it’s making me pissy.”
I smile. “You probably shouldn’t curse in front of the baby,” I say.
“Don’t worry about pretty Daisy,” he says. I can hear the fondness in his voice. “Between me, her daddy, and these other fucks, her first word will indeed be, ‘fuck’.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it for a second,” I hear a woman say. “Thank you, Ink. You’re the best.”
“No problem, pretty Rose. Anytime you want me to hold that girl just shove her in my arms.”
The woman laughs and I have the urge to go over there and punch her in the face. This is one of the reasons why I told him to stop calling me, pretty lady. He calls every single female pretty and I hated that I didn’t feel special when he said it to me.
Hearing “pretty Rose” laugh just proves my point.
I know who Rose is. When she first arrived, Laura was concerned for the club’s president, Bear. Apparently, he took a quick liking to the woman. Everything worked itself out in the end, though.
Even though I know who she is and that she’s a married woman, it doesn’t stop the insane amount of envy and jealousy that sweeps through my body.
“Baby, did you hear me?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, mentally smacking myself. “What did you say?”
“I said your teasing needs a little work,” he chuckles. “It might get a man hurt one of these days.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have done a single thing if I did have a date,” I say.
The humor completely leaves Sammy’s voice when he growls, “Let’s not find out.”
Okay, so maybe he would have.
“Get some sleep, babe. I’ve got club shit to do. Like I said, expect me there tomorrow night. You have between now and then to get any sort of doubt out of your head. Because this thing between you and me, it’s happening.”
“There’s a thing?” I ask breathlessly. Because he sounds so sure of our future being entwined.
“Go to sleep, beautiful.”
“Okay,” I whisper. What else am I supposed to say?
I’m about the push the ‘end call’ button when I put the phone back up to my ear.
“Sammy, do you call all the other women beautiful?”
He’s quiet and I can feel the blush take over my face. Why the heck did I ask that? That jealous feeling of not having a special name just for me makes me sick. Why would he have a special name for me? I’m no one important.
“The only other woman I’ve called beautiful was my mama,” he says, softly. “I don’t call anyone baby or beautiful. Those are yours, sweetheart. Never again will a single soul come before you. I really hope you trust yourself to believe me. Now, get to sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, night,” I blindly say.
I end the call and close my eyes. I have a lot to think about and not very much time to do it. I also know thinking about anything is just a waste of time. I already know I’m going to give Sammy a go.
I’ve loved that man for as long as I can remember. What’s that saying? If you love something let it go and if it comes back it was meant to be?
I may not have let Sammy go all those years ago, but we did end up going our separate ways. Me with a broken heart. Him, with confused feelings.
Well, here we are, years later, the same two people. Only, different.
I don’t know how long I lay in my bed just thinking about the past and possible future, but I eventually fall asleep with a smile on my face and hope in my heart.
***
BANG!
I’m jerked out of sleep by a loud noise. I sit up in bed and listen but can’t hear anything else. Maybe the sound was actually in my dream. It wouldn’t be the first time a dream woke me up and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
I lay back down and close my eyes.
I can’t even remember what I was dreaming about. That usually happens when I’m awoken suddenly.
I’m about to drift off when I hear it again.
BANG!
“Okay, not a dream,” I whisper.
The walls between apartments aren’t all that thick and I can hear all sorts of interesting things from time to time. But this didn’t sound like it came from another apartment. It sounded like it came from the other room.
I go to grab my phone only to notice it still on my bed. I quickly pick it up and push the button to wake