Page 4 of Mahogany 2
I swallowed. He wanted to work with me personally. That should have been a good thing right? I should have been ecstatic! Thrilled to be spending alone time with him, right? But I wasn’t.I was nervous. I might’ve come off to him as poised, confident, and ready but inwardly? Inwardly I was a big bag of nerves. I could barely keep the confident act up. Working closely with Crescent could pose as a threat. As a threat to my marriage first, but my company right after. I couldn’t let that line blur. Because he’d requested me personally, I couldn’t just deny him though. I had to do it. This was an important contract, remember? Life changing, honestly. But despite how nervous I was about being in closed corners with him alone, I nodded and told him it wouldn’t be an issue.
“Perfect,” he said, with those eyes on mine again. “I look forward to a very rewarding partnership, Ms. Mills.”
“Mrs. Mills-Morris,” I corrected with furrowed brows. He’d just called me Mrs. Mahogany Mills-Morris when we shook hands. The slip up felt intentional but… I couldn’t be sure. My name was pretty long, so to help him out I said, “If it’s easier for you… Mrs. M works.”
“Ah yeah… right. Gotchu,” he stated with a sly smile. “I like to seal deals with a toast. Would you be open to joining us at one of my bars? Nothing too crazy, just an hour or so of your time.”
Shit.
I locked eyes with Tamia, and she gave me this sad expression that only I could read. Her hot in the pussy ass wanted to have drinks with them. I did too but because Duke was downstairs and I knew my kids wanted to see me, I had to decline. Regretfully.
“I’d love to, but I can’t. I have something important?—”
“We can meet after,” Judah said, cutting me off.
I squinted at him a little. “I’ll be tied up for the rest of the day. I’m sorry guys. I’d really love to.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Crescent said. “A signed contract is more than enough.” He added with a smile.
The soundof my heels click-clacking against the pavement as I marched toward my car drowned out the sound of Duke’s begging. He wanted to talk. Wanted to talk bad as hell apparently. So bad that he had to come down to my job on the day of one of the most important meetings of my career. So bad that the conversation just couldn’t wait for us to get home.
The stress was boiling over. I would say I couldn’t believe Duke came up to my job, but I could. That shouldn’t have come to a surprise, considering the nigga was very selfish. Didn’t give a damn about anything but getting me back to where I was years ago. Stupid, lacking self-love, accepting of the bare minimum just for the sake of keeping up appearances. Fuck appearances. I was slowly but surely letting people see the real. That Duke and Mahogany weren’t nearly as happy as we lead people on to believe.
Today was supposed to be a good day. I’d secured the biggest contract of my career. Had breezed through that meeting as if it was nothing. Which was insane, considering the whirlwind of surprises that sat at the conference room table with me. I held it all together. With everything on my shoulders, I put on a smile and secured a deal with Skylight fucking Industries. Didn’t wear my pain, tucked my excitement too, and allowed Mahogany the Mogul to do what the mogul did. All the while… I was both crumblingandmelting.
I should’ve been smiling. Should be fucking soaring on cloud nine. But I wasn’t. I was so mad tears stung my eyes. Yep, once again, I was on the verge of tears and you know what? I wasn’t mad at Duke this time. I was mad at myself. Mad because I stayed. Mad because I didn’t leave when I had thenudge to, years ago. Had I done that, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to steal my got damn joy.
“You hear me? I’m just?—”
“Please shut the fuck up,” I calmly said, as I hit the unlock button on my cars key fob. “Justshut thefuckup,” I repeated with a huff.
The bitch nigga was too stunned to speak.
I wondered if it was because I’d been quiet the entire five minutes he rambled on and on, or if it was because of the calmness in my demeanor. Whichever the case, he wasn’t expecting that. I wondered… if he wasn’t expecting that, then what? Did he think I would be open to conversation? Did he think I would apologize about staying out last night? Thought I gave a fuck about ruining the birthday plans? I didn’t have an apology for choosing me. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not anymore.
At least in the moment, I didn’t.
Who knew what tomorrow would bring? Who knew what I’d allow that ugly thing called fear to do to me? I hated it. Hated me. Hated him. Hated it all. I just… I needed abottleof wine.
“Shut the fuck up? That’s all you got to say after I was looking for yo’ ass all fuckin’ night, Ne? Where the fuck was you at? Huh? You know Sparkle was up all night, looking for you to come home? You trippin! All this shit over nothin!”
Stopping at my car, I looked up at him, towering over me at six foot three inches tall. That sadness I mentioned seeing on him earlier was sadder up close and personal. But did I care? Not at all. It didn’t matter to me that his brown doe eyes were red, with bags underneath them. It didn’t matter to me that it was obvious that his low-cut Caesar hadn’t been brushed in hours. The flatness of his expression didn’t bother me neither. It was as if the life had been sucked out of every part of him. And things would only get worse if he was doing what I felt in my spirit hewas doing. We weren’t even broken up, and he was down bad. Leaving him would destroy him and with that I was a o-fucking-kay.
“I’m trippin over nothing?” I laughed. “I was in the middle of a fuckin’ meeting and you kept calling. Not only that but you just had to bring your ass down here. Knowing! I know you don’t care but?—”
“Now I don’t care. Mahogany, get the fuck out of here with that bullshit. If there is anybody who’s always been in your corner when it comes to Couture, it’s me. I just?—”
“You just care more about getting what you want, right?” I interrupted. “Sat down here for all this time, constantly calling me knowing how important that meeting was for me. Don’t seem like you care at all.”
“You didn’t tell me it was with a group of niggas neither,” he stated, completely disregarding how disrespectful he’d been. “Who the fuck is them niggas?” He asked with his arms crossed over his chest, sizing me up, deepening his frown.
I drew back with a light huff. “Nigga, if you don’t shut the fuck up! Asking about men I’m working with when you can’t be faithful to save ya’ fuckin’ life!”
He sighed and ran both his hands over his head. Duke, like most men with a good bitch at home, was territorial and always worried about losing me to someone better. How ironic was that? Barely did anything to keep me, but yet he was worried about someone else coming in and doing what he should have done long ago. Appreciate me. Love me. Completely. Not the half assed shit he’d given for damn near twenty years.
As expected, he changed his tune. Quick.
“I’m not even tryin’ to argue with you though. I want to talk?—“
