Page 47 of Queen of the Pole

“I told you that you were going to like it,” he said, using his fingertips again, so that he could get more.

“Your mom taught you how to cook?” I asked him.

“Yeah. Me, and all my brothers know how to cook. You’ll never really see me eating fast food. I barely eat out at restaurants. If I do, it’s because I don’t feel like cooking anything. What about you? You know how to cook?” he asked, flipping the question on me.

“I do. I meal prep. I typically cook enough food to last me lunch and dinner throughout the week. I get to the club around 8, so I’ll eat dinner before going in,” I shared, and he nodded.

“When you going to go back?” he wanted to know.

“This weekend. I have to. Blue has been too good to me over the years for me to just leave him hanging like this and not show up for work. I know my appearance will look much better by this weekend. I’ll just make sure to add enough make-up to hide the bruises on my face,” I said.

“You don’t think that nigga going to come looking for you at the club?” he asked.

“I know he is, which is why when I get there, I’m going to tell Blue to let the security at the door know to not let him in. I know he’ll do it,” I said.

“And you feel safe going back to your crib? That nigga got a key to your spot?” he asked.

“He knows the code to get through the door. I can change the code though” I shared, and after I shared it, Wolf sucked his teeth.

“Nah. I don’t trust that shit. The second you take your ass back home, that nigga going to pop up over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already been popping up to your spot. If you ain’t comfortable staying here with me, can you at least stay with one of your girls or something? Just chill out over there until shit cools down because you and him, okay?” he asked me.

“I’m not afraid of him though,” I felt the need to put that out there.

“This ain’t got shit to do with you being afraid of him, love. You sitting next to me with two black eyes. This got everything to do with the lengths this nigga will go next. Fuck being afraid. I want you to be somewhere where your ass is protected!” he snapped. I didn’t say anything else after that. Neither did he. He continued to eat his meal, and I did the same.

Ten minutes into us eating, Wolf’s phone started buzzing on the counter. He had two phones sitting there. I watched him as he dragged the phone over in his direction, and swiping the bar across with his pinky, which was the only finger of his that wasn’t dirty from the food. He answered the call.

Since he was eating, and more than likely didn’t want to put the phone to his ear, he kept the call on speaker, so I was going to be able to hear everything.

“Boss man, you got a second?” it was a deep voice on the other side of the phone.

“I’m having dinner. What’s up? Can you make it quick?” Wolf asked.

“Ay, this nigga Hitta outside asking for you. Nigga acting wild, and belligerent. It’s customers in the spot, and he doing too much, got it looking real unprofessional in here. Security like two seconds away from putting that nigga on his head. What’s the move? What you want us to do?” the caller asked.

Hearing Hitta’s name, and how he’d come to Wolf’s spot, I’m sure she was looking for me. It immediately caused me to lose my appetite. I sat back in the chair, while picking the napkin up, so I could clean my hands. Wolf turned his head to look at me.

After that, he cleaned his hands off, just like I did. He pushed the chair back and stood up. With a calm look on his face, he picked the phone up, holding it to his mouth.

“Go outside and give that nigga the phone!” he demanded it.

“Hold on,” the caller said.

I could hear the moving around that was taking place, as he probably walked to get to the front of the store, where Hitta was standing out front.

“He right here,” the caller said.

“Ay nigga, you want something with me?” Wolf asked, getting right to the point.

“Fuck nigga, I do. I think you got something over there that belongs to me. Deja with you?” I could hear the anger in Hitta’s voice.

It matched the anger that Wolf had. In this moment, all I could think about was that night in the car, when Wolf told me that he lived a peaceful life, and that’s one of the reasons he’s remained single all these years. I couldn’t help but to feel like I was disrupting his peace.

“Main man, I got two big ass security guards standing at that front door. They not standing there for decoration, either. Them niggas get paid lovely. Anybody come to my place of business, moving funny, looking like a threat, they get paid to put them the fuck down. Ima give you twenty seconds to get the fuck away from my door. Once them twenty seconds are up, I can assure you that those same two legs that you walked your ass to my door on ain’t going to be the same two that you walk out on!” I saw a side of Wolf that I’ve never seen before.

That shit had me crossing one leg on top of the other one. I was turned on! Granted, I already knew that Wolf could get out of his body. His energy portrayed that, but to see it was something totally different.

“If you looking for Deja, and you can’t find her, then that should tell you that she doesn’t want to be found. You put your motha fuckin hands on her. You blacked both of her eyes and busted her lip. What the fuck kind of access you think you still got to her? Deja safe. She right where she’s supposed to be. Twenty seconds, main man. If you ain’t away from that door in twenty seconds, I bet they put your ass down. It’s up to you if you feeling like dying tonight,” Wolf finished.