Vuitton logo stamped into the tag on one of the handles. The luggage was worn and…plain, which relieved me. Quickly, I pulled my things from my book bag and tossed them into the duffle. It was half-filled, but switching bags to get the Prince of Zamunda off my back was the goal.
“What the hell are you snickering about?”
I lifted my head. “You, Prince of Zamunda.”
Ashton scoffed, “I’m the Prince of Zamunda?”
“Yup. Akeem.”
“Then who does that make you?”
I stood to my feet, grabbing the long strap of the duffle and tossing it over my shoulder. “A tomboy with new Louis Vuitton luggage. Clearly, my BSU gear wasn’t good enough for his highness.” I bowed like the people in the movie last Friday.
“Oh, word?” Ashton widened the space between his long legs and crossed his arms. “If I’m the prince, let me see you bark like a dog.”
“Remember, I’m good at being a dog, according to you.” I found it funny. Ashton did not. He visibly cringed.
“Never mind. I forgot we got history with that title.”
It was too late. I began to bark and on one foot, hopping to the door.
“Is there anything I can get you?” the flight attendant asked, eyes sweeping between Ashton and me.
Ashton looked my way for an answer. When I didn’t say anything, he turned back to her. “We’re fine for now. Thanks.”
He unrolled the blanket the flight attendant gave us and lay it over me. First class, and he gave me the window seat. I was able to see the sun set. And as he said, no one from BSU was with us.
“You ready to see your family?” he asked, turning over to his side to face me.
I hated how good he looked, snuggled into the big leather chair with a blanket on himself. His voice was soft and attention completely on me. That felt weird.
I shrugged. “I guess.” I did call and tell them I was coming.
“You guess? Man, I can’t wait to see my peeps, especially after losing Brick. My mom and aunt don’t want to spoil the holiday by speaking about his death the whole day. We’ll see who breaks.”
“That’s gonna be hard.”
“Yeah…” He exhaled. “But I can’t wait to rip through my mom’s lobster gumbo.”
That made me smile. “Sounds…different.”
“It is. Bangin’, too!” When he quieted, I turned for the window, ready for takeoff. The orange sky gave me vibes. “You lookin’ forward to seeing one of your exes or somebody you used to be checking for before coming to BSU?”
What?
My head flew to face Ashton, to ask if he had that quickly turned into the mean human he could be. Bully human. Horrible hum—
He leaped over the space between us and caught my lips with his mouth. It happened so fast, it took a while for my brain to catch up. But my body felt it right away when my eyes fell closed and breath escaped. When he pulled back, Ashton’s eyes were low as though he was high.
He licked his lips. “I ‘on’t wanna waste no time talking about no bum ass South Jersey niggas.” I frowned. “Tell me about your Margaret.”
“What about her?”
He shrugged, fist beneath his beard, holding his head up. “Anything.”
Ashton looked…happy, very comfortable and at home this close to me. It was strange, but I didn’t know what to do about it, so I did nothing.
“She told me to make sure I’m my husband’s first wife,” was the first thing that came to mind.
It was because that random memory came to me yesterday while under the dryer, getting a deep conditioner.
“Why?” Ashton asked, face tight.
My brows lifted. “She said something about if I’m his first wife, all his social security benefits will come to me when he dies, even if you remarry and he remarries.”
Ashton’s head bounced back. A loud cackle boomed from his chest. It scared the shit out of me, had me looking around to see if it did the same to anyone else. “All his social security benefits?”
I shrugged, turning for the window for a second. “I think she said so.” I nodded. “Yeah, all of them.”
Still laughing, but quieter, he requested, “I just learned something new. I gotta ask my moms. Please tell me more.”
And I did.
Chapter Four
-THEN-
We were off the plane and on our way down to transportation in no time. It was a feasible concept when you traveled with just carry-on luggage. That was an impossible inconvenience when traveling with Aivery. She had to pack for “just in case” events each