When You Know It's Real: Siah and Nonie (8 page)

Siah released an arrogant laugh. “Yeah, I told him to keep his mouth shut, but niggas don't respect authority.”

I lifted my jeans off the bed and worked them onto my body while I watched Siah walk back into the closet. He returned a few minutes later with a pair of Hermes sneakers and a matching leather belt to place on the black jeans that were hanging low around his waist. Damn, he was sexy as fuck. I swear I couldn't get enough of this man.

“You better put your damn clothes on and stop looking at me like that before we don't make it back to town in time for that damn meeting you’ve been crying about.” Siah spoke without looking up at me because he was in the process of putting on his shoes.

I rolled my eyes since his back was to me, but I knew he was right, so I kept my mouth shut.

I finished dressing while Siah left the room to take a call. Although I wanted to be nosey, I had to finish getting my stuff ready. I moved around the room, picking up the rest of my things and shoving them in my overnight bag so we could get on the road. Once I was done, I slid my feet into my heels, grabbed my bag, and after shutting off the lights, I left Siah’s room.

I found him downstairs in the kitchen, phone pressed to his ear and damn near whispering, which meant that he had to be talking to one of his little hoes. His back was to me, but the second he heard my heels tapping the marble floor of his kitchen, he turned to me for a second but kept talking.

“Yo, check it, I’ll hit you later today. I have some shit to handle right now. Man, don't press me. I said maybe, but I gotta go. Aight bet.”

“Why you hang up? I don't care ’bout you making plans with your little nobodies. You been with me for the past two days, I know it's time to put them back in rotation.” I moved past Siah, making sure to bump him on my way to the refrigerator.

When I pulled the door open to find something to take with me, I felt Siah’s body behind me, pressed against mine. His scent circled around us as his hands followed the motion and moved around my waist. I felt his lips on my neck and then against my ear.

“I don't have a rotation, Nonie. I have you. No bitch can fuck with that, so kill all that jealousy shit, Pretty.”

As much as I wanted to melt into his body, I wasn't falling for his bullshit lines, so I elbowed him off me and leaned into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of orange juice. Siah’s cocky ass laughed, but he took the hint and stepped away from me. After his paranoid ass checked the monitor to view all the images from his security cameras, we left his house.

The drive was quiet; I was in my head about dealing with Kizzie in regards to Red, while Siah was thinking about God knows what. He kept his business away from me unless he just needed to vent, but even then, it was limited details. I was good with that because I didn't want nor desire to be caught up in his illegal activities. That was a complication I could live without. Kizzie and I were different when it came to stuff like that. She loved that street life. It got her panties wet to know about stuff like that. I never understood it, but Kizzie was my girl, and what was good with her was good with me.

“My pops wants to see you, Nonie. He said it's been a minute and you be acting funny and shit.” Siah glanced at me with a cute little smile, knowing that the mention of his father would tug at my heart.

Senior and I were close, had been from the first day I met him. Siah hated it at first, claiming that his father was always trying to flirt with me, but I knew he was just playing. Senior was a big ass flirt though, and with good reason. For him to be in his early fifties, he still had it. He was basically an older version of Siah, only darker, with this sexy chocolate self. Like his son, Senior knew he was eye candy and he carried himself that way. Always had plenty of women around him, and always looked and played the role.

Senior was respectful though. He never got out of line with me, and he treated me like family. The bad thing about Senior was that he didn't believe in monogamy. He raised Siah that way, and never bit his tongue when it came to voicing his opinion about that. Senior always kept a main woman in his life, but he also never had a shortage of others who were constantly around to do any and everything he wanted.

“How is it that I’m acting funny? I only see Senior when you want me to see him, so tell your father that it’s your fault, not mine.”

“Man, gone with that nonsense. You know where he lives. You don't need me to go see him.”

“Oh, so you're good with me just popping up at his house like that?” I gave Siah the side eye and waited.

“Long as I know about it so I can tell his ass to keep his hands to himself, then yeah.” Siah’s face turned into a grin.

“Why do you always do that? Senior isn't worried about me, Siah, not like that.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know, but real talk, go check him out when you get a minute. He keeps asking about you.”

“I’ll do that,” I said, making a mental note to find time to go see his dad. I actually missed him and loved spending time with him.

Not long after, we pulled up in front of my office building and Siah promised to have someone, likely Jock, bring my car to me later. He made sure to tongue me down in a way that had my center pulsing, and then he was gone. I knew I wouldn't see him for a couple days, but I was used to it. Right now, I had to get my mind right to go in here and deal with Kizzie about this Red situation, but unfortunately that would have to wait until after we dealt with Archer.

When I pulled up at Red’s house, my chest felt tight and my heart was pounding. When Nonie told me that she saw him with some low budget hoe at Donovan’s I felt my heart break. Not only was he with another trick, but he took her to Donovan’s. It was expensive as hell, like a hundred dollars a plate type of expensive. I know because it was one of my favorite places. That meant he was either tight with the hoe or trying to impress her, but either way it wasn't sitting well with me.

I knew I did my dirt with Jock, but it was just sex, we weren't kicking it on some relationship type deal, all out in public hand in hand like that. Cheating is cheating, I get it, but knowing that Red was doing it had me all in my damn feelings. I had suspected, but never really knew for sure, so hearing Nonie confirm it for me had me damn near in tears. It hurt like hell, and I had to step to him about it. I mean, if he was bold enough to be all out in public with the trick, then he had to expect that there was a possibility he would get caught, right?

Everybody knew Red, which meant that everybody knew that I was his girl, so he was mighty damn comfortable to be taking hoes to Donovan’s. I inhaled and let it out slow before pulling down the mirror to check my face. If I was going in on Red, I wanted to be flawless. He needed to know what he was risking for some low budget, two dollar hoe.

The way Nonie described her had me mad as hell. She said the chick had on cheap clothes, a bad weave, and too much makeup. She did mention that the hoe had potential, but only with some serious attention, so damn, why was Red with her? He had a fucking queen on his team, and he was slumming it with what should have been the help. That made it worse.

When I was finally ready to deal, I stepped out of my car and moved to his door with confidence. I glanced at my nicely manicured nail as my finger reached the doorbell and I waited.

It took a minute, but Red surfaced, dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. His sandy brown dreads fell around his face as his eyes smiled at me before he stepped aside to let me in. After a hug and kiss that had my knees weak, his voice filled the room.

“What you doing here, Kiz? I was just about to get dressed and head out.”

Red looked so sexy standing in front of me with his body exposed and begging for my attention.

“I missed you last night. I just wanted to catch my man before he hit the streets to handle business.” All of my intentions were put on hold. I wanted to see what he would say before I fronted him about being in New York.

“Word, that’s what’s up, baby. I missed you too, but I’ll make it up to you tonight. I had some shit surface that needed to be handled immediately, and only by me. You know how that goes.”

Yeah, muthafucker, I bet.
“I figured, that’s why I’m here, I just wanted to surprise you for a minute before you started your day.” I tried to hide my true feelings after his confession about
shit surfacing that needed to be handled,
but it was extremely hard. I managed, though, and kept a cool head.

“Shit, you know I’m always good with surprise visits, Kiz. We can talk while I get dressed, but I have a meeting in an hour that I can't miss.”

I nodded and followed Red down the hall to his bedroom, checking out my surroundings as I moved through his house. I knew every inch of it, so if something was out of place, I would recognize it. When we got to his room, the first thing I checked out was his bed and then relaxed a little. The covers were only pulled back on the side that he slept on and the other side looked untouched. There was no way he had a bitch in his bed last night unless she slept on top of the covers or he remade the bed after she left.

“So, what's up, Kiz? What did you get into last night? I know your ass was probably loaded up with a bottle of Moscato watching that damn trash TV.”

Red looked over his shoulder at me as he dug through his drawer, searching for a shirt. Once he had an ash grey one in his hands, he pulled it over his head and walked into his closet.

“Yeah, something like that. I didn't do too much, just caught up on some much needed rest. Nonie went to New York, so I was on my own last night.” I purposely left out the fact that I chilled with Jock and his son for most of the night, but threw in the fact that Nonie was in New York to see if he would react.

“Good thing for that, cause you gon’ need to be well rested when I see you later.”
Damn, he totally ignored the New York thing.

“Hmm, I hear you.” I watched as he removed the basketball shorts that he was wearing, exposing a nice thick imprint that had my cravings kicking in. Red’s size was just right, not some ridiculous monster that hurt more than helped, and believe me when I say he was an expert at using it. I was pulsing right now just thinking about it. Jock and Red both had a stroke game worth talking about, which was why I was stuck in this situation in the first damn place.

Once Red had his jeans on and buttoned, he walked over to me and stepped between my legs. With his hands gently on my shoulders, he pressed against them until I was on my back and his body hovered over mine. My eyes moved down his chest, to his waist, and then back up to his sexy lips that were moving toward me. When they met mine and his body grinded against me, I was gone.
Damn
.

After he lifted his head, a smirk spread across his face and he delivered a few more pecks before getting up and adjusting himself.

“I’m not fucking with you like that, Kiz, or I’ll miss my damn meeting. The fuck it look like if the boss don't show up? We can finish this later, though.”

Once again, he was moving around his room putting the finishing touches on his clothes and getting ready to leave. I sat up and watched while we made small talk. Not really about anything important because my mind was a million miles away, while Red acted like he didn't have a care in the world. His behavior was normal, nothing about him seemed different, but facts were facts. Nonie had seen him with some other trick, and I had to find out what was going on. But for now, I was just gon’ sit on it.

*****

“Well?” Nonie asked as soon as I walked into her office and her eyes met mine.

I kicked off my shoes and plopped down on her leather sofa. With a sigh, I adjusted the cream satin throw pillow under my head before I propped my feet up on the opposite end and crossed my ankles. I then folded my arms and covered my face with them.

When I didn't say anything, Nonie did. “Kizzie, don't make me come over there and slap your emotional ass. What did he say? Are you crying? You better not be crying.”

“Hoe, ain't nobody crying.” I lifted my arms and narrowed my eyes at Nonie. She was staring dead at me, looking like she really did wanna slap me, but her expression made me laugh.

“Kizzie, why are you laughing? You're really making me wanna slap your stupid ass for real, for real. What did Red say when you told him?”

“You can come over here and try, but we gon’ tear this office up if you do,” I said, covering my face again with my arms. “He didn't say anything because I didn't tell him.”

“You didn't tell him? Why the hell not, Kiz? I hope you don't think I’m lying.”

I could tell from the tone in Nonie’s voice that she was a little put off by me not telling Red, but she knew better than to think I would doubt anything she told me.

“Stop being so damn dramatic, Nonie. You know I believe you, but I just needed a minute to figure out my next move. I mean, it's not like I’m innocent in this whole thing either. I can't really talk, so for now I’m just sitting on it.”

“Wait, so you’re staying with him?”

I thought about her question for a minute before I answered. Technically, I was, but what that meant, I wasn't sure of. “Kinda sorta, I guess.”

“Kiz, why? I mean, you're doing dirt, but I don't care what you do, that nigga shouldn't be doing shit like that. It's just disrespectful, especially because that hoe was cheap and skanky.” I could hear the smile in Nonie’s voice before she laughed, which made me laugh along with her stupid ass.

“True, but I don't know what I want, Nonie. I mean, you know me. I don't think I’m ready to let go of Jock yet, and I still want Red too. It works for you, so why can't it work for me?”

“Don't even, Kiz. My situation is totally different. You think I like knowing that Siah is with other women? Hell no, in fact I hate him for it, but I’m stuck. Every time I try to walk away, I can't. No matter who I’m with, it's always gonna be about him, and I’m fooling myself to think that it won't be. I’m in love with a man who will probably never love me back. That ain't no type of life, Kiz.”

I could hear the hurt laced in my girl’s words and instantly felt like shit. I knew what it was with her and Siah. That nigga had her so wrapped up that it wasn't even funny. “I didn't mean it like that, boo.”

“I know, Kiz, don't sweat that. My life is on me. I made the choice to deal with his crazy ass, and now I'm stuck dead in the middle of what I want and what I know I can't have.” I looked over at my girl, who was grinning.

“He’s gonna get it right, Nonie. You know he loves you back, he just doesn't know how to express it. Well, not the way you want him to, but you know it, so don't stress. Siah belongs to you, so in due time, baby.”

“Yeah, well, I won't hold my breath, but you need to figure out something. You’re playing with fire dealing with Red and Jock. They’re both a little off, and if one of them steps to you, I’m going to jail.”

“Girl, bye. Your scary ass isn't going to do shit but call Siah to take care of it.”

Nonie burst out laughing. “Shut up, I can hold my own, Kiz, don't play me like that. Just because I’m not packing like your crazy behind doesn't mean that I won't do some damage”

I just shook my head and laughed. My girl was the truth. She always had my back and I knew it. Now all I needed was to figure out who had my heart. That part wasn't going to be so easy.