“Speaking of public opinion, he’s in the headlines a lot regarding the relationship he has with you. A lot of it has to do with infidelity…do you want to speak on that?”
Sensing a change in her energy, I gnawed on my bottom lip for a moment. “I don’t care to speak about the past. I’m only concerned with right now.”
“Right, totally understandable,” her hand moved across the pages of her notebook as she jotted down notes. “It’s just… people love you two together. They say your loyalty to him is what makes your story so fascinating. Most women would’ve walked away a long time ago, but you stayed.”
The way she said that shit was like a back-handed compliment. “It’s not so much about staying but more so fighting for what we’ve built. Have Xy and I been through a lot? Yes. I can’t deny what’s been in the media, but I’m not about to feed into anything that’s not happening currently.”
“Mm,” Cassie cockily sat back, dropping her pen against the table with a look in her eye that told me she was about to be messy as hell. “Do you ever wonder if you knoweverylittle thing about him? About what he’s doing when he’s not around you?”
“Nope. If I’m supposed to know, it’ll present itself to me.”
She started staring at me with the same weird look she had at the lounge when I met her. Shifting in her seat, she stuck her hand in her purse and pulled out a few pieces of paper. After unfolding them and looking at it, she placed them in the center of the table.
“What is that?” I asked her without looking at or touching the papers.
“Receipts.”
Her previously cheerful, light-hearted tone was replaced with a tone that was cold and resentful. Curiosity killed me, so I snatched them up and scanned over it. A payment in the amount of $6,800 had been made to cover the rent for someone named Gabriae Kingston. My heart skipped a few too many beats when I saw that the payment came from Xyleek. The date on the receipt told me he’d made the payment almost two months ago, which was right around the time I started to take him serious again.
Flipping through the other pages, it was the same shit; a payment for rent, dating back to the beginning of the year. Payments for water and lights, also for Gabriae Kingston but paid for with a card in Xy’s name. Whoever this Gabriae bitch was, Xy had been taken damn good care of her. Even still, I wasn’t about to give this messy bitch the satisfaction of seeing my pretty ass sweat.
“What would you like me to do with this information, Cassie?” I calmly placed the documents back down.
With a wicked smile, she sat straight up. “Actually, it’sGabriae, and I just wanted you to see that you’re not the only one Xy takes care of. He may parade you around in front of the cameras, but I have his heart, too. He’s made sure I haven’t gone without for the last two years and has been there in ways you can’t even imagine. When I was in the hospital a month ago, he came and sat by my bedside, nursing me back to health after mycar crash. So, see, you can think you’re special and play the main girl role all you want, butI’mthe one he comes to when he needsrealpeace and comfort.”
For a long minute, I didn’t say a fuckin’ word, I just stared at the goofy bitch. I think I was too stunned at hearing her say he was at her hospital bedside a month ago. Because a month ago was when we had to rush back from the Hamptons for his mother’s medical emergency. And if he was lying about that, that meant he’d gotten his mother to lie as well. I was used to bitches taking shots at me, thinking that’d get them somewhere with Xy, but this felt like it had hit a main artery. Again, I wasn’t gon’ let her see me sweat.
“You’re so cute,” I giggled, taking the papers, folding them, and putting them inside of my Chanel bag. “You got your lil’ moment, so let me give you something in return, sweetheart,” pushing back from the table, I slid my purse on my shoulder and stood up. “Icouldreach across this table, grab a handful of that cheap ass weave, knock your teeth down your throat, and then mop this muthafuckin’ floor with your face. But I have a business to run, and I’m not gon’ fuck up my name for a stupid bitch like you who has to take a cheap shot just to feel important.”
“You think threatening me—”
“I don’t do threats, sweetie, I do promises. And you’re smiling now, but Ipromiseyou gon’ wish you would’ve died in that car crash, bitch,” I blew her a kiss and took a step away from the table. “Enjoy that lil’ rent ‘cause that’s thelastthing you ever gon’ get outta that nigga.”
Pushing my Chanel sunglasses on my face, I walked out of the café with my head held high, but my insides were boiling. With the way I was feeling, I could kill Xy with my bare hands. Getting behind the wheel of his Santorini black Ranger Rover Autobiography, I pushed damn near eighty to the penthouse where I knew he was. He had been conducting his streetbusiness out of that place for as long as I could remember. I’m sure he fucked bitches there, too.
By the time I reached the penthouse, my blood was still on fire. Blow opened the door and instantly caught the storm brewing in my face. “Dreka? You good?”
“Where he at?” I asked, brushing past him.
“Office, but—”
I didn’t wanna hear shit he had to say. Padding down the hall at a quick pace, I pushed the door open and found him and Jah in there talking. Both of their eyes shot over to me, halting their conversation. The tension in the room was thick, and I was two seconds away from taking my stiletto off and stabbing Xy in the eye with it.
“Ima head out,” Jah stood up, not wanting to be involved with the battle that was about to pop off.
Still, I said nothing as he eased out of the office, closing the door behind him. My heart was beating erratically while that nigga was sitting there cooler than a damn fan.
“What’s the matter, Angel?” He put his phone down, giving me his undivided attention.
Going inside of my purse, I snatched the documents out and threw them as hard as I could in his face. “You’re a gahdamn fuck up, that’s what’s the matter, Xyleek! You sit in my face, telling me I’m the only one,and that’s a bunch of bullshit! Since when thefuckdid you start paying bills for bitches?!”
That’s the part that hurt the most. If he was paying Gabriae’s bills, that meant he felt something for her that he didn’t feel for all the other women. He tricked off, did his lil’ one two, but it was never a consistent thing. The fact that he had beenconsistentlytricking off on that goofy hoe was what made me nauseous. I watched as he unfolded the paper and thumbed through them. Guilt flashed across his face along with something else that wasundetectable. He didn’t look surprised though, which told me the documents were legit.
“Where did you even get this?” His tone was calm as he tossed the papers on his desk like it didn’t mean shit to him.
I squinted at him in disbelief. “I pulled them outta my ass, Xyleek! The fuck do you think I got them from?”
When he remained quiet, I dropped my purse in the chair, walked around his desk, and started swinging on his ass. Xy already knew how I gave it up when I caught him in some shit, so I don’t know why he thought it’d be a good idea to stay seated.
