Page 13 of Only if You Catch Me
My mother stood on business and when he left that last time, she never let him come back. Slowly, her spark came back. She began to care about how she looked. My mother would get dressed and hang with friends. It seemed as if every time I stepped out with my mother men and women, young and old, told her she was beautiful. Getting attention from other men was never a problem for her. She was simply having fun when she got pregnant with my sister, and the father wouldn’t let up off her ass. He came in and was everything to her that my father wasn’t.
I finally saw my mother happy for real. No fake smiles or trying to hold it together for my benefit. It was a much better situation, and I was grateful that she found the balls to leave. As for my father, he was serving a ten year prison sentence. He’d been down for eight years with two more to go. The woman that won him when my mom let him go, had a child that was supposedly my sister. When she was nine, and I was nineteen, my father found out she wasn’t his. He shot his girlfriend. She didn’t die, but as a result she ended up in a wheelchair.
After scrolling through my phone a bit, I looked up and saw that Tesha and Persia were smoking a hookah. Persia’s back was to me, so I couldn’t see her pretty face. Men loved challenges.That had to be the reason I was obsessing over her. Of course, she was pretty, but I saw pretty women every day. I ordered one more drink and decided that would be it for the night. I also made the decision to go home after leaving the lounge rather than climbing in between a woman’s thighs. It had been almost two weeks since I’d had sex and while I wanted some, I’d just rather go home. I’d never been in a relationship or lived with a woman but at that moment, I could see why it was easier to have in house pussy.
Tesha stood up and hugged Persia. Persia sat back down, and Tesha sauntered over to me. “Thank you for the drinks and the hookah. I appreciate you,” she winked. Tesha couldn’t stop smiling. She was tipsy, but she wasn’t sloppy drunk.
Narrowing my eyes into slits, I observed her giggly demeanor. “You leaving your homegirl?”
“Yeah. She just wants to finish her drink, and then she’s leaving. I have to run.”
“You can’t wait for her to finish her drink?” I angled my head to the left.
Tesha sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Are you worried about her or worried about where I’m about to go? I’m single, Love.”
I held my hands up in surrender and gave a curt nod. “That you are, sis. Be safe.”
“I will.”
If Ryder knew Tesha was about to go get some dick, he’d probably throw up. The thought made me chuckle. My boy was going through it. I hated it for him but like my grandma used to say. A hard head makes a soft ass. As I sipped my drink, Persia looked over her shoulder and spotted me. I eyed her over the rim of my glass. When she slid off the barstool and walked in my direction, my dick jumped at the sight of her. With heavy lids and a serious expression on her face, Persia slid into my booth.
“I just want you to know you ruined my life.”
My brows hiked as I placed my glass on the table. “I ruined your life. How did I do that?” my tone held a hint of amusement.
“You and your silly ass proposition. That shit was weird. My husband feared for his life, and you put him in the position to do some foul shit.”
“That’s what you’re telling yourself, so you won’t have to admit that you married a lame ass sucka? It didn’t matter what kind of proposition I made. As your husband, it was his job to tell me to go fuck myself. That nigga is supposed to be your protector, and he was ready to hand you over to the big bad wolf to save his own ass. If you ask me, I did you a favor.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you.” Persia sat with her back against the booth and pouted. Fuck, she was fine.
“When you first walked in, it looked like you’d been crying. You and that nigga were arguing?”
Persia’s lip curled and she eyed me with disdain. “Don’t worry about what me and my husband were doing.”
“I’m not worried about your fuck ass husband. But if that nigga made you cry, I can handle that.”
Persia sighed. “Why are you like this? What’s the motive? You want another notch on your belt? It’ll stroke your ego to know you bagged another man’s wife. What were you going to do with me for twelve hours? Please enlighten me.”
“Try to make you feel everything that fuck nigga never could.” I watched her chest swell.
“You’re a very charming man. I’m sure you’re quite a hit with the ladies. However lame you might think my husband is, I’m still married, and I don’t cheat. And honestly, even if we separate, I don’t think I’d deal with you.”
“And why is that?” I asked interested.
“I’m not interested in being a notch on a man’s belt or an ego inflator. What could you possibly want with another man’s wife? You have good intentions? What you want to marry me next?”
With a smirk, I finished off my drink. “I’m not a fan of repeating myself, but here goes. Had I been given twelve hours with you, sex wouldn’t have been on my mind. A woman can’t pay her man’s debt to me with pussy. And I damn sure wouldn’t try and make a woman sleep with me that didn’t want to. I’m too muhfuckin’ fly for some rape shit.”
Tears filled Persia’s eyes, and her jaw muscles flexed. Quickly, she turned her head. She didn’t look away fast enough, and I saw the tear spill over her eyelid. My brows crumpled from confusion. What about my comment would make her cry?
“Yo, I’m sure you don’t care to know anything about me, but a fun fact is I can’t stand to see a woman cry. On God, I can’t. You gon’ make me empty my pockets, give you the keys to my car, shit, anything to stop you from crying.”
Persia dabbed at the corner of her eye with her knuckle while chuckling. “I don’t like you.” She sighed and looked at me with sad eyes. “He really thinks life can just go back to the way it was. You have your money, and all is well. David really acts clueless about why I don’t have anything to say to him. And before I came here,” Persia swallowed hard. She sucked in a sharp breath and shook her head. “He wanted to have sex. And when I said no, he did it anyway.” Fresh tears filled her eyes while my blood began to boil.
“He did what anyway?” I leaned forward wanting clarity. The regret from letting him live knawed away at my gut and made my stomach churn.
Persia’s lips parted slightly. She appeared confused. It didn’t take long for her to catch on. “Nothing. I should go.” She made a move to exit the booth.
