Under The Influence: N 2 Deep

72. Hmhmm

Joe's POV

We went to see the house and she ended up putting in an offer on it. The house was gorgeous. Five bedrooms, two of them are masters. It has 6 bathrooms, a wine cellar, a bar area, and a gym. It also has a fireplace in the kitchen. That's crazy to me. What's also crazy is there's a kitchen outside too. This was some real rich people shit. It was kinda toned down. I'm sure it could be way more extravagant. She, I mean Drake is going to drop 3.6 million on it. I personally don't think it was worth that much but it's located in Hidden Hills, and we all know that's money land.

I sat down at the island in the kitchen. I had my phone in front of me but I wasn't doing anything on it, I was watching her. We have really come a long way in this, business wise and friendship wise. She really is a good friend in my book. We are able to have conversations that I'm not necessarily sure I would be able to have with anyone else. I've gotten close to a few women in my lifetime but not like this, this is different for me.

I'm not a jealous person, but I guess to some women that may come off as me not caring. That's not true. I do care,  it's just that I know what's good for me. I'm in the mindset that if you feel you need to sneak around or go somewhere else I'm not gonna say anything about it and I'm not gonna chase you. That's the decision that you decided to make, and that's how you want to move. I said it before, but I am not going to police my woman or female friends. I don't feel the need to have to go through their phone. I think all of that is a character flaw and that's something they need to work on within themselves. If she wants to do all of that, I'm gonna let her. That's on her but she won't have me because I'm not gonna allow that type of behavior.

With Shawnie, I don't feel like we need to be together. I'm not putting her in the category of a girlfriend. She's my friend. I feel like what we have, which has nothing to do with us being involved romantically, I feel like I'm just the person that needs to be there for her. Regardless of what that may be. What I said to her in Vegas is the truth. That's exactly how I feel. I don't want to be her boyfriend. Am I attracted to her? Hell yeah, she's fine as hell. But that doesn't mean I need to make her my woman. I don't even think we're at that point anyway. I don't think we'll ever get to that point to be honest. I'm not thinking about a relationship with anyone right now. I'm fine with being single. I've been this way for a few years now and it's what works best for me.

As Mercedes caught me doing before, I was watching her. She was moving around the kitchen freely. She was cooking something and it smelled good. I smiled at how comfortable she was around me. I like that she's comfortable because she's able to be herself. When she was with Drake, she couldn't fully let go and she wasn't comfortable. I like that I'm her security blanket. I know she feels that if I'm around nothing is going to go wrong. It's true, and I like that feeling.

The talk I had with Mercedes was kind of out of left field. I know what she walked in on in Vegas and I know how it looked but nothing really happened between us. I stopped things before we went too far because we both probably would have regretted it in the morning. I don't want anything to jeopardize our friendship and I'm not saying that would have, but just in case I thought it was best that we stopped it. So when she came to me earlier today, I was kind of caught off guard. I put that whole situation out of my mind. I might've thought about it a couple of times because she does look good walking around in her robe, or short shorts. She pays absolutely no attention to me and I'm fine with that. But since Vegas, I've been holding a secret. My secret is, I wouldn't mind sleeping with her.