There were two people dressed in server uniforms moving around the space. Not a single swaying body or thumping DJ beat filled the emptiness. She poured me a drink and slid it across the bar. The bar was fully lit when normally it glowed a low lit yellow during the night. I downed the amber liquid in a single gulp just as Morgan came inside and made her way over to us.
Dylan shouted to one of the people walking around the room, “Lock that front door, Goldie!”
“Yes, Miss Hall,” the server replied as she moved toward the door and put on every lock.
Dylan huffed and poured us all a round of drinks. “Gotta get these new bottle girls familiar with the floor. Poor thing ended up stuck against the DJ booth all night. So, what’s up, Nina?”
“Yes, what happened with tall, rich and handsome?” Morgan chimed in with a chuckle.
“He got that guy Ray, fired!” I let out an exhausted huff into my drink before downing another one.
“So,” Morgan shrugged. “I don’t know why you ain’t call the cops on that asshole, anyway.”
“And tell them what? I think some guy followed me and then he yelled at me. You can’t have someone arrested for being in the same place as you.”
“But you can get them fired,” Dylan said with a grin of approval. “When did he tell you he got that guy fired?”
“Ray told me a little while ago,” I told them.
Dylan folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. “Why and how did that happen?”
“I was outside Cocoa Caffeine when he showed up and yelled at me about it. I was on my way to see Colt. When I told him about it, he didn’t get it. What if it really was just a coincidence that he turned up at those places where we crossed paths? Sure, he needs anger management, but did he really have to lose his job? What if he comes after me because he knows I’m the reason he’s unemployed?”
“GIRL!” Morgan huffed, “Wake the fuck up! RAY is the reason RAY is unemployed. The very fact that Colt is so into you that he’s willing to pull strings to make sure you’re safe walking into a client’s building speaks volumes. You need to carry some pepper spray or something on you, too. If Ray comes after you, you spray his ass and then call the cops. I don’t care. I don’t care. The police are here to serve and protect. Let them!”
“Y’all know Ray used to move drugs around my mom’s block, right? You don’t just call the cops on somebody like that. He’s been to prison.”
Dylan shrugged. “Clearly somebody already called the cops on his ass if he’s been locked up! He don’t need you playing ‘save the convict.’ Like Morgan said,heis the reason he is an unemployed security guard. Don’t give him the benefit of being a drug dealer because if he had those strings to pull, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so, much like your boy toy.”
“ My anxiety had me so worked up about this Ray shit, we argued about it and I had to leave. He didn’t get it and it just showed me how different we are.”
Morgan sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes, “What are you even talking about? Of course, y’all are different. What’s the point of dating, especially outside of your race, if you don’t find somebody different? You sound crazy, Nina.”
“No, she sounds like she’s trying to sabotage a good thing,” Dylan told me with an accusatory glare.
“Maybe?” I shrugged. “What if he finds or wants someone without the hood drama following her around? What if he wants someone with a stable job and income?”
Dylan wiped down the counter as she spoke. “What if birds swam in the ocean instead of flying in the sky? The answer to all of those questions is so what? I’m sure that if that’s what he wanted, he would tell you. And what do you mean by stable job and income? You’re pretty stable and have been for the past few years. It seems like if he went through the trouble of getting Ray fired, he wants you and doesn't want that shit following you around. Don’t make that man’s choice for him, Nina.”
Morgan jumped in, “Don’t use this stupid Ray shit as a reason to back away from something that can be so good for you. Loving someone and spending time with them will not derail your career and send you back to the projects. Let our childhood go, Nina. We promise you that even if you lose every single client, we will never let you or any of us go back there.”
“The crazy thing is, it’s like I saw the shit show unfolding. I saw myself going off the deep end. I saw myself arguing with him over bullshit, and I couldn't stop! It’s like I had to get my point across. I wasn’t exactly defending Ray, but I wanted Colt to know and understand where I was coming from. Fucking with somebody’s money only brings more problems.”
Dylan sighed, “It brings more problems if you don’t have the money and pull to stay ahead of it. Colt obviously doesn’t have that issue, and with you being his woman, by default, that’s not your issue either.”
This fear of going back to the hood kept me booked and busy, but I had to get it out of my head that letting love in would slow me down at work and make that fear come true. I had to make this right with Colt, but when I called him, I was sent straight to his voicemail.Had I screwed this up already?
After I finished drinking my sorrows away with my friends, I went home to figure out all the ways I could apologize to Colt.
Chapter 16
Colt
Over the past few days, Nina and I played phone tag. The bonus to that? She wasn’t ignoring me. She wasn’t so mad that she never wanted to speak to me again. The only issue we actually had was our conflicting schedules, especially as I tried to close this buyout deal for Tipping Point.
Kyle made his way into my office with a bunch of documents in his hand and his face drenched with worry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
