The Prada Plan 5

by Ashley Antoinette

  “What do you want from me?” Indie asked. He was drunk and more receptive to her need for him. His guard was lowered, and for the first time since finding out she had slept with his brother, Indie wasn’t looking at her in disgust.

  “You are so powerful, you have so much money—you haven’t had anyone around you in so long who doesn’t have an agenda that you can’t see that I don’t want anything. I literally want nothing from you, except you. I can’t breathe without you. I can’t think clearly without you,” she admitted.

  In a world where everyone expected something material, Parker was the only person who wanted what was simplest to give, himself. All this liquor, all this talk about their past, and her pure confession of love made it hard to resist Parker as she stood on her tip toes and kissed his lips. Indie didn’t move. He didn’t kiss her back, but he didn’t walk away either.

  “Kiss me,” she whispered, and she sucked his bottom lip gently. “I want you.”

  Indie felt himself weakening. He grabbed her behind aggressively and then lifted her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. It was too late to stop himself. It was too late to stop Parker. He carried her to her bedroom. She wanted to look him in the eyes, but Indie wanted to punish her. He wanted to punish her for fucking his brother, punish her for leaving town with his son, and punish her for flipping his world upside down. They could have been happy together if she hadn’t destroyed it all. He flipped her around, and with every stroke she felt his pain. He wrapped one arm around her waist as she arched her back and he pulled her into him, going deep, hitting her spot. It was a pleasurable pain, and she could feel his aggression, his passion, and his hurt. She took it all. Parker threw that pussy back at him like a pro because nobody could handle her body like he could. She was grateful just to be underneath him. He growled as he came and withdrew himself just in time before spilling himself inside of her.

  There was instant regret, and he sat down on the edge of the bed as she climbed up behind him to massage his shoulders. She kissed his back, but Indie stood. He had made a mistake. He had ventured down a slippery slope.

  “I’ve go to go,” he said with a slight slur.

  Parker came to her knees, sinking into the bed as she hurriedly shrugged into her robe. “Really? Just like that? You fuck me and then leave me. You’re going home to that bitch.”

  Her lip quivered, and Indie knew she was enraged. He had hurt her feelings. He could tell from the way she clenched her fists that she was trying her hardest not to cry.

  He dressed, concentrating more on what he would tell YaYa than on how to respond to Parker.

  “I’m sorry,” Indie said. “It’s complicated. I can’t stay. I don’t belong here. This was a mistake.” Then he turned to go.

  Parker headed for the door behind him. “Indie,” Parker hissed. She was right on his heels. With every step he took, she became more desperate to make him stay. How had things come to this? The smart, independent, self-respecting woman that she was had been reduced to a quivering mistress, chasing after someone who didn’t belong to her.

  History or not, the ring Indie wore overrode every memory he shared with Parker. He ignored her, pulling his arm away as he headed toward the door. He needed to get away from her. He had to put distance between them as soon as possible. His mind and his heart were playing cruel tricks on him. In the comfort of her home with his son sleeping in the other room, it had been easy for him to fall into the trap she had set.

  “Indie,” Parker repeated. He was fleeing. Just moments ago he was in her bed, and now he was giving her his ass to kiss. She was offended. She was baffled. “Indie!” This time she shouted. She pushed him from behind, and he spun around on her so quickly that she took a step back in alarm. “Please don’t leave,” she pleaded. She hoped that he didn’t make her regret showing him this weakness. Every woman had that one man that turned her world upside down; that man that made common sense take a backseat to passion. Indie was that for her. “Indie?”

  He sighed. He had put himself in an impossible position. He wasn’t trying to confuse things. He had no intention to break hearts. Indie knew that sleeping with Parker would only make it harder for him to rectify an already difficult circumstance.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow, but right now, I have to go,” he said sternly.

  Parker put it all on the line and grabbed his face, kissing his lips passionately. He pulled back but kissed her cheek in an attempt to spare her feelings. He had let the liquor and the vibe cause him to misstep. Parker was a beautiful woman, one whom he had unresolved feelings for; in the moment it had been impossible to pull back, but the hangover from their rendezvous had him wishing he had never indulged at all.

  Parker watched him leave. She couldn’t make him stay. She only hoped that he realized that no matter how much he denied it, she was better for him. That bitch is a cheap knock-off of what a real woman should be. He’ll realize it, and when he does, he’s going to come back to me. Just like he did before.

  5

  “Where were you?” YaYa asked. Her eyes fell on the clock: 3:52 A.M. It took everything in her to keep her voice calm as she watched Indie walk through the door. She had called him all night. YaYa had been up worrying herself sick. So many possibilities had crossed her mind. A mixture of relief and anger flooded her as he took his time removing his watch and his cuff links before looking her in the eye.

  “Do I even want to know?” she asked. There was a look of guilt in his stare. He couldn’t hold her gaze. “You left me hanging yesterday. You rush out without any explanation. You leave me and Sky there and never come back to pick us up! What the hell is wrong with you? Then you walk your ass in here this late like I haven’t been blowing you up all day. You tell me what I should be thinking right now?”

  “You should know the game by now,” Indie said. “There are some things I can’t tell you.” He hoped that YaYa would leave it at that. He hadn’t figured out how to deliver this blow softly to her yet. He needed a little more time before he told her about Parker and King.

  “Don’t hit me with that, Indie. That vague ‘it’s for your own protection, it’s all part of the game’ bullshit,” YaYa replied. She was yelling now, seething as her chest heaved up and down. “I need transparency from you. Don’t insult my intelligence. You ain’t hugging blocks no more. There ain’t no Vartex business deals popping in the middle of the night. There ain’t shit open but legs at this hour. Just be real.”

  Indie sighed, knowing that he couldn’t lie to her. Not tonight. She wasn’t accepting anything less than the truth. Hopefully a half-truth would suffice. She knew him too well, and with her temper on high, he would have to tell her something to ease her mind. He was wrong on so many levels. In truth, he had been wrong for not telling her that Parker had come to his office. Perhaps if he had involved YaYa in the paternity discussion from the very beginning, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get close enough to have sex with Parker. He had delayed telling her for too long, in hopes that he could hold on to her for as long as possible. He knew how YaYa felt about Parker. He knew that once he admitted the truth, YaYa would leave; especially now after he had disregarded the sanctity of their union. She was his rib, and she wanted him to tell her the very thing that would make her walk out the door. She was his reason for breathing. He could feel himself suffocating already, and he hadn’t even spoken the words yet.

  “Sit down. Let’s talk,” Indie said.

  “Don’t handle me with kid gloves. Just tell me what’s up,” she said, pushing. This was the moment. This was when he would decide what type of relationship they would have; what type of husband he would be. Despite the fact that he knew she deserved honesty, he couldn’t tell her everything. He still had the scent of another woman hanging off of him. He was so foul that he reeked of adultery. He hated that he had done something that he knew would hurt her. Still, he couldn’t come clean; not to that part.

  “King is my son. I rushed out today because I received
a text from Parker. He went missing from school earlier.”

  A flood of emotions filled YaYa, and suddenly she felt ill. This was her worst nightmare come true. She had prayed that Parker would let sleeping dogs lie, but here she was interrupting their lives all over again. YaYa had been through this before, this battle with another woman. Leah had tortured her with a sick obsession for years. Leah had wanted YaYa’s life so badly that she had almost killed YaYa for it. Now here was Parker doing the same thing. Parker wanted to be in her shoes. She wanted Indie and the life that he provided for YaYa. Parker wouldn’t go as far as Leah’s insanity to get it, but she was a threat all the same. YaYa didn’t know if she had any more fight left in her. This was a battle where no clear winner could be declared. They both had children by Indie. He loved them both. In fact, he had loved Parker first. All of these things intimidated YaYa.

  “Did you find him?” YaYa wanted to act like she didn’t care, but her maternal instinct wouldn’t allow her not to ask.

  Indie nodded. “He skipped school and hopped on the train to Jersey trying to get to my mom’s house. He came looking for me. He wanted to know why I hadn’t been around. He’s my son, YaYa, and he needs me.”

  YaYa’s eyes clouded. She was jealous. Jealous that Parker had given Indie his first child, jealous that Indie cared so much, jealous that she now had to share him with this woman, with this kid. YaYa was so resentful, so hurt, that she felt empty. It was like he had sucked her entire soul out of her body.

  “Are you sure he’s your son? How do you know he’s not Nanzi’s?” she asked.

  “We had a DNA test done.”

  “So you’ve been in contact with her? You told me she wasn’t in the picture,” YaYa answered. She wasn’t strong enough to yell the words. She was barely strong enough to speak. The words fell out of her lips no louder than a whisper as she gripped her stomach in agony.

  “It isn’t like that, YaYa.” There was the lie. This is where he detoured from the worst. This is where he would omit what had happened, but omission was no better. It was just another form of deceit. Still he continued. “She came by my office to ask me to take the test. I haven’t touched her since we’ve been married. I promise you that,” Indie said.

  “Your promises aren’t worth shit,” YaYa scoffed. She had known this was a possibility, but to have the truth laid out in front of her, to have to deal with it …

  YaYa didn’t know what to say. He had rendered her speechless. She stood looking at him as he stood looking at her; neither of them knew what to expect next. There was no softening this blow. It was heavy, and they both felt it.

  “I don’t know where I fit in all of this,” YaYa admitted sadly.

  “It’s not you that we have to make fit. You’re my wife. You’re my priority. This family is my priority. I just need you to make a little room for King.”

  “And Parker,” YaYa said, her tone cynical. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this.

  “I don’t want to lose you, Disaya,” Indie said. There was a sincerity and vulnerability in his tone that moved YaYa. Still, her gut told her that this was too much for her. She didn’t want to be wrapped up in a love triangle with Indie and Parker. Love was complicated enough without having to compete for it.

  Indie reached toward her, but YaYa moved out of his grasp. She didn’t want to feel him. She didn’t want to be swayed by the power behind their connection. She just needed to think about how this was going to affect her life, her family, and if it was something she could accept. Was love supposed to be this sacrificial?

  She turned her back on him and walked out of the room without another word. There was nothing to say; not tonight. She would be speaking out of anger, and she didn’t want to do any more damage to their relationship without thinking about what her words should be.

  She went into their bedroom and locked the door. She didn’t want to sleep next to him tonight. She crawled under her covers and laid her head on the silk pillow. Crying seemed like her only alternative. It was like a river of pain flowing out of her as she drowned in emotional sorrow. The life she had led would have killed the average woman. It never let up. It was like the devil had ahold of her destiny, and she couldn’t figure out how to escape him. Why couldn’t she just find happiness? Why were all the good moments so fleeting? YaYa was tired of fighting. She had fought Leah for years, and now here was another battle with Parker. It wasn’t the same battle, but a battle all the same.

  Is that all women had been reduced to, competing for the favor of men? What happened to a sisterhood where ladies respected one another? YaYa never made it a point to step on the next woman’s toes. Yet no respect among women was a given nowadays; it was always a circle fuck where women constantly tried to one-up the next. It was disgraceful.

  YaYa didn’t know what Parker found so appealing about her life anyway. If Parker knew what YaYa had gone through to secure her relationship with Indie, then maybe she wouldn’t be so interested. She reached to her nightstand and grabbed her phone. She scrolled down her contacts until her thumb rested over the name. Ethic. Her easy path, her effortless love. She wanted to call him so badly in that moment that she had to power off her phone to stop herself from doing so. She respected him too much to play with him. He wasn’t her toy to pick up and put down whenever she felt like it. It didn’t stop her from yearning for him, however. She remembered the days when she used to think of Indie in that way. What she wouldn’t give to go back to that place. She didn’t know how they had gotten so far off track. Life had pushed them apart, but their addiction to one another had made them choose each other regardless of the fact that loving each other hurt sometimes. YaYa knew when she said “I do” that it wasn’t right, but she had done it anyway. She wanted to believe that she hadn’t put these years in with this man for nothing, but she just wasn’t sure. A part of her felt like a placeholder. She had been keeping Parker’s spot nice and warm. YaYa hated Parker, and she didn’t know if she had it in her to deal with her for the rest of her life.

  YaYa sat up in the bed, throwing the covers off as she rushed out of the room.

  “Do you love her?” YaYa asked.

  “I love you, YaYa,” Indie responded. He sat freshly showered on the leather couch, grasping a glass of cognac.

  “I need to hear you tell her that. Arrange a meeting,” YaYa said. “I don’t want you alone with her, ever.”

  “There’s no need for me to be alone with her, ma. You can be there. I don’t want to lose you. I’m just trying to do right by my son,” Indie replied. “I’ll play by your rules. You’re my queen, and I just need to hear you say that you’ll stay with me through this.”

  He was almost pleading. The man who had never begged anyone for anything was beseeching her not to take her love away. A guilty conscience was the heaviest thing he had ever had to carry. He didn’t even realize that it wasn’t her love in question, it was his. She was here. She was solid. YaYa had chosen him. She just needed him to do the same in return. He stood and walked toward her. This time she didn’t move. She didn’t know how many more times she had left to feel his touch. She wasn’t sure how many more nights he would be hers, so she let him have her. Right there, on the bearskin rug that rested in the middle of the living room floor. His strength, her yoni, connecting desperately as if they were trying to prove to one another why they were meant to be. The energy they created together was always so intense. There was no middle ground with them, no ordinary love. It was either high or low, and the ups and downs were exhausting. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. No relationship could maintain constant peaks and valleys. They needed solid ground if they were going to spend a lifetime together.

  The way they made love, it was like they knew they were on borrowed time, and when the sun rose, they dreaded the day to come. YaYa untangled herself from their love nest on the floor. Reality had set in. No longer drunk from his intoxicating touch, she rose to her feet.

  “Let me know when and where we will be mee
ting Parker.”

  YaYa walked upstairs, torn between common sense and uncommon emotion. What she shared with Indie was something most people never felt, but she wasn’t about to play anyone’s fool. If she didn’t like what she heard when they sat down with Parker, YaYa was fully prepared to walk away. There would be no competing. This man was supposed to already be hers. She would simply fold her cards. She prayed it didn’t come to that. For the sake of her family.

  * * *

  Nothing could have prepared YaYa for this day. When she got married, she had only seen love and happiness in their future. She had thought they had rid themselves of the drama from days past, but here it was, affecting their present and threatening their future. There was nothing more hurtful than being insecure about the commitment of her husband. It felt like she was in a competition for his affection. How had he become the prize? Didn’t God say when a man findeth a wife, he findeth a good thing? YaYa was supposed to be Indie’s good thing, but somehow the roles had flipped, and it was she who feared losing the gift of his presence. It bothered her that she had become so desperate for him that she was even entertaining this meeting. Her presence should never have to be undermined by another woman in his life. Besides his mother, YaYa should not have to accommodate anyone else. Yet here she was, preparing to sit face-to-face with the bitch who had thrown their entire relationship off track. No matter how many times Indie tried to convince YaYa that his only connection to Parker was through King, YaYa would never believe it. She would never be comfortable with this situation, and the knots in her stomach were proof of that.

  She thought that concealing her insecurity beneath a Moschino dress and Giuseppe heels would hide the fact that she was intimidated by Parker. It was in her nature to be flawless, but YaYa had taken extra care to be stunning this morning. Her face was meticulously painted. Not one eyelash was out of place. She had to make up ground. She had to show Indie that this was no level playing field. Parker was in the D league, while YaYa was an all-star. Right? If that were so, YaYa wouldn’t have the ball of anxiety inside of her, making it hard for her to breathe. Parker was equipped with her degrees and a natural essence of self-worth that couldn’t be applied with lipstick and foundation. YaYa hated how perfectly plain Parker was. Parker was smart in a condescending type of way. She was the only woman that made YaYa feel small, and although YaYa would never admit it aloud, she felt like just another dope man’s wife when in Parker’s presence. She only hoped that Indie didn’t look at her the same way. As YaYa walked into the café, she held on to Indie’s hand tightly. She clung to him, because she wasn’t sure if one day he would let go.