Page 53 of Love's Most Wanted

Her question made me rise to my feet.

“None of ya business,” I threw out and watched the shock appear on her face as she jerked her neck back.

“Excuse me?” She stood as well. “I’m your woman, and you’re my man, but I can’t know who was on your phone? Why is that, Unique?”

“Either you fall the fuck in line or you get replaced. It’s up to you.”

“Get replaced? You talked all this shit about how much you liked me and saw a fucking future with me, but now I can get replaced?” She was infuriated as fuck. “You are so fucked up!”

“Aye, aye, you right. I shouldn’t have said that shit.” I gripped her biceps, watching her tear up a bit and feeling bad than a muthafucka. Bringing her in for a hug, I added, “I ain’t mean that, love, but you gotta chill out. Just listen sometimes and stop turning every fucking thing into a debate. I ain’t got no problems with you speaking ya fucking mind, but when I say I’m busy or wanna be left alone, honor the shit.”

“You’re right.” She nodded, her face brushing against my chest as I kissed the top of her head. “So who was it?” She peeled her face from my chest and looked up at me.

“A friend.” I shrugged.

As much as I didn’t plan to play with feelings, that was exactly what a nigga was doing.

ONE WEEK LATER…

I setout all the things I would need in order to do this newrealclient’s makeup for her birthday, then checked my iPhone while I waited for her to come back from the bathroom. I could only shake my head when I saw I had a new follower by the name of Daisy, and it was easy to guess that she was Unique’s other girlfriend.

I had a mind to block her ass, but I decided against it, figuring if I did, she would believe I had something to hide, and that was so far from the truth.

I was going to leave my shit open so her and her delusional ass counterpart/sister girlfriend could see that the only person checking for Unique Compton was them and groupies.

I found him handsome and a good time but I would never go as far as to say I was checking for him. I wasn’t even checking for single niggas right now, let alone taken ones.

Sure, I’d thought about him too much maybe and dreamed that we fucked once, but that wasn’t necessarily checking for him… right?

“Sorry about that,” my client, Rina, returned smiling.

“No problem, girl.” I welcomed her into the chair she’d provided me.

Her house was big and beautiful, and she had a whole makeup room. I was so excited when I got here, seeing not only was this an actual client and not some scheme, but I would be able to work in this luxurious ass vanity room.

“Thank you so much for booking me last minute. The girl I had booked months ago claims she is too sick to come.” Rina shook her head as I began to prep her face.

“Yeah, I get we’re all human, but I try to remain professional and not flake on anyone. I can’t remember the last time I had to cancel,” I stated honestly.

“Well, I will surely be using you again. I mean, it depends on how my face looks, but from what I saw on your page, I trust you.” She smiled, eyes closed as she relaxed. “You’ve done a lot of famous women too.”

“Yep, I did.” I nodded though her eyes were shut.

“They don’t wanna work with you anymore?”

“What made you ask that?” I quizzed, knowing damn well that was exactly the case.

“Just don’t see why you’d go from making that kind of money to the money you make now. I noticed the huge drop on your price lists.”

“Yeah.” I sighed, continuing to work. “But I can’t be too mad. They don’t know the truth about my situation, and it involves someone pretty prominent in the industry. If I had to choose between my career and livelihood over some random person, it’d be an easy choice too.”

Rina was quiet for a bit before she said, “Well, I believe you. Men can be trash, and they’re trash because we don’t hold them accountable.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I smirked.

Rina and I chatted about all kinds of things for the next hour, and I found her life fascinating. I guess because it was so different from mine. I was a single woman, and she was a married mother of four who stayed at home mainly but on occasions ran a luxury YouTube channel.

When she told me the money she used to buy designer was what her husband deemed ‘her play money,’ I knew that was the type of life I desired to have one day. Even AJ wasn’t that rich.