I turned back to Nina.
“You okay babe? What’s wrong?”
I exhaled, because I really didn’t know how to put it. Maybe being blunt was the best thing I could do.
“I don’t want to get married, Nina.”
She double-took, and the look of shock on her face let me know she didn’t comprehend what the fuck I was saying.
“Umm, excuse me.”
“I said, I don’t want to get married, and I don’t think we should. You and I have been playing along to this game way too long.”
“Game? How is this a game Hawk? You and I have been together for years. It was time we got married.”
“Yeah, time on paper, but now how I really feel. Look, this whole relationship is based on a contract your deceased father drew up years ago. And to be honest, I just don’t feel like it’s worth it anymore. It’s pointless. I don’t understand why we can’t just terminate it, split the money how we see fair, and live life how we want instead of how your father wanted.”
At first, Nina’s face froze with shock until she started to laugh while shaking her head. The laugh started off as only a chuckle until she was laughing so hard that she was bent over holding her stomach. I wanted to snatch her ass up.
“What the fuck is so funny, Nina?”
She finally stopped laughing seconds after my question.
“What’s so funny is that you are acting like that money is both of ours to split in the first place.
“You know my father only left the business and money to you if we stayed together.”
“And that shit is ridiculous. Do you really want to be with a man because your father paid him to be?”
“And you went from a security guard to the CEO of my father’s company. So, you were paid very well to be.”
She walked up, closing the distance I set between us.
“Now you’re saying you don’t want to marry me, Hawk? We’ve been happy this entire time, and you're springing this on me now?”
“No, you’ve been happy.”
Her jaw clenched tightly, and I could see the words landed on her like body shots.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Nina. I didn’t just get money when that contract was signed. I inherited stress, bullshit, no real peace, no time to breathe. That along with a fiancé who controls every single part of my life, holding that contract over my head.”
I walked away from her at a slow, steady pace, but she was right on my heels.
“Don’t walk away from me. Who the fuck do you think you are? Are you realizing who the fuck I am!”
“Nina, I am not going to lie, you bad as a motherfucker. You’re smart. College-educated, and you deserve a man who wants you and only you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Oh, so that’s what it is, you getting a little piece of ass on the side fucked your mentality about our relationship up. I knew I shouldn’t have done that shit.”
A bitter laugh slipped out her mouth. The laugh was there, but I could tell shit wasn’t as funny to her now as it was earlier.
“Nina, if anything, it showed me that I haven’t been able to be myself in a long time, and I’m sick of that shit, Nina.”
She dropped onto the couch hard. No smile. No sarcasm. Just cold disbelief.
