8. Aziel
“When I realizedyou were my match, I wanted to give Arranged Hearts a blank check,” I confessed.
“A blank check? Are you crazy?”
“Nah, but that should tell you how excited I was about you becoming my wife. First, I smelled your perfume, but I couldn’t believe God would give me a blessing so good. When you spoke to your father, I recognized your voice, and it set my soul on fire. You are the only person my body reacted to in that way, so I knew it had to be you.”
She shifted her body, causing me to wonder if I’d said something to make her uncomfortable.
“What was your dating life like?”
“I wouldn’t call what I did dating. It was more about the physical for me.”
“Typical,” she said, shaking her head.
“I wasn’t as bad as you probably think. I am the mayor, you know, so I gotta keep a low profile.”
I’d be the first to admit I got around, but there were limits to what I could do as mayor. Most of my dirt was done before I ran for office. When I won, women from my past came out of the woodwork, spreading non-truths all over the internet and local news outlets. As a politician, especially a Black one, gossip came with the territory.
“What about Azaria’s mother?”
My body tensed, and I hoped Desire hadn’t noticed. My daughter’s mother was a sore topic for me. She was the first person in my adult life with who I’d attempted to have a real relationship, and it was a huge mistake. The only good thing that came from our union was Azaria.
“We didn’t work out.”
“I figured that since we’re married. I knew you were a single father, but how often does she see her mother?”
“Never. She signed her rights away.”
“She—oh, wow. Does that mean she doesn”t see her at all?”
“That’s exactly what that means. She hasn’t seen Ria since she was four days old.”
“I had a feeling she didn’t see her mother often because she’s always been very attached to me, but four days old?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t imagine. Start from the beginning, please. I need to know how this came about.”
I sighed because talking about this wasn’t something I liked to do.
“Iris and I had been dating for about a year before I became the mayor. We never had an official title, but I liked her more than most women I’d dated. I wasn’t in love with her, and there were no sparks or fireworks when I was in her presence, but we worked. She understood the demands of my career and the goals I wanted to achieve, which didn’t leave much time to spend with her. Anyway, she got sick and was on antibiotics for a week, which weakened her birth control pills. I wasn’t concerned because I always wore condoms. One night, the condom broke, and Azaria was conceived.”
“I gather she wasn’t happy.”
“She seemed… indifferent, but she was adamant about not having the baby unless I agreed to marry her.”
“I’m assuming marriage wasn’t on the table?”
“Honestly, marriage was never high on my to-do list. At that time, I had no interest in it and refused to be bullied into marrying someone I knew I wasn’t in love with because she was pregnant with my child.”
“How did she handle it when you told her?”
“She was pissed and threatened to have an abortion. I pleaded with her not to, and she eventually agreed. She didn’t fuck with me during the entire pregnancy, and I only saw her at doctor’s appointments. It wasn’t ideal, but I figured we respected each other enough to have a good co-parenting relationship once she had the baby.”
“What happened?”
“After giving birth, she wanted nothing to do with Azaria. She barely looked at her, let alone breast or bottle feed her. However, I got her to agree to stay with me for a few weeks after they were released from the hospital. My mother had come over to help out, and one morning, she came rushing into my bedroom with some documents in her hand. Iris had signed over her rights and left in the middle of the night.”
“That’s unbelievable. Did you look for her?”
“Nah.”
“Really? You don’t want to know why she left or if she’s alive and well?”
“I don’t wish her any ill will, but her whereabouts and reasons for leaving aren’t my concern. I had my lawyer look over the paperwork before I signed it and had him file it in the courts. I’ve been raising Ria alone ever since, and of course, my family helps when they can.”
“Wow, that’s a lot to deal with.”
“Yeah, it is, but I manage. So, do you still believe all the rumors you heard about me?”
She giggled. “Maybe not all of them, but I’ve seen pictures in the blogs of you and a parade of women.”
“A parade of women? Let’s not exaggerate. First of all, I’m running a whole city and my own businesses. I don’t have time to date.”
“That may be true, but every time you’re photographed, it’s with a different woman.”
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Of course.”
“Whenever I attend an event that requires a date, I use an escort service.”
“Why? I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d drop everything to go on a date with you.”
“Possibly, but with the escort service, they know it’s business, and there are no expectations beyond the night. Plus, if I’m seen more than once with a woman, the rumors start flying about us being a couple, and I wanted to avoid that.”
“I guess that makes sense, but now, the city thinks you’re for the streets.”
I nodded. “True, and apparently, it’s affecting my voter support.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t win the last election by a very large margin. I need to appeal to people with families and single mothers.”
“I can understand why family-oriented people might not vote for a single man who appears to be for streets, but I’m surprised you don’t have support from single mothers, especially being a single father.”
“I’m surprised by that, too, but that’s what the data tells us.”
We sat quietly for a few moments before Desire spoke again.
“Did you do this to win votes?”
I planned to tell her but wondered if she would put it together.
“My assistant presented me with the idea, and since you weren’t giving me the time of day, I figured why not.”
She smacked her lips, and I imagined she followed up with an eye roll before saying, “Today is a new day, so please stop bringing up old stuff. We ended up together anyway, and since you claim there’s no such thing as a coincidence, things happened the way they were supposed to.”
“That’s facts, baby. If they had matched me with someone else, I’d still fantasize about you every night.”
“It’s a good thing it all worked out because she wouldn’t have deserved that.”
Changing the subject, I asked, “Since you quit law school to become a preschool teacher, you must really love kids.”
“I do.”
“How many do you want?”
She shrugged, “We have Azaria, so one more would be fine.”
“That’s not what I asked you. How many do you want?”
“Aziel, I’m almost thirty-six.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Answer my question.”
“I used to want?—”
“Desire, how many kids do you want, baby?”
“Four, but I’m too old and starting too late to have that many children. I’ll be happy with one more.”
“If you want four kids?—”
“Including Azaria,” she interrupted.
“Right, if you want three more kids, we’ll have three more kids.”
I slid my hands underneath her T-shirt and caressed her breasts. My thumbs grazed over her hardened nipples, causing her to squirm.
“Are you trying to get something started out here?”
“No one’s here but us. Besides, if you want three babies, we should get started. Turn around and straddle me.”
I loved how obedient she was when it came to sex. She was down for whatever. Before straddling me, she pulled my already stiffening dick from the boxer briefs I wore.
“Like this?” she asked, sinking onto my dick.
“Yeah, baby. Just like that.”