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“I’m sorry.”

“Then talk, Nikki.”

She looked up. “How long have you been fucking Kyenna?”

Outside, I kept the same expression, but on the inside, my heart stopped.

“What?”

“Please don’t disrespect me by making me repeat the question like you didn’t hear me. How long have you been fucking Kyenna?”

I stared at her, and she stared back.

“Nikki, I don’t kno’ what the fuck you think you kno–,” I started.

“I saw you come out of her house before the sun came up this morning.”

There it was. That was her ass that I saw in that truck. I was caught, and there was no need to fight the shit anymore. She laughed when she saw the change in my face.

“Yeah. That was me. I sat outside that compound long enough to feel stupid as hell. I needed to see with my own eyes. All the signs were there.”

“You followed me?”

“For weeks,” she said.

“Are you crazy?” I leaned up.

“No, Shameek. I became crazy trying to prove to myself that the man I’ve loved for years wasn’t sleeping with his dead brother’s wife.”

I looked down at the table, and Nikki kept going.

“I noticed the perfume at first. It was expensive, and it’s not something I could afford unless you bought it for me. It was something I had never worn before. Then you started turning your phone over every time it vibrated. You stopped wanting sex some nights and suddenly had every excuse in the world why you were tired. You left the foundation rushing me home, barely kissed me at my own damn door, and disappeared. Then one night I moved your phone, and Kyenna’s name popped up.”

“So, you did go through my shit?”

“Yes, I did. I saw the text between y’all. I just had to see the shit for myself.”

“You should’ve asked me that night.”

“You would’ve lied.”

Nikki wiped up under her eyes before the tear could fall.

“That’s what hurts the most. You would’ve looked me dead in my face and lied. Hell, you did. I asked you about her at the foundation event, and you made me feel stupid for noticing the way you watched her.”

“I didn’t make you feel stupid.”

“You told me there was nothing going on.”

“At the time–”

“Don’t.” Her voice cracked. “Please don’t sit here and play with dates like there was some magical day where you were loyal to me at breakfast and fucking her brains out by dinner. Something was brewing before the sex. I watched you fall into whatever the hell that is right in front of me.”

I rubbed my hand down my face. There wasn’t a lie good enough now.

“What you want me say?”

“The truth would be nice.”