8. Services No Longer Required #4
“You already said that,” I acknowledged, turning to look out the window.
“Talk to me, please,” he pleaded.
“I really don’t feel like talking,” I said with an attitude, then watched in confusion as he drove right past my exit. “Brick, where are we going? When I said I wanted to go, I meant home.”
“Nah, Peep. You don’t feel like talking to me, remember? Keep it that way,” he asserted, not even giving me a second glance. I frowned, calling him a freaking idiot before shutting my lips tight in indignation.
After a twenty-minute drive, I finally broke my vow of silence when I saw him take the exit to a private airport, St. Bray’s International.
“Brick… What are you doing?” I went for my phone, noticing it wasn’t in the cupholder where I put it. “Where’s my phone?”
“You can get that back when we’re done.”
“Y-You can’t do that! Give me back my phone!”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want. You can either talk to me now, or at thirty-thousand feet in the air. Your choice.”
“You’re gonna kidnap me and drag me on a plane because I don’t wanna talk to you?” I argued. “That’s insane!”
“You ain’t heard? Ya nigga is a lil’ off, baby.
Now let me know if I need to make this call or not.
You got one minute.” Since I met him, I had been hearing whispers about how crazy he and the rest of his family were.
Besides a well-deserved beat down that his mom gave my daddy, I had never seen it in person.
“Brick…” I tried to reason with him. He didn’t even answer, looking at his nails as if I was boring him. I decided to call his bluff and sat back, crossing my arms. He looked at me and smirked.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said before climbing out of his seat. He quickly made his way to my door and pulled it open. My body went stiff as a corpse when he reached over, unbuckled my seatbelt and snatched me out, throwing me over his shoulder caveman style.
“Brick! Stop this! Put me down! Brick!” I hollered as I punched him in his back repeatedly. He didn’t even flinch and I was hitting him with my full strength.
“You can’t do this! We have a wedding in less than a month! Stop playing.”
“I’ll have you back long before then,” he mused. He made it halfway up the stairs when I realized that this man was serious and was about to snatch me up and take me to some undisclosed location without a bag, a phone, or anything else.
“Okay!” I surrendered. “We can talk! Just put me down, please!”
“I thought you’d see it my way,” he said, snickering as he turned around before walking back down the steps and putting me down on the tarmac.
When I looked up and he was still smiling, the realization set in that I was set to be married to a freaking psychopath, and I wondered how I had never seen it before.
“You… You’re crazy!” I said, trying to catch my breath from using all my energy to pound on his strong back.
“In the flesh, baby. But hear me out before you completely write me off.”
“Go ‘head,” I said with flared nostrils and crossed arms as I waited for him to tell me what he needed to say.
“Listen, I’ma be honest with you… I did fuck her. The last time was before I came to your house to ask you to come out with me. At that point you and I were just cool. Shit wasn’t even the same with her, and if it makes you feel better, I didn’t even nut.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I asked with the most disgusted look on my face.
“I mean, yeah. The whole reason I fucked her was so I could nut. But I never got there because all I could think about was you.”
“Brick… Is this supposed to be romantic? Because it’s not! You were just kissing all over me tonight, and now I have to wonder where your lips have been!” My lips turned down even more.
“Man, I ain’t kiss that fuckin’ girl!” he said like I should have known better.
“So you were all up in her, but didn’t kiss her?” My lips flattened into a skeptical line.
“That’s the truth! I don’t be out here kissing’ these bit-…
women.” He quickly corrected himself when he saw the look on my face.
“I save that shit for my girl. Look, I know this sounds fucked up. I know it’s not what you wanna hear, but I wanna try this relationship shit with you.
And not because we have to do this wedding shit, or because of how you’re dressed tonight.
I fuckin’ like yo’ ass. I can tell you now, a nigga won’t be perfect, but as long as I’m in this with you, them other women don’t exist to me.
I ain’t never lied to you, and I ain’t about to start now.
Just tell me what I need to say or do to put your mind at ease. ”
“Tell them what you just told me,” I said softly.
“Make it clear to any other woman that you’re with someone and make it known walking up to you like that is unacceptable,” I said, looking straight ahead.
I knew he wouldn’t do it and was fully prepared to go back to whatever we were before the waters got murky.
“Done,’ he answered, pulling out his phone and typing for a moment. When he finished, he handed it to me and watched as I mumble-read the words on the screen.
Brick West:
BCC: Mina; Jemma; Kenya; Asia; Moya, +4 more
Your services are no longer required. Please consider this the end of our contract. Any deviation from previously agreed upon terms, or attempts to contact, harass, or confront me or anyone associated with me will result in legal consequences detailed in your contract paperwork.
“You made them sign contracts?!” I asked with my mouth open.
“Fuck yeah!” I cut my eyes at him. “I mean, yes.”
“What did they say?” I asked, unable to resist the curiosity because the man was nuts.
“Pretty basic shit. They aren’t allowed to discuss me or anything they do with me or act a fool if they see me in public. Matter of fact, Mina’s ass just fucked up. I been letting her slide, but that deposit is as good as gone,” he fussed.
“You make them pay?” I asked in shock.
“That’s something new. I had one too many try to play in my face. So, yeah. In order to stay on the roster, they gotta put somethin’ on it.”
“Oh my God… I’m scared to ask, but what else?”
“They have to submit fresh test results once a month. I have an app they can upload it to. I also need to verify that they’re on birth control, and there’s a clause that if an unplanned pregnancy occurs due to improper use, then I accept no responsibility for the child, financial or otherwise.”
“You would just leave your kid out here high and dry?” I asked.
“Hell naw, Peep! I would never do no shit like that. But it keeps them from trying to pull some shit if they know there’s no possibility for financial gain. I would probably take them to court for full custody and win.”
“So, you want kids?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged honestly. “But if I had one, I sure as fuck wouldn’t let him grow up without his Pops,” he grumbled as a look that I couldn’t place washed over his face. I didn’t reply, but I knew for sure we would be talking about this in the future.
“So, are we good?” he asked, bringing his forehead to mine.
“I guess so,” I nodded, barely getting the words out before he pulled me into another kiss.