Page 68 of When Love Becomes A Need
“You should have thought about that before you cheated. Now you can leave.”
“I’m sorry for ruining us. I see your shop is doing well, and now I get why you put all that time in. I should have been more supportive.”
“Bye, Kylie.” She sadly lowered her head and exited my room. I grabbed my phone to text Laci to give Kylie her deposit back. I wasn’t about to let her stand here and speak on her regrets. She was a chapter that I wasn’t trying to reopen.
“Was that Kylie that just walked out of here?” Neal stepped into the room and asked.
He had been at the second shop making sure everything was running smoothly and had been doing a good job. The renovations were almost done, and I was hoping to have it up and running in the next three months. He had hired all the staff he needed, and I saw their work; they all were talented as hell.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know she was back in the picture.”
I ran my hand down my face. “Hell, she’s not. She thought she could just walk back into my life and I was supposed to let her back in with open arms. I told her ass I was cool on her though.” Neal nodded.
“You mean that? I know how much you loved her.”
“You think I’ma go back to her after she fucked another nigga in our bed? I’d be a fool. Everything that me and Kylie went through is being left where it’s at. I’m happy with Fatima, and I’m not going to fuck that up for some broad that couldn’t keep her legs closed.”
“I don’t blame you, bro. From the few times Fatima’s been up here, I can tell she really likes you. She’s a good fit for you.”
I started cheesing thinking about Fatima. It’s been a few times she came up here and chilled with me when I was working overtime at the shop or she would bring me something to eat. Little stuff like that had me feeling her ass even more.
“Yeah, she’s something special.” Fatima had finally let the wall she had built down. After we left her dad’s house, she was more relaxed and seemed at peace with everything that had happened. While we werethere, I let her do her thing. I was going to step in if I needed to, but my baby handled herself and could now move on.
“I can tell by the way yo punk ass grinning.” I chuckled and reached for my phone. “Nah, I’m happy for you. Just don’t mess it up.”
That’s one thing I didn’t plan on doing. Even though I didn’t agree with Kylie's cheating, I heard what she said. I could admit when I was with her, I was occupied with my shop a lot of the time, but that’s because it was just starting to really get clients at the time. Now that I’m established and have built the business up, I could fall back slightly.
“No worries about that.”
“Bet. I’m about to go meet Isabella since I’m done for the day.”
“What’s going on with that? Y’all seemed to be kicking it heavy.”
Neal shrugged. “We just cool. She got a situation going on, so I’m not pressing her, but she’s cool to hang with, so we just be chillin’.”
I gave him a questionable look. “You two just chillin’ without sex and shit?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, man, I can have female friends.”
I gave him a knowing look. “Yeah alright. Just be careful with her. I don’t know much, but from what I got from Fatima, she’s fragile for real, and her situation doesn’t help.”
“Yeah, she told me some about that, but I’m good. We're just friends. I ain’t trying to make anything worse for her.”
I nodded. “Yeah alright.” He chuckled again and turned to head out of the room.
Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I grabbed my pad to sketch some things up. Fatima was at her first official shoot today, and I couldn’t wait until she finished to hear about it. She was so excited that she could barely sleep last night, but I helped fix that.
She was meeting the person at a studio she rented for the day, but if she wanted to keep this going she needed her own space.
My phone went off and I grabbed it. It was Autumn asking me to stop by her boutique. Her one-year party was this weekend and I knew she was running herself crazy getting ready.
After replying and telling her I would be there in an hour, I put my phone down, silenced it, and returned to sketching.
CHAPTER 21
Fatima
