Free Sugarbaby by CRYSTAL GREEN Page B

Joseph’s possessions. Delroy had asked if I would take care of that, and I’d agreed since I couldn’t bear the thought of my great-uncle’s precious boxes being given away unopened to just anyone.
    I’d already managed to get through half of his things, and believe me, it wasn’t easy to part with what I’d found: old turntables with a library of jazz, country, and blues vinyls; vintage suits that came in all colors; an acoustic guitar and a fiddle; faded slides and photos of Delroy when he was little, hanging out with family members I barely knew, although I’d tucked the ones that included my parents into a shoebox that I kept on top of my desk. I hadn’t been able to give away any of those other things, either.
    That made me kind of useless as I went through Joseph’s belongings, but I felt as if he lived in these objects, and it was hard to let go.
    The same held true when I came upon a box brimming with Little Golden Books that I recalled reading as a small child, when I would come visit Uncle Joseph with my parents and sit on his lap to recite
Little Mommy
from memory because I’d heard it from him so many times. That’d been before I realized the book was rather sexist, but it was sweet and innocent, too. Just like I used to be.
    â€œYour parents raised you well, little girl,”
he’d say to me.
“They’re real proud of how you’re turning out.”
    Would they still feel that way? I liked to think so, even if I’d misstepped a time or two. But I’d avoided making a mistake with the wrong guy again last night, hadn’t I? I’d exercised some willpower, refusing to be led around like a puppet on string yet again by a man who didn’t actually care all that much about me in the end.
    Wasn’t
I
just the champion?
    My phone, which I’d set on the concrete next to me, buzzed with a text that nearly jarred my bones. And when I picked it up and saw the number and message, I only gaped.
    555-8465:
    You missed a good party.
    Simmons? Why in the world would he want to contact me after I’d zoomed out of the Club?
    I set the phone down for a moment, almost as if it’d needled me. Simmons had no reason to carry on this conversation—not unless he was offended that’d I’d shafted his boy after Noah had gone through such effort for me at the Club. Or if Noah had told him to still pursue me. Some guys—especially worldly businessmen, I imagined—didn’t take well to losing, especially to someone who wasn’t in their class.
    Talk about not taking “no” for an answer. But burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice . . . Well, I’d been there, and I wasn’t going for a third time.
    Still, I highly doubted Simmons would go away if I just ignored him.
    Jadyn:
    Did your boss tell you to check up on me?
    555-8465:
    LOL. You’re talking to the boss.
    I didn’t know whether to keep hold of the phone or shove it into a box where I’d never see it again.
    Noah?
    His next text flashed over the screen.
    555-8465:
    I snatched Simmons’s phone when he wasn’t looking.
    I almost asked if Simmons was keeping my number away from Noah for some reason. Why else wouldn’t Noah just get my number from his friend and call me on his own?
    Maybe he didn’t want me to have his real number, I thought. Maybe this phone would be thrown away just as soon as the games were over with me.
    Jadyn:
    Maybe you should mind your valet and stay off the phone, especially when it isn’t even yours.
    555-8465:
    Just as lively as last night. Has anyone ever told you that you’re pretty fun?
    Me, fun? Oddly enough, he seemed fun right now, too, as if he’d shaken off his moodiness from before.
    Jadyn:
    I wasn’t ever going for “fun,” Reeves.
    Psychology 101—last names put people at a distance. I’d learned that from my friend Evie during the summer. She was