Wild Wind: A Chaos Novella (Chaos #6.6)(37)

“Panties off, climb on my face.”

She blinked.

“I don’t ask twice, Arch.”

“Did you ask?”

“No.”

Her eyelids lowered, she ducked to him and touched her lips to his.

Then his girl lost the panties and climbed on his face.

He was unsurprised she tasted fantastic.

He didn’t have high hopes he could wait to blow for her until Sunday.

But still.

He was going to try.





Mid-morning Jag texted her.

When it happens, how many?

How many what? she asked in reply.

Kids, he answered.

Jag was unsurprised again when her response was decisive and not delayed.

Two boys.

Two girls, he parried.

Whatever, she returned.

Yeah, he said.

She sent a single red heart emoji.

That was that.

And…

Yeah.





Chapter Nine



Effortless, Pure



Jagger



At a little after six that night, Jagger strolled into S.I.L.

The first thing he noticed was that Marley’s “Stir It Up” was playing over the sound system.

And he approved.

The second was something he couldn’t miss.

A petite Black woman with blonde dreads skidding to a halt sideways in front of him.

He stopped.

“Wassup?” she asked nonchalantly, even if her entrance was the opposite of that.

“Everything,” he answered.

She smiled before she brazenly looked him up and down.

Inspection complete, she caught his eyes.

“I’m Joany.”

“Jagger.”

“I know. And seriously, it’s all about Disney World, man.”

Jagger busted out laughing.

He’d done that so hard, he’d closed his eyes doing it. And when he opened them again, Archie was there.

She did not come to him and give him a kiss or even say hey.

She stood next to Joany and stared at her, declaring, “You’re supposed to take my back.”

“Not when you’re one hundred percent wrong,” Joany retorted.

Archie didn’t get into that.

She asked, “Was it necessary for you to race through the store to get to him first?”

Joany replied simply, “Yes.”

“Why?” Archie demanded.

“I wanted an unadulterated view. If you were close, my verdict might be skewed by your loved-up vibes. I had to experience him undiluted. This, I have done. My takeaway, by the way, is he…is…fine.”

Archie looked to the ceiling.

As funny as this was, and as cool as it was to meet one of Archie’s crew, Jag was done with it.

“We don’t do this,” Jagger said to Archie.

She turned her attention to him. “Do what?”

“I show and you don’t come right to me and give me your mouth.”

“Oh…my…God,” Joany groaned. “He’s a bossy hot biker. That’s more than fine. So much more, I think I just came a little bit.”

Fortunately, Jagger didn’t have to respond to this since Archie walked to him, put both hands to his stomach and tipped her head back.

He dipped in and kissed her, a stroke of tongue, and that was it, seeing as she was at work and they had an audience.

“Yup, just came a little bit more,” Joany declared when he lifted his head.

“I like her,” Jag told Archie.

“That’ll fade,” Archie replied.

“Excuse me,” a new voice entered the mix.

Archie moved to his side, Jag threw an arm around her shoulders, and they both saw that a customer had approached Joany.

“Do you work here?” she asked Joany.

Joany looked down at the nametag on her cropped tee.

The tee said It’s a beautiful day to leave me alone.

Her nametag said, Hi, my name is…but didn’t have a name, though it did have a black piece of that shiny tape you could punch letters in. There just weren’t any letters.

And although the nametag declared her employment, even if it had no name, Jag read the two as Joany being someone you didn’t approach to do anything but take your money at a cash register.

The customer didn’t have this same bead.

She lifted up a lamp and asked, “Will you take ten dollars for this?”

“Oh shit,” Archie mumbled.

But before Archie could do more, Joany reached out, nabbed the price tag on the lamp, inspected it, dropped it and asked back, “Does this look like a flea market?”

“All prices are as marked,” Archie called out quickly. “Sorry, we don’t barter.”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” the woman said to Joany.

Joany opened her mouth.

“Joany,” Archie warned.

Joany shut her mouth.

Archie relaxed.

Joany opened her mouth again and said, “Do you haggle when you’re at Pottery Barn?”

“I don’t shop at Pottery Barn. I only do vintage. It’s about reusing. It’s about the environment,” the woman returned.