Page 116 of Serenity
“Because I’m your girlfriend—your woman, not one of the boys!” Her little fist banged the table as she screeched.
“I don’t need an explanation on why I should address and speak to you a certain way. I’m asking you why the fuck you—” I pointed directly at her. “—Felt the need to go downstairs when I specifically told you to stay away from her, Bee?”
“You’re always telling me what the fuck to do, Duke,” she calmly clipped and, in turn, fractured my fucking heart.
Never had I intended to overstep with Serenity. Maintaining a healthy degree of boundaries when it came to her and the advice I gave was always at the forefront of my thoughts. I thought she enjoyed being told what to do. Nothing about her demeanor screamed that I’d been too pushy or too helpful. I didn’t know she felt like… this. “Tell me how you really feel.”
In and out, a stream of air fled my chest. This wasn’t my Bee. This was Mya and Duke on rewind. That bitch had rubbed off on my woman just that quickly. She was toxic, like a fucking pathogen in the air.
“And answer my question, Bee.”
“Because she has everything! She took everything. All the things you once desired, you now don’t because of her. Have you seen that fucking condo? She doesn’t deserve that shit, Duke. She doesn’t deserve to have all this fucking power over you. She doesn’t deserve to have her hands in your pockets!
“What if I want kids? What if I want to get married? She’s wearing your last name like a fucking badge of honor. Why the fuck do I have to share her with you? Why do I have to settle with the man of my dreams?!”
Tears mounted her lids, threatening a hurricane. In turn, she knocked the wind from my fucking chest. Always did. Expect the unexpected with Bee. That was the thing with bees, though. They stung when provoked.
This was jealousy squared.
Rising from my seat, I eased over to her side of the table. Cupped her chin. Traced that place with my thumb. Forced her eyes on me.
“Who the fuck told you that shit, hmm? Was it Mya?”
Thunder and rain. In her eyes, I witnessed it brewing. This was the calm and the storm.
“You don’t have to settle with me, Bumble Bee. You can have whatever it is your heart desires.”
Dipping lower, close enough to kiss her lips, I said, “You want babies? You want to be Mrs. Serenity Stepford? You want her to drop my name?”
She blinked, fanning away tears with her long-ass lashes.
“Tell me, baby,” I urged, kissing her lips.
Whatever the fuck she wanted, I was prepared to give it. The world. The whole fucking universe was at her fingertips.
“Everything and anything for you, Bee.”
Wild and untamed, the affirmation surfaced, and I meant every fucking word.
“Duke?” SHe sniffed.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t feel like you overstep when you give me advice. I just... What is happening to us?”
Myaquanna Juliette was happening. The past few months had been rocky per her interference. I’d given her far too much leverage over my present. It was time to put her and all things concerning her to rest. It was past time.
TO PLAN
Following the outburst I had the day I visited Mya, things between Duke and I were different. Different, as in good. Different as in growth. Different, as in peaceful. Different as in silence from Myaquanna. It seemed we were going through the typical growing pains of a new relationship over the past few months. Now, things were serene on the home front.
Prior to our conversation over pancakes that morning, I’d grown sick of her ass. Never had I wished bad on a single soul stalking the earth, but I couldn’t wait to be rid of her. At some point, she’d have to go away. If not by her own will, by force would do. While I’d never gotten my hands dirty to harm a single soul, I wasn’t above paying some hoodrats to beat her ass. Maybe it had been impulsive to have paid her a visit, but even as recalled my time in that condo, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.
“Everything and anything for you, Bee.”
Duke made the promise, and I was fully prepared to hold him to it whenever and if ever my heart shifted. Everything and anything for you, Duke. For him, it was much of the same, though I hadn’t voiced my devotion that day.
It wasn’t that I wanted to get married. It wasn’t that I wanted to have children. I’d already vowed that wasn’t my narrative. The idea that someone else had prevented those things from ever being an option for me was what didn’t settle well in my spirit. I wanted the option available to me if I ever changed my mind. I wanted Duke absent the baggage of the last bitch. So maybe I was jealous.