17. Paisley Bernard
I’d been sitting on the couch in the dark for damn near three hours.
My phone was in my lap, screen brightness turned all the way up. I couldn’t wait for him to walk through the door so I could question his ass. PB had a lot of explaining to do.
I was so goddamn embarrassed when my homegirl Desiree sent me pictures of PB booed up with another woman.
They were both dressed up, and I can’t even lie, homegirl was cute as fuck.
She had a nice little figure on her and seemed like the type PB typically went for.
They were color coordinated, apparently she was his date, and Desiree sent me hella pictures and videos of them laughing, talking, and dancing.
The most embarrassing part was that I had just bragged to her about how I felt like we were finally moving in the right direction, how we had slept together not too long ago, and how I was certain I could finally get him to be a family with me and the kids.
Little did I know I was wrong as hell.
Desiree was at the Business Innovator of the Year ceremony with her husband, so that’s how she even saw all this shit in the first place.
And I knew she probably was judging me. Hell, I would be judging me too because the shit I was saying and the shit he was doing weren’t aligning.
So, I went and looked the event up. The same event he told me nothing about when I saw him leaving the house all dressed up, his stylist putting his clothes together, and the photographer here taking pictures.
I legit thought he was going to some type of event for his brother, which is what he normally did.
I never thought he was the one being honored.
The event had been over for hours, so he should’ve been home by now. I was looking at the pictures on their website when I saw a nice-looking picture of him on the front page. I clicked on it and the caption underneath.
Princeton Brentley is the youngest recipient in the history of the Business Innovator of the Year ceremony.
The founder of a multimillion-dollar security and luxury transportation company, Brentley has built a reputation for protecting some of the biggest names in entertainment while ensuring their safety, privacy, and comfort both on and off the road.
With an expanding fleet of luxury vehicles, armored transportation, and elite security services, his company has quickly become one of the most trusted names among celebrities and high-profile clients.
At the rate his business continues to grow, Brentley is projected to reach billionaire status within the next several years.
I closed my phone angrily.
About five minutes later, I stood up when I saw him pull in on the cameras through the garage.
He yawned as he exited the car and slowly made his way inside. Once he got to the living room, I hopped up quick.
“So, you was just not gon’ tell me?”
“Oh shit!” He jumped back, hand flying to his side out of pure habit. “What the fuck, Paisley!”
He flipped the light on, and I came across that living room floor fast and put my finger right up in his face.
“After we had sex, you took somebody else as your date to an event you didn’t even tell me about? You were being honored for something so special, and you decided to take another woman?”
Because that’s what got me.
Not even the picture. Not even the woman. It was the fact that I had to find out from Desiree.
See, me and PB ain’t never been official. I knew what we were and what we weren’t.
But I ain’t never stopped wanting it to be more.
He was a good man and a good father. Been that way since day one. And when Rah put his hands on me that last time, PB was the one who came. He showed up for me, Summer, and Rah Jr.
You know what that does to a woman?
“Man.” He set his jacket down on the arm of the couch and rubbed his eyes. “You need to chill.”
“No.” I shoved him in his chest with both hands, and he stepped back. “I thought we were really trying to build something!”
“I ain’t never told you that.”
“Well, your actions showed otherwise!”
He came toward me. “Nah. Your actions show that you want me to wife you up or something. And I’m not on that type of time with you.” He shook his head slow. “I’m not even on that type of time with nobody right now.”
I went to the pictures and showed him looking all in love with whoever this bitch was. He looked at them, dropped his head, and let out a long breath.
“She’s just a friend, but even if she were more... look, I don’t wanna say nothing I don’t mean. I don’t wanna come at you rude, so I’ma just go lay down. I got a headache.”
“No. Fuck that.”
I stepped closer. “We’re gonna have this conversation right now. Are you gonna try and be with that woman in that picture, or are you gonna try to be a family with me and the kids?”
“Pais…we ain’t never tried to be together, or a family, before. What you talking ’bout, man?”
He walked past me and dropped down on the couch, elbows on his knees, head hanging between his shoulders.
Then he dragged his hand down his face and looked up at me.
“I don’t wanna hurt your feelings, but I knew how this shit was gonna happen. That’s why I didn’t wanna fuck you that day.”
“I just…I don’t understand why I can’t be the woman for you.”
“Look how we met.”
“PB…”
“Nah, look how we met, Paisley. You wanted to fuck with somebody who was connected to Ozy Love. You wasn’t looking for a husband.
You weren’t looking for nobody to spend the rest of your life with, grow with, or any of that shit.
You were literally trying to be on the come up and fuck and suck on anybody who was related to or hung around my brother. Be real. Keep it a buck.”
I shook my head and swallowed the lump in my throat, and before I knew it, I was crying.
“See.” He sighed. “This is what I didn’t want…for you to start crying. I’m just being honest. You know how I am.”
I wiped my face with my forearm and turned away.
“Whatever, PB. I’m done with this conversation.”
I went to walk off, and he followed me all the way to my room. I tried to close the door in his face, and he pushed it right back open.
“Really? You said you wanted to have this conversation. Why the fuck are you walking away?”
“I’m done with it!” My voice went up. “I’m done trying. I’m gonna move like you said. You don’t want me here. Fuck it. I’m gonna go.”
I went straight to my closet, pulled down a duffel bag, threw it on the bed, and started grabbing anything I could reach.
“Paisley.”
His voice was calm. I didn’t turn around, though.
Then he was pulling me to him, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I felt him resting his chin on top of my head.
“Come here, man.” He tried to turn me around in his arms, but I pulled away from him, turned around, and took a few steps back before looking at him.
“No.” I sniffled. “I don’t want you to hug me. I don’t want you touching me like you want me if you don’t.”
“Pais…you and I are not meant to be together. I love us just coparenting without all the drama…we’re literally family. We have to be in each other’s lives for the next eighteen years. Why can’t it just be that?”
“Because I don’t want it to be just that, Princeton!”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know what else to say to you right now, and I don’t wanna make shit worse, so I’m going to bed.”
“It’s fine,” I whispered.
Princeton stared at me for a few more moments before he turned around and walked out of my room.
I stood there for a long moment with my hands hanging at my sides.
Then I looked at that duffel bag, grabbed it, and threw it as hard as I could. It hit the wall and fell to the floor.
“Fuck!”
“I had fun tonight,” King said.
“Really?” I tucked the blanket under his arm. “There weren’t really any other kids there, though.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “But I still had fun ’cause I got to dress up.”
“That’s true.” I smiled down at him. “You did look cute in your little suit.”
“Thank you.” He said it real polite, then tilted his head up at me. “You looked really pretty in your dress, Miss Noree.”
I put my hand on my chest. “Aww, thank you, King. You are such a sweetie.”
I reached over and moved his tablet off the bed, placing it on the charger on his nightstand.
“Tomorrow,” I told him, “We can watch Skyward Rangers.”
His whole face lit up. “Ooh, that’s gonna be fun.”
“I know. I’m super excited. Let me ask you something. If you could pick to be any ranger you wanted, which ranger would you be?”
The look that boy gave me. He turned his head slow on that pillow and squinted at me like I had just asked him the stupidest question in the world.
“What?” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s only two colors, Miss Noree. There’s a blue ranger and a pink ranger.”
“Yes.” I snapped my fingers like it was all coming back to me, when the truth was I still didn’t know one single thing about Skyward Rangers. I just knew he loved the show. “You are so right. I forgot. Okay, so I’ll be pink and you be blue.”
I laughed because I definitely needed to do my damn research.
“Okay,” he said and settled into bed.
I stood up and stretched my back, then reached over and clicked off his lamp. That boy jumped so hard the whole bed moved.
“Oh,” I said, catching myself. “I almost forgot…sorry sweetie.”
“It’s okay.”
There was a little star-shaped nightlight down by the dresser, so I bent down and clicked that on instead. “Better?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Alright. Goodnight, King.”
“Goodnight, Miss Noree.”
I pulled his door until it was cracked just how he liked it, turned around, and just about jumped out of my own skin because Ozy was standing right there in the hallway smiling at me.
“How long you been standing there?” I asked, holding my hand over my heart.
“Long enough.” He nodded real slow and looked at me for a second longer than he needed to.
“King was right, though… about how you looked tonight.”
I felt my stomach flip. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you looked good as hell in yo’ dress.”
“Oh.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Well, thank you. I appreciate that. You looked nice too. You cleaned up real good in your tux.”
“Appreciate that.”
“King said he had fun, and honestly, the event was nice, especially getting to see your brother being honored.”
“Yeah.” He looked down the hall toward nothing in particular, and his jaw moved a little. “I just wish my brother would tell me more about his accomplishments.”
“What do you mean?”
“He ain’t really wanna tell me about tonight.” He shook his head. “And I don’t ever want him to feel like he can’t, you feel me? ’Cause the same way he celebrates me, I wanna be able to do the same.”
I leaned my shoulder against the wall because my feet had officially quit on me, and I thought about it for a second before I said anything.
“He’ll probably come around,” I told him.
“But I kind of understand it, though. It’s probably not the easiest thing in the world living in the limelight of somebody famous, especially when that’s your own brother.
So I get why he was a little apprehensive at first. I’m glad he told you, though, ’cause he looked real happy up there.
And you looked like a proud brother sitting on that front row, clapping and cheesing and taking all them pictures. That was cute to me.”
He laughed low and rubbed the back of his neck. “You were watching me?”
“Not at all.” I smiled at him, and then a yawn came over me out of nowhere. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. “Excuse me. My bad about that….I’m so damn tired…I’m gonna head to the guest house.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Goodnight, Noree.”
“Goodnight Ozy.”