“No. I haven’t mentioned it to her yet.”
“Nigga, it doesn’t sound like you have a solution.”
“She’s feeling me.”
“I’ve never heard you mention this woman’s name. Did she just start working there?”
“No, but we never officially met.”
“Did she do something today to gain your attention, because you're making no sense?”
“I don’t want to tell you all her business, so let’s just say she’s down on her luck and might be willing to marry me in order to get out of the situation she’s in.”
“Down on her luck? Is she in legal trouble?”
“Nah, nothing like that, but she needs help.”
“I don’t know, man. You might be better off marrying someone Auntie chooses, or one of the women you’ve been dealing with.”
Even though he couldn’t see me, I shook my head.
“Nah. I’m not marrying anyone Ma chooses, and the women I fuck are simply that, the women I fuck.”
“But at least you know them. What about Callie?”
“I don’t know them hos, and what about Callie?”
“You were supposed to cut her off after she faked that pregnancy, but she’s the one you keep going back to. There must be something there, and you know her more than you know this Malyah woman.”
“True, but Callie can’t be trusted.”
“And you think this Malyah can be trusted? She knows you have money and is probably trying to see how much she can swindle out of you.”
“She has no idea I’m thinking about asking her to marry me, so she ain’t after my money, nigga.”
“All right, man, damn. Chill out. That pussy must be good if you’re acting like this.”
“I’m sure it is, and I plan to find out eventually.”
“You ain’t hit it yet, and she already got you tripping. Shit, maybe she is your future wife. Let me get my popcorn ready because I know this shit is about to be a movie.”
“You should see her, man. She’s fine as hell, but it’s more than her looks that’s got me stuck.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, but I’m drawn to her in ways I can’t explain. I genuinely want to know everything about her, and I didn’t want to leave her presence tonight. It’s crazy.”
“Yeah, you sound crazy.”
“Whatever. I’ll hit you up tomorrow.”
I ended the call before he could say anything else. A few minutes later, I was home and parked in the garage. When I got inside, I went straight to my place. I hadn’t interacted much with my family after they bum-rushed me, and I didn’t plan to tonight.
It was almost ten o’clock, so I showered and went to bed. Unfortunately, after an hour of thinking about Malyah, I got my laptop and went to our company website. I navigated to the corporate office and clicked on staff. It was sorted by last name, not department, so I was grateful when I discovered Malyah’s last name was Brownlee.
After putting my laptop away, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand, opened Flikstagram, and searched for her name. She happened to be the first profile that came up, and I knew it was her because her profile picture was the same one of her as a child that she used as the wallpaper for her phone.
Like a creep, I studied every picture on her page, memorizing every facial feature and curve of her body. Malyah was beautiful, and in a matter of a few hours, I’d become obsessed with her. She didn’t seem to be big on social media because she didn’t have a lot of posts, and the ones she had were posted several days, sometimes weeks apart.
