Chapter 35 Asia
Bella still hadn't written me back yet. I gave her an hour, which should have been plenty of time for her to see my messages and respond, but now she had me worried. What the hell was Roxanne up to now?
I forced myself to finish the mockups I was working on for Messy Tees then sent them to Guiseppe for approval. Once that was done, I called Bella one more time.
She didn't answer.
Sucking my teeth, I threw on an outfit and some shoes. All this silence was causing me anxiety. I had my keys in hand and was walking toward the door when she called back. "Hello?" I answered, trying not to sound too worried.
Bella's sniffles could be heard on the other line. "I'm tired of this shit, Asia."
My heart panged. My own eyes filled with tears for my friend.
"What happened?" Silence filled the line for a few seconds, then she started.
"Fucking Roxanne," she said, and from her using her mother's first name, I knew it was about to be some bullshit.
"She texted my phone telling me these bitches were trying to jump her.
I jump up to go try and resolve it because nine times out of ten, her ass is in the wrong in the situation but I'm not about to let them jump my mother.
Why do I get there and find out she's fucking Jason!
" Bella screamed those last words, the pain evident in her voice.
Jason was one of Bella's exes who ended up cheating on her and breaking her heart. "Oh my God," I said, shaking my head and trying to find the words to say to that, but Bella continued.
"She's fucking Jason, and now his wife and her sisters are trying to jump my mom and she put me in the middle of that bullshit."
More silence filled the line for a few moments. "Damn, Bella," I said, still trying to form words. Roxanne was a toxic piece of work. Why fuck your daughter's ex man? And then not only that, start beef with the woman he cheated on her with and later married? Then expect Bella to fight your battles?
Bella's voice cut into my thoughts. "And now she got me out here looking fucking crazy, as usual."
"Bella, I'm so sorry," I said, but I knew my words would do nothing for her pain.
This was why Bella always gravitated toward my mom instead of her own.
Roxanne was always into some shit while Bella was just trying to live her life.
But Bella was still yearning for her mother's love so she always went running behind her.
It wasn't my place to tell her to cut her mother off, but a lot of times, that was what I wanted to say. "You want me to come over?" I said instead.
Bella sniffled again. "No, I'm good. I just needed to get that off my chest." She sounded fine now that she had her outburst, but I wanted to make sure she was good.
"I'll come chill for a few," I offered.
She sniffled again. "No for real, I'm good. Plus Blake is on his way. I just got off the phone with him before I called you."
For some reason, those words hit me like a slap in the face.
Not that I was mad at Bella for having her man comfort her instead of me but.
.. yeah, maybe that was it. Bella and Blake had been becoming thick as thieves.
And for all the shit she talked about me and Nyree moving too fast, she was trusting Blake with deeply personal shit.
My ring finger glinted in the light and I suddenly realized I had no room to judge.
Here I was with a whole secret husband while Bella had been transparent about every aspect of her relationship with Blake from day one.
"He's outside," Bella said, cutting into my thoughts.
"Okay girl, let me know if you need me."
"I will," she said, then she hung up.
I stared at my phone for a long moment after Bella hung up, my mind a jumble of contradictory feelings.
On one hand, I was worried sick about her.
Roxanne had always been a nightmare, but sleeping with her daughter's ex?
That was a new low, even for her. On the other hand, I felt an unexpected twinge of something like jealousy that Bella had called Blake before me, that she was turning to him in her moment of crisis.
And underneath all of that was the weight of my secret. The wedding band on my finger caught the light again as if to taunt me. How could I judge Bella for anything when I was keeping something this massive from her?
I dropped onto my couch, suddenly exhausted.
I'd been so caught up in the whirlwind of emotions with Nyree that I hadn't processed what our impulsive decision meant for all my other relationships.
Bella's words from earlier echoed in my head.
You were just saying you no longer believed in love, and we had that whole conversation the night you met Nyree, but then you pop up engaged to him? Yeah sis, that ain't it.
And she didn't even know we were already married.
The sound of a key in my door pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up as Nyree walked in, a small bag of takeout in one hand and a conflicted expression on his face.
"Hey," he said, his voice soft.
"Hey." I tried to smile, but it felt forced. "How was work?"
"Work was fine." He set the takeout on the coffee table and sat beside me, not quite touching me. Something was off. "I had to help my mom move some furniture after."
"How's she doing?" I asked, grateful for the distraction from my own thoughts.
Nyree sighed heavily, running a hand over his face. "She's... concerned."
My stomach dropped. "About what?"
"About us." He turned to face me. "She thinks we're moving too fast."
"She knows?" My eyes widened.
"No, no," he said quickly. "She doesn't know we're married. She just… She called me over there to say I was rushing into things without thinking them through."
"Oh." I looked down at my hands, at the two rings that now felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. "What did you tell her?"
"That I love you. That I know what I'm doing." He reached for my hand, his palm warm against mine. "But I didn't tell her we're already married."
I nodded, understanding. "Bella called earlier with the same concerns. About us moving too fast."
"What did you tell her?"
"Nothing." I shook my head. "I couldn't bring myself to tell her the truth. And then she got caught up in some drama with her mom, so..." I trailed off, not wanting to get into Roxanne's latest mess.
Nyree nodded, his thumb tracing circles on the back of my hand. "So we're both hiding our marriage from the people closest to us."
When he put it like that, it sounded so much worse. A knot formed in my throat.
"What does that say about us?" I whispered. "About our decision?"
"It says we weren't thinking about anyone but ourselves," Nyree replied. "And maybe that's not bad. This is our life, our relationship. But..."
"But we still have to face everyone eventually," I finished for him.
"Yeah." He squeezed my hand. "My mom threw one of my dad's old sayings at me. 'A hard head makes a soft ass.'"
Despite everything, I laughed. "Sounds like something my mom would say too."
A brief smile crossed his face before fading. "I think we need to tell them, Asia. All of them. My mom, your mom, Bella. We can't keep this secret forever, and the longer we wait, the harder it's going to be."
"I know." I sighed, leaning my head against his shoulder. "But they're going to be hurt that we did it without them. My mom especially, since she’s the one who gave us her blessing."
Nyree was quiet for a moment, thinking. "What if we still gave them that?"
I lifted my head to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"What if we still planned a wedding? A real ceremony with all our family and friends. We're already legally married, but no one else needs to know the timeline. We can have the big celebration everyone's expecting, and we don't have to admit that we jumped the gun."
I considered this, turning the idea over in my mind. It wasn't honest, but it wasn't a lie either. And it would give my mom the chance to see me in a wedding dress, to be part of the celebration.
"You think that would work?" I asked.
"I think it's worth a try," he said. "We can set a date a few months out, go through all the motions. It would give people time to get used to the idea of us being engaged, and then we can have the ceremony everyone expects."
It was a solution, but something about it still didn't sit right with me. "So we just pretend for months that we're engaged, not married? Keep wearing these rings in secret?"
Nyree glanced down at his own wedding band, which he must have put on after leaving his mother's house.” Damn, I didn’t even think of that.”
The thought of hiding my ring, of pretending our marriage hadn't happened yet, made my chest ache. But what was the alternative? Coming clean and dealing with everyone's disappointment and judgment?
"Okay," I said. "We'll plan a wedding. But I don't think I can keep this from Bella for months, Nyree. She's my best friend."
"Then tell her," he encouraged. "But wait until she's not dealing with her mom stuff. And prepare for her to be upset."
I nodded, grateful for his understanding. "What about your mom?"
He hesitated. "Let me think about it. She's... she can be hard to predict sometimes. But I don't want to lie to her."
We sat in silence for a moment, the weight of our secret pressing down on us. I wondered if this was how all marriages started—with compromises and complications, with balancing your new commitment against all your existing ones.
"Do you regret it?" I asked. "Getting married like we did?"
Nyree turned to face me, taking both my hands in his. "No," he said firmly. "I don't regret marrying you, Asia. Not for a second. I just wish we'd thought through the aftermath a little better."
Relief washed over me. "Me too."
He leaned forward and kissed me, his lips already familiar despite the newness of our union. When he pulled back, there was determination in his eyes.
"We'll figure this out," he said. "We'll plan a wedding that makes everyone happy, and in the meantime, we'll enjoy being married privately. And when the time is right, we'll tell them the truth. But for now, let's focus on us. On building our life together."
I nodded, wanting desperately to believe it could be that simple. "Speaking of building our life together, did you decide about the living arrangements?"
"I'm thinking your place makes more sense for now," he said. "It's bigger, and I can break my lease if I need to. Unless you'd prefer mine?"
"No, I like it here." I glanced around my apartment, trying to imagine it with Nyree's things mixed in with mine. "But are you sure about breaking your lease? That can get expensive."
"It's worth it to be with you every night." He smiled, but there was something cautious in his eyes. "Unless you think we should wait? Take it slower?"
I considered this. I wanted to say yes, let's take it slow. After all, everyone in our lives seemed to think we were moving too fast. Maybe they had a point? But at the same time I hated the idea of more waiting.
"No," I said. "I want you here. With me. Every night. Plus why pay two rents?"
His smile broadened, becoming more genuine. "Then that's what we'll do. I'll start moving my things this weekend."
"Okay." I smiled back, feeling some of the tension ease from my shoulders. We had a plan now, even if it was a complicated one.
Nyree reached for the takeout bag he'd brought. "I got Thai from that place you mentioned. Are you hungry?"
"Starving," I admitted, grateful for the shift to a lighter conversation.
As we ate, we talked about other things—his client meetings, my design work for Messy Tees, a movie we both wanted to see. Normal couple stuff.
But as I watched him laugh at something I said, his eyes crinkling at the corners, I couldn't shake the lingering doubts.
Not about him, not about us, but about the way we'd gone about things.