Read Caught Up for Free Online Page B

stance, throwing playful jabs at Locks.
    Please don’t even bother coming over in my line.
    â€œNext in line,” I repeat, holding my breath. I’m not in the mood for any of these stupid boys clowning. No, not today. All I want to do is finish up the next twenty minutes of my shift stress free. Change out of this uniform, which smells like French fries and grease, and take a long, hot shower. No luck, though. I take a deep breath as the tallest of the three steps over to my register. He’s muscular with bronze-colored skin. I try not to notice his fresh edge up, or the way his cornrows neatly zigzag around his perfectly round head, or the way his trimmed mustache and goatee frame his thick, full lips. Or how perfectly straight and white his teeth are.
    I swallow. “Can I help you?”
    He licks his lips, eyeing me. His hazel gaze slowly drops down to my name tag then onto my breasts before flickering up to the menu overhead, then back at me. The air around me heats up, causing me to feel flush. “Yeah, Ken nedy, let me get a triple Whopper, a Sprite. And a side order of you ; you real sexy, Ken nedy.”
    The way he’s said my name almost causes my knees to buckle.
    He smirks.
    I quickly recover without allowing myself to get caught up in his little flirt game. “Would you like to try one of our mocha or caramel frappés?”
    He licks his lips again. “Nah. I’d like to try you, Ken nedy . . .”
    I swallow. “Anything else?”
    â€œYeah, let me get ya number.”
    â€œI’m not on the menu. And you’re holding up my line.”
    â€œI’m sayin’, ma, I’d rather be holdin’ you. But you frontin’.”
    Sasha pops her hips back over to me. All eyes are on her momentarily. And I’m glad. This guy standing in front of me is making me dizzy with all of his fineness. Sasha plants a hand up on her hip and wants to know why my line isn’t moving. I give her a blank stare, tell her maybe she should help out, then go back to doing what I’m doing. “Will that be all?”
    Hazel Eyes glances at Sasha, then back at me. He grins, sliding his hand down into his pocket then pulling out a wad of money. “Yeah, I’m good, for now. But I’d be even better if you’d let me take you out to dinner ’n’ a movie, then”—he licks his beautiful lips again—“if you act right, we can check into a telly ’n’ I can give you da business.”
    Telly?
    It takes me a minute to realize what he’s referring to. A motel room. Ugh!
    I frown. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I say.
    Thick Neck laughs. “Yo, you wildin’, fam. You got that li’l girl scared.”
    I ring his order up. Tell him his total. Then wait for him to pay.
    He hands me a fifty. Then tells me to keep the change when I try to hand it to him along with his receipt. When he refuses the money, I lay it on the counter.
    â€œNext in line, please.”
    â€œShe clownin’ you, yo,” Thick Neck instigates.
    â€œNo lie, son,” Locks says, cutting in front of Thick Neck, glancing over at Hazel Eyes. “She bad, yo. I’d like to beat that thing-thing up, too. But, eff her, my nig. She prolly can’t handle none’a da D . She ain’t ready for it, fam. You can look at ’er ’n’ tell. She a youngin’, yo. You know dem li’l girls ain’t ready for no real work, fam.”
    I blink.
    Hazel eyes winks at me. “Nah, she a good girl I wanna turn bad. She ready. Ain’t you, ma? I see it all in your eyes.”
    I suck my teeth.
    â€œYo, let me get two classic chicken sandwiches,” Locks continues nonchalantly. “Cheese and ketchup only. And a thing of onion rings.” He looks over at Thick Neck and asks him what he wants. “And let me get two double stacker combos for my manz.”
    â€œAnything else?” I ask, irritation rising in my