“The man you’re dating.” Creed inched closer to her. “He was in prison for being a drug dealer.” The accusatory tone that her son had coupled with the look of disbelief in his honey-colored eyes threw Blossom for a loop. Her lips parted, but she couldn’t find her voice.
She had never uttered Tech’s name to either one of her kids, so they couldn’t have told Cedric. How Creed knew about Tech’spast was something she wanted to ask him, but how could she admit to her son that she was in fact dating a man that had just been released from prison?
“I would love to know what everyone’s issue with me dating is,” she deflected. “Who in the world told you that man sold drugs?”
“It really doesn’t matter who told me. Is he a drug dealer? Was he in prison? Does he even have a job? How did you hook up with someone like that?” The disappointment in her son’s eyes made Blossom’s heart sink.
There was no way she could tell the truth and not sound pathetic and desperate. Someway, somehow, it had to be Cedric. There was no other way around it. “As I have asked you before,” Blossom spoke, slowly, “I want my name and my business to not be a topic of discussion outside of this house. Trust that I am not stupid. I am an adult, and I am capable of taking care of myself. I am not getting married. I have gone on a few dates with a man. Two of his sons are professional athletes. He has a job. A condo and a car. He treats me well, and he’s a nice guy. That’s all you need to worry about.”
“Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like? A divorced woman with a great career and two kids starts dating thugs and ex-cons?”
“Who the hell are you talking to?!” She raised her voice. “Is everyone losing their damn minds? No one is perfect, and no one will ever be perfect. But please tell me if I’ve always been a good mother? Have you and your brother always been well taken care of? Have you ever suffered because I was negligent or just plain stupid? When did I all of a sudden need supervision to live my life? Your father is a selfish, egotistical control freak, and I want you to stop letting him put crazy things in your head.”
“Got it.” Creed pivoted and walked out of the kitchen.
Blossom was so pissed when she reached to turn the burner off, she was trembling. It took every ounce of self-restraint that she had not to grab her keys and drive to Cedric’s house. The cursing out that she wanted to put on him wasn’t the kind she wanted to do over the phone. She wanted to look him in the eyes while she read him for filth, but that wasn’t a good idea. Blossom was ninety-eight percent certain that the info Creed had, came from Cedric. But in the event that it didn’t, she couldn’t curse him out and tell on herself if it was something that he didn’t know.
She wouldn’t even be able to slowly insert Tech in her life in a subtle way before dropping the prison bomb on everyone. She’d been blindsided, and she was sick of it. Every time Blossom started living her life for her, Cedric found a way to mess things up. It was getting to a point where she literally despised him. It was as if his life’s mission was to make hers miserable. Snatching her cell phone up, Blossom walked to the bar area in her home to pour herself a drink. She was going to sit out on the back deck and calm herself down.
After looking at her watch, she hoped that it wasn’t a day Fancy had to work late. She needed to vent, and Fancy was the only one that knew about Tech and his past. She joked and called him Felon Bae, but Fancy didn’t judge her for dating Tech. After pouring tequila and a chaser, Blossom took a large sip and sauntered over to the sliding glass patio door. The moment Creed passed the information that he knew down to Chosen, he was sure to interrogate her next. Blossom was pissed.
Being sneaky and dating in private obviously wasn’t possible when a person’s ex was a deranged lunatic. Sipping her beverage, Blossom stared out at her spacious yard. She was proud of the life she’d built for herself. It wasn’t that she had a problem with being submissive and letting a man lead. The problem was, the man she had was insecure and afraid to let herlive her dreams. Blossom never would have cheated on him. She didn’t throw her money in his face and when they were married, he was for sure the king of their castle. She didn’t know what else to do. Constantly having to stroke a man’s ego for him to feel secure wasn’t what she signed up for, and it got real old real fast.
Especially when the only thing that seemed to appease him was her giving up something that she loved. How was that fair? Now that it was over, she had foolishly assumed that they’d go their separate ways and do whatever it was that made her happy. Even without a ring on her finger and Cedric’s last name no longer being attached to hers, she still couldn’t escape his bitching and whining. And now, he was dragging the kids into it. Three more sips, and Blossom was still annoyed. Cedric could throw tantrums all he wanted but making her kids look at her different, that was where she drew the line.
Blossom’s phone rang, and she was elated to see that Fancy was calling. “I was just about to call you.”
“He’s dead. Nick is dead.” Fancy’s words were like a punch to the gut. Instantly, her troubles were forgotten, and she struggled to keep her breathing steady. Fancy wasn’t sobbing, but Blossom could tell that she’d been crying.
“When? Fancy, where are you at?” Blossom sat up straight.
“I-I’m at home. My house is pretty much a crime scene. I don’t want to be here.”
“I’m coming to get you. Let me run in the house and grab my keys.”
“Okay.”
Blossom didn’t have details, but she didn’t need them to know that things had turned out exactly how Fancy didn’t want them to. Chosen was walking in the door with a basketball in hand as she rushed into the foyer.
“Where are you going?”
“Fancy has an emergency. I’m going to check on her.” More than likely, Chosen thought she was going to meet Tech, and she wasn’t in the mood to explain herself to people that she gave life to.
In the car, Blossom inhaled a deep breath in an effort to calm her nerves. She needed to make it to Fancy safely. Her nerves were shot, and she needed to gather herself before getting on the road. Never in her life had she wished death on a person, but Blossom was glad that Fancy wasn’t the one that lost her life behind domestic violence. Had Nick just left her alone none of it would have happened. Fancy gave him plenty of chances, and he refused to stop harassing her. God was on her side because traffic was lighter than it ever was during the day, and Blossom made it to her friend’s house in record time.
When she got there, the porch light was on, and Blossom gasped as she saw blood all over her friend’s walkway leading up to the steps. With trembling hands, she reached for her phone to call Fancy because she didn’t want to walk onto the porch. Before Blossom could unlock her phone, the garage door lifted, and Fancy walked out with an overnight bag hanging off one shoulder and an oversized Chanel hanging off the other. Her face was red and puffy. Dried tear streaks ruined her makeup, and her thick, pretty hair was disheveled.
Instantly, Blossom felt for her friend. Pressing the button to put her car in park, she took her seatbelt off and rushed out of the car. “Friend.” She opened her arms and hugged Fancy.
The woman didn’t cry, but she clung to Blossom like a comforting touch was the very thing she needed to be okay. Blossom took both bags from Fancy and placed them in the back seat. Inside the car, Blossom didn’t make a move to start the engine.
“What happened?”
“I got home from work, and I went in the house to take a shower. I had just put my robe on when I heard a car horn steadily blaring. I looked outside and sure enough, he was in my driveway. I didn’t open the door, and I didn’t leave the house. I called 9-1-1 and told them the situation and that I had a restraining order against him. They didn’t seem to have any urgency because he was in a wheelchair and couldn’t get on the porch. I watched from the window as he once again stabbed my tires. Tires that I just got fixed. At that point, I was furious. I went outside and asked him to please leave me alone. We started arguing, and he pulled out a gun. I started running toward the house. I just knew he was going to shoot me.” Her voice cracked.
“I just kept thinking; he’s going to shoot me in my back. I’m going to be paralyzed. I ran onto the porch and inside the house. He sat there for a few minutes. I was watching from the window. As soon as the police car pulled into the driveway, he shot himself. I watched the entire thing. In my yard, while I was looking, he shot himself in the head.”
Blossom’s eyes closed as she rested her head on the back of the seat. “My God.” She could only imagine how her friend felt.
