Chapter 18
I pulled into the wraparound driveway up to Messiah’s door. The house was big and was three stories high. My house was big, but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand how one person could live in such a huge place.
Maybe because he has a son, and his son’s mother is living here with him.
I just knew homegirl better be cool. I’d hate to embarrass us all in front of his child.
I didn’t know why I was so nervous to meet his son, but I never had to interact with anyone’s children. Being an only child with no friends aside from Paige, I never made friends with females in school. Paige did, but I always gravitated toward the boys more.
The door opened, and Messiah emerged with a little replica of himself standing by his side. I wanted to pull off because this was so foreign to me. However, I found myself falling for the corporate boss with the amazing dick.
I let out a short breath as I opened my door and got out.
Here goes nothing.
Messiah met me halfway, relieving me of the bag I held in my hand to give to his son. He kissed my lips and smiled down at me. “Hey, Juicy.”
I mushed him. “Don’t call me that in front of your son.”
He chuckled. “He can’t hear me. He has his AirPods in, watching some shit on Netflix. Besides, he don’t know why I call you that. Come on.” He pulled me along as we approached the door where Messiah Jr. was standing. Messiah took out one of the AirPods, making Messiah Jr. look up.
“We have company. Put the phone away.”
Messiah Jr. put his phone inside his hoodie and smiled at me.
“MJ, this is my girlfriend, Arieana. Arie, this is my mini-me, Messiah Jr.,” Si introduced us.
“Pleased to meet you, MJ. Your father has told me a lot about you.”
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Arieana. I hope my pops put in a good word about me. He likes to undermine my character sometimes.”
I laughed at his stoutness.
“Boy, be quiet,” Messiah reprimanded.
“Well, he did tell me you were into electronics, so I bought you a gift.” I pointed to the bag in Messiah’s hand. “I hope you like it.”
Messiah handed him the bag as MJ pulled out the Sky Viper video drone.
“Oh, man! This is so cool! Thanks, Ms. Arie!” He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly.
“You’re welcome. You can see the neighborhood from a fifty-mile radius, and it also has video playback and surround sound.”
“Man! I can’t wait to use it! Can I play with it now, Dad?” MJ asked eagerly.
“How about you set it up out back, and we’ll be out there to check it out together.”
“Okay! Don’t take too long!” He rushed off as Messiah looked at me.
“What?” I asked.
“A drone?”
I shrugged. “What’s wrong with that?”
“His ass is about to be recording all kinds of shit around here. A PS5 or a Gameboy would have sufficed.”
“Hmm, I bought it for personal reasons.” I smirked, lifting an eyebrow at him.
“Ahh, I see. Operation seek and destroy is in effect.”
“You better not fuck with his drone. I spent a lot of money on that.”
“The money can be replaced.”
“You heard what I said.”
He laughed. “I find you very cute when you think you’re in control,” he said, pulling me into his arms.
“And I find you very slow to think that I’m not.”
He kissed me deeply as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The doorbell alerted us, causing him to pull out his phone and open the Ring app. There was a woman standing on the porch, looking annoyed.
“Who is that?”
“My son’s mother.”
He sighed as he pulled away from me, but I took the lead and went to answer the door.
“Juice, be cool, mama.”
“I am cool… until I ain’t,” I told him, opening the door.
The woman looked at me and frowned, then her eyes went behind me to Messiah.
“Hi. Can we help you?” I asked.
“Messiah, why doesn’t my key work?” she asked, completely ignoring me.
This cross-eyed ho about to get her eye knocked straight.
Messiah stepped forward. “I changed the locks. What are you doing here anyway?”
“Did you forget that I was taking MJ to Destiny’s birthday party?”
“You never told me that.”
“I sent you a text telling you what time I was coming.” She rolled her eyes as they landed back on me. “I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Jalea. I’m Messiah’s mom.”
“I’ve gathered that much. Sadly, I had to learn that after so many minutes had passed. You should have introduced yourself as soon as I opened the door.”
“Excuse me?”
I glared at her. “You heard me, baby mama.”
“Arie. Chill. Would you mind going into the sitting room while I speak with my son’s mother?”
“Actually, I do mind. However, I’m going to go out back and help him with his device. Don’t worry, I can find my own way.” I turned and walked down the long hall, looking around for the back door or kitchen.
Finding the kitchen to the left of me, I stepped inside and through the back patio doors.
MJ had the drone out of the box and was reading over the instructions.
“Hey. You need some help?” I asked, smiling at him.
“I do.”
“Cool. Let’s see how to hook this up for you,” I said, gathering the pieces and putting them together.
I had one of my own, so I knew how to set it up. It took me no time as I connected the device to their Wi-Fi.
“Do you really like my dad?” MJ asked out of the blue.
“I do.”
“I know he likes you… a lot.”
“Really? How can you tell?”
“He’s been mentioning that he wanted me to meet you for a few weeks now.”
“Oh yeah? And how did you feel about it?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never seen him as affectionate with my mom like he is with you. But he had already explained to me when I was five that he and my mom were only friends… even though they don’t act like friends most of the time.”
Oh, they don’t, huh?
“Hmm. How do they act?”
“Like strangers or like they hate each other.”
“Hmm.” I hummed again.
I didn’t feel bad about letting the kid spill his guts.
If I was going all the way with Messiah, I needed to make sure he was one hundred percent all in with me.
I was teetering on the ledge of being in love with this man.
As hard as I was trying to fight it, I couldn’t.
I wanted to blame it on the sex, but the truth of the matter was, my feelings were starting to get involved.
He had shown me a great deal of tenderness, love, and care, which was something that I had been missing for so long.
It was something I never had from any of the men I slept with.
I could have possibly had it with Demarcus or my old high school fuck buddy, Maceo, but I was too closed off to venture off and see if anything would have come out of it.
This time, I was letting myself be “soft” for a man—a man I actually liked very much.
“Well, sometimes adults have their moments. It’s not to say your parents hate each other… If that were the case, she wouldn’t have been living here with you and your dad. Some parents just have disagreements, but I’m sure they love you very much, right?”
He nodded. “They do. She doesn’t live here anymore, though. Does that mean they hate each other now?”
“No, it just means they are making room to allow themselves to grow without needing each other.” I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about, but I hoped he understood what I was trying to say.
The door slid open as Messiah and Felicia came walking out.
“MJ, ya moms here,” Messiah announced.
“Hey, Ma,” he greeted, standing and walking over to embrace her.
“Hey, my love. You want to go to Destiny’s birthday party with me? She really wants you to come.”
“Don’t lie to my son,” Messiah voiced.
She sucked her teeth. “I’m not lying to him. Don’t show out in front of your company, Si.”
Messiah clenched his jaw before looking at his son. “MJ, you want to go, son?”
“Hmm, yeah, I’ll go. I want to spend some time with Ma, if that’s okay?”
“It’s always okay, son. Go get your shoes and stuff on.”
“Sorry to ditch you, Ms. Arie.” He smiled at me.
“It’s no problem, MJ. We’ll have our time another time. Go have fun!”
He hugged me around my neck. “Thanks for the gift. See ya later!”
“You’re welcome. See ya.”
He hurried off into the house as Felicia stared at me.
I chuckled while shaking my head. “Bye, Felicia.”
“My name is Jalea.”
“Or whatever.” I sighed, kicking my feet up on the wicker table in front of me.
My eyes found Messiah’s, and that famous smirk was on his face with lust in his eyes. I smiled, returning the sentiment and licking my lips.
Another round of sucking on her rabbit teeth pulled my attention toward her while still holding a smile on my face.
Sis was bothered. And I was happy to have been the person causing her discomfort.
“I’ll have him back around eight,” she said with much attitude.
Messiah kept his eyes on me as he responded to her, saying, “Keep him until tomorrow, unless he wants to come home.”
“Whatever,” she said, waving him off and storming back inside.
“You gon’ make me fuck the shit out of your mean ass.”
“I’m starting to think you like it when I’m mean.”
His head seesawed. “Eh, I kind of do. It gives me a reason to knock the bottom out of that pussy.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
We laughed as he lifted me, carrying me back inside.
Messiah and I walked inside Essence Bar & Grill and were escorted to a table in the back.
We were meeting with the R&B rap stars, Knowledge and KP .
How Messiah was able to get a meeting with them, I would never know, but I wanted my sister to have the wedding of her dreams. I loved KP’s music.
She was like a modern-day Nicki Minaj, but without all the raw craziness she exuded.
Plus, KP’s singing voice was way better, and that wasn’t a diss to the megastar.
“Free Mind” by Tems crooned through the speakers, and I looked around, loving the vibe. It reminded me of the lounge part of my club, only my space was a little bigger without a stage.
A waiter approached our table with a smile and a bottle of wine.