Page 23 of You Make Me Feel

He turned as another man stood. To say he was his brother, they were like night and day. Devin was dark complexioned, and this dude was light as the sun with blue eyes. However, Devin had gray-colored eyes, so I assumed that gene came from one parent in particular. “This is William, but everyone calls him WJ. Bruh, this is Oliver. We contracted his IT company about a month ago.”

“That’s what’s up. Nice to meet you,” he said.

“Likewise.”

I turned my attention to Anise, and she smiled and offered me a hug while Shannon said, “Hey, Oliver.”

“What’s up?”

She wasn’t being her usual flirty self since her husband was here, but I was sure he knew how she was. From our introduction, I could tell he was laid-back and let her be who she was. That was why they worked.

“I’ll tell you what’s up. Yo’ ass ain’t scheduled a consultation yet.”

I chuckled as I rubbed my bald head. “My bad. I forgot.”

“Forgot my ass. Put it on tomorrow’s schedule, or I will do it for you. I’m pretty sure Anise knows where you live. We will just show the hell up.”

“Shannon, how you gon’ bully that man into a consult?” Devin’s wife asked.

“I’m not bullying him. I’m just making him stay true to his word. If he had no intention of scheduling one, he shouldn’t have said he would. I didn’t even ask him to. He volunteered that information.”

“Shannon, I forgoooot! I don’t say shit I don’t mean. I’ll schedule it for Tuesday. I have to go to Houston tomorrow to check on my other office.”

“Go to the site and do it now before you forget.”

I chuckled and did as she asked. I was serious about getting my house’s interior upgraded. Once I was done, Anise was placing food on the table. My eyes zeroed in on the spread, and I noticed I wasn’t the only one. Devin had done the same thing. We were the first two to start moving. His wife giggled. He turned to her and asked, “What’s funny, Sidney?”

“You have a partner in crime.”

He looked at me as I frowned playfully, causing the women to laugh more. “That’s all right, though. We won’t be hungry,” Devin said as we sat at the table.

Shannon and Sidney went to the kitchen to help Anise as WJ and Robert joined us at the table. Robert’s phone was going off back-to-back, and he was ignoring that shit. I kept glancing at him, and the moment he noticed, he powered down his phone. He was doing exactly what I suspected he was doing. He was fucking around on her.

I could always peep game because I was the type of nigga to lie back in the cut and observe shit. The nigga was rarely here, and when he was, he was quiet and on his phone most of the time. I didn’t know why she put up with that shit. He had to have been beating her ass with the dick for her to allow this mediocrity.

I didn’t see a woman overlooking shit like this unless she was getting fucked like she liked it. Apparently, Anise didn’t have any complaints in that department unless she just wasn’t expressing those complaints to me. I couldn’t concern myself with that right now because she’d just set those wings right in front of me. I was ready to dig in and apologize to everyone else when I was done.

When the ladies returned carrying drinks, they set them in front of us, and then they all sat. We all grabbed hands, and Devin blessed the food. The moment he finished, I was digging in. “Damn, nigga, you hungry, huh?” Shannon asked as she stared at my mouth.

“Uh-huh.”

I was hungry in more ways than one, and I wanted to fulfill that other hunger with Kinisha as soon as possible. If my plan worked, that would happen sooner rather than later.

Chapter 9

Kinisha

I’d sent Oliver my address, and I was nervous as hell. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had a man over. I knew Oliver way more than I knew Jarod. I believed it was because he knew what had happened. Besides Kiana and Ramsey, I’d never shared so much with someone. I trusted Oliver, though. It wasn’t like he didn’t already know the situation. Unfortunately, he was well aware of what was going on. The fact that he still wanted to talk to me had shocked me.

As I waited, I called Jarod. He was a fool if he thought I would let him off the hook that easily. He sent the call to voicemail, then sent a text.Jackass.I opened our thread to read, I’m with my fiancée. What do you want?

That only further pissed me off. It was like he wanted to throw into my face that he was engaged. I didn’t give a fuck. If I wanted to be a petty bitch, I could get her number. All it would take was one call to Mrs. Speights and me saying I wanted to congratulate her and get to know her. She would give me her number without hesitation. I was tempted to do that shit, and I would if I felt like I had to.

I gathered my thoughts and began typing. You know the only reason that condom broke was because it was too small. Why would you buy condoms that are too small? Second, whether or not you want to admit it, this is your baby. If you want a paternity test, make it happen, but it won’t change a thing. Be a man and accept responsibility. My legs were only open for you. Unlike you, I only sleep with one man at a time. I’m far from being in the streets like your community dick having ass.

We need to talk like civilized adults to decide what’s best for us and what will work best for this baby. I can’t have an abortion since it’s now illegal. So either you will step up to the plate and quit being a childish-ass lil boy, or I will make your life miserable. Fuck with that, nigga. You wanna play stupid-ass games, you gon’ win stupid-ass prizes. I don’t have a problem resorting to being stupid ratchet if I have to be. It takes two to create a baby, so I refuse to take care of this baby by myself. Fuck around if you want to. You gon’ fucking find out, bitch.

I stared at the message and was super proud of my pettiness as I hit send. I was fuming on the inside, and nothing could soothe me like some alcohol right now. Sliding my hand over my face, I slowly shook my head. I couldn’t believe I’d put myself in this predicament. It felt like a long-ass nightmare. The way I kept zoning out with my family was only bringing attention to me. I still hadn’t told them what was happening, but they all seemed to sense that something was wrong.

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