Her mouth hadn’t stopped moving since she approached me, but I became more interested once she mentioned that the fuck boy in question worked for an airline. I knew the world was small, but I didn’t think it would be that damn tiny. Would it?
“Damn. That’s fucked up. How he do that? He the boss or something?”
“I mean, he’s a pilot there, and once he reported her to HR, they wasted no time letting her go.”
“Firing a pregnant woman sounds like a big-ass lawsuit to me.”
She scoffed. “Me too, but she didn’t find out she was pregnant untilafterthat, but at that point, he’d already ghosted her. So, she had to get creative and make a fake account just so she could follow him and see what he was up to. Imagine her surprise when she found out he was out here celebrating his fuckin’ wedding. I swear the ghetto is too much!”
“You always talk this much to strangers?”
She smirked. “Only when they’re as fine as you.”
I couldn’t help but lightly chuckle. She was spilling all her homegirl’s tea with a complete stranger and thought nothing of it. To her, it was just a conversation. But to me, it felt like the universe had dealt me a winning hand. But I had to be sure.
“You said he’s here?” I probed casually.
“Mm-hmm. Over there in VIP, living his best life, celebrating and shit with some cornball niggas. Imagine getting married and having a baby on the way with another woman! I don’t know whether or not I should feel bad for the dumb-ass girl he’s about to marry. All I know is, this is one hot ass mess. But he can’t run from his responsibility anymore.”
“Why you not over there with yo’ girl for moral support?”
“Being at this bar is my version of moral support, soI’m right where I need to be. Besides, she can’t drink anyway, so I’m downing shots of liquid courage for the both of us.”
From the slight slur in her voice, it wasn’t hard to tell that she was a bit tipsy. It was no wonder that she was such a Chatty Patty.
“Where you say he was at?”
“Right up there,” she answered, aiming her long, stiletto-shaped nail toward another VIP section on the other side of the club.
I followed her pointer finger through the crowd before my eyes zeroed in on Lex’s fiancé, Pat, arguing off to the side with a visibly pregnant woman.I recognized him immediately as the same nigga from dinner with my sister and Lex. Something in my spirit didn’t sit right with me about that mothafucka from the beginning, and I’d never even met him. At first, I chalked it up to being a lil jealous, but now I had proof.My nostrils instantly flared with anger as my fists crumpled tight. I was ready to give that nigga the ass whupping he deserved for playing in Lex’s face and having a baby on her.
“Yo’ girl ain’t got no brother or daddy that can beat that nigga ass?”
“Nah. She’s an only child.”
“You want me to do it?” I offered.
Her brows heightened toward the dramatically laid baby hairs on her forehead. “Oh shit, would you? It would make my fucking night.”
“Say less.”
The protector in me wouldn’t allow me to stay and wait for the drink I’d paid for, nor be quiet. I instinctively marched over to the section where Pat was, ready to confront him and whoever tried to get in my way. Besides, we were in the club. No one was going to throw lead, but I sure was about to throw hands.
The VIP band around my wrist easily granted me access to his section. I kept my icy glare stationed on his furrowed brow and flaring nostrils as he exchanged heated words that were inaudible against the thumping bass from the speakers. The pregnant girl he was arguing with stationed herself beside a black leather sofa with her arms folded across her chest. Her skin was golden beige with a yellow undertone, and her jet-black hair was styled into a bone-straight bob, parted down the middle. The closer I got, the clearer their conversation became. My eyes narrowed onto his as my face hardened to stone. I didn’t know what was about to fly out of my mouth or what I’d do, but I was about to put that nigga on notice for fuckin’ with Lex’s heart.
“So you don’t wanna be a part of your daughter’s life at all, Patrick? You’re seriously gonna make me raise this baby alone?” she lashed out.
“Nobody told you to fuckin’ keep it, Shay! You made that decision, not me!”
Before she could get another word out, I interjected. “We got a fuckin’ problem here?”
Pat’s eyes untangled from hers long enough to take inventory of my presence behind her. “Nigga, who the fuck are you?”
I ignored his question and asked another of my own. “So this is what you do, nigga? Hide from your responsibilities as a real man while trying to have your cake and eat it too?”
He sucked his teeth. It was evident from the way his mouth had arranged into a stern line that he hadn’t expected to be confronted by his baby mama or the nigga who would’ve burned the world down for his bride-to-be.
“Get the fuck out of my section, mothafucka. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”
