Page 3 of Ex- Factor
My brow furrowed. “Artificial insemination?”
“No.”
“Okay, I’m even more confused then,” I said, brows pulling tight. “How’s Ekon your son and Angel your baby momma?”
He stretched his legs out and his arm came to rest around my waist. I didn’t move it because he would have just put it back. He was pushy in that way. He had been following me all night, sitting too close, but I could tell he was harmless. He smiled this devilish grin at me that made the butterflies in my stomach soar. “Once,” he said, pausing for dramatic effect, “I almost made her cum from a kiss.”
Everybody exploded with laughter. Except Angel; she was responsible for the pillow that flew towards his head. Cassius clutched his chest like he was dying.
“I wish you would stop bringing that up,” Angel muttered.
“That doesn’t make any sense. How does a baby come from a kiss?” I asked.
Silas leaned back into the couch.
“I’ve been in their relationship since the beginning,” he said. “I watched Cassius make a lot of mistakes. Honestly, there were times I encouraged them. Told him to enjoy his freedom, not to settle down too fast. I didn’t really understand what he had in front of him. The power Angel possessed.”
He glanced at Angel briefly.
She blew him a kiss and he smiled. They had a close relationship, but it wasn’t giving sexual.
“I don’t think Angel liked me much at first,” he continued. “I wouldn’t have blamed her. I didn’t give her much reason to.But she was never cruel, never disrespectful, even when she had every right to be. If she would have told Cassius to tell me to fuck off, he would have—but she didn’t.”
He paused to take a sip of brown liquor, then rested the glass on his knee.
“I fell in love with Ekon when I first saw him. I felt like he was mine too. Angel let me be there.”
He sniffed like he was lowkey emotional before continuing. “When her ex came back and things got dangerous, I saved her and Cassius. So now she ’s mine too. I know there’s some myth or something that says that’s how it works.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes like he was dead ass serious. “Yes it does.”
I raised my hand. “Okay, it does.”
He continued with a nod. “But seriously, she helped change me. Made me a better man at the same time she was fixing Cassius. She might not be mine in the traditional sense, but she’s mine in the ways that matter. Her and Ekon. That’s my family. So when I say she’s my son’s mother, that’s what I mean. Not because of biology.”
“I get that,” I said. “You have a beautiful son.” Who was I to tell people how to live their lives? Found families mattered too. If I could have play-play cousins, he could have a play-play son and baby moms.
Silas’s face cracked into this big, goofy grin, lit up like a lightbulb. Then, loud as hell and proud about it, he turned to the room and yelled, “I told y’all she was my wife!” He was clearly tipsy.
I blinked. “How does that make me your wife?”
He didn’t even pause. “Because when I’ve dated other women, none of them ever got it. They couldn’t understand why Angel was important in my life, or why I prioritize Ekon like I do.They’d say they were cool with it, but after a while, the questions would start. The attitude. The side-eyes. The resentment. The jealousy. I didn’t even want to be with them for real, but with them nagging me, it made a relationship even less desirable.”
I raised a brow. “Jealous of what? Angel has a whole husband. Her husband clearly doesn’t have an issue. Why would they?”
Like a choir, everybody in the room sang, “Exactly.”
I looked around at them.
“Y’all are… interesting.”
Chapter three- Silas
The TV was muted. This was supposed to be a Super Bowl party, but nobody was watching it. Angel was half-standing at the spades table, slamming down cards with unnecessary force. She got real competitive when she was drunk.
“We win, motherfuckers,” she yelled.
