“Can’t you hook me up through Bluetooth? I’ve seen you talk to people while driving using the Bluetooth function.”
“Yes, I could, but I’d rather just get to you as fast as I can. Shit, when you’ve seen me talk while driving, isn’t it always hard for me to concentrate?”
“Yes.” She giggled.
“Okay then. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Alright.”
I quickly hung up my damn phone and shook my head.
I liked Nandy, but if I were being perfectly honest, I would’ve been dropped her for all these shenanigans. I just couldn’t bear the thought of Alivia having somebody and all I had were hoes. I wanted her ass to see that she wasn’t the only female I could be serious with. I was fucking with Nandy for all the wrong reasons at this point, because her beauty and good pussy meant nothing to me now that I’d gotten to know her, but oh well.
I hurried to my whip, queued up my playlist, and sped off. I got to Nandy’s place about twenty minutes later then texted her because I didn’t feel like going to her door. We’d been dating long enough for me to stop doing all that shit, and plus, I wasn’t even into her enough for all that.
“Damn, you couldn’t open the door for me?” Nandy hopped in, smelling good and looking nice per usual.
She was hands down one of the prettiest females I’d ever seen. I couldn’t find one flaw on her, outside of the fact that she wasn’t thick, but in my eyes, that wasn’t considered to be an imperfection.
“My bad. I was just in here thinking and it slipped my mind.”
“Sure.” She buckled up as I leaned over to kiss her.
“You look beautiful, Nandy.”
“Thanks.” I watched her blush as she stared straight ahead, purposely not looking my way. Finally, she did and added, “You look nice too.”
“Appreciate it.”
I got back on the road so we could go to dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills. Nandy was high maintenance, which I didn’t mind after having dealt with Alivia. She was the same way, and it had me feeling myself that I was able to get a woman with such high standards.
I couldn’t fucking stand Alivia. I even hated her damn name, and anything close to it. Olivia, Alicia, just ugh.
We decided to eat inside, and I let Nandy order a bottle of wine of her choice.
After the waiter filled our glasses and left, Nandy took a sip then said, “I know we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, Manny, but I was wondering where we’re headed.”
“What you mean?”
“Like is this headed to an engagement? Are we going to be just boyfriend and girlfriend for another year or so? I just like to know what I’m getting into.”
“I’m not sure, Nandy. We just got together.” I chuckled breathily. “We need to see how this shit goes and naturally progress. Maybe in a few years, we can look into getting engaged and all that.”
“How long did you date Alivia?”
“Some months… longer than we’ve been dating, that’s for sure.”
“Okay.” She nodded, sipping more of her wine. “I’m just asking because you mentioned getting engaged to her that time I looked in your phone.”
“So.”
“So you clearly don’t need a few years to propose to a woman.”
“I told her when I saw an engagement ring, I thought about her. I ain’t say shit about proposing.”
“Tomato, tomato.” Nandy pronounced the word both ways, shrugging. “It all means the same thing at the end of the day, that marriage with her crossed your mind.”
“Aight, you right.”
“So does it cross your mind? With me though?”
“Are you two ready to order?” The waiter appeared, and I was thanking God.
“We are.” I nodded as Nandy threw back her wine and refilled her glass damn near to the rim. “I’ll have the rib eye.”
“And I will take the New York steak.” Nandy handed the menu over.
“How has work been going for you?” I quickly inquired, making Nandy laugh as she sat back, swirling the wine in her cup.
“Why do you always like to change the subject when I try to talk about our relationship, Manuel?”
“I’m just trying to have a pleasant conversation. It seemed like shit was getting a little intense, so I wanted to switch gears.”
“Well I don’t wanna switch gears. I’m a twenty-seven-year-old woman, and when I date, I like to know where it’s going.”
“Understandable, Nandy, but there is a lot of shit we still don’t even know about one another.”
“Like what?”
“Different shit. I don’t even know where you’re from, who you grew up with, about your past relationships… I don’t know shit come to think of it.”
“’Cause you don’t ask! You want me to sit here and fuck you while you pine after Alivia, hoping she comes back.”
That was true.
“That’s not true, Nandy, and you know that. I already explained to you why I was texting her. I like you, and I wanna be with you, but I can’t have you sweating me every time we go out. I feel like we just met, and you’re already talking about marriage.”
“Fine. Let’s talk about something else. How is your work going? It’s more interesting than mine.”
Calming down, I talked a little bit about work, and she did the same. She also talked about her family, which was nice to hear.
The conversation was going so well that it improved my mood. By the time the food came, Nandy and I were smiling and laughing.
“You definitely seem like an only child. I was an only child too in a sense, since Belly grew up in a totally separate household.” I nodded, cutting my steak.
“I liked being the only one. My parents were rich, so they spoiled me on top of it.”
“I can tell.” We chuckled. “My mother took good care of me too, so I had no complaints about receiving all of her attention and love.”
“Yes, it’s great. Now my mom and dad keep pressuring me about giving them some grandchildren to spoil. Does your mom do the same?”
“Uh… not quite.”
Nandy nodded, eating more of her food and taking a huge gulp of the wine.
“I’m sorry, Manuel, I— I just can’t sit here and pretend I’m not bothered by our previous conversation.”
Groaning and dropping my silverware, I replied, “Nandy—”
“No!” She began sobbing. “You think I’m a fool! You just wanna use me for sex, and then when you’re done with me, I will be back at square one! You are such a manipulative liar!”
“Nandy, Nandy, lower ya fucking voice.” I gritted my teeth. I glanced around the quiet spot, and people were definitely staring.
“Fuck you!” She hopped up from the table so abruptly that her wine glass fell, spilling all over the white tablecloth. The bottle fell as well, pouring into my lap and on these Gucci slacks.
“Nandy!” I roared. “What the fuck!”
“Sir, is everything okay?” The waiter rushed over.
I bit down on my lip before tucking them both in to take a deep breath.
“Can you bring the bill, please?” I didn’t even look at him, but I saw his feet rush off.
“He is nothing but an asshole who uses women for sex!” Nandy hollered over the restaurant. “I don’t ever want to see you again!” She rushed out as I stood there, shamed as fuck and waiting on the bill.
When the waiter finally brought it, I was thanking my lucky stars that I had enough cash to cover it, because I didn’t wanna wait for them to process a charge on my card.
As I left out, I saw a few females looking me over, having believed every word Nandy had shouted. Even though I was more ashamed than a little bit, a nigga was happy to be done with her unbalanced ass.
After all the shit that had been happening, I needed a little bit of retail therapy, so I was in Bloomingdales, surveying the men’s designer shit.
“Did you need any help, sir?” an associate in the Gucci section ask
ed.
“Nah, I’m okay. I’ll let you know.”
I continued looking around, and the only thing I saw was this dope ass bag, so I bought it.
As I was walking out of the Gucci area to continue looking, I heard a familiar laugh. Turning my head in its direction, my fucking balls shriveled up at the sight of Alivia and Yono shopping. I was supposed to look away, but my ass kept staring, so by the time Alivia saw me, we’d made eye contact. Her wide smile disappeared, snapping me out of my trance, so I pressed on.
I kept my eyes on them, even following the two to the women’s section. When I saw Yono sit down and Alivia go into the dressing room, I pulled my iPhone out to dial her ass up. I paced by the makeup counter as the line trilled, and when she finally answered, I paused.
“So y’all in love?” I laughed.
“Manny, what do you want?”
“Don’t try to act like you’re so damn irritated to hear my fucking voice, Alivia.”
“I am not in the mood to entertain you.”
“Oh, but you can entertain his ass. Stop acting like you enjoy that nigga so much more than me.”
“I’m not acting like anything. You know what, get off my phone. I don’t feel good, and I’m trying to enjoy myself with my man.”
“You don’t feel good? What, you pregnant?” I chuckled, but her silence stopped that shit immediately.
“Manny—”
“Wow. Already, huh? I hope that nigga dogs yo’ stupid ass out again. Fuck you.” I hung up, not allowing her hoe ass to say shit.
If I wasn’t done with her ass before, I sure and the fuck was done with her ass now.
As I left the department store, I typed away on my Instagram story, heart beating rapidly and seemingly out of my fucking chest.
Bitches ain’t shit. One minute they’re yours, the next, they’re pregnant by the next nigga.
I smirked after posting it and proceeded to my car. My phone wasn’t working while in the parking structure, so I sped out before dialing my mama up.
“Hey, sweetheart—”
“You got his number?” I cut her off. I was still pissed with her for not allowing my father to be in my life.
“Whose number?”
“Who else? My pops?”
“No, I don’t have his number, Manuel. Why do you need it? You don’t need to talk to him.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m a grown ass man now, and you can’t keep me from him like you’ve been doing.”
“Manny, he has seen you around before, and did he attempt to make amends? Or did he deny you? I kept him from you while you were under my care, but when you moved out, he had many chances to get in contact with you yet didn’t.”
“Yeah, because you fucked it up!” I hollered.
“Don’t you ever in your life raise your voice at me again!” My mama shouted back, her accent thick as fuck.
“I gotta go.” I hung up and continued driving for a bit before an idea popped into my head.
Getting onto the freeway, I headed toward Belly’s mama’s place. I remembered him saying his parents were fucking around again, so maybe my dad was over there. But if he wasn’t, then surely, she had his number.
Took me an hour to get from Beverly Hills to Inglewood where she stayed, because it was a damn parking lot on the 405 Freeway. I parked illegally, by a fire hydrant, since I only planned to stay for a second.
Slipping through the rickety gate, I surveyed the beat-up ass building, shaking my head. In the past, Christine’s ass hated Belly to the point where she’d never let him get her up out of here. But now that she’d seemingly warmed up, maybe she’d change her mind.
I knocked on the door, then stepped back to wait. I heard someone walk up to look at me through the peephole, so I put my hand up to say ‘hi’. I didn’t know who was behind the shit, but my father would be preferred.
“Yes?” Christine peeked out. I swear she hadn’t aged much at all.
“Hey, it’s Manny. You remember me?” I grinned, but she didn’t smile back.
“Yes, I do. What do you want?”
“I know this is an odd favor for me to ask, but I was wondering if you could maybe pass me Charles’s number. I just wanna call him up and see if we can meet, maybe start working on our relationship.”
“What relationship?”
I looked down into her soft butterscotch face for a few moments, wondering if she was serious. But then I had to remember Belly’s mama was crazy.
“H-his and mine; father-son relationship.”
She laughed, showing off her pretty smile while shaking her head.
“You are not his son. Charles has only one son, and that is the one I gave birth to.” Looking me up down, she added, “And that surely was not you.”
“Look, I know it’s hard to accept but I—”
“No, it’s not hard to accept because you being his son is a lie your pathetic mother came up with to keep Charles.”
“Aye, leave my mama out of this.”
“Or what?” She raised her brow. “Exactly. If you touch me, my son will pulverize you.”
I chuckled.
“I think Cortez and I are a bit closer than you two, but aight.”
“Yeah, because he thinks you’re his brother. Your mama has everybody believing this lie. What you need to do is focus on finding the real man that she spread her legs for and got pregnant by.”
I didn’t hit women, but damn she was close to being the first… second, I guess, since I’d unintentionally slapped Jasmine. Christine was lucky she was Belly’s mama, because even though I knew he couldn’t stand her, I was sure he wouldn’t take kindly to a man slapping the shit out of her. Plus, she had every right to hate my mama, who slept with her husband knowing he was married.
“I’ll let you believe whatever you need to, to sleep at night. You enjoy the rest of your day.” I turned to walk off.
“No. I just believe the DNA test they took that read Charles wasn’t the father. Why don’t you ask your hoe ass mama about that one!”
Isabella
I was out of the shower and covered in my coconut scented body butter, so I washed my hands before slathering on a facemask. Tightening my robe, I left my bathroom, then grabbed my iPhone so I could pass time while this mask did its job. I had another date with my baby Herman tonight, and I wanted to look perfect.
While scrolling the explore page on Instagram, I spotted a picture that looked like Judd, so I tapped it. It in fact was him, so I hit his username above the picture to look through his profile.
I didn’t know if I was getting used to him or what, but he was looking pretty cute. His smile was beautiful and very warm. I found myself smirking as I continued sifting through his photos. His latest one was an advertisement for his match tonight.
Locking my phone, I watched a little television then picked out my fit before going to wash this mask off. I cut on some music as I got ready, applying the perfect makeup look to match my outfit.
Unlike the last time Herman and I went out, I knew where we were going to dinner. So my cute, short nude dress, and my Louboutin heels would not go to waste. I put on some of my Marc Jacobs perfume, and then grabbed my car keys. I was meeting Herman at his home, and then he was gonna drive us to the restaurant.
“Okay. Bye, Mama!” I shouted, rushing through the living room.
“Wait, Izzy. Where are you going again?”
“To dinner with my boyfriend.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “When am I going to meet him? It seems pretty serious, so I’d like to get to know him.” She folded her arms, leaning up against the small piece of wall in the archway.
“You will soon. I’m gonna find out his schedule tonight and get back to you.” I gestured toward her with my Balenciaga purse, winking.
“Okay. You better, Miss Thang.”
I giggled before yanking the door open and rushing out as fast as I could in these heels. Once I had my music on in my car, I headed toward my man, barely being able to
contain my smile.
I made it to his house about twenty minutes later, and before getting out, I touched up my lipstick.
“Hey, how you doing?” Some nigga yelled out to me as I switched up to Herman’s door.
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
“You sure are.” He licked his lips before pulling his baggy jeans up and walking off.
I chuckled, ringing the doorbell. It took no time for Herman to open the door, and he was dressed really nicely this go ’round. He wore a Polo shirt, some jeans, and then Gucci sneakers.
“Wow, handsome.” I moved his way, draping my arms over his shoulders to hug his neck.
“Thanks, but damn, you look good as hell.” He kissed my neck as I basked in the scent of his cologne. “Come in and sit down. I have to make a few calls about work.” He stepped back and shut the door as I waltzed to his couch.
“Okay, no problem.”
I took a seat as he went to the back to do what he had to do. Again, I pulled out my phone to keep me occupied since the TV was off, and I didn’t feel comfortable enough to just turn it on. Going onto Instagram, I went back to Judd’s profile, not sure why, and just decided to follow him. Maybe me following him would be like an indirect apology for how I acted that one day.
I put my phone up after liking Blaise’s snapback photo on my timeline, just as I heard keys jingling in the door. I kept looking down the hall that led to the bedrooms where Herman was and then back to the white wooden door. Before I could call Herman’s name, the door came open, and in walked a dark-skinned girl with a fresh bob; I could still smell the hair spray from the beauty salon. She was holding a baby carrier in one hand and then closed the door behind herself with the other.
We made eye contact, just as she asked, “Who are you?”
She was calm, so she couldn’t have been his girlfriend. I mean, if she were, her reaction would have been much different; at least I thought so.
“I—I’m Izzy. I—”
“Are you that girl from Instagram? Your sister is Nichole?”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “Are you Herman’s sister?” I inquired just as he emerged from the back with his eyes so wide, I thought he’d seen a damn ghost.
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