Page 45 of Kove and Xiah
I cringed, backing away from the townhouse. “Yes, but in my defense, that was a one and done…”
“More than once, friend. According to you, there was a sex marathon going on that night.”
I grinned and nodded. “Definitely a marathon. I’m still recovering.” I squeezed my thighs together. “But the point is… That was just us. If I agree, that means media attention. That man just signed a very nice contract with the Royals. I have a husband who played for the Badgers. I refuse to put Kove in the middle of a scandal before he even plays his first game.”
“You’re right. I just really hate that Kaden is still costing you happiness. He’s a fucking coward and an egotistical asshole who never deserved you. I hate that I encouraged you to marry him.”
“He was a good guy until he wasn’t. That’s not your fault.”
“Well, I feel like it is because I’m so much better at reading people. He should have never bypassed my bullshit meter.”
I grinned because she was truly pissed that she didn’t see who Kaden was until it was too late, but it wasn’t her job to protect my heart. Neither was it my parents and I didn’t want either of them carrying the weight of my stupid decisions. He played all of us. I didn’t know if he ever truly loved me or if our entire marriage was a fraud, but parts of it actually felt real. I simply refused to let myself go there.
“We’re not giving him energy, Koa.”
“You’re saying that but you’re giving him energy, Xi. You have a fine, rich man whose dick game is phenomenal—your words exactly, friend—but you’re refusing to give him a chance because of your fucktard of a husband. He’s getting energy he doesn’t deserve.”
“Okay, but what else am I supposed to do?”
“Say yes. What’s the worst that could happen? If it comes out that you’re married, which is highly unlikely, we have proof that you’re over it. You petitioned for divorce six months ago. Ifiled the paperwork for you. There’s also legal record that you have been trying to track him down to end the marriage. Not to mention text messages where he bluntly stated he refuses to divorce you because you’re not going to be with anyone else. He wants you to be miserable with or without him. There’s no way in hell anyone will blame you for moving on with your life, divorce finalized or not. Maybe seeing you with a real man will make Kaden step the fuck up and sign the papers knowing he could never measure up.”
“You’re underestimating just how much of an asshole he is. If there’s even a chance that I can move on with my life, he’ll fall off the face of the earth just to stop me from getting what I want.”
“Falling off the face of the earth works in our favor because then you can file for a default divorce for lack of service.”
“Why can’t we do that now?”
“Because we have to actually prove that we’ve tried to serve him and exhausted all possibilities of actively searching for him. So unless you plan on making a social media post in search of him and running an ad in the paper, we have to try to serve him three more times before you can do that.”
“I’m not opposed to a social media post or running an ad in the paper.” The words left my mouth but they were a lie.
I was opposed, because this was embarrassing. Who failed at getting a divorce? Never mind the fact that the only reason I wasn’t successfully divorced was because he was evading me. Regardless of the facts, I was devastated that this was my life and didn’t want the world knowing how pathetic it was.
“I’m going to leave it at this, think about it. Seriously consider the offer. Chilling with Kove will either turn into something good, or at the very least, be amazing sex that keeps you happy until you find the man who’s going to prove Kaden should have never had you in the first place. If you’re lucky,that man will be Kove, because friend, that man can give you beautiful orgasms and beautiful babies.”
“When did I say I wanted babies, Koa?”
“You didn’t but you can’t waste good DNA like that. Let that man give you babies, Xi. A lot of them.”
“I’m hanging up now.” I smiled, exiting the ramp to enter the highway.
“Fine, but please tell me you’re at least going to consider what I’m saying.”
“I am.”
“Good enough, love you and fuck yo’ ex, friend.”
“Definitely fuck him,” I returned before we ended the call. I was heading home to bake something because I needed a stress reliever while I reevaluated my entire life.
Chapter 11
Kove
I was annoyedas hell when I left Xiah at the townhouse, but not annoyed enough to short her pockets, which was why I was pulling up on my cousin Osei to get a grip on what my finances looked like. Dropping a hundred and seventy five grand on a townhouse may not seem like a big deal but considering the reason I was doing so made it feel incredibly irresponsible.
The decision to do so also had me doing a gotdamn reality check because since the first second I laid eyes on Xiah, I began moving differently. I didn’t buy shit for women, didn’t entertain them past my personal gratification.
I wasn’t one of those never do relationships type of men because there were a few women in my past who could get my time beyond sex. However, I damn sure didn’t put labels on what we were doing. If I was fucking with them, they could count on me only fucking with them because that was the type of man my brother raised me to be. Mostly because he was a “do as I say, not as I do” type of role model. Trust and believe I witnessed him run through enough women to know he had no interest in monogamy.
