The loud noises became more distinguishable the longer I listened, and I could tell she was arguing with a man, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. His voice was too low, and her voice screamed loudly over his, hollering something about him not being shit and a few other choice words.
“Niy!”
The second time I yelled her name caught Keyon’s attention, and he told Domo he would hit him later before he addressed me. “Everything good?”
“I don’t know.” I took the phone from my ear and put it on speaker. “Can you understand what they’re saying?”
Keyon got up from his office chair and came close to the one I was sitting on. He concentrated hard while he attempted to understand what was being said in Aniya’s background.
“No lie, Dretti, this all sounds like gibberish to me.”
If my nerves weren’t on edge, I would’ve laughed at his stupidity.
“Be serious, nigga. Listen closely.”
Placing his ear closer to the phone, his eyebrows dipped low, and he threw his hands up in the air after a minute of trying to understand the conversation.
“Dretti, I’m not even trying to be funny, but that shit sounds like Spanish to me. What the hell is going on?”
I couldn’t help but laugh that time. Something was wrong with this fool’s ears. The conversation was hard to decipher, but it definitely didn’t sound anything close to the Spanish language.
“I don’t know, but Ima catch you later, Key. I gotta go figure out what the fuck is going on with my sister since your ass is clearly no help.”
Standing up to leave, I slapped hands with Keyon and checked to make sure the gun inside of my waistband was secured. It’d been a cool minute since I had to pull the trigger on a nigga, but when it came to Aniya Matthews, I’d take out whoever was standing in between me and her safety. No question.
3
Nim
“Where the hell have you been, Nim?”
The sound of Britton’s angry voice practically made me jump out of my skin. He all but barked at me as soon as I walked through the door of our home. All the lights in the living room were turned off when I stepped inside, so I had no idea he’d been sitting in a corner accent chair until he spoke.
After the intimate escapades I shared with Andretti, I forgot to call Britton and let him know my flight had been delayed. The magnificent dick he put in my life steered me away from talking to anyone until I got my thoughts together.
“I forgot to call you back and tell you my flight got delayed last night,” I said, slipping my sneakers off and placing my duffel bag on the left side of the door. “You know how I get when my day doesn’t go as planned.”
Britton stood up and made his way over to me before I could place a foot on the staircase that led to the upper area of our home. He hadn’t even washed her off of him from the night before, yet he had the nerve to question me.
How despicable.
The distinct fragrance of White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor clung tightly to the threads of his midnight blue dress shirt. The first time he ever came home smelling like it, like her, I recognized the scent immediately. My mother wore the perfume religiously when I was growing up, and it was apparently a favorite of Cassandra’s too.
“Tell me where you’ve really been?” Britton wrapped a hand around my wrist too tightly for my liking, and I looked from him to his strong grip, and back up at him with narrowed eyes.
My hard stare caused him to quickly let go of his hold, and he straightened the loose tie around his neck.
“I fell asleep in my banquet attire because I’ve been sitting around waiting for you all night.” He lowered his head to study my appearance, examining the skin-tight, black jumpsuit I had on. “You wore that outfit to the airport this morning?”
“Uh, yeah? I did. What’s the problem?”
“So were you by yourself all last night?” he asked, completely ignoring my question.
I swatted a hand in the air and waved off his conscience-stricken insecurities. A guilty man always told on himself. Britton only wanted to clock my movements when he knew he’d been shaky with his. He never used to question me about what I wore, where I’d been, or who I’d been with until he started doing his dirt.
Whenever a man knows he’s in the wrong, he’ll either try to play the victim in the situation or he’ll say anything to turn the tables on you.
I thought you were messing around with someone else.
You haven’t been showing me any attention lately.
You started putting on outfits I’d never seen you wear before.
You were depriving me of sex.
Believe it or not, those were only four of the excuses Britton’s come up with to explain away his cheating habits.
“Nim!” he called after me, and I could hear his feet slowly stomp up the stairs.
I’d already beelined to the bathroom inside of our bedroom and started the water for a hot shower by the time he made it up. Britton met me by the tub as I stripped myself of my clothing, and the tight breath he blew out let me know he wasn’t done with his questions.
“Be honest with me, Nim. Are you seeing someone else? Were you with another man last night?”
I pushed out an exaggerated sigh and shook my head at him.
“You’ve got some fucking nerve this morning, don’t you? Can you please leave me alone so I can shower in peace? I have a lot of things to get done today.”
“I’ve got some fucking nerve? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a very smart man, Britton. You know exactly what that means. Stop acting stupid.”
Britton would be dumb to believe I wasn’t aware he was still fooling around with his assistant, aka his side dip, aka her. He no longer took pride in washing her scent off of him before he came home. Or maybe he was so used to her smell that he’d become immune to it. Either way, he should’ve known I wasn’t silly enough to believe the lies he told me about him no longer seeing her ugly ass anymore.
“I have no idea what you’re referring to, and we’re not even supposed to be talking about me right now. We’re talking about you and how this is the first time you’ve never come home without checking in. So be honest with me, Nim. Are you messing around with someone else?”
“It sounds to me like your guilty conscience is asking that question.” I chuckled and stared at him knowingly. “I have a meeting with a potential client in two hours. I don’t have time to do this with you right now.”
“When do you ever have time for me anymore? All you do is run around the city and attempt to live out this pipe dream you can’t seem to let go of. For the life of me, I don’t understand why you won’t start using your accounting degree again.”
“This pipe dream?” I laughed to keep my anger at bay. “You will never understand this pipe dream of mine, huh? You will never understand why I do what I do because you’ve never tried to, and you never will! I’m sick of you trying to downplay my dreams just because yours sound more fancy and professional! Please, get out of my damn face!”
The tears welling up in my eyes refused to fall. I wouldn’t dare allow Britton to make me cry over his discredit to my career choice. I wouldn’t allow him to make me feel like my dreams were beneath his dreams because they hadn’t proved to make me as wealthy as his had made him. I’d long been over allowing him to make me feel less than because I didn’t follow a straight and narrow path to success.
Britton often forgot about the boost given to his entrepreneur dreams thanks to his father’s rich bank account. If I came from a family strapped with old money, I’m sure I’d be able to easily live out my dreams too. My entrepreneur aspirations took hard work and dedication he never had to put in. His seat at the roundtable was secured long before he even knew it was available.
With a shake of his head, Britton scoffed and said, “I don’t know how your parents allow you to waste their money. You’re not using your degree like you should be,” befo
re he shrugged and walked out of the bathroom.
Fed up with his disrespect, I threw a nearby bristle brush at the back of his head and yelled to his back.
“I hate you! I swear I wish I never fucking met you!”
“You know you don’t mean that shit!” Britton’s voice hollered from our bedroom. “You’re being overly emotional because you know I’m speaking the truth,” he tried to mumble the words, but I heard them clearly.
“Ugh!” I huffed in a whisper. “I promise to God I can’t wait until all of my stuff is together so I can leave your trifling ass.”
Britton didn’t realize I truly despised the ground he walked on, and he wouldn’t until it was far too late. Until I was long-fucking-gone.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I narrowed my eyes at my best friend of ten years.
I was starting to believe Bria was too wild and untamable to settle down with a man. She was currently running down the story of how she ran off her latest fling, Marcus, while we sat on her couch sipping wine. The two had only been seeing each other for the past three months, and for whatever reason, she had the bright idea to hack into his iCloud to read his text messages in real time. Apparently, she found out he was texting some woman about meeting up for dinner over the weekend, and her crazy-self decided to join them unannounced. As fate would have it, it turned out the woman was his estranged sister, and she caused a shit show of a scene at Applebee’s for absolutely no reason.
“I really don’t know what’s wrong with me, Nim. I guess I got possessive and jealous? I couldn’t handle the thought of him having dinner with another woman and taking her home for a nightcap afterward. Even though I know we agreed to be exclusive friends with benefits until we got to know each other more, I still couldn’t help but feel like he went back on his promise and was sleeping with other women while I reserved myself for him.”
“But why would you think that, though? What would make you believe he was sleeping with other women when he agreed he’d only be with you?”
“Do you want me to be for real, for real honest?”
A part of me didn’t want to know the honest truth because I was certain it’d be something off the wall and borderline insane, but I nodded my head yes anyway.
“Nim, listen. I know this is going to sound crazy, but Marcus’s dick is so bomb I just knew he had to be giving it to someone else. It’s too good for him not to spread it around!”
Bria didn’t smile, slightly giggle, or even blink when she said it, so I knew she was dead serious.
“You know what, you’re honestly too damn crazy! That’s your problem. You keep giving that man reasons not to be with you on a serious level. If you really want to settle down with him, you have to simmer down, Bria. Seriously.”
“I know, I know.” She sighed heavily and polished off the rest of her wine. “But by the time he’s finally over what I did, I’ll probably be over him. That’s what I hope anyway. The nigga talks too damn reckless when he’s upset. He didn’t have to call me a crazy ass psycho bitch and threaten to go upside my head.” Bria grabbed the pillow next to her and huffed into it. “Ugh! I hate that he’s so fine he can never be un-fine. I don’t want to be attracted to his ain’t shit ass anymore!”
I didn’t mean to let out a loud, uncontrollable laugh at her dilemma, but she made it hard not to. She was truly too damn crazy.
“Yeah. It honestly sounds like y’all are both bad for each other,” I admitted with a shake of my head. “It’ll all be okay though, boo. As soon as you find someone finer, Marlon… I mean Marcus… will be a distant memory.” The smile I flashed her in an attempt to ease her worries made her smile too. “And you always end up finding someone finer.”
Bria went through men so frequently it was becoming hard to keep up with names. Each time I finally got the hang of saying one, she’d switch up and find a new one to replace it. I didn’t judge her, though. She was living her best single life, and there wasn’t a thing wrong with that.
“You’re absolutely right, best friend. I’m sure I’ll find a new victim soon.” Bria smirked. “Enough about me and my man troubles, though. Tell me more about the fine ass nigga who made you risk it all on the first night?”
I smiled again, unwillingly that time, thinking about how I did damn near risk everything for Andretti. The main thing being my sexual health because I didn’t know him well enough to give myself to him so freely and unprotected. However, I was absolutely prepared to kill him and hide his body somewhere it’d never be found if my STD results didn’t come back clear. I made a stop at the free health clinic to get tested as soon as I got back in town and was expecting the results before the week was over.
Bria listened patiently with a childlike grin spread wide on her face as I ran down the basic facts about Andretti and details of the night we shared. When I was finished, she excitedly rubbed her palms together and let out a loud squeal.
“Girlaaa! You mean to tell me he’s light-skinned, hood, and skinny? Honeyyy, that’s the complete recipe for a big dick! You’re lucky as hell, Nim. You had a big dick, hood gentleman pretty much drop out of the sky and land in your lap. Miracles like that don’t happen every day.”
“I’m sooo done with you!” I hollered and followed it up with another loud laugh. Bria was truly the lucky one because my wine would’ve flown all over her white T-shirt if I hadn’t of set it down moments before she spoke. “I may have been lucky for the night, Bria, but that’s it. I’m sure I’ll never even see him again.”
The mere thought of never seeing Andretti again made my heart dip down into my stomach. I wanted so badly to run into him again, with the knowledge he wouldn’t be good for me and all. I still wanted to see his handsome face at least one more time.
More than one more time, actually.
It was weird to me that I constantly thought about the pros of being his woman. Like having the ability to wake up to his yummy body and succulent lips every morning. And the luxury of being lulled to sleep by his incredibly sexy voice each night. And the overall euphoric satisfaction and completeness his woman would feel because a man as sensual and passionate as he was had eyes and love for them.
The pros of being Andretti’s woman were starting to seem like they’d outweigh the possible, playboy cons.
“You wouldn’t mind seeing him again though, right?”
Bria always seemed to read my mind. It was as if she was somehow in tune with the majority of my intimate thoughts.
“I don’t know, Bria. Half of me would love to see him again, but the other half screams for me to stay away. He reminds me of Exon in ways that aren’t good, you know?”
Exon was the very first man I thought I loved. Granted, I was only sixteen at the time, no one could tell me I wasn’t head over heels in love with him or that I hadn’t found the man of my dreams. His bad boy image was the first thing that attracted me to him. I loved everything about it… until his bad boy lifestyle started to affect me. Exon was always in and out of legal trouble, in and out of shootouts, and in and out of drama and bullshit period. It was always something with him, and in the end, he broke my heart just like my father warned me he would.
My father, Chris, was another reason I wanted to date Exon in the first place. With him being on the police force and always trying to shield me from the dangers of the world, as he called it, he basically pushed me right into Exon’s arms. At the time I met him, I was in my teenage rebellion stage and wanted to go out and find the trouble my father desperately tried to keep me away from.
I wanted to do anything that would go against his strict rules, and when it was all said and done, I experienced the worst heartache I’d ever felt in my life. The kind of heartache a father never, ever wanted his daughter to go through and tried his best to prevent from happening.
“Yeah. I can definitely understand your reservations, because Exon pretty much ruined the idea of hood love for you.” Bria nodded. She’d been my shoulder to cry on when Exon betrayed my lov
e and trust in the worst way. “But we both know Exon was honestly a busta ass fool who should’ve never had the chance to call you his woman in the first place. Besides, we were in our young and dumb phase when you dated him. Those were the years we were allowed to make big mistakes. You made one by letting him have access to your heart, and he made one by doing you hella dirty.
“At this point in your life, you know better than to fall for anyone who truly reminds you of him. So are you using Andretti being hood affiliated like Exon to talk yourself out of seeing where things with him could go, or do you really feel like he reminds you of him? ‘Cause I just know you’re not thinking about staying with Britton. That’s completely out of the question… right?”
“Of course that’s completely out of the question.” I didn’t hesitate to answer her. “If my plan plays out correctly, I’ll be done with Britton in the next three or four months.”
I was only still with Britton because I didn’t want to have to depend on him or anyone else after I left him. My event planning business was fresh and getting off the ground, and though I’d been getting a lot more exposure and clients in the past few months, I needed to save up more money so I could pay at least three months’ worth of rent for my own place to stay.
Little by little, and without Britton’s knowledge, I’d been taking money from the joint savings account we shared and adding it to the money I earned from doing events around the city. I’d saved up enough cash to finally pay the first few months of rent for an office space, but not enough to secure my own apartment as well. I needed a few more months of saving and working before I’d be ready to walk away from Britton and live comfortably on my own.
“You still haven’t answered my question, Nim. Do you honestly think Andretti reminds you of Exon? Or are you just afraid to start over with someone new?”
“I don’t know, Bria. Maybe it’s both? Or maybe it’s because I already trust Andretti beyond my comfortability. Or because I’m about to get out of a three-year relationship and don’t want to attach myself to another man so soon. I don’t know… I truly can’t tell you what it really is. I’ve never wanted a man as much as I wanted Andretti last night, and that kind of scares me.”
The One He Craves Page 4