Page 63 of Love At Close Range

“Okay,” I finally said.

“Okay what?” He repeated.

“Okay, we can see where things go,” I simpered.

“That’s all I ask baby,” he responded as he made his way back on top of me and kissing me deeply and entering me at the same time.

Trying again didn’t feel like going backward anymore. We weren’t trying to recreate what we had before everything fell apart. That version of us was gone. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Maybe this time we could build something better.

21

Dorian

Ever since the last time I saw Reiana and I fought her baby daddy, I’ve been in my head. I loved that girl and for her to tell me we were over didn’t sit right with me. At first, I told myself she just needed time because Rhyse’s father had come back into the picture, and she was dealing with enough between him and Rhyse. I gave her a day before I called again… then another. By the third time she sent me to voicemail, I was pissed as fuck.

What pissed me off more was knowing exactly when things changed. Before Lennox came back around, Reiana might’ve been distant with me sometimes, but she answered my calls. She responded when I texted. If she had something to say, she said it. Now I could send her three messages in a row and watch all of them sit there without a response. That was all coming to an end today though because I was pulling up to her at her job.

I pulled into the parking lot at RÉIA Facility Services and sat there for a second before getting out. I had already called her twice that morning, and both times the phone rang until the voicemail picked up. I could’ve left another message, but at that point I was tired of talking to a fucking recording.

When I got to the front desk, her receptionist smiled at me before she greeted me.

“Hey, is Reiana still here?” I asked as I walked toward the counter.

“She left about thirty minutes ago,” the receptionist said.

“Did she say if she was coming back?” I asked.

“No, she didn’t,” she replied as she glanced toward her computer. “Tasha is still here if you needed something business-related.”

“I’m good,” I told her before stepping away from the counter. “Tell Reiana I stopped by.”

“I will,” she said as I headed back toward the door.

By the time I got outside, my patience was thinner than a bitch’s edges. I pulled my phone from my pocket and called her again while I headed toward my truck. The phone rang four times before voicemail picked up.

“Man, fuck this shit,” I muttered as I hung up and got inside my truck.

I sat there with the phone in my hand for another few seconds before opening our messages. My last three texts were still sitting there with no response.

Me: Baby, call me when you get a minute.

Me: Ree, we need to talk.

Me: Reiana, I’m not doing this back-and-forth shit, man… call me.

Nothing. Every last one went without a response. I was about to text her again but decided against it. Chasing after a woman had never been my thing, and I wasn’t about to start begging Reiana to have a conversation with me because her baby daddy had suddenly reappeared.

That didn’t mean I was letting her go.

There was too much between us for her to shut me out like none of it mattered. I had been there before that nigga decided to show his face after all these years, and I wasn’t about to make it easy for him to slide into the place I had been standing in.

I pulled out of the lot and tried to put Reiana out of my head long enough to handle the rest of my day. I had shit to do and I couldn’t let what I had going on with Reiana to knock me off my square. My phone rang less than twenty minutes later, and I glanced at the screen expecting to see Reiana, but it was Mello.

“Wassup?” I asked as I answered.

“I need you to come to the warehouse,” Mello said without wasting time. “Now.”