Page 84 of Deeper

I kissed his forearm. “Then you gotta makeAbstractimmaculate and have an amazing tour.”

“Paul’s in talks right now for the tour to begin next summer for the North American leg and then the top of the year after for the other legs. He wants over eighty shows, but we’ll see how it all pans out. It’s going to be crazy, but I’ve been missin’ the stage and I’m ready to really give it all I’ve got.”

Maybe it was selfish to think of all the time he’d be gone and how much I’d really miss him then, but I couldn’t stop myself from putting it together. As much as it saddened me, I was happy for him, excited more than upset. He would have plenty of material, and so much to prove.

“What about you?” Zander asked me.

A soft smile curved my lips upward. “When I was a kid, there was this store like the one I work in that my mom would shop at. At the checkout counter they used to sell all types of accessories, and there was this water watch I really wanted. Stainless steel with a bubble full of water on the face; some were green, others blue or pink, and I really wanted it.

“My mom kept saying ‘Maybe next time, Bia.’ Next time never came, because at one point, the store stopped selling them and no one else had them. I used to hold it over her head, about how she never got me the watch. I was only ever teasing, but I could tell in my later years she regretted not getting it for me. Pryor and me, we got a lot of stuff as kids, but we were far from spoiled. But that watch was like the one thing I can really think back on that I really wanted and never got.”

Zander came and kissed my cheek. “I’m sure if they were still around your mum would’ve gotten it for you.”

“I know.”

My stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten a proper meal yet that day.

I climbed out of bed and took off towards the shower, where Zander joined me and we made love. His ability to pick me up with ease made me melt. I loved how into me he was, how obsessed I was slowly becoming with him, how electric our spark and energy seemed. Fast or not, I loved us.

After our shower I put on his Green Day T-shirt and some shorts of mine I’d left over and found his phone, getting an idea.

“I’m going to cook some dinner. Why don’t you log onto Instagram and go live?” I suggested.

Zander pulled on some sweats and eyed me funny. “Live?”

“Yeah, go live and interact with your fans, be silly, listen to music, just chill.”

Zander accepted his phone and mused over the idea as we went down to the kitchen. I put my hair into a bun and browsed his refrigerator for an idea. The sight of fresh peppers and a couple packs of ground turkey made an alarm go off in my head. Stuffed peppers it was.

I washed my hands and rinsed the green, yellow, orange, and red peppers before pre-heating the oven. Zander lit a spliff and sat at the island, going through his phone as I seasoned the meat and found some ready rice.

“Rajaa will be back later,” he let me know. “Paul may stop in instead of dropping him off. You think you can make enough?”

I had cut the peppers in half, making a grand total of sixteen. “There’ll be plenty.”

Zander bobbed his head and sent a quick text message.

When the peppers were stuffed and baking, I washed the dishes I used and rinsed them before letting them air dry.

Zander still wasn’t live yet.

“Ahem.” I went and planted myself in front of him. “What are you waiting for?”

Zander flashed me a crooked grin. “Don’t know how.”

I rolled my eyes and snatched his phone, going and clicking on the Instagram app for him and going onto his profile and beginning the live-feed for him.

He hadn’t been online for a second before people started jumping on. It was amazing watching his views jump to the thousands in minutes.

“Oh wow,” I let out. Me, I never went live, I was obscure with my puny four hundred followers. If I did go live, I highly doubted anyone would click to see me. Plus, I didn’t take myself seriously enough to do it since I had nothing to say, and I could easily FaceTime Victoria for a conversation.

Zander leaned over my shoulder to get a good look, prompting his fans to go into a frenzy. My favorite thing ever was whenever a person was flabbergasted or shook, they’d just type a bunch of random letters to emphasize their speechlessness.

I leaned close to read a few comments, super proud of one in particular. “?‘Zander is the petty champ.’?” I grinned at him. “Damn right you are.”

I set the phone on the counter and propped it against a bowl of fruit. Quickly, I got out of the way so Zander could take over and talk amongst his fans.

“They want to know your name,” he said to me, sneaking me a smile. “Can I tell them?”

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