Page 74 of Lost In London

“If you keep staring at me like that I might think you’re interested in booking one of my one-on-one classes, Lolo.” Her flirting banter wasn’t at all as serious as those who might pass by and overhear.

Kota was strictly dickly but loved to flirt with humans of any gender. It was a part of her nature. It was easy for her and came naturally. Being herself made others feel good.

“Tell me where you got your body jewelry from and I just might.” Instantly this light bulb went off in my head. Well, actually two did.

One, it was time for me to get back to feeling confident in London again. Yes, I wore the clothes and had the catwalk down packed but I’m talking about meeting this new London who was more than anxious to be intimate with her man. If there was one person to help me do that I knew Kota could. Two, I saw the same piece she wore on display at Dove’s shop.

“Wait, did you buy that from Egyptian Gold?”

Curving her plush lips into a smile she did a twirl so I could see the back and it was even better. “Yes, the one and only. The owner, Dove is my best friend. More like my sister. We’ve been friends since forever.”

Wow.

Such a small world.

Then she’s JD’s… boo.

Yeah, a very small world.

“Aye, let’s get something to eat. JD, watch my shit.” Not stopping to introduce himself to Kota, Cassian and all his rudeness dragged me to several food trucks before he found what he was looking for.

While I went the burrito and fried corn on the cob route my adventurous bestie got him a big behind bowl of chicken souse, a rib sandwich with more sauce than meat, and a large styrofoam cup of kool-aid and vodka. He was going to be shitting for days. Instead of going back over to where Kota and JD were, we found a vacant picnic table and people watched. I talked about random stuff and he people watched, but something seemed off with him.

Cassian has a distinctive mug on his face, that’s a given. However, his handsome face had been in this deep, disturbing frown since we got here. “A penny for your thoughts.” I bumped his shoulder hoping he’d tell me what was wrong.

“I fucked that girl.” He blurted out bitterly.

Uh, ok.

That was random.

“What girl?” I really wanna know who had him bothered.

“Kota.”

Skurttt.

“Noooo,” I whined, tossing my corn down in my basket.

“How the hell I was supposed to know she was going to hypnotize JD with those Eryka Badu eyes and shit?” He kissed his teeth pushing his bowl away. “Bruh, out of all people, why her? Why him?”

I hate to think about it but was he jealous?

“How long ago was it?”

Scratching his chin, he gave me those eyes that warmed me and made me nervous at the same time. “Two days after we buried Noelani.” Oh, well he’s fine then.

One, he was a widower so it’s not like he cheated on his wife. Two, it was way before JD and Kota started talking… I hoped.

“Do you care for her?” I needed to know cause if he did this could end bad.

He answered me in a snort and mischievous grin. “Not at all. Kota got that medusa type of pussy.” Amused, I watched him drift back to a memory that clearly made him happy. Biting his lip and smiling like he had a big secret. “That shit between her legs will have you out here doing some dumb shit like popping a nigga because he got a whiff. Hence why I fucked one time and forced myself never to do it again. If I tapped out after one hit then I know JD’s young ass can’t handle it. Watch, he’s going to get her pregnant.”

“I mean, at the end of the day… what the…” A camera flash going off pulled my attention away. “Babe,” I gasped seeing Quincey taking pictures of me. Forgetting all about my burrito and Cassian, I jumped from that bench so fast and into his arms that I remembered to breathe inhaling his cologne. “I’m so sorry.”

Nothing felt better than being in his arms.

Nothing.

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