She batted her eyes, clearly physically affected by my admission. “You shouldn't say that in public places,” she whispered.
“Don't challenge me,” I winked.
“You're nasty.”
“You like it,” I quipped.
With a heavy blush she turned her head away. I chuckled to myself.
When she returned she said, “I was thinking last night, maybe Yazmine could stay at my place. You know...until she gets on her feet.”
“Really? I wouldn't want to put you out. I have a few rental properties and can have my assistant look into vacancies—”
She interrupted, “You do?”
I gave a firm nod. “I have real-estate properties…a few here and there.” Then it hit me in my rambling state, I muttered, “I even have one in Manhattan and another in Jersey, but those I contract out to corporations for their transient executive staff. So that wouldn't work.” Hmmm...
“Oh.” Rayna’s eyes danced the speed of the cogs of her brain churning.
Shit. She freezes at the talk of my money.
Feeling the need to shift the mood I offer, “I think that'll be a good idea.”
“Really? You don't have to feel obligated. I just thought that you'd at least know she's safe, and who wouldn't like being by the water. But I didn't know you had rental properties…” her voice trailed off.
“No. I like the idea. It's more personal staying at your place rather than some random apartment. I'm sure she'd view it as being close to me.”
“Okay. It's totally up to you.” Rayna looked down at her phone and I noticed the narrowing of her eyebrows.
“Hey...what's wrong?”
“Oh...” she turned back to me realizing that I'd caught on to her internal processing. “You remember that group Pastor Edmondson suggested I join to help me connect with others in the church?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
“I've been going for a few weeks now and people volunteer their homes to host. I was asked to host and last week I declined but now I'm feeling like I don't have my “get out of jail” pass any more. The coordinator is asking again if we could do it at my place.”
“I think that would be cool. Why the apprehension?” I knew she wasn't feeling the idea. Rayna wasn't the most out going person. She had no friends.
“You know I'm a very private person. And this is a church group.”
“And?”
“And? We're living in sin,” she muttered embarrassingly.
“Does your pastor know we live together?”
“Yes, I've told him.”
“Then if you've gotten past that fact with him, the leader, no one else matters.” I didn't want her dwelling on shit that would come between us. Who cares that we lived together? We're living in the fucking 21st century.
“I know but, I don't want to subject myself, or what we have, to church folk prattle. Besides, at the end of the day it's your place and I've noticed that you never have people over and I wouldn't want to impose.”
“Rayna, it is just as much your home as it is mine. I haven't had company because I work dog hours. Aside from that, when you're there, I don't need anyone else.”
She looked at me as if I'd had two heads. This woman is a damn walking jigsaw.
“Look…have it at the crib. If it turns out that you're not feeling them, don't invite them again.”
As she gazed into the distance she agreed by uttering, “Yeah. You're right. Okay.”
Problem solved.
Chapter 9
Azmir
The sound of my cell phone ringing continuously woke me out of a deep sleep. After being in a daze for a minute or two, I decided to answer. Half asleep, I didn’t think to look at the number.