Chapter 39

39

A manda

The gash on the back of Felicity’s head was healing nicely. Seeing it broke my heart because it was there because of me. When I saw how hard her head hit the pavement when Scotty pushed her, my heart could have burst. She started bleeding instantly, and I knew she wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. I prayed not too much damage had been done. Thankfully, there was no swelling on her brain, and she didn’t need surgery. Outside of the concussion and needing stitches, my tough cookie was okay.

Knowing Scotty had been handled stopped the nightmares. I wish I could say he was the first man that tried to take what didn’t belong to him because of the way I used to make money, but he wasn’t. Unfortunately, for a lot of us, that came with the territory. What was so scarring about that experience was that we were in a public space. But even with that, Elias and my girls having my back kept me from feeling like no one could be trusted. Elias had taught me several ways to defend myself, so even though I never wanted to take a person’s life, I was grateful I had been able to pull that trigger and get him away from us.

Just thinking about that had me looking at Felicity in admiration. I’d thanked her and Tamar incessantly, though they swore it wasn’t necessary.

I’d stopped by to see her before going to Tamar’s shop to get my hair done. It was my maintenance day, which meant a lot of time hopping from one beauty establishment to the next.

“You better go before you miss your appointment,” Felicity warned. “You know Tamar will cancel our appointments in a minute just because she can come to our house.”

That made me laugh because it was absolutely true. “Won’t she? I can’t do that today, though, because I have a date.”

“So things are going well with you and E then huh?” she asked with a wide grin as she walked me to the front door.

“They are. Like…it finally feels right this time, you know? I don’t know if we just met each other too soon or what, but this feels so right, cuz.”

“That makes me happy. I’m glad you’re finally getting your man in the capacity you want him. You deserve it.”

“Thank you, Felicity. For real.”

We embraced, which had her looking at me like I was crazy because I usually only hugged them if something was wrong.

“Whatever he putting on the tip of his dick to make you all nice and affectionate, keep sucking it.”

All I did was laugh at her crazy ass as I walked out of her home. She was crazy, but she was right. The more love and affection Elias gave to me, the more I had to give to myself and others. There had never been a shortage on the love I gave my baby. Even if I had to be empty to provide it for him, I did. When it came to everybody else, though, I never allowed myself to go without. Things were different now. I was truly happy, and I wanted to share that with others. I was also in a space where I felt safe to be open and expressive with my people, and I had Elias to thank for that.

It took me around fifteen minutes to get to the storefront where Tamar’s shop was located. My girl was one of the best hair stylists in Rose Valley Hills, hands down. She stayed booked and busy and rarely had time to take new clients because her return rate was phenomenal.

As she did my usual deep condition, steam treatment, and silk press, we gossiped like we hadn’t talked about the same stuff last night over dinner. When she was done, I tried to pay her, but she declined.

“Your baby daddy already paid,” she said, shoving my hand and the cash inside back toward me.

“Huh?”

“In fact, he paid for your weekly appointments for the next year. You’re good, sis.”

My lip poked out as my eyes watered. He was so sweet and thoughtful. Since I gave him permission to take care of me, he’d been doing things that put me in my feelings almost daily. This was so foreign to me, but it felt natural to receive. I couldn’t believe I’d wasted all this time denying him, his love, and everything else he had to offer.

I thanked her and still gave her the money as a tip, though she insisted he’d already tipped her well before I left. Crazy thing was, all my beauty girlies said the same thing. He’d paid my nail tech, lash and brow girl, and wax girlie for the next year. All I’d have to do was book my appointments and come through. The entire time I drove home, I was all smiles. I finally understood why some girls were on that my man, my man, my man shit, because I swear, I wanted to scream it from the top of my lungs.

When Elias told me Daddy had picked EJ up from school, I knew he was up to something. What I wasn’t expecting was the outpour of love and gifts he had for me. He told me to get dressed for our date, and he already had my outfit waiting on my bed. The cream minidress fit me like a glove and looked like butter against my brown skin. It puffed slightly at the bottom and the bottom of the sleeves, adding some symmetry along with my curves.

Fishnet stockings, pumps, and a matching clutch set the look off, but he gifted me with a new jewelry set as well. I squealed as I put on the full set of yellow gold jewelry from the Cartier love collection. He’d gotten both necklaces, all the bracelets, the ring, and earrings. This man truly knew jewelry made me happy.

I sprayed my favorite Kilian perfume all over my body and mixed it with Tom Ford to make my signature scent, then headed to the living room, where more surprises awaited me. The couch, chairs, bench, and coffee table were covered in bags and boxes from my three favorite brands—Hermes, Chanel, and Fendi. It was at that moment I realized what he was doing.

I didn’t want to cry because tonight had been a rare occasion that I’d done my makeup, but the tears threatened to pour.

His arms wrapped around me, and he whispered against my ear. “Every day, I’m gifting you something. Whether it’s a love note, flowers, a gift, or this dick. And I want you to have confidence in the fact that you earned it—just by being you. But I also want you to know you deserve it for no reason at all other than the fact that I love spoiling you.”

As I turned, I reached for the button on his slacks. His chuckle was sexy as he gripped my hands and kept me from pulling out my favorite friend. Elias licked his lips as his eyes darkened and lowered. No one could tell me my man wasn’t the finest out of them all. That pecan brown skin, ducktail beard, tapered fade, juicy lips, dark eyes—yeah…Elias Peterson was definitely that nigga.

“Whatchu doing, Mandy?”

“About to suck your dick.”

His head flung back and eyes crinkled as he laughed. “Later, I’ll stuff you with this shit. For now, there’s more in store.”

With a groan, I allowed him to lead me out of my home. Since we didn’t go through the driveway, I figured it was because he wanted to take the town car. I dropped my clutch, covered my mouth, and took steps backward as I released a sound that was a mix between a cry, laugh, and yell. I’d been a Mercedes girl for years. My dream car was a G-Wagon. The moment I could afford to pay cash for it, I got it. Parked in my driveway, red bow and all, was a white Mercedes GLS 450 with black trim and finishings. It was going to look so sexy next to my black G-Wagon.

My knees weakened and eyes watered…body bent.

“Go look inside,” Elias commanded, helping to lift me by my elbows. “This is only the beginning,” he whispered into my ear before kissing it as I wrapped my arms around him.

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack. I can’t take anything else.”

Elias released a low rumble of laughter. “You told me to do something cute to ask you to be mine again.”

“Yeah, like have them write it on a dessert plate at a restaurant. This is how rich niggas propose.”

He looked down at me with a frown of confusion. “I am a rich nigga.”

A bark of laughter escaped me before I sucked my teeth and wiped my eyes. “I don’t know how you’re going to top this when you ask me to marry you.”

“Let me worry about allat. Go look inside so we can go. I’m hungry for pasta and pussy, so we need to be on the way.”

“Ugh. You’re so romantic.”

Elias smacked my ass as I headed toward the SUV. It was loaded with several dozen bouquets of red roses. I already had in mind to use them to make rose oil and water. I was most excited about that, and he knew that…because he knew me. After a quick make out session that almost led to him fucking me against the SUV, we headed to our destination in his town car for the evening.

I was grateful neither of us drove because Elias was the typical man who could drink hard liquor for hours but get tipsy off a few glasses of wine or champagne. By the time dessert came out, we both were wine tipsy.

I laughed until I cried when I saw “Will you be my mine again, baby mama?” written in red syrup under my strawberry cheesecake. Of course, I said yes, which led to us adding champagne into the mix to celebrate. When we were good and full, Elias left a few hundreds for the tip, then we were well on our way. I was so happy, my cheeks hurt by the time we made it back to my place, but I needed them to make themselves useful for one more thing tonight…