by Sephiri J
I looked up at the sky and thought about what he said.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said after a few minutes passed.
“You hungry?” he asked me and sat up on the hood.
On cue, my stomach gurgled extra loud. I burst out laughing.
“Shit, you ain’t eat in four days, shorty? Why your belly sound like an eighteen-wheeler?” City asked and laughed as he hopped off the hood and reached out to help me down.
“No, I’m just hungry, damn. Calm down,” I said and stuck my tongue out at him.
“Aight, well I got a spot for you,” City said, and I shook my head. He always had ‘a spot’.
“You ready?” he asked and winked at me.
I nodded. In that moment, I felt like I would probably follow him anywhere.
20
Sade
I sat at the dinner table impatiently waiting. I didn’t know how many times I refreshed Greg’s Instagram page to see if the picture would magically appear again. I knew it wouldn’t, though. And the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that he had deleted the picture on purpose.
I had come home hoping he would be there, but he wasn’t. The house didn’t even smell like him, which sometimes it did when he left soon before I got there and his cologne lingered. I had texted him, but he didn’t answer. So, to clear my mind, I decided to cook. I made beef stew with potatoes and carrots, white rice, greens, and cornbread, and then ended up baking peach cobbler too just for the hell of it. All the while I was cooking, a thousand thoughts kept playing in my head.
And now, two hours later, I had already eaten and the food on the stove was room temperature, slowly approaching cold, but Greg still wasn’t home. The clock on the wall read 11:30pm, and I knew for a fact that his shop closed at 9:00. I glanced at my phone again and went to dial his number when I heard the lock on the front door click.
My heart started beating a little faster when I realized he was finally home. He stepped into the house wearing jeans and a black polo with his backpack over one shoulder. It was the same shirt he was wearing in that picture that he had taken down earlier.
“Why you sittin’ here in the dark?” he asked when he saw me sitting at the dining room table.
“I’m not in the dark. The kitchen light is on behind me,” I said as he walked toward me.
He shrugged but looked at me like something was wrong with me. I felt a coldness coming from him, and it made me shudder.
“Okay, whatever. You made food? I’m hungrier than a motherfucker,” he said and threw his backpack on the table before walking behind me to the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Share me a plate? Ima go take a shower,” he said and lifted the cover of one of the pots to see what I made.
I swallowed and nodded. I had waited hours for him to come home, what was another fifteen minutes. But he was going to give me an explanation tonight, I knew that for sure.
He turned and walked away from me toward the bedroom, and a few minutes later, I heard the shower running. I shared his plate out and put it in the microwave for two minutes. Then I poured him some Hennessy because I knew he would ask for it.
A few minutes later, when he walked out the bedroom doors, I pulled the plate out the microwave and put it on the table.
“This smells good,” he said, rubbing his hands together and sitting down.
I watched him as he started to eat. He nodded his head up and down emphatically to let me know it was good. Not like I didn’t expect it to be; I could cook my ass off.
“Murda been acting a fuckin fool with me, man,” he said referring to his business partner. “He talkin’ ’bout he want to liquidate his half of the business or some shit. That ain’t what we discussed when we started out, so I told his ass to chill, you know? But we gon’ see what happens. I’m not tryna partner up with a nigga who don’t want to do business with me, but this shit comin’ at the wrong fuckin’ time, man. We got bills and shit. Your job don’t make that much money, so this shit is all on me.”
I flinched when he said that. “You know I’m in school part-time too. I’ll be done soon, so then I can make some more money. We’ll be fine,” I said defensively.
He sucked his teeth. “I wasn’t tellin’ you all that for you to get all sensitive on me, Sade. I was just letting you know what was up,” he said with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
I didn’t say anything. This conversation was already going left. I watched him eat, and then he took a sip of his drink.
“What you been on today? You hanging out with Bo?” he asked me with condescension in his voice.
“What’s your problem with her, though? Every time you bring her up, I feel like you don’t want me to be friends with her,” I said.
He’d always been like that with her, ever since I knew him. She wasn’t his biggest fan either, but she knew he made me happy, or used to anyway. So, she always cheered for us because she wanted what I wanted for me.
“She just always in some shit,” he said. “I heard what happened at the wedding. You didn’t really tell me too much about it, but you know Dontrell’s cousin and one of his best friends comes to the shop to get cut. They told me how she did Dontrell. Her problem is she don’t know a woman’s place. She wanna act up and put her foot on her niggas neck when all he’s doin’ is trying to provide for her. I don’t want you coming in my house with an attitude like that.”
I rolled my eyes. He was doing too much, and I was sick of this conversation.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me. You know I’m speaking facts,” he said.
“I got something I need to talk to you about,” I said, changing the subject.
I know if we went down this road about Bo and what he thought about her, it would end in a fight. I needed us to talk about the picture before he got mad and walked off because then he would have me on ignore for the next week, and I wasn’t feeling that.
“What you want to talk about, Sade?” he said, looking down at his plate.
“Where all did you go today?” I asked.
He looked up at me like I asked him a dumb question. “The fuck you mean? I was at the shop. Is there another question you got buried in there because I don’t feel like playin’ no games with you. So, if you got a question, ask it.”
“Is the shop the only place you went?” I asked and cocked my head to the side.
“I had other errands to run. What you trying to ask, Sade?” he asked, getting up and taking his plate to the kitchen sink.
I got up too and followed him. “I saw you post a picture on Instagram today with Brandon. Where did you take that pic?”
“What picture?” he asked, but he paused for three seconds too long, and I knew he was trying to buy time.
“You know what pic, Greg,” I said and went to stand right beside him so he could look at me. “The one you posted today. You were wearing this same shirt.”
“I wear black shirts all the time, Sade. I don’t know what picture you’re talking about. I could’ve taken a picture with my son wearing a black shirt any time in the last seven years.”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Greg,” I said. “It was a recent pic. Brandon was in it with you, and you were sitting on a couch. Were you at Summer’s house?”
“I ain’t post no pic today,” he said and looked away as he washed the plate.
“Why you can’t look at me?” I asked, raising my voice a little. “You telling me you never took a picture with Brandon today and posted it on your Instagram?”
“Nah, I ain’t post no pic on my Instagram,” he said and put the soapy plate down then turned to angrily look at me.
“I saw it with my own eyes, Greg,” I said, getting up in his face.
I was pissed that he was lying through his teeth to me and taking me for a fool.
“So, where the fuck is the picture then? If you swear you saw it? Where is it?” he yelled back at me.
“You deleted it! You know you deleted t
hat shit,” I said.
He started to chuckle, and he took a step back from me. “So, hol’ up. You tellin’ me you mad because I supposedly took a picture that doesn’t exist anymore with my son and posted it on my Instagram? You hear how stupid that sounds, Sade?”
“That’s not why I’m mad, Greg. Stop trying to make me sound dumb,” I said.
“You don’t need no help,” he said, and I felt like he slapped me in the face.
“Fuck you, Greg! I know you took the picture down because Summer’s nails were in the shot. You forgot to crop her all the way out. You going to her house and y’all hanging out like big ass family? You fuckin’ her, Greg?” I asked.
I felt myself getting choked up when I asked him because just the thought of him cheating on me with her, with anyone, would break my heart.
“Where is this fucking picture?!” he roared at me and threw the plate into the drainer beside the sink. “You saying I’m doing all this shit. Where the fuck is the proof, Sade? I work hard as fuck to pay all the bills in this house and take care of my kid. I take care of you and deal with your hormonal ass crying about some shit every other day. I gotta deal with the fact that you can’t give me a baby cuz something is wrong with you, but I’m still here with you when the next nigga would have thrown you out. But you up in my house asking me some bullshit questions about a picture you thought you saw. The fuck, Sade!”
I stepped back as he spoke because his words were literally cutting me deep. I wasn’t crazy. I know what I saw. But the words he said made me feel ten times worse. He was throwing the one thing that he knew would upset me back in my face and making it seem like it was my fault that I couldn’t have this baby. I couldn’t help the tears that streamed down my face now.
He sucked his teeth. “Man…” he said and wiped his hands down his face. “I gotta go.”
Greg walked away from me and back to the dining room table. He grabbed his bag and walked toward the door. I felt numb as I watched him; I didn’t even want to go after him. And he didn’t seem to care as he opened the door and left without even looking back at me.
When the door slammed, the tears fell uncontrollably. I didn’t know who this man was. He never used to treat me this way. I felt sick to my stomach at the way he just spoke to me, but I loved him, so I didn’t even know if I was ready to leave him alone.
21
Bo
One week later
“You’re coming,” I said adamantly into the phone as I spoke to Sade.
I had the phone balanced between my ear and shoulder as I looked myself over in the mirror. About a week ago, Sade called me in tears because her and Greg had a big fight over some bullshit. I secretly wanted her to throw his ass in the trash, but I knew my friend loved her man, so I wouldn’t let her feel bad about staying with him. She already knew how I felt.
Their fight a week ago seemed bad. Worse than any other one they’d had before that I knew about. She came to my place to stay the night because she didn’t want to be alone, but two nights later, she decided to go back.
I knew she was going through it, so I told her she was coming to City’s anniversary party with me tonight. She hadn’t told me a definite answer all week, but now she wanted to make up this excuse about being tired. Not tonight.
“Sade, don’t play with me,” I said, holding the phone now in my freshly manicured hands. “I will drive my ass over there and park outside until you come out.”
“Don’t do that,” she said in a low voice. “He’s home, and I don’t want to start a fight.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, you better get your ass up and over to this club because if I don’t see you there, I’m leaving and driving over to make a whole scene in y’all front yard.”
She giggled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, bitch, I’m coming,” she said, and I grinned. “Can you text me the address? What you wearing?”
“A dress,” I said, looking at myself again in the mirror.
It was a sleek, black bodycon dress that stopped right in the middle of my thigh. It had lace cut-outs in the side and a deep plunge in the back that stopped right above my ass. I paired it with red five-inch heels, and a red Chanel purse my daddy bought me for my birthday two years ago. My hair was straight and fell down my back, and I had minimal make-up on because I didn’t need it. A pop of red color was on my lips and some mascara on my eyelashes. I looked bomb as fuck.
“Just a dress? I know better than that. Send me a pic so I can see,” she said and laughed.
“Hold on,” I said.
Quickly, I snapped a couple pics in my full-length mirror then picked the right one to post on Instagram before texting it to Sade.
“Biiiiitch! Werk! You look hot as fuck,” she screamed in my ear when she got the text.
I laughed again.
“Thanks, babe. I need you to come too so we can turn these niggas’ heads together,” I said.
“Okay, I’m coming. But when you see City, you can’t forget all about me, okay?” she said.
“I would never,” I said into the phone.
The thought of City seeing me in this dress made me smile involuntarily, though. The last week with him was amazing. We talked literally ten times a day. He texted me in the morning, and we talked through the day. He would come by sometimes, or we would meet up and go have dinner or just walk in the park. It was so good getting to know him. I felt like we were getting to a deeper level. The one thing that sort of bothered me was that he hadn’t invited me to his place yet, and I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t trying to rush things, but I was horny as fuck. Plus, I wanted to see how he lived. Maybe tonight would be the night.
“What time you getting there?” Sade asked me as I applied a final layer of lipstick.
“I’m leaving now. So, probably get there at midnight,” I said and glanced at the Michael Kors watch on my wrist.
“Okay. I’ll start getting ready. I’ll text you when I get there,” she said.
“Okay, babe. Later,” I answered before hanging up.
Right as I disconnected the call, my phone rang again. I smiled when I saw who it was.
“Hey, you,” I said sitting down on the bed.
“What you doin’? You better be ’bout ready to go,” City’s deep voice said over the phone.
“Yeah, I’m coming. Was just finishing getting ready,” I said.
“You leavin’ now?” he asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“I sent someone for you,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow.
“What you talkin’ about?” I asked got up to look out the window.
“This shit ’bout to be lit as fuck. I don’t need you driving. The driver should be outside waiting for your slow ass,” he said.
Sure enough, when I pulled the curtain back, there was a black Lincoln posted up outside my house.
“You got a driver for me!” I exclaimed excitedly. I swear he never stopped amazing me.
“Yeah, so bring your ass on. I miss you,” he said.
I laughed. “Okay, I’m coming now.”
Hanging up, I picked up my bag and walked out the door to the waiting car.
“Club Sky Level?” the driver asked me as I sat inside. He had a bucket of champagne and flutes on the seat beside me.
“Yes, please,” I said and reached for the glass.
“Help yourself. Courtesy of Mr. Bailey,” he said as he pulled off.
I snapped a quick picture and sent it to Sade.
Me: You better be getting ready. City sent a car for me!
I was on cloud nine and extra excited to get to this club and enjoy the rest of the night. It didn’t take us long to get to the club, and by the time the driver pulled up to the front, I was only about halfway through my first glass.
“We’re here,” he said and turned to look at me.
“Damn, that was quick,” I said and downed the rest of the champagne. “Thanks.”
Stepping out the car, I saw that the
line to get into the club was winding down the street and around the building. There were a lot of people there, and I knew inside was probably packed too. Pulling my dress down and smoothing it with my fingers, I walked over to the VIP entrance. City said he put my name on the list, but he wanted me to text him when I got there. After sending off a quick text, I made my way over to the host standing by the front beside a big, burly guy.
“Bo Washington,” I said, giving them both a warm smile as I approached.
“This way,” the host said and stepped inside the building with me after checking the list. “Follow me. Mr. Bailey wanted me to show you where to go when you arrived.”
I followed her inside the club. The music was blasting, and as I suspected, the inside was packed. Everyone was turning up, and as I walked with her, I got excited. I loved to dance, and the DJ was playing all the top hits.
“This way,” she shouted behind her back as she walked, and I followed her.
We veered off up some stairs to a balcony that overlooked the entire dance floor. As I walked up into the balcony, I spotted City immediately. He was taking pictures with a bunch of girls around him holding up a huge bottle of Hennessy.
The host turned to leave me, and I walked over to him, hanging back slightly so he could finish mingling with his fans, but close enough so he could see me. His eyes met mine and he grinned. Immediately, he walked away from the girls who were hanging on to him like he was their last meal and headed over to me. I could see one of their faces fall as she watched him walk toward me.
“You look fine as fuck, shit!” he said as he approached me. He bit his bottom lip, and I felt my pussy jump.
Reaching for my chin, he pulled it up and planted a kiss on my lips.
“Thanks,” I said and rubbed my hands down his chest.
He looked good enough to eat dressed in a pair of dark jeans and dark red Jordan’s with a black and red button down that had the sleeves rolled up. He looked like he’d just gotten a fresh line-up, and his tattoos all up and down his arms peeked out from where the sleeves were rolled.
