Make Me Weak (Make Me #1) (7 page)

“The thing I love most is when my mommy comes to see me.” My heart lurched into my throat. My hand covered my mouth as I tried to swallow my growing need to cry.

After a few moments Daisy broke the silence. “Do you like it?”

“It’s perfect.” Before she could see me shed a tear
, I pulled her into my arms, squeezing her tight. She carefully patted my shoulder, as I bit down to make my lip stop trembling.

How was it possible that one moment could break your heart
, and heal it all at the same time?

We pulled apart, I tucked her back in gave her a kiss
, and went back to the window. I slid Daisy’s picture under my shirt to keep it safe until I got home. I blew her a kiss, and she blew one back.

“
Please come back soon.”

I wished more than anything that I could make a promise to come back every single night. But I refused
to be like every other person I knew. I would never make her a promise I couldn’t keep.

“As soon as I can, baby girl.”

Just as I was about to grab back onto the tree branch, Daisy stopped me.

“
Mommy?”

“Yeah, Dais?”

“Will you ever take me home?”

“Oh honey, I have promised you since the first time I crawled into your room that we will be a family together someday. And someday we will, I promise.”

“Okay.”

Without giving myself another second to think about stealing her away right now, I left. The instant my feet hit the ground
, I remembered why it had been so long since I came back. Seeing Daisy was the only thing that made my life complete. It was the only thing that made me feel like my existence was worth something. But those feelings only lasted so long before I had to go. Leaving her behind took a piece of my heart away every single time.

I realized how much of a failure I was. I
had promised to get her back, but it hadn’t taken long to see how much more difficult that would be than I ever imagined. I started stripping because of the money, but slowly I realized that when I was up on that stage reality disappeared. My mind wasn’t burdened with the weight of my heart and I could breathe—if only for a little.

Seeing Daisy and the picture she made reminded me why I started doing all that I did. I needed the money to one day get my daughter back
, and take her far away from the memories of why I gave her up in the first place. Then together we could be free.

At ten o’clock on the nose I was waiting in front of the luxury apartments
that Kayne was set to pick me up in front of. After getting back from my visit with Daisy I was a complete wreck. Depressed, angry, pissed off, and downright sick to my stomach. I only managed to sleep because my mind and body finally wore themselves out, and I just sort of crashed. It was a damn miracle I was functioning at all today, let alone that I had gotten ready, and arrived right on time. This morning though, after showering and washing the distress from the night before away—I came to a conclusion.

If I ever wanted to get my daughter back
, I needed to stop fucking around. My focus needed to be on making money and the only way to do that was to stop letting
Andie’s
heart get in the way. Kandi had that, take-no-prisoners, attitude that I needed to get shit done. I couldn’t get myself to just bail on Kayne and his family for brunch, but this was also my opportunity to set records straight. My mind frequently wandered back to those intoxicating moments with Onyx. This was my chance to get him out of my system, so when I go back to work, nothing would be stopping me.

Of course, I couldn’
t just go looking frumpy, and sure, I’ll admit it—I wanted to impress Onyx. Make him drool a bit. If I was going to submit myself to what was sure to be an awkward meal, I wanted to make it worth it. Stuffed away in one of my dresser drawers I pulled out an off the shoulder black tunic style dress. It hugged my hips, bubble butt, and showed off the rest of my curves. I paired it with a thick white belt, my goddess sandals, and curled my hair just a bit. After twisting and turning in the mirror I declared myself ready.

As much as I was dreading the brunch, it gave me an excuse to wear something new. A dress like this wasn’t slutty enough for the club
, but way too dressy to be worn to the places I went.

It was five after ten
, and I sat anxiously on the bench in front of the apartments, waiting for Kayne. Based on his estimation yesterday, I could still be waiting here for thirty minutes. I would have preferred to wait until I knew he was for sure here, but emerging from a side alley was bound to raise some questions.

Lucky for me, only two more minutes passed before Kayne pulled up. I didn’t even have to see him get out of the car to know it was him. A brand new, sleek, top of the line looking SUV rolled up and I just knew
it was him. Walking towards the car I was surprised to see Kayne come around from the back.

“What are you doing? I’m right here.” I never even gave him a fake apartment number, was he seriously about to try and find it? This could have been
an epic failure from minute one if I hadn’t gotten here first.

Kayne let out that same, nothing-gets-to-me, laugh, “I know you’re right there, Andie. I can see just fine. I would like to point out that you look absolutely incredible.”

“Thank you, you look nice too.” Kayne truly did look nice today, a bit preppy, but still nice. Gelled up hair, perfectly shined shoes, a white button up, khaki pants, and a blue tie to top it off.

“You are too kind, but seriously, I’m nothing compared to you.”

I didn’t want to be rude and openly show my discomfort at all the compliments, but we had to change the subject. Most compliments I received were about my ass looking good, how much they liked the way my hips moved, or something along those lines. They were all extremely impersonal, and as Kandi, they were standard. This was just a little too…
sweet
for me.

“So
, you never did tell me why you got out of the car.”

He smirked, moved past me
, and opened the passenger side door. “I’m not just going to let you get in without opening you door. My mama taught me much better than that.”

Surprisingly
, I felt myself return his smile. “Are you saying you’re a mama’s boy?”

I pressed against his hand to hoist myself the great distance into the car. “Not so much anymore, but if word got back to h
er that I didn’t open your door—it would not be good.” He said with a smirk before closing my door.

I shook away my smile
, as I already found myself amused by Kayne’s humor.

“I hope you’re hungry, Miss Andie. The
Ramsey’s go all out for these meals. A whole lot of food, some pretty incredible mimosas, and hopefully, some good company.” Glancing his way I saw that boyish smile nearly exploding off his face in excitement.

“I’m definitely ready to eat. Does your family know that I’m coming?”

Kayne didn’t say a word as he carefully maneuvered us into traffic.

“Well, I talked to my uncle and let him know that you’d be there. I’ve filled him in that we were friends in school. Then
, I made sure he knew we are using our run in at the beach as how we reconnected instead. Everything is all cool there, so no need to worry, but otherwise the others don’t know.”

The last shred of calm I had quickly vanished
, replaced by my newly irrational nerves. There was no doubt that Onyx knew I wasn’t an older woman, by any means, but I’m still not
that
young. 25 is a respectable age, but now he’s not just going to see me as a woman in my mid-twenties. Now I will be, in his mind, the girl his nephew went to high school with. There is absolutely nothing sexy, or mysterious about that.

It didn’t matter what I was wearing anymore, I’d be lucky to have the man look my way. And I knew that would only lead to an even deeper obsession. At least there would be alcohol there. I had a feeling I was seriously going to need it.

“Do you mind if I smoke in here?” I asked, pulling my pack from my purse before Kayne even responded.

“Oh for sure. You are very polite about i
t. Onyx just lights up anytime he’s in here. Pretty sure he has never asked either.” He said with a chuckle.

My cigarette was lit the instant I got approval. A long drag filled my lungs
, and the exhale immediately worked to calm my disappointment.

“Usually I don’t ask.” I admitted after a few more drags.

Kayne snorted. “Well, I know most times he will, except when we’re around my mother. She hates smoking so much, so he seems to do it more just to piss her off.”

My lips smirked up. Even without knowing anything about Onyx
, I could absolutely see him doing that on purpose. Maybe this was going to be an interesting meal after all.

This place had to be one of my worst nightmares. Just driving up to the club was bad enough. There were a whole lot of khaki pants, sweaters hanging over the shoulders, and an
overabundance of blonde hair. I was willing to bet the sun was always shining at a place like this, and if it ever did rain it probably rained pearls.

“Now how did I let you talk me into this again?” I asked Kayne. He laughed, surely convinced I was only kidding.

“Because you can’t say no to a birthday boy. Besides, it will be just fine. You look fantastic, and I promise this is fabulous food.”

I nodded
, but didn’t say a word.
Why was I really here?
I had never been friends with Kayne in school, and I
never
let myself be swayed to do anything I didn’t want to. In the end, the only conclusion I had was I had put myself in this position simply because I had to see Onyx.

It was official. I had lost my mind.

“There is my baby boy!” The sickly sweet voice echoed around the instant we reached the patio outside the restaurant.

My legs began to halt as the freakiest looking Stepford wife made her way over to us. Perfectly curled under blonde hair, a white respectable dress, and jewelry that probably cost more than Kayne’s SUV.

“Hey mom.” Kayne pressed his hand gently against my lower back to keep me moving forward. I tried to ignore the uncomfortable shiver that crept up my spine from the simple touch.

“Happy birthday
, sweet boy!” She closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Awkwardly, I looked around while Kayne was locked in an embrace. The entire place was filled with this crisp and clean feel. Everyone here, no doubt, thought the world of themselves, and if you weren’t a member then you didn’t exist. In the minute or two that I checked out the place I saw more disgusted glances than I could count. People were already whispering about me, probably wondering why the clubhouse didn’t take the trash out.

I should have worn one of my actual stripper outfits. Maybe some thigh highs, an ass cheek revealing skirt, and a top that basically served no purpose. I couldn’t help but smirk thinking about it. Guaranteed all these prissy wives would turn up their noses at me
, but their “respectable” husbands wouldn’t be able to look away. If I spent an entire day here I would no doubt see a handful of my regular clients. I’d love to see their faces then.

“Mom, this is my friend Andie.” Kayne’s light touch on my arm jerked my attention back to the queen bee in front of me.

Her perfectly glossed pink lips formed a tight lipped smile as she looked at me from head to toe. The more I saw her disapproval, the more enjoyment I got out of it. At the end of the day I am who I am. I was here for Kayne, but I was not going to tiptoe around this woman, and pretend to be something I’m just not.

Kayne looked from both of us, his neck growing red with embarrassment at the clearly tense moment. “Andie, this is my mother Polly.”

I extended my hand, never breaking eye contact with her. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Miss manners seemed to kick in as she finally took hold
, and gave my hand a quick shake. Surely she was worried that I’d steal her precious jewelry in a single handshake.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” She forced out. “How do you and my baby boy know each other?”

The urge to say I got him off during his birthday lap dance was seriously overpowering. I was seconds away but Kayne piped up first—probably for the better.

“We went to school together in high school
, and a bit in college. We ran into each other the other day and just got to talking.”

“How lovely, did you run into each other outside of the country club too?” Polly asked, clearly not understanding
her son’s slumming choices.

“Of course not. I invited her today, you always say I can bring someone.”

I practically heard the curses bouncing around in her head. “Of course you can. Well, come on over to the table so we can get started.”

“Sweet! I’m starving.”

Polly gave me one more look before whipping back around to lead the way to the table, nose held high in the air. Kayne gave a little smile that said this was going better than he thought. I offered a miniscule one back. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kayne had always had a problem of reading women’s thoughts, because right now he seemed to be clueless.

“Look who’s here Joel.” Polly announced as we reached the table. Apparently she already felt the need to call in for reinforcements with dealing with the unwanted woman, aka
me
.

Kayne stopped at an oval shaped table
, and I stepped to his side to take in who else I would be irritating this afternoon. The table held six seats one for Polly, and next to her was a woman that looked almost identical with the same blonde hair, and scowl on her face. Then at the head of the table was a man who slowly stood to pull out the chair for Polly. I didn’t get a good look at him, because on the far side of the table staring intensely was the man I hadn’t been able to get out of my mind.