Habibti: I love it.
Me: So you don’t feel blindsided, I want you to know that we will have company.
That was only half true. I was definitely about to blindside her. I knew that if I told Jameela that the company was Amira’smom, she wouldn’t have come. It was the same reason that I picked Cindy up. She had a thing about yelling and screaming how she felt then storming off. I wanted to have a civil conversation. First, I had to get everyone together.
Habibti: The more the merrier.
If only that were true.
“I’ll order the food,” I told Cindy, causing her to squeal with excitement. I would never understand why women loved food so much.
By the time we made it to my house, I had placed a delivery order of steamed lobster tails, garlic butter shrimp, corn, a platter of crab cakes, baked potatoes, cheesecake, and a Caesar salad for the ladies. I probably wouldn’t eat much. I really didn’t have an appetite, anyway, just thinking about how the introduction of the women in my life was about to go.
I wanted Jameela to go ahead and meet Cindy now so there would be no surprises down the line. I was serious about being done fucking her for good. I needed both of them to understand where I stood on that.
“Ordering all that food don’t get you out of the car conversation,” Cindy said, strolling from my living room to the kitchen.
She was so damn sexy it was a crying shame. I wish I had paid attention to how she was dressed. I would have told her to cover herself up before bringing her with me, not that it would have gone over well, but damn. I didn’t think that shit through.
The silhouette of her dark areolas was clear in the thin, white tank top she had on. If the little top wasn’t damn near see-through, she was showing so much cleavage that you could see her titties anyway. They used to be my favorite part of her; now I wanted to wrap a blanket or something around her. The black leggings that made her ass look even better than it did when we met weren’t helping either.
It wasn’t that I was tempted. I had no issues controlling myself. Just because I didn’t want to have sex with Cindy anymore didn’t mean I didn’t know she was still fine as a muthafucka. I knew seeing her sexy, sassy ass in here with her titties on display and her ass sitting up like the Seabiscuit would immediately be off-putting for Jameela.
I didn’t think my baby was insecure by a long shot. I just needed to maintain control of the situation. Like I said, I needed her to meet Cindy early on. It was actually a good thing that she would get to see the real her. I didn’t care how Cindy dressed. I just needed her and Jameela to get along. I didn’t want Jameela to see her in here looking like we had just fucked before she came. I was convinced that having a bad ass baby mama was actually a curse.
“Did you hear me, Nicholas?”
“What car conversation, Cindy?”
“I said I want a new whip. You have what, like four or five cars while I only have one?”
“Because you only have one ass to put in it. You’re worried about what I do with my money, yet you don’t have one job. You didn’t even pay for thewhipyou’re so tired of driving. You have the nerve to be ungrateful about the luxury car someone else gave you. You didn’t do anything to earn that car besides having my baby, Cindy. Your ass ain’t even got nowhere to go, because when she’s not with me, your mom and your cousin take Amira to school and make sure she gets home. What you need all thesewhipsfor?”
“What you need all your whips for? You want to flaunt your money and attract all kinds of gold diggers, but I can’t have nice things?”
“Who said you couldn’t have nice things? I bought a five-bedroom house for you and my one child that lives with me over half the time. I let you pick it out because I want you and Amirato be comfortable. Then I bought you the car you wanted and didn’t ask any questions or even bat my eyes at the price tag. I didn’t even check it. I give you twenty thousand dollars a month and still give you anything you ask for if it’s for Amira. I pay her tuition, her insurance, her medical expenses.”
“And that’s your job.”
“And you’re right. I’m always gon’ make sure she has everything she needs. I’m not saying I don’t want you to have nice things, Cindy. I’m just saying, you can have anything you can afford with the money inyourbank account, not mine. If you can’t buy nice shit with twenty thousand dollars I give you, then you need to get a job.”
“Wow, this new bitch really got you tripping, Nicholas. When I was riding your dick every other night, you promised to give me the world. Is that what you’re telling her?”
“And I did for as long as I could.”
“Answer my question, Nicholas. Are you selling her the same bullshit that made me fall for you?”
“You act like I fucked you over, Cindy. I never cheated on you. I never put my hands on you. I always treated you with the utmost respect. I spoiled you when you were mine, but that’s over now. It’s been over for a long time. I’ve never lied to you one day. I’m always straight up about what’s going on. I’m doing everything I can for you. What the hell else do you want from me, Cindy?”
Her long black lashes fluttered, and for a second, I hated how fucking beautiful she still was to me. Her eyes were tearful when she finally let them connect with mine again.
“I want you to love me, Nicholas.”
“But I don’t, and you don’t love me either. You just love the idea of me. You love feeling like you have access to me. You don’t love me, Cindy, and you know it. I could barely make you stay at home and spend time with me and Amira when we weretogether. You were so busy out trying to be the next big Lulaville socialite, spending a hundred thousand dollars a month on my dime. What the hell do you miss, me or my money?”
“That’s always your answer.”
“That’s the only thing you wanted to discuss until you heard I had a woman at my house.”
