Chapter 15 #3
“If I asked you to marry me, would you?”
Her eyes expanded. “What?”
“Answer the question.”
“Of course I would marry you.”
“So, if I said let’s get married tomorrow, would you?”
Irish covered her mouth with her hand. Words had ceased as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “You serious?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Yeah, it’s the only thing left to do. I want you to have my last name, Pumpkin. I need you to officially be mine forever.”
“And it’s not because of the baby? You want to marry me because you want to, right?”
The space between his brows dipped. “Yeah, why would you ask me that?”
“Because I remember you said you married Kenji’s mom because she was pregnant. I just want to make sure you're not trying to fulfil an obligation.”
Noble exhaled a sharp breath. “I’m in love with you, Irish.
I wasn’t in love with Daysha when I married her.
Yes, I was trying to do the right thing and honor her but my heart wasn’t in it.
You got my whole heart. I never wanna be without you and you having my baby is a plus.
You’ll never be an obligation. You're my reason, Pumpkin.”
She blushed, biting her bottom lip.
“You believe me?” He cupped her chin.
Bobbing her head, she gazed into his eyes.
“Now tell me what I want to hear.”
“Yes, I will marry you, Noble. You really mean it when you say tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I have everything all planned. It’s an area on the island where people go to get married. I figured we can get it done while we’re here.”
“Wait, what about your family? Like your siblings and your mom?”
Noble shook his head. “I don't need them here for that. Wilde and Zayd don't care about shit like that and my mama… it’s too complicated right now.”
He made a mental note to have a conversation with Lyra. It was time for him to express himself without his resentment being present.
“As long as Kenji is here and you got Cali and Ivory, I think we should be good.”
Irish wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips. “I can’t wait to be Mrs. St. Anthony. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Rio walked inside the salon, trying to quell his temper.
The night before, when he saw Cali’s name on his phone, his heart palpitated at the thought of her texting him.
He’d prayed on the way back from Diamond Falls for Cali to find a route back to him.
He needed her. The taste he’d had was just a tease.
Whenever he had free time, Rio reminisced on their time spent together and determined he needed more.
Imagine receiving a text, hoping it would be a road to more communication only to see a sonogram picture from the same woman he had fucked just to get back at Cali.
Rio did his best to play it cool while he spoke to her but he was slightly shaken.
That’s why Rozalin was the first person he wanted to see this morning.
“Can I help you?” the pretty woman at the front desk asked.
“Yeah, I need to holla at Rozalin. Is she here?”
“I’ll check. Who should I tell her it is?”
“Rio.”
The woman got up while he looked out the window. He fiddled his keys, hoping this conversation would be productive. So far, the last few chats Rio had with Rozalin had been filled with revelations, strife, and emotions.
“Hey.”
He spun around at the sound of Rozalin’s voice. She looked beautiful in her black attire and light makeup. Her hair was in her signature pixie with waves framing her hairline,
“Can we go somewhere and talk?”
Glancing at her watch, she nodded. “Yes, we can go to my office.”
Rio trailed her down a hallway and entered a room. The color scheme was black and gray just like the rest of the salon. Taking a seat on the couch, she sat on top of her desk.
“What’s up?” she questioned with an expression he couldn’t read.
“Are you pregnant?”
Smacking her lips, Rozalin looked away from him. Rio waited in agony, hoping she wouldn’t confirm what would be his biggest regret.
“Why are you asking me that, DuRio? Do you even care?”
“Why wouldn’t I care!” he snapped. “You think I would be here asking you if I didn’t care?”
“You haven’t been showing any concern as of lately,” she countered. “How did we go from conversing every day to you not even responding to my texts?”
“Roz, you only wanna argue now, and I’m not on that type of time.”
She jumped off her desk and rested her hands on her hips. “You really played me, and I’m so mad at myself for falling for your shit.”
Rio was exhausted with Rozalin’s victim origin story that she tried so hard to paint.
She was a willing participant in this affair.
It began with ill intentions on his behalf but she also didn’t have an innocent objective either.
The only topic he wanted to discuss was her being pregnant.
After their first-time slip up, Rio had managed to use a condom every time they had intercourse but he had to be certain.
“Are you pregnant?” he interrogated, not bothering to respond to her last statement.
“Is that all you care about? Making sure I’m not pregnant so you can run after Cali?”
Yep…
“Why you keep avoiding the question? Stop being so childish and answer.”
“No, I’m not pregnant!” she hollered. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Then why you post that sonogram? What was that for?”
Rozalin leaned on the desk while looking at her French manicure. “It’s my cousin. She is pregnant, and I was celebrating that. I didn’t know I needed permission to post a sonogram picture.”
There was so much Rio had to hold back. Rozalin was being messy. She posted that without context, knowing people would assume it was her. He didn’t feel like walking into that territory so he let it go.
“Fuck, I can’t believe you. You really aren’t the guy I thought you were.”
Rio was so relieved that her dig didn’t offend him. Getting Rozalin pregnant would’ve ended his quest to get Cali back in his life.
“You made me feel like we had something special,” Rozalin sniffled, wiping her eyes. “I thought I could be the woman you needed. Someone who’s loyal and wouldn’t dog you out like Cali did. You led me to believe that we could achieve that and now you're distant.”
“Do you not remember the last time we were together?” he shot back. “You said you were done and now you're acting like I dogged you out. That’s not fair, Roz.”
“No.” She pointed at him, shooting bullets with her eyes.
“Don't talk to me about fair because you don't know shit about it. What’s not fair is that you sold me this dream only to switch up on me.
What does Cali have that I don't? Why can’t you get over her?
She betrayed you. You almost got killed and you're still not over her.”
Rio didn’t have an answer to her question.
Not even he could understand why he hadn’t moved on from Cali.
She had done the unthinkable, yet life without her sounded worse than when he was in that coma.
Rozalin wasn’t aware of the pain he’d caused Cali either.
He’d cheated during their marriage and chose her to indulge in an illicit sex affair with.
There were blemishes on both of their parts, not just Cali’s.
Rio stood in front of Rozalin. There was some guilt for how he’d handled her. Her tears did penetrate him. Grabbing a Kleenex off her desk, he wiped her face.
“Stop crying,” he mumbled.
“No, I can’t. You hurt me, and I didn’t deserve it.”
No one deserved pain but somehow it happened. Life was filled with agony and no one could escape it.
“You probably won’t believe me when I say this but I never intended on hurting you. I was trying to hurt Cali, but I should've used better discernment with you. I’m sorry for not handling you correctly. I fucked up, okay?”
Rozalin sniffled and nodded. “Now what? Where do we go from here?”
“It’s best if we go our separate ways.”
Her eyes squeezed shut as she shook her head. She was hurt, and Rio understood it, but he couldn’t keep playing with her feelings. Despite the saying hurt people, hurt people, he couldn’t inflict anymore pain on her.
“You still want her, don't you?” she asked bitterly.
He nodded, finding no shame in his honesty.
Rozalin scoffed, taking a step back. “Then go. Don't come back when she decides to cheat again. I won’t be available to you. You deserve everything that Cali did to you, even the accident.”
Rio tipped his head, understanding that whatever he said would fall on ears that were too hurt to process his perspective. Willingly, he gave her one more look and made his way out of Rozalin’s life for good.