Chapter 15 #4
“Wait, girl, what?” Ellie’s heart sank. “I will kill him.” An instant panic filled her as the worst-case scenarios played through her mind.
“Brooklyn!” Ellie shouted.
“Ellie, she’s fine. I asked all the right questions, nothing happened. I went and got her immediately,” Sloan said, calming her friend’s nerves.
“Why the fuck would he put my child on the couch? Why would he even take her there with another grown-ass man she’s not related to living under that fucking roof?!” Ellie hissed in a whisper. “I am going to murder that nigga.”
“Honestly, Ellie, I think you need to force that divorce. It’s time. Get some structure in the girls’ lives. Get a formal visitation schedule set up with some rules in place. Nothing happened, thank God, but it could have,” Sloan stated.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ellie said.
“I’ll get the names of some attorneys and set up some meetings for you after the holidays,” Sloan stated.
The sound of a chainsaw erupted, and Sloan frowned.
“What are they doing back there?” Sloan asked.
“You remember the tree house?” Ellie asked.
Sloan snickered as she shook her head. “Of course, I remember the tree house. That’s where we did all our damn dirt.
Remember, we thought your parents were going to the casino and would be gone all day and we snuck those boys in the house?
I think Cass had a tournament or some shit, so we had the house to ourselves.
They came home early on our asses, and them niggas had to climb up there and hide out. ”
Ellie cracked up. “They were up there alllll fucking dayyyyy!”
“We were low-key bad as hell,” Sloan said.
“Bitch, high-key,” Ellie agreed. “It’s all rotted out. Tessa saw it up there and Cassidy told her what it was, now she got him rebuilding it for her for Christmas, chile.”
“Oh, wow,” Sloan exclaimed. “She’s going to love that.” Sloan stood and went to the window. Her heart wrenched in her chest as soon as she laid eyes on him. She knew she needed to tell Ellie about what had happened between them but now didn’t seem like the time.
“Where were you the other day? We missed you when we went shopping,” Sloan asked as she turned away from the window and reclaimed her seat at the table. Ellie stood and grabbed two plates and then fixed them lunch.
“Yeah, umm, so you remember Loyal?” Ellie asked. Ellie placed a plate of food in front of Sloan and then turned back to make them a quick drink.
“Bitch, stop! You Didn’t !” Sloan whispered excitedly.
“And did,” Ellie confirmed.
“Bitchhhh!” Sloan died from the shock of it all. Ellie wasn’t the type to sleep with a man casually. This was completely out of character for her. “Wait…you got to start from the beginning because how did I miss all this?”
Ellie sat and handed Sloan her drink.
“I don’t know, girl. I just…” Ellie sighed as she thought about what she wanted to say. “I like him. He’s assertive and understanding, and he’s so good with Tess. Girl, like he’s unbelievable with her.”
“He’s been around Tess? Ellie!” Sloan gasped.
“I know, I know,” Ellie groaned. “It just happened so organically. He stopped by to check on me, and him and Papa started kicking it. He knew about the shit with Cairo, and he just made her feel better. He just has a presence that makes you feel safe.”
“And he talked you out your panties,” Sloan snickered.
“Clean up out them bitches,” Ellie confirmed.
Sloan lifted her eyebrows in satisfaction because she wasn’t mad at it at all. “Was it good?”
“Bitch, the best,” Ellie bragged, lowering her voice to a whisper. Sloan and Ellie giggled like they were teenaged girls, sharing their secrets, and Sloan gave Ellie a high-five. “The motherfucking best, do you hear me?”
“Like the best you ever had?” Sloan asked.
“I mean, it wasn’t better than that basketball player I was knocking off in college. That nigga was hung different. He wasn’t circumcised either, so he was hella vocal when he was in it…”
“Pause, bitch; you had a turtleneck papi?” Sloan asked in shock. “How you leave that detail out before?”
Ellie cackled. “I did, girl, and it was good too. A little ugly, but that turtleneck dick did what it was supposed to do! And he was here from overseas, so it was just a different vibe.”
Sloan smirked and nodded her head. “And Mr. Loyal is in second place with the good drug dealer dick,” Sloan said.
Ellie nodded. “Real Estate Developer, but he fuck like one of them niggas out them books, bitch,” Ellie confirmed.
Sloan squealed, the tea was so hot. It was times like this that she missed. There was nothing like girl talk with her best friend.
“I’m happy for you, girl. You deserve some good dick after that damn four-year drought,” Sloan said, only half joking.
“He wants me to move here,” Ellie added.
Sloan bit into her sandwich and paused, grabbing a napkin as she chewed. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Wait, this is more than just a friendly fuck?”
“I think so,” Ellie stated. “I don’t know. It feels like it could be, but he has this baby mama, and I’m whole-ass married and…”
“Timing is a cruel bitch,” Sloan interjected.
“He invited us to come to his company Christmas party tonight. It’s like this formal thing. He said I can bring my girls. He’s holding a table for me.”
“Why would you bring us? Wouldn’t you be his date?” Sloan asked. She bit into her sandwich again.
“Girl, you fucking that sandwich up!” Ellie teased, biting her own.
“You know your daddy can cook,” Sloan defended, laughing guiltily. “My ass ain’t ate all day! Don’t try to change the subject. Why aren’t you going with him?”
“He invited his baby mama before he met me, and he doesn’t want to go back on his word. He’s supposed to make it clear that they’re over, and I’m supposed to be working out my shit with Cairo. We agreed that we needed to close those chapters before we could really explore what this is.”
“Oh, that’s complicated,” Sloan grimaced. “Are they still together?”
“He says they aren’t, but they still fuck around from time to time.
He’s been hella upfront about everything else.
I don’t know why he would lie about it. He didn’t even have to tell me about the party, so he technically could have taken her, and I would have been none the wiser, but something about it just feels… ”
“Like he’s running game,” Sloan finished for her.
“Okay, so it’s not just me?” Ellie asked. “Okay, now I feel better. He just seems too good to be true, and this baby mama situation is problematic.”
“Shit, your situation is worse, Ellie. You got a whole bitch-ass nigga for a husband.”
Ellie sighed.
“Should I even be going to this event?”
“Oh, bitch, we are definitely going,” Sloan said. “Ain’t nothing gon’ tell you more than seeing the shit for yourself.”
The back door opened, and Cassidy walked into the room. Sloan lost air as he halted in his tracks.
“My bad, I ain’t know you had company, E,” Cassidy said as he stared at Sloan. “I ain’t mean to interrupt. Let me get out y’all way.”
Sloan couldn’t even look at him without becoming emotional.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to go. I got to get back to work. Send me the details, Ellie. I’ll be there.” Sloan stood from the table.
“Mommy! We need you!” Tessa’s voice carried through the whole house.
Ellie hopped up in a hurry because it sounded urgent.
“Better check on that,” Cassidy said.
“Have kids they said,” Ellie joked. Sloan smiled, and Ellie rushed upstairs, leaving Sloan and Cassidy alone.
“Can we talk?” Cassidy asked.
Sloan was already headed for the door. She stopped at the door, collecting her shoes as she struggled to get them on her feet.
Cassidy followed her. He got down on one knee and took her foot into his hand.
He slid both shoes on her feet. Just his touch sent chills through her body.
He stood, looming over her. “Sloan,” he whispered, taking her chin between his fingertips.
“Ellie’s upstairs,” Sloan whispered.
“I don’t give a fuck about, E,” Cassidy replied. “Look at me.”
Sloan’s eyes flooded. “Cassidy, please.”
“I know what we felt the other night,” Cassidy said. “Behind all your doubts, all the fear, I know what you felt, Sloan.” They had spent twenty-three years apart from each other, and after one night together, separation was unbearable. “If I’m reading shit wrong, let me know.”
Her eyes were so damn full of emotion that she couldn’t even blink.
He wasn’t reading anything wrong. She felt all of what he felt, and it wasn’t something you could have once without craving it again.
Allowing herself to have him one time would make her want him forever.
He reached for her, and she exhaled. There was so much release in that breath as he held her face in his hands.
Her medical pager went off loudly. Sloan gasped as if she was coming up for air as she swiped her tears and snatched the pager off her purse strap. “Oh, no,” she whispered to herself as sudden dread consumed her. “I can’t do this right now. This is a patient, and it’s 911. I’ve got to go.”
Cassidy caressed the side of her face and the look on his face was so conflicted as she clung to him, gripping his jacket as she closed her eyes. There was so much hurt between them. She felt it. Their souls were tearing in opposite directions.
“I’ve got to go,” she insisted. He took a step back, and she rushed out of the house, headed to the hospital.
This was why she couldn’t keep a man. Moments just like this interrupted pivotal instances in her personal life, but it was what she had signed up for.
It came with the job, and as much as she wanted to stay and have this conversation with Cassidy, she had to put her feelings on the back burner and put her career first.