HOWARD

33

Ain’t that about a—

One minute I was enjoying spending every second of the day with the new woman in my life, and the next thing I know, I’m blindsided with a swift kick to the balls and falling hard on my big ass. Fuck… And it’s all because my woman—because she is my woman—can’t trust.

First, it was her issues with her ex-boyfriend and his wife, and then Giselle’s sabotage attempts by sneaking into my bedroom, showing up at Meek’s job, and her Emmy award-winning performance at Taylor’s promotion party. Now those incidents, I could understand. However, seeing me in the parking lot with Sherry and accusing me of trying to get back with her... Now that shit was ridiculous. Meeks had some serious issues with trusting men.

So how is that your problem? I shook my head but left the subject alone.

I’d done everything I could from day one to not only tell her but show her my feelings and intentions. There had been no games or any other woman I was sharing my time with. Just her. Every moment of the day we had spent together, I made sure she knew I was a man of integrity, honor, and valor and that should have counted for something. Dammit.

I stormed angrily across the parking lot toward my office. To hell with my SUV. I’ll get it later. I needed to walk and cool off before the discharge briefing at fourteen-thirty. With each step, I replayed the event in the parking lot. Yes, Sherry had kissed me, and maybe I had been grinning quite a bit. But anyone who knew us knew my relationship with Sherry was strictly platonic. Over the years, we had gained mutual respect and set out to be the best damn parents we could be. Sherry was one hell of a mother, and I loved her for it. She was firm when she needed to be. Growing up, she had lived in an abusive home and had made a promise from the moment she found out she was carrying Ava that our children would never experience that kind of pain or neglect. Instead, our daughter would know every single day just how much she was loved, even after we had to get in her ass for something sneaky, she tried to do. Sherry and I were friends. That was it.

I scrubbed a frustrated hand down my face and drew in another long breath as I remembered Sherry pressing her hand to my chest. Maybe that’s what Meek’s saw. Hell, she was complimenting a brotha. Said she hadn’t seen me look this relaxed and happy in a long time. Sherry had always been a touchy-feely kind of woman, but it was just who she was. I could, however, see how another woman would have a problem with it. But Meeks being unreasonable and not giving me a chance to explain, now, that was unacceptable. Conflict and disagreements happen in all relationships, but I had hoped when the time arose that we would have been able to work through them together.

You were wrong.

Now I had to prove myself. Guilty before proven innocent. That’s how people with trust issues think. They sit back, waiting for you to do something to fuck it up.

I crossed the street, raised my hand, and saluted an officer. The more I thought about Meek’s behavior, the angrier I became. The signs were all there, and yet I chose to ignore them because I’m always looking for a challenge. In fact, I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. When Meeks resisted and said she didn’t trust men in uniform, I should have backed away. Any other man would have taken it as a sign that they didn’t need the headache of a woman with trust issues and hang ups about dating servicemen. Only there was a problem with that scenario. Unlike the other women, Meeks attracted me on so many different levels, so I felt she was one challenge I couldn’t resist.

Nothing worth having comes easy, my father always used to say.

But a woman’s lack of trust in her man, that was a different ballgame. Trust issues was a battle I wasn’t sure I could win. I didn’t want to have to keep proving myself, and yet, as I neared the Maintenance Group, I reminded myself that when I set off down this path, I knew what I was up again. I then asked myself, was she worth the fight? And an answer came to me without hesitation.

Hell yeah.

Pulling my shoulders back, I stepped into the building. We were far from over.