Page 3 of Treason's Temptation
“Is it because of Danielle?” Jaleb asked, referring to my ex-girlfriend.
“No.”
Fallon paused before demanding, “Then be good on one of the women we’ve vetted.”
“I’d personally pick Lauryn,” Jaleb urged.
“Ohhh, what about Thandie? You surely like sticking your dick in her enough.”
After a tense meeting, I ran into Thandie in a hotel lobby bar. She struck up a conversation, offering a distraction when I needed it. That grew into casual sex because she was beautiful and curvy, but obsessed with status like everyone else in the city. She just hid it behind a public relations degree. It matched her ambition and poise well. Thandie wasn’t a bad choice, just not the right one for me.
“That’s all it is and will ever be.”
Fallon threw her arms up in frustration.
“You should rethink Thandie,” Jaleb urged, tilting his head toward me, “She’s bad as hell.”
“If Mich heard you talking like that, she’d fuck you up,” I smirked, swiping past Alexa’s profile. She had a pretty face, but referring to her French Bulldog as her son and letting him climb into her bed disqualified Alexa. Dogs were worse than kids in my book. They at least got you a tax credit at the end of the year, but dogs were just another expense. Fallon should’ve known I’d never let a dog in my house.
“You’ll never get where you want as a single black man. With your attitude, you might not get there at all.”
“Damn, Fal. That’s how you really feel?”
“It’s yourgirlfriend’sjob to stroke your dick and ego. So let’s find one and fast. That too busy to date shit is getting old. Obama made time for Michelle, and you’re no Barack, nigga. You haven’t been with anyone publicly since Danielle. It’s time, otherwise people will assume it’s because we’re fuckin’.”
“I’d be an alcoholic for real, coming home to you every day. Lish can have your ass,” I joked. The thought had never crossed our minds, but she was a beautiful woman, and when people didn’t have a narrative, they created one.
I wasn’t against dating. Most days, it felt like dating was against me. I kept running into the same boring ass women more interested in me as a business. I wasn’t offended by the sentiment. Marriage was a business, but mine was more beneficial to women than it was to me.
Swiping through the iPad, each profile was more unimpressive than the one before it, includingLauryn’s, who was an elementary school teacher. On paper, she was the perfect pick, just not for a nigga like me.
“I’ll get on it.” Fallon’s smile vanished, throwing her belongings into her purse.
“Talk to him before I jump off this sinking ship,” she told Jaleb.
“I love you, too. Thanks for believing in me.”
“Prove it and pick a damn girlfriend while I go get more money for your campaign.”
Fallon was pissed at me, so I tossed out a joke hoping to restore order in our friendship.
“Good. Use that mouth for something other than yelling at me.”
She laughed. “Ha! I don’t love youthatmuch.” Then stormed out, slamming the door.
“Is it something you need to tell me?” Jaleb asked once Fallon disappeared.
“Something like what?”
“Why can’t you pick a woman. Are you interested in something else?”
“I know you’re used to people moving how you want, but don’t get fucked up.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Every day, I do what everybody needs me to do. That’s the job, but I need something for me like Mich is for you.”
“Very poetic,” Jaleb smiled, sliding his hands in his pockets. “And also bullshit, Tre. You want success and power, yet you’re stalling to do what it takes to get there. Do yourself a favor and pick one.”
