Page 6 of Obsessive Love
Thirty minutes later, we got out at ‘Story Time.’ The light blue and cream building was nice and packed. I entered the building, and instantly, my mouth watered. It smelled good as hell.
“Welcome to Story Time,” a short, thick woman said as she moved through the room. I felt like a creep-ass nigga as I watched her clean one table only to move to another. She spoke to every person that she passed and smiled at a few niggas, which had me ready to tear this whole fucking building down. Her skin was the color of melted chocolate, with a round face, thick lips, a round nose, big expressive eyes, and a head full of curls. She was trying to hide her curves behind a pair of mom jeans, a fitted Queens T-shirt, and a light blue apron.
“Hi, what can I get you?” a short, pretty woman asked when I approached the counter.
“What’s y’all specialty?” I asked. I usually wasn’t into sweets, but something told me that I wouldn’t regret the shit that I tried here. I shook my head. “That doesn’t even matter. What’s the lady who just walked through those doors’ favorite thing to eat?”
“The chocolate chip cookies and lemon drops,” she answered with a laugh.
“Bet, give me whatever’s left of both,” I said, nodding. Her eyes ballooned in surprise before she nodded and then rang me up. I didn’t even think twice about the two-hundred-dollar total. I handed her my card, and she swiped it and returned it to me with the receipt. I gave her another two hundred dollars as a tip and returned my card to my wallet.
“It’s going to take me a minute to box your cookies; what’s the name I need to put on the box?” she asked.
“Pyrite Stone,” I answered. “And I ain’t rushing you, shorty. I’ll be over there waiting.” I moved out of the way so she couldring up the other customers and waited. The woman from earlier came back out, and our eyes locked. She was fine as fuck, no questions asked. The cashier tried to get her attention, but her eyes were locked on me. I licked my lips, slowly let my eyes sweep over her, and then smirked. The cashier calling her name was the only thing that broke our eye contact. She turned to the woman, listened to what she said, and then started helping her. I watched as she packed my shit up, set it next to the cashier, then went back to the back.
“Here you go, Mr. Stone,” the cashier said, handing me my box. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’ll see you around, lil mama,” I said, nodding.
“You don’t even know if you like the cookies,” she laughed. Shorty wasn’t flirting with me, which was a welcome interaction. “You could hate them.”
“Nah, if Shorty in the back loves them, then I know they're good,” I replied.
“Fable is picky, so I guess you’re right,” she said, nodding. “Again, thank you for coming, and I’ll see you later.”
“Be safe, lil mama,” I said as I opened the box and looked inside. The cookies and lemon drops looked good as fuck. I left the bakery, gave Albert a nod that he returned, and got in the car. Javien sat in the back seat, tied up, and I chuckled. This was the reason I fucked with Albert heavily; he didn’t need instructions. He knew how to move, and I respected that shit. I got comfortable and stared down Javien. “You said your sister will pay off your debt?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “Fable will pay it. I need to tell her who to make the payments to.”
“I don’t want her money,” I said, shaking my head.
“Then what do you want?” he had the nerve to ask, and I laughed. “Whatever it is, it’s yours.”
“Oh, I know,” I said as I took a cookie from the box and examined it to ensure none of the lemon bars had gotten on it before taking a bite. I had to give it to Fable; this shit was good as fuck. I understood why it was her favorite.
“Name it,” Javien excitedly said.
“Fable,” I answered, watching the blood drain from his face. I took another bite of my cookie and set the box next to me. “The payment for your debt is your sister.”
FABLE
“Thirty minutes until closing,”I said to my best friend, Yamari, who nodded as she continued to work. I patted her on the shoulder, thankful she could come and help at the last minute. Her job as an art curator kept her busy, but she always showed up when I needed her the most. I’d been busy since opening, but today was crazy, and I loved it. “Again, I appreciate you.”
“It’s nothing,” she laughed. “You know I thrive off the chaos.”
“Don’t I know it?” I picked up the empty plates, put them in my bucket, and then wiped down the tables. I was nearly out of all the sweets I’d baked today and was mentally counting the possible outcome. I was almost sold out of everything and had close to thirty orders for tomorrow; I would have to come in earlier than I typically would to get started.
The bell rang above the door, indicating that someone had walked in, and instinctively, I called out, “Welcome to Story Time.” I kept working, not having time to stop and make eye contact with them, which I hated, but I was too busy to stop. I grabbed my bucket, moved to the following table, cleaned, and moved on. I returned to the back and rinsed the plates, cups,and utensils before putting them in the dishwasher. Then, I turned around and did a little dance. This was my damn dream coming true.
Without missing a beat, I grabbed the last chocolate cookies and lemon drops and returned to the front. Hopefully, the customer I hadn’t met was still here, and I’d apologize with a free extra cookie.
“Can you box them up for me?” Yamari looked over her shoulder and asked. “I just had a customer buy them.”
I felt like someone was watching me, and I looked around. My eyes landed on a man standing in the corner of the bakery. He was tall, standing close to six-five, with skin the color of warm honey, a square face, a full beard, thick lips, a broad nose, dark slanted eyes, and long curly hair that went past his shoulders. He licked his plump lips, and his dark eyes freely took me in. Goosebumps rose on my skin, and a chill ran down my spine. There was no reason for his ass to be that damn fine. He smirked when he noticed me watching him, and his grill sparkled against the light. “Fable.”
“Yeah?” I said, slowly taking my eyes off the man to look at her. “What was that?”
“Box the cookies up, please?” she asked with a smile.
