7. Koi
“Stop calling my fucking phone! If you didn’t learn today, I don’t fuck with you!
” Marcel had been blowing up my phone for the past five minutes.
I was outside Belinda’s building, waiting for her trifling ass to come out of the liquor store.
If she thought the baby was gonna stay at my house all willingly, she had another thing coming.
I didn’t care if Marcel was the father. Both of them better find some place else for him to go.
“Why you take my son? You really gonna hurt a baby, Koi?” I twisted up my lip in disgust.
“Hurt a baby? Do you know how stupid you sound? I’m taking his ass to his grandmother. You want him, come get him and take him someplace, but not in the house where my name is on the deed. That’s where you got me fucked up.”
“She obviously don’t want him, and I’m the father.”
“Bitch bye.” I ended the call. Hearing Marcel call the baby his son, and proudly, had me seeing red. I knew he was the father. This baby was the spitting image of the nigga I had been with for fifteen years. Rika had given him something that I couldn’t. The shit was eating me alive.
His tiny whimpers warmed my heart. I couldn’t stand either of his parents, but he was innocent.
I got out of the driver's seat, sliding into the back seat where he was sucking his fingers. I smiled at him. “God, why couldn’t I carry a child to full term, but you give this girl a healthy baby by my man?” I sighed heavily as the tears welled up in my eyes.
Right when I was in my feelings, I heard Belinda yapping on her phone.
I hopped out of the car. “Girl, you scared the shit out of me. What you doing over here?”
“You need to take him. Marcel got his ass beat, and I’m sure he can’t care for him.
Plus, I’m not letting no child that’s not mine stay in my house.
” I unsnapped the car seat, lifting him out of the car.
“Here is a bag of some of his stuff. You can figure this out until ya’ trifling daughter wakes up. ”
“Excuse me?” Listen, you better take him before I sit this car seat on the ground.
I’m not trying to be disrespectful to this baby, but your daughter and Marcel can go suck a fat dick and choke on it.
” I was tired of people for the day. I leaned down to set the car seat down when she held out her hands.
“Just give me him. You are something else. And since you feel that way about Rika and her child, you can get the fuck on.”
“Gladly bitch.” I didn’t bother helping her with anything else. I got in my car, drove off, making sure to skid the tires against the pavement for a dramatic exit.
All these muthafuckas could kiss my ass. They were bugging if they thought I was about to let them play around on my top. Nah, they had finally woken up the bitch in me.
Instead of going back to the house. I grabbed my small suitcase, purse, and tote that I had packed, and rolled them into The Marriott.
A few nights here would be good for clearing my head.
The crazy outs I’ve been experiencing were taking a toll on my mind.
While I wanted to get everything off my chest, I knew that I couldn’t keep popping up on Rae and talking about my problems. The bill this month was gonna be the death of me, and Marli was a new mom.
So, while I wanted to go on and tell her everything, I needed to respect her time with her family.
Duke had sent a text in the family group chat about the incident earlier, and that had immediately caused my family to start blowing up my phone. Over it all, I made sure I had my bottle of wine for my room. But for some reason, I didn’t want to order food from UberEATS.
I showered, changed into a pair of leggings and a crop top, slid my feet into my Versace slides, and grabbed my wallet and phone.
The bar and restaurant downstairs was as close to going out as I was gonna get.
Happy that I worked remotely tomorrow, I planned to lie up in my room, go over some files, and catch up on my true crime shows.
“Good evening,” an older white guy greeted me as soon as I stepped onto the elevator. I smiled, greeted him, and buried my face into my phone. I didn’t have anything against him, but I really wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
As soon as I got off the elevator, I rushed towards the restaurant to avoid anyone else trying to talk. I walked to the bar, sat down, and popped my AirPods in my ear. Happy they had the menu set up to be scanned on your phone; I ordered a lemon drop and sweet Thai wings.
My phone was propped up as I listened to the latest book I had brought by one of my fav black authors.
I was sucking on my chicken bone when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around swiftly, almost getting some of the sauce on the guy’s hand.
“I’m sorry, can I help you?” I tapped my phone to pause the audio.
“I was wondering if this seat was taken.” His salt and pepper beard gave him a distinguished look. I sized him up and slowly took all of him in.
“No.” I quickly caught myself before I looked like a fool. The wedding ring on his finger let me know he was off limits, but not enough that I couldn’t admire him.
“Good. I’ve been wanting to come over here for a minute, but I figured you were waiting on someone.
There’s no reason you should be at a bar alone.
” He stole a glance, smirked, showing off his deep dimple.
His neatly twisted dreads were pulled up into a bun.
The black button down shirt he wore was open just enough to show off his broad chest.
“Well, that’s life.” I turned around, squeezing my legs closed. For the first time in my life a dude had caught my eye. Since I was with Marcel all those years, I had never given a dude a second glance. Since I was now free of him, flirting didn’t sound so bad.
“What are you drinking?” He nodded towards my empty glass.
“A lemon drop.”
“I hear that’s the women’s new favorite drink. Is it sour or sweet?” The way he licked his thick lips, I was ready to explode. I knew I needed to pay my tab and go up to my room, but his energy was inviting, and somehow, I was okay with playing with fire.
“More sweet than sour.” He flagged the bartender down, buying me another drink and ordering him a double shot of whiskey. His age showed in how he carried himself.
“Roman.” He took his shot, extended his hand, waiting for me to take it in mine.
“Koi,” Roman repeated my name a few times. “What?”
“It’s different. I like it.”
“Well. I don’t think your spouse would agree.”
“That’s nothing you need to worry about. You visiting or are you a New York native?”
“If I say I’m visiting, then what? You’d fuck me and go home to your wife and act like nothing happened?
” Bold and tipsy, I didn’t hold back with him.
The hurt, anger, and stress I’ve been feeling lately had me ready to pounce on this dude, cum hard, and sleep like a baby while forgetting the fact that he belonged to someone else.
“Nah. That’s not how I roll, and I can tell that’s not how you roll either. You’re tipsy. Let me make sure you get to your room.” Three lemon drops later, and my lightweight ass was ready to ignore all the signs and forget my morals for a night to relieve everything I had been feeling.
“I’m good. I can manage.” I paid my tab, slid off the bar stool, holding on to the leather.
“That’s bullshit.” He waved down the bartender. “Put it on my room tab.”
“Alright, boss.” Roman took my hand, leading me out of the restaurant.
“You shouldn’t be getting this tipsy in a hotel alone.” He took the room key from my hand, reading the number off. “Niggas are weird and will try anything. You too pretty and naive.” I heard what he was saying, but comprehending it was another thing. My head was spinning, and my stomach was queasy.
“My bad,” was all I was able to muster up.
“Don’t apologize to me. Shit. You lucky I’m me and not some herb.” He pushed me towards my room, tapped the door, and let me inside. “You got it from here?” Roman handed me my phone.
“Umm hmm,” I chuckled, blinking my eyes a few times when Roman grabbed my hand. “What?”
“C’mon”, he helped me to where the bed was. I saw him look around the room before he dropped to the floor and removed my slides. “I ain’t gonna undress you but move back so you can lay down.”
“What if I want you to undress me though,” I sassed, talking out the side of my ass, while lying on my side.
“Nah. This ain’t that. Sleep off them drinks, and if you are still here tomorrow, we can get to the bottom of this lashing out you call yourself doing.” I twisted up my lip and furrowed my brows. Before I could even respond to him, he was gone.
I lay in the same spot, unable to move, thinking about how he just tried to parent me and didn’t even know me. Instead of being mad, I was intrigued at how he turned down pussy.
Shit, maybe I look dumb or like some easy bitch. Shit, I’m trippin’. What if he thinks I’m a hoe? Oh lawd, was all I was thinking before my eyes gave way.
I woke up with a banging headache. My hair was untied, clothes on from the night before, and drool on my pillow. I rubbed the cold out of my eyes, sat up, stretched, and looked for my phone.
“Seven in the morning,” I mumbled. I had two hours before I had to log in to work.
My plan was to stay in until lunch and then work the afternoon on the rooftop.
The missed calls and texts were gonna be ignored for a few more hours.
I didn’t want to speak to anyone about anything.
The conversations were becoming repetitive at this point.
I did scroll until I saw a text from Rae.
Rae: Hey, I was just checking on you. We won’t have a session this week, but if you did need me, you know I’m here.
I smiled. I don’t know what it was, but her check ins were starting to make me feel special. I responded to her before I went to the bathroom to handle my hygiene.
Koi: I’m good, taking a few days to just be to myself and clear my mind. No need to trip, I’ll see you next session.
Rae: Hmm, okay.