Chapter Ten
Dreka
“Okay, Gomez,” I giggled as Xy kissed up and down my exposed arm like Gomez Addams from The Addams Family.
He placed his nose on my wrist and took a deep whiff before kissing my forehead. “You smell so good and look even better. I wanna bite you, for real.”
“Xy,” I laughed and shook my head at his antics, briefly looking up to catch Makenna’s disapproving eyes.
Swallowing down another laugh, I knew she was beyond irritated, and I hated that she was. We were at Jah’s 32nd birthday bash, and Ken had gone all out to celebrate her husband. Her focus should’ve been on him, but she had been tracking my and Xy’s movements for the better part of the night.
She didn’t even speak to him when we arrived in true Makenna fashion.
If she didn’t fuck with you then she didn’t fuck with you, and she didn’t mind you knowing it either.
She ain’t do all that fake shit, which was one of the things I loved the most about her.
I just wished there was a way I could dissolve the tension so that we could all get along.
“You tryna light up?” Jah asked Xy after walking over to us with a blunt gripped in his fingers.
“Hell yeah,” Xy slid off the barstool, kissing me on the lips in the process. “I’ll be right back, Angel. You good?”
“Yes.”
“Aight. Call me if you need me. Dean in here too though,” he informed me as if I didn’t already know his bodyguard was keeping tabs on me.
I nodded and after one more stolen kiss, him and Jah headed towards the stairs that led to the rooftop. It seemed like it was five seconds between when they walked away and Ken was placing her thick ass on the stool X had just occupied.
“I’ve been holding down vomit all night,” she whispered, her eyes darting around the room.
“Why? Are you okay?” My eyes swelled a little. “Are you pregnant?!”
“Bitch, no! The sight of you and Xy literally makes me want to throw up!”
I bust out laughing so loud that a few heads turned in our direction. “Ken, what is wrong with you?”
“The question is, what’s wrong with you?” She giggled and rolled her eyes before taking a long sip from her drink. “And why that nigga acting like y’all just met a month ago? All this PDA got my stomach upset.”
“Stop,” I said, still laughing. “You know how he is. He’s always been touchy feely in public and in private.”
“Keep it private, gahdammit!” She chastised with a grin.
“I love you, man,” my abs were starting to feel the effects of Ken’s jokes.
She pinched my neck like she always did when she was teasing me. “I love you too, baby boo. You know what I would love even more?”
“Don’t start. Tonight is about Jah,” I gave her a warning look, but I already knew she was gon’ keep talking anyway.
“I would really love if, for one calendar year, Xyleek Chambers kept you, Rahdreka Lombardo, genuinely happy. No chaos, no drama, no other women, just pure happiness. For a whole year. If he could do that, then I’d believe he’s serious about you this time.”
“A year is a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Dramaticcccc? It’s dramatic for me to want the man who claims to love you with all of his heart, money, and diamonds to do right by you for a year? I mean shit, I would hope the nigga does right for the rest of y’all’s lives. I’m starting with a year to be nice.”
I playfully rolled my eyes, avoiding her gaze because I knew she was expecting a response from me.
I didn’t know what to say though. My eyes locked on a woman who was staring dead at me on the other side of the bar.
Turning to see if there was anyone behind me that she could’ve been looking at, I realized there wasn’t.
When I looked at her again, she was still staring directly at me.
“D!” Ken snapped her fingers in front of my face, breaking me and ol’ girl’s stare off.
“Yes?” My eyes shifted to Ken.
“I said who is that?” Her head tilted towards the woman who was staring.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.”
Ken’s eyes squinted before she hopped off the barstool with her drink in hand.
Knowing exactly where she was going, I followed behind her, pushing through the sea of people that’d packed out the lounge for Jah.
On the way to the other side of the bar, I tried to see if Jah and Xy had come back in yet, but they hadn’t.
I knew Ken like the back of my hand, and if the staring shorty didn’t say the right shit, Ken was gon’ use the glass in her hand as a weapon.
“You cool?” Kenna stood to the side of the woman.
The woman’s cheeks turned red as her head slowly turned side to side to look at us. “Yes. I’m so sorry for staring, Rahdreka,” she stuck her hand out in my direction. “I’m Cassie. I work for The Quiet Storm.”
The Quiet Storm was one of those blog sites that was very similar to The Shade Room. They posted a bunch of shit about celebrities, some true, some not, and The Quiet Storm had done a lot of bullshit think pieces on me and Xy.
“Okayyyy…” I glanced down at her hand but didn’t shake it.
Cassie slowly stood up, and I saw Ken get into a defensive stance.
She would fight anyone, anywhere, and didn’t care if she ruined an event or not.
Lucky for her, Jah loved her dirty, period-stained draws, so if she turned his party up, he’d be right beside her stomping a hoe’s ears together.
That was just how hard they rode for each other.
“I apologize again, for staring. I’m a new writer with them, and I really wanted to do a piece on you in your own words.
I feel like so many times blogs get it wrong when it comes to y’all, and it’s more damaging than helpful.
I pitched the idea to them, and they just told me good luck as if they didn’t believe that I could get it done. ”
I blinked a few times, processing her words. “You want to interview me?”
“Yes,” she shook her head rapidly. “A chance for you to set the record straight in your own words.”
“Uh,” Ken inserted herself, her eyes scanning Cassie from head to toe. “One thing about Dreka, she don’t give a fuck about setting no record straight. People can believe what they wanna believe.”
“I agree, but I also believe she has a voice independent of Xyleek, and I just…” she blew out a deep breath.
“I believe the world wants to hear it. Certainly, people here in the 757 are invested in your relationship, and I see that the only time you speak to any reporters is when you’re with him.
I think this would be a great opportunity for the spotlight to be on you and you alone. ”
“Rahdreka,” Dean walked up to us. “Xy needs you up on the roof. You too, Makenna.”
“I know damn well Xyleek don’t want me up on no roof!”
“Not him, your husband.”
Glancing at Dean, I nodded and shrugged slightly. “I’ll think about it, Cassie, okay? Thank you.”
Dean extended his arm so that we could walk ahead of him.
We made our way up the stairs and then out to the rooftop deck where there seemed to be a whole other party going on.
The music was playing at a soft volume, and the decorations up there matched the ones inside the lounge.
I didn’t realize there were so many people up there smoking and chilling.
It wasn’t hard at all to spot Xy and Jah because they were the blingiest niggas on the deck.
Xy’s arms were outstretched as I walked towards him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he wrapped me up in a hug after I stepped into his embrace. “I wanted you near me,” he kissed the side of my head repeatedly. “I don’t like when I’m away from you too long.”
Melting into his chest, I inhaled deeply and laughed a little. “Xy, you act like it was hours.”
“Damn sure felt like it,” he squeezed me tighter. “I love you so much, Drek. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
My body immediately tensed at his words. “What happened?”
“What you mean?” He leaned back a bit to look at me.
“Did something happen, Xyleek?”
“With what?” He looked genuinely confused.
Staring at him, I realized my body was responding to those words because they typically came righttttt before something fucked up happened. I don’t know what I’d do without you was Xy’s red flag.
“You only say that when something is about to explode in my face, so what is it this time?”
“What? The only thing that’s gon’ be exploding in your face is me, later on,” he chuckled then kissed me softly on the lips.
“Drek, I really am trying this time. I said I don’t know what I’d do without you because I truly don’t know what the fuck my life would look like if you weren’t in it.
You really are my angel, and the only thing that’s ever made sense to me in this fucked up world. ”
The way he looked at me melted me like ice cream under a summer sun, and I went weak in the knees.
He always looked at me like I was the only person on the entire planet, and it did something to me every single time.
Something that made my brain shut down every logical function, and that’s how I ended up looking stupid time and time again.
I really was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt though.
“Mmhmmm,” I hummed, getting lost in the dreams in his eyes.
“Aye Dean.”
Dean was right beside us in a split second and Xy whispered something that I couldn’t hear.
Nodding, Dean quickly walked away and seconds later, Angel by Shaggy started playing over the speakers.
My lips twisted to the side because I knew Xy’s ass told them to put this shit on.
It was our song back in the day, and the reason he only called me Angel for real.
He started singing the lyrics to me while holding me as we two-stepped to the beat.
“Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel, closer than my peeps you are to me, baby, shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel, girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, lady, life is one big party when you're still young, but who's gonna have your back when it's all done?” Smiling, he kissed me again. “Thank you for always having my back, Angel. I’m not taking that for granted ever again. I love you, beautiful.”
“I love you too, Xy.”
“I’m ‘bout to tell the DJ to turn this shit off!” Ken disturbed our moment, purposely bumping into me and Xy.
“Makenna,” I whined with a slight laugh.
“You’re my angel,” she kissed my cheek and shot an evil glare in Xy’s direction.
She was always doing shit to get under his skin.
Ken knew how jealous and possessive the nigga was, so I knew she was only trying to get a rise out of him.
I squeezed his hand to keep him calm, and he squeezed mine back to silently tell me that he wasn’t on that with her.
At least not for tonight because unlike Ken, Xy wouldn’t ruin Jah’s birthday like that.
“Let’s go sing happy birthday and cut your cake, baby,” Ken grabbed Jah’s hand and started pulling him away.
“She better be lucky that I know you’d want her in our wedding, otherwise, I’d hurt Makenna’s feelings,” Xy whispered to me as we followed behind them.
Shaking my head, I kept quiet. There was clearly nothing I could say to him or her to make them like each other again. Thankfully, I didn’t need them to like each other, I just needed them to both love me.