CHAPTER 1
“Julian!” I hollered when his fat dick hit my sweet spot, making me see stars. He grunted, stretching my legs so far back they touched my ears.
“Mm, this gushy pussy got a nigga head gone.” He bit his plump lower lip, eyes fixed on where we were connected.
“You gon’ stay mad at me?”
My eyes rolled in the back of my head when he swiveled his hips. Julian knew damn well I wasn’t thinking ’bout whatever the fuck we argued about before—not when he was fucking me like he hated me.
“You don’t hear me?” Thrust.
“N-No.”
“No, what?” Another delicious thrust.
“I’m not mad anymore.” I managed to choke out between broken moans. He smirked, eyes twinkling with mischief as he leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“That’s what I like to hear, baby.”
He kissed the shell of my ear, then leaned up to hold my trembling legs in place. Julian pounded me until my release coated his dick. He followed shortly after, grunting with his head thrown back. Panting, he released my legs and rolled onto his back, staring at the popcorn ceiling.
“Shit, I needed that nut.”
The high I was riding came crashing down when his words hit. I rolled my eyes, recalling why I was mad in the first place. If he thought a little sex was going to make me forget, he was sadly mistaken. I needed my nut too—and I wasn’t done.
“For the last time, whose Candy, Julian?”
He lets out an exasperated breath, giving me a look that said he was at his wits’ end. Well, so was I. What was I supposed to think when some woman named candy_applebites messaged me on Instagram, threatening me to leave her man alone?
My man.
Of course when I confronted Julian, he deflected. He claimed he’s “never met a Candy a day in his life” and all that. My train of thought was lost the moment he pulled me in close, kissing on my neck and rubbing my ass.
Your girl was banged up for two weeks, sue me.
“You really gon’ ask me that with my seed leaking down your thigh?” Julian rose from the bed, shaking his head like a parent disappointed in their child. He grabbed one of his sweatpants, quickly slipping it on and staring at me with his handsome face balled up.
I hopped up too, meeting his gaze without bothering to get dressed. I was heated. Monica and Keith Mitchell raised no fool. Hell, my parents taught me how to shoot before I could walk.
They might not have had the most conventional ways of raising me, but the love and support I had growing up shaped me into the proud woman I am today. They’d be turning in their graves to see me now, arguing with a man who couldn’t be upfront about where he was slinging his dick.
A damn shame indeed.
“Yes, Julian, I’m asking because I haven’t heard an answer!” I snapped, flinging my hands. “Imagine my fucking surprise when Candy slid in my DMs saying my man isn’t really mine.”
“I already told you I don’t know a bitch named Candy!” He shouted, chest heaving. My eyes tracked him as he paced the bedroom, hitting his hand as he talked.
“How many times I gotta say it? You don’t trust me ’cause some broad got you rattled?”
“I’m never rattled.” I gritted out.
“Then act like it, damn.”
It wasn’t a surprise Julian got attention. He was good-looking, had a solid job as a bank teller, stood six feet tall with a body he hit at least three times a week, juicy pink lips, and a low taper fade… Julian was a magnet for women. Don’t get me started on those light brown eyes that could pull you in and swallow you whole. He had the type of charm that made you do a double-take without even realizing it.
And he knew it.
It wasn’t the first time someone slid into my DMs claiming Julian was their man. What made this time different was the way he acted whenever I brought Candy’s name up.
The shifty eyes, defensive attitude, even the carefree smile he usually tossed my way to dismiss those rumors—none of it was there. He was nervous. And I wanted to know why.
We’ve been together for five years; I deserve that much.
“Don’t try to spin this on me. You either fucking the bitch or already did. Which is it?”
“Man, fuck this shit.” Julian waves me off, picking up his shirt.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.” He grabbed the door handle, yanking it open. Just before stepping through, I couldn’t stop myself from asking the question I knew I didn’t want the answers to.
“So, you’re just gonna leave like that? Fuck me, right?”
He chuckled, though I knew there was no humor behind it. “Kennedy, if you knew what’s good for you and this relationship, you’d leave this shit where it is.”
My head snapped back in surprise. “Julian, are you threatening our relationship right now?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, ask Candy what she thinks.”
And with that last hurtful statement, he exits, slamming the door so hard the hinges shook. I paced the bedroom, my mind reeling.
What the hell just happened?
Maybe confronting him after we fucked wasn’t the smartest decision, but I’ve never seen him this upset over some bitch he claimed not to know. My gut was screaming at me that something was off, but my heart refused to believe Julian would ruin what we built together.
I met Julian when I was in my fourth year at Spelman. We didn’t start dating until I turned twenty-three, a year after I graduated. I didn’t like him much at first, but he was persistent in a way I found charming.
Maybe I was overreacting.
Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I decided to take a much-needed shower. Julian has never given me a reason to suspect he was playin’ me.
He’s hardworking, dependable, and knows how to work the gift between his legs that God gave him. It might not be the longest, but where he lacked in length, he more than made up for it in girth.
A blessing that’s a rare find in the ever-bustling city of Atlanta.
Turning on the shower, I waited until the water was nice and hot before stepping in. Under the heated spray, I closed my eyes, letting the warm water wash away the hurt Julian’s words left behind. It was times like these that made me miss my mom.
Every now and then, her memory would resurface in my spirit, reminding me she would always be with me. She was my best friend, my everything, but she was gone. I lost her and my father to the streets and swore never to get involved with anyone in that world.
It was one of the main reasons I gave Julian a chance, but now, I don’t know what to think anymore.
After spending thirty minutes under the warm water that had turned cold, I finally stepped out. Wrapping a towel around my body, I reached for my favorite moisturizer and massaged it into my rich, mocha skin, savoring the smooth, soothing sensation.
Satisfied, I slipped into my pink, matching silk pajama set, the fabric gliding against me. Standing in front of the floor-length mirror, I studied my ginger hair and cringed at the disastrous curls.
“I’m a whole mess,” I murmured to myself. I decided right then and there that I’d get my hair done no later than this weekend.
Crown & Glory, my usual go-to spot, owned by my best friend’s mother, would set me straight. Thinking of her must have conjured her up because her name flashed across my phone screen a second later.
Biting my lip, I let the call go to voicemail. In the mood I was in right now, she’d definitely know something was up, and I didn’t need Jazmine’s ‘I told you so’, making me feel worse than I already did. But Jazmine being Jazmine wouldn’t let me breathe. She called three more times before I decided to just get it over with. I picked up on the fourth ring.
“I know you see me calling, hoe.”
I cackled. “I can’t be busy?” I put the phone on speaker and head down the stairs to the kitchen. With Julian blowing my back out and us arguing not even five minutes later, my stomach was screaming.
“Mm, whateva, heffa.”
Chuckling softly, I pulled some leftovers from the night before out of the fridge to reheat.
“What do I owe the pleasure of your call this lovely Sunday evening?”
I could practically feel her rolling her eyes as she said, “Keep playin’ wit me.”
I hummed, watching anxiously as the timer counted down on the microwave, and on cue, my stomach growled.
“But anyway, I’ll get at you later for not answering my call. There’s somethin’ else I wanna tell you—”
A loud crash sounded through the phone, cutting her off. The sound of females shouting meets my ears, followed by another series of crashes and bangs. It was obvious that a fight was going on.
“Hold on,” there was a pause, then the next thing I heard was her shouting over the mounting chaos. “You bitches better not be fighting in my mama’s shop! Take that shit outside!”
I shook my head. I knew without a doubt that if LaShonda Price was in that shop, the devil himself wouldn’t be enough to hold her back. If there was one thing she did not play about besides Jazmine and me, it was her salon.
“Damn, these bitches don’t know how to act,” Jazmine cleared her throat just as the microwave dinged. “As I was sayin’, I heard somethin’ interesting at the shop today.”
“About what?” Plating my food, I took a seat on one of the high back island chairs.
“I was doin’ some bitch hair, and she was on the phone talkin’ loud like she wanted everybody to know her business. You know me, normally I wouldn’t give a fuck, but when she said your name? Yeah... that got all my attention.”
“My name?” I paused from taking a bite out of my lasagna.
Jazmine’s words gave me a sinking feeling as to why my name would be in some random bitch’s mouth, and her next words confirmed it.
“Mhmm,” she dragged. “That ain’t even the weird part. She was sayin’ something ’bout you messin’ with her friend’s man… some bitch named Candy.”
The spoon in my hand clattered as it fell. “What?” Candy? There is no way this was a coincidence—or was it?
“I’m not the only Kennedy in Atlanta.”
Jazmine tsked, and I could just tell she was shaking her head at me. “See, I was thinking that too, but then when she started describing what you looked like, it was a wrap.”
I sighed. “Jazmine, what did you do?”
Often the one prone to slapping the taste out a bitch’s mouth, Jazmine was the obvious fighter of the two of us. It didn’t matter if you were built like a brick house, her lil’ bad ass was throwing hands without fear.
“Whatchu mean what I do? I slung that bitch into next week so fast she ran out clutchin’ her imaginary pearls.”
I busted out laughing. “You did not!”
“Yes the fuck I did. Let that be a lesson for her dumb ass. You never know how some people are connected to be talkin’ crazy like that.”
For as long as I could remember Jazmine always had my back whenever. She was like the sister I never had. Even though I hated confrontation, I didn’t play about her just as much as she didn’t play about me.
“And you’re sure you heard it right?”
Jazmine hummed as I glared at the kitchen floor. “Positive. I even asked her ’bout the bitch before I went to work on her ass. She spilled everything. Turns out Candy’s a stripper at one of the hottest clubs downtown.”
Balling my hands into fists, I couldn’t stop the rising anger from surging inside my body. Utterly fed up, I spilled everything I was feeling for the past twenty-four hours.
She sighed after I wrapped up my rant, her tone resigned as she said, “I’ve been tellin’ you, Julian’s just too much like Darian. I don’t know what it was, but he rubbed me the wrong way the moment I met him.”
Darian was my ex. He was nice and charming at first, making every effort to pursue me, but his narcissistic ways came on like a light switch shortly after we started dating. The change was instant, and it left me confused, with my confidence shattered.
That messy breakup took me four years before I could even consider getting into another relationship again.
“I feel so stupid! How the fuck did I miss this?”
“Aht aht! We not doin’ that. Don’t let Julian’s slimy ass make you blame yourself for his shit. He’s just real good at hiding his rotten ways, and you were too in love to see it.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to stop the tears I knew were coming, but it was too late.
Julian played me, then had the audacity to make it seem as if I was crazy questioning his motives.
All those times I asked him about the different women who’d DM me claiming that he was with them... it must have been true. I inwardly groaned at my naivety.
“I gave that ungrateful ass man five years of me… only for him to do me like this?!”
“Don’t even sweat it, boo. It happens to the best of us.” Someone calling her cut her off from saying more. She promised she would call me later, then hung up.
Blinking back tears, I threw my food into the trash. I’ve officially lost my appetite.
Finding out Julian’s true colors was like a bitter pill my heart refused to swallow. Like a light bulb going off, my mind started recalling the late nights, the way his attention was always glued to his phone, and how said phone was always faced down in my presence.
You dumb, bitch, my mind screamed at me.
If Julian thought he could play me, he had another thing coming. another thing coming.
