Page 22 of Pieces of Us

Morgan

O ne Month Later…

The month following my blow up with Justin and reuniting with Nehemiah had been a whirlwind. I tried my best to be reasonable with Justin, but he was being the asshole I knew he would to be. He fought me on everything concerning our divorce.

He wanted the house, my car, and full custody of Mariah, which he was never going to get. We had court next week, and I had been a nervous wreck. Justin stayed too busy with his job and fucking married couples to even care for Mariah like I could.

I still hadn’t faced the Duprees. I assumed Justin told them that I knew about them because they had someone else picking up their son from school. I honestly didn’t give a damn anymore about their trysts. I wasn’t fucking with Justin anymore, and that was a known fact.

Then there was Nehemiah. I knew he was getting fed up with Justin stopping me from completely moving on with him.

Even though he never voiced or expressed his feelings about it, I knew him.

We had been sneaking around because I couldn’t let Justin hold anything against me when it came to the custody of our daughter.

I knew this reminded him of the old days because he voiced his dislike of our situation one night when we were having dinner at his home.

I completely understood that, but I could do nothing until this was over.

However, he and Megan had been hanging out almost every weekend.

She had finally met her grandfather and aunts, and since then, I barely got to see my baby.

They had missed so much time with her, so I didn’t fret whenever they would pick her up during school days to hang out with them. And Megan ate it all up.

I didn’t blame her. She deserved to have everything she had been missing from them. Justin only had his mother and aunt. They were too old to do fun stuff with Mariah, but I still allowed her to be with them…even if it was for a few hours.

I could tell Mariah’s love was different for Josephine than it was with my mom. She didn’t get excited when she would visit Justin’s mom like she would with mine. However, she did love her grandmother, and Josephine was sweet compared to her nefarious son.

Today was the day of the concert and Nehemiah’s birthday.

He purchased more tickets so his sisters, cousin, and best friend could attend since he wanted to celebrate with them also.

Lawrence ended up declining going to the concert, so I told him to give his ticket to Drue so we could all celebrate together.

We were going to meet back up with Lawrence after the concert.

All day, I had been running around trying to get Megan’s pre-birthday items since she was inviting some friends to her father’s house for a pool party and sleepover.

I was currently trying to find something to wear while Drue did something to Megan’s wild mane.

My baby was so cute in her Balenciaga sneakers with rhinestones on the toe and an airbrushed photo of Chris Brown on the side.

She wore light denim shorts and a white tee shirt with an airbrushed photo of him on it that read team Breezy.

She had diamonds in her ears that Nehemiah bought her as a birthday gift and had to cost more than my car payment.

My baby was excited, and I loved that for her.

I walked out of my closet with a slinky black dress just as Megan stood from the chair.

“Mom, please put that back. You’re going to a concert. Why are you trying to dress like you’re going to a formal dinner?” Megan asked while Drue snickered.

“I have never been to a concert before, Gingerbread. You tell me how I’m supposed to dress.”

“Say less.”

“Oop.” Drue laughed as Megan walked inside of my closet.

“Not your lingo changing! I see your father and his family are rubbing off on you.”

“Hey, not too much on my pops.”

I chuckled and shook my head as Drue laughed harder.

“I love that for you, Meggie pooh!” Drue exclaimed. “They must be getting closer.”

I lowered my voice. “Girl, that’s like her best friend. I kind of feel bad, though.”

“Why?”

“Because she rarely talks to Justin. She’s not mean to him or anything, but she hasn’t been wanting to go with him like she has been with Hemi.”

“He hurt you. Megan isn’t stupid, Mo. A child feels their mother’s energy, and she saw you in pain. Did you really think their relationship was going to be the same? Not to mention, she has her real dad in the picture now.”

“I know, but—”

“Here you go, Mom.”

Megan returned to the bedroom holding up a black leather skater skirt, my black mesh bodysuit, and lace stockings.

“I am not wearing that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Why not? You bought it.” She shrugged.

“She’s right, Sis,” Drue agreed.

“I know, but I meant to take it back. That’s why the tags are still on. I thought I wanted it until I put it on and realized I didn’t want to dress that sexy in public as a married woman.”

“Umm, not to burst your bubble, but you’re kinda single now. So, go get dressed before we’re late.”

“Yeah, Mom. I don’t want to miss a minute of his show!”

I rolled my eyes at them as I went to get dressed. I had a feeling this night was going to end with my ass in the air.

By 6:30 p.m., Nehemiah pulled into my driveway in a brand-new Cadillac truck. I could see Chelsea, Shelby, and Shanise in the truck as Drue, myself, and Megan filtered out of the house.

“What’s up, Newson gang!” Drue exclaimed.

“Drueskiii!” Shelby exclaimed, jumping out of the truck and hurrying toward her. They embraced then Shelby wrapped her arms around Megan.

“You ready to sing Breezy’s songs, niecey pooh?”

“I aaam! I’m so excited!”

“Me too! You know that’s your auntie’s man, right? Let’s get it!” She laughed.

Shelby walked over to me and hugged me tightly. “Girl, you had my brother drooling when you walked out here. You look bad ass, Mo Boogie.”

I giggled as my eyes went to Nehemiah standing outside the truck staring at me.

Only when Megan approached him did he tear his eyes away from me and smile down at her.

I walked to the truck, heading to the passenger side as Chelsea stepped out.

We locked eyes then fell into an embrace.

I hadn’t seen the Newsons since coming back into Nehemiah’s life.

When I saw Chelsea in the nail salon, I was frozen, not knowing whether to hug her or run.

So when we hugged, I felt the tears surface.

“I missed you so much, Chels.”

“You have no idea how much I missed you. Please, don’t cry. You’re going to ruin your makeup.”

“Fuck this makeup.” I laughed and she joined in.

“Oop! Not my little church friend using profanity!”

“If you knew half of what I’d been through, you’d be cursing too.”

“Touché. Glad you’re back, Boogie.”

I smiled. “Glad to be back.”

Nehemiah approached us as he opened the back door for Chelsea, and she climbed in. He opened the passenger door, smiling down at me.

“You look like you’re ready to get fucked tonight,” he whispered.

I bit my lip and tried not to blush.

“I just might be.” I winked then climbed inside.

“Hi, Shanise.”

“Hey, Boogie. It’s good to see you.”

“Same,” I replied, blowing her a kiss.

On the way to the Pine Knob Music Theatre, we played all of Chris Brown’s older songs for Megan.

I knew she listened to his recent music, but she always had headphones on.

I really didn’t want to seem like a bad parent, but I couldn’t stop what she had been exposed to.

Prayerfully, he would keep some of his songs PG.

That was far-fetched, though. As long as she didn’t let his music influence her to do bad things, then I was okay with it.

The good thing about it was, Megan wasn’t easily influenced. Yes, she sang inappropriate songs, but she wouldn’t reenact any of them—at least I hoped.

My phone buzzed with a text notification. I looked at Nehemiah as he nodded for me to look at it. I opened it and couldn’t stop myself from blushing.

My Hemi: Them braids is doing shit to me, Mo.

Me: Watch the road, sir. You’re carrying precious cargo.??

My Hemi : I’m hip, but I got this. Once we get everybody to their seats, we’re sliding to the bathroom.

Me: We can’t!

My Hemi: Bet we can.

Me: You’re such a freak… But I’m with it. I have a birthday gift for you.??

My Hemi: That’s all I needed to know. The only gift I want is my??in that??

I laughed and focused my attention out of the window. This man was going to ruin my underwear.

We pulled into the parking lot thirty minutes later, and we all filed out of the truck. Megan took Nehemiah’s hand as we followed the large crowd into the theatre.

I couldn’t lie. I was excited to experience my first concert, especially spending it with the man I was supposed to experience all of my firsts with.

The concert was lit with the Deejay egging the crowd on to sing along to Deborah Cox’s “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here.

” The ushers smiled graciously as they directed us to our seats which were three rows away from the stage.

Nehemiah had to have paid a lot of money for these seats for us to be so close.

“We’ll be right back, y’all. Baby girl, you want something from the concession stand?” Nehemiah asked.

“A beef sausage with mustard and relish and a cherry slushee.”

“Gotcha.” He grabbed my hand as we headed back up the stairs to the concession stands.

“Don’t get lost!” Shanise yelled after us.

I laughed and shook my head because I was sure we wouldn’t be back right away.

As we moved toward the restrooms, I spotted a familiar face standing in line to get an alcoholic beverage.

I paused my stride. “Diana?”

She turned and looked at me. Shock covered her face before she looked at Nehemiah and frowned, then her eyes came back to me.

“Morgan Prescott, what a surprise.”

“It’s been a long time. How—”

“Baby, let’s go,” Nehemiah urged.

“Oh…right. It was good seeing you, Diana,” I lied.

“I wish I could say the same.”