I'd Do Anything

Chapter 4

After walking Big Mama home, I peeped in Patience's room to see her sucking on her first two fingers sleeping, even though I don't want her to suck them, she looked so peaceful so I went against the urge to pull them out.

I went into my room and to my dresser grabbing a big t-shirt and some underwear. Pulling my hair into a messy bun, I took a shower. I was in there about a good ten minutes until I looked down at my hand. The sharpie written on it was fading, so I jumped out the tub almost breaking my neck trying to get to my phone.

The time read 2:25 and I wondered if it was a good time to give him a call. I was so nervous that a part of me just wanted to go to sleep and avoid this conversation, instead I just gathered the courage to dial the number.

Honestly I didn't know why I was calling, I had no room for distraction, I was on a paper chase, I was all I had. I just didn't see anyone else fitting in the picture, Patience had all of my attention.

But still I held the phone up to my ear

He answered on the second ring

"Hello?" His baritone voice made me shiver, sending chills down my body

"Hey, guess who?" I responded

"It's the star." He replied, I smiled

"How are you? How was the rest of your night?"

"A fight broke out; a big one. So I closed early cause it was too stressful on my part, glad I had you leave early", he explained. "But what about you, how was your first night?" He asked me

I sighed, "Scary.. Especially when the boss is looking"

"It's hard not to look, I've seen hundreds of girls come through that club", he started, "but you, you're different"

"How so?" I questioned

"It's hard to explain, I wish you could see through my eyes. But enough of me being thirsty, tell me about you" he said

"What you wanna know?" I asked

"Everything."

"Umm. My name is Hope, I take care of my sister Patience. Well, she's really my daughter. Her and my grandmother are all the family that I have. My favorite color is yellow, I'm scared of heights, I love the smell of rain and I hate pickles. That's all I'm comfortable telling a stranger" I said with a laugh, "but what about you?"

He told me about him and I learned that his name is Lorenzo, an only child of a rich couple that lives in San Juan, he came all the way to the States to make a life, he made a name for himself making that club from the bottom up, all by himself. And I had to admit, I admired his hustle.

"You left that beautiful place for this? Come on now, Atlanta is beautiful at sunset, but Puerto Rico beats it on it's worst day!"

He sighed, "Not where I'm from, you can't see the beauty when you're in the hood. We weren't always rich. I had a life of struggle before the money came in, but I'm not comfortable telling that to a stranger" He said using my own words against me, we both laughed

"Fair enough" I told him

I yawned, "Aw man, you sleepy?" He asked me

"Guess I'm not made for the late night lifestyle huh?" I said laughing

"Maybe not, but you don't have to be, sleep is good for the soul, keeps you ageless" he responded, "Get some sleep beautiful"

"You call me that like its my name" I said to him

"It should be"

"How many girls do you practice that line on?"

"Just one." he started "Did it work? If it didn't I won't try it again", he said making me laugh.

"Nah, it worked. But you can't mix business with pleasure. We're in the same profession"

"People do it all the time.. Nick and Mariah, T.I. and Tiny, Ike and Tina... well maybe not them. Or Bobby and Whitney... oh well, maybe not them either. But you get what im saying." he said

I hesitated for a minute, "wait... all of them broke up" I told him

"Well, let's be the first of them to get it right."

He had such a way with words, I knew girls around here begged for him to talk like this to him, and here he was, on my line. I really couldn't understand it.

I was lost in my thoughts then he spoke up, "Look, if I'm coming off wrong, I'm really not trying to. I just feel like this is an oppurtunity for me to be happy, and I haven't been happy in a long time, I saw you and all I could think about is how could I ever think anything else was beautiful, why did I waste my time looking at anything else that wasn't you. If I'm wrong, then okay, I'll just be your boss, it won't be about anything but the money...but Hope, I could be right."

I had seen on social media that women wanted a man to express his feelings, I guess this is what they want and I should be greatful, and give him his shot.

"Okay. We can try it. No bullshit, no games, and no distractions"

"I wouldn't have it any other way Ma, now get some sleep. Goodnight." he said

"Goodnight" I replied

What in the hell did I just get myself into?