Page 40 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings 2: The Finale
“Thank you, Blaine. It’s a lot, but I’m not trying to burden anybody else with my shit.” Emerald pulled back.
“It ain’t a burden. Trust me.” He reached out and pulled her closer by the bottom of her t-shirt
Shit was way too intimate for me, and she was allowing it.
“I want to be there for you. It’s obvious you need somebody in your corner. Your brother is just a teenager, and I get you taking care of him, but he don’t know what’s really going on andhow everything is about to change once you go through with this.”
Emerald paused, and a soft smile graced her lips. She was giving this nigga way too many flags to keep up his supportive shit.
“I don’t think I’m ready for it. I’ve got an appointment to check all my levels and everything next week to make sure we’re still on track. But I’m really sitting here planning to carry life for someone else, and it’s starting to low-key fuck with me,” she admitted.
It was some shit hadn’t expressed to me. With all the shit I was doing and the work I was putting in, how the fuck was it so easy for her to open up to the next muhfucka and not me? All I got was the doubts and fears. We only enjoyed ourselves half the time together because the other half was spent arguing about some irrelevant shit.
“That means you’re human.” He reached up and touched her face.
Emerald didn’t turn away when he leaned forward, ready to kiss her. From where I stood, she had no intention of rejecting him. That was my queue. Clearing my throat, I stepped into the foyer where they both could see me and picked up my phone and keys off the accent table beside the door. Emerald looked like she was ready to piss on herself as all the color drained from her already light face. Confusion lined his features when his hands slipped away from her and he took a step back.
“I thought you were gone,” Emerald whispered, lips remaining parted in shock as her hands fell against her stomach.
“I am now. Didn’t want to interrupt.” I kept a stoic expression as my gaze drifted over to Sapphire’s coach. “If you have any more problems out of that toilet in there, just hit Jordan up and let her know. I think she should handle all thedetails going forward.” I looked her dead in her eyes, watching something flicker behind hers as she blinked back tears.
“Ivo, wait?—”
“Goodnight, Emerald. See you around.” I gripped my keys in my hand and let myself out.
She damn sure wasn’t about to have me sitting around looking like some stalker behind this shit. She didn’t want me in her life, that was fine. I’d have to live with that. I still had Jordan to deal with, and this was going to give me the time I needed to focus on her and our marriage. Emerald was still confused on what she wanted, and it was obvious she didn’t trust in my feelings for her.
I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t keep sitting around trying to convince her what was what. I could be spending that time trying to figure out what came next for me and Jordan. Either way, I had made it up in my mind that she wasn’t my forever. Now I just had to figure out how to break that shit to her.
Sunday night dinner . . .
“Brick, I swear to God if you post that, I’m kicking your ass!” Six screamed, running down the stairs behind my brother when me and Jordan stepped into Rossi’s house.
“Gotta catch me first, mama.” He took off toward the kitchen, and she was racing after him barefoot.
“Oh look, he found someone just as immature as he is,” Jordan drawled, rolling her eyes and closing the door behind her.
I couldn’t focus on what she was talking about. My mind had been on some other shit for days. I hadn’t talked to Emerald, and she’d been blowing me up. There wasn’t anything else to say in my eyes. The reason she stayed on me about being all inwas because she wasn’t. She was still entertaining another nigga while I was pledging my love for her. Now she had a nigga on some fuck the world shit.
My marriage was on the rocks, and every day I was trying to think of ways to let Jordan know that I wanted an official separation. I wasn’t ready for her reaction, so I’d been avoiding her. I didn’t respond, and she moved along to the kitchen while I decided to stop at the bar in the living room and get myself a drink. Lately, it had been the only thing keeping me from going off on a muhfucka.
“Ivo, what is wrong with you? You’ve been in this mood all week.” Jordan paused in the doorway while I strolled ahead of her to the setup in the corner.
“I’m fine.” I grabbed a clean glass and a bottle of whiskey to pour myself a double shot.
“Emerald and Sapphire will be here for dinner. The least you can do is pretend to enjoy your life.” She had no fucking idea.
I tipped my glass to my lips and swallowed the warm liquid. Jordan scoffed and stomped off, which I was glad for. I wasn’t mad at her, but she was the closest person to me, so she caught all the attitude. After finishing my first glass, I poured another as the front door slammed shut and Staten’s kids came crashing through. Rogue and Piaget took off running to the kitchen, while Tavi and Saga strolled in behind them slowly. Saga was typing away on his phone, and Tavi had her arms crossed with her brows knitted together. Her ass kept an attitude.
“What’s up, Unc?” Saga greeted me as he took a seat on the couch.
Tavi plopped down on the opposite sofa and moved one leg over the other.
“I’m going to take this pie to the kitchen,” Cambrie noted, holding up the pan in her hand.
I caught the eyeroll from Tavi when Staten draped an arm around Cambrie and brought her in for a kiss. Nearby, Nadia cleared her throat, and I waited for some shit to jump off while peering at them over the rim of my glass. Dinner was about to be interesting. Brick and Six came rushing inside, and she jumped on his back, reaching for her pink phone in his hand as he typed away.
My big bro joined me at the bar, grabbing his own glass and smelling like a pound of weed. His hooded eyes let me know he had blown one not too long ago. Nadia joined Tavi on the couch, and the two spoke lowly to one another.
