Chapter 40
Sade
“I spent the whole night trying not to think about Vaughn while everybody else slowly figured out exactly who he wanted.”
Marcus and I were still technically together, but I was seeing him less and less. Not on purpose.
At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
Vaughn and I had gotten closer after the Ritz.
Way closer. We texted throughout the day now.
Not even always flirty either. Sometimes he would just randomly text me pictures of furniture, buildings, food, or ask me which color shirt looked better.
We spent so much time together at Crown Heights that the line between business and personal had completely blurred.
I liked it.
Marcus noticed too. He started asking more questions. Calling more often. Wanting more time.
One night while we were eating tacos in his kitchen, he looked at me and asked, “You seeing somebody else?”
The way he asked it caught me off guard.
Aggressive almost.
“No,” I answered quickly.
He stared at me a little too long before nodding.
But Vaughn’s voice stayed in the back of my head anyway.
Drop that nigga, Sade.
I was trying.
Or was I really?
That question had been sitting with me all week.
Now I was at Laila’s new mansion for girls’ night, trying not to think too hard about any of it.
Her husband was gone for the weekend, and her son was upstairs with the nanny, so the whole downstairs was ours.
Hookah smoke. Wings. Liquor. Music. Bullshit.
Exactly what I needed.
I was lying across one of her couches, pigging out on lemon pepper wings while everybody talked loud over each other. I had been hungry as hell lately and honestly didn’t care if I was gaining weight. I worked too hard to stress over my body every five seconds.
“Damn, Sade, that’s your sixth wing! You said fuck that tummy tuck, huh?” Sophie laughed.
I turned up my nose. “Mind your business.”
Laila pointed at me with her hookah hose. “That’s happiness weight. She can always buy another surgery or get into the gym.”
I laughed and flipped her off.
The girls kept talking while I half-engaged, scrolling my phone between conversations.
Before everybody came over, I had already warned Laila, “Please make sure nobody starts talking about Vaughn.”
Unfortunately… Liquor made people forget instructions fast.
I finally watched Milan’s live earlier that week.
I wasn’t bothered by it.
Vaughn already told me everything himself. The drugs. The women. The obsession. None of it shocked me because he was real with me first.
I heard Milan trying to hint at me in the live too, but I wasn’t worried. She never said my name.
Still…
I didn’t want people speaking on it around me.
Unfortunately, Alana and Nia were drunk enough to start doing exactly that.
“So,” Nia said loudly from across the room, “you gon tell them about that weird ass threesome we had with Vaughn on his birthday?”
I looked up from my wings slowly.
Oh?
Alana laughed dryly. “Girl, you mean how we fucked each other, and he watched us, looking mentally unstable?”
“That’s not true.” Nia frowned.
“Yes, it is. That man looked miserable. Stop taking up for him like he like you.”
Nia rolled her eyes dramatically. “He still always picked me, though.”
Alana almost choked on her drink, laughing. “Girl, please. Don’t be delusional tonight.”
Laila immediately jumped in, trying to redirect them.
“Okayyyy, let’s not talk about niggas tonight.”
Neither one of them listened.
“That nigga spent way more time with me,” Nia continued.
“And still dropped your ass,” Alana shot back.
“Ooooh, this spicy!” Sophie laughed from the kitchen.
I grabbed my phone, trying not to laugh too hard.
ME: Yo hoes talking about you.
Vaughn responded almost instantly.
V Saint: funny… not my hoes
I burst out laughing.
ME: LOL. You had a threesome with the boppers. You ain’t tell me that part.
V Saint: Bye, Sade. See you at work tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the argument kept getting worse behind me.
“You’re acting like he wanted you seriously,” Alana said.
“He definitely liked me more than you.”
“Girl, stop. Vaughn only kept you around cause you were easy. Remember… wings and dick.”
The room got louder instantly.
“Bitch!” Jenny laughed.
Laila stood up now. “Okay, y'all are doing too much.”
But Alana kept going.
“Nah, I’m serious. He started acting funny when he started working on them ghetto luxury projects.”
That caught my attention a little bit.
Nia frowned. “What that got to do with anything?”
Alana took another sip of her drink. “Stop acting like we ain’t all seen his ex’s live. Like it ain’t viral now.”
“And?” Laila said.
“And that bitch was onto something,” Alana replied.
I stopped chewing for a second.
Nia rolled her eyes. “Milan is bitter. I told you that on the phone.”
“No… That nigga really obsessed with somebody in this room right now, and it ain’t Laila.”
Laila glanced at me.
I looked back down at my phone, pretending not to care.
Nia laughed. “Who?”
I took another bite of my wing.
Alana shrugged. “I mean… think about it. That man stopped dealing with everybody after working with the elephant in the room.”
Laila tried again. “Can we move on?”
“No,” Nia snapped suddenly. “‘Cause I still think he’s coming back to me.”
Alana laughed hard as hell. “Girl, you really are delusional, and they swear it be me.”
“He is.” Nia rolled her eyes.
“That nigga don’t even want us no more.”
“Speak for yourself,” Nia said.
That was when Laila finally got fed up.
She set her hookah down hard and looked between both of them.
“That man don’t even like y’all. He like my friend. I’m sorry, Sade, but I'm sick of these hoes arguing over a nigga that don’t like them.”
I was mid-bite into a wing when I looked up.
Everybody was staring at me. “Why everybody looking at me?”
To Be Continued…