Page 2 of Tempted By the Taurus
The three of us had been friends since high school. They were the backbone I needed with everything that went on in my life. I knew if nobody else had my back, they did, and I had theirs.
Sariyah glanced in my direction. "What did you do this weekend? And we all know you went to church this weekend, so you don't have to say that."
Jaiden gasped before she covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
If I were a shade lighter or two, my cheeks would've been red. "For your information, I sent orders out on Saturday, and then I took myself out on a date."
They only stared at me, causing me to wave them off and begin eating my food. They got on my nerves, but I loved them so much.
"Sis, both of us need a man in our lives. We be in the house too much." Sariyah shook her head with a frown.
"Girl, that's a lie. You were just outside this weekend on a date. I'm good with the way my life is," I lied.
I would like to try for love again one day, but I'm afraid. On top of that, my parents had me conflicted about love. That was probably why my relationships never lasted.
"If that's what you want to tell yourself," Sariyah mumbled.
They had been on me about needing a man in my life for the longest, but it went in one ear and out the other. If one happened to come along, I would give him a chance.
"I have this cousin?—"
"No!" I cut Jaiden off before she had the chance to tell me about any of her cousins. I knew all of them, and they weren't shit. She was trying to set me up for failure.
Sariyah threw her head back and laughed loudly. Both of us knew how Jaiden's family was, and that was a family I didn't want to get involved with. One of them was enough.
Jaiden screwed her face up and leaned back in the seat. She had her arms folded as she shot daggers at me. "Not too much on my family."
I shrugged with a chuckle. "I didn't even say anything." Picking up my croissant, I finished that off along with my coffee. It was now time for me to head to work.
It was always a pleasure getting together with my girls, who were more like sisters to me. I sat behind my desk and powered up my iMac for the morning. It was time to get this workday started. I had to check my email to see if I had any appointments for the week. Being a real estate agent had its pros and cons. I worked with anyone wanting to make a house a home. Sometimes people wanted to buy a house, and I did all the work, only tohave them change their minds. That blew me so badly, but I knew that came with the job. I enjoyed working for the Smith brothers, Travis and Theodore. I was one of their top sellers at the agency.
Some workers envied me because of it, but I didn't let it stop me from busting my ass every day.
In the middle of doing paperwork, my cell phone rang on my desk. I picked up the phone and glanced at the screen, seeing that it was my mother calling. I sighed deeply and pressed the screen to answer her call, placing the phone to my ear.
"Good morning," I greeted.
"It's a wonder you answered the phone. You never want to talk to me when I call." She sounded relieved.
I rolled my eyes skyward. "That should tell you something."
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. My parents and I didn't have the best relationship, which started when I was thirteen years old. Whenever they called me, I didn't want to talk to them. Maybe that was wrong of me to say, but I couldn't help it.
"Why every time I call, you have to have an attitude with me?" she snapped.
I got up from my seat to stare out of the window. "You barely call me."
She scoffed. "Hmm, I wonder why. I was only calling to tell you about that date I had."
It seemed as if my parents had moved on with their lives but had left me with scars. That wasn't fair to me. My parents, Kiki and Tim, decided to air out their business at my thirteenth birthday party. Not only did they argue, but they also blurted that they were getting a divorce.
As years went on, I stayed in the middle of their arguments. If my father wanted me to stay at his house, my mother made such a big fuss of it. On the other hand, when my mother sought totake me on a trip with her and a man she was seeing, my father made a big deal of it. It was a tug-of-war between them and me. They wanted me to accept that they were friends now, after years of them traumatizing me. They made me believe that love was real, but it turned out to be fake. The two people I counted on to show me how love was supposed to be didn't do a good job of it. In every relationship I was in, I ended it, not trusting a man with my heart. I feared they would crush it. Then the ones I gave a chance to turned out to be no good, so I gave up on trying after a while.
"I'm not in the mood to hear about a date. It's one of many that won't last," I bluntly stated.
My mother was unable to maintain a long-term relationship, unlike my father, who was back with his baby mama. This was one of the many problems my parents had that led to their divorce. My mother accused my father of sleeping with his baby mama, who was now his wife, when they were married. That wasn't the case, but the seed was planted. Although my father and his baby mama, now wife, weren't together at that time, they remained close due to my oldest sister. My mother didn't like it. To this day, my sister and I haven't spoken for that reason. She didn't reach out to me, and I didn't either. It was damn her and them.
"You know what, I'll talk to you later. I don't have time for your bullshit today."
