Courtney pinched Shy underneath the table.
“Ouch, bitch, quit pinching me!” Shy exclaimed.
“What are you talking about? Why would Sloan care about what Cass and Lola got going on?” Ellie asked.
Shy sipped her champagne, and Courtney opted for silence, but the shady essence between them told Ellie they were keeping secrets.
“Untuh, bitches. What the fuck?” Ellie said, moving a seat closer to narrow the space between them. She leaned into her friends.“What is going on?”
Shy rolled her eyes.“I don’t know why you and Sloan like to play stupid when it comes to this,”Shy sighed.“Yougonna sit there and tell me you don’t know that Sloan is in love with your brother?”
Ellie jerked her head back.“Eww, no. He’s like her brother, too. She don’t want Cassidy’sass.”
Shy rolled her eyes.“Okay, girl.”
Ellie held up her hands innocently.“Come on, Court. Back me up here. They are literally like brother and sister.”
Courtney gave a sour smile and leaned her head to the side as she said,“Ehh. I mean, their chemistry is kind of undeniable,” Courtney added.“Think about it. Whenever they’re in a room together, you feel that they’re in the room together. And they always end up next to one another.”
Ellie shook her head in denial.
“Yeah, nah. Y’all reading too much into this. Sloan knows how I feel about my brother and my friends. She literally wouldn’t go there, and they’re practically related,” Ellie said.“Sloan is a second daughter to my parents. She always has been.”
“Okay,”Shy said, shrugging.“If you say so.”
Ellie glanced back at Cassidy, who was conversing with Lola intimately. Ellie had always been the little sister who had to beat the girls off her brother. He had always been handsome, always rough, always alluring, always a ladies’man, and Ellie didn’t play. She had never liked any of his little teenage girlfriends, and was always on guard when girls would want to befriend her because it was often to get to him. She had never had to worry about Sloan. Sloan never short-changed Ellie with false interest just to be in proximity to Cassidy. She never overloaded the conversation with questions about Cassidy’s whereabouts or tried to milk her for information about him. If anything, they all hung out. They’d all play a game of Monopoly with real money that Cassidy funded. They would all go to the skating parties back in the day. Cassidy would be their ride back and forth to the movies before they could drive. Sometimes, Sloan and Cassidy would argue each other down, fighting like cats and dogs, similar to the way she, herself, would fight with Cassidy. Sloan was her sister; she was family. Ellie just couldn’t see it.
“There goes your boy,”Shy said. Ellie’s eyes drifted from Cassidy to Loyal, and her stomach hollowed. He was just effortlessly fine in classic, tailored Ralph Lauren. She loved a man who wore a suit well. Wasn’t shit worse than a baggy-ass suit or pants that were too tight and too short. Loyal was fitted to perfection. The black tuxedo looked like money against his rich skin. He was regal. He exuded power, and Ellie felt giddy at the sight of him. He greeted every person who stood in his path, giving them each a moment of his time. Everyone wanted a piece of him, and Ellie didn’t want to crowd him, so she remained where she was. He got to the end of the entryway and paused, looking back as Tisa walked in. He held out his hand for her, and as Ellie took them in, her intuition went haywire. Tisa was just as beautiful as she had been at the charity event, only today she was formal, in a pearl-colored, silk, floor-length dress that complimented Loyal flawlessly. The dress was backless, and while most women relied on hips, ass, and titties to create their sex appeal, it was Tisa’s back that made Ellie take pause. She was model-esque, with the most beautiful and sexy back Ellie had ever seen.Not a damn back roll in sight, Ellie thought in disgust.Bitch.
She was hating, and rightfully so, because Tisa was on the arm of her man. It was the way they moved in unison that tore Ellie’s gut out. The way Tisa smiled and greeted his guests right along with him as if they were a power couple and this entire crowd was there to kiss the rings of the king and queen gave Ellie the damn bubble guts. He hadn’t even panned the room with his eyes to search for her yet.
“Fix your face, bitch,” Courtney said, giving Ellie the heads up that she was wearing her heart on her sleeve.
“And he said they’re not together?” Shy leaned into her ear and whispered.“Look like they together to me.”
Ellie wondered if she would stay or leave. She didn’t want to seem childish or insecure, nor did she want to overreact. Even though inside, she was doing all three. She felt like she was watching another woman with her man, but she wondered if she had the roles misconstrued. Tisa had been there first. They shared a child. In fact, where was their child? Ellie hadn’t met anyone of any significance in Loyal’s life. Was his son being babysat by a doting grandmother? Were their sisters and brothers on standby for this lovely couple? Did they have an entire life together? Was there a village of love that supported them on occasions when they had to step out on the town? No one even knew about her.I don’t even know his son’s name,she thought.
As she watched Loyal escort Tisa around the room, she realized that Tisa wasn’t the one in the way. His son’s motherwasn’t being let down gracefully, nor was he fulfilling one last promise. Loyal was flaunting Tisa like she was the completion of his missing puzzle, and she felt slighted because he had personally invited her to come watch. He was wearing her proudly like he couldn’t possibly do this without her. It was known to be said that a man’s best accessory was the woman he chose to put on his arm, and Loyal had blatantly chosen Tisa. Ellie was his best-kept secret. She was a good secret, too. The type of woman who left his bed and then attended his event and sat quietly in her place in the back. Humiliation filled her.I really don’t belong here, she thought, feeling out of place. She thought she could handle this. She thought Loyal would be less connected to Tisa. She had assumed that he would make a point to lessen the affection. He knew that she was somewhere in this room, watching him, struggling with the sight of him being so intimate with another woman. Just from the glow on Tisa’s face, Ellie knew that the girl was under Loyal’s spell. She knew how easy it was to fall victim to his reveries because she was also under a trance. She wanted to be angry at him, but at her big, grown age, all she could do was be mad at herself.
“I’llbe right back,” Ellie said as she excused herself from the table. She couldn’t get to the restroom quickly enough.
She rushed to the sink and gripped the porcelain edges as she sucked in a deep breath. In through her nose, out through her mouth. Stupid-ass shit didn’t calm one fucking nerve. Shy walked into the bathroom moments later.
“Are you good?” Shy asked.
“I can’t believe I fell for this shit,” Ellie said, ashamed.
“Of course you did. Youain’t been in the dating game as a grown woman. These niggas giving out dick and damage. Women aren’t falling for that shit anymore, sis. He fine, he paid, you’re vulnerable, and he clearly has a roster. He added you to it.”
“I am too old to be in this bathroom, crying over a man,” Ellie whispered.“The last time somebody’s nappy-headed son had me holed up in a bathroom embarrassed was…”
“In 11th grade when Jeffrey Foster got caught two-timingyo’ass with Tamika Smith behind the bleachers at the homecoming dance. You tucked your tail then and let him and that ugly bitch win.”
“She wasn’t ugly, though,” Ellie snickered.
“Bitch, let me add some razzle dazzle to my story to hype you up,” Shy stated.
Ellie lifted her hands, giving Shy the floor.“My bad, girl, carry on.”
