18. Piper
Ten Years Later
Pulse Media Magazine
Farmington Hills, Michigan
“The two-time Grammy Award winners, Kema P. and her husband, Knowledge, took to the media to speak on behalf of the recent scandal surrounding their marriage. A recent video went viral on social media when the video captured Kema in an altercation with—”
The door to my office swung open, halting me from continuing my piece.
Tashina appeared in my doorway with a huge smile on her face.
It didn’t matter how many times I’d told her to either knock or call me; the woman did whatever the hell she wanted to do.
I promise, if she wasn’t my bonus sister, I would have fired her six years ago.
Tashina was my mom’s new husband’s daughter.
I’d hired her as my assistant when she finally graduated from college. She was only supposed to work for me as an intern until she got her dream job as a graphic designer for a modeling agency called Revive.
The same Revive Sabrina Murphy co-owned.
It didn’t quite work out, because Tashina had a bad case of ADHD. She often denied it, but her father, Parnell Higgins, told us she was definitely partial to hyperactive energy.
Because of that, Revive decided to go with someone less active, which was why she was still under me as my first assistant.
I couldn’t deny that she was good at her job, but she was very intrusive, sometimes forgetful, and absolutely did not respect boundaries.
“Guess what?” she asked, coming inside and closing the door.
“Tash, before we play any guessing games, what have I told you about barging in without knocking or calling first?”
“My apologies, sis. I totally forgot.”
“You always forget.”
“I know. I’m going to do better. I promise.” She took a seat in front of my desk. “Now guess.”
I sighed and smirked. “You have a date with another clown in your roster of clowns?”
“See, allat ain’t even necessary.” She rolled her eyes playfully, then pulled an envelope from her pocket, sliding it across my desk.
“What is this?”
Her smile was way too wide for me. “Open it and see.”
I side-eyed her and opened the envelope, pulling out two tickets to the Detroit Vipers black-tie charity gala tonight.
Instantly, my mind traveled back ten years. I was back at True, seeing the gorgeous smile of none other than Khalil Grey.
I shut my eyes as my head lowered.
Leaving him was one of my life’s biggest regrets. Every day after I left, I felt my heart break from the inside out.
I tried calling.
I even sent letters, but to no avail.
After two months of me trying to reach out, I had finally given up and realized Khalil was through with me.
When his number got disconnected, my sadness turned to anger. I was angry because, for someone to tell me how much they loved me and couldn’t live without me, he made my young mind believe that what we had wasn’t as real as he projected it to be.
I knew the truth, though.
I’d hurt him.
Not only did I walk out on him, but I also walked out on Kiyanne and Nana. In those two and a half months of dating Khalil, I had grown attached to his family.
I never contacted Nana because I felt as if she hated me, too.
But I watched.
I saw when the Detroit Vipers drafted him, watched all of his games, and watched his rise to fame alongside his idol, Isaiah Walker.
I also saw that he had a fiancée.
She was pretty, very flamboyant from what I’d seen on social media, and everything a star basketball player would go for. Fake boobs, big behind, and collagen.
And Kiyanne?
So gorgeous and big now, and I hated myself for not staying by his side to watch us and her grow together.
I felt the tears stinging my eyes but hurriedly shook them away.
I had no time for regrets.
I had my dream of owning a multimillion-dollar magazine company and had moved on with my life. While I didn’t have a man I claimed, I dated occasionally, and that was enough for me.
I cleared my throat and put the tickets back in the envelope. “Nice. How did you get these?”
“I know people.” She winked. “So I need you to get fine tonight because we’re going to see your boo in real time!” she said in excitement.
“I’m not going to that.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m not. Take Chardon. I’m sure she’d love to go with you.”
“First off, Char is out of town with her new boo, and secondly, this is your opportunity to see Khalil again. This will be a monumental reunion you will regret if you don’t show up.”
I frowned. Tashina only knew a little bit about me and Khalil’s relationship.
I was very vague about the details surrounding our relationship because I didn’t want to keep reliving the heartbreak.
I told her we dated and broke up because I had to return to Michigan to care for my mom.
She knew I was sad about it, but that was as much as I was willing to expose.
“Are you forgetting he has a fiancée?”
“Girl! Forget that fake-ass Malibu Barbie! He don’t want that ho. You can see it all over his face in those pictures. You shittin’ on her ass effortlessly.”
“Shina,” I said in a warning tone. I may have been the owner and editor-in-chief of Pulse, but I made sure that anyone who worked for me remained professional. Tashina sometimes forgot where we were, per usual.
She covered her mouth. “Oops. My bad, Ms. Sawyer.”
I cut my eyes at her. “Anyway. As much as I’d love to join you, I simply can’t. I have to finish this piece by tomorrow evening for publication. Speaking of, did you speak with Brent about the new web design?”
“I’m right on top of that, Rose!”
I bit the inside of my jaw to keep from laughing at her.
That was an epic failure.
“You get on my nerves so bad.”
“You love me. Please come with me. I don’t have anyone else, and this is a major opportunity to snag me a baller, annnd it could be beneficial to you to snag a few interviews. Please?” She pouted, clasping her hands together in a praying manner.
I sighed heavily. “I’ll think about it.”
She jumped up from her seat. “That’s good enough for me. Be ready at eight. I’ll pick you up. See ya! Call me if you need me!” Then she was out the door.
I closed my eyes again and released the nervous breath I was holding in. I turned my chair to look out at the afternoon sun from my floor-to-ceiling windows.
I’d acquired a lot in the last ten years and was proud of my accomplishments, but since leaving True, I had been empty.
The accolades on my wall, winning a Pulitzer for my outstanding journalistic work, and even living lavishly didn’t fulfill me.
There was an insatiable longing inside of me.
Longing for real love.
Longing for a family of my own.
And . . . a longing for the man whom I’d let get away.
I knew if I showed up to that gala tonight, things in my almost-perfect life would shift.
The question was whether I was ready to face the man who stole my heart. How would he react to seeing me? Would he be happy? Surprised? Would he hate me?
I was sure it would be the latter. I’d hurt him. I just didn’t know if we would ever come back from that.
This is stupid.
My heart was galloping out of my chest as I paced my living room, on my third glass of wine. The cream slip dress clung to my curvy frame and was ultimately making me hot since my nerves were frayed.
I fanned myself with my clutch, careful not to perspire too much before I sweat my edges out. This cute spiraled updo I managed to do had to last at least until the end of the night. I looked in the mirror mounted on my wall and fixed the curls that framed my face.
I had no idea why I let Shina convince me to go to this damn gala. I was setting myself up for failure.
That, I knew.
If this was work-related, I could have put my focus on that, but since it wasn’t, my thoughts and feelings were on seeing the man I had caused pain.
“Piper, what the fuck are you tripping for? You reached out after you left. It’s not like you’d forgotten about him,” I scolded myself.
“You may have hurt him, but it’s been ten years, and clearly, he’s moved on and is happy.
Besides, Shina’s right. I could potentially score some new stories if I go.
” I blew out a hefty breath, then drained the rest of my glass.
On cue, my phone lit up with Tashina’s name.
“Okay, Piper. This is it.” I shut down the lights, grabbed my phone and keys, then exited the house.
“Yasss, baddie! You are serving beauty and bawdy, honaaay!” Shina exclaimed out of the window. I shook my head as I got inside her 2025 BMW.
“I swear, I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”
“Because deep down, you know you want to see that gorgeous man.”
“Please don’t make me regret this, Shina. I’m only going because you were right about me scoring some interviews. I haven’t done a piece on any ball players, so this could be interesting, especially if I can get an interview with Isaiah Phantom Walker.”
“Or Khalil Ghost Grey.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.
“Okay, first things first. I need you to get rid of the illusion that Khalil and I will be rekindling anything. Too much happened in those few short months between us, and it didn’t end on good terms. I left him.
I broke his heart, and he shunned me. So I’m asking you not to go in there with the intention of playing matchmaker.
What we had is dead and gone, and I am okay with that. ”
I wasn’t okay with it, but she didn’t need to know that.
“So, apparently, you didn’t tell me everything. Here I am, thinking it’s because you had to move back home because of your mom, and it’s because you made the choice to leave him?” she asked in shock. “Why did you leave?”
I looked straight ahead and shook my head. I didn’t want to reveal my selfish truth, but since I’d slipped up and said something, I knew I had to tell her.
“A lot happened outside of our relationship. I wasn’t completely healed from Andre’s Houdini act, and my insecurities outweighed my love for him.
Did I love him? Absolutely. Did I trust him?
Yes. But when his baby’s mother attacked me, and I had to put paws on her, I knew we would never live a life of peace as long as she was around. ”
“Are you serious? Not your feisty behind running away from a little smoke from his baby’s mother. Not the woman who dominates boardrooms like she’s Miranda Priestly ducking wreck from who I’m sure was a nobody if he was with you.” She giggled.
I frowned. “What? What the hell does ducking wreck mean?”
“Meaning you fought her and ran like Natalie Nunn did to Diamond the Body from Baddies.”
“I don’t even watch that bullshit, so I’m unaware of the reference. But I didn’t run from her ass, if that’s what you’re implying. I ran from potential future problems. It wasn’t only about the attack; it was about his naysaying friends and Sabrina Murphy.”
“Sabrina Murphy? Sabrina Murphy. The owner of Revive?”
“That would be the one,” I confirmed.
“But you all worked together before. I thought you two were cool?”
“We have never been cool. Cordial? Yes. But it was only to get close to Quinton.”
“Quinton Williams? Your co-editor-in-chief?”
I nodded. After I exposed her in college, I never heard from or saw Sabrina again until I interviewed with her company two summers ago.
When she saw me, she looked spooked and angry at the same time.
But she didn’t blow up or turn me away like I thought she would and allowed me to interview her for my Pulse magazine piece.
At first, I wasn’t going to backstab her.
I wanted to let bygones be bygones, and she agreed, making it seem as though our being adversaries was over.
But when I overheard her tell her partner that she wanted to try to sabotage my career, I got to her first by snatching her best editor for her magazine.
“Wooow.” Shina dragged. “You are cutthroat. I love it! Fuck that snooty bitch. She was the one who fired me when I was an intern, so I’m glad you got Quinton on your team.”
“It wasn’t easy, but with a few extra coins and a guaranteed partnership, I knew he couldn’t refuse.”
“Yeah, well, you have my word that I won’t play matchmaker. Although I think it’s fate that you all will be in the same room together after ten years. This is something like a ten-year college reunion. Anniversary for you guys, if you will.”
The fact that she said anniversary was wild.
“Shina,” I said in a warning tone.
“Okay, fine. Meanie. Let’s just go and have a good time, please?”
“We’ll see,” I mumbled as she continued to our destination.