Chapter Fifteen
Ny’Airy Buckle
“I’m sorry Ny’Airy I need to borrow your date one more time dear. They are about to announce my award for Lawyer of the Year, and I need a fine man to escort me on stage,” Phomoria gripped Cozart’s bicep and bit her bottom lip while daring me to say anything against it.
“Go ahead, take him he was boring me anyway. All he talks about is the gym and his muscles,” I joked.
Deep down inside I was annoyed. All night long Phomoria had been whisking Cozart away to meet this person or to talk to that person, if the bitch wanted him to be her date, she should have asked him and saved me the trouble.
When Cozart told me I would have more fun with him than any other man I had ever dated, he wasn’t being cocky.
Not only was he the perfect gentleman, he made sure I had a drink in my hand, he kept me laughing, and he never left me hanging in awkward conversations.
When one of my bitchy coworkers who usually didn’t say two words to me in the office asked what happened with my divorce, he swooped in like Superman and politely told her we didn’t talk about losers we left them in the past. I almost spit out my champagne I laughed so hard, and my coworker just stood there looking like she had sucked a sour lemon.
When women tried to flirt with him in front of me, he made it a point to include me in every conversation.
The more he let his personality shine through, the more attractive he became to me.
He was definitely different outside of the gym.
If only I could get my hot in the ass boss to stop snatching him away from me every five minutes, then I wouldn’t have any complaints.
“You are so silly Cozart,” she blushed and hit him on his arm playfully causing me to cringe inside.
“Are you sure it’s ok?” He asked me as Phomoria looped her arm through his and rubbed her breast against his shoulder subtly. The bitch was being so thirsty I was tempted to ask her if she wanted some of my drink.
“Of course it’s ok. She’s a big girl, she’ll be fine,” she said, as she pulled him away. I wasn’t sure if she was talking about my weight or my age but either way it went, I knew she was being shady.
“Just remember she writes your checks,” I told myself as I took a deep breath and walked in the opposite direction.
The mayor’s mansion on the inside was just as extravagant as the outside and the who’s who of Atlanta were definitely in attendance.
I spotted platinum selling rapper Ludacris talking to a councilman and even saw a few Atlanta Falcon’s football players huddling around drinks and women.
I walked through the crowd confidently, feeling better than I had in months as the effects of the champagne kicked in.
I grabbed a filled flute from the tray of a waiter and placed my empty one on a nearby table as I explored the grounds.
The ballroom area was huge, and it led out to a massive outdoor pool.
It was lit up, and looked like paradise surrounded by beautiful flowers.
I walked out of the double glass sliding doors, to enjoy a little fresh air just as my phone buzzed.
Feeling like I could walk and chew gum at the same time, I pulled my phone from my clutch and opened the message and smiled when I saw it was from Cozart.
COZART: Please save me from this annoying ass broad. I don’t know how you work with her, she won’t shut up
I laughed loudly as I texted him back.
ME: That’s why she’s so good at her job.
The minute I pressed send, I collided with something and my phone went sailing in the air one way and my drink flew the other way.
“SHIT!” I exclaimed as I immediately bent down to try to grab my phone.
“It’s ok, shit happens,” he replied and the sound of the voice sent chills down my spine.
I knew that voice better than I knew my own.
That voice had talked me through orgasms, cheered me up through disappointments, and sung happy birthday to me badly for fourteen years.
That voice was etched in my heart, and I couldn’t forget it if I tried.
Larry.
My eyes quickly snapped up because I knew there was no way fate could be that cruel. There was no way that on my very first date with another man, I was running into my ex-husband in the same place.
“Ny’Airy?” Larry said in disbelief as his eyes went wide.
“Hey Larry, my bad for bumping into you I was texting and wasn’t looking where I was going,” I stammered. Fate had indeed been that cruel and standing in front of me looking as fine as he always had was my ex-husband; the man that left me for another woman and turned my life upside down.
“No worries, I didn’t spill my drink. Luckily, I was holding on to it tight, how have you been?
You look good,” he complimented as his eyes roamed all over my body hungrily.
I wanted to tell him that after I stopped shoveling tacos down my throat because he left me, I learned how to love the parts of me he broke and I had been showing up for myself consistently in the gym for hours and I had changed my eating habits.
Instead, I said, “Thank you,” and smiled shyly.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him as I bent down to grab my phone from the floor.
I needed something in my hands to calm them from shaking.
My heart was beating one thousand miles a minute, and I felt like I was about to faint.
Suddenly, all those glasses of champagne didn’t seem like the best idea.
Of all the people to run into, I just had to run into Larry.
“My wife is being honored tonight, her bakery won the best baked goods award this year,” he dropped the bomb on me and reminded me of the reason he had broken my heart.
“That’s great for her,” I stuttered, wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole.
“Here she comes now,” he said smiling as he looked over my shoulder.
She was just as beautiful in person as she was on Instagram.
She looked better in person than she did on Instagram.
Jealousy consumed me as my ex-husband’s new wife walked towards us wearing a long gown that screamed, Couture.
Not looking down, she slipped slightly on the champagne I dropped and landed right into Larry’s arms. The bitch even fell perfect.
How could someone manage to fall gracefully?
“Can we get someone over here to clean up this spill please!” Larry yelled as he steadied her.
That was him, Larry the Protector. The minute he pulled her upright, she snatched out of his arms and gave him a look that could melt ice, if you were where you were supposed to be, then I wouldn’t have had to come over here to look for you, she belittled him through gritted teeth, like a mother scolding her child.
My eyes went wide in shock; there was no way she was talking to the man that way who had just caught her from snapping her scrawny ass neck.
It wasn’t his fault that she didn’t look down because her nose was so far in the air.
I was just about to ask her who the hell she was talking to like that before I remembered that he was no longer my husband.
This was the woman he had chosen.
A staff member came over to help with the spill, carrying a mop, a bucket, and some dry rags.
“I’m so sorry Miss.”
The staff member began before Larry’s wife cut him off, “Don’t be sorry, be careful. I could have broken my neck. Are you responsible for keeping this area clean, maybe I should have a talk with your supervisor about how serious you take your job,” she snapped.
“I apologize ma’am,” the man repeated as he got down on the floor and wiped the area clean. Larry looked humiliated and he smiled to play it off.
“I’m sorry baby, I got caught up. Where do you need me to be?” He asked her sweetly.
“Don’t interrupt me while I’m talking. I know you got laid off and it’s hard for you to understand when you should be quiet but try to remember that it’s my business that provides for us. So, it’s important that my neck stay intact,” she rolled her eyes at him.
“As for you, do your job. If this happens again the mayor will know about it,” she told the staff member.
“Stay close to me and smile people are looking,” she said to Larry over her shoulder as she walked away before he could get another word in.
After all of this time of obsessing over his new wife from afar, I had finally found her flaw, she was a cold bitch.
Her beauty was only skin deep.
My heart broke for him as I tried to convince myself that he had to lie in the bed that he made.
“Thank you for getting up my mess. I’m sorry about that.” I told the staff member as he stood to his feet. I pulled a $20 bill from my clutch and slipped it between his fingers.
“Oh no ma’am, we don’t work for tips,” the man said as he shook his head and looked around worried that he would get into trouble.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I winked my eye at him and walked away before he could return the money.
A few seconds later, hands wrapped around my waist, I looked quickly over my shoulder, and it was Co.
“I know you are having the time of your life at this party, but would it be ok if we have one more dance and dip. I’m sick of smiling in front of your boss’s fake ass friends,” he whispered in my ear.
I laid my head back on his shoulder and laughed.
“I just ran into my ex-husband and his new wife, after this dance, if you aren’t ready, I’m calling an Uber and leaving your ass here,” I groaned.
“Well, I better make this dance a good one then huh?” He questioned as he stepped back and spun me around slowly looking at me face to face.
“Do your big one,” I smirked and shrugged my shoulders. I could feel the disappointment of seeing Larry sliding slowly from my shoulders. Being near Cozart made me feel better as if the last ten minutes hadn’t happened.