10. Melissa Domaine
Roman had pissed me off once again.
But there I was… waking up with him beside me. Again.
When he trailed me home from the lounge last night, he walked me up to my door like always. We fussed on the porch because he wanted to walk through my house and “make sure ain’t nobody in here,” like I didn’t live in a gated community with guards and cameras.
“Melissa, stop playin’ with me,” he’d said, hand on the doorknob. “You want me to stand outside while you go in alone when it’s dark as fuck out here, or you gon’ let me do what I do?”
“I’m not about to keep arguin’ about this every time you bring me home,” I snapped back. “You act like I stay in the projects.”
“Danger don’t give a fuck about you being in a gated community,” he’d snapped.
I ain’t even have the energy.
Between the liquor, the club, and him watchin’ my every step all night, I was tired. So I just sucked my teeth, unlocked the door, and let him in.
Should’ve known better.
We didn’t even make it past the living room before our clothes were sprawled all over the floor.
The chemistry between us was crazy, disrespectful, honestly. And I wasn’t even gon’ lie to myself no more: I did not know how I was supposed to shake this shit.
“The way you thinkin’ hard, I already know,” Roman’s voice came, low and close. “Let me guess… you tryin’ to come up with a way to piss me off today.”
He pulled me closer, his arm tightening around my waist, lips pressin’ a soft kiss against my cheek like he ain’t spend half the night actin’ like a lunatic.
I turned my head and looked at him, rolled my eyes, sucked my teeth, then slid out of the bed anyway.
“Where you goin’? It’s still early,” he asked, voice all calm like he wasn’t the problem.
“Me, Charlee, Fee, and April goin’ to brunch today,” I said, walkin’ toward the bathroom, sheet draggin’ behind me. “Fee couldn’t go to the lounge with us. You know she ‘bout to pop any day now. We also need to discuss her baby shower and April’s bridal shower.”
“April fittin’ right in with the crew,” Roman chuckled.
“Yeah, she cool,” I said truthfully, grabbin’ my bonnet and snatchin’ it off my head.
I could feel his eyes on me.
“You drivin’?” he asked.
“Yes, Roman, I’m drivin’,” I said. “It’s ten minutes away.”
“Mhm,” he hummed. “Text me when you get there.”
I looked at him through the mirror. “You really not gon’ stop with that?”
“Nope,” he said, unbothered. “You want me to stop, you gon’ have to stop matterin’.”
My stomach dipped, and I hated that.
“Boy, shut up,” I sassed, turnin’ the water on.
By the time I got out the shower and got dressed…simple two-piece set, light beat, slides,Roman was sittin’ on the edge of my bed scrollin’ his phone like he paid bills in here.
“You eat somethin’?” he asked without lookin’ up.
“I’m goin’ to brunch,” I said.
“So that’s a no.” He stood, walked over to me, and adjusted my necklace like he had the right. “Don’t be out there drinkin’ mimosas on an empty stomach.”
“I didn’t ask for a daddy,” I said, but I didn’t move his hands.
“I ain’t your daddy,” he replied. “You know what I am.”
I stepped back before he could drag that sentence out any further.
“I’ll text you when I get there,” I mumbled.
“Good girl,” he said.
I shot him a look. “Don’t call me that.”
He smirked. “You only say that ‘cause you like it.”
I grabbed my keys off the dresser before I could throw ‘em at his head.
The brunch spot was cute, black-owned, plants everywhere, big windows, R&B playin’ low. Our reservation was for eleven. Of course, I was the first one there.
Charlee texted she was parking.
Fee: I’m walkin’ slower than usual, my ankles mad at me
April: Almost there, had to fix Royce’s collar before I left
I shook my head, smilin’ in spite of myself.
I texted Roman like I said I would.
Me: I’m here.
Roman: Inside?
Me: Yes.
Roman: Sit wit’ your back to a wall.
Me: Boy bye.
Roman: Melissa.
Me:
I dropped my phone on the table right as Charlee blew in, loud and cute as always.
“Bitch,” she said, floppin’ in the chair across from me. “You look tired and glowy. Which one is it?”
“Mind your business,” I said, smirkin’.
She squinted. “Mhm. That mean Roman was at your house.”
I opened my mouth, ready to lie, but then Fee waddled in, one hand on her lower back, the other holdin’ her purse.
“Y’all hoes really picked the furthest table from the door,” she grumbled, easing herself into a chair.
I got up to help her sit. “Shut up, we right here. You want a pillow?”
“Yes,” she said instantly. “My whole body hurt.”
Charlee grabbed one of the throw pillows off the bench seat and slid it behind her.
“You good?” I asked.
“As good as I can be with two whole humans sittin’ on my bladder,” Fee said, lettin’ out a long breath. “My feet stay swollen, my back screamin’, and I cry over commercials now. I was in the house yesterday boo-hoo’in ‘cause that driver waved at a little boy.”
Me and Charlee laughed.
“Bitch, shut up, that’s not funny,” Fee said, but she was smilin’ too. “I’m so ready to get these babies out of me, but I’m also lowkey scared as hell.”
Her eyes glossed a little when she said it.
“Scared of what?” I asked softer.
“Everything,” she admitted. “The birth. The afterwards. If I’ma be a good mama. If me and Trend gon’ stay on the same page once the baby here. I ain’t never had nobody depend on me like this.”
“Those babies already picked the right one,” I told her. “You be damn near raisin’ us half the time.”
“That part,” Charlee added. “You be the only responsible bitch sometimes.”
Fee sniffed, laughin’ through it. “Whatever. Y’all just sayin’ that ‘cause I’m hormonal.”
“Yeah, but it’s still true,” I said.
Before we could keep goin’, April walked in, hair in a sleek ponytail, simple dress, little belly pudge showin’ just enough to be cute, not loud.
“Hey, crazy people,” she said, smilin’ as she slid into the last chair.
Charlee grinned. “Look at Mrs. Soon-To-Be Blake.”
April rolled her eyes but blushed. “Girl, please. These men about to stress me out before I even change my name.”
“Royce gettin’ on your nerves?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said dramatically. “This man wanna invite every nigga he ever stood next to to the wedding, but don’t wanna sit still long enough to finish the guest list. And don’t get me started on his vows.
He keep sayin’ he gon’ ‘just speak from the heart.’ Sir, write that shit down before you get up there talkin’ in circles. ”
We all laughed.
“But forreal, how you feel?” Fee asked. “You excited?”
April’s face softened. “Yeah. I am. Sometimes I get scared, too… like, what if we fuck it up? What if we not as ready as we think we are?” She shrugged. “But then I look at him with Nana and Roman, and I see how far they came, and I be like… nah. We gon’ be straight.”
Her eyes went shiny for a second, and she blinked it away.
“Y’all cute,” Charlee said. “Y’all be makin’ me sick, but y’all cute.”
The waitress came, took our drink orders, a virgin for Fee, two mimosas for me and Charlee, some bougie tea thing for April, then she dipped to get the drinks.
Soon as she left, all three of them looked at me at the same time.
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
Charlee smirked. “So, how’s Roman?”
“He breathin’,” I said. “I guess.”
Fee snorted. “Lies. You walkin’ a little funny, friend.”
April hid a smile behind her menu. “I heard my future brother-in-law been on your bumper.”
I glared. “Royce talk too damn much.”
“He don’t even say much,” April said. “But when his phone light up and he smirks and it say ‘Roman,’ I know it’s about you.”
“Y’all nosy,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, and?” Charlee said. “Last time we talked, you was talkin’ about how you ain’t want nothin’ serious, you just out here on your fun shit. Now this man followin’ you home and walkin’ through your house like security. That don’t sound like casual to me.”
“He be doin’ too much,” I said instantly. “Y’all should’ve seen him last night. Nigga really popped up at the lounge like I told him to come. Actin’ like I can’t go nowhere without checkin’ in.”
Fee raised a brow. “And you let him?”
“I didn’t ‘let’ him,” I said. “He just… appeared. Like a demon.”
April laughed. “A fine ass demon.”
“He not that fine,” I lied.
All three of them looked at me like, bitch please.
I sighed. “Okay, he fine. That’s not the point.”
“What is the point?” Fee asked. “‘Cause from where I’m sittin’, you got a man who checks on you, makes sure you get home, ain’t scared to pop up, and clearly got you in a chokehold, and you still actin’ like you single-for-life.”
“I am single,” I argued. “I keep tellin’ y’all that. Me and Roman not a thing.”
Charlee leaned on her elbow. “So you just out here lettin’ random dick stay over?”
I smacked my lips. “Don’t say it like that.”
“How you want me to say it?” she asked. “You woke up in his bed in Saint Lucia. You woke up in your bed with him this mornin’. That’s not ‘we had sex once and moved on’ energy. That’s ‘we fake live together on accident’ energy.”
The waitress came back with our drinks, savin’ me for a second.
We all thanked her, and clinked our glasses, and took sips.
“I’m just sayin’,” Charlee continued, unfazed, “you might as well stop lyin’ to us and yourself. You like that man.”
I stared into my mimosa. “Likin’ somebody and trustin’ ‘em is two different things.”
The table got quiet for a second.
Fee glanced at me. “You still thinkin’ ‘bout Jordan?” she asked softly.
I shrugged one shoulder, eyes still on my drink. “I think about all that shit. Jordan. My daddy. Trend. Every time I thought I had somethin’ solid and it wasn’t what I thought it was. Yeah, Roman different, I’m not gon’ lie. But different don’t mean safe.”
April nodded slow. “That’s real.”
“But you also can’t keep punishin’ yourself for what them niggas did,” Fee said. “Or punish the next man, either.”
“I’m not punishin’ him,” I argued. “I’m protectin’ me.”
“Sometimes that look the same from the outside,” she said gently.
That sat on my chest.