Independent Women - the Complete BWWM Romance Series Boxset (25 page)

Then he spotted her. She was inside of the Trophy bar. It was a small dive bar, the seats were close together, and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. He had to admit it looked pretty nice on the inside. The lights were down low giving off a yellow glow, and the brown décor made it feel cozy. It was small but packed.  Tamika was sitting at a table with Crystal and Kalena, laughing with a drink in her hand. He hadn’t seen her look that happy since before they lost the baby. Jealousy surged through his veins, why didn’t she laugh when he was around? They were able to bring her out of her shell and bring her joy, something that he failed miserably at.

He let out a sigh of relief because she was okay. She wasn’t dead in an alley or in a hospital with broken limbs. His wife was healthy and laughing with her friends. He walked towards the table and that’s when he spotted another familiar face. He watched as Tamika looked over at the table beside her and laughed. The gentlemen at the table were diverse, there was a white man, a Hispanic man, and an Asian. A fucking Asian, it was Jin. He was looking at his wife like he thought that she was the best thing since sliced bread. Their level of comfort was clear, and it made him feel sick.

He was out in the streets looking for her while she was ignoring his calls and grinning in her boss’s  face. He knew that Jin wanted his wife; he’d known it since the day that he met him at their company’s Christmas party. Jin never treated him like any of the other spouses at the party, he treated him like competition. Reggie let it go because he knew that there was nothing that Jin could do that would compare to him. Besides, weren’t Asian men known for their small packages? There was no way that he would be able to satisfy Tamika, she was used to his huge package and mini Jet Li wasn’t going to measure up.

But still, watching him smile at his wife made his blood boil. He stalked towards Tamika and stood in front of her table. She was the last person to notice him. When she saw him annoyance crossed her face.

“Hi,” she said, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for your ass,” he replied. Everyone at the table fell silent. They didn’t greet him, they could feel the waves of negative energy radiating from his body.

“What is your problem? I called you multiple times and you didn’t answer, so don’t come in here and get ignorant. I don’t appreciate you causing a scene.”

“Really? You’ve been ignoring my calls and I’m not supposed to be upset? You could have been dead and lying in a ditch somewhere, I was worried,” he huffed.

“Welcome to the club! You could have been dead too, but here you are, ruining my night. Can I just have one fucking night without the drama?”

Reggie felt emasculated. She was treating him like an annoying wife and she was doing it in front of her friends and co-workers. This wasn’t the same woman that he’d first met. She wasn’t confrontational, but that clearly changed. He didn’t know what to say to her but he knew that it wasn’t the proper place to hash it out.

“Grab your things and let’s go,” Reggie demanded.

“Excuse you?”

“Grab your things and let’s go home,” he stated again. “We have quite a few issues that need to be discussed and this isn’t the place for it.”

“This isn’t the time for it either, so how about you just go back to wherever you came from and I’ll see you when the both of us are at home,” Tamika said. She held his gaze, she didn’t flinch, and she was ready for a full out verbal war.

Reggie put his hands up in surrender, “I’m about to head home, and I will be waiting for you. When you come home, we will talk.”

“Bye Reggie.”

***

Tamika stepped into the house; she considered getting a hotel room and not going home. She had such a great time with her friends and Jin, and she didn’t want it to end on a sour note. Her friends listened to her vent for a couple of hours and demanded that she do something with herself. She’d been trying to contact her husband, but he wasn’t answering, it made her feel worse. She didn’t want to go out with her friends, she wanted to stay on her couch but being ignored by her husband made her change her mind.

Everything worked perfectly because Jin checked on her right after his work day ended so she invited him and his friends to hang out with her. She needed to be surrounded by great spirits and people that wanted to see her smile. When she saw her husband in the bar, it pissed her off. He found her by tracking her phone, she felt stalked. Even though she had access to the same app, she never once looked for him using it. Instead, she trusted him to do the right thing. Also, he had the gall to be upset with her! He’d been acting like a complete asshole again, now he was mad at her, demanding that she come home with him.

The look of surprise on his face when he heard her snap at him felt good. She caught him off guard, he was used to talking to her however he wanted, treating her however he wanted, and she was tired of it. He didn’t get to pick and choose when he was going to be nice to her anymore without consequences. She was done with taking his shit, with fawning over him, and with thinking that he could do no wrong. Life was too short to allow someone to do whatever they wanted to her.

She walked down the hallway, past the photos of them on their wedding day and into the living area. He was sitting on the couch, waiting for her.

“Hello,” she said as she sat on the La-Z-Boy next him.

“Hey, you’re back sooner than I expected,” he admitted.

“Well, the mood was ruined after you left. Everyone tried to push through it and have fun, but it was too late, the damage was done.”

“I’m not going to apologize for coming to find you.”

I’m not going to ask you to apologize, but I do want to know what the hell is going on with you. Why are you acting like such a dick to me?” Tamika asked.

“I’m not trying to be.”

“Do you understand that I lost a baby too? I’m the one that took a tumble down the stairs, I’m the one that no longer has a baby inside of her, and I’m the one that got her uterus scraped. I’m hurting too so treating me like I don’t exist has made me feel like complete shit,” Tamika explained.

“I know baby,” he explained and grabbed her hand, “I didn’t come to the bar to chew you out, and I’m sorry that things got so heated between us. I just wanted to talk things out with you, and I was worried when you didn’t answer my calls. So I will admit that I overreacted, but I’m not used to you not answering your phone when I call. You mean the world to me and if anything ever happened to you my world would fall apart. Things haven’t been going the greatest, but I promise that I’m going to be a better man for you.”

Tamika shook her head and pulled her hand from his, “What’s going on with your job? Apparently you haven’t been working there for months! When were you going to tell me? Where have you been going every day?”

He sighed, “That’s another thing that I wanted to talk to you about. I got fired from my job at the firm months ago. One of the senior partners referred to me in a derogatory way and I hit him.”

“What!” Tamika exclaimed.

“Just wait and hear me out. I’ve been working my ass off trying to find another job and it’s finally paid off. I start with a new firm next week, things are finally looking up,” Reggie explained with desperation in his voice. He didn’t want to lose his wife over his past mistakes, not when he could finally make things right. The universe couldn’t be that cruel.

“How can I trust you when you keep things like that from me?”

“Baby, I’m so sorry that things have been so out of whack for us lately. I just want our life back and I want to be the man that you’ve always deserved,” he pleaded. Tamika looked at him as if she didn’t believe him, that hurt. He’d never been on the receiving end of that pitiful stare before. She looked worn down and tired.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” she admitted.

“You don’t have to say anything, just give me a chance to make it up to you.” He got to his knees, positioned himself in front of her and stared into her eyes. He needed her to believe him.

“How in the world have you been paying the bills? Why would you buy me this ring? Where has the money been coming from Reggie?” she asked.

Reggie placed a chaste kiss on her lips, “I’m always going to take care of you.”

Tamika’s resolved softened when she felt his lips against hers. He always had the best kisses, his lips were full and soft. She loved his kisses; they made her feel comfortable and secure.

“If this marriage is going to work then we can’t have any more lies between us. I need you to be straight with me. You can’t shut me out of the important parts of your life, and you can’t come up missing. I don’t know how much more of it I can take.” Tamika said.

“You won’t have to put up with any more of it. Losing our baby and almost losing my brother made me put a lot of things into perspective. Nothing is worth losing my family over. I’m going to be a better man.”

“I hear you talking, but I need you to show me.”

“I will show you,” he promised before he kissed her again, slowly and sensually. His hand slowly slid up her legs and she responded to him. Her hand cupped the back of his head as she deepened the kiss.

She pulled away, “Wait, you know that I can’t have sex for at least another two and a half weeks.”

“I know baby, we don’t have to do anything. I just want to kiss, hug, and cuddle with my wife. Is that okay?”

She smiled, “Yes that’s okay.”

“Good,” he smiled and rose to his feet. “Then can I lead you to the bedroom for an intense night of making out?”

She grinned, “I think that this is going to be a good night indeed.”

“I’m glad that you see it that way.”

They walked hand in hand to the bedroom. Tamika was aware that Reggie avoided the question, but she didn’t want to fight anymore. The issue would have to wait until later. She just wanted to enjoy the company of her husband.

#Chapter5

“It’s time for us to bury the hatchet and move on.”

Nina

Kalena sat at the River Café and took in the beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge. She was in awe of how gorgeous everything was. She’d heard so much about the River Café but never had the pleasure of going. Reservations were difficult to get and they had to be planned well in advance. The dark wood and yellow and white striped awning gave the place a very warm feel. Her mouth was watering as she saw plates of delicious food being delivered to people.

Her attention was focused on her surroundings because being around her present company alone was awkward and weird. Nina sat across the table from her and they sat in silence. It was time for her to admit the truth about what happened between her and Daniel. Bringing up the subject after they’d been cordial over the phone seemed like such a shitty thing to do.

“So, I’m glad that you came,” Nina said nervously, “I know that things haven’t been the best between us, but I’m hoping that we can fix that.”

Kalena smiled, “I’m happy to be here too, how in the hell did you get reservations so quickly?”

Nina grinned, “Me and my boo were supposed to have lunch here today but I rescheduled with him for later. I figured that me and you were more important, he’ll just have to understand. Although he was acting like a big ass baby, but I told him to stay in his lane. It’s not like him to act so clingy so that shit caught me off guard.”

Kalena’s stomach sank; she knew exactly why Daniel didn’t want her to come out. He still hadn’t told his girlfriend the truth. It was just like a trifling ass man to put a woman through that. White men and black men weren’t different in that aspect. Being a cheating asshole was universal; it wasn’t exclusive to just one nationality. Her man was a snake and she thought that it was going to be easy to tell her that, but it was one of the hardest things that she had to do.

“I appreciate you thinking of me, I can’t wait to try all of this delicious food,” Kalena said.

“Girl, me too. I came here a few years ago and I was so anxious to come back. It’s delicious and this view is second to none. I was here for dinner and I had to keep staring out of the window.”

“I can see why.”

Soon the waiter came to them and they ordered their meals. He was cordial and a pillar of professionalism. As Kalena ordered she could just hear the sound of her bank account being drained. She hadn’t spent that much money on food in a while, but it wasn’t going to stop her from shopping. She was spending on one meal the same amount that she paid for a month’s worth of groceries. The experience was going to be worth it.

“So we may as well go ahead and get our talk out of the way,” Nina said, “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”

Kalena opened her mouth to begin and closed it promptly. She took a deep breath and began, “I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about you start at the beginning?”

Kalena sighed, “Before I begin I just want you to know that everything that I’m saying is true and that I didn’t do anything maliciously.”

“Uh oh, did you sleep with my man or something?” Nina laughed playfully.

Kalena remained quiet and stared at Nina with a serious expression, it finally dawned on Nina that she pinpointed the truth.

“Like I said before, I didn’t know,” Kalena said.

“What?! You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Nina said in disbelief, “You just couldn’t leave it alone could you? You had to get back at me. I never slept with Richard! We only kissed and he kissed me first! Did you track him down or something? Oh my god, you tracked him down and did this on purpose.”

“Wait a minute,” Kalena said defensively, “We’re not even going to talk about what happened between you and my ex fiancé. I’m sure that you don’t want to go there. I came here to apologize to you about what happened between me and Daniel, and tell you the truth about what went on.”

Nina’s eyes watered up, the pain that she felt was immeasurable. She couldn’t believe that she was about to be friends again with Kalena. Some people just didn’t have it in them to forgive others, and Kalena was apparently one of those people. “Go ahead, rub it in my face and tell me the truth. We may as well get this over with.”

“No,” Kalena’s voice softened, “I’m not here to rub it in your face and in fact I feel terrible. When I met him I had no idea that he was with you. When I met him he told me that his name was Joseph. We had a great relationship for a while, at least I thought that we did. However, a lot of things didn’t add up about him. So one day when he was sleeping I went through his pockets for some information, what I found make me look online. When I did some digging I found out that his entire persona was a lie and that he was leading me on the entire time. I didn’t find out until that night that he was with you. When I found out, I doused him with water and put him out of my house. I would never do that to you or anyone else knowingly. I’m so sorry.”

Kalena looked at Nina and hoped that she believed her. They could possibly mend their friendship, but this was going to be the determining factor. Rebuilding their bond was going to take a lot of work, but it could be done, but their problems with men had to stop.

Nina sat quietly; they both directed their attention towards the waiter when he sat their drinks in front of them. Nina told him to order her another because she was going to be finished with the one that she had before her soon. When he walked away she gulped the expensive wine like it was a bottle of malt liquor. After that she closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath before letting it out dramatically.

“Okay, I don’t even know what to say right now. For the first time in a long time I’m speechless,” Nina admitted. “I’m trying not to be mad at you because it doesn’t seem to be your fault, but I’m a little mad at you.”

“I know that you’re upset, it’s an upsetting situation but trust me, I wouldn’t have done it if I knew that he was dating someone. I thought that I was the only woman in his life. When I found out that I wasn’t, I kicked him to the curb.”

“I don’t know what to do, I love him.”

“You deserve better. You deserve someone that’s going to be upfront and honest with you. You’re obviously his main woman, but you should be his only woman.”

“Yeah, a part of me felt like he was cheating on me, but I wasn’t ever sure. It was easier to just turn a blind eye and be happy. He’s so sweet and he’s everything that I ever wanted.”

“I know. I can’t tell you what to do about this situation, but I knew that I had to tell you. Whatever you choose, it’s your business.”

Nina shook her head to fight back the tears and gave a brave smile, “Well, I guess that I’m going to have to let him go. There are more men where his ass came from and I’m way too fly to let a fucking DJ treat me like that. His punk ass found out that he was sleeping with someone that I knew and didn’t even have the balls to tell me.”

Kalena tilted her head to the side and looked at her, “You can’t tell me that you expected a man to tell you that he was cheating with one of your friends. He was probably just praying that I wasn’t going to tell you. He’s probably at home scared as hell right now.”

“He needs to be scared because when I get a hold of his ass, it’s not going to be pretty. I don’t tolerate the bullshit,” Nina said.

“You shouldn’t, these men are out here acting foul. He really had me fooled, I thought that I’d found someone that I could actually be with and he hurt me.”

“He’s easy to fall for, he’s so charming.”

“He is, and I fell for him quick. I didn’t question where he was at night or the fact that we spend most of our time apart.”

“I would apologize to you, but I wouldn’t even know what I’m apologizing for,” Nina admitted, “All of this is fucked up.”

“It definitely is,” Kalena sighed. She hoped that Nina was telling the truth about leaving Daniel alone. Women always claimed that they were going to leave a man, but nine times out of ten it just didn’t work that way. The urge to keep them around so that they don’t break their own hearts was too tempting. She knew that feeling first hand because her fiancé stuck around for three more months after she caught him kissing Nina. Eventually, she just couldn’t stand the sight of him any longer and she cut him off completely.

“So yeah, we’re going to enjoy this lovely lunch and stop talking about Joseph’s dismissed ass. I want to hear all about you missy, what’s been going on?”

Kalena smiled slightly and allowed her to change the subject, “I’ve just been working really.”

“Okay, and that’s it? Who has put that smile on your face because if I remember correctly, you only smile that way when someone special has put it down on you.”

Kalena almost spit out her cocktail from laughing, “Don’t act like you know me.”

“I know you very well honey, so you may as well go ahead and spill the tea. I want to hear all about this gentleman.”

“You kind of already know him,” Kalena said.

“Oh? Who is it?”

“Tommy,” she said.

“Aww shit! You’ve finally given Tommy a chance? It’s about time, that poor man has been following you around like a puppy dog since he met you. I swear to you that he broke up with his girlfriend so that he could get with you.”

“That’s not true, he broke up with her because he didn’t want to be with her.”

“Right, and he didn’t want to be with her because he met you. In his eyes you can do no wrong. He stares at you like you have on a halo and La Perla lingerie.”

“I don’t know about all of that, but we slept together one time and now I don’t know what we are.”

“I know what he wants to be, so the ball is in your court.”

“It should be interesting because we have a date tonight, I’m sure that he’s going to want to bring up the relationship conversation but I don’t think that I’m ready for all of that.”

“So wait a minute. You will hop into a relationship with a random ass white boy, but you have to think about having a relationship with a man that you know wants you. He doesn’t just want you, he loves you. I wish that I had someone like that in my life, I thought that I did but I was wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that he cares about you. That’s the kind of man that you hit over the head and drag down the aisle.”

“Whoa! We’re jumping the gun here aren’t we?” Kalena asked.

“Jumping the gun? We’re pushing thirty, it’s time to actually consider settling down with men that want the same things as we do. You see where chasing the party boys are getting us. If we keep this shit up we’re going to end up like Crystal.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my girl like that,” Kalena said.

“She’s my girl too, but she’s not happy. She has an amazing career but no man. She goes from one meaningless relationship to the next. I don’t want to be in my thirties and coming home to an empty house, being single is overrated.”

“I know but you know the way that I was raised. I just can’t get down with commitment like that.”

“And that is why you make the kinds of choices that you do in men, you need to go to therapy and cut that shit out.”

“Really? You’re going to sit here and tell me that I need therapy? Aren’t I the one that just broke some bad news to you?”

“What I’m going through personally doesn’t have anything to do with you. Of course, I have my own demons but you have yours too. I’m just telling you how I see it.”

Kalena frowned but she knew that Nina was right; it was one of the reasons that she missed her so much. Very few women were as blunt as she was and she was going to tell someone the truth even when it hurt and was inconvenient. Sometimes it caused her to be a bitch but at least you knew where you stood.

“Since you’re so busy pointing out my demons, what are yours?” Kalena challenged her.

Before she could answer the next round of drinks were coming out and so was their food. They gushed over how good their food looked and dug in for a few minutes.

“My demons are linked to my self-esteem,” Nina said, “I never feel like I’m good enough, so when a man that I really like shows me attention, I don’t know how to act. Also, when a man that cares about someone else shows me attention it makes me feel good too. I know it’s wrong and I’ve been working on changing my ways, but that’s just the way that it is.”

“That was surprisingly insightful,” Kalena admitted.

“Therapy,” Nina said bluntly, “After what happened with Richard I got my ass into some therapy. Although I didn’t initiate what happened between us and I pushed him away, there was a part of me that liked it. I was flirting with him and he wasn’t even my type, I did it because I wanted him to want me, even though I didn’t want him.”

That was a level of realness that Kalena didn’t expect from Nina. She never thought that she would hear the truth from Nina’s mouth about what happened. When she caught her and confronted her about it, Nina got defensive and snapped. Now, she was singing a different tune. Some of the venom that was still inside of her about it dissipated. Richard was history because he was never going to be a good partner, but she had Nina, and there was something to treasure in her.

“Glad to hear the truth come from your lips.”

“It’s the least that I could do, especially since you were so honest with me today. It’s time for us to bury the hatchet and move on. Men are going to come and go, but real friends are hard to find.”