Page 11 of The Love Bully
I turned around the box to reveal a gorgeous amethyst solitaire stone necklace. I loved these gemstones. It was a big part of the reason that I loved purple.Wait, did I tell him this was my favorite stone?Oh, I did tell him when my birthday was, so he must have just assumed.
The hostess asked if I was ready to be seated. I was still caught up on the beautiful necklace. After I told her that I was, she led the way to the table. His back was to us. I had seen a few pictures of him that he sent me via text. Charles was fine. “Mr. Jared, Marsha has arrived.”
He stood from his seat.Oh, a lot taller than I thought he would be. I like it!He turned around, and my heart dropped to my pussy. I had to discreetly shake my leg to make it go down to my foot. “Orion, what the hell?”
Orion stood there in all his fine ass glory.Fuck! My baby daddy is fine as hell.No, I was supposed to be mad at him. I was here to meet Charles, so how was Orion here?
“Marsha, you look beautiful, love.” He reached his long arm out, wrapped it around my waist, and pulled me into a hug. His face went into my neck. “You smell so fuckin’ good. I should beat your ass for wearing the perfume I gave you to see another nigga. I’ll just beat the pussy up later,” he mumbled against my neck.
When he pulled back, he took me in. He noticed that I still had the jewelry box in my hand. Without a word, he took the box from my hand, then proceeded to take the necklace out to put it around my neck. The hostess’s nosy ass stood there as a spectator like there wasn’t a lobby full of guests.
I turned my back to him and allowed him to place the necklace on me. My hand instinctively touched the stone as I turned to face him. “Thank you.”
We finally sat after he pulled my seat out. There was already a beverage in front of me. I picked it up, took a sip, then closed my eyes.Perfect.He knew everything about me down to my favorite drink.
When he asked me if he got it right, I ignored his question. I asked him one of my own. “Orion, what did you do to Charles? You better not have hurt him.”
“What kind of man do you take me for, Marsha? I simply came here and had a conversation with Mr. Jared. He received a few revelations from that conversation and decided to leave.” He sounded sincere, but I wasn’t too sure.
I pulled my phone out. I needed to do a wellness check because this nigga was crazy. He could say all of that and Charles be in a car in the parking lot with a broken neck.
Me:
Hey Charles, I’m a little confused. I’m at the restaurant.
Charles J.:
Hey Marsha. You may have noticed that I’m not there and Orion is. Me and him talked. I think it’s best that you and him work things out. I am on my way to work things out with my ex-wife. I wish you well.
I had to reread the text a few times. What the entire fuck? Yeah, there was no way this man just said that. I sent him a for real text, but it didn’t go through.Did this nigga block me?
I gawked at Orion, down at my phone, then back at Orion. “He blocked me. Like, he really blocked me.”
“Good man. I knew he was a stand-up gentleman when I met him,” Orion said. “I hope him and his ex-wife works it out.”
I blankly stared at him. I felt I needed to put a note in my calendar to curse Norma’s ass out. “I can’t believe Norma set me up with a nigga that was on the rebound.”
“I can’t believe Norma set him up with a taken woman,” Orion said before he shook his head. “The gall of some people. Got my lady out here trying to embarrass me.”
I laughed at this man. What was I going to do with him? “I should be mad at you for ruining my date. You know you’re wrong, right?”
The waitress came over to take our orders before he could respond. I already knew what I wanted since this was my favorite restaurant. My cheeks warmed when Orion placed my order perfectly.Pull yourself together, woman!He leaned forward onto the table after she left. “Now, why exactly am I wrong, love? I’m wrong for aggressively pursuing the woman that is my soulmate?”
I scoffed, crossed my arms over myself, then sat back. “Okay, Orion. You didn’t seem to have a problem cheating on your soulmate and having children with other women.”
His jaw and eyes tightened for a moment. He took a deep breath before his eyes softened. “Marsha, let’s have a real conversation with all the petty bullshit aside. Yes, I cheated on you when Euri was two years old. It was wrong as fuck, and I was a fuck nigga for doing it. There is no real excuse I can give you for why I did what I did, except that I was a selfish nigga. Trust me, if I could turn back the hands of time, there’s so much I would do differently.”
He took a sip of what I assumed was whiskey before he continued. “I am in no way trying to diminish the hurt and damage that I caused to our relationship, your trust, and your heart. You know that I have tried to apologize and make it up in any way that I can. What I want to ask you is aren’t you tired, love?”
My forehead creased. “Tired of what, Orion? What are you talking about?”
“Aren’t you tired of holding on to this feigned anger about something that happened over thirty years ago and that I have proven from the bottom of my heart that I was apologetic and regretful about?” He held his finger up like he knew I was about to have something smart to say.He knows me.“I call it feigned anger because, Marsha, I know you. Your cut off game is impeccable, and you don’t double back. The fact that I’m still in your life and have never left tells me everything that I need to know.”
It was my finger that went into the air this time. “No, that’s not fair. You are Euri’s father. It wasn’t like I could just remove you from my life. That wouldn’t have been fair to him.”
He chuckled with a nod. “Alright, I get your point. Yeah, that wouldn’t have been fair, and I thank you for never being on flawed shit when it came to my son. Even after that shit went down and he was shot.” He sat back in his seat. “Marsha, you didn’t want to remove me from your life, which we agree upon. Let me ask this, why was there so much inclusion though?
“You’re not a stupid or weak woman. I know enough about you to know that you do everything for a reason. Derrick, Aaron, and Karla, you took them in as if they were yours. At no time did I ask you to, but you still did. If you were truly as mad as you want people to think you were or are, it would have been fuck all that,” he said with a tilted head.
