A Familiar Ring

Chapter 18: Back At It

He sat there switching his stare between a picture of Cadence on his phone screen and tracking the GPS on the computer in front of him. He missed her terribly and that was something he didn't expect. When he decided to go this deep undercover it was because he knew he'd never care. All he wanted was revenge and maybe a little bit of justice. But somewhere along the lie, things changed. He came to realize she was nothing like the man he wanted revenge with. He was in love.

"She'll never take you back after this, you can get over it. Get your head in the game," his partner Sanchez spoke from behind.

"Fuck you," Duke spoke lowly. He knew his partner was right.

"We're finally going to nail this fucker. Thompson just confirmed Axe will be attending the next drop. And we already have his guys on file making transactions all along the Mason-Dixon line. He's finished."

"So when do we make the move? At the next drop?"
"No, let him think he's got away with it. We'll move when all eyes are on him, at the little ball he's having."

A smirk stretched across Duke's face. Busting Axe at the Player's Ball gave him an excuse to see Cadence one last time, and maybe make things right with her.

***

"You talk to Yaya? She's been worried about you, you know," Belle was helping Cadence move some things into her house. She'd gotten back from Macon just a few hours prior and immediately moved into one of her mother's guest bedrooms until her apartment would be ready.

"I'm going to call her mama. Just haven't had the time," she lied. She actually had all the time. She just couldn't figure out if Anya had played any part in setting her up when she brought Duke into her life. She missed her friend though. And she desperately wanted to tell her about Briscoe.

"Sparky told me y'all talked. That's good."

"Yeah, I missed Unc. He told you I saw daddy?"

"Mmhmm. How that go?"

"How it always goes. That man ain't never gonna change. I'm glad you got Bubs," she spoke of her step-father. "This is all I'm bringing in for now. I'm taking the rest to storage."

She kissed her mother as she headed back out the door. She was headed to drop the rest of her things off in storage but she had to make a pitstop along the way.

***

Prosper's mind had been reeling since that night at Lucille's but he was trying to keep his cool about it. He knew, at the very least, that Nola wasn't to blame. What he didn't know was exactly how much Nola knew about the man she had only discovered she worked for just days before. And then there was the fact that, after meeting Cadence, her demeanor just seemed so cavalier. It was almost as if they were long lost friends. It was all he could think about on the ride back from Macon. Since he and Nola were in separate cars, he spent most of that time on the phone with Briscoe trying to figure out what he should do.

"I ain't gon' even lie to ya lil bruh. You probably not about to get up out of this one," Briscoe spoke through the speakers.

"You not helping," Prosper replied.

"I'm just saying! Shawty was mad as hell. Called me by my government and everything. She scary when she mad though because she don't even be lookin' mad, don't be raisin' her voice or nothing!"

"She her daddy's child for real. And we know that nigga a silent killer."

"What ya shawty say though?"

"Yeah, see that's the other thing. Shawty low key in love with her like they besties or like she tryna be down for the three."

"Ooooohweeeeee. Y'all be swinging or whatever they call it? How you be pullin' these bad ones like this?!"

Prosper laughed. "Nigga, no. Well, I mean, not really. We might've pulled a threesome once or twice. But for the most part she do her thing, I do mine."

"Well it sound like she finna be doing yo thing too. But she might got a lil too much dip on her chip. She don't know Spade like that."

"Exactly! She in my ear all night talking about how pretty she is and how nice she was and how she was feeling insecure about her before they met..."

Now Briscoe was laughing. His little brother was clearly in a troubling yet unique predicament. It was easy for him to find the humor in it because any other man he knew would be thinking they won the lottery.

"So who you worried about? Her or Spade?"

Prosper took a long pause before answering, "Do you even have to ask?"

***

Once Prosper finally arrived at his condo he was greeted by Nola wearing next to nothing. They had gotten a hotel out in Macon—Nola certainly couldn't stay with him at his parents—but Prosper had spent most of the time with his family so he only stayed with her the night after leaving Lucille's—where he quickly fell asleep. For Nola, it had been too long since she felt him inside of her.

"I missed you," she cooed while attempting to help Prosper out of his clothes.

"We haven't even been apart long enough to miss each other, baby girl. You just want some dick, huh?"

"I want you," Nola stated in her low, seductive voice.

And something about the way she made that statement gave Prosper pause. While it may have been true she wanted sex with him in that moment, it was also the first revelation that she wanted more. Nola and Prosper had never fully developed a deep relationship—it wasn't like they could complete each other's sentences—but they had established just enough outside of sex to know when each other may be "off". Tonight, Prosper could tell that Nola wasn't fully being herself. She was attempting to use sex to mask her true feelings and for the first time, Prosper actually noticed.

He grabbed her hands and gently kissed each one before leading her up to the bedroom. Once there, he motioned for her to lay on the bed before undressing himself of everything but his briefs. He hovered over her body and kissed her deeply, passionately. Nola moaned into the kiss as she wrapped her legs around him to pull him closer. She was trapping him in her web of seduction like she had done many times before. This time, however, Prosper threw her for a loop when he suddenly pulled away and kneeled down in front of her. He kissed her inner thighs while he let his hands explore her body. And then he suddenly stopped altogether.

"What's wrong?" Nola asked incredulously.

"I'm waiting on you to tell me. Something is different."

"What?"

"You're different. Something about this is different. What's wrong baby girl?"

"N-nothing's wrong," she rested on her elbows so that she could get a better look at his face, "You trying to not give me dick or something?"

Prosper let out a light chuckle. "You can always have it but under the right circumstances. I feel like you just want this dick to take something else off your mind."

"I—"

"Tell me I'm lying."

"Prosper, baby," she let out a long, exaggerated sigh, "I-I... you're not lying."

"Okay, so tell me what's wrong. Talk to me. I'm more than just good dick and some money."

Nola rolled her eyes as a small smile appeared on her face.

"I'm really scared to talk to you about this."

The two sat in silence for some time as they just stared at each other before Prosper spoke, "I'm not going anywhere. Whatever it is, I got you."

Nola inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, "I'm late."

Prosper wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear but it certainly wasn't that.

###

Duke is back! What do you think happens with him next?

Where do you think Cadence is going?

Nola is late but with her and Prosper's open arrangement, does this mean it's his baby?

This is the plot twist chapter. Needed to shake things up for y'all. I rarely get comments/questions so I'm not sure if this is good or not lol.