Page 137 of Vega

“I figured you’d want to see me.”

“You figured wrong.”

I noticed the flinch that she tried to hide as she kept walking toward the desk.

“I’m working.”

“You used to work me too.”

I stared at her as she came around the side of the desk without me telling her she could. Her perfume hit first, sweet and familiar, but it didn’t pull anything out of me except irritation.

“Elana, stop.”

But she didn’t. She stepped between me and the desk, then placed her hand on my shoulder. She bent closer, trying to put her face near mine. “You know you don’t have to act brand new with me just because you have a lil’ girlfriend.”

I caught her wrist before her hand could slide along my neck. “Move around.”

She laughed softly, as if I were being silly, and continued to caress my neck. “Vega, you know you miss this pussy as much as it misses you.”

“I said move.”

Instead of listening, she tried to lower herself onto my lap.

My hand went to her throat before she could. I stood so fast the chair rolled back behind me, and I pushed her against the side wall of my office. Her eyes widened, and both hands grabbed my wrist.

“Don’t ever try that shit again,” I growled through gritted teeth.

Her lips parted, but she couldn’t get the words out.

I kept my face close enough for her to hear me over the music. “I told you I was done. I told you to keep your hands off me. I told you to keep Sonnet’s name out your mouth. You keep acting like I’m something you can play with.”

Her breathing came out shallow under my hand. Her eyes began to water, but I didn’t have any softness left for women who mistook access for ownership.

“You touched what belongs to another woman,” I said.

She frowned with disgust. “You belong to her now?”

“Yeah,” I said without hesitation. “As much as she belongs to me.”

That truth came out easy. Sonnet had me in ways Elana never could. She had me because every part of me had chosen her, and once I chose, I didn’t keep pieces of myself available for anybody else.

Elana stared at me, humiliated and angry. “You sound like a wimp.”

“No. I sound taken.”

She swallowed against my hand.

I released her with a push and stepped back.

She touched her neck, glaring at me. “You think she can handle you? A girl like that? You think she’s built for a nigga like you?”

“She doesn’t have to be. I’ll conform to her. That’s what a man does when he chooses a woman.”

That shut her up. She looked like she’d swallowed her own shit.

I pointed toward the door. “Get out. Don’t make me kick you out of the club too.”

Her jaw worked, as she fought for the courage to undermine me and keep talking shit.