“I am not in love.” The fact that I was still smiling was insane. All I could do was drop my head to try and hide how giddy I was. I wasn’t in love, but I was for sure in like.
“He’s a good catch and all but just have fun and do you. If he’s dumb enough to fumble you, then you pick up the pieces and keep it moving.”
“I know that’s right,” I grinned.
I loved that she wasn’t urging me to be the one to ‘keep him’ just because of who he was. I couldn’t care less who he was, what he did for a living, or how much money he had. If he began to be anything other than fun, he was out of there. I’d never let another man stress me, and I for damn sure wouldn’t let one break me. Ever again. I didn’t anticipate that I’d be doing a lot of dating, but when I did, I was going to be running a strict program. It took me a little bit to realize but despite coming with three kids, I was the prize. Any man would be lucky to have me, and my girls were going to help me weed out who wasn’t meant for me. If my kids were a problem, a man could kindly get the fuck out of my face.
My phone vibrated against the table. With wide eyes, I unlocked the phone, so I could fully see the message. Hymn had sent me $1,000 via Zelle with a note that said:drinks on me.
Lord knows I was going to enjoy him for as long as I could because he gave me all the feels. And I hadn’t had that in years. The feeling of butterflies and happiness to see or be around my man didn’t fade for me. The entire seven years I was with Corey, I still crushed on him, but it didn’t hit the same when it wasn’t reciprocated. He stopped acting as if the mere sight of me turned him on. He stopped flirting and being romantic. My self-esteem took a hit wondering what I had done to make him stop being the person I fell in love with, but I knew I’d more than likely never get that answer. Our time was up, and I had to accept that fact.
Alisa came back over carrying three shots. “Congratulations to being booked and busy,” she declared as we tapped our glasses and tossed back the second shot.
That one was a bit much, so I grabbed the lime wedge off the rim of my glass and sucked it with a frown on my face. I was buzzing and feeling real good.
“Hey, cousin. I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.”
When I looked up and saw the smug face of the woman from the video with Corey, my pulse quickened. My stomach churned, and the shots I’d consumed threatened to come right back up. There was an uncomfortable burning in my chest.
“Hi, Imani,” Alisa’s tone was neutral. “It was an impromptu outing.”
“Hey, I’m Imani.” The way she smiled at me made me want to slap the taste out of her mouth. I could tell by the amused gleam in her eyes that she knew exactly who I was. It wasn’t hard to figure out. I wasn’t sure if he’d removed the pictures of me from his social media pages but at one point, I’d been up there. Still didn’t stop his ass from cheating.
I stared blankly at Imani because I was too old to be fighting, and I damn sure didn’t want it to look like I was fighting over Corey. Ms. Thing was teetering on the edge of disrespect, however, and I wasn’t going for it.
“Imani,” Alisa’s tone held a hint of warning.
“I’m being nice,” she frowned. “I don’t have any ill intentions, and I wanted her to know there isn’t any beef.”
“Why the fuck would you have beef with me?” I snapped.
“Who is this?” Josie was ready to turn up she just wanted facts before she did.
“Corey’s side chick,” it was my turn to smirk.
“Girlfriend.” Imani corrected.
“My condolences.” If she thought I gave a fuck, she was out of her young, rabid ass mind.
Imani parted her silicone injected lips to speak, but before she could get a word out, Josie was rocking her shit. It may have been wrong, but I felt great satisfaction from seeing my sister literally knock the smug expression off Imani’s face. Alisa didn’t even move to break the fight up, and that said a lot. Cousinor not, Imani’s trifling ass was wrong, so she got what she was asking for.
I let Josie punch Imani about four times before I attempted to break the fight up. Josie was strong as hell when she was mad, and she wasn’t trying to let up off Imani. By the time security came over, I was able to pull her off the poor girl because if they roughed my sister up, it was going to be problems.
“I’m leaving,” Josie smiled holding her hands up before the bouncer could say anything.
“You just really stood there and let that bitch run up on me?” Imani had the nerve to look Alisa up and down as if her cousin had really wronged her.
“You didn’t need help walking over here trying to be funny. Why did you need help for a one-on-one fight? What you did was uncalled for.”
“I’ll see you later,” I assured Alisa before sauntering off with a smile on my face.
The entire situation had me pissed at Corey all over again, but I was happy that seeing her up close and personal didn’t hurt me. She was beautiful, young, and her body was tea, but she had rocks for brains. Corey deserved her, and she deserved him.
“Ohhhh I’m mad I couldn’t do her dirty like I wanted to,” Josie was still hype in the car.
“I wasn’t letting you go to jail for that hoe. The fact that she thought she was going to make me mad is funny as fuck. I mean, I’m pissed about the disrespect, but if she knew how stupid she made herself look, she’d be somewhere hiding. The man literally just proposed to me.”
All I could do was shake my head. Engaging in ghetto ass drama wasn’t on my bingo card. I hadn’t even realized that Hymn had texted me and told me to text him when I made it home safely. I knew he’d be asleep, but I still smiled at the gesture. I was still blushing over his text message when myphone rang. The moment I saw who was calling, I smacked my lips.
