Rivah and Niv both sat up straighter.
“He said that out loud?” Rivah asked.
“Yep. That maybe I want too much. Too much attention. Too much sex. Just… too much of him.”
Niv’s mouth parted like she couldn’t believe it.
“And then…” I paused. “He said some shit about an open marriage.”
They both hollered like they’d been stabbed.
“He hurried and changed the open marriage to a hall pass. I’m convinced that he just said it because he doesn’t think I’ll do anything with it.”
Rivah was shaking her head. “He must not know the power of a woman?”
“That’s the thing,” I said, looking at the pool water. “He does know me. That’s why he thinks I won’t do it. I’ve always been the good girl. The loyal wife. The one who bends and sacrifices and waits. But I’m done waiting. I’ve been waiting on him to see me, to choose, HELL, to want me. And he doesn’t.”
“You sure about that?” Niv asked.
I turned to her slowly. “I’ve sat with this for months. I’m sure enough to find out what else is out there.”
They both gasped.
“I’ve never been with anyone else. Ever. This marriage is the only love, the only sex, the only everything I’ve ever known. I deserve to know more than this numb routine.”
Niv leaned forward. “Girl. Are you sure?”
I nodded, calm as hell. “I’m done giving chances. I gave him three months. Three whole months to shift something without me begging for it. He did nothing. So, I’m done begging. It’s time for something new. Something that feeds me.”
I looked down at my drink, twirling my straw.
“…I just don’t know how to date,” I admitted. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
Niv’s face lit up like she’d been waiting on that line. “Don’t even worry about it. I got you. And I got the perfect person.”
She pulled out her phone, grinning like she was about to change my life.
When she turned the screen to me, I literally stopped breathing.
The handsome man had dark chocolate skin. Locs tied in a bun, thick beard, and eyes that looked like they could see everything about you and hold it. He looked like a man who built things with his hands—homes, futures, orgasms. All of it.
“Who… who is that?” I asked, surprised by how beautiful he was.
Niv laughed. “Stacks. We grew up together. He’s like my brother, but whew, he’s a handful.”
Rivah was staring too. “Damn…”
“He’s not your world,” Niv said, locking eyes with me. “But he’s the storm that could shake it.”
I bit my bottom lip. “He’s beautiful.”
Niv tilted her head and looked at me. “Khloe… before I move forward with anything, I need to ask you something.”
I raised a brow. “What?”
“What do you really want out of this?”
The question made me nervous. Not because I didn’t know, but because saying it out loud made it feel like a decision I couldn’t take back.
