When he was twenty-five, he got into the diamond business, and that’s when his brand, The Diamond Chambers, took off. It started with one celebrity shouting him out on Instagram and from there, it was up. He became a heavily sought after jeweler in the streets and in the music industry while still handling dope with ease. Xy had jewelry stores everywhere from here to New York to Los Angeles to Denver, and on a bad month, he might’ve cleared a little over 3 or 4 million from the streets and the jewels.
So yeah, dating him came witha lotof perks, and I can’t say for sure that he was cheating initially. After he elevated in the jewelry business and those Instagram thirst buckets caught wind of him, that’s when the nigga started slipping and sliding with whoever city he was in for the night. It was like he didn’t mind plastering my face all over his social medias as his ‘wifey’ but yet and still, he was always caught red-handed with some bitch.
At first, I played it cool and told myself that all men slip sometimes. It was only natural. He was getting so much attention, even doing red carpet appearances and shit, so of course he got curious about what it was like to livethatlifestyle. Every time his name was in the headlines, he came to me with a sorry excuse and a deep apology. Every apology came with diamonds big enough to blind me, and truth be told, sometimes I let them. Not because I believed him, but because I was tired of fighting a war I couldn’t win. He was gon’ do what he wanted to do, and eventually, I got tired of it.
After I got arrested for shooting up one of his side bitch’s cribs while he was in it, Xy made the charges go away, but I went away, too. I had lost weight, my hair was thinning, and my overall mental health was in the pits of hell. For once in our thirteen-year relationship, I was putting me first, and Xy hated it. I didn’t give a fuck because I hated everything that he did,and he didn’t seem to give a fuck. I disappeared to Idaho and checked myself into a facility to get my mind straight. That was the best six months of my life, and the best thing I could’ve done for myself.
Once I got back home to Virginia, I opened my autobody shop because working on cars always made sense to me. From an old beater to a Bentley, I was fluent in cars and could fix any problem it was having. I started off small and then expanded, buying an entire strip of buildings and transforming it intoClutch Queens Garage. On one side was where all the maintenance of cars happened, and the other side was where we did custom paint jobs. I kept my head down, stayed off social media, but worked hard to build my clientele through word of mouth.
I was so focused on my business that, for a while, I forgot the sound of Xy’s voice. That is until he popped up on me one morning before the shop opened. When I saw him, my body was flooded with love and hate at the same time, and I didn’t know what to do with that. So I did nothing. I ignored him and actually banned him from my business. That didn’t matter to his ass because he still showed up when he got good and ready.
Tired of fighting with him still, I agreed to be friends just to get some type of peace and relief in my life. I knew he wasn’t satisfied with that, but that was all I had to give at the time. I couldn’t afford for my mental health to be dragged down like that ever again. That’s when I met Akil, who came in to have his Maserati custom painted. Akil and I built our friendship and then it turned into something more, and I fell for him once that door was opened.
I knew Xy hated every second of my marriage to Akil, but he kept his cool throughout and maintained his role as my friend. I learned to let all my hurt and anger towards him go, otherwise, my marriage wouldn’t have worked. And no matter how muchI knew deep down inside that I still loved Xy, I had to do that shit from a distance. Akil was an amazing husband, so I always felt guilty when I secretly compared him to Xy. Every time Akil brushed my cheek to get my attention, I thought about how Xy would grab my jaw in that rough but passionate way that I liked. Akil was safe and nurturing, while Xy was gangsta as fuck and loved extremely hard.
Maybe I just had a thing for bad boys. I don’t know. What I did know was that I hated the part of me that still craved Xyleek. His laugh, his scent, the careful way he walked me through an orgasm, how safe he made me feel while we were in the presence of others, and the way he loved me publicly. Was I stupid? Yes, but shit, love makes you stupid, don’t act like you haven’t been there!
“Hello!” Makenna snapped her fingers in front of my face.
Before I could address her, there was a knock on my office door. An interruption was just what we needed.
“Come in!”
“Sorry to interrupt you, boss lady, but these were delivered for you,” one of my receptionists and managers, Winter, walked in with a large bouquet of pink and red roses with hundred-dollar bills wrapped around them.
Standing to my feet, I reached out to take them from her. “Um…” I was confused. “Thanks Win.”
“The delivery guy said to make sure you read the card.”
I nodded and she dipped back out of the room as I removed the card that was sticking out. I could feel Ken’s eyes burning a hole through me, and before I even opened the card, it clicked who the flowers were from. SeeingMy Angelwritten on the envelope also clued me in. There was only one person who called me that.
Angel,
I hope this makes you smile today like you make me smile every day. Sorry for the social media bullshit, Ima get my ppl on it. I love you so fuckin’ much, beautiful.
The Only Nigga That Ever Mattered
I wanted to stop the smile that threatened to move my lips, but I couldn’t. Xy knew exactly how to get under my skin without even being in the same room. Flashbacks ran through my mind of him whispering that exact thing over and over in my ear last night and this morning while he was deep within my walls.I love you so fuckin’ much, beautiful. It almost sounded like the chorus to a hit song the way his raspy voice repeated it. Just the thought had a pulse starting in my clit that shouldn’t have been there.
“You’restupid,” Ken hastily stood up with a mug on her face. “And I just want to go on the record as being the first to tell you that you’rea stupid bitch.The next time I see you, Ima have a red nose for yo ass since you wanna be part of that nigga’s circus so bad.”
She stormed out of my office, slamming the door like it had offended her or some shit. I had half a mind to go after her, but I let her make it. I knew she was concerned for my wellbeing, seeing as though she was the one who dealt with me at my lowest.
My parents knew a lot of our relationship but not all. Hell, even my best friend didn’t know every single detail, but Ken? Ken was the one holding me up when I was ready to drown, so I knew she was gon’ be less than thrilled about any reconciliation between me and Xy. She hated him, for lack of better words, and she had every right to. The thing was, I did what I wanted, andin the moment, Xy was what I wanted to do. Fuck anybody else’s opinion about it.
Chapter Three
Xyleek
“You back fuckin’ with Drek, huh?” My right hand, Jaheem, asked me as he ran money through the counter.
I cut my eyes at him. “The fuck is her name even coming off yo lips all comfortable and shit like that fo’? You got sumn you wanna tell me? You want my bitch, J?”
He sucked his teeth and shook his head. “Here you go. You act like I ain’t been knowing her just as long as you have.”
That part was true. Jaheem grew up with us, even though he lived in the hood while me and Drek lived in the ‘burbs. His mom and my mom worked together and were really good friends. His mom used our address to get him into the middle school in my neighborhood, and we’d been tight since then. I knew if I could trust and count on anybody, it was Jah, but I was still overprotective as hell when it came to Dreka. It didn’t matter who it was.
“Difference is, I’ve been knowingeverythingabout her. You know what I allow you to know,” I cracked a grin after staring at him expressionless for a moment. “And let me be clear, I ain’t never stopped fuckin’ with Drek. I let her do her lil’ one two, butthat’s gon’foreverbeme. She knows where home is. That’s why she keeps coming back.”
