Page 135 of Own It

I was stressed the entire day, waiting for Ayan to walk through that door, if he even chose to. That was all I did these days—sit around the house with the kids, if Amina wasn’t here, and wait for Ayan to tell me my next move.

I had a career as a hairstylist when I was with Rakim, but when I got with Ayan, he wanted me to quit and promised he would take care of me. Like the idiot I was, I listened, and now here I was with two kids, no ring, and now no man.

With Ayan occupied by the shower and AJ being monitored by Amina, I had some free time. So I decided I was going to pay Rakim a visit.

The last few times I saw him, I was still trying to hang onto what I had with Ayan, but now that I had no choice but to move on, I would profess my love for him.

As I hastily pored over the clothes in my closet to find something cute, sexy, but not too conspicuous, I heard Ayan’s phone going crazy on the nightstand. Leaving my walk-in, I trod toward it and saw the contact was stored with a few hearts, making my own plummet to my ass.

With tears threatening to fall from my eyes, I scooped the device up to answer it. “Hello?”

“Who is this?” the woman asked, attitude drenching her tone.

“Ayan’s woman, who the fuck is this?” I snapped, clutching the phone so hard I felt like it would crack at any minute.

“Well, tell Ayan his other woman called because I need to know which of these dresses he sent me is preferred by him. I like to please my man.”

“You stupid bi—” The line went dead before I could finish my insult.

Just then, I heard the water in the bathroom shut off, so perfect timing. It was rare that I confronted Ayan about his other women because it was a pointless effort. I knew I wasn’t leaving, and I didn’t want to risk him punching me in the face for it, but I was too infuriated by the culmination of tonight’s events that I couldn’t hold back.

“The fuck!” Ayan bellowed when I burst into the bathroom to see him standing at the sink, towel around his waist.

“Some bitch just called your fucking phone!”

“What she say?” he asked, sending shockwaves throughout my body.

“What did she say?” I parroted in disbelief. I could feel my eyebrows resting at my hairline.

“If you not gon’ tell me, get the fuck out ’fore you piss me off.”

“You sent her dresses? You’re taking another girl tonight? The media is gonna have a fucking field day, Ayan. Everybody knows we’re together, and now you’re gonna take some random bitch. How are you gonna explain that?” I quickly wiped the tears that began skiing down my face without fail.

I felt broken and weak.

“Simple. You and I broke up and I moved on.” He wet his toothbrush, laced it with toothpaste, and then started brushing as if this were a perfectly normal conversation.

Recognizing this was an unavailing conversation, I shut the bathroom door and proceeded to put on one of the black short numbers in my closet. Combing my hair into a high ponytail, I dusted my face with a little skin tint since I wasn’t in the mood to doll myself up anymore, and the bruises starting to formulate were small and light.

Rakim had loved me and wouldn’t care about how beat my face was.

Exiting the home without saying a word to neither Amina nor Ayan, I climbed into my car and started en route to my man’s house. If I had to get on my knees and beg, I would. I loved him and was ready to do whatever was needed to be back in perfect harmony with him. I didn’t even care that he sold drugs, especially since I’d overheard Jojo saying Rakim wanted to focus solely on the gym and bakery since they were both doing so well.

Arriving at his home, I pressed the big green button on the speaker. Time passed, but no one answered. Nevertheless, the gates opened for me, so I surmised that Rakim saw me on the camera and just let me in.

Parking, I scoffed at the fact that I forgot to put on any earrings. I was still beautiful, though, so it didn’t matter.

Exiting the car, I made my way up the walkway and to the front door. Taking a deep breath, I reached to ring the doorbell, but before I could, the door started to open up.

My smile faltered instantaneously at the sight of Daylin standing there, frowning. She wore some tiny ass gray shorts, a little triangle bra, and her hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck with a part on the side.

She was a beautiful girl, but due to the incensed look that had taken over, you could hardly see. Her creamy caramel skin was stark in comparison to my depleted and pale one due to lack of proper care and moodiness.

That look of fury released as her eyes darted around my face, and I realized I’d only used skin tint instead of full coverage, so marks from Ayan’s strikes had most likely began to show through the light ass makeup.

“Come in.” She retreated from the door, allowing me inside.

“Thanks.” I bobbed my head, feeling awkward because I hadn’t expected her to be in his house. “Do you live here?” I tried to chuckle it off, but she didn’t return the gesture.