“I used to get serious too fast, and sometimes I can have a disregard for boundaries. I mean, when I’m with a woman, I become possessive.”
“Really? I never would’ve guessed that.”
“Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m not the type that tries to keep her from being with her friends and family or tell her what to wear, eat, drink, and how to do her hair.”
“Jeremiah.” I said it through a cough and grinned as he replied, “Bingo.”
“But what I am saying is that I might tend to monopolize her time because I love being under my woman and spoiling her. I’m down for us having date nights with other couples or having our friends over, but I’m not good with her being friends with other niggas. I don’t trust them like that.”
“But if she’s faithful, then she’s going to be faithful regardless. It’s not like she’s just gonna slip up and fall into his lap and get impaled by his dick, right?”
“Yeah, but I’m not trying to entice her either. She doesn’t need to be hanging with another nigga when she’s got me. I’m not the guy who is cool with my woman having a male for her best friend. I’m her best friend.”
I smiled. “I can get down with that, seeing as how I’m the same way. I guess that’s why there was so much tension between Jeremiah and me. He often had female friends.”
Christian looked away, and I wondered if he knew something about my former relationship that I didn’t. But I also didn’t care enough to dig into that.
“What about you, Angel? What are your red flags?”
“I have poor conflict resolution skills. So, when issues arise, I tend to run and bury my head in the sand or give people the silent treatment. My other red flag is that I love bomb my man.”
“What’s that?”
“Overwhelming my man with love, affection, and adoration early in the relationship.”
“Elmira?”
“Exactly. Some men are okay with it, and others aren’t.”
“Jeremiah was cool with it in the beginning,” he declared.
“Yeah, but it became too much when problems arose.”
“Nah, it wasn’t you, baby girl. It was always him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s my best friend, but Jeremiah always wanted someone to be all about him. It’s never about the other person. He needs the world to circulate on him, and when it doesn’t, he bails.”
I tilted my head sideways and stared at him. “That makes sense.”
“What’s that?”
“When new opportunities opened for me from my channel, and I started getting contracts, that’s when things started going south with us. I mean, I didn’t see him leaving like he did. That caught me off guard, but I knew things weren’t perfect.” My voice broke off in sadness. I didn’t mean to be a downer, but I knew this conversation was depressing.
“Aye, . . . it’s the holidays. How about we take a break from talking about Jeremiah?” Christian suggested.
“Sounds good to me.” I bit into my birria taco. I licked the oil and juice off my fingers, closed my eyes, and moaned.
I was here for the tacos and margaritas. I didn’t play about tacos; they were my favorite food, hands down. Give a girl some tacos and margaritas, and nothing could faze me. The only food that I loved almost as much as tacos was Mediterranean food.
“Why do females do that shit?”
“What?” I asked. My eyes popped open at the irritation in his tone.
“Moaning when y’all eat or drink something that tastes really good to you. I swear, y’all do that to get to men. Bet you don’t do that when you’re alone.”
I giggled, licked my fingers, and set my taco down. I grabbed a napkin to wipe my hands before I gripped the edge of the table and leaned closer to him. “Whenever I moan, it’s for one of two reasons: The food was just that damn good, and I don’t care whether a man is around or not, or it’s because he ate the cat out or dicked me down really well.”
