"Wow, this is nice. When are you officially moving in?" Gloria asked me as we walked through my new condo.
"I mean, I already have the keys so whenever I have time. I'm thinking this weekend some time."
Glo arched her brows. "Girl, you had your keys last weekend too...what's the hold up?" She questioned me about me moving too slow, but I guess living alone is still a fear of mine.
"Busy," I replied.
"Mhm, whatever. Let me find you don't wanna leave Mr. Moody's loft."
I simply shrugged. "It's a nice loft..."
Gloria laughed hysterically. "I knew it. Hmm, I feel like his nice loft isn't the only reason you don't wanna leave. Give me details."
I sighed and looked over at Nas who was sitting on the kitchen counter with his headphones in. "Nas isn't the biggest fan of us moving out. He loves having Bam around."
Glo nodded with a smirk. "You do too apparently."
I arched my brows at her expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I just think that you're downplaying your feelings for him. Remember, you told me last week bout the seeing him naked situation. You were lusting just thinking about it..." I sighed immediately regretting that I disclosed that to her.
I was so happy that they let me off early today because I really wasn't feeling work. Too much going on in my mind.
I looked down at my watch and saw that I still had half a day before I had to go pick up Nas from school.
Walking into the loft, it was fairly quiet. I did hear rumblings coming from the kitchen. I assumed that Bam was home.
"Bam?" I called out.
There was no reply, so I strolled to the kitchen to see where the noise was coming from. I went in to see a perfectly sculpted bare body with nothing, but a towel wrapped around him. I bit down on my bottom lip, enjoying the sight from behind. I quickly snapped out of it.
I noticed that he had his headphones in his ear, blasting the tunes so he couldn't hear me. I tapped Bam as he was scanning the packed refrigerator.
My sudden touch startled him, causing the towel to fall to the ground. He quickly picked it up, to cover himself up again and ran back to the bathroom. It was too late, I had seen all of him.
"What's the big deal? I thought it was a funny story, so I told you. No big deal," I lied. I couldn't unsee him even if I tried.
"Lie again."
"Whatever. You working tonight?" I asked her, trying to change the subject.
"Yep, gotta put in overtime for Christmas. You?"
"Nah, off tonight. I need it," I told her with a sigh of relief.
"Awh, damn. Poor Dr. Morgan. He's gonna miss you tonight on shift. All that flirting and other shit y'all do." Gloria teased about my flourishing relationship with Chaz.
"He'll be okay. We were with each other all last night."
Gloria eyes widened. "All last night? Getting cozy already..."
I smacked my teeth. "Shut up! You know what I meant. Don't be nasty." I glanced down at my watch and smirked.
"Anyway, lets go. I don't need you being late because of me."
Me and Nasir stood in the elevator quietly on the way up to the loft. I knew that he was still in one of his moods.
"Nas, we can't stay with Bam forever. You do know that, right?"
He shrugged me off and kept his eyes on his phone. I arched my brows at his attitude. "Unh unh, little boy. Look at me when I'm talking you. Nasir, we can't continue to invade his space like this. I know Bam wants his bed back."
"Mama, he doesn't want us to go. He told me that we could stay as long as we needed. Plus, if you just make him your boyfriend then he can sleep in his bed again...with you."
I was caught off-guard by everything he was saying, especially the last part. "He was just being nice when he said that. And where would you sleep?"
"On the couch. I'm willing to give up the bed for your happiness."
I chuckled softly and shook my head. "Nas, are you playing matchmaker?"
He shrugged with a small grin. "No, but I just want you to be happy again like how you were with Dad when I was smaller..."
"I am happy, baby," I tried to assure him.
"You could be even happier with Bam. We all could be," he added before walking out of the elevator. I followed behind him to the loft.
I let Nas open the front door to hear a woman's voice. It sounded like Bam was getting lectured by someone.
"Bubbles, chill. It's not that deep," I heard his voice crack before walking in. My eyes scanned the room before seeing Bam at the barstool with a bruised up face. I immediately dropped my purse and rushed to him.
"Nas, go get my first-aid kit!" I hollered out.
"Laurie, I'm fine..." he mumbled, trying to move my hands from his face. I simply shook my head.
"Your damn face is atrocious right now. Why didn't you go to the ER?" He just shrugged me off.
"Because he's so damn stubborn," the unfamiliar woman said and I nodded to agree. Nas came running back with the kit and I opened it, quickly starting to clean his face properly.
"Are you going to tell what happened?" I questioned him with a frown.
"Nothing..."
"Bam," I scolded him as I covered his forehead bruise with a gauze pad. "Don't lie to me."
The petite woman shook her head. "Lies. You let that dude beat your ass like you stole something. You didn't even fight back. I've never known you to take a L in a fight."
I wiped the remaining blood stains from his face and dabbed alcohol on the cuts, so that there wasn't any infections. His eyes settled on my face as I tried clean his face off.
I quickly deflected by asking a question. "What were you fighting about?"
He just shrugged and I knew that he was withholding information. I sighed deeply and threw the bloody napkins away before washing my hands.
"Thank you, L," he got up from the stool and took the woman's hand trying to escort her out, but she didn't budge. Instead, she approached me with a small smirk.
"Hey, I'm Casey, Brandon's younger sister. You are--?"
"Lauren. Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. So, how long have you two been together?" There was an awkward silence after she spoke.
"Um, we're just friends. Anyway, go home, Bubbles. My niece needs you."
Casey looked back and forth between the two of us. "Oh, okay then. Well, let me head on out. Brandon please think about what I said and press charges against the guy who did that to your face."
Bam sighed and walked his sister to the door. "Again, it was nice to meet you Lauren," was what she said before he closed the door behind her.
"Sorry about that. Bubbles is nosey."
I wiped my hands with a paper towel and then crossed then over my chest. Bam sighed deeply and leaned back on the counter.
"What'd I do now?" His voice softened.
"Tell me what happened..."
Bam touched his cheek and winced in pain. It was swollen pretty badly. I grabbed a ice pack from the freezer and strolled toward him.
"Here, this should get the swelling down," I told him while gently placing the pack on the swollen area of his face.
"Ahh, damn," he nearly jumped. I cracked a smile trying not to laugh. "That's cold as hell." I just nodded in reply while I zoned in on his facial features.
"Thanks."
His hand moved on top of mine as I was holding the ice pack on his cheek. I wiggled my hand out of his grasp and stood back, still waiting for him to tell me the story.
"Tell me."
"I was out with my sister and Erin's husband saw me. Rightfully so, he punched me in the face and I didn't hit him back nor did I say a word to him. I let him get his anger out..."
My brows rose in confusion. "Why?"
"I-I was sleeping with that man's wife, Lauren." That admission caught me off-guard and it made me look at him a bit different. "It also doesn't help that he had to drop this lawsuit against me because there wasn't a sufficient amount of evidence."
I simply nodded not saying a word to him. The more I learned about what kind of man Bam is, the more confused I am.
"Say it," he muttered while staring me down.
"Say what?"
"Your nose did the twitching thing again, so I know you got something to say." I rolled my eyes at him trying to read me.
"The more I learn about you, the more confused I get."
Bam shook his head and sighed. "Confused about what? I am who I am. Flawed as fuck. Never claimed to be perfect."
"Yeah..." I simply nodded as we stood there eyeing each other down, not saying words. Our eyes were doing all of the talking.
"Mama!" Nas called me from the bedroom, snapping us both out of the stare down.
"Night..."
Vote, comment, and whatever else ;)
Why did Bam's sister come visit him?
What is holding Lauren back from moving out of Bam's loft?
Next chapter will be...emotional af. Pray for them 😂😂😂