Page 20 of Off the Charts
The night continued with ease. The DJ seemed to turn the music up, so it became hard for us to connect. Here and there we would talk shit, but it didn’t go further than that. I don’t know how much we went through exactly, but we threw half the stacks Vayce had lined up on the table. About an hour in, it was clear that we both got bored. As I was yawning and opening the rideshare app, Vayce closed his tab.
“Whenever you’re ready to go, I’ll walk you out.”
“I’m ready now. Let me tell my cousin bye.”
He nodded as I stood. It didn’t take long to locate Harmoni. She was in a different section full of men now. She’d changed into her performance outfit and from the redness in her eyes, she was in a different world. I didn’t press her on the shit she was into, but she knew I didn’t fuck with her doing drugs outside of weed. She was suppressing her pain. It didn’t make it right, but I wasn’t going to judge her either. When she was ready to be set free, she would fight for it. For now, I would continue to love her right where she was at.
“I told you that you were leaving with some fine shit tonight,” she licked her tongue out looking over my shoulder.
I laughed. “Girl, he is only walking me out.”
“Mhm. Whatever! I saw y’all over there and shit,” she wiggled her fingers. “Text me when you get home.”
“Honey, they're ready for us!” One of the dancers called.
“Aight. I’m coming,” she blinked slowly.
I fluffed her hair over her shoulders and wiped the lip gloss from her cheeks. “Please be careful, Harmoni. I love you.”
She hooked her index finger in her right jaw. In the back of her gums was a blade. She flexed her cheek once and blood spilled in her mouth as she removed her finger.
“Always,” she winked then gave me a quick hug. “I will see you tomorrow and I will be alone.”
Harmoni didn’t give me time to respond before she was walking toward the back hand in hand with another dancer I hadn’t seen. I turned to leave and Vayce grabbed mine, leading me down the stairs.
“You valeted?”
“I didn’t drive. I’m calling a rid?—”
“Cancel it,” was all he said as he led me through the parking lot.
“What?” I looked upside his head. “Then how I’ma get home?”
“I’m taking you,” he responded as if stating the obvious.
“You don’t even know wh?—”
“Jersei, that stubborn shit ain’t gone work tonight. I could give a fuck if it was five in the afternoon, you not getting in no car with a stranger when I’m able to drive you, so you have two options. Either you get in the truck or I’ma put you in the truck. Either way, you got five seconds to sit your ass in this seat so we can get home.”
He popped the locks to the big black truck and opened the passenger side door. We exchanged daring looks to see who was moving first. I didn’t know much about him, but I was quickly learning how poised and direct he was. His left brow raised as he extended his hand toward me. Huffing, I sat my purse on the seat and without asking, Vayce lifted my body in the truck in one motion.
“You comfortable?”
“I guess,” I faked annoyance. The truth was I was turned on. Solomon had never lifted me like that and this nigga did it with ease. He chuckled before closing the door. The inside of his truck was damn near spotless and smelled of his cologne with a new car scent. Vayce climbed in and enabled a cooling feature that melted my ass right into the seat.
“You straight?”
“I’m good.”
He handed over his phone as he pulled off. “Put your address in and put on some music. Not any of that shit we just heard in the club.”
I clicked his music app already knowing what playlist I was selecting. “You trust me with your phone? What if I wanted to Apple Pay myself some money or something.”
Vayce reached for it. “That’s fine. Let me just unlock my card first.”
The seriousness in his tone made my mouth drop. I moved the phone out of his reach. “I don’t need anything. I was joking.”
He looked over at me then back to the road. One hand was on the wheel, and the other was tugging at his beard. It was simple, but so damn sexy.
