Janet cackled. “Girl, you don’t pay for shit. You wouldn’t know a mortgage if it slapped you.”
“How long are you going to do this with me? I just need to know. It’s been three years, are you going for six, twelve? What? Tell me so I know how to adjust to this. I’m not going to be too much more of the uneducated whore you think I am. I graduated top of my class while juggling my career. Also, my tight pussy has known less men than you’ve had kids with or didn’t.”
Janet shot her a look as she walked past. “I don’t know why he wants to marry you.”
“It could just be that I’m the baddest bitch he’ll ever know.” Emani rolled her eyes and started to the stairs to go to their room. She whisked in, stopping when she heard him whispering in the closet.
“What’s the problem? I told you I would come back when I had a minute. I got my girl here arguing with my mom. I don’t have time for your shit too,” he hissed.
Emani pulled off her shirt and tossed it into the basket. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Donnée.
Emani: Malik is in the closet on the phone with a bitch
The red flags were starting to pop up left and right. The flag of the day was that Malik never came back home last night. Emani was a heavy sleeper but she could always feel him crawl back in the bed, he assured it. Whether a kiss, a snuggle, a smack to the ass, something. Even if he fell asleep watching film, he used to make sure she knew he was home. This wasn’t the time for him to slip.
Malik exited the closet, spotting her undressing from rehearsal. “Y’all done?”
“Are you?” Emani asked. “I’m never going to be the bitch you have to lie to. So if you’re fuckin’ someone else, you should tell me now. If I find out any other way it’s going to be bad for you.”
Malik made a face as if him cheating was so far-fetched. “You know better, Emani.”
She scoffed, hummed, then smirked. “Be careful how you handle me, Malik. I said yes, I still have time to say no.”
He looked at her like she wouldn’t dare, like she’d won when she said yes. “This is why I didn’t want you around your friends. You act like you can do and say what you want.”
“I can. That’s the part you and your mother are missing. I’m Emani Rose with or without you. Don’t let no side pussy have you fuckin’ up the best thing you’ll have. And rehearsal was good, thank you for asking.”
“Yeah, well your ex is back with a chip on his shoulder. Don’t do shit that’ll cause me to have him up out of here.”
Emani looked at him and laughed before walking into the bathroom. “Don’t slip, nigga. ‘Cause you tripping over yourself.”
“You think he’s cheating?” Donnée asked as Emani stood in the storefront show room waiting for Joanna to wrap up whatever she was doing and Sandi to arrive so they could go over homecoming in its entirety.
“I think he’s so full of himself he’s going to get his ass caught up. I haven’t had a scandal or nothing since Tyriq and I want to keep it that way.”
“What if he is?” Donnée asked.
“Then he’s going to feel the gravity of that decision. The shit is simple. I’m not his wife yet. I’m not someone he can toy with and I have really been trying to be the cookie-cutter version of myself but I’m getting tired of the disrespect from Janet and this one-sided competition he’s in with Jahlil.”
“That’s what it is,” Donnée crooned. “The love of your life comes back and he’s losing his mind. That engagement was rushed as fuck.”
“And big as fuck. I asked him to keep it lowkey. Make sure if no one else knew, you and Carson knew. That was a dick swinging contest.”
“Well, whose is bigger?” Donnée asked.
Emani cut her a look. “It’s not about that.”
“It is. For Malik, anyway.”
“Well, I can tell you it’s not the man running out the house and taking secret calls. It’s the one who could care less about what I have going on. This isn’t about Jahlil. This is about Malik. This shit is getting old. The trippin’, the three minutes.”
“The three minutes?” Donnée gasped.
“Pussy don’t even get wet like it used to. I can handle a lot. A sexless marriage and a nigga with side bitches is a no for me. Hard no.”
Donnée winced. “How long are you going to hold on before you can’t?”
Emani dropped her eyes from the clothes to her shoes. She pulled in a deep breath. “Until I get it through my head that being alone is what it’s going to be. So anyway, homecoming. I rented a house a few doors down, stay with me?”
