Page 51 of Certified Pressure 3
That was when something in me broke.
When the table finally settled, I placed my napkin down and stood up slowly. “Excuse me,” I said with a polite smile. “I need to step out for a second.”
Abeni’s eyes met mine for a brief moment, and I swore I saw the satisfaction in them. She knew she had humiliated me, and she didn’t give not one fuck.
I walked through the house, holding in everything I wanted to say, and made my way outside to the car. Soon as I sat down, I exhaled hard, my chest rising and falling fast. My hands were shaking, and I could feel the heat crawling up the back of my neck. My entire body was trembling with anger.
That bitch had the nerve to sit there and humiliate me in front of everyone.
I pulled out my phone and texted Pressure.
Me:I’m outside. I’m ready to go.
A few seconds later, he replied.
Pressure:Aight. Let me tell my people bye. I’ll be out in a minute.
A minute turned into twenty. By the time he finally walked out, I was one wrong word away from snapping. He got in the car, glanced at me, and sighed.
“I ain’t know she was gon’ do that,” he said.
I turned my head and stared at him, my voice calm but heavy. “You should’ve checked her.”
He ran a hand over his face. “Kash, my family was gon’ find out anyway. She just beat me to it.”
“That’s not the point,” I said, my tone sharper now. “If they was gon’ find out, fine, but not like that. Not in front of everybody.”
He started the car but didn’t respond right away. I could tell he didn’t want to argue, but silence only made me angrier. I sat back in the seat, crossing my arms tighter, trying to keep myself from crying or screaming.
All I could think about was Abeni’s smug face and how much I hated her in that moment. Not just disliked her—hated her. She thought she could say whatever she wanted whenever shewanted, and I wasn’t going to do anything. And what made the fuckin’ shit worse was that she knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted me to feel small, and she succeeded.
But at the same muthafuckin’ time, she had no idea who the fuck she was playing with.
Something in me shifted. I didn’t just dislike Abeni anymore. I despised her, and if she kept pushing me, she was going to see a side of me she never expected, because no matter how royal or rich this bitch was, she bled just like everybody else.
And I was done playing nice…
The drive back to the mansion felt long. When we finally pulled up, I didn’t even wait for Pressure to open my door. I got out and walked inside, not saying a word.
Later that night, I laid in bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling while he showered. My mind kept replaying everything over and over from the laughter, the claps and the way Abeni’s face didn’t move an inch while I sat there dying inside.
When Pressure came to bed, he reached for me like he always did, but I turned on my side, facing the other way. He still pulled me close, wrapping his arm around my waist, but I didn’t move.
I wanted to love him. I really did, but it was hard when every part of his life made me feel like I was losing mine.
But I knew one thing for sure…
After tonight, I’d never look at his mama the same again.
The following day…
Even though I now had this resentment for Pressure’s mama, there was something about wanting her approval that kept eating at me. I could not explain it. It made no sense to hate somebody but still want them to like you at the same time. Thatwoman had embarrassed me in front of her whole damn family, yet here I was wishing she would accept me. I kept thinking that if she could just look past what Pressure did and see me for who I really was, things would be different. I wanted her to know that I was good for her son, and that I could hold my own next to him, and I wasn’t just some girl he picked out of a group.
All night I tossed and turned. I replayed that moment at the dinner table in my head over and over until my damn head hurt. Every time I shut my eyes, I could hear her voice again, talking about that grandchild she was so proud of. I saw her smile while the whole table clapped, thinking she was talking about me, and I remembered how she just sat there and let it happen. She had the power to clear it up, but she didn’t. She let me sit there, humiliated.
When morning came, I was still mad.
Pressure had left earlier to run errands before flying out later tonight, and I could not sit in that mansion another second thinking about it. I called the driver and told him to take me to his mama’s house.
