Truth or Dare - Danielle Allen Page 0,2

booties matter, too.”

“They do! But you graduated from a butt to an ass.” He reached his hand out and then paused. “Can I touch it?”

“No!” I pushed his hand away.

“I remember when your ass was a scrawny little thing…”

We continued cackling down the hall.

I hooked my arm with his. “We have to practice for Saturday,” I told him, slowing my walk to mimic a wedding march.

“Oh…” He nodded knowingly. “You have to practice walking because you’re carrying extra weight in your ass now.”

I burst out laughing.

“I miss you, Kingston,” I sighed when I finally caught my breath. “How is Atlanta treating you? You didn’t respond to my last text.”

“Which one?”

“The one asking you how work was going.” I pursed my lips. “But you were responding to that meme in the group chat.”

He laughed. “My bad. I meant to respond, but I didn’t want to give you the typical everything is cool response.” He sighed. “Honestly, work has been kicking my ass.”

“If you trusted someone enough to let them do the day-to-day stuff, you wouldn’t have so much on your plate,” I told him again.

“I know. You’re right.”

“I always am.” I quirked an eyebrow. “And don’t you forget it.”

He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, business is good. I don’t have much of a personal life because I’m always working, but business is good,” he continued, hitting the call button for the elevator. “The restaurant business is not for the weak.”

I nodded knowingly. “That explains the muscles.”

Kingston Wright was the owner of Wright Now, the Atlanta based soul-food restaurant. He had both a brick and mortar location and a food truck. The public loved him as much as the food critics. It was literally his dream come true and to see his success was inspiring.

He chuckled. “What have you been up to?”

“Working. Traveling. Spending money and making money. I’m still with the bank full-time,” I told him honestly.

“Are you at least still designing outfits on the weekend?” he wondered.

My mouth pulled downward into a frown as I avoided eye contact.

“Simone.” His tone was slightly admonishing, and I couldn’t blame him.

I hung my head. “I know, I know.”

“Every couple of months we have a long conversation about you making it a reality. I see you once a year and every time I see you, you say you’re going to have it ready by the next time I see you. And now you’re telling me after your big speech at your birthday party last year, you’re not working on it. What’s up? What’s the problem?”

“I make stuff for myself. I just haven’t really done much for my business.”

He shook his head. “You have to do better.” Poking me in my neck, he reiterated, “Stop bullshittin.”

My head snapped down and my shoulder jumped up, clamping his fingers in the crevice of my neck. Laughing, I pushed him away. “That tickles!”

He opened his mouth to say something, but my phone started ringing.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey! Where are you?” Chloe Park asked in the same frantic tone she’d been using since the day started. “You’re on your way back to the dock, right?”

“Yes, Chloe,” I pacified her, widening my eyes at Kingston. “I had to stop by my room for a minute and when I came out, I ran into Kingston!”

“You ran into Kingston!” the bride-to-be started yelling hysterically and I pulled the phone from my ear. “The elevator just got here. We’ll see you in five minutes!”

“Okay, I’ll tell Dom that Kingston’s here!” she cheered before we said our goodbyes.

I slipped my phone into my little silver crossbody bag and stepped into the empty elevator car. “These glass elevators make me nervous,” I mentioned as I looked out over the ocean.

“But the view is incredible,” Kingston commented as he marveled at the water. “Have you ever been to Punta Cana?”

“No, this is my first time,” I told him.

“Me too. I haven’t been a lot of places.” He scoffed. “Hell, I haven’t even had a proper vacation in a long time. I needed this. I’m glad Chloe and Dom decided to get married here.”

I nodded. “I’m glad they decided to get married period.”

He laughed. “They took the longest engagement road I’ve ever seen, but they made it.”

Chloe Park and Dominick Love had been together for eleven years and they’d been engaged for eight. After years of saving, they put together the wedding of their dreams which included a four-day weekend of wedding festivities followed by a three-week honeymoon. The wedding party was mostly comprised of college friends, so the