Loving the Real E

Ashante POV Part 2 (6.)

As I left Lauren and headed to Erik's car, I watched him, watch me as I strolled slow. I was mentally preparing myself for whatever he could possibly ask me about this morning. Knowing him, he would not let it go.

My "other option", that I referred to earlier, rather than telling E, was a stretch but I was literally willing to do anything to avoid dragging Erik into all of this mess. I could blackmail Shaun if I wanted. He had hopes of entering the entertainment business as a Producer/Rapper and I told him previously I would introduce him to friends of my Father's when he got serious. I could threaten to blacklist him and make sure none of his music leaves the ears of people on his block if he doesn't leave me be.

But would that be enough.

I pondered my thoughts as I climbed into E's car. He looked at me and smiled.

"Hey Princess, how was work?" he asked, looking fine as hell like always.

"Hey E, It was hectic, my team lost a patient today but other than that, as good as it could be." I said reluctantly, still hoping he doesn't bring up this morning. "What about you?" I asked back.

"Let's just say my day was eventful" he said nodding.

"Thanks for picking me up by the way", I added. "I know its a-lot to get over to the hospital with traffic.'

'It ain't nothing Princess, I'm sorry about your patient." he said softly. "You hungry...Wanna grab something to eat?" he asked me as we pulled off. This man always knew when I wanted to eat. It's almost like he can read my mind without me having to say anything. He knew good food was the way to my heart.

"Yes please!.... Can we pleeaasse go to Jimmy's?!". I asked excitingly.

"You read my mind." he replied smiling back at me.

Jimmy's was a local Chicken and Ribs spot in town. They had the best Hot wings in the city which I always had. Erik always ordered the Chicken and Ribs combo. We've spent plenty of late nights there, chatting it up with Jimmy and his crew while he let us try new sauce flavors he created. E and I shared a lot of good laughs in that restaurant growing up and even to this day.

On our way there he kept teasing me about how I never eat the chicken right. He likes to lick the bone clean and I don't do all of the extra nonsense. He joked at me saying I didn't know how to eat chicken.

"It don't matter anyway because you always finish what I leave behind" I shot back at him.

"Of course, you can't let good meat go to waste" he said shamelessly giving me a look of lust.

"That's what she said!" I blurted out. He laughed at me.

"Well apparently some of us let good meat go to waste" he responded, giving me a look. I knew exactly what he was referring to and I'm not about to play with him.

Even though E and I haven't had sex in a long time, he constantly flirts with me, and I can't deny, I flirt back as well. But it is always so hard to see if he is being serious or not. I know for a fact that I can easily fall for him all over again, but since we got older, and he became the King of NYC, women are always around him, or in his face. They never hesitate to throw themselves at him, and hes always right there to catch them. If that's the attention he wanted he could have that from them.

I missed the Erik that used to come by and play Uno with me on the front porch as the sun went down. The Erik that would help me cook when I wanted to try a dish I saw Gordon Ramsey make on television. I missed the Erik that would call me in the middle of the night because it was thundering and he knew I'd be scared.