Preseason Love Read Online Free

was a brand-new Scottie.
    Dev and I had been running nonstop since my arrival. Hence, I hadn’t made time to pick up some of the essentials like clothes hangers or a winter coat. Hell, I didn’t even have a bed. I had been sleeping on an air mattress for ten days. But my plan for the weekend included shopping for all of the must-haves, first and foremost a comfortable place to lie my head at night.
    The city hadn’t been our playground for long, but Dev connected with a new flame, Mel, whom she’d met in Washington, D.C. a few months earlier. Mel was a Queens, New York native and he certainly knew all of the hot spots in the city. Mel knew that his most desirable trait was his tendency to spend money with abandon. We began to roll with him on the regular.
    â€œScottie,” Dev called out from her room.
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œMel called. He’s about fifteen minutes away.”
    â€œShoot!” I said to myself as I started scrambling. “Are you ready?” I asked Dev, already knowing the answer.
    â€œYou know it,” she said, walking past my room to obsess over her reflection in the full-length mirror.
    She was definitely ready and looking cute in a skin-tight, burgundy dress with burgundy and cream python pumps that brought her petite stature up a notch. Mel mentioned once to her that he loved to see her in dresses and that’s all she needed tohear. She worked it out and showed off her best assets in a dress every time that he came around.
    And then there was me. Always the last to get ready though I despised being rushed, go figure. Before Dev alerted me to the sudden need to scurry around, I was fairly close to getting it together. I’d already straightened my hair. It was full of body and flowing. The hair gods were showing me love.
    I decided to rock my new dark denim skinny jeans. They were one of my latest bargain finds in SoHo. I narrowed down my options in tops to a purple silhouette blouse with gold accents, which gave me the perfect dose of cleavage to get the boys excited. My last order of business was shoes. I decided to throw on my nude pumps from Bloomies, which set my whole look off.
    Before I knew it, we were strolling out of the apartment and hopping into one of Mel’s many rides. He was profiling in the Infiniti G35 sedan. I jumped in the backseat and Dev followed my lead. To our surprise, there was an unannounced gentleman in the front seat.
    Mel was a very quiet, mellow type of guy. So imagine my shock when we were met by the roaring sounds of his passenger’s voice projecting into the backseat. He introduced himself as Mel’s cousin, Que. I could tell that he was going to work my last nerve. As we headed to the city I checked him out from the side view and decided that my first impression was right. The huge Gucci sunglasses that were covering his chubby face shielded his eyes, but it was nighttime: automatic fail.
    Normally when we rolled with Mel, he always had the latest music. We would vibe and have a good time, but that night we were clearly going to be subjected to the soundtrack of his cousin’s yip-yapping. The guy talked nonstop. I guess he thought that thelame, flashy dialogue he offered would entice us to think that he was “the man.”
    He bragged about living in Miami, and asked if I wanted him to fly me out for a shopping spree, in addition to a bunch of other nonsense. He was basically trying to sell me a dream, and he was completely unaware that I was not in the market to buy bullshit.
    It was music to my ears when we arrived at the club, a trendy new spot in midtown. Finally, I could escape the chatterbox and do my thing. The vibe was totally different from what I was used to in Los Angeles. Fly girls with designer outfits from head to toe, big butts, yet mediocre weaves strutting around looking pressed for the attention of overhyped block boys vying to be the next Jim Jones.
    Then there were the buttoned-up