7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Remi
" R emi, are you sure about this?" Mama asked me again .
She and Lani had come to my loft apartment, which was above Paint the Town Red, on Sunday, right after church. Apparently, everyone was talking about how Marina and I had broken up. No one seemed to know why. Just that I had ended it and Marina, who had been in church, was all sad and bawling her eyes out.
"Yes, Mama, I'm sure." I leaned against my kitchen counter and drank more coffee. I'd gotten home from the club around four in the morning, so I was just waking up now at noon.
"I don't get it." Lani picked up a strawberry from my breakfast bowl of yogurt, muesli, and strawberries, which I had prepared just before the women in my family arrived for what I suspected was an intervention.
"Get what?" I asked, setting my coffee down. I opened the fridge and brought out a basket of strawberries for Lani to nibble on.
"Why you'd break up with her all of a sudden," Lani explained.
I washed the berries and set them in a bowl lined with a paper towel. Lani picked up another and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
My mother drank her coffee and looked at me expectantly, waiting for an explanation. Now, what was I supposed to say? " Mama, I saw Marina get nailed by my friend Alex in a storage room at Paint the Town Red." Or should I go with, " It wasn't working; we just grew apart ?"
"It wasn't working; we just grew apart." I stuffed my mouth with yogurt and muesli so I wouldn't blurt out the truth. I didn't want to disparage Marina. If her parents found out she was fucking around on me, there would be hell to pay, which was why it confused me that she was playing the victim. She knew better than to do that.
"Son, Kiki is very upset, and you know the Sims are good friends of ours. When you and Marina started dating, well, your father and Andy made plans to work together; and now you're—"
"Dad and Andy were talking about a partnership long before Marina and I dated."
Andy Sims had inherited his father's spinal implant company. He and Dad had been discussing a project that combined biotechnology with spinal hardware long before Marina and I were an item.
"Well, it hurts business, Remi. You know how these things—"
"Mama, I'm not getting back with her." And if you had seen her getting fucked in the ass by Alex, you wouldn't be asking me to, either.
"She's good-looking, popular, fun. What else do you want?" Lani protested. "We could have a double wedding…in Italy. What do you say, Remi?"
"First, I wouldn't have ever wanted to get married with all that hoopla. If, which is a big supposition, I ever want to get married, I'll probably do it in a courthouse."
My mother put a hand on her mouth and gasped. "You're a Drake."
"And second," I barreled on like Mama's heart had not skipped a couple of beats, "I'd never want a double wedding or any wedding at all with Marina."
The doorbell rang, and I frowned. Lani rushed to open the door, and in walked Marina. Christ on a crutch! This was going to be a fucked-up day.
At least I had dinner plans with Echo. That thought made me feel better. This Sunday was not going to be a total loss. I liked Echo. She surprised me. She hiked. She drank whiskey. She had a good sense of humor. She was smart and witty. She wasn't having sex with my father . I still felt terrible for accusing her of that.
Where did I come off telling anyone how they should behave sexually? I did whatever the hell I wanted. I had found out after the fact that I had slept with some married women. But I figured I'm not the one who's married; I didn't make the vows; it's not my responsibility to maintain the sanctity of a woman's marriage when she's sucking my cock.
"Remi," Marina said softly in her I'm-a-good-girl voice.
Damn it! I had to deal with her before I could even get to dinner.
My mother and Lani hurried to my front door. "Y'all need to talk and sort this out," Mama said sweetly. She kissed Marina on her cheek and whispered something to her. My ex nodded.
"Have a seat?" I waved a hand at the barstools at the kitchen island.
My loft was one big room with just one partition separating my bedroom. The building used to be a warehouse. The floor was polished cement, and the beams were exposed. The apartment had glass walls on two sides. I fucking loved my space. Growing up in a mansion with stuff everywhere, I liked that my loft had very little furniture. I didn't even have a dining table because I had breakfast at the kitchen counter and all my other meals downstairs. My living area had one very comfortable couch, a big screen television, and a few bricks that acted as a side table. I had Sonos speakers all around the loft for music. I had a huge walk-in closet for my stuff. That was it. Besides that, the house was bare. I didn't even have art hanging on the exposed walls because no nails could penetrate that shit. My art was the city of Memphis.
Marina settled on a barstool. She was sniffling. Her eyes were puffy and red. She still had makeup on— waterproof . Smart girl.
"I'm so sorry, Remi," she whispered, her eyes downcast.
"You want coffee?" I asked.
She nodded. "Thanks."
God, she could be so demure when she was pulling a fast one. But I knew Marina. I had known her for as long as she'd been friends with Lani, and I knew this was an act. As I turned on my De'Longhi coffee machine and waited for a cup to fill, I thought about how I also had known Echo for many years, since she moved in with Fern. But I didn't know her. I'd never bothered—why was that?
Marina had always insinuated herself into my business. Coming to my room in her short skirts. Hanging out in our pool in skimpy bikinis. Yeah, I noticed her. Hard not to. She was gorgeous. Had I ever seen Echo in a bikini? I thought back and realized that I hadn't.
Echo was an orphan who was hanging out with her aunt's boss's daughter because the boss had invited her. She could hardly turn down an invitation from my dad. Fern would've beaten the crap out of her if Echo went against my father or mother's wishes. Echo hadn't had a choice but to become Lani's playmate. They were the same age, and I had begrudged her that.
I realized I unfairly called her a hanger-on for years.
Poopy Pants is a fucking leech, Lani.
Why is Poopy Pants always with you?
Ask her to get the fuck out of my space, Lani.
Christ! Why is she staring at me? Ask her to leave so I can swim in peace.
I'd said a variety of dismissive things about Echo throughout the years. I flinched as I realized that I probably didn't even care if she heard me—she probably had. And Poopy Pants? Now, that was fucking juvenile and hurtful. When had I become Echo's bully? Because that's what it sounded like now when I looked back at seventeen-year-old me talking about a fourteen-year-old girl who didn't have much in the name of family.
It made me feel small, and I promised once again to make amends, starting with the dinner tonight.
I set the coffee, along with a carton of milk and sugar, in front of Marina. She added a spoonful of sugar and some milk to her coffee. I finished my breakfast. I was rinsing my bowl when I heard her sobbing. I put my stuff into the dishwasher and turned to face her.
She had her face in her hands, and her shoulders were shaking. I wasn't a monster. I felt bad. But I couldn't comfort her. What she'd done hurt me. Betrayal hurt even if it came from someone who wasn't the love of your life. I thought she cared about me. I thought Alex was a friend. The whole thing made me feel like a fucking fool.
"Why are you here, Mar?" I interrupted her sob fest.
She raised her head, and I tore up some paper towels and put them in front of her. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. I had called it. She was wearing waterproof makeup. There were only a few traces of foundation on the paper towels, and her mascara and lipstick were intact.
"I'm so sorry for what I did, Remi. It was just a one-time thing. I was…I'd been drinking, and I had an edible, so, I was so out of it."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Are you saying that Alex forced himself on you? Took advantage of you?"
Her eyes went wide, and I could see her calculate how she should answer that. She didn't know that Alex had come clean and told me that he and Marina had been fucking for a couple of weeks. He didn't make excuses. He told me she came on to him, and he was more than willing to catch her. Marina flirted with everyone—her goal, I used to think, was to make me jealous. Now I wondered if she was just out for some strange.
"No," she squeaked. "I was under the influence and when he suggested that we…you know?"
"Suggested that he fuck you in the ass, you said sure?" I kept the rage out of my voice because it was all but consuming me. How could she do what she did and now lie about it? Was she so spoiled that she didn't see her actions had consequences?
Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Remi, I love you. I made a mistake. Can't we work through this?"
I couldn't help the scoff that escaped me. "You didn't make a mistake. You made a choice. Alex told me how you both have been fuckin' since the spring party we had at Paint the Town Red."
"He's lying," she cried out. "He's an asshole and—"
"No. You're the one who's lying. See, Alex took responsibility for nailing you. He didn't make excuses, Marina."
"How can you believe him over me?" she screeched, standing up so quickly that the barstool fell with a crash onto the floor.
So, there was going to be a scene. I had been relieved when I'd had a conversation over the phone with her, telling her it was over. She'd been crying, saying she wanted to see me, explain herself. The truth was that I didn't want to see her. It hurt to see her. It hurt to see Alex. It wasn't just my ego that was hurt; I was as well.
Two people I cared about had done this behind my back. If Marina had ended us and then fucked Alex, I would've had no problem with it. I would've even supported it. But fucking in a storage room like that? That was some disgusting shit.
"We're done, yeah? You should go, Mar." I walked to my door and opened it.
"No." Marina stood like a toddler, her back straight, her hands curled into fists. "You're going to forgive me, and we're going to get back together. Remi, our mothers have already planned the wedding. Come on, this is just a—"
"I was never going to marry you. That's not a new development because you cheated on me."
She looked so stricken. "But Sierra and Lani, they said you were going to pick out a ring."
Of course, they had. Lani thought Marina was the cat's ass, and my mother wanted to cement her friendship with Kiki Sims—two vapid socialites planning the wedding of the year between their versions of Ken and Barbie.
"I'm sorry they got your hopes up. I never told them that. We only dated for eight months, Marina. That's not enough time for me to make that kind of commitment regardless of who you were fuckin' on the side."
Tears streamed down her face. "My father is expecting this wedding. He's expecting a partnership with your dad."
"The partnership is not going to be impacted because of us," I assured her.
"But you don't understand." She hugged herself as if she was the victim.
I had been halfway in love with her. How could she have sex with Alex a few hours after being in my bed with me? What kind of person did that?
"What don't I understand?" I leaned against my open doorway.
"I have to get married."
"Why?"
She licked her lips. "My parents want me to move out."
"You're twenty-five years old, Mar; it's high time you did."
She cleared her throat. "My father expects me to live on my income."
Marina worked at the Sims charitable foundation—and I was sure her father would pay her whatever she wanted, so this was suspect at best, manipulative at worst. "Then use your inheritance. I know your grandma left you plenty."
She shook her head, panic written on her face. "It's in a trust. I can't touch it until I turn thirty or get married, whichever comes first."
I shrugged. "You get paid well, so—"
"I get paid nothing. It's just…." And then she told me how much.
"That's more than my restaurant manager gets paid, and he has a family that he can take care of with that," I retorted.
Granted, I never had to worry about money. I had an inheritance with no strings—which I'd used part of to stand up my business. I also ran a profitable nightclub. My restaurants weren't as profitable, but they were definitely in the black. I wasn't living off my family money—per se, though that had been the initial investment that funded my life today.
Still, if I didn't have the money, I'd earn it somehow—I'd scale my life accordingly. I wouldn't want to get married for it. Would I? I didn't know. It was easy to stand here and think this when I had a healthy bank account independent of my family.
"I can't live on that," she exclaimed. "That's a pittance."
"So, you want me to marry you so you get access to your trust fund?" I was baffled as fuck.
"Well, yes, but I also love you."
I shook my head, repulsed by Marina, and extremely tired of all her machinations. "No, you don't. Marry someone else. I'm sure there are several guys who'd love to put a ring on your finger. Pick one of them."
She walked up to me and put a hand on my chest. "I don't want them. I want you."
Her hand slid down my chest, and I didn't stop her. She cupped me, and I lay soft between my legs. No fucking way could Marina ever turn me on again, not after I saw her with Alex. The fact that she couldn't see that only highlighted her narcissism.
I took her offending hand in mine and led her out of my loft. "Goodbye, Marina. I wish you all the best."
I shut the door in her face.
I ignored her cries for me by going into my bedroom and getting into the shower. I felt dirtied by her, and I wanted very much to wash her away.