Page 10 of His Secure Embrace

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ME:

You know what… Hell yeah. I’ll keep y’all posted.

TAVA:

Yeah! Stella’s getting her groove back.

LYNAE:

She gon’ be hiding in that nigga bushes when he done turning her every way but loose.

I shook my head and closed the group chat. I hovered over James’s contact. Would it be too forward to text him the same night I got his number? What would I even say?

“Just do it, Brielle,” I commanded.

I tapped the contact and opened a new message thread.

ME:

Hey

As I waited, I realized it was well past three o’clock in the morning. Most people would be in bed by now. Defeat had crept up my core. I should delete the message before he sees it. My heart raced as I watched the notification switch from delivered to read.

James:

What’s up, beautiful? I was wondering when you’d hit me up.

ME:

I’m surprised you’re still up.

James:

Yeah, I usually get home an hour or so after the club closes, depending on my shift. What are you doing up this late?

ME:

It definitely is well past my bedtime, but I couldn’t get you out of my mind.

James:

Yeah? What a coincidence. I’ve been thinking about you all night too.

My bead throbbed between the folds. She needed to be soothed by a six feet and some change dread head. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard. I didn’t want to scare him away with my horniness, but I definitely needed him to take the edge off.

ME:

Well don’t tell me things like that because I’ll tell you to pull up and show me a thing or two.

James:

Lol, and like I told you at the club I’m a man who can show you better than I can tell you. However, I saw you and your friends knocking back those drinks…

ME:

What does me having a couple drinks have to do with you folding me like a lawn chair?

James:

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