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Oh.
My attempt to be a brat flopped. I swallowed this titbit of information he had revealed in an attempt to ignore the fact that it made my pulse skitter, but the fact that it tasted sweet on its way down my neckmade the fact that I liked that he listened to me decidedly difficult to ignore. The show was my main source of confidence but also coyness. He tapped into both at the same time.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks.”
Malakai shrugged, matter of fact. “I wasn’t saying it to gas you. It’s good. It’s good energy, good music and I like what you say. I mean, I really like what you say. Until last week.... You know what happened last week?”
I hitched a shoulder up and narrowed my eyes in polite curiosity. “No. What happened?”
Malakai released a slow smile and nodded. “You were describing this dickhead that breaks the hearts of gyaldem and I was like,rah, who is this guy? Prick. But then all of a sudden, my phone starts chiming. Messages from girls cussing me out, telling me they were about to reclaim their time. Calling me a Wasteman, saying that I’m trash. And then tonight happens. Two beautiful girls I’ve gone on dates with suddenly turned on me like I married them both then abandoned our twelve children.”
I moved to lean against the wall in front of him, fold my arms across my chest and stare up at him inquisitively. “Huh. At the same time? Like was there a whole polygamy setup? Old-school Naija?”
“No, like, international businessman with one family in London and another in Houston type deal. New-school Naija.”
“What kind of business is taking you to Houston? Do you sell Bibles?”
“If I was a Bible salesman, that would actually make the whole two-family storyline even juicier.”
We each smiled, then stilled, apparently both as disconcerted that our words had fallen into rhythm in the same way our bodies had. The first time we met wasn’t a fluke.
Malakai cleared his throat, his voice now sounding formal. “Anyway. I’ve been doing damage control all week. As you can imagine it’s all been wildly distressing.”
“Wildly? Distressing?” I laughed, then stopped when I realized he wasn’t smiling. He was serious. “Wait, are you—you’re fucking with me, right? You’re upset because I disrupted your littleharem?”
Malakai shook his head. “Nah, I’m upset because you’re a hypocrite—”
I raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
“Kiki, we’re the same. The same way I assume you were seeing Zack casually—”
“Wait—”
“So you weren’t coming from his flat that night we met?”
I swallowed, my skin prickling with new exposure.
Malakai shook his head. “Look, no stress. I didn’t tell anyone. It’s none of my business, and honestly, I don’t give a shit. My point is, the same way you were seeing him casually is the same way I was dating the girls. Similar, anyway. Because I actually liked them, and it’s clear you can’t stand Zack. Don’t get me wrong, that’s your prerogative and you can do whatever you want, but I don’t appreciate being judged for doing the same thing you do. All the women I talk to know what’s up from the beginning. I make that clear. That’s why I was able to sort that shit out with Chioma and Shanti earlier. It’s why me and Zuri are cool. I didn’t lie. I never lied. They’re great girls that I wanted to get to know. No commitment was promised. I told them that I understood their feelings but I just thought this was a healthy way of doing things. There was communication there. You were getting involved in things you don’t know about.”
My mouth parted. Was he accusing me of...slut-shaming? Me, the feminist, who had words of Audre Lorde and bell hooks seared into her heart? Who knew the entirety of the prelude toFlawless!I was never lost for words and this time wasn’t any different, but it definitely took me awhile to retrieve them. When I found them, they came out like bullets. I stepped closer to Malakai, eyes narrowed and seething.
“Oh, there wascommunicationthere? That’s why everybody knew who I was talking about on the radio—because all the women knew where they stood? Please. Look, just because you were able to spin something that smoothed over that mess between Chioma and Shanti doesn’tmean you’re innocent and it doesn’t mean I’ll buy it. You clearly did something for the girls to believe that they meant more to you, something that made them retroactively question your behavior. And foryourinformation, what I did with Zack was not the same thing. Dudes have been doing what you’re doing since the beginning of time. Having their cake and eating it too. Well, guess what? The patisserie’sclosed.” So maybe that last part was overkill. I continued talking, hoping to erase any damage that corny line had done to the gravity of my point. “What I’m doing is levelling the playing field. There is a difference, Malakai, and I don’t need to waste any more time trying to explain that to you.”
“Patisserie?”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Can we focus?”
His lips bent in an irritatingly inviting manner. “I’m focused.”
“You’re mocking.”
“Nah. It was clever. Literary.”
He was definitely mocking. Zack didn’t quite have what it took to get under my skin, but this guy was burrowing like he knew where to go. It almost made me want to stay as much as it made me want to go. Which meant I had to go.
“You know what? We’re probably done here. I think Zack’s got the message. People will have lost interest by now. It’s already been a long night and I don’t have the energy for whatever this is going to turn into. Thanks for the emergency kiss, but I think I’m gonna—” I went to walk past him.
Malakai stepped to make way for me but his eyes flashed. “I’m sorry.”
