Long As You Know Who You Belong To (11 page)

Kimani laughed. “Aye, you need me to call you
back?”

“Na…Nah. I’ll be there, bro. Just shoot me the
info.”

“Bet.”

I disconnected the call and tossed the phone on the
bed ready to concentrate on the work that Nakami was putting in.
But as soon as I hung up, Nakami stood and wiped her mouth.

“Where you bout to go?” Attitude was dripping from
her tone.

“Are you serious right now?”

“I’m deadass. I put a hot meal on the table and just
finished fucking and sucking you senseless, and you think that
you’re about to hop your ass on to the next bitch? You got me all
wrong!”

“First off, you can miss me with the dramatics.
Second, my brother wants me to ride with him to a networking event.
So it’s not even like that.”

Rolling my eyes, I walked away from her and to the
bathroom to get in the shower. Although I hadn’t really been in the
mood to go out, I was relieved that my brother had called because I
was liable to kill this broad with my bare hands if she kept this
shit up tonight. I was over her ass! And to think I just raw dogged
her! I needed to get my shit together.

I heard footsteps approach the bathroom and tried to
rush to lock the door. Nakami was too quick and pushed open the
door, damn near hitting me with it.

“Bitch, is you crazy?!”

I hadn’t meant to call her out her name, but it was
what I had been referring to her as in my head for months now.
Guess it just slipped out.

“Nah, but
you
are
if you think that
you’re going somewhere tonight!”

I ignored her as I turned on the shower and tested
the water with my hand. Feeling like it was the right temperature,
I stepped in and closed the door. Nakami stood on the other side
butt ass naked, her body shaking like a raging pit bull.

“So you just gonna ignore me?”

I remained quiet as I lathered myself with soap and
zoned out to a tune in my head. After a few moments of silence, I
turned around to find that Nakami had
disappeared. 
Finally
, I thought. I finished showering
in peace and hopped out to dry myself off and lotion myself down.
Creeping into the bedroom, I found it empty and that made me
nervous.

 Quickly, I threw on a pair of leather 7 For All
Mankind jeans, a clean white v-neck, and my Citizens brand
distressed denim jacket, and slipped into my black Cole Haan boots.
Next I hurriedly sprayed myself down with some Dior cologne,
grabbed my silver three-karat studs for my ears and my phone off
the bed, and walked out of the bedroom in search of Nakami. To my
surprise, she was nowhere to be found. Not in the kitchen, living
room, game room, patio, or theater. Shrugging my shoulders, I
snatched up the keys to my newest baby, a rose gold painted 2015
Audi R8, and headed towards the garage. When I got to the garage, I
realized that Nakami’s car was missing. Crazy hoe must have
found something to distract herself.
Whatever
. I
thought to myself. I hopped in the car, plugged the address into my
GPS, and got ghost.

 I pulled up to the W Hollywood about a half
hour later with Drake’s
Energy
putting me in the right state
of mind for the evening. I let the valet handle my car and took the
elevator up to the rooftop pool where the event was taking place.
Cali had made it easy for me to fall in love with my move because
the weather was exceptional damn near all year round. In the middle
of February, it was a crisp sixty-one degrees at 8 pm, and that was
much more than I could say for the D right now.

I reached the rooftop and was guided in by a pretty
young chick with her cheeks spilling out of her white booty shorts.
She showed me to a cabana where my brother was seated, surrounded
by a couple of baddies. He hopped up when I approached the
booth.

“Bro, you made it!” He seemed a little on, as he
greeted me with dap and a hug.

“Nigga, barely,” I replied as I shook my head.

“Why? Nakami’s ass was fooling again? I don’t see why
you don’t just leave that broad alone.”

“Probably the same reason you don’t wanna leave Blu’s
ass alone.”

I followed him over to the bar area that was already
packed with people.

“Nah, homie. For one, Blu and I are done. Two, our
situations are completely different. I wasn’t messing with Blu
because I needed something from her. I was trying to get her on my
team because I actually loved her. You holding on to that crazy
bitch because you need her.”

“Ah, so I was correct in assuming there was
a crazy female waiting in the wings?” a voice slithered into my
ear. I turned around and came face-to-face with the beauty from the
other day.

“Such a pretty woman really doesn’t need to be a
stalker,” I joked.

“Boy, please. You’re fine and all but I don’t need to
chase,” she smiled.

I was captivated by her confidence. Dressed in a
butterscotch colored jersey dress that skimmed her curvy body and
stopped at her knees, and a pair of brown lace up sandals
showcasing her pretty pedicured feet, she looked drop dead
gorgeous. Her hair was wavy this time, seductively covering half of
her face, and her make-up was light and subtle. If I was one of
those niggas that believed in all that romantic shit, I would’ve
thought that I’d already fallen in love without knowing the first
thing about ol’ girl.

“Blaze, right?”

Before she could respond, Kimani jumped in. “Excuse
my rude ass brother, I’m Kimani.” He extended his hand for her to
shake. She obliged.

“Nice to meet you, Kimani. I’m Blaze. I see that good
looks definitely run in the family. You’re gorgeous.” I took notice
of the dimple in her left cheek as she grinned.

“Thanks, ma. You’re quite stunning yourself. Are you
a model?” he asked.

She laughed and flicked away a loose strand of hair.
The tiniest movements that this woman made had me on brick.

“Modeling what, honey? While I appreciate every inch
of my body, the modeling world doesn’t.”

“Well, you could model for me any day of the week.” I
eyeballed her body like it was USDA prime steak.

“Both of you are too much. What brings you all to my
event?” she asked.

“Your event?” Kimani balked. “What do you do, Miss
Lady?”

Blaze held up her finger, asking Kimani to hold on,
and spoke to a few people that passed by her. Kimani looked at me
with a raised eyebrow, and I knew what he was thinking. But I’d be
damned if this nigga tried to get on first. From the moment I laid
eyes on her that day I bumped into her outside the jewelry store,
she was mine. I hadn’t made a move on her yet, but I was still
trying to get rid of Nakami and her father before I started
anything with someone else. But Blaze had never left my mind.

My brother rubbed his hand and mouthed, “Game On,”
but this time I wasn’t trying to compete. Kimani and I always
played this game of who could get on first, but Blaze wasn’t a game
to me. I had plans to make her mine as soon as Nakami was out of
the way. There was something about Blaze that intrigued me and made
me want to be with her, and this was only the second time we had
spoken. Some might say that I move too fast, but I just know what I
want when I see it. Why waste time?

Blaze turned her attention back to us. “Sorry about
that. To answer your question, Kimani, I’m a business owner,
celebrity hair stylist, and barber. I throw this annual event for
entertainment professionals to have a fun place to network and make
connections.”

“That’s dope.” I was in awe of her.

“I’m glad you think so. But I must admit I had
ulterior motives for stepping to you all tonight.”

“If it involves being able to be in your company for
the rest of the night, I’m wit it.” Kimani licked his lips.

“Well, actually every year we do some kind of fun
activity during the event to raise money for a charity. This year,
we’re doing an auction.”

“Oh, you need a donation? I got you.” I reached into
my jeans and pulled out the wad in my pocket.

“No, it’s actually more than that,” she giggled.
“It’s a date auction. We put some of our entertainment
professionals up on stage, rattle off a list of their attributes,
and let our wealthy attendees bid on a date with them. I just lost
two of my male auctionees, and you all are guaranteed to bring in
some big bucks. So what do you say?”

“For you baby, you got it.” I smirked at Kimani’s
smooth ass after he made that remark. He was delusional if he
thought that he really had a chance. Blaze was feeling a nigga, and
Kimani’s too pretty ass wasn’t going to cure her need for a thug in
her life. I could tell that she needed a nigga to handle her
pretty, thick ass, and I knew for sure that she thought I was the
man for the job. But I wasn’t going to burst my bro’s bubble just
yet.

“Perfect. You can follow me and I’ll have my
assistant ask you a few questions and tell you what you need to
do.” She started walking in the direction of the stage and we
followed her, watching her ass sway the entire time.

Grey had managed to piss me all the way off! The
audacity of this mothafucka to think that he could just ignore me!
I had something for his ass though. Fuck getting off the crazy
train, because apparently niggas just don’t know how to act.
Currently I was parked in front of the W Hotel where the GPS
tracker on Grey’s phone alerted me he was. Crazy thing was I had an
event that I had planned that was taking place in the same hotel,
so I was curious to see what this nigga was up to. Now that he had
proposed, there was no way in hell I was letting another bitch come
claim my spot. All I know is if I find out this nigga had got a
room to sex down one of his jump offs, I had my .32 in my purse
ready to set some shit off.

The GPS only told me that the phone was located in
the W, but not where inside, so I was going to have to do a little
sleuthing. Dressed simply in a pair of Saint Laurent biker jeans, a
v-neck boyfriend tee, a nude colored blazer, and matching So Kate
red bottoms, I made my way through the lobby and towards the front
desk. Before I could get there, I heard my name called.

“Nakami! You made it!” I whipped around and saw my
client, Blaze McGowan. She skidded over to me in some bomb lace-up
gladiator sandals and wrapped me in a hug.

“Hey, B. How do you like how everything turned
out?”

“It’s perfect. I never worry when you’re in charge.
You’re the shit at what you do, and I always have complete faith in
your vision.”

“I’m glad that you trust my skills that much.”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the
concierge. I started to protest but she started speaking before I
could get anything out.

“Excuse me. I have the event on the rooftop and was
wondering if I could get some matches or a lighter or something.
Some of the flames on our lanterns have gone out.”

The concierge nodded and walked away. I liked Blaze.
I’d been working with her on different events, big and small, for
about three years. She was a dependable client who was always at
meetings on time, paid on time, and didn’t give me a headache with
constant changes or differences of opinion. She gave me an idea and
let me run with it, only giving her input when necessary; and that
was the best kind of client. Blaze was also just a cool chick in
general, and I never minded hooking her up when she needed
something last minute.

“I know you probably just came to check on the event,
but you should stay for the auction! I have some fine ass men that
are going to be coming to the stage and, even if you aren’t in the
market to buy, you can damn sure window shop!” she laughed.

Before I could respond to her, I felt my phone buzz.
It was Blu. I contemplated whether or not to answer. We hadn’t
spoken since the day that we argued, and I still had no desire to
speak to her, especially not while I was on a mission. I sent her
ass to voicemail.

“Sounds interesting.” I raised my eyebrow and eased
my phone into my back pocket.

“It is, girl. I have my eye on one of them, so I’m
going to get my check book, honey. The auction starts in twenty
minutes, so please grab a drink and come sit at my booth.” The
concierge came back with a few books of matches and handed them to
Blaze.

“Ok. I’ll do that.”

Blaze strutted away, and I walked over to the main
desk with a lot on my mind. I felt like Grey was slipping through
my fingers. He was my soul mate; I could feel it in my bones that
he was the man for me, but I felt like things were slowly starting
to change. I was doing everything right. I was keeping him fed,
fucked, and fly, and I still felt like that wasn’t enough for him.
The fact that I bust it wide open and this nigga decided he’d
rather be running the streets than hitting back shots on the
baddest bitch in the city blew my mind. I just didn’t understand.
And Blu had the nerve to tell me that it was because I was crazy.
First of all, this nigga hadn’t seen crazy yet! I had been popping
my Xanax like Altoids since we’d started dating in order to control
my mood. So if niggas thought I was one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
now, let me run out of my meds.

After attempting to find out if Grey had made
reservations at the hotel and coming up empty handed, I decided to
go check out the party. I needed to make sure that my work was
impeccable even in my absence. When I arrived at the rooftop, I was
pleased to see that, although Tristan was the human version of a
migraine, she actually had a natural gift for event planning and
had managed to pull the event together the way that I wanted.

The rooftop pool area of the W was a sea of coastal
colors like sand, ocean blue, muted coral and off white and strings
of colored glass lights hung above the open air space creating a
starry night. There were printed ottomans scattered around and tall
wood lanterns serving as extra mood lighting. There was a catered
buffet along the wall serving gourmet Hawaiian barbeque and seafood
and two full bars on either side of the venue. There was a small
stage towards the front of the venue that my client was using for
an auction. Her turn out was nice, as it had been the last two
years I had planned it. After checking in with Tristan and doing a
walk-through, I walked up to the bar. I didn’t know how to find
Grey, but I’d be damned if I had followed him all the way here and
didn’t find him.