Page 15 of You Deserve Good Things

First Date Jitters

I had never been the type to get nervous over no damn date.

I mean, come on—I survived trauma, moved to a whole new city, got my degree, started healing, and somehow didn’t lose my mind in the process.

But this? This wasn’t just dinner and drinks with some random nigga with a fade and a beard tryna sell dreams. This was Jacory.

This was him . The man who lived in the pages of my past and still somehow ended up between every line of my present.

So yeah. My nerves were tap dancing on my spine like they had Timberlands on.

The sky outside had dipped into a golden-pink gradient, the kind of sunset that made Houston look like it was tryna flirt with you.

Warm breezes danced across my shoulders through the window as I tried to pick the perfect outfit, which felt like trying to pick a weapon in battle—’cause this was war.

War between what I told myself I didn’t need and the man I couldn’t stop needing.

Daniale was sprawled across my bed like she owned the place, legs crossed, bonnet tilted slightly like it was tired of fighting gravity.

“Bitch, what is the issue!” she barked, launching a pillow at my head with sniper-like precision. “You done tried on four damn dresses and still talking ’bout, ‘it don’t feel right.’ Baby, you tryna impress your man or the Met Gala?”

I adjusted my neckline in the mirror and shot her a glare. “I just wanna look . . . good.”

She sucked her teeth. “You always look good. Even when you ugly crying on FaceTime with crust in your eye talkin’ ’bout, ‘Dani, what if he don’t want me no mo’.’”

I gasped. “I hate you.”

“And yet, I’m still here like your emotional support bad bitch.”

I finally landed on a wine-red bodycon dress that hugged my hips like it had a crush on me. I grabbed my gloss and hit a final swipe across my lips, still not sure if I wanted to throw up or cry.

“I just . . . I need to breathe,” I mumbled.

“Nah.” Daniale stood up and snapped her fingers like a hood fairy godmother. “You need to stop playing. That man has been ready to risk it all for you since puberty. You were the dream before he had facial hair. Go claim what’s yours.”

And claim I did. Or, at least, I tried to—until life decided to give me a detour in the form of a crusty-ass Houston hoodrat who had the audacity to step in my path with some dollar store confidence and half a lineup.

“Damn, lil’ mama, where yo’ fine ass been hiding at?” he slurred, stepping into my space like he paid rent in my aura.

I gave him the courtesy of a glance and a hard “I’m not interested,” but he kept pressing like a cracked iPhone screen.

“You one of them bougie-ass bitches, huh?”

Cue record scratch.

I turned slowly, my heels clicking against the concrete like punctuation marks in a read session.

“I’m sorry— what did you just say to me?”

This grown man-child had the audacity to smirk, eyes crawling over me like I was an appetizer he couldn’t afford.

“You heard me. Stuck-up, tight-ass, self-righteous ho?—”

And that was when it happened.

Before I could finish rearing back to knock his front teeth into alignment, Jacory came outta nowhere like a damn shadow with purpose and fists. One clean, fluid motion and— CRACK —that man hit the pavement like a bag of wet laundry.

Gasps echoed like background music. Car horns paused. Street noise fell silent like the city held its breath.

Jacory stood over him, chest rising and falling, every muscle in his jaw clenched like he was biting back an entire monologue.

“You done?” he asked, his tone cold enough to frost the windows.

The dude tried to crawl backward, spitting blood onto the concrete like punctuation.

Jacory crouched low, calm and terrifying . “You disrespected a woman. Not just any woman. My woman. You understand the difference?”

My whole body went still. I should’ve been mad. I should’ve stopped him. But my ovaries were doing cartwheels, and my knees were on vacation.

When he finally stood up and turned to me, I was too stunned to speak. His voice was gravel and honey.

“You good, baby?”

I blinked then smirked. “Damn, Jacory. Are you really out here doing Mortal Kombat finishers on folks for me?”

He stepped in close, his cologne curling into my senses like a whispered memory. “Baby, I’d burn this whole city to the ground if it meant keeping you safe.”

My breath hitched. “You gotta stop saying shit like that.”

“Why?” he murmured, his hand grazing my waist. “Because you start thinking about me in ways that make your thighs talk?”

I shoved him playfully. “Shut up.”

He leaned in, smirking. “You shut up.”

We finally made it inside the restaurant. The place was dim, with candles flickering low and jazz humming softly through the air like a memory from a better time. The air was laced with the scent of garlic butter and wine.

“Baby, you still shaking,” Jacory said, leaning across the table. His voice was low, like velvet laced in danger. “You good?”

“I’m fine. You just had to go full Avenger out there.”

He chuckled, sipping his drink. “He had you messed up. That’s all it takes for me to crash out.”

I tried not to blush. I failed.

Then his eyes softened. “You spend so much time healing everybody else, baby. Who is helping you heal?”

I went quiet. The truth sat between us, heavy and hungry.

Jacory reached across the table, lacing his fingers with mine.

“I’ve been waitin’ on you. Not just for us to link up, but to love you the way you need. With patience. With passion. With peace.”

I bit my lip. “You make it sound so easy.”

“It is easy,” he said. “Loving you is easy. The world just convinced you it had to be hard.”

That was when I knew I was already his again.

Jacory leaned back, eyes dancing.

“You still tryna pretend like you ain’t all the way in love with me, huh?”

I smirked. “I plead the fifth.”

He grinned wide. “Cool. Just know you are about to be pleading for me later.”

My fork clattered.

“Boy!”

“Don’t ‘boy’ me now. I seen the way you clenched your legs when I laid homie out.”

I covered my face, laughing. “You ain’t got no damn sense.”

He grinned wider. “Nah, but I got you.”

And Lord, help me . . . I wanted to give him everything.