Page 13 of Certified Pressure 2

Trill-Land, Jungle Estate

Two days later…

I had been up all morning, laying across the bed with my eyes on the ceiling.

Pressure had taken me to get my phone programmed, and actually let me keep it in the room, instead of the lockbox.

And he let Toni have hers too with the strict rules of neither of us posting about what was going on in the mansion.

I was confused as to why he never asked for my number or even volunteered to give me his. It bothered me, but I dropped it.

It had been two long days since anything between me and Pressure felt close, and I was fighting with myself heavy because I wanted to act like it didn’t matter, but it did.

We weren’t having sex, there wasn’t much hugging or kissing, and the silence between us had been louder than any argument we ever could’ve had.

I kept telling myself to pack my shit and go, but the thought of leaving this mansion without knowing what our lives could’ve been like together felt like a punishment I wasn’t built to take.

Walking away might’ve been the smart thing to do, but love don’t ever move smart, and my heart wasn’t ready to let him go.

My fear wasn’t just leaving him, it was leaving the not knowing.

Not knowing if he would’ve eventually chosen me and made me his wife.

Not knowing if I was meant to stand by his side and wear that crown.

That “what if” was the only thing that had me dragging myself through each day, keeping me glued to a situation that had me second guessing everything.

I picked up my new phone and signed into my Instagram, scrolling through the old DMs that had carried over from before.

My chest tightened when I opened the messages between me and Pluto.

There we was, talking like sisters, hyping each other up about coming to the mansion, laughing about what we thought life here was gonna be like.

There was messages about outfits, late-night voice notes, and dumb memes we used to send back and forth.

All of it was a reminder of how close we used to be before everything fell apart.

My thumb hovered over her name more than once, like I wanted to type something, like I wanted to break the ice and pull us back to what we had.

But the truth was, I didn’t know what to say.

Too much had gone down, and Pressure was in the middle of all of it.

The same man who was supposed to bring us together had turned into the wedge driving us apart.

I couldn’t lie, I told myself over and over that Toni was cool, but she wasn’t competition.

She had her little lane, but I knew Pressure wasn’t looking at her like that.

The only reason I never opened my mouth about her and Kay’Lo spending time together was because Toni was solid with me, and I wasn’t about to throw her under the bus for a cheap one-up.

She wasn’t my problem anyway. My problem was Pressure’s silence, the distance he was putting between us, and the way my mind spun every time I thought about Pluto or Ka’mari.

And as far as Ka’mari was concerned, I wouldn’t even give that hoe the time of day.

I made it my business not to look her way or give her the satisfaction of thinking she mattered to me at all.

She could walk around the mansion like she was somebody important, but to me she was invisible.

What stung more was Pluto. I didn’t even have to see her to feel her shadow over me.

Pressure had taken her to meet his parents already, and no matter how much I tried to shake it, that shit haunted me.

What impression had she left on them? Did they look at her like the type of woman they could see standing next to their son forever?

And if they did, what chance did I really have?

Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, the sound of Blaqson’s voice cut through the quiet.

He was calling all of us downstairs, and from the way his tone carried, it was Pressure behind it.

My stomach twisted up, but I got myself up off the bed, washed up and checked my reflection before heading out.

When I stepped into the foyer, there he was—standing at the bottom of the stairs in emerald silk pajamas, his shirt hanging open to show off his chest, diamonds gleaming around his neck, on his wrist, and shining from his ear.

He had a cup of coffee in one hand, and the kind of calm only a man like him could have early in the morning while everybody else was scrambling to figure out what he was thinking.

The whole scene looked like some shit straight out of a dream, and he was the only one that could pull it off without looking ridiculous.

I was the first to notice the movement outside, the way people were coming in and out of the mansion with garment bags, cases, and equipment.

Stylists and designers, hair and makeup teams—they were all filing in like we were about to shoot a cover spread for the biggest magazine out.

Pressure didn’t waste no time breaking it down.

He told us his parents were on the way, and he needed us looking our absolute best.

The words alone made my chest feel tight because I knew this was the moment that could make or break me.

Pressure wasn’t the type to do anything halfway, and if it mattered to him that we looked perfect for his parents, then I knew it mattered more than anything I could’ve said or done to prove myself.

Stylists rushed over and started sizing us up.

Clothes were being laid out, shoes lined across the floor, jewelry options spread on velvet trays like candy.

The air turned busy, hands tugging at hair, brushes sweeping across faces, fabrics pressed to bodies, and cameras snapping photos for reference.

I sat there with my hands in my lap, trying to calm my nerves while somebody worked a comb through my hair.

My mind refused to focus on the mirror though.

It kept drifting back to Pluto. She had already been there, already sat across from his parents and had her chance to make them believe she was the one.

The thought of that made me feel small in a way I hated.

What if she had already set the bar too high?

What if I could never measure up no matter how pretty they made me?

Pressure’s voice floated back into my head, the way he sounded when he told us to look our best. He hadn’t looked at me directly, but I wanted him to.

I wanted his eyes to land on me with the same hunger I knew had once been there.

I wanted him to see me, not just as one of the women standing in this mansion, but as the only woman he could picture forever with.

The stylists kept moving around me, adjusting, perfecting, pinning pieces into place, and I forced myself to sit still, and not let the fear show. My whole life I had been told I was too much, too extra, too fast, too bold, but in this moment, I wanted nothing more than to be just right.

The closer it got to his parents arriving, the more the pressure built inside me.

I thought about every smile I could put on, every soft answer I could give, every way I could carry myself so I wouldn’t look like I didn’t belong.

I was nervous as hell, but walking away wasn’t an option.

This was the moment I had been waiting on, the test that could decide whether I had a real shot at being more than just another one of his Diamonds, but the woman sitting at the table of the Mensah family.

And still, no matter how much I tried to block it out, the question crept back in. What kind of impression had Pluto left on them? Would they see me as better, or would I always be the one chasing behind her shadow?

By the time the glam team was done working their magic, I felt like a new woman.

They had me poured into a champagne-colored gown that hugged my body like it was sewn just for me, flowing down into a soft train that trailed every step I took.

The straps were thin and delicate, brushing against my shoulders as the neckline dipped low enough to tease without giving too much away.

My heels were clear with a gold accent on the stiletto.

Around my neck they clasped a diamond choker that glittered like it had its own spotlight, and simple but elegant studs in my ears to match.

My hair was laid bone straight down my back, glossy enough to reflect the chandeliers, and my makeup had been blended so smooth it looked like I was born with it.

I glanced at myself in the mirror one last time and told myself I fit the part of Pressure’s woman.

The one he would be proud to have standing by his side in front of the people who mattered most to him.

My heart still pounded with nerves, but the reflection staring back at me whispered that I could hold my own with anybody.

When I made my way downstairs, I found Toni and Ka’mari already in the sitting area.

Toni looked nice in her own way, softer, more playful with her outfit, but it was Ka’mari who had her chin tilted high like she thought she ran the place.

I caught the way her eyes slid over me, sizing me up, and I prepared myself because I knew she couldn’t keep her mouth shut for long.

Sure enough, she leaned back with her wine glass balanced in her hand and smirked.

“Y’all might wanna listen to me for a second,” she started, her voice smooth like she was delivering a lecture instead of making conversation.

“See, I know the Mensah’s, and spent years around them.

They not like no regular family, so the last thing y’all wanna do is embarrass yourselves.

I can tell you exactly how to act, what to say, how to sit at the table?—”

I cut my eyes at her and then looked her up and down slow before I answered. “I don’t need you to tell me how to do a damn thing,” I said, my voice calm but sharp enough to make her flinch.