Chapter 4
Xiah
My phone blasting “My Heaux Stay On Go” had me lifting a pillow and dragging it over my face because my head was pounding. Then I had a brief moment of acknowledgment that my room seemed uncharacteristically bright behind my lids.
I snatched the pillow from my face and my eyes shot open, only to cause a spike of pain to pierce my skull and I immediately went into panic mode.
The pillow I lifted to cover my face was a charcoal throw pillow and not my silk covered memory foam because I was still on my sofa.
My apartment was also full of sunlight which meant…
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I threw my hand out to the side and began searching for my phone, only to find the empty bottle of wine I drank last night. After digging under my body, I located the device and squinted at the screen which confirmed my initial thought.
I’m late…
It was after ten and I should have been in the office by eight for a meeting with Kinsley to go over my numbers and map out a plan to increase my clientele.
Oh fuck, I’m so screwed…
My phone started with another round of “My Heaux Stay On Go”, so I groaned and answered as I lifted from the sofa as carefully as possible to avoid another rapid fire pounding on my skull. No matter how light my steps were, each one ignited a shot of pain straight to my throbbing head.
“Hey, Koa…”
“Go best friend, that’s my best friend. Go best friend, that’s my best friend.
” She sang so loud I had to pull the phone away from my face.
Or maybe she wasn’t all that loud and it was just this damn pounding in my head that amplified her voice.
Regardless, I placed the call on speaker and slid it onto the dresser when I entered my bedroom.
“Bitch, I can’t believe you sold your first multi-million dollar property.
I’m so proud of you, Xi. Didn’t I tell you that shit was coming? ”
I grinned at her words but even that hurt. “You did and thank you. How was your date?”
She groaned. “He took me to dinner, spent the entire night telling me how much money he had, how big his dick was, and how he was gonna change my life.”
I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower while removing my clothes. On the way back to my bedroom I tossed them into the hamper and walked into the closet naked to find something hassle free to throw on.
Black maxi dress and sandals. I grabbed the dress, laid it on my bed, and lifted the sandals which I placed below the dress on the floor.
On the way back to the bathroom, I lifted my phone, placing it on the counter next to the sink while I collected my braids into a ponytail and twisted them into a knot on top of my head so I could fit a shower cap over them.
“And I’m guessing no life altering changes occurred.” I needed to cut my time down so I squeezed face wash into my palm and massaged it into my skin to finish washing my face while I showered.
“Girl, no. He complained about everything I ordered. I’m like why the fuck you bring me to this expensive ass place if you were going to be penny pinching.
I’m not even like that. I would have been straight with burgers or something, but I was like, cool.
One and done and I needed some good dick so I rocked with it.
He talked mad shit about his deep stroke, so at least I could get my back blown out.
I was gonna block him after tonight anyway ’cause…
ehhhh the nigga is fine but he’s not my vibe.
Too flashy, the ego was unjustified, and he talked too much. ”
I entered the glass enclosure, grabbed my body wash, and squeezed a generous amount into the washcloth and began cleansing my skin. The heady scent of apricot and ginger had a smile on my face and soothed my throbbing head.
“Wait, what do you mean he talked too much? You were on a date. The point is getting to know each other.”
“Exactly and his ass didn’t ask me shit about myself. Every time I tried to chime in with details he overtalked me, circling back to his lame ass.”
“Oh friend, I’m sorry. You should have texted me for a save.”
“Bitch, I did. Check your phone.”
I cringed. “Wait, you texted me?”
“Yeah, I did at like ten, so the subpar dick I suffered through was on you. If you had answered and given me an out, I would have dipped on his ass after dinner. You owe me some good dick, friend. And why the hell you sound like you’re in a rain storm? It’s sunny as hell over here.”
“Because I’m in the shower. You literally just woke me up.”
“Miss On Time For Everything is late? Ahh hell, what happened?”
“I baked German chocolate fudge brownies to celebrate my sale,” I said with a sigh.
I went back and forth with Yaakov’s attorney, who was very matter of fact and all business, but we agreed on all the amendments he requested and the final contract was out for signatures.
I kept obsessively checking my email for the signatures and decided to bake to distract myself.
Once I received the finalized deal, the property would be changed to under contract in the system and it would be official.
“You drank the whole bottle, didn’t you?” she said amusedly. This girl knew me better than anyone.
“The whole damn thing. I fell asleep on the sofa, didn’t set my alarm, and now I’m going to get fired. I had a meeting with Kinsley at eight and it’s…”
“Ten forty-two. You better hurry your ass up and she’s not going to fire you. You just sold a house for two point two million, Xi. Go best friend, that’s my best friend.” She started singing again.
I rinsed my body, turned the water off, and stepped out of the shower.
“Did you just turn the shower off? That was fast as hell.”
“Hoe, I’m clean.”
“You sure because you know we stay talking shit about funky hoes. Don’t let today be your karma and end up on the other end being the one talked about. You hit all the spots?”
I laughed and yanked a towel from the rack to dry off. “I assure you all parts of my body are fresh and clean.”
“Okay good. I’m not gonna hold you since I know you’re in panic mode. I’ll see you tonight. We have Seduction in the City.”
Seduction in the City was a black-tie social for singles to meet and mingle. The guests were vetted prior to being sent an invitation, so it wasn’t as simple as pay to play. I didn’t want to go but Koa did and that meant I would be there. She supported my bullshit, so I supported hers.
“Shit, I forgot. You still want to go?”
“Hell yeah I do and you’re not bailing on me because you owe me some good dick after last night’s catastrophe. Since you’re not equipped with the tools, you’re going to be my wing woman until I find someone who is.”
I grinned and rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t going to bail but I have to go so I can finish getting dressed.”
“I mean it, Xi. Do not bail on me. I’m tired of being single and you should be too.”
“I’m not single.”
“You’re single, Xi. Fuck that man and his wayward dick. The minute he played you and cheated, you became single. As soon as I locate his pussy ass, he’s going to be served. Regardless, you have the right to live like he doesn’t exist.”
The blessing of my girl being a family law attorney meant she could represent me with my divorce.
I’d married my college boyfriend, but not straight out of college.
We didn’t say I do until three years after we graduated.
Originally, we had gone separate ways. Things ended between us because he was drafted to play baseball in the MLB and I had aspirations to be a flight attendant.
Our goals didn’t align. I wanted to travel the world and figure out my life plan.
He wanted me to be his wife and support his career with my only aspiration being having his children. I was young and that wasn’t what I wanted, so we went our separate ways, but not before the embarrassment of me turning down a marriage proposal he delivered at his draft party.
We ran into each other years later when he was traded to the Badgers and spent six months rekindling things.
Life was good, I was in real estate, more settled, and he was newly traded to the local team.
He pushed hard and I assumed it was because he really wanted us to work this time.
We were married quickly, only for me to find out six months after we took our vows that he only married me to prove he could have what he wanted all these years later… me.
According to him, I ruined him years ago when I ended the relationship and he had been harboring the feelings from the breakup for years.
Star athlete that had it all, but couldn’t keep the girl.
Fucking narcissistic asshole. The entire time we were married, he had women in other cities, some in the one we lived in and a child that had been conceived the week of our honeymoon based on the timelines.
I found out when I received an invitation to their son’s first birthday party that he’d flown her to Tulum that same week we were there on our honeymoon.
Nothing about this man made sense, I was fooled and so was everyone else I loved.
It was damn near impossible to fathom that someone could be so spiteful over a breakup.
He married me just to make me miserable.
That was our story. I truly believed he wanted to tarnish the fairytale I had about wanting what my parents had.
Rekindling old flames and falling in love after a reconnection years later was their romantic story
Kaden Perry was the asshole who married me to prove he could have anything he wanted. I foolishly believed I had his heart because I’d given him mine.
After a little over two years of marriage, I learned that the only thing he ever gave me was false hope that I could have the same type of love that I was born and raised in. He ruined my perspective on love and I hated him for that.