33. Novah
NOVAH
Iwent from thinking I was preparing for a proposal to eavesdropping and hearing Basheer and Saje on the phone talking about their daughter and setting up a hotel date.
He ended the call and rushed out of his man cave when I accidentally slipped up and gasped, but it was too late.
I was already back in his bedroom, acting like I hadn’t heard a word.
Saje probably thought she was the best actress there was, but the way I acted during that heartbreak should’ve been studied.
That night, Basheer treated me better than he ever had.
I wasn’t dumb, though. He was checking my temperature, seeing if I had heard anything.
The nigga didn’t know I had heard it all.
In his face, I made him think there wasn’t anything wrong.
I continued to drain his balls, show him love, cook for him, and do everything else I had been doing before hearing about him and Saje.
But inside, I was conjuring up a plan to ruin his whole fucking life.
He played me for a fool, but I would have the last laugh when I was done with his ass.
When I left his house the next morning, I went straight to my cousin Wynn’s house to tell her what I had found out.
My cousin and I weren’t the closest growing up, but we got closer when she started working at the studio where Saje worked.
And I only found that out at our family reunion when one of our relatives brought it up.
Crazy how we connected through our dislike for that bitch Saje.
It wasn’t until before the gender reveal that Wynn told me Saje and Ezekiel were fucking.
It tore her up because Ezekiel wasn’t only messing with Saje.
He was having sex with my cousin too. Wynn said when she confronted Ezekiel, he brushed her off and told her she better accept it because it was the only way he was going to move up in his career.
My cousin was falling for a nigga who blatantly told her he wasn’t going to stop dealing with Saje, so he said she better get with the program or leave him the fuck alone.
So, when I told her I found out Saje was messing with my man, too, we came up with a plan to air their shit out, and my invitation to the gender reveal couldn’t have come at a better time.
It took some convincing to get Basheer to let Wynn come with us to the event, but he finally gave in.
He had no clue we were coming to fuck some shit up.
Days before the gender reveal, I worked hard to find Basheer and Saje’s daughter.
Through tears, I wracked my brain, trying to find a way to get into his phone to get the information I needed.
During one of our meetups, Wynn told me she heard about a hidden camera so small it could be placed anywhere without being seen.
Right away, I went online and did my research.
I found the perfect one and had it expedited to Wynn’s grandma’s house.
That night when I went over to Basheer’s house, we fucked, and while he was in the bathroom washing off his dick, I quickly hid the camera near his side of the bed.
Whenever he sat on his bed, he sat in the same position every time, so that’s where the camera pointed, right above the headboard light.
I lay next to him and had the biggest smile on my face when he sat in his spot and punched in his password.
All I did was hope the quality of the camera was great and had captured everything.
The next morning, on our way out, since he never left me in his home by myself, I snatched the camera off the headboard and slipped it in my purse.
I sped to Wynn’s house after I kissed Basheer goodbye.
We extracted the footage from the device, and we celebrated when we saw it was clear enough to catch him typing in 8181.
That same night, he invited me back over, and when he went to sleep, I carefully snuck out of his bed, quietly slid his phone off the dresser, and tiptoed to his walk-in closet.
I had put the pussy on him so good; I knew he would be in a deep sleep.
I went through his messages and found a text thread between him and his daughter, which I found only because next to her name, it said Daddy’s Girl.
I copied and pasted the address for the gender reveal from the invitation I found in his photo gallery, the one he refused to send to me, and sent it to her. This was the same address he said I wouldn’t need because we were riding together.
I impatiently waited, hoping she was still up. I kept peeking out the door, making sure Basheer hadn’t woken up.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have to wait long for a response.
She messaged back fast. I quickly sent a message back like I was her father, saying I wanted her to meet me at that address that weekend.
Then I added that I would send her flight information to Miami from another phone number.
Baislee Buchanan made it easy because she didn’t ask any questions. Daddy’s Girl was the key to my plan.
Lucky for me, Basheer had all the information I needed to book her ticket saved in his notes, so I snapped a photo of it using my phone, and my job was done. I told her good night and deleted our messages.
I thought Basheer was different, but he proved to be nothing but a stupid nigga. He risked his career, his money, his friendship with Reason, and possibly his life over a bitch who wasn’t worth it.
When the yacht docked back at the port after the gender reveal, Wynn and I didn’t wait around to find out if the lifeguards were able to save Basheer’s life.
We flew off that boat so fast. No one noticed because they were focused on the surrogate almost passing out, which was perfect timing for us to get out of dodge.
We were out of there before anyone else got off.
But we made sure to bump Saje hard as fuck on our way out.
Reason’s security had that bitch pinned to the floor, so she couldn’t do a damn thing.
Saje was the cause of my cousin's and my hurt, so we made it our goal to be the ones behind her losing it all.
The memories from the gender reveal would be ones I’d never forget.
I shook away my thoughts and brought my focus back to Wynn, who was sitting next to me on the couch with her legs tucked under her body.
We were discussing our next move now that she had decided to quit her job.
She wanted to leave the whole Ezekiel and Saje situation in the past.
We concluded that our time in Miami was up.
We were both tired of getting played with.
For me, the groupie life hadn’t gotten me anywhere.
I thought I had finally lucked up and found my meal ticket, but the joke was on me.
Actually, the lifestyle had welcomed nothing but hurt, pain, free meals, dick, and a bag or two.
“You ain’t heard a word I said, huh?” Wynn extended her leg and tapped my thigh with her foot.
I finished my can of beer and looked at her. “What?”
“Wherever you go, I’ma come too. I ain’t got shit here in Miami. I wouldn’t mind starting over somewhere else.”
I stared at Wynn. This was the first time I had ever heard her talking about leaving Miami, but I understood.
“So, where we going, cousin?”
As I ran my fingers through my long weave, I thought about her question. Where would we go? Then, it clicked.
“Let’s go to Atlanta.”
“Atlanta? A lot of them niggas there don’t want us because they too busy fuckin’ on each other.”
“I thought yo’ ass was heartbroken. Why you worried about niggas? I ain’t say we goin’ out there for the niggas. We goin’ for the money.”
“And how are we gonna make money?”
“Stripping,” I said confidently.
Wynn sat up straight and glared at me like I was crazy. “Now I know you done lost some marbles. Stripping? Novah, I ain’t got no rhythm. Those people will throw me out of their club the minute I hit the stage.”
“Wynn, you need to start believing in yourself. How the hell else we gon’ make some fast cash? I don’t want no nine to five. Stripping is easy, it’s quick, and we’ll meet plenty of niggas who can fund our lives. Fuck love.”
She looked like she was deep in thought.
“Fuck love. Alright, I heard that.”
“See, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. We don’t need these fuck niggas. All we need is their money. Fuck everything else.”
Wynn nodded. “I still can’t believe I allowed Ezekiel to play with my heart,” she said, completely changing the subject.
“Wynn, fuck Ezekiel and Basheer. Is you with me or nah?”
She sighed. “You still didn’t say how I’m gonna dance with no rhythm.”
I stood, ready to pack up my shit from the motel where I was staying. “Cousin, you don’t need to have no rhythm. That fat ass you got back there gon’ do it every time. You know how to shake that muthafucka, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, there you go. Hit the stage, shake that shit, make that money, and do it again the next night.”
“You make it sound so easy, Novah.”
I shrugged. “I gotta start back at square one, so I don’t have time to sit around and ponder on shit. I ain’t never stripped a day in my life, but when I hit that stage, they ain’t gon’ never know that because I’ma give it all I got.”
“I’m with you, cousin.”
“Good, that’s what I like to hear. Come on.” I headed toward the front door. “Let’s get some boxes and get our things packed up. I’m sure you’re tired of living in your granny’s house anyway. Ain’t no space in here.”
I looked around at all the old antique figurines her grandmother had filled every corner with.
“I know you ain’t talking while you been living in that roach-infested motel,” she bantered.
I stopped walking. “Wynn, don’t play like that.
” I was serious as fuck. She had hit a nerve.
No one knew I lived in a motel because I always stayed in designer clothes and had a nice car.
The money I got from Basheer was used to pay for my car note and my luxury items. He had no idea where I lived because I always found an excuse why he couldn’t come over, so I always went to his condo instead.
The smile on her face faded. “I’m sorry.”
I knew my cousin didn’t mean any harm, but I really thought I had lucked up with Basheer. That’s why I never invested in an apartment. I thought he would move me in and give me access to his money. He had really fucked up my plans.
“It’s alright, Wynn. Just get yo’ facts straight next time.”
She looked at me with her nose wrinkled. “Huh?”
“You might see one or two baby roaches, but that shit ain’t infested.”
Wynn checked my expression to see whether I was serious or not. When I cracked a smile, she did too. We laughed on our way out the door. When we made it to my car, I looked around at the city I called home. Soon, we would be saying goodbye to Miami for good.
It was time for Wynn and me to start over in Atlanta.