Page 61 of Rich and Rotten

I smiled. “You are sticking with that nickname, huh?”

He ignored my question. “You don’t always have to hold it together all the time. With me, you can break, fall apart, and I promise I’m gonna hold you together so the pieces don’t fall.”

It pained me how much those words broke me all over again. Hearing him tell me that he would be strong for me. Hold me together if I needed him to, and he didn’t want anything in return. He didn’t want me to hurt and continue to be the strong person. Jonah wanted to be strong for me. He wanted to show me that it was okay to feel shit and allow those emotions out.

I remained quiet for a while, picking at my shirt, pretending like the thread unraveling was more important than this conversation. Without thinking, before I could get inside of my head and talk myself out of it, I shifted closer to him. My breath was barely coming out, as I listened to my heartbeat through my ears. I had gotten so close that our arms were touching.

I rested my head against his chest and listened to the steadiness of his heart. He didn’t move; he allowed me to become comfortable on him. He let out a breath and wrapped one arm around me, tugging me closer into him.

My eyes became heavy, and all I wanted to do was rest. Quiet my mind so I could sleep peacefully. I felt him kiss my head, so soft and gentle that had I been asleep, I would have missed it.

“You don’t have to say anything, Yummy. Just let me hold you tonight.”

We didn’t need to dissect what was happening, and I was grateful for that. He wanted to hold me, and I was going to let him do that. I curled into him, his skin soft against my cheek. His scent drove me wild.

His hands found their way to my ass, and he gently rubbed my ass in slow circular motions, forcing my eyes to close and sleep to find me. The sound of his calm heart and the motion of his rubs had me snoring seconds later.

I had zoned out behind my desk, a stack of papers scattered around. As if I didn’t have a ton of work, I had been daydreaming about Vegas and that moment between me and Jonah. That night kept replaying in my mind on a loop. It was all I thought about, and if I could, I would go right back to that exact moment.

“Glad that you have joined us again.”

Tatiana’s voice forced me to look at the doorway, where she was leaning, watching me.

I started messing with the papers on my desk. “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough to be concerned.”

She took my question as her invitation to enter my office and make herself comfortable on the chair in front of my desk.

“There’s no reason to be concerned. I am, however, concerned about you rushing us to leave and not telling Nazir that you were leaving.”

The morning after the meeting, Tatiana came to my suite with security and told me that she was going to leave. Made some excuse about wanting to get back home because she had a lot of work to do. It was less about the work and more about something else, but she refused to talk about it. All I knew was that I found myself rushing around my suite to pack my clothes so we could catch a commercial flight back to New York. Jonah came out his side of the suite when I was almost done.

Tatiana refused to tell either of us what was going on, and since he still had meetings in Vegas, he couldn’t leave to come with us. As long as we had security, he was cool with us leaving. Emilio was going to be at the airport to pick us up the moment we landed.

“Why would you be concerned with me? I’m doing amazing,” she said, crossing her legs and trying to act nonchalant.

I stared at her for a second longer, making her uncomfortable. “You fucked him.”

“What?”

I pointed my finger at her while squinting my eyes. “You had sex with Nazir, and now you are avoiding him.”

From the way her ass was over there fidgeting, I could tell there was truth to what I had accused. Tatiana had been keeping herself busy since we had been back from Las Vegas––spending as much time as she could with Zira while also working a lot.

Nazir hadn’t been to the house, and when he did pop over, Tatiana was never there. She was either at the spa or somewhere in the house, avoiding him.

“You sound crazy. I should be concerned about you and Jonah.”

“He comforted me after our conversation we had. Allowed me to lay on him, and it felt good. I don’t know how I feel, or if it even means anything. Now you go.”

“We had sex, Yaya. Sex that had me feeling like I could forget what the hell happened. It was so deep and raw that I had tears. He had me crying while he was making love to me...‘cause that’s what he was doing. Showing me that he never stopped loving me.”

I was less interested in the incoming call from Sav that I quickly silenced and was more concerned with my friend. “And then you left him the next morning. Pretty petty if you ask me.”

“I found myself sleep, Yaya. Actually sleep in his arms, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t allow myself to fall back into it with him. I can’t trust that he won’t leave again…leave me high and dry.”

“You don’t even believe those words yourself.”