Page 7 of Solace in Seven
“Separate cars is not a problem, ma’am. I will make the arrangements now,” she replied with a smile.
I bobbed my head. “Thanks,” I told them.
“Yeah, thanks,” Cassidy said before stalking off.
“What is it that you do, anyway?” I asked as I stepped up beside her, waiting for our drivers to pull around.
She shot me a cold stare with her arms folded across her chest. “Are you serious right now? Don’t talk to me.”
“Yeah, I’m serious. I mean, your ass made such a big deal back there about how you can ball out if you feel like it, I figured I’d ask.”
She narrowed her eyes at me and flared her nostrils. “If you must know, I’m in computer security. Something that takes a little bit more brainpower than dribbling a ball.”
I chuckled. “Oh, word? That’s how you goin’?”
She gave a lazy shrug. “I said what I said.”
“I guess that computer shit is cool or whatever.”
“Well, not all of us have the height and a solid jump shot like you. I had to scrape to get enough money to put me through school while people like you got the red carpet rolled out for them.”
I rolled my eyes before stepping up and towering over her petite ass frame. She needed to be put in her place, and since she kept slanging her attitude my way and letting slick shit fall off her tongue, I was going to be the one to do it. “Yo, I’ve been tryna be cool with your self-pitying ass, but you gon’ watch your fuckin’ mouth when you address me, Cassidy. I may be a mothafuckin’ ball player, but you know where the fuck I come from, and that street shit is gon’ always be in me, aight? We already agreed we gon’ split this shit up, so you stay your lil’ ass on your side, and I’ll stay on mine.” I gritted my teeth.
“You should be grateful I’m even agreeing to this shit in the first place!” she snapped, just like an Inglewood girl. On the low, I was still a sucker for that hood shit.
I scoffed. “You want my gratitude? Nah, you ain’t earned that yet,” I declared before leaving her ass standing there with her pretty ass mouth hanging wide open.
The moment I was on my way to the villa, I began to chuckle at the irony of the whole situation. I’d left the fuckin’ country to clear my head and destress, yet I was going to have to share my space with the most stressful woman I’d ever met in my life. From the moment I saw her on that plane, I knew it was going to be some shit between us and arguing back wouldn’t do anything but fan the flame. We’d already started the day off with tension thick enough to slice with a knife, and Iknew that spending the next six days with her could easily turn into the week from hell.
A part of me smiled at the idea of getting to play her close for a week. As rowdy as she was, there wasn’t a flaw to her French-tipped toes. Her long braids competed in length with her smooth legs that had been kissed by sun to be the perfect shade of honey brown. She had perky breasts that were real and a nice bubble booty. Any woman that got with me had to have a set of childbearing hips because my seed was gon’ be no less than ten pounds, and she had ‘em. If it wasn’t for her poor ass attitude, staying away from her would be hard, but I planned to keep my distance until I couldn’t anymore.
four
. . .
Cassidy
Our cars approached the gated entrance and pulled up to the villa within seconds of each other. Hendrix took one look at me when he stepped out, and I was set on fire—not in a good way. I’d never been around someone whose presence intrigued and repelled me all at once. My equilibrium was thrown off when I was around him, and I figured the faster I got inside, the faster I could get away from him. I tried to keep my focus on the beautiful palm trees, clear, blue skies, lush gardening, and shimmering blue pool ahead of me as I sped up my pace. Without bothering to say excuse me, I bumped past him and lost my balance.
“Oh shit!” I squeaked before stumbling and crashing into the pool.
I made the biggest, loudest,most utterly embarrassingsplash as my entire body submerged underwater. Seconds later, I popped back up only to see Hendrix’s arm outstretched to me at the edge of the pool.
“Oh shit, I’m glad your rude ass can swim. I thought I was gonna have to jump in there and save you,” he said, before flashing me his stupid ass, breathtaking smirk.
I wanted to smack that shit right off his face, but instead, I slapped his hand away and pulled myself out of the water. I was sopping wet from head to toe, looking about as attractive as a dog caught in the middle of a tsunami. I bent down to swipe up my phone that I’d dropped before hitting the water.
“You could’ve ruined my phone!” I yelled, swatting wet braids out of my face, “and what if I couldn’t swim, huh?”
“But you clearly can, and this pool don’t go deeper than six feet anyway. I think you would’ve been aight.”
I huffed and narrowed my eyes. “Whatever, just stay your ass away from me, or I swear to God!” I said, balling up my fists.
He must’ve felt the heat radiating off my body because he took a few steps back and let me enter the villa first. I stormed down the hall in a blitz of anger, zooming past the long, U-shaped beige couch and large, floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room that overlooked the Caribbean Sea and let the sun in from all angles. All I wanted to do was find the master suite and settle my fucking nerves. A subtle smile crept across my face when I stepped into the room and saw those same floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the turquoise waves rolling up against the smooth shore. Hearing the waves crashing against one another was like music to my ears. All I wanted to do was marry my body to the plush California king bed, but I kept trekking my wet ass across the marble floors into the bathroom.
Hundreds of droplets of warm water sprang out of the large rainfall showerhead. After I made sure I’d gotten clean, I popped the bottle of champagne I’d found inside the welcome basket on top of my bed and drew myself a warm bath to soak and further settle my nerves.
“Cheers to a week of self-love,” I mumbled to myself before clanking the champagne flute against the bottle and submerging my body beneath the warm suds.
