Chapter 7 Distraction #2
He just nods. “Okay.”
Just that. No extra questions, no weird follow-up. Just… okay. Then he changes the subject. “Mi wah yuh get dressed by seven, preferably in white… mi wah carry yuh out pan a date,” he says, and suddenly all the heaviness in my chest lifts.
I smile genuinely this time. “Okay,” I nod, heart already flipping.
He steps out the car and open my door before I can say anything else, and as I glance out the window, I spot her. Sash. My cousin. Standing outside, waiting.
“Yeah and see yuh cousin deh,” Nickoi adds, already spotting her before I do.
He looks at me, the smallest grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “We can continue the question thing tonight,” he says, voice low and teasing before he heads inside.
I step out and walk over to her, already irritated. “Hi, Nickoi,” she greets him casually like she doesn’t do the absolute most every chance she gets. He nods, polite but disinterested.
“Why you always have something fi say to Nickoi?” I ask her, voice calm but cutting.
She laughs, the kind of laugh that’s too loud, too fake. “No sah… a weh yuh a think?”
She has that guilty look on her face though, like she knows what I mean. Like she knows.
I glare at her. “Just stop weh yuh a do.”
She doesn’t reply. She just keeps laughing like it’s all a joke.
But it’s not. Not to me.
“Zara… a wah yuh think fi real?” she asks, trying to act clueless, like I haven’t already seen enough.
I don’t answer. I don’t even look at her. Instead, I walk straight inside. The silence between us stretches, then she trails behind me like nothing happened, like she’s not acting weird.
“Mi a go out with babe soon,” I say, flat and final. I don’t have the energy to play nice. “So let’s get this preparation thing going.”
NICKOI
I know it might look sudden from the outside. But I’ve never given a f—k about what things look like. I move off instinct. And my instincts are sharp. I already got her pregnant, and that only made the decision clearer.
Getting married was the last thing on my mind. My brothers knew that. My mother knew that. My sister. Even the big man above knew that.
All that changed when I met her.
I just felt like that ‘girlfriend’ title almost disrespects a woman like her. Not because she’s carrying my child, but because I don’t hand over my last name to just anyone. You have to earn that.
And she did.
She’s the only girl who talks to me like I’m not dangerous. Like she knows I am, and loves me anyway. I gave her the box. I knew she’d think it was a ring. Her hands shook a little when she opened it. Eyes already glassy. She was ready to say yes.
When she saw the watch, I saw it, the disappointment. She tried to cover it. But not fast enough. I caught it. That was the point. I needed her to think that was it. That she misread the moment.
Now marriage is no longer on her radar. Perfect.
Tonight, we’re going to a Beach Front Villa in St. Andrew that Junior told me about. Private chef. Ocean breeze. The workers are already waiting. The ring is 24 karat from Nature. It’s already there. I gave it to the chef earlier. They’re working on the surprise.
Mi nuh want her fi suspect nutt’n when mi tell her say mi a bring har go to a restaurant, so mi build up the idea fi disappoint her with the watch. So mi a gwan trick har fi now.
“Everything is set and ready for you, Mr. Jacobs,” the chef tells me. Beautiful.
“Respect. Expect we 7:30,” I say before hanging up.
She’s downstairs now, helping Sash with some school thing or sup’m. I’m not really sure. I didn’t ask. I’m not the type of man who invades. I’m the type who protects by keeping distance, until it matters.
I shower and get dressed. Pull on a crisp black buttoned shirt, black jeans, and desert Clarks. White gold Cuban catches the light, Rolex from Nature on my wrist, the only man I buy jewelry from.
Two pumps of Creed at my neck. Not to impress her. She already wants me. It’s just how I like to smell when I ruin expectations. My aroma fills the room.
Gyal grabber, that.
Gutta is sliding through to drop something off. I’m expecting him. In the meantime, I check the app. Delivery lagging in a few areas on the North Coast.
I send Keno instructions to get it sorted. He responds immediately.
ZARA
Gutta greets us when he walks in, right after speaking with the security. Mek mi apologize to him. “Um… Gutta?” I call out gently as I walk over to him.
He pauses, a little surprised. You can tell he doesn’t even remember what I did.
Or maybe it’s just not heavy on his mind. “Yuh good?” he asks.
I nod. “I just wanted to apologize… for how I acted the last time you were here,” I say quietly. “That wasn’t kind of me. You’re a good person, and I was wrong for treating you that way, especially in front of everyone.” He watches me for a second, then gives a soft nod.
“That did good enuh, Zara. Mi swear to yuh,” he replies.
“Forgive me?” I ask.
He gets awkward for a second, eyes flicking to the side, and I follow his gaze.
There goes my baby father, standing near the stairway, looking so damn good.
‘Watch nice, clean baby father’ I hear Sash’s voice in my head, and I can’t help the grin that climbs my face.
“Ouu,” I smile at him.
“You should be getting ready now enuh, Mami,” he says, that slight smirk on his lips.
“You mek mi excited,” I grin, cheeks warm.
He chuckles low. The kind of laugh that makes my knees soften just a little.
“And mi forgive you,” Gutta chimes in.
I turn back to him. “Thank you,” I say, genuinely. Nickoi and I head upstairs, and right before I go into the room, he reminds me:
“Wear suh’m white… we’re having dinner on the beach front.”
Ouuuu! I already know the dress I’m wearing.
I take a shower and step out, wrapped in a pink towel.
Nickoi’s by the glass balcony, giving instructions to one of his workers.
Calm, assertive. In control like always.
I smile to myself and head over to the dresser.
I don’t say anything, I know better than to interrupt when he’s handling business.
Before drying off, I lay the dress across the bed.
White, silky, and light as air. The towel falls to my feet, he glances back just in time to see the curve of my body.
His eyes glints. I smile and start on my hair.
I’m wearing my natural hair today. I grab the spray bottle, and lightly mist it with water.
I scrunch the strands until they form loose Burmese curls, soft and defined, falling over my shoulders like waves with a side part.
My makeup is soft, glowy. Barely-there, blush, mink lashes curled. Then comes the lipgloss, one coat, then another, and another.
A how shine yuh wah fi yuh lip?
So people can see dem reflection.
I step into the dress. A white satin two-piece, the top soft, with thin tied straps and tiny fabric flowers at the shoulders.
The ankle length skirt hugs my waist, and before I finish, I wrap my gold belly chain gently around my midsection.
It glints against my skin, sitting just beneath the top’s hem.
I smile to myself, rubbing on vanilla eos lotion, before I spritz on my favorite scent.
Chanel, Ms. Dior, Yara and Sol De Janeiro 68.
To add a cherry on top, I grab my makeup brush, and brush my collarbone with the Fenty highlighter.
I add a white flower clip behind my ear and slip on my Chanel sandals.
I struggle a little with the clasp of my necklace in the mirror, but I don’t call Nickoi. He’s still busy. He walks up behind me, quiet, and clips the necklace with ease. Then just as quickly, he steps away, heading back to his phone.
“Thanks, Daddy,” I smile, playfully. Ouuu.
He nods with a smirk. “Yeah, that’s the last delivery fi the day,” I hear him say into the phone.
After a few quiet moments, I fasten it myself, then slide the Patek Philippe onto my wrist. It didn’t really match, but I wanted to show appreciation. Anyways. Cute lil’ fit.
I leave the room, ready to show Sash my outfit but when I step into the hallway, I freeze.
Gutta’s face is buried in her neck. She’s sitting there, on the sofa, casually talking to him like it’s nothing.
I don’t say a word. Just blink. I’m hurt.
And I’m not even Anna. Why would he do this?
Why mi always a see everything? Why Sash so awful?
I spin on my heel and walk back into the room like I didn’t just catch something I wasn’t supposed to see. Nickoi’s coming out of the bathroom, and when he spots me, he walks straight over, but close enough to make me take a step back, blushing.
“Damn, Mami.”
He calls me that almost every day. But the way he says it now? Whew. I smile up at him and he grips my waist, sliding his hand down to grab a handful of my ass through the silky fabric.
“You mek mi nuh even bother wah leave,” he whispers, sending chills down my spine.
He kisses my neck, soft and quick, before lacing his fingers through mine and leading me downstairs. Mi wonder if dem still in the same position? By the time we reach the bottom step, they’re not sitting near each other. Gutta’s scrolling through his phone. Sash barely looks up, until she sees me.
Her jaw drops. “Nosah, watch the dolly! A you Shenseea did sing ‘a bout.”
I force a smile.
She probably caught me watching earlier.
She’s quick like that.
“Thanks, Sash,” I say calmly.
She knows I’m upset. “Later we talk,” she mutters.
I nod once. “You can take her home,” Nickoi says to Gutta as he unlocks the Jaguar, “or drop her at the bus stop.”
He opens the passenger door for me.
A gentleman.
What a Gentleman babe turn today.
***
I’m already posing when I realize… he’s not even taking the picture. He’s just standing there, holding the camera, staring at me. “Nickoi…” I say, waving slightly. “Yuh good?”
His eyes blink slowly like he’s just now waking up from a trance. Then he lifts the camera. “Yah,” he murmurs. “Mi gov,” then he lies. “A you mi a wait pan fi pose eno likkle girl.”