Chapter 10 #2
“I’ll order the food,” I told Cindy, causing her to squeal with excitement. I would never understand why women loved food so much.
By the time we made it to my house, I had placed a delivery order of steamed lobster tails, garlic butter shrimp, corn, a platter of crab cakes, baked potatoes, cheesecake, and a Caesar salad for the ladies.
I probably wouldn’t eat much. I really didn’t have an appetite, anyway, just thinking about how the introduction of the women in my life was about to go.
I wanted Jameela to go ahead and meet Cindy now so there would be no surprises down the line. I was serious about being done fucking her for good. I needed both of them to understand where I stood on that.
“Ordering all that food don’t get you out of the car conversation,” Cindy said, strolling from my living room to the kitchen.
She was so damn sexy it was a crying shame. I wish I had paid attention to how she was dressed. I would have told her to cover herself up before bringing her with me, not that it would have gone over well, but damn. I didn’t think that shit through.
The silhouette of her dark areolas was clear in the thin, white tank top she had on.
If the little top wasn’t damn near see-through, she was showing so much cleavage that you could see her titties anyway.
They used to be my favorite part of her; now I wanted to wrap a blanket or something around her.
The black leggings that made her ass look even better than it did when we met weren’t helping either.
It wasn’t that I was tempted. I had no issues controlling myself.
Just because I didn’t want to have sex with Cindy anymore didn’t mean I didn’t know she was still fine as a muthafucka.
I knew seeing her sexy, sassy ass in here with her titties on display and her ass sitting up like the Seabiscuit would immediately be off-putting for Jameela.
I didn’t think my baby was insecure by a long shot.
I just needed to maintain control of the situation.
Like I said, I needed her to meet Cindy early on.
It was actually a good thing that she would get to see the real her.
I didn’t care how Cindy dressed. I just needed her and Jameela to get along.
I didn’t want Jameela to see her in here looking like we had just fucked before she came.
I was convinced that having a bad ass baby mama was actually a curse.
“Did you hear me, Nicholas?”
“What car conversation, Cindy?”
“I said I want a new whip. You have what, like four or five cars while I only have one?”
“Because you only have one ass to put in it. You’re worried about what I do with my money, yet you don’t have one job.
You didn’t even pay for the whip you’re so tired of driving.
You have the nerve to be ungrateful about the luxury car someone else gave you.
You didn’t do anything to earn that car besides having my baby, Cindy.
Your ass ain’t even got nowhere to go, because when she’s not with me, your mom and your cousin take Amira to school and make sure she gets home. What you need all these whips for?”
“What you need all your whips for? You want to flaunt your money and attract all kinds of gold diggers, but I can’t have nice things?”
“Who said you couldn’t have nice things?
I bought a five-bedroom house for you and my one child that lives with me over half the time.
I let you pick it out because I want you and Amira to be comfortable.
Then I bought you the car you wanted and didn’t ask any questions or even bat my eyes at the price tag.
I didn’t even check it. I give you twenty thousand dollars a month and still give you anything you ask for if it’s for Amira.
I pay her tuition, her insurance, her medical expenses. ”
“And that’s your job.”
“And you’re right. I’m always gon’ make sure she has everything she needs.
I’m not saying I don’t want you to have nice things, Cindy.
I’m just saying, you can have anything you can afford with the money in your bank account, not mine.
If you can’t buy nice shit with twenty thousand dollars I give you, then you need to get a job. ”
“Wow, this new bitch really got you tripping, Nicholas. When I was riding your dick every other night, you promised to give me the world. Is that what you’re telling her?”
“And I did for as long as I could.”
“Answer my question, Nicholas. Are you selling her the same bullshit that made me fall for you?”
“You act like I fucked you over, Cindy. I never cheated on you. I never put my hands on you. I always treated you with the utmost respect. I spoiled you when you were mine, but that’s over now.
It’s been over for a long time. I’ve never lied to you one day.
I’m always straight up about what’s going on.
I’m doing everything I can for you. What the hell else do you want from me, Cindy? ”
Her long black lashes fluttered, and for a second, I hated how fucking beautiful she still was to me. Her eyes were tearful when she finally let them connect with mine again.
“I want you to love me, Nicholas.”
“But I don’t, and you don’t love me either.
You just love the idea of me. You love feeling like you have access to me.
You don’t love me, Cindy, and you know it.
I could barely make you stay at home and spend time with me and Amira when we were together.
You were so busy out trying to be the next big Lulaville socialite, spending a hundred thousand dollars a month on my dime.
What the hell do you miss, me or my money? ”
“That’s always your answer.”
“That’s the only thing you wanted to discuss until you heard I had a woman at my house.”
“How can you just move on like that, Nicholas?”
“Cindy, don’t do that. It’s been three years.”
“That don’t mean I gave up on you.”
“What’s to give up on, Cindy? All I gave you was dick and money for the past three years. The dick stopped a year ago. You know I’m not cutting you off financially, but I want you to move on.”
“Fuck you, Nicholas!”
“Come on,” I said, motioning with my head for her to follow me.
“For what?” she asked.
“Have a drink with me.”
I didn’t bother to wait for her to follow me before I crossed the living room and walked out onto my back deck.
I loved it back there because there was a grill, a bar, and a cabana with a huge TV that I never watched, next to a pool I swam in every few days for cardio.
I walked over to the bar and made myself busy making Cindy a lemon drop. It was her signature drink.
“Lucinda, I understand your apprehension about me having someone new around Amira. I can’t say I wouldn’t feel the same way, but since when have you had to question my judgment?”
“When you started bringing your jump-offs around my baby.”
“She’s my baby too, Cindy. You know there is no one and nothing in the world more important to me than Amira. I brought her around because I wanted to see how they would interact and, more importantly, how Amira would respond to her.”
“So, you really like this bitch like that?”
“I asked you to watch your mouth. I don’t call you out of your name, so show my friends the same respect.”
“Is she your friend or your girlfriend, Nicky? I’m confused.”
“Does it matter?”
“Actually, it does.”
“Look, if Amira didn’t like her, we might be having a different conversation. Apparently, she did, though, because she went home bragging to you about her.”
“You should have at least spoken to me before you even introduced her to my daughter, Nicholas, and you know that.”
“I don’t disagree with that. That’s why she’s on the way here to meet you.”
“What? I don’t want to meet no chick you been fuckin’.”
“You not meeting her is not gon’ stop me from seeing her. I just thought I would diffuse the tension early on because she’s not going anywhere.”
“Oh wow, that bitch must not have no gag reflex to have you talking like that. She gotta have a diamond-studded pussy because I can already tell she got your nose wide open. I thought I had your ass gone.”
Obviously, she knew me pretty well because I knew from the first night that Jameela had brought out the animal in me. Just the thought of her making another man feel the way she made me feel had me livid. I didn’t even want to think about it.
Instead of confirming Cindy’s statement, I shook my head and took her drink to the head. Although sex wasn’t the only reason that I liked Jameela, Cindy was spot-on. I couldn’t wait to be alone with her, and she wasn’t even here yet.
“She’s different, Cindy. Plus, Amira likes her.
That’s all that matters. As long as she doesn’t mistreat our child, you don’t have anything to worry about.
She has a daughter too. She had a problem letting me meet her daughter too.
It’s a mother’s job to be protective of her child.
I understand that. I want to be in her life, so that includes her daughter and mine. ”
“If she was so concerned about her daughter, she would be somewhere trying to raise her instead of coming over here to try to fuck you.”
“Oh, that’s what this is really about?”
“What the hell do you think, Nicholas? Since when did you take anyone seriously? Be for real right now. You gon’ fuck on this girl for the next ninety days, as usual, and discard her when the new car smell wears off.”
“I tried to take you serious, or have you forgot about that?”
“I wasn’t ready back then, Nicholas. We were both young and dumb.”
“I was thirty years old when we met, and you weren’t a baby yourself.”
“Well, I’ve been trying to make up for those mistakes for the past few years. You refuse to give me a chance to prove that I’ve changed.”
“The best thing we did together was Amira.”
“Well, since we’re just moving on and fucking other people, you should know that I’m pregnant,” she said, cocking her head to the side to wait for my response.
“Really?” I asked, narrowing my eyes to make sure she wasn’t just saying something to try to upset me.
Cindy had been known to play games. I couldn’t put anything past her when it came to trying to get her way. The smirk on her face proved that she thought she had me right where she wanted me. To my surprise, she nodded her head and doubled down on her claim.
“Yep.”
“Congratulations. Why didn’t you say something before I made you a drink?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t know how you would react.”
“Why not? We’re not together.”
“You know how you get, Nicholas. What do I look like telling the father of my child I’m fucking someone.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t my business, but we agreed to see other people three years ago.”
I didn’t want to tell her that her pregnancy was probably the best news I’d heard in months. I knew better than to get too excited, just in case she was still trying to pull my card, but I couldn’t help but to be hopeful.
I had been trying to get Cindy to move on for years.
Not that she couldn’t get anyone, but she refused to give another man a chance once we went our separate ways.
Well, that was what she wanted me to think anyway.
I knew she fucked around here and there.
People made sure I heard about everything she did. I just didn’t care.
Let her tell it, none of the men running behind her deserved to breathe her air. I didn’t blame her for being selective. I didn’t want just anybody around my child. The bun in her oven was an indication that she might finally be ready.
“Has Amira met the father?”
She dropped her eyes to the ground but shook her head no. I didn’t know what to think of that, but I really didn’t care. Especially since she said no. Amira talked so much that I was sure she would have mentioned her mom’s boyfriend just as quickly as she mentioned my so-called girlfriend.
“As long as he isn’t just some bitch ass nigga, I don’t have a problem with her meeting him. You already know how I’m coming about mine. If y’all are having a child together, I’m sure their paths will cross eventually. Is it serious?”
She looked back up at me before answering, “I don’t know yet.”
A baby felt serious, but hell, a baby could come from a one-night stand. I had just turned a one-night stand into a month-long affair and didn’t even want to consider an end date.
“I’m happy for you, Cindy,” I said, smiling at her.
She rolled her eyes, but her smile broke through.
Hopefully, that was an indication that she actually liked the guy.
Aside from the reasons that we broke up, Cindy wasn’t a fucked-up person.
I meant what I said when I told her that I was happy for her.
At the same time, I had to admit that I was just a little happier for me.
“Yeah right. You just want me to play nice with your little girlfriend.”
“And you will.”
“I’ll try.”