Page 128 of The Need to Know

Shock washed across Pops’s face. I could tell he was still somewhat skeptical about my intentions with Nastasia and if this were real or a fling. “That’s fast.”

All of what we had was fast. But it felt so natural at the same time. “Yeah, but she and her father weren’t on the best of terms, so I went for moral support. They liked me though.”

Pops drummed his fingers on the desktop. Cesar glanced at me and then at Pops, curious as well. He didn’t stay long before getting up to make a phone call and step outside. Pops watched him go and turned back to me.

“What’s the value of a dollar, Eazy?”

This again. “Four quarters, Pops.”

He laughed a little and shook his head. “But you like her, though, huh?”

I hadn’t been in a relationship in years, so the fact that I wanted one at this pivotal point in my prime said a lot.

My mind drifted back to the first weekend I’d spent the night at Nas’s place. We woke up in bed, and stayed there for a good duration of the day. She laid against my chest and I reveled in the feeling of her being there, smelling good, being mine.

Nas raised her phone above her head and mine and snapped a quick shot of us, winking at the camera and puckering her lips a little. It was cute, but she tucked the photo away and didn’t rush to post it. We didn’t follow each other online, something we never really talked about or came up. I knew a lot of women who wanted that exclusivity, but Nastasia hadn’t nagged about it.

“You not tryna post me?” I teased into her ear.

She peeked up at me. “No. We know we’re together, the rest of that doesn’t matter.” She gathered her phone and marveled at the photo of us. “Everything doesn’t need to be uploaded to social media anyway. Think about how easy life was when we were growing up. We were happy before all the cameras, filters, lights, and pretty captions.”

In the simplest terms, social media wasn’t real, but we were.

“Nas amazing,” I said honestly. “Like you said, this is happening fast, but we just connect.”

“Good. She seems like a nice young woman,” Pops said. He didn’t add on and I appreciated it. Although, before, I would’ve been pressed to change the subject, but I wanted Nastasia and there were no games to be played, so I wasn’t going to front for my father.

As if she could sense us talking about her, my phone rang, and when I dug it from my pocket, I saw Nastasia’s name and number flashing across my screen.

“Here she go now,” I said.

Pops checked his own phone and stood up, going out after Cesar to give me a moment to talk to Nastasia.

“Hey,” I said as I picked up and sat back in my chair.

“Where are you?” she demanded to know, not returning my greeting or giving me one.

“Just having a quick meeting with Pops and Cease. Is something the matter?” I almost sat up, but she was firing off at me again.

“I won’t make this long,” Nastasia started off, sounding clipped and to-the-point. “I’m out with Ali and Oisin, but when I’m done and you’re free, you are mine. I’m coming over to pick you up, and then I’m taking you out shopping to buy you something nice to wear, after that we’ll grab dinner, and then I’m taking you to your place and I’m fucking you.”

I blinked, pausing and having to run her response through my head a few times. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not repeating myself,” she let me know, her tone not letting up. “Are our plans understood, yes or no?”

Arousal was quick to take over as I felt myself becoming hard at what this was. She was flipping the script and taking control, and the thought of watching her do it made me sink into my chair and breathe.

“Yes, ma’am,” I told her. “But I thought you were going to make some more of those spinach lasagna rolls?”

“You really liked them, huh?” Her act dropped just an ounce at the mention of the dish she’d made a week ago.

“Hell yeah, they was bussin’,” I said.

“I’ll make them tomorrow night then. Tonight, we’re going out on me, and don’t try any of that cheap shit either,” Nastasia instructed.

This side of her was entirely stimulating. “You gon’ fuck me?”

“And you’re gonna like it.”