by Tiana Grover
Me: Your son is getting married.
Not even a minute went by before I got a response.
Red: To who?
Me: His bitch, who else?
Red: Over my dead body! I’ll call you tomorrow. We definitely putting a stop to this.
I grinned devilishly. I knew just how close Prince and his mother were. He might have carried a relationship on with Sierra against his mother’s wishes but there was no way he would marry her without Red’s blessing.
I was determined to end their relationship for good.
Chapter Six
“I’m feelin you, still feelin you right now…”
50 Cent ft. Ne-Yo “Have a Baby By Me”
Prince
I arrived at Buffalo Blues on Highland Avenue twenty minutes earlier than the time I was supposed to meet Maria, but as I parked, I noticed her truck was already parked across the street in the lot. I shook my head and got out my whip.
As I was walking into the restaurant, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw that it was Sierra calling me. I hesitated for a second before I pressed the silence button and kept it moving. I felt a small twinge of guilt as I made my way to Maria. I hated to ignore her, especially since I had just proposed to her the day before, but it was a necessary evil. I had bigger fish to fry right now.
Maria was sitting in a booth in the corner. I walked back towards her. She sat with her head held high, never once taking her eyes off of me. I slid in the booth across from her. No sooner had my ass hit the seat than a perky waitress came to take our order. I ordered the spicy garlic Parmesan wings, then leaned back and stared at Maria again.
After a few minutes of silence, she shook her head and said, “We didn’t just come here to look at each other, Prince.”
“I didn’t want to come here at all,” I said bluntly.
She raised her eyebrow and looked at me like I amused her. “Oh yeah? So the welfare and well being of your baby means nothing to you?”
My entire face frowned up at the mention of the word baby. “Man look here, I don’t know for sure if that’s my damn baby. I only fucked you once. I didn’t even know your name until you popped up at my crib yesterday. Who does that shit?”
“Me,” she replied simply without a trace of regret. “Talking about this over the phone wouldn’t have done either one of us any justice.”
“I don’t see why not,” I grumbled.
“Cause that’s not the way I do things.”
This time I raised my eyebrow at her. “Look, I know you used to shit going the way you want since you a judge and all that but you don’t run me. I do shit how I want or I don’t do it all.”
She laughed. “You sure have a lot of growing up to do. When there’s a child involved, you compromise for the sake of him or her.”
I grimaced. She was laying this baby shit on me heavy and I still didn’t know if that was my baby or not. “Like I said, it’s yet to be determined if that’s my child or not.”
She sighed impatiently. “Look, what we’re not going to do is keep back and forth over this. You are the only man I’ve slept with in eight years.”
I immediately thought of how tight her pussy was when I slid in her. She was tight like a glove and felt like a virgin. Judging by how snug my dick fit in her, there was a good chance she was telling the truth. Still, I wasn’t about to admit that to her. I had a beautiful fiancée that she could easily run off with this baby drama. There was no doubt in my mind that Sierra would leave me when all this came out. I couldn’t have that; no way would I allow that to happen.
“I’m not claiming a baby I ain’t have a DNA test for.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed again. I noticed she didn’t seem to have much patience when it came to me. I could give less than a fuck that she did. She came into my life with this bullshit and purposely waited until she was too far along to consider getting an abortion to tell me. What did she expect, for me to be happy about it? I barely even knew her ass and just learned her name. I wasn’t happy about shit!
“Listen, I don’t mind giving you a DNA test. I don’t want to hear that the entire time I’m pregnant, so why don’t we just get the damn test done next week?”
The waitress sat our food down on the table. I was glad that she did. I had never heard of getting a blood test done before the baby arrived. I had been banking on having those months to think of a way to tell Sierra about this, just in case this was my baby. Now this broad was sitting up here telling me we could find out a lot sooner than when she delivered the baby.
“How do we do that?”
“We’ll get a non invasive prenatal paternity test done so you can lay all your doubts to rest. All they have to do is get a sample of blood from the both of us. It’s very expensive, but don’t worry about the cost, I got it,” she told me with a small smirk as she started to eat some of her bacon cheese fries.
That way she looked at me when she said that, not to mention how she said it, had me feeling like she was mocking me; like she thought I couldn’t afford the test or something. I glared at her and wondered how I had ever considered keeping this smart mouth bitch around on my team. She looked good as hell, pussy was great and head was fire but her mouth and bossy attitude like she ran shit was pissing me off.
Still I had to admit, even though I wanted to have the time to prepare Sierra for this, I wanted to know if she was carrying my baby even more. Maria was so ready to give me a DNA test that I was starting to doubt that she was carrying anyone else’s baby but mine.
“You ain’t paying for it, I got it,” I snapped at her. “And the sooner we get this done, the better.”
“We can go tomorrow.”
I shrugged. “Aight.”
It was silent as she dug into her food. I wasn’t the least bit hungry. I stared at her. I had to admit that pregnancy agreed with her. Her hair was longer and her skin had that pregnancy glow, making her look even more beautiful than she already was. Even though I couldn’t stand her, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was still very much attracted to her. It was going to be hard to keep denying my attraction to her if this was my baby. I would have to find a way to keep my distance. I said a silent prayer to the man upstairs to look out for me one more time. This broad had me by the balls and I needed a way out. I was trying my best to fly straight and an act of God was the only way I would be able to stay on course and resist this chick if she was carrying my baby. I desperately needed a way out of this. The only out I had was a negative blood test.
“Eat up, Prince. Your food is getting cold,” she said as she looked up and locked eyes with me.
I held her gaze for a minute before picking up a wing. She smiled a little and said “Relax. I don’t think this situation is going to be half as bad as you’re making it out to be.”
I couldn’t help but to smile back just as my phone rang again. I looked at it briefly. It was Sierra again. Even though I knew ignoring her calls would start another argument, I still pressed silent. The smile faded from my face. “Yes it is. You don’t know my woman.”
That sexy smile left her face and was replaced by a smirk. She picked up another one of her bacon cheese fries and said in a bold tone, “No, amor. She doesn’t know me.”
Y’all know I like em a lil crazy. That comment right there should have made me run out the door. Obviously this bitch was a little off.
It didn’t. It actually turned me on a little bit.
Chapter Seven
“And I admit I thought about creeping / So you could get a dose of how I feel”
Keyshia Cole “Enough of No Love”
Sierra
“Really Prince?” I snapped in disbelief as his voice mail picked up for the second time. I tried to start my car again, pissed. Once again it wouldn’t turn over.
Normally I would have called Triple A but I was running late this morning when I left out the house. As a result, my wallet was still in the Louis Vuitton bag I carried yesterday, instead of sitting in the
Gucci bag I had on my passenger seat right now.
I tried not to be too pissed off since Prince usually always answered his phone. If he didn’t, he was calling me back within five minutes. The fact that the one time he didn’t was when he was out until damn near five in the morning did not escape my thoughts at all. I hoped he wasn’t up to no good, but the fact that I had been calling him for about a hour with no response definitely made me think the worst.
I decided to worry about what Prince was up to when I saw him and walked back into Vento’s, the restaurant I had just grabbed a steak hoagie from. I couldn’t sit in my car; it was the middle of November in Pittsburgh and freezing. With my car not turning over, that meant I couldn’t turn my heat on. I had been going back and forth to my car ever since it started acting up.
Walking in, I bumped into someone who was walking out. I had been so preoccupied with sending an angry text to Prince that I wasn’t watching where I was going. I looked up, ready to apologize to whoever I bumped into. The words caught in my throat once I saw who it was.
Leon smiled at me. “Well hello stranger.” He opened his arms for a hug.
I smiled back at him and tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach and the quick thumping of my heart. I put my phone in my bag and gave him a quick hug. The smell of Guilty Gucci embraced me, endearing him to me even more. I always loved that cologne.
Feeling a little too comfortable in his arms, I pulled away quickly.
He looked at me and stroked my cheek. “How you been?”
“Good,” I murmured.
“Yeah? That’s wassup,” he nodded. He looked at me intensely. “I miss the shit out of you.”
I bit my lip and looked away. Leon was a man I met while I was at work. I never slept with him, but our chemistry was so crazy that I knew whenever I did, there would be no turning back. So, to keep my feelings for him in check and my relationship intact, I decided to keep my distance from him. Besides, after the last time me and Prince made up, we had been so busy falling in love with each other all over again that I had barely had time for my schoolwork, let alone creeping around.
Leon had known all about Prince since day one. When I told him I had a man, he slid me his number anyway and left it up to me to make the first move. I didn’t think I would ever have to but still kept his number anyway. The first time I used it was the day after Prince almost let the sun beat him home. We began to talk and text everyday. He came up to my job at Macy’s a few times out the week, bringing me lunch and all that. Even though he always asked to take me out, I refused each and every time. I didn’t want to disrespect Prince like that; it was bad enough I was giving another man my attention.
After the confrontation me and Prince had at Arts, ending with me beating Chloe’s ass, it was an unspoken agreement that we were giving our relationship another chance. It had basically been on life support before that. Anyway, since we were starting over, I decided that any communication with him had to stop. So I began to ignore all of his calls and texts until they eventually just stopped coming altogether. I can’t lie, I missed him, but not enough to risk my relationship with my Prince.
“I miss you too,” I told him.
He grabbed my hand gently. “You ever gone let me take you out on a real date?”
I snatched it back before he could notice my engagement ring. Don’t get me wrong, I was very proud to be engaged to Prince… I just didn’t want Leon to know about it yet. “You know I have a man.”
“You have a nigga,” Again, he stared at me intensely. I had to admit, I loved the intensity of his gaze. He would stare at me, dead in my face, like I was the most beautiful woman in the world… just like he was doing right now. There was so much passion in his eyes that even though it was freezing outside, I felt myself starting to warm up. This man was a dangerous temptation and I knew it. Being around him was like playing with fire, hoping not to get burnt.
I decided the best thing for me to do was to get away from him before I got myself in trouble. “We can talk later. My car won’t start and I need to call my dad.”
“Your dad?” He scrunched his face up.
“Yeah, I left my wallet at home and it has my Triple A card in it,” I explained.
“Why not call your man?”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s busy right now.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Busy doing what? He should never be too busy to help his woman. Did you even call him?”
“What you think?” I snapped. I felt bad afterwards for using that tone with him. He wasn’t doing anything but speaking the truth
Shaking his head, he held the door open for me. I walked out and looked at him.
“Don’t worry about calling your dad. You probably just need a jump. Come with me to my car. I got some jumper cables. I can get you up and running,” he offered.
I smiled. “For real? Thanks Leon.”
“No problem.”
He pulled his car around so it was facing mine, popped both of our hoods and hooked up the jumper cables. The whole time, I sent one angry text after another to Prince.
Me: I know you saw my calls and my texts. I’m out here stuck in the cold, my car won’t start and I left my wallet at home. You supposed to be my man and I can’t fucking depend on you! What kind of man are you???
I waited a minute and when I got no response, I sent another one.
Me: Oh we back to this shit again?
Two more minutes. No response.
Me: Okay, you got it. Whatever bitch you wit I hope she’s worth it nigga!!
“Okay Si, we ready!”
Leon’s voice snapped me out of my funk. With each text I sent Prince, I got angrier and angrier. Why should another man be out here doing Prince’s job? The more I thought about it, the more upset I became with my man.
At Leon’s signal, I turned my key in the ignition. My Charger came to life. I smiled.
Leon walked over to my car and to my surprise hopped in the passenger seat.
“Thank you,” I told him graciously. “I would have been stuck.”
“Yeah you would have been,” he agreed. “So you know what this means right?”
“No but I’m sure you gone tell me.”
He gave me that dimpled smile. “This means you gotta let me take you out on a real date.”
I hesitated. Texting him, talking to him on the phone and even seeing him when he came to shop at the Macy’s where I worked was one thing. Going on an actual date with him was something entirely different. Crazy as it sounds, when I did those other things, I didn’t really feel like I was cheating on Prince. A date, on the other hand, would be crossing the line.
“I don’t know bout that Leon…”
He looked at me skeptically. “You don’t know?”
My phone vibrated. We both looked at my cup holder where it was sitting.
“If that’s ya man finally calling you back, I won’t ask you out no more. I promise. And if it ain’t, you gotta let me take you on a real date.”
I wished I had turned the ringer back on my phone from when I was in class earlier. Prince had his own ringtone; if I could hear it then I would know for sure if it was him or not.
I picked it up and saw my sister Trina’s face flashing across my screen. I chuckled and put my phone back down. The fact that it was her and not Prince definitely pissed me off.
I looked back at Leon, looking at me with that intense glare of his and said fuck it. My birthday was yesterday, my man had proposed to me, and not even a full twenty-four hours later, he was back on his bullshit. Only this time, it would be different. I wasn’t about to sit around waiting on him to act right and appreciate what he had at home. A picture of that damn judge from yesterday flashed in my head. I didn’t care what he told me, I had a bad vibe about her. There was definitely more to her story than her being on his payroll. I would have to find out the real tea on her. In the meantime, I would just have to have my own fun.
I looked away from Leon and checked
my phone to see if I had any missed texts from Prince. There were none. That’s what made me decide to just go ahead and go out with him. Why not? What was good for the goose was good for the gander.
I met Leon’s intense gaze. He had never taken his eyes off me. I was turned on to the fullest by him and wasn’t about to hide it anymore.
“Where we going?” I asked him.
Chapter Eight
“Bittersweet / She was up, I was down”
Kelly Rowland “Dirty Laundry”
Trina
“Come on Si, pick up the phone,” I murmured as it rang over and over in my ear. When it rolled over to voicemail, I shook my head and put my phone in the cup holder. I watched as Prince and some Latina chick walk out of Buffalo Blues looking a little too close for my liking.
They walked to a blue Jeep. I watched as they talked for a little while. My eyes widened as I looked her up and down. She was built better than a porn star, but it was her stomach bump that got my attention. Was this chick pregnant?
Prince opened the driver’s side door and put his hand on the small of her back as she got in. He leaned in the window, talked for a minute, then walked away and got into his car. I waited until he pulled off, then got out to get my order.
People were looking at me crazy as I walked in and out the restaurant. My hair was all over my head, my white T-shirt was stained and my gray sweatpants had holes in them. Ask me if I gave a fuck. I didn’t. I mean who was I really trying to impress anyway?
I went back to Sierra’s old off campus apartment where I had been staying since my sorry ass fiancé Andrew left me at the altar. I had been locked away in this apartment for months and didn’t care to face the world after the way he humiliated me.
It was bad enough that I had to find out through Sierra and his best friend Murphy that he got his side chick pregnant and would rather build a life and family with her than be with me. But the nigga had the nerve to actually marry her the same day and take her to St. Lucia where we were supposed to spend our honeymoon! I found out from the pictures his sister posted of their tacky ass courthouse wedding. The St. Lucia pics I saw when I was snooping on her Instagram. Her page wasn’t private or nothing no more. It was like she wanted me to see that she had my man. She had won.