Page 20 of When Love Becomes A Need
“What about me, pretty girl?” Neal walked up, grinning.
Laci frowned at him. “Your next appointment is the last for the day.” Her voice was dry.
I chuckled. Neal was always messing with Laci, flirting with her and shit. Laci never paid him any attention though.
“Laci, why you always acting like you don’t like a nigga? What I ever do to you?” He licked his lips.
She stared at him in disgust. “Besides the fact that you flirt with every girl with a fat ass? Bye Neal.” I laughedagain and shook my head.
“If you let me make you my woman, I’ll give all that up.”
Laci rolled her eyes. “Anyway. Ahmad, someone named Kylie called before you came in, asking you to call her back when you got in.”
My body grew stiff.
My eyes narrowed down at Laci. “What did she want?”
Laci shrugged. “She wouldn’t say. All she said was that she needed to speak to you.”
I licked my lips. “If she calls back, tell her I’m not interested in talking to her and to stop trying to reach me.” Turning around, I headed back to my room to prepare for my next appointment.
“Aye, man, you good?” Neal said behind me.
“Yeah.”
“You sure? I know how you get when it comes to Kylie.” I paused and bit the inside of my jaw.
“Ain’t no one worried about that damn girl. I’m good, bro.” I spun around to face him.
He threw his hands up. “Alright, just making sure.” Spinning on my heels, I headed for my room.
I closed the door and leaned against it with my eyes closed. I wasn’t sure why the fuck Kylie was trying to come around after all this time. In my eyes, we didn’t have shit to talk about. Everything we had to say to each other was said the last time we laid eyes on another.
It had been months since I saw her, and now suddenly, it was like her name was coming up left and right. I wasn’t trying to deal with the drama or bullshit she brought to my life toward the end of our engagement. She had made her choice, so she better stick with it.
CHAPTER 7
Fatima
“Best friend! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” I pulled Isabella into a hug.
She hugged me back but not with the same excitement I had just given her. “What’s wrong?” I instantly picked up that something was wrong.
She rolled her eyes and released a big breath. “I think Charles is cheating on me.” Sadness dripped from her voice.
I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth and stared at her. I didn’t want to seem inconsiderate, so I tried to choose my words carefully.
“Why?”
Her shoulders dropped. “He barely makes time to see me anymore. Whenever I try to plan a date night, he’s always busy. I can barely get a damn phone call or text back from him, not to mention we haven’t had sex in over a month. Maybe he’s not attracted to me anymore.”
My heart broke for my best friend. IhatedCharles.
Even though she wanted to model, Isabella suffered from many self-esteem issues. She went through some rough patches while growing up, and instead of helping her feel secure, Charles did the opposite. She was already battling the issues that came with her wanting to model. Charles only multiplied the insecurities she fought.
“Aht, aht, that’s not what we’re going to do Bella. There is nothingwrong with you and you know that. Charles is a damn idiot and selfish as hell! I know you get tired of me saying it, but you need to leave him. He doesn’t do anything but stress you out.”
I hated to be harsh, but it was the truth. Charles was one of the reasons why Isabella felt like she would never make it in the modeling industry. He was always making her feel like she wasn’t good enough or pretty enough. It made me sick that Isabella allowed him to constantly put her down.
