of the city.

I pulled her back to my front and wrapped my arm around her while we waited because it made me feel better about being in this crowd. She leaned her head back into my chest, and I couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss and lick her neck.

“Brice, have you ever seen how a rabid animal acts?”

“What? No. Why would I have seen how a rabid animal acts? You know LA don’t have nothing but a bunch of rabid ass acting dogs. Every nigga I know pause when he sees one off the leash. Why, though?” I asked and laughed. I nudged her forward because the line was moving.

“Well, the most common symptom is an unusual amount of aggression. The animal typically scratches, claws, and bites, completely ravaging objects, other animals, and men,” she said with emphasis.

“Ooookkaaaayy!” I drawled out in confusion.

“Where are you going with this? ”

“If you keep on kissing and licking me, I’m going to turn into that rabid animal,” she said. I couldn’t address her comment because after standing in line for about ten minutes, we were finally at the front and could purchase our tickets.

“How many and for what showing?” The kiosk attendant asked.

“Let me get two for Sinners at ten,” I said.

“Which seats would you like?” I chose the two I wanted near the back center of the theater and reached my hand back for Tayla as the tickets were printed.

What the…

Where Tayla was previously standing was empty.

I quickly scanned the crowd, trying to see where in the hell she’d run off to.

My heart rate increased after I didn’t see her, and I panicked slightly.

I knew that if I couldn’t see her, that only meant one thing.

She was on her Lynx shit. Images of her lying somewhere helpless flashed into my mind.

It spurred my aggression as I pushed through the people, trying to locate her.

Where in the hell are you, Tay?

I stopped, breathed, and focused on what was around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face. It was Sincere. He was walking towards the alley of the building.

Shit, Tay!

I swiftly made my way through the crowd nearly to Sin before I was stopped by a hand on my chest. I looked down to find Ivy pressing beside me like she belonged there .

“Hi, Brice. I’m sorry, Dr. Washington,” she said seductively as she smiled at me.

I took her hand and gently removed it from my body.

Suddenly, another set of hands wrapped around my middle and up my chest, hugging me.

I could tell by the sweet smell of her perfume that it was Tay.

My chest deflated in a sigh of relief. Her arms dropped down until she was standing beside me.

Once there, I looked down at her in question before she lifted to kiss my lips.

I grabbed underneath her chin and pushed my tongue into her mouth.

We warred with one another in a passionate pull of give and take before we moaned into each other’s mouths.

After showing her how thankful I was for her being beside me again, I broke away from the kiss.

“Hey, Baby. You want to introduce me to your ‘friend’,” Tayla said, emphasizing the friend. At that moment I could give a damn about Ivy. I wanted to know why she’d vanished, then appeared out of nowhere, asserting her dominance.

“Baby, this is Nurse Ivy Smith. I work with her on some shifts at the hospital. Nurse Smith, this is my everything, Tayla Washington. She looked down at our fingers in search of a ring. We quickly shifted them out of her sight. Her brows furrowed in confusion before she smiled. When I told her the other night that I was married, I could tell she didn’t believe me.

She wasn’t put off by me calling Tayla my wife or the fact that I could potentially be married. All she saw was competition.

“It was nice meeting you, Tayla, is it?”

“It is! But you can also call me Mrs. Washington,” Tayla replied snidely .

“Brice, I’ll see you at work,” she said before walking off. I felt Tayla tense beside me. I knew that she was pissed.

“Did you fuck her, Brice?” She spoke under her breath, low enough not to draw any attention to her growing irritation.

“No,” I answered with finality.

“Well, I didn’t like the way she was looking at you like she didn’t give a damn that I was there.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. I’ll handle it,” I said, because this was the second time she’s gotten too bold.

“You think I want you making time for her? No, I’ll handle it,” she said.

I had no idea what handle meant, but I was sure it would be far worse than I’d seen her do when we weren’t in a relationship.

It didn’t help that I wasn’t sure she trusted me.

I pushed that to the back of my mind as I glanced at my watch and saw it was almost ten.

The movie was set to start soon. I took Tayla’s hand and threaded my fingers through hers.

I wasn’t about to let her out of my sight again.

“The movie is about to start. Come on,” I said as I ushered us inside.

There weren’t as many people as before, as most people had found their way to their theater.

As I stood waiting in the concession line, I glanced around the room at all the posters that lined the walls.

I was trying to decide whether I wanted to know where she went and if it’d piss me off, that she’d done it solo.

“Are we going to act like you didn’t disappear on me? I don’t like that shit, Tay.” I spoke. We had reached the front of the line. I requested several boxes of candy and a large drink from the attendant and paid .

“I thought I saw Nina,” she said. Her body tensed when she said her name.

“You thought? Hmph!”

“Brice, I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can, Tayla. I’m not trying to diminish your ability either.

But I did lay eyes on Sin, and you know how I feel about his ass.

When I didn’t see you, I began to think the worst. I lost you on that operating table, Tay,” I said, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath. I wasn’t trying to revisit that memory.

“I’m sorry, I just want to finish all this. I hate looking over my shoulder, Brice.”

“We will, trust me,” I said. She nodded, but I could tell it was hard to accept, considering I’d previously hidden so much from her. I leaned to kiss her lips.

“Come on, so we don’t miss any of the movie, I think the trailers are almost done.

” She locked her hand with mine and we headed inside.

What Tayla needed to understand was that if Jourdan pulled a gun on her now, it would get messy quick.

Anyone else, for that matter. That shit would never happen again.