Page 10 of Session 33
I chuckled. “Because this is what friends do. And you don’t seem to have time to cultivate our friendship outside of work. You’re over Naomi’s often but suddenly have to go when I come around. So, I came to you so you can’t run from me.”
She stared at me for a long second, then her eyes trailed to the bag in my hand.
She simply shrugged, not acknowledging what I said. I didn’t like that.
"How can I say no to you feeding me?" she finally said.
I won’t even pretend like her lack of enthusiasm wasn’t blowing me. I should have turned around and left. Instead, I settled the bags on her glass desk. I unpacked the food: chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, catfish and spaghetti. I handed her an empty plate—not paper, but one from a Williams Sonoma set I’d picked up on the way here. I had silver forks and spoons too. I let her take what she wanted.
She looked impressed, and that pleased me.
"Thank you for this," she remarked, picking up a fork.
We started eating. I watched her as she ate, feeling that unfamiliar tightness again. I wasn’t used to this—being open, playing nice. It grated on my nerves a little. This shit wasn’t the real me. Would she even like the real me? I opened my mouth to force myself to say something that would get me out of my own head.
"Tell me about your family, your siblings," Angel said, breaking the silence first.
I shrugged, feeling my expression harden. My parents were always a sore subject. "I ain’t got no siblings, and my daddy offed my momma and himself, so I don’t really have any."
She winced, her fork pausing mid-air. "I'm sorry. Mine died in a car accident together, so I understand loss. I’m an only child too. But now I don’t want to talk about family anymore. It’s depressing. Tell me something nobody knows about you."
I smirked. "Why?" I asked.
"Because we can’t sit here and eat in silence," she answered.
"I could," I replied, my voice low again. "You’re beautiful enough to just sit here in silence and look at."
She blushed slightly, deepening her dimples, making her even more attractive.
"Come on, Cassius. Give me something. Anything. Humanize yourself to me."
“Fine,” I muttered, exhaling. “I hate being alone for too long. It makes me think too hard.” I glanced back at her, watching her expression shift. "And when I start thinking too much, it’s like..." I stopped myself, raking a hand over my jaw, but the words came anyway. "It’s like I’m falling into a hole I can’t climb out of. So, I stay busy. I keep noise around me—people, music, strippers. Stay high or drunk—whatever I can get my hands on to drown out... myself."
Her fork hovered mid-air, her eyes fixed on mine. I hated the feeling crawling under my skin, so I cracked a grin to lighten the moment. “Happy now? Got me sounding like I need a damn therapist.”
She didn’t laugh. She simply nodded, her expression was filled with something, like she was seeing me for the first time. "Thank you for sharing that."
“What about you? Tell me something.” I needed to switch the spotlight off of me.
She tittered. “I will not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t tell a man like you too much. You’d try to use it against me when it benefits you.”
I chuckled. “You aren’t wrong.”
We finished our meal in silence. When she set her fork down, I took it as my cue to clean up. I gathered the plates, throwing them away, wiping crumbs off her glass desk.
When I was done, I walked around the desk and stood in front of her, holding out my hand. When she slid her hand into mine, I gently pulled her out of the chair. She stood there, her lips slightly parted, her face tilting up toward mine like she was waiting for me to do something reckless.
I didn’t. Instead, I pulled her into me, wrapping my arms around her in a way that felt natural. Her head rested against my chest, and I could feel her breath against me. I didn’t know how long I held her, but it felt longer than it should have—and not long enough.
Then, without thinking too hard about it, I pressed a kiss to her forehead—quick, soft, and unspoken in its meaning.
“Have a good rest of your day, Angel,” I murmured, my voice low and rough.
She didn’t say anything, but I could feel her watching me as I walked away, my chest tight and my head spinning with thoughts about what came next.
