Chapter 11
I released a shaky breath while watching Perfect’s retreating frame.
Plopping down in my seat, I stared in the direction he’d gone in even after he completely disappeared from my line of sight.
How dare he come in here looking like that?
Yes, he was finer than the last time I saw him, but he had some nerve, thinking I owed him anything after he left me without any forewarning.
Now he was back and acting like I was supposed to forgive him?
I shook my head, and before I knew it, everything I was feeling boiled over.
Since getting that positive pregnancy test, nothing was the same.
I buried my face in my hands, allowing myself to bawl in the solitude of my shop.
After three long, lonely years, I was convinced I would never see him again.
Yet he’d somehow found his way into my shop, making me feel things I thought were buried long ago.
But the tears were proof that everything was fresh, and you couldn’t tell me it wasn’t just yesterday that he walked out on me.
Sniffling, I wiped away my tears. Looking at myself in the mirror, I said, “Get it together, Rockel. We will not let Perfect get the best of us. We have moved on, and that chapter in our life is over.”
As I walked to the door to lock it, I convinced myself that I was crying because he’d caught me by surprise, not because I still had feelings for him, feelings that I never even got to really explore.
Just as quickly as Perfect had come into my life, he’d gone back to becoming a distant memory.
It was best to leave the past exactly where it was.
I walked into my office, feeling lighter and in time to catch an incoming call on my phone. Lifting it off my desk, I saw it was my boo, Keiran. See, proof that I had indeed moved the fuck on with my life. I smiled, swiping to accept the call. “Hey, boo,” I greeted him cheerily.
“Wassup, Rockstar?” His voice was husky and low. I sat behind my desk and placed my phone on speaker before setting it on the desk. “Bae, are we still on for dinner tomorrow night?”
I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yes, we are. I already have Daisy coming over to babysit Precious for me.”
Just saying her name had me missing her a little more.
While I had no intentions of becoming a mother, it was the card I was dealt, and I adapted well to it, especially once I laid eyes on my little baby for the first time.
She looked just like her damn daddy, which made his absence sting a little more.
Even though I had ill feelings for the man who helped me create her, I could never let it interfere with the love I had for my nugget.
She was the best thing to ever happen to me.
Because of her, I didn’t allow Perfect’s ghosting me to make me spiral.
Knowing she was coming made me work harder, and I was reaping the rewards.
“Rockel? You still there?”
I’d completely forgotten about Keiran on the phone. “Yeah, I’m still here. What did you say?”
He chuckled. “I said to be ready tomorrow at seven. I’m going to pick you up from home.”
I smiled, feeling excited about our date night.
After all, I was just a lover girl who was forced to be a real nigga.
We were only a few months into this relationship, and I believed it could be something long-term.
I really wanted a two-parent household for my baby, but I wouldn’t settle for just any man to make it happen.
He had to be perfect for us, no pun intended.
“Alright, that’s cool. I’ll make sure I leave the shop in time to get ready.”
We chatted back and forth until I was ready to head out for the night. As I laughed at something Keiran said while locking up, I could say Perfect was totally forgotten. My life was good. I was good. I would be fine if I never saw him again.
“Oh my God,” I mumbled when I glanced over the glass of champagne I was about to sip and saw Perfect heading toward me with a huge bouquet of red roses.
Our gazes locked, and a cocky smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
My mouth fell open because, honestly, he looked so fucking good that every woman he passed turned to follow him with their eyes.
And his cologne . . . I could smell the woodsy scent long before he reached the table.
Picking up on my expression, Keiran leaned forward. “What? What is it?” He looked up just as Perfect reached our table.
I kept my eyes straight ahead because what could I really say? What was he even doing here? And why had he come with flowers? “Hey, Princess,” he greeted me.
His deep voice made the hairs on my arms stand up, but I refused to give him my attention. Keiran cleared his throat. “Um, you know him, bae?”
Port chuckled. I saw him motion from my peripheral, and I realized he was getting the attention of our waitress. “Can you bring me a chair, please?”
That made me sit up straight in my seat.
“You don’t need a chair. What are you even doing here, Port?
As you can see, I am on a date with my boyfriend right now.
” I was very clear and concise with my words because the last thing I wanted was for Kei to get the wrong idea about Perfect’s presence.
I was not encouraging this in the slightest bit.
For some reason, the waitress actually brought him a chair, and he sat down. He handed the flowers toward me with a grin. “How, when you’re on a date with me?”
My head jerked back. Oh, this man had lost his marbles in the last three years.
Instead of replying, I studied him. He wore matte-black leather pants with a black, designer, short-sleeved button-up that was left open enough to expose his chiseled chest. There was a diamond chain around his neck with a P on it that sparkled every time he moved.
His wrists were covered in diamond bracelets and a Rolex that was definitely real.
I’d done my big one on his haircut yesterday because the nigga looked like his damn name, and I hated it.
“I brought these for you.” Instead of accepting the roses, I folded my arms over my chest. “Really? How long you going to give me the cold shoulder?”
I scoffed. “How long is forever?”
Keiran leaned back in his seat, eyes bouncing from me to Perfect, trying to piece together whatever was happening.
I didn’t even have words for this, because he was not supposed to be here.
What kind of a man interrupted a date so boldly?
He hadn’t even acknowledged my man’s presence once.
All of his attention was on me, and it made me squirm in my seat.
“Rockel, do you want to clue me in on what’s happening?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Perfect answered for me. “What’s happening is I need you to head on out. Princess was supposed to clear this time block in her evening for me.”
I laughed because Perfect really had audacity about him. “You’re crazy,” I said, bewildered by his act.
He leaned forward, licked his lips, and genuinely smiled. “Crazy about you, El. I told you we needed to talk.”
“And I told you I had nothing to say to you.”
“You been talking to this nigga?” Kei asked, jumping into the conversation.
I shook my head. “No.”
At the same time, Port decided to be the spawn of Satan and say, “Hell yeah. She loves talking to me.”
I pinned him in place with a glare that was sharp enough to pierce his smooth, brown skin. He leaned back in his seat with a smirk. “I don’t like this. It’s giving if I can’t have you, no one else can,” I said.
He nodded. “Good, so you understand what the fuck is going on then.”
I groaned, allowing my head to fall back.
Deciding to ignore Perfect altogether, I turned to Kei.
“I have not been talking to him, baby. He came into the shop for a haircut last night. He expressed wanting the chance to have a private conversation, but I declined and told him that I never wanted to see him again.”
“You didn’t mean it,” Port said.
My eyes shot to him. “How you going to tell me what I do and don’t mean?”
“Because I know you. You still care about me.”
I shook my head. “You knew me. You lost any access to me when you walked out of my life three years ago. When I said I didn’t want to see you again, I meant it.”
Recognition flashed in Kei’s eyes. “Oh, is this—”
“The man she’s going to marry and spend the rest of her life with? Yeah,” Port said before Kei could get his question out. I had a feeling what he was going to say, and I needed to get Perfect away from this table before my secret came out.
Taking my napkin from my lap, I picked it up and slammed it on the table. “Perfect, come with me, please.” I stood up and didn’t even give him a chance to reply. I walked until we were far enough away from the table that we couldn’t be heard.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked in a hushed but forceful whisper.
Spit damn near flew from my mouth because of how angry Port’s ass had me.
He tried to hand me the bouquet in his hand.
I took it and began beating him on the back with it until all the petals were covering the floor and I held bare stems. I tossed them to the side like they were nothing.
“I told you I was taking you out on a date,” he said, unfazed by my assault-by-bouquet.
“Are you not listening to me? I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Well, I have some shit to say to you, so no, I’m not listening to you.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t have the right to barge back into my life because you suddenly have this obsession with me. I am happy, and my life is good. I don’t need anything from you.”
He frowned with a shake of his head. “I find it hard to believe you have this perfect life when I got your heart in my fucking pocket, El. You got mine too, baby. I know I fucked up, but I am here to make it right.”
“No, no, no! I don’t want to hear this shit.
You don’t give two flying fucks about me, because if you did, you wouldn’t have left me when I was my most vulnerable.
” My voice quivered, and I knew his presence was getting to me.
I tried to walk away from him, but his arm around my waist pulled me back until we were chest to chest.
“How you feel is justified, El. You have every right to be angry, hurt, and betrayed, but I came back for you, and I know deep down hearing that shit makes you weak a little. You know the bond we built was some lifetime shit. Don’t let my mistake be the reason we both settle for lives and love that could never compare to what the fuck we got. ”
I shook my head. “I really can’t do this. I am going back to enjoy my date. Please leave.”
He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “All I’ma say is get rid of that nigga before I get rid of him for you. You are mine, Rockel.”
I froze when he closed the distance between us.
He placed a kiss to the middle of my forehead that made my bottom lip tremble, but I remained strong.
He backed away slowly, but his threat still lingered in the air.
He left me standing there without a clue on how to handle this.
I wasn’t sure if Perfect was still out of the streets, which made what he’d said even more ominous.
By the way he brought his ass in here tonight, he was capable of anything. For some reason, the nigga really meant it when he said he wanted me back. I had no clue what to do with that, so I headed back to the table and pretended like he hadn’t shown up and blown up my entire fucking world.