Page 69 of The Key To His Soul
“Felt it best for me to say what I have to say out here.”
Her jaw tightened, and I could see the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I know.”
“And Julissa too.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying you know like I don’t already know you know that, Mehki. I wanna know why.”
“I’m not even gonna beat around the bush witchu, Rima, because you’re owed honesty. The past few days, I’ve had some time to think about my life and what that looks like long term. There’s been some moving pieces that I didn’t even expect, and I realized that I’ve been moving on temporary feelings, and I don’t wanna do that anymore.”
“Temporary feelings for me?”
“Temporary feelings regarding polyamory.”
“So, now you want one woman?”
“I do.”
“And let me guess, that woman isn’t me or Julissa? The women who’ve been with you for the last year and a half? Fucking and sucking on you, on each other, being there for you emotionally and mentally? That’s what you telling me?”
I hung my head because I knew there was no way to tell her this without her going left. Taking into account that she was coming from a place of hurt, I replied simply. “Yes. Not you or Julissa.”
Before I knew it, she’d brought her hand down over my face, slapping the shit out of me.
“Fuck you and that bitch!” She spat venom.
I raised up in my seat, my eyes turning to slits. “You got five seconds to get the fuck outta my shit before I do something to you, Karima,” I growled.
I didn’t get to three in my head before she scurried out. I put my car in reverse, almost running her ass over, as she ran up her driveway back into her house. My face was stinging, and I was seething. Picking up my phone, I called Ju. She answered on the first ring.
“Hey, you home?”I spoke once the call connected.
“Hey,”she replied softly.“Yeah. Just walked through the door.”
“Aight. Can I stop by for a minute?”
“Of course.”
“Cool. I’ll be there.”
“Okay.”
Halfway to Ju’s house, it started raining. I ain’t like that shit at all. Rain always made everything feel heavier, and the conversation I was headed into already had enough weight behind it. By the time I arrived in front of the brownstone, the rain settled into a steady drizzle. I sat there for a minute, contemplating how I should go about the conversation. Julissa wasn’t Karima. Beyond the relationship was a friendship that had always been at the foundation of what we were that I cherished and knowing that ending the relationship could possibly end the friendship too made me hesitant.
At the same time, I knew where Ju had come from, a place of feeling stuck, and I didn’t want her to continue to put her life on hold just because I felt like home. I grabbed my phone from the cupholder and got out. Unlike the conversation with Karima, I wanted to talk to Ju inside so that she was comfortable. Getting out the car, I jogged up to her door and rang her bell.
She opened the door and leaned against it.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey.”
She didn’t wave or smile, just looked at me with her locs wrapped up on her head, a wife beater that was cut into a v in the middle, biker shorts, and her signature waist beads hanging on her waist.
“You can come inside,” she said softly.
