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“Okay.” She hung up.

“Fuck she on?” I stared at the phone.

I was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Something was off. She never called me before the sun came up unless something was wrong. I hoped she didn’t hit me with no pregnancy bullshit. I made myself clear that I didn’t want kids. Instead of waiting, I brushed my teeth and washed my face before getting dressed. I sat in my backyard by the pool and smoked half a blunt to calm my nerves. It was almost nine when I pulled up to her house. She hadn't opened her curtains yet. I knocked and used my key to enter. I had a feeling she was in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. Her hair was pulled back, and she wasn’t dressed. All she had on was a robe.

“What’s goin’ on?”

“Sit down.”

I looked at the chair and took her appearance in.

“Nikki, if you got somethin’ to say, say it. I don’t need the dramatic setup. You said no arguin’.”

“I’m not being dramatic. I’m trying to have a conversation with you without either one of us walking out before it’s finished. So please, sit down.”

The please made me do it. I sat across from her. She took a sip of her coffee. The silence between us was wearing me out. I leaned back in the chair.

“You called me over to just sit here?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Then talk, Nikki.”

She looked up. “How long have you been fucking Kyenna?”

Outside, I kept the same expression, but on the inside, my heart stopped.

“What?”

“Please don’t disrespect me by making me repeat the question like you didn’t hear me. How long have you been fucking Kyenna?”

I stared at her, and she stared back.

“Nikki, I don’t kno’ what the fuck you think you kno–,” I started.

“I saw you come out of her house before the sun came up this morning.”

There it was. That was her ass that I saw in that truck. I was caught, and there was no need to fight the shit anymore. She laughed when she saw the change in my face.

“Yeah. That was me. I sat outside that compound long enough to feel stupid as hell. I needed to see with my own eyes. All the signs were there.”

“You followed me?”

“For weeks,” she said.

“Are you crazy?” I leaned up.

“No, Shameek. I became crazy trying to prove to myself that the man I’ve loved for years wasn’t sleeping with his dead brother’s wife.”

I looked down at the table, and Nikki kept going.

“I noticed the perfume at first. It was expensive, and it’s not something I could afford unless you bought it for me. It was something I had never worn before. Then you started turning your phone over every time it vibrated. You stopped wanting sex some nights and suddenly had every excuse in the world why you were tired. You left the foundation rushing me home, barely kissed me at my own damn door, and disappeared. Then one night I moved your phone, and Kyenna’s name popped up.”

“So, you did go through my shit?”

“Yes, I did. I saw the text between y’all. I just had to see the shit for myself.”

“You should’ve asked me that night.”