Page 1 of Ex- Factor
chapter one- Eshe
Six months after Donte.
That’s how long it took me to untangle myself from Donte’s grip—physically, emotionally, spiritually. I moved out of the house he “helped fix” before I had to kill his ass with my bare hands because he wouldn’t stop popping up. I would figure out what to do with my granny's place later. I got a new number, blocked every person he knew, and our messy-ass mutuals—including his wife and his mama. I even changed jobs and got a new hairstyle. I had my locks combed out and was wearing my hair any way I felt when I woke up. Now I was working for a private defense attorney, making six figures. It felt like leaving Donte was the best decision I ever made. My granny would have said he had been blocking my blessings. And he had been. I realized that now.
“Earth to Eshe.” West’s voice brought me out of my head.
I turned to find him standing behind me now, holding a plate of lemon pepper wings he’d arranged with surgical precision, like we were on Chopped instead of pre-gaming for the Super Bowl.
“This really is a nice place. Is nice as hell,” he said, admiring my living room. “…Grown woman shit.”
“It better be,” I said. “The rent feels grown too.” I had a mortgage now.
He handed me a cold beer, already open. “You earned it. Fresh start. Peace.”
I sipped. Didn’t respond. I don’t speak on peace. That’s how you jinx it.
Behind him, Aja floated out of my kitchen with all her fine-ass energy and a wooden spoon in her dainty little hand. She was barefoot, her puffy curls in a pineapple, freckles across her nose, looking like a walking Pinterest board. She was so cute. I would have hated her if she wasn’t so nice. Her chef coat hung off her shoulder.
“You got paprika?” she asked.
“Third drawer, behind the garlic powder.”
She kissed West on the cheek and disappeared.
I side-eyed him. “Y’all cute or whatever.”
He grinned. “Don’t hate ‘cause you missed out. Blame fate and that married man.”
I rolled my eyes.
It started after the restaurant. After Donte cornered West in the men’s room. West said he walked out just as she was walking out , and he felt something electric pulse between them when they bumped into each other. She was a chef at the restaurant. They exchanged numbers and his whole life changed.
Of course it did. Fate had been doing overtime for everybody but me. I was so jealous. I didn’t really want West anymore. Once I got to know him, he really wasn’t my type. It’s fucked up to say, but he was too nice. I would walk all over a man like him. But he was the perfect friend. After I called him to apologize about what happened, he asked me to dinner. I went, dressed up to entice him, in a lace bodysuit. Imagine my horrorwhen he was sitting there with a smiley woman. I had been so embarrassed and mortified.
His phone rang. I listened as he gave directions to his friends on the line and hung up. “That was the people I invited. They ’re upstairs now; I told them to come right in.”
“That’s cool,” I said, waving him off.
A few seconds later, the door opened.
I was walking toward West when my feet stopped working.
The dude from the club walked in, holding a toddler. He was in a pair of expensive jeans, a band T-shirt, and those expensive sneakers rich white dudes wear.
This was West’s friend?
Butterflies took flight in my belly.
“What the fuck…” I whispered.
The man was grinning like a devil. “Told you we’d meet again.” I almost took a step back.
West looked up, confused, pointing between me and the man. “Wait. This is her? The woman you’ve been calling your wife?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Yes.”
He stepped right up into my space like he belonged there. I had to crane my neck to look up at him. He looked me dead in my face.
