Page 32 of The Smoke Hour

“Personally?”

“No. I don’t. We’ve been getting to know each other better over the last couple of months, and I swear that I don’t know that man any better than I knew him when we first met three years ago. Anyway, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I replied.

“What is it that you want from me beyond these sexy games?”

I sighed and pulled my fingers through my beard. I was still trying to figure that shit out myself, and I had to be honest with her.

“You. I want you. But exactly what I want from you? I’m not sure yet. I’m just drawn to you, and the more I’m around you, the more I want to be around you and the more I want to know. You feel me?”

“Sounds like you’ve been peering in my diary.”

“Sometimes the universe just pulls two people together, and they’re not sure why. They just have to travel the journey to see where it leads.”

“Mm,” she mumbled softly.

“Your turn. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” she whispered thoughtfully.

“What most scares you?”

“Easy. Losing someone to violence.”

“Why is that a fear?”

“That’s two questions.”

I shrugged and waited.

She sighed and dipped her head down.

“Always keep your head up, Fiya,” I demanded and lifted her head by pushing my fist underneath her chin.

“I lost a cousin two years ago. We were extremely close, and he and this other guy got into it over a girl. The other guy pulled up on my cousin when he was walking to his car after a basketball game. He just blasted on him. My cousin had a couple of friends with him, and they were hit by the gunfire, too, but they survived.”

“Damn, beautiful. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Yeah. So, I’m really against violence. That shit fucks me up to this day. It’s triggering as hell.”

I nodded. “No, I get it.”

“Truth or dare,” she stated.

“Dare.”

I wanted to get her mind off the sadness, if only for a moment. It clearly worked because a slow smile tilted her lips.

“Strip for me.”

I knew her little ass wanted me. I set the cigar on the ashtray and headed to the bar where the sound system was hidden. Jazz music had been playing softly in the background. I grabbed theremote and went through my selection until I found what I had been searching for.

I set the remote aside and walked back to the table. I watched as a smirk formed on her lips when Ludacris started rapping a couple of lines before Chris Brown’s smooth voice came through the speakers.

I sat in my chair and beckoned her to me. She quirked her lips up, dipped her eyebrows, and shook her head. I winked and crooked my fingers to beckon her again. Finally, she stood and walked to me.

I inhaled her sweet floral scent as I tugged her hand until she lowered onto my lap. I took her fingers and placed them on my buttons, and with a little assistance from me, she unbuttoned my shirt. I pulled it off and tossed it to the floor.

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