Encounters.

twenty-four.

"I love the idea. I think we can work with your publicist to come up with a good marketing strategy and find a distributor to start producing the toys in a physical sense. How does that sound?"

"Perfect! I think this process will be fun and I think it will be received really well.."

"I think so. Let's see if we can talk with your publicist and I'll work on getting a distributor.." She said and I nodded as I went to get my Macbook.

I couldn't sleep last night and I felt inspired. At first, I thought I could write but then I realized there was a different creativity that was brewing. The idea sort of came about on its own.

Between the two of us it only took about three hours for us to find a distributor, set up a meeting with them, and get my publicist on board. We set the meeting for later in the week and until then my job was to narrow down the products I wanted and their names.

Soon after she left and I relaxed in my living room to catch up on some shows. It felt nice to relax in the house that I paid for. Lately, I felt like my house was an elaborate storage unit with how much time I spent at Tamika's house as opposed to mine.

But I didn't mind. I liked spending time with her and we usually alternate between houses. I do think I'm going to bring up us living together again because I'm spending less and less time at my own house.

I heard my front door open and a couple of seconds later Tamika walked in. She was wearing all black and holding her shoes in her hand along with a large duffel bag.

"Ooo my house tonight?" I sat up as she sat her bag down with a laugh. "Yeah. I figured you wouldn't want to go anywhere."

"I would've gone home with you though," I said as she walked over to where I was seated on the couch.

She leaned down to peck my lips softly and then I sat back once again relaxing on the couch. She sat next to me and we cuddled up together.

"You look comfortable though. I wouldn't disturb your peace princess.." She rubbed my thigh allowing me to relax even more.

My eyes moved from the screen to her hand as she massaged my inner thighs. The bruise stretched across her knuckles immediately caught my eye but I decided to ignore it until my show was over.

Once the episode ended I ran the tips of my fingers over her knuckles to see if she would acknowledge it but she kept her attention on her phone.

"What happened to your hand?"

"You hungry?" She asked instead of answering my question. "Tamika."

"I had to knock a nigga out." She laughed. "Who?" I asked.

"Huh?" She laughed again. I rolled my eyes before standing and pulling her arm to drag her along to the bathroom. I pushed her into the bathroom and sat her down on the toilet as she just continued to laugh.

"Usually if somebody sees someone's hurt they don't push them and risk hurting them further."

"Who did you punch?" We were having separate conversations at this point. I kept asking who and she kept avoiding the question.

I grabbed some bruise cream from my cabinet and rubbed it on her knuckles as she finally started to tell me what happened.

"Hope they broke his face.."

"Broke more than that—ow! Be careful.." She flinched as I continued to rub her knuckles. I rolled my eyes as I continued to apply the cream with less pressure.

"Now you wanna be in pain, Mayweather? Just stay still." I tugged on her wrist bringing it closer to me once again as she continued to wince.

"I'm trying but you're being rough.." She winced again.