Chapter 19

19

D ejvi

The Third Round

Something was wrong. I'd been calling Enjell all day, and she hadn't responded. In fact, she started sending me straight to voicemail. I told myself it was because she was busy with work and that we'd talk at the competition tonight, but it didn't seem like that was going to be the case. She'd been avoiding my eyes, and Malaysia and Dallas were giving me the stank face every time I looked over at them.

When the third-round contestants were announced, I cleaned up my station as usual and headed over to her. Before I could even speak, Malaysia and Dallas were stepping in front of her. It was cute seeing their little asses be such fierce protectors, but I was lost as to why they felt they had to protect her from me.

"Can I talk to my love?" I asked sweetly.

"You mean her?" Malay asked, pointing toward Enjell.

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"Apparently, you got a whole girlfriend out here," Dallas responded.

"The only woman I got is Enjell." Enjell grunted as she gathered her things off the table. "Will y'all move before I fling your little asses?"

"It's fine, y'all," Enjell said, and that was the only reason they parted like the Red Sea.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Enjell slid the key to the Charger over to me. "I'm gonna ride home with one of them. I don't think your girl took you letting me drive your car too well."

My amusement was quickly being replaced with anger. "Who the fuck are y'all talking about?"

"Light-skinned girl with them chipmunk cheeks and teeth," Malaysia said, and unfortunately, I knew exactly who she was talking about. Robin was pretty as hell, but she did have a fat little chipmunk face.

"Robin?" I confirmed. "That's not my girl; that's my friend. She's one of my oldest friends, but we're not in a relationship. What happened?"

"She came to the kitchen earlier and said her man shared my posts, so she wanted to try my food. When she showed me the picture, the man she was hugged up with was you."

My shoulders slouched as I covered my face briefly.

This fucking girl wanted me to strangle her.

Instead of responding to Enjell immediately, I directed my attention to her bodyguards. "I promise I'm not cheating on Enjell. Robin is just my friend. A friend who wants more but a friend. Can I please speak to Enjell alone to explain the situation?"

"Why?" Malay asked. "She's just going to tell us anyway."

Dallas rolled her eyes and pulled Malay away. I dropped the key to the Charger in Enjell's purse and leaned against the table.

"So?" she taunted. "What do you have to say?"

"Like I said, Robin and I are just friends. When we were eighteen, we made a pact that if we weren't married by thirty-five that we'd have a baby together." Her eyes squeezed shut. "She came back to town shortly after you and I met, wanting to cash in, but I told her I couldn't because I'd found the one. I found you. She hasn't taken that well and has been exhibiting some behavior that's foreign to me. I can admit I didn't say no immediately because I was conflicted over loyalty, but I have told her no. If you don't believe me, I can show you the text messages."

When she didn't respond, I pulled my phone out to show her our text thread. As she read it, I continued.

"I'm not sure why she's trying to make it seem like we're together. Maybe she thinks if she does that, you'll leave me, and I'll give her the baby. Either way, I can assure you I'm not cheating on you with her or anyone else. Robin and I have never discussed or been in a relationship. We've never kissed or had sex. And as you can see, I told her I wanted to be with you."

She handed me the phone, still avoiding my eyes. "Thank you for letting me see."

"Of course. I'm sorry she came to you and put doubt in your heart. I know we're not officially together, but all I want is you, love. I can assure you that this will never happen again."

Her head shook as she licked the corner of her mouth and took the key back out of her purse.

"I appreciate you telling me now, but the fact that you were even considering doing this while we've been talking is a lot. I'll get over it because you did choose us, but I'm no one's option, Dejvi. I'm always number one."

"Mm…" Stepping around the table, I took her into my arms. "I know that probably wasn't meant to turn me on, but it did." Her eyes rolled as she placed her hands on my chest. "You're right; you're not an option. And you are my number one. My only one."

She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "Today has been a long day, baby. I just… need some space."

"I can give you that, as long as you know we're not over." Her chin trembled, and the thought of her shedding tears worried me. I sat on the edge of the table and pulled her between my legs. "Hey." I tilted her head by her chin. "What's going on?" Quickly wiping her tear, I kissed the corner of her eyes. "Enjell…"

"Grandma had a bad day, and we were super busy, then she came in talking about you were cheating on her with me." She huffed and covered her face, then ran her hands through her hair. "It's just a lot, but I'll be fine. I really just need some time to decompress."

"I'm sorry, love. Her BS is the last thing you should have had to deal with today. Focus on your family stuff, and I'll take care of Robin. I promise she won't be an issue or pop up like that again."

Nodding, she avoided my eyes. "All right, Dejvi." Between her dejected tone and weakened posture, I felt even more like shit. I should have told her from the beginning, but at least when she did find out, it was after I'd done the right thing and truly made up my mind.

"Here, let me walk you to your car, and you still keeping this damn car. I don't know why you keep trying to give me this key back."

Finally… she smiled.

"Dejvi…"

"We may not be in a committed relationship, but what we have goes beyond that. If I felt like you knew it was sincere, I'd ask you to commit now. You deserve better than that though."

She wrapped her arm around mine and rested her head against it. I let her stay like that for a while before picking her up. As soon as she wrapped around me and rested her head on my shoulder, it was like my tunnel vision activated. Nothing or no one was going to pull this woman out of my life—not even the schemes of my best fucking friend.

I was glad Robin's parents weren't home when I pulled up on her. The last thing I needed was for them to try and protect her from the truth. Something was off with her, and pacifying her for the sake of loyalty and friendship was over. As I banged on the door, I pulled in what I needed to be calming breaths. It was one thing for Robin to be on that crazy shit with me, but it was altogether different to approach my woman.

"Who is it?" she asked, but I didn't bother responding. I'd already covered the peephole so she wouldn't see me.

With a sigh, she swung the door open and quickly tried to close it at the sight of me.

"Nah, you been wanting my attention," I said, pushing the door back. "You got it now. Let's fuckin' talk."

I used her arm to lead her into the living room and set her down on the sofa. Instead of sitting next to her, I stood in front of her and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Dejvi, I…"

"What the fuck were you thinking, rolling up on my girl like that? If her and her girls would've beat your ass, then what?" Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms and sat back in her seat. "You don't hear me?"

"She's the reason you don't want to give me a baby," she whined. "If she wasn't in the picture, you wouldn't have even given keeping your promise to me a second thought."

"That's true, but you're looking at it wrong. Enjell isn't a problem; she's my promise. My promise of forever, of marriage, of family, of partnership. Do you really want me to give that up just to keep a promise to you that we made when we were eighteen?" When she didn't reply, I chuckled. "The crazy thing is I considered choosing you." Her eyes lit up. "I was going to choose our friendship and the pact over her. Thankfully, I came to my senses and chose myself and my happiness because it's clear you don't give a fuck about me."

As I turned to leave, she hopped up from her seat.

"What! So that's how you're going to do this? How can you say I don't care about you, V? You're my best fucking friend!"

"I might be yours, but you ain't mine. This past year, you ain't come home once!" I yelled, turning to face her. "When we tried to link up with you for your birthday, you chose to go out with that nigga instead. Every conversation we've had while you were gone was because I initiated it. You ain't give a fuck about me or the rest of our crew while you were there. Now because your relationship is over and you're getting older, you want to use the best friend card and this fucking pact? If you cared about me, you'd be glad I finally found the one. You're still young as hell and fully capable of falling in love and having a baby. Instead, you want to force that shit on me." Chuckling, I squeezed the bridge of my nose. "Nah… you don't give a fuck about me."

"Dejvi, wait," she pleaded, grabbing my arm as I tried to walk away. "You're right. I did get a little self-absorbed. Things were going great for me in Chicago and in that relationship, but that's not the case anymore. Now maybe I could have been a better friend over the last year, but the facts are the facts, and the fact is you owe me a baby. I don't want to get technical with this, but if I have to, I'll sue you." She huffed, allowing determination to give her confidence. "If… if you don't give me this baby willingly, I'll sue you. Maybe a judge won't be able to force you to lay down with me, but you're gonna give me something for not honoring your word!"

I was in complete disbelief. The longer she talked, the harder it was for me to recognize her. My eyes scanned her frame from toe to head. Shaking my head, I turned to leave. It felt pointless trying to talk to this girl, and I was over it.

"You don't believe me?" she yelled to my back. "I'll take you to court, Dejvi! You're going to give me my baby."

Not bothering to respond, I continued out. I'd promised Enjell she wouldn't have to deal with Robin. Now… I wasn't so sure it would be that easy to get rid of her.