Page 111 of Free Agent

“If that had been the goal, this would be embarrassing for both of us,” Rori told him, and from the look that spread over his face… that cut him deep.

“I’ll have another bitch before I even walk out of here,” he declared.

Rori, still unbothered, waved him off. “Then please, go get her.”

“Nigga you owe me for the dinner and drinks,” Jay told me, and I laughed.

“Get it back in blood then,” I said, shrugging before I sat back down.

“Fuck both of y’all,” he huffed, then walked off.

I looked back at Rori, who’d picked up the drink she’d been nursing when I first sat down beside her.

“Well that was eventful,” I said, and she cut her eyes in my direction briefly before going back to her drink.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Why?”

“You just ruined my date.”

“So?”

Her head whipped back in my direction, her hair flying and then landing in soft layers around her face.

“You so damn fine it don’t make sense,” I said, pretending she wasn’t giving me a look like she wanted to stab me.

“Don’t try to change the subject.”

“I’m not changing the subject,” I replied. “I’m explaining myself. She was just so fine I couldn’t help myself,” I said to the bartender as he delivered my drink. "You think it's a good defense?" I asked, and he cringed.

“I don’t know, man… looks like she’s not buying it,” he answered with a chuckle before he walked away, perfectly doing his job of not getting too involved with the shit the customers had going on.

"So you think you get to just do whatever you want to do?" Rori asked, wearing a stern expression while she waited for me to answer.

"Not at all. But I do want what I want, and I've never been one to back down from trying to get it.”

"Right." She nodded. "You wanted me to have a bad time on the date, so you went out of your way to ruin it."

"Nope." I shook my head. "What I want is you to myself, and I came to see you in person to make that happen. And for the record, I didn’t have to do much to ‘ruin’ your date, that nigga was doing a great job of that before I even walked in here."

“So that makes it okay then?” She rolled her eyes. “You are truly something else.”

"I’m something else?" I said. "Rori, you're sitting your ass at this bar looking like you’re trying to get swallowed up, and I'm something else?"

"Should I not look good while exploring my options? You're the one who told me?—"

"Man, fuck all of that," I interrupted. "I don't want to hear anything about vibes, free agency, high frequency signals, none of that bullshit. Don't say any of that shit to me again, it’s dead,” I told her. “We can pretend otherwise as much as we want, but we both know what it really is. I want you. You want me. So we're going to be together. That's it."

She raised an eyebrow, sitting there in stunned silence for a moment before she took a sip from her drink. "Are you asking me or telling me?"

I scoffed. "I'm telling you. I’m demanding it."

She took another drink, looking away from me for a long moment before her eyes cut back to meet mine.

“Okay.”

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