Adrienne
The warmth next to me was comforting.
I moaned and snuggled into it, the coziness felt heavenly at the moment. That is until I realized how out of the ordinary it was. I jolted up and looked towards the man in alarm, bunching the sheets up around my bare chest protectively. He was still sleeping, laying flat on his stomach and snoring lightly.
He had nice, smooth tan skin that went well with his jet black hair. His lips were full and pink, surrounded by his clean-cut beard. If I had to guess, I would say he was middle eastern. The comforter barely covered his bottom half, exposing me to his lean build.
I stared at him in horror for a while before groaning to myself. I had no clue who he was, and my apprehension grew at the thought of it being a stripper from last night.
I hadn't done something like this in a long time, too focused on my goals. Back in high school I was your typical vapid whore. Partying, spending money, and fucking anyone who would allow it.
And I mean anyone.
Despite this, those were the days that inspired me to get into the medical profession. It was the only reason I was so determined to accomplish just that, and I didn't require or want for any help.
The fact that I couldn't remember last night, or who this beautiful man was, was enough evidence enough to suggest that I had been drinking way too much. Also something I didn't usually do.
I slid out of bed and shrugged into a long shirt, slinking to the other side of bed. There was a crumpled pair of jeans and I fished inside of them until I found his wallet. I discovered his licence and examined it.
Nasir Smith.
He was exactly six feet, and even more attractive as his stoic gaze peered at me from his picture. His last name was surprisingly boring. I jumped when I heard a crash coming from my kitchen. When I got there, Irene was sipping on a mug of hot coffee. Salted caramel creamer, three spoons of sugar, and cinnamon sprinkled on top. This was the only way she ever liked her coffee.
I glared at her through my blurred vision, "You."
She smirked at me over the steam of her mug, "No, you. I see you had a little friend over last night. Coffee?"
I nodded at her and sunk into one of the two mismatched chairs I had in my tiny kitchen, watching as she pulled out a Mickey Mouse mug for me.
"So who is he?" I asked as she placed the cup in front of me, tossing just one sugar cube beside it along with two Aspirin for my killer headache.
She shrugged, "How the hell should I know?"
"I mean what the hell happened last night, I don't remember." I threw the sugar cube inside and washed down the Aspirin.
"Hm. Well, we left the strip club early last night because your punk ass made up some excuse about 'not being able to handle the atmosphere'. Then we went to a bar where you proceeded to get completely drunk off just two screwdrivers. I dropped your intoxicated ass off after that, I have no clue when that piece of sex in your bed got here."
I sighed in relief, realizing he wasn't a stripper.
Irene suddenly giggled and stuck her tongue out.
"What?"
She grabbed my hand, "Oh baby. Hoe Adrienne is back, bitch. We bout to fuck it up."
I snatched my hand away from her, "Girl get off of me. It was a minor slip up, not gonna happen again. How did you even know he was here?" I wasn't surprised she was here so early. She was usually around so much, I had eventually decided to give her a key.
It puzzled me, being that Irene still wallowed around in her parent's money. She lived in a nice condo about forty minutes away along with Reggie, that good-for-nothing leeching ass man of hers. Yet she was over here ninety percent of the time.
"He left his phone on the couch. I could go through it if you want me to, uncover some o' that mystery?" She blinked innocently.
"No Irene, and I mean it. I don't want to have anything to do with some random ass hook up." I shot her a warning glare.
She sipped her coffee, "I already went through it, fight me."
"You so damn annoying, I-"
I stopped talking once I realized she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were fixated behind me in a trance-like state, mouth in an 'o' shape. I swiveled my chair around to find the mysterious man gazing at us with a blank expression. He was stunning up close, his eyes a surprisingly light shade of blue. His dark hair mimicked cotton candy and really accentuated that beautiful brown skin of his-I shuddered to think what those hands might've done to me last night. He was wearing the jeans from earlier, a black t-shirt, and black combat boots.
All three of us had a staring contest until Irene cleared her throat. "Your phone is on the coffee table. Adrienne wanted to go through it, I stopped her."
I shot her the finger as he simply strolled past us to retrieve his phone. She rested her chin on her fist and looked after him longingly. "He is fine as shit." She had said it loud enough for him to hear.
I thought I saw him smirking, but couldn't be sure.
"Please keep your hoe thoughts to yourself." I stood up to greet him "I'm sorry about-"
But he had found the door and twisted the knob, slamming it shut behind him. I stared after him in shock. He had left without saying anything, just like that.
Irene sighed, "Fine as hell. Rude as fuck
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"A customer needs assistance with finding something in the toys department." My walkie-talkie blared. I set the merchandise I was working with down, answering immediately.
"I got it Stacey."
I worked at a department store in downtown Atlanta called Buy the Way. It barely covered my rent money, but the employee discount really came in handy. Plus a lot of the people I worked with were much older, meaning less drama and stress for me.
I made my way over to the toy section, smiling at any customers I came in contact with. It was pouring rain outside, so business was slow for the most part. Once I got there, all I saw was a man gazing down at our collection of barbies. He had to be in his early to mid twenties, brown skin, with a mess of curly brown hair that sat on top of his head. He had a silver hoop in each ear, and was dressed in a navy blue and white Nike windbreaker along with black jeans and a pair of black Timberlands.
I gazed at his neck tattoo,which I assumed traveled down his body, and a wave of confusion washed over me.
I knew him.
I had seen him somewhere, I just couldn't place where. "You gone stand there and stare at my fine ass all day, or get over here and quit being goofy?"
I had been too busy wrapped up in my thoughts to realize that he was now looking at me. I could feel my cheeks heating up as I dragged my feet over to where he was. "Yeah, what do you need sir?"
"Why don't y'all have any black barbie dolls?" He said.
"What? We do." I crouched down to where the dolls were and started shuffling through them.
"Uh, no y'all don't." He smacked his lips.
I finally found a curvy one and stood back up, handing it to him. "Here, see?"
He wrinkled his nose and looked at it distastefully. "So the only ones y'all got have to be obese?"
I glowered at him, "She's part of the new fashionista collection. It's supposed to teach kids about variety. I don't see what the problem is sir."
"The problem is, she fat as shit."
I bit my tongue to keep from being as childish as he was. "Sorry about that. We must've ran out of all of the other dolls."
"That's understandable." He widened his eyes, "Yo, you that chick I danced on last night. I thought yo stuck up ass looked familiar."
"Will you keep your voice down?" I looked around to make sure none of my co-workers could overhear us. Now that we weren't under the dim lights of the club, I could clearly see that he was the same stripper from last night. I averted my eyes from his in embarrassment.
Unfortunately, he was good looking. This didn't completely diminish my disgust though. He licked his pink lips, "I tried to find you after my performance last night."
I cut my eyes at him, "Why would you do that?"
"To get at you. Looks like the good lord gave us a second chance huh?" Two shallow dimples appeared in his cheeks when he grinned at me, looking my figure up and down.
"I would'nt go out with you if somebody fucking paid me." I was taken aback by my own frigidness, but my scowl didn't falter.
He frowned, "Yo, why are you such a bitch?"
I placed my hands on my hips, stunned by his sudden change of tone. "Excuse me nigga?"
"Oh I get it. It's because I work at the club, is that it ice princess?" He taunted me and I balled my fist in response.
"Yes. You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm gonna be seen with some low class stripper from Atlanta. I don't even understand what would lead you to believe that. Plus, I assumed you were gay."
He chuckled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I'm doing what I gotta do. I'm sure I ain't the only one-we all got skeletons in our closet. So please get off your high horse baby girl." He scrutinized me and I felt naked all of a sudden. Like he knew my deepest darkest secrets. I was exposed under his microscope and tore my eyes away from his once again, feeling defeated.
"What the hell are looking at Barbie Dolls for anyway?" Was all I could mutter.
Just then, the answer to my question rounded the corner.
"Daddy! Daddy, I found you Daddy!" She was a carbon copy of his annoying ass, curly brown pigtails bouncing as she bounded into his arms. The only difference was the light complexion of her skin versus the slightly deeper caramel tone of his.
"You did baby, you the hide n seek queen. Here, I found you a new Barbie, what'chu think about this one?"
She grabbed the box in her tiny hands and her face lit up, "She's so pretty daddy! I want this one." She pronounced it 'pri-dee'.
He gazed at her in admiration, "I know, I thought so too. C'mon let's go pay, I gotta drop you off you off at your momma's." I inwardly rolled my eyes at his lies.
The little girl had finally noticed my presence and smiled at me shyly. "She's pretty too."
"She aight." He said lowly.
I shot him daggers and smiled down at her, "Awe thank you, but I've never seen anyone prettier than you. What's your name beautiful?"
"Sasha. I'm five."She held up five fingers for me to count.
"OK Sasha, come on I'll help you pay." She clapped her hands and skipped in the direction of the registers. The man and I followed her in awkward silence, not even sparing each other a glance. I rang them up. "$25.99." I muttered.
He dug through his wallet, pulling things out in order to find what he was looking for. He finally passed me a fifty and I counted out his change. "Have a nice day."
"Whatever. Let's go baby girl." He called out to Sasha who was bouncing around the carts. I watched them go, a sinking feeling making its way down my throat. I sighed and was about to leave the register when I noticed a plastic card lying next to the scanner. His driver's license. I picked up and squinted at the name that read Kyhree Williams.
Great, another coincidence.
This book barely ever has any updates, so why not? Do you guys think the mystery man has any relevance to the story? How do you feel about Adrienne's attitude towards Khyree? Please leave feedback and votes!