“No, but he did come by the house once, demanding to see them, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“Why?”
“Because he ghosted them—us—for weeks, no explanation or nothing for them, then just randomly pops up, talking about he wants to see them. I’m sorry, not sorry, but he’s not going to treat my kids like trophies. His tacky ass don’t get to dust them and think he still has ownership over them.”
I opted out of telling her that Basil checked his ass. I was really trying to figure out exactly what Basil and I were doing. I liked him—a lot. And not just because he was fine as shit, had a tornado tongue, and a huge dick from what I could tell, but he was also charming, sweet, and loved my kids and vice versa. It would be rude of me to snatch him out of their lives now that they warmed up to him. I could only imagine what they were doing right now, probably making a mess of whatever Basil was cooking them tonight.
“I know that’s fucking right. You know we can still go through with my plan of giving his brain to a dog in need.”
I laughed. “I’ll pass. I’m just ready for this divorce to be final so I can move on with my life.”
She nodded, and we were called for our facials. From there, we got the mud baths, then went for our yoni steam. Once done, I was already feeling refreshed and ready for our massages. We sat down in the waiting area of the massage parlor, sipping our third glass of champagne.
“So, how’s our manny friend? Have you given it up yet?” she asked, wiggling her perfectly manicured eyebrows at me and smiling hard.
I giggled. “Rae, please.”
“Whaat? I hope you don’t think we’re about to be in here and not talk about your man friend?”
“It’s not even like that between us,” I lied.
“Really, Alicia? You out here trying to be on this Xscape ‘Your My Little Secret’ type shit? That’s how it is now?”
“Nooo, it’s not, Cousin. Stop being dramatic. I just—he wants to date me.”
“Problem being?”
“I’m scared.”
“Alicia, you graduated with a master’s degree and braved through another four years of law school. I have watched you sway a jury to get a murderer locked up. Use your damn words.”
“It’s only been a month, Rae. This attraction to him scares me. I find myself thinking about him way too much, and I feel uneasy about the way the kids are clinging to him. What if he’s just another Leo? What if he leaves me like that other sucka did?”
She stared at me before we both broke into a fit of laughter.
“No, but seriously. I don’t want this attraction between us to deter the relationship he has with the kids. If anything goes wrong, we all will have to relive being abandoned by yet another person we loved.”
“I understand. But you don’t have to put a title on whatever you all are building. My little cousins are smart as shit; if they felt he wasn’t worthy, they would tell you.”
“I know, I just don’t—” My words halted when I looked up to see Nora coming out of the massage room a few feet away. Just when I was about to call out to her, Leo stepped out behind her, confirming what I already felt in my heart to be true. Immediately, my heart dropped. It felt like I just got stabbed in my heart repeatedly, and it was twisting with each intimate touch he gave her.
“What’s wrong?” Rae asked with a worried look on her face, then followed my line of sight to see exactly what I saw. Leo took Nora’s hand and kissed the back of it while smiling at her. “Oh, hell nah,” Rae said, taking out her phone and snapping pictures of the two of them. I was too in shock to understand what she was doing. I shouldn’t have been shocked though. I had known it already.
The event happening at the same time was just way too coincidental for me not to have known they had run off together. Still, my heart dropped at seeing them together. The way he wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her neck while she giggled like a gay man with a bag of dicks made my eyes sting from the hurt he caused me.
Theycaused me.
Before I could say anything, Raeley was out of her seat and storming toward them.
“Rae, no. Don’t do this!” I whisper-shouted as I ran behind her, but it was too late. She was already approaching them as I watched their giddiness disappear upon seeing me. They both looked busted.
“What’s up, Cleo? Hey,Whora. Fancy to see you two here, . . . together,” Raeley said sarcastically.
“I—Ali—” Nora started, but I put my hand up to stop her.
“You know, I figured you two hooked up behind my back. It was way too obvious that you conveniently stopped answering my calls and transferred from Thomas & Little the same day my husband sends me that weak-ass voice note.” I scoffed in disbelief. “I’m so stupid. I told you personal things about us, really fucking believing you were my best friend and would never betray me like this. But I get it now. You never could keep a man, so you went after mine.”
“Alicia, I swear it wasn’t like that. Leo was my high-school sweetheart. We lost touch after going to separate colleges, andwhen I saw him again, he never told me he was married. Then it was a coincidence that when you introduced us at the company’s party all those years ago,hewas your husband.
