Page 16 of Give Me All Of You

“What does he have going on? Baby mama drama?” I asked.

“Not necessarily drama, but she is dying,” she revealed.

“Oh, my God! That’s so sad. How old is their daughter?” I remember Hassan mentioning his niece when he came to my job with those apology flowers.

“She’s two, and so adorable. My ovaries contract every time I see her,” she gushed.

“Uh oh. Your ass in trouble then.”

“I doubt it. The way he expresses how he doesn’t see himself getting into another relationship, I’m not getting my hopes up. Besides, he’s the homie. I genuinely enjoy his conversation. He’s like the female version of you,” she confided.

“No ma’am. It’s only one me, so don’t get it twisted.” I faked frowned.

“Here’s my bestie calling now.” She showed me her phone, and I saw Rakeem’s picture displayed on her screen anda silly grin displayed pm her face. When she answered, I realized it was a FaceTime call.

“Wassup, shorty? Where you at?” he asked. I couldn’t see him, but it sounded like he was smoking the way his voice was strained.

“Hey. I’m out with Rue. We’re having a girls’ day. I was just talking about you,” she confessed.

“Yeah? You over there tryna play me shorty?” I could hear the smile in his voice. With what he had going on, maybe I could share Journei to give him some sort of distraction.

“Never. I told her you were my bestie in male form.” She grinned.

“Bestie? Nah, find something else to call me because bestie sounds real feminine, shorty.”

I laughed at their banter as I walked to where the shoes were. I didn’t want to be all up in their business, even though she said they were just friends. While I was trying on a pair of cute black and gold heels, I felt someone towering over me. When I looked up, Cheryl, Keith’s bad body, having a wife, was standing over me with a scowl on her face like she was disgusted. Hell, I should be the one disgusted by her and her sorry ass husband.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“No, you can’t, but I’m pretty sure my husband would love to see that you’re out here spending money on yourself buying frivolous bullshit and not spending it on his daughter.” She smirked.

“Girl, fuck you and your husband. Whatever money I spend and what I spend it on damn sure doesn’t come from him, so what I do with it doesn’t concern him or you.” I snapped.

“Oh, it must come from the drug dealer that you were seen with?” There was that stupid ass smirk again. “It was bad enough that you seduced my husband. Now you’re going after my sister-in-law’s man. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a gutter whore like yourself.”

Before I had time to use my common sense, I was up in this bitch’s face ready to redecorate this boutique with her big Amazon looking ass.

“Friend, do we have a problem?” Journei asked as she approached us. One thing about my friend, she wouldn’t let me fight because I had Infiniti, but that didn’t stop her. My bitch was TTG for real.

“Excuse you?” Cheryl had the nerve to say.

“No, excuse yo’ crunchy ass wig, bitch. Step back from my friend before I send you back to Keith’s triflin’ ass like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s been a minute since I had to cut a bitch and today I’m feeling real Freddy Krueger-ish.” The look on Cheryl’s face was priceless. I wanted to laugh but wanting to beat her ass outweighed the humor in the situation.

“You just wait until I tell Keith about this.” She stomped her mad ass off like a bratty ass kid. I was so over Keith and his uppity ass wife. She came bothering me but now wants to run and tell like a little bitch when things didn’t turn out like she wanted them to.

“You good?” Journei asked.

“Yeah. Let’s just go. That bitch just ruined my mood.”

I was no longer in the mood to shop and have fun. All I wanted to do was go home and sulk in a bottle of wine or tequila and find the easiest way to get rid of Keith for fucking good.

“No ma’am. You will not let them ruin your day. Those old muthafuckas just miserable. He’s mad because you don’t want toplay with his ass, and Cheryl’s ass is mad because her husband went and got him a young tender that he’s still sniffing behind. Fuck them.”

She looped her arm into mine, and we continued to shop before going to lunch at Roasters. By the time we were done, it would be time to pick up. Infiniti and I could go home and decompress from today’s bullshit.

We were now back at my house. Journei decided to stay awhile just in case Keith tried to pop up on his bullshit. I wasn’t scared of his ass, but I didn’t have to energy to be arguing with his stupid ass either.

“You want me to have Rock beat his ass?” Journei asked as we worked on our bottle of wine. Infiniti was worn out from daycare and was now knocked out.

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