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To say that my life had been a roller coaster these past few days would be an understatement. To say I was two seconds away from stomping a hole in this bitch, Amy, was right on the money, though.
Max has always been fine as hell, even back when he was the ashy boy on the block with swap meet designer shit, the business-minded skinny dude trying to outhustle the hustlers. Even before he became that dude, he was blessed with the ability to make a female gush on demand from a quick flash of his dimples. So I was used to the fuckery of thirsty chicks with aspirations of being a kept woman, well versed in the many ways they shamelessly threw themselves at him.
Usually, I didn’t give the broads a second thought, damn sure didn’t let them get under my skin but, for some reason, this Amy bitch irked my soul. I’d been trying to figure out what it was about her, but I had yet to put my finger on it. She had this awkwardness about her that just...ugh, it just made me want to erase her.
Even as we left his office to head to mine, I caught Amy’s lame ass cutting her eyes up at me. Whatever her problem was, she’d be wise to get over it before I have her a legit reason to have her face turned up like something had soured.
“Leave your lunch hour open. If you have plans, cancel them,” Max called over his shoulder as he left my office. My door closed behind him before I had a chance to reply, so I slipped into my thoughts, replaying what had felt like a thousand different events over the past few days.
That night he proposed was...one for the books, and my head was still very much in a fog trying to make it all fit together. It wasn’t the fact that Max had a kid that upset me; it was the lie and the secrecy of it. Let me stop—damn right the fact that he was a father pissed me off! I was supposed to bear his firstborn, and just knowing that another chick had beat me to it made me want to smack fire from her ass. Break baby? Yeah, okay. Not a factor? Bullshit. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t in my feelings over all this shit.
Max’s text popped up just as I plopped down at my desk. I skimmed over my inbox and flagged a few items for follow-up before locking my computer and gathering my things to head out. I still had roughly an hour before I had to meet Max at the address he’d just sent, and an hour was plenty for me to handle a private errand before meeting up with this questionable man I’d agreed to marry. Questionable because with each new request to meet up, I felt like I was walking into a setup. Felt like I needed to be on guard because something told me this bombshell of a break baby didn’t even scratch the surface of the shit Max had kept from me—was keeping from me.
Passing the corridor to Max’s office on my way out, I felt the treasure troll’s gaze all upside my face without even looking her way. Amy sat there leering at me, begging me to tag Raveniesha in to scrub the floor with the cheap ass, City-Trends brand ambassador. Max seemed to be on this kick to keep my jaw on the floor, finding new ways to “wow” me each day, so I had one for his ass: wow the shit out of me by canceling this badly built, off brand weirdo.
As far as I was concerned, her ass needed to go, and I wouldn’t rest until she was F-I-R-E-D. I made a note to follow up with HR once she’d been terminated to make sure they deducted every expense possible from Amy’s last paycheck. Every second spent fucking off at her desk, scrolling on social media and doing all the other shit her slacking ass did would be charged against the generous salary Max paid her. One way or another, these bitches would learn not to bite the hand that fed them. More importantly, they’d learn to stay in their place and remember I was the last bitch they wanted to fuck with.
***
“Alright well...I think we’re all set! I’ll just need your final headcount and table assignments at least seventy-two hours prior. Everything else is a go and, if I may overstep a bit, this is going to be the event of the year. Ms. Bryant, this one’s definitely a keeper.” She motioned toward Max. “If he has a brother, send him my way.” She leaned in to whisper that last part beyond Max’s earshot.
She was whom I now knew to be the event planner Max secured to plan the most extravagant engagement party I’d ever seen—which was due to take place in a few weeks! Max never did anything mediocre, but this shit? Beyond one for the books. Had me speechless and reminded me why I’d never been able to get him out of my system. Why I’d never be able to leave this man alone. When he cared, he cared, and you legit felt that shit.
“In a rush much?” I teased, relaxing into his embrace as the event planner stepped out to take a call. Head rested atop mine, I could feel the rhythm of his pulse against my back; in perfect sync with my own.
“We have the rest of our lives to take our time, but I need you as my wife ASAP. And I need you to sign this.”
Max eased the folder lying on the adjacent table into my palm. The same folder I’d given a cursory glance before now felt like...a threat. Instantly, I felt pressure seize my core as a new wave of anxiety set in. I had no idea what the fuck I was about to lay eyes on, and that uncertainty unnerved the shit out of me.
“Relax...” Max attempted to lull me as my hands shook worse than a First Lady caught on her knees, serving up the youth pastor in the Bishop’s office.
“A pre-nup? What the fuck, Max?”
“Never. I trust you with my life. It’s a NDA. I trust you, but I need you to take certain shit to the grave.”
That darkness I mentioned? It was here; only for a split second, but I saw it in his eyes, even felt it.
They say you should marry your best friend, but the way my stomach was churning, threatening to embarrass the shit out of me with a bad case of bubble guts, I wondered if I really knew this man at all...and just who the fuck I was about to marry...