Page 89 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

I giggled as the two of them went back and forth.

The song changed, and I decided to rest for a while before I started dancing again.

As soon as I took my seat, in walked Soul.

I tried not to stare at him, but it was damn near impossible.

He looked so good and, in a way, was in better condition than he was the last time I saw him.

There was a pretty, brown-skinned woman standing next to him, so I assumed she was his new girlfriend.

Patience and Lovely mentioned that he was seeing someone, but they said he hadn’t brought her around the family.

It made me sick to my stomach to think about him moving on with someone else, but he had every right to do so.

She was a pretty woman with box braids. She was what we would call slim-thick, but she had a little booty on her.

“What’s good, bro? Happy Birthday, sis.” Soul greeted Murk and Puma before handing her a large gift bag.

“I see Chanel, Pucci, and Louie V. You must really love me, huh?” Puma squealed, pulling Soul in for another hug.

“You know it’s only the best for you. Are you enjoying your night out?” The two of them indulged in small talk, and I noticed his guest standing there looking uncomfortable.

Soul walked around greeting everyone in the section while she followed him like a puppy. He never bothered to introduce her to anyone which struck me as odd. However, I decided to mind my business since he wasn’t my man. ’Cause I would have walked away before I ever let a man play in my face.

“How you been, Jui—Nee-nee?” I cut my eye over to Soul when he spoke to me.

“I’m good. How about yourself?” Him and his guest took a seat next to me and I wanted to scream. The last thing I wanted to do was sit next to my ex for the rest of the night.

“I can’t complain. You look good. I haven’t seen you out in a while.” His eyes roamed my body, and I started to get nervous.

“Likewise.” I tried to keep the interaction short and sweet because his presence was too strong for me.

“Come dance with us, Cousin!” Peaches yelled over the music as she switched her way over to me. The sideways glance she gave let me know she was trying to rescue me from the uncomfortable position I found myself in.

“Oh, hey former cousin. I would say it’s good to see you, but you’ve been acting real funny lately.” I snorted when Peaches greeted Soul.

“Damn, I’m not family anymore? That’s crazy.” Soul let out a low chuckle, and it sent shockwaves to my lady parts.

“Hell naw. I saw you at Rodney J’s party a few weeks ago and you acted like you couldn’t even speak to a bitch. You only got one time to make me feel like a groupie.”

“My bad, Peaches. I promise it wasn’t nothing personal.

I didn’t want to be there in the first place, but then somebody stole my brand new Cartier shades when I went to the bathroom.

My mood was fucked up after that, and then you had them loud ass bitches with you.

The one with the orange weave kept staring at me and licking her lips like a lizard.

She needed to be focusing her attention on those crunchy ass bundles.

” Soul sounded so disgusted as he described the girl.

I couldn’t even hide my face as I cackled loudly.

I already knew exactly who he was talking about because I couldn’t stand the girl.

“Don’t come for my friend like that. The humidity messed up her hair. I swear it didn’t look like that when we left,” Peaches defended.

“You ain’t gotta lie for her. It looked like she picked those bundles up from the Halloween spot over there on Hamilton Road.”

“Soul! That’s my friend!” Peaches squealed, trying to stop herself from laughing.

“Then you ain’t shit because why would you let her walk out of the house looking like Pennywise stepdaughter? It took everything in me not to flick my lighter to see if her hair would catch on fire.” Soul shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t casually roasting that girl.

“You are hell. Listen, I can’t make a grown person do anything. I’mma tell her what you said though.”

“I’ll tell her myself. She can’t whup my ass. I’m sorry for not speaking though. Feel free to cuss me out if it ever happens again because you know it’s all love between us.” Soul got up to fix himself a drink.

“You want something?” I thought he was asking his date until I noticed the smirk on Peaches’ face. When I glanced up at him, butterflies fluttered in my belly. It wasn’t until this moment that I realized he had his diamond grills in.

I thought about telling him no, but I decided to go with it.

“You know what I like.” A small smile flashed across his face as he nodded.

“That I do. Did you want something to drink?” He finally acknowledged his guest.

“Can I get two shots of C?roc and some pineapple juice?”

“All right. I’ll be back.”

As soon as he walked away, I stood up. I wasn’t about to sit on the couch with his new bitch looking crazy. Peaches grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor. We were in a section on the lower level, and it was huge. However, with Soul being in there, the space seemed to become much smaller.

“I bet your panties are soaking wet. I know you miss him,” Peaches whispered in my ear as we got to the dance floor.

“Get the fuck out of here. I haven’t thought about him in so long.” I brushed her off, knowing it was a lie.

“Bitch, please! You and I both know you love him, and it will never change. I’m not judging you because I can tell by the look in his eyes, he feels the same.

He curved his date to see if you wanted a drink.

I would have cussed him clean out and asked one of his boys to fix me one.

” I didn’t want to think too deeply into his actions because it wouldn’t change anything.

Soul and I were no longer together, and regardless of whether we still cared about one another, he had moved on.

“All right, y’all. We’re gonna start this twerking contest in a minute.

We have some girls who have signed up, but if you’d like to join in, now is your chance.

The grand prize was two bands, but a couple of the homies decided to sweeten the pot, so the grand prize is five bands.

We have our judges on the right, but we are also gonna let the audience help us decide.

If you’d like to sign up, please come to the stage so we can add your name to the list and assign you a number.

Let’s go!” The DJ announced the contest over the mic before returning to the music.

“Come on, Cousin. Let’s show these young hoes how it’s done.

” Peaches grabbed my hand, maneuvering through the crowd to get to the front.

The moment we stepped on the stage, I heard the men near the stage cat calling.

It had been a while since I danced on a stage so there was a part of me that was a little excited.

Once we signed our names, they directed us to stand next to the other women on the side of the stage. There were some fine ass women over here and it only made me more excited to put on a show. We were about to give these men a show they wouldn’t be able to forget.

“Damn, it should be illegal to have an ass that big,” Peaches whispered when the first round of women went up on the stage.

One was a fine heavy set woman, but she must have been from the South because a booty like hers had to be cornbread fed.

It rippled in waves as she walked across the stage, so I couldn’t even imagine what it would do when she actually started dancing.

We stood on the side as they got the competition started.

The DJ encouraged the men to throw money if they wanted to and there were a few who participated in the first couple of rounds.

The crowd was hyping the women up and I loved every minute of it.

The first three groups killed it, but I still wasn’t worried.

Peaches and I have been twerking since we were little girls, and we were competitive as hell.

If I didn’t win, I had no doubt in my mind that she would.

“It’s our time to shine, twin!”

Peaches stuck her tongue out as they called our group.

The look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know.

My girl was about to do her big one and I was right there ready to show out.

We stood next to each other, and I noticed a group of men standing directly in front of us with stacks of money in their hands.

One of the men was fine as hell, but I don’t recall ever seeing him before.

He was tall and caramel colored with tattoos covering all of the skin he had exposed.

He wore shades, but I saw his handsome features.

The waves in his hair were crisp, and the dimples in his cheeks told me he was a troublemaker.

He looked like the type to have a host of bitches fighting over him.

Since his attention was focused on me, I decided to give him something to stare at.

The music started and I smirked when I heard one of my favorite songs playing.

I used to go crazy in the club whenever they played this cut.

Peaches and I did our little handshake and got to work.

When I danced, I either zoned out, or I locked in on one person and pretended as if I was dancing for them. Since the sexy stranger was standing in front of me, I decided he would be my target. I was thankful for my outfit choice because it gave me room to move the way I wanted to.

The screams and cheers of the crowd were like fuel for me as I wobbled my ass. My cheeks were damn near falling out of the bottom of my shorts but there was no time to worry about that.