Page 46 of Mister President

“Hey, sis,” West spoke, eyes shifting from me to Ryan.

Ryan wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close, which I liked.

“What’s up, West? What y’all about to get into?” I asked since they were walking down the opposite side of the boardwalk as us.

“Probably grab a few drinks before we head to the lounge. E know you out?”

Chuckling, I shook my head. “He has our son, so I’m pretty sure he knows I’m doing my own thing—as usual.”

“Aight.” He eyed Ryan again. “I’ll let him know I saw you.”

“You can tell him we’ll be at the speakeasy if he wanna come through,” Ryan said, taking me by my hand and leading me away. “Y’all be easy.”

All I could do was smile. There was no doubt in my mind they were going to run gossiping to Elias. There was also no doubt in my mind that Elias would like the type of time Ryan was on with that response. I didn’t see him pulling up to the speakeasy since he had EJ, but he’d probably FaceTime me for sure.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “Our relationship has been up and down over the years. We’re officially done with each other though.”

“I trust your word,” he said, giving me a warm smile.

“What about you and Candice?”

“We don’t deal with each other like that no more. Not for the past three years or so, which is probably why we have the issues we do.”

“Does she want to be with you or something?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t trust me. I cheated, plus with me being deployed as often as I am, she be paranoid about me fucking off.”

“I feel you. I cheated too. I know the damage that does to a relationship.”

“Did you want him back?”

Hell…Istillwanted him back. It didn’t matter though. Not right now at least.

“I do but I don’t think he trusts me.”

“Oh, so this is a present thing? I meant in the past.”

Chuckling, I tried to release his hand, but he held mine tighter. “Slip of the tongue I guess.”

“Yeah, I hear you.” He laughed quietly. “On some real shit, though, if you really want him…I hope y’all can make it work.”

“Me too.”

Our time at the speakeasy was fun. We drank a little more and enjoyed the karaoke. I ended up singing two songs, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had fun with a man that wasn’t Elias. Still, he was on my mind and on my heart. As he walked me to my car, Ryan asked could he see me again this weekend. I told him that was cool. Sunday, I had to go and get EJ, so my Saturday was free. He asked me if I had an idea of what I wanted to do or if I wanted him to plan our day, and I told him I’d let him know in the morning. Making plans tonight would lead to overthinking in the morning, and that was something I didn’t want to do.

Saturday Evening

“You were right.Homemade is definitely better.”

I smiled as I watched Ryan fork another bite of spaghetti into his mouth. It was nothing for me to make him a pot of spaghetti. That was the easiest thing to cook in life. I made a salad andfried some fish and onions as well. It felt good catering to a man in this way since I hadn’t done it for Elias in a while. Since we’d been up and down, I hadn’t been meal prepping for him when he had EJ like I used to do. It was petty on my part, but I felt like he didn’t deserve it.

Ryan and I planned to go down to the country tonight to ride some ATVs, drink a little moonshine, and ride some horses if they were out. There would be line dancing as well, I was sure, so I knew it would be a time.

When I cooked, I went live. I wasn’t thinking about the background being different and all that. It wasn’t until Elias sent me Future’s “Throw Away” that I considered him watching and realizing I was with another man. I hadn’t replied yet because I honestly didn’t know what to say. It felt like he wanted me to really take things to the next level with whoever I was with, and I wondered if it was because he wanted me to move on or if he thought it was simply something I needed to get out of my system.

“I’m glad you like it. Now you’ll be able to make it yourself.”

“You ain’t gon’ be around to make it for me?” he asked with a charming smile.

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