Page 4 of Vaughn & Cori (D-Ville Projects #7)
Vaughn
As soon as Cori’s out of sight, I fall back against the wall, automatically looking up at the ceiling for an answer, anything to figure out how I went from making her an offer to asking her out for real.
Shit that I have no business doing. I don’t care how attracted I am to her.
I close my eyes and an image of Toya’s face clouds my vision before I open them again, ready to renege on what I started.
But when I pull up the contact I just created with Cori’s name on it, I type out a day and time for our date instead.
To make shit worse, when she immediately responds, my dick aches at the thought of being inside of her, and I feel guilty as hell for betraying my vows.
I promised to love one woman forever, in front of a judge sixteen years ago, and I intend to keep that promise.
Fuck the fact that she’s not here to feel it.
“It’s just a date,” I mutter to myself, scrubbing my hands over my face while I work out all the ways I can get my dick wet without catching feelings. As soon as an idea comes to mind, all the lights in the dimly lit hallway come on like a sign from God.
“Yo, Pop, you ready?” Jay asks, standing at the door to the gym while maintenance workers move around him with the table, chairs, and other equipment they set up for the event.
“Yeah,” I swallow and try to act normal, keeping my answer short while Jay studies me with a sly smile.
“Ol’ girl shut you down again, huh?” he asks, bursting into laughter as I pass him.
“Something like that, but it’s whatever.”
I don’t look at him or correct his assumption as I shrug off my response that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I’ve never lied to my son, but for some reason today I can’t bear to keep it a buck.
This ain’t even the first time I’ve dated since his mom passed.
It is, however, the first time I’ve had such a strong reaction to someone.
Lying about the shit for no reason just makes it worse.
When I decide to tell him the truth, my mom walks toward us with Petey following closely and I bite my tongue.
His eyes are glassy and slitted as he sports a fake ass smile directed toward me.
“Can’t believe I had to hear about my own nephew’s press conference from the streets.
Got niggas out here looking at me sideways because I was across town and not here to support my own blood.
” Petey brushes past me to get to Jay and gives his shoulder a squeeze.
The brush by is like a warning shot as he daps Jay up, congratulating him while my mom and I exchange glances.
She knows Petey’s on some bullshit. He couldn’t give a damn about what Jay has going on.
Hell, if it weren’t for me popping up on him every so often, they’d never speak.
“My bad, I thought everyone knew,” I say, having no problem lying to his ass with a straight face when he sucks his teeth in disgust.
“Everybody did know… except me, nigga.”
This time when he looks my way, his smile is more of a sneer.
It’s the same look I’ve gotten from him when he’s too high to hide how he really feels.
Even when Toya was alive, there’d be moments when the fake shit would slip into something other than friendly.
But I never tripped because he’s never acted on it.
Since Toya passed, it’s just gotten worse.
“That was my bad, P. I forgot to hit you up about it. You coming through to celebrate with us, though?” Jay offers, trying to play peacemaker and lighten the mood, knowing how my mom feels about that nigga but knowing she won’t turn him away either.
Luckily, she doesn’t have to because Petey looks at his phone like he has other shit going on and declines the offer.
“Nah. I got something to get into, but we’re definitely going to celebrate soon.”
They exchange a quick hug, then Petey turns to my mom and me, giving us an upward nod before he leaves. When we head to the parking lot in the same direction, my mom lags to make sure Petey’s out of sight before she hits Jay in the arm with her purse.
“What did you do that for?” Jay asks, grabbing the spot on his arm like the shit hurts.
“’Cause you stay testing my patience. You know I don’t like that man being in my house. You better be glad he had some place to be, ’cause there ain’t enough sage in the world.”
“He ain’t that bad, Gram,” Jay says, giving Petey the benefit of the doubt.
“Hmm. That boy’s got a negative spirit,” she says, leaving out all the facts to support her claim.
Where Toya was practically an angel, Petey was the opposite.
He was always getting into shit and she always bailed him out.
After she died, that responsibility sort of passed on to me, and I’d be a lying ass nigga if I didn’t have thoughts about relieving myself of that responsibility every damn day.