SUGAR || Lori Harvey x Method Man

-Chapter Sixteen-

James and Imani had to go home the day after Christmas to prepare for the new year. New Year's eve was a big night for club owners. Clifford and Tyreek were busy getting ready for the party that would be happening at Gemini in a couple of nights. Unlike opening night, I would actually be working New Year's eve. Clifford expected a lot of men that he knew to show up at the club, and he needed me to do what I was hired to do.

Tati dragged me to find outfits for myself and the rest of the bottle girls. We went to several boutiques until we found one that specializes in bottle girl and dancer uniforms. I looked around the store until I found the leotards.

"This is fye," I held up a long sleeve zip-up leotard. "We need these."

Tati nodded her head in approval. "Yeah, I think these will look good on everybody." I agreed with her since leotards really looked good on all body types, and all of the bottle girls at Gemini had different shapes. The leotard wasn't bikini cut, it looked more like boyshorts so even if you didn't have no ass, the leotard would make you look like you did. And you could zip the leotard as far down to your belly button or as high up to your collarbone, so really everyone should be comfortable. I also grabbed some fishnet tights for us to wear underneath.

I asked the manager if she could grab the uniforms in the sizes we needed for the girls. It took her a while, but finally, she came back with a box full. I went through the box to make sure we had everything we needed and Tati used the company credit card to pay for them.

"That was easy enough," Tati sighed as we walked back to the truck. "Now let's go eat."

I did not object as Tati drove us to Popeyes, my stomach had been growling all morning. We ordered our food and then Tati parked us in a nearby parking lot so we could eat.

"So what's going on with you mama? You seem down." I questioned her.

"Girl this baby has me drained." She sighed as she unwrapped her sandwich. "I've been taking my vitamins and everything but shit, I feel like I have no energy. And I'm emotional as fuck, everything Reek says hurts my feelings, and I feel anxious about every little thing."

"Damn Tati I didn't know you were feeling like this." I rubbed her arm to try to comfort her.

"I mean yeah, it's nothing anyone can really do so I've just been dealing with it." She shrugged.

"Hopefully it'll get better soon. Right now your body is just trying to adjust to you having a baby growing inside of you."

She nodded her head and sighed. I stopped talking because I could see the tears starting to build up in her eyes. I knew Tati wasn't ready to be a mom but she was trying her best to stay positive.

When we were done eating we drove to the club to drop off the uniforms. It was a Monday so no one should really be there, but there were two black trucks parked outback. Tati and I looked at each other silently trying to decide if we should go in. I felt my nerves building up as we hopped out of the truck. I did not want to walk into some shit I wasn't supposed to be seeing. As soon as I closed the car door Tyreek came running out.

"What are y'all doing here?" He asked as he approached the truck with his sleeves rolled up.

"We're dropping off these uniforms," I answered as I walked to the open trunk.

Tyreek followed me and grabbed the box from out the trunk. Instead of walking through the back door he had just come out of he walked around and went through the front entrance.

"What's going on?" Tati questioned. I was thinking the same thing but I didn't know if I wanted to know the answer.

"Nothing. Come on," Reek said as he held the front door open. Tati and I made our way to dressing room in the back with Reek on our tails.