Page 16 of Pulse of True Soulmates

Aeon tilted her head. “Troy Givings, it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen you and frankly surprised that you’re here. Mr. and Mrs. Givings.” She nodded her head in greeting. “I don’t recall sending an invite to you guys.”

Mr. Givings stepped forward. “Ms. Blackwell, I’m a senator. Getting in this little shindig wasn’t hard at all.”

I tittered because that was offense number one.

Troy gave his father a glaring look before he turned back to Aeon.

He looked down to where Midnite stood next to her.

“Hey, Midnite.” He reached down to pet him.

Now, this dummy should know that that was some shit you shouldn’t do outside of a chill situation.

For all intent and purpose, Midnite was on duty.

When Troy’s hand came close to him, Midnite growled before he snapped at Troy’s hand. Well, damn. I guess he doesn’t like that man. I was a firm believer that dogs and babies had a heightened level of discernment.

My baby’s eye twitched. “Well, that may be so. However, you, your wife, and son were not invited. That was intentional. Why are you here?”

“Aeon, they are here because I asked them to get me on the guest list. I wanted to have a conversation with you about us,” Troy boldly said. “I know it’s been years, but that’s a good thing, honestly. With time comes maturity, understanding, and regret.”

She put her finger up. “Let me stop you there. I apologize. I’m being rude and disrespectful.” She peeked over her shoulder at me. Her hand reached back, grabbed mine, and pulled me forward. “This is the love of my life, Mr. Declan Michael Phillips, Junior.”

I better be the love of your fucking life. I turned on my smile. “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Givings. Mrs. Givings, you look lovely tonight. That color complements your pasty tone well.”

Fatima spit out a little of her champagne before she covered her mouth. “Damn, I would say that’s messed up, but it really does.”

I didn’t feel the need to address Troy. I rarely addressed insignificant people. There was no need to start now.

Mrs. Givings clutched her pearls. “Excuse me. That is extremely rude.”

“Ma’am, we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m not sure if you’ve looked in a mirror lately, but your skin tone is in fact pasty. That is common with mayo-sapians.” I slightly turned my head to Aeon. “Baby, did you bring that compact mirror that you normally carry in your clutch?”

“Oh, I have mine.” Fatima spoke up. She reached into her clutch bag that hung from her arm and pulled out a compact mirror. “Here you go.”

I opened it after she handed it to me. “Here, Mrs. Givings. Take a look. You will see that no disrespect was intended. I’m simply observant and know colors and tones better than Crayola and Sherman Williams.”

She gasped before she grabbed her husband’s arm. “Troy, I think it’s time that we leave. As you can see, Aeon has finally aligned herself to the degenerate class that she belongs to.”

“What did you say about my daughter?” Mr. Blackwell said from the side of them. “I may have misheard you, but I think you insulted my daughter. Degenerate class?”

Mr. Givings stepped in front of his wife. “Chief Blackwell, how are you tonight? We came to wish you a happy birthday.”

My future father-in-law stepped into Senator Givings’ face.

I was sure they smelled each other’s breath.

When I saw the senator’s security scootching up, I put my eyes on Julian who I knew had eyes on me.

I gave him a knowing look, and he nodded.

Seconds later, he, Tiberius, Derrick, and Georgie stood behind me.

Best believe, the senator’s security wasn’t the only people in the room with toolies.

Mr. Blackwell carried all the time as well.

“Senator Givings, fuck your happy birthday. I know for a fact my daughter did not invite you, your classless ass wife, and bitch ass son. I advise you to get the fuck out of here before the news headline tomorrow reads, Senator Trevor Givings found dead in alley with family from an apparent meth overdose.”

Well, damn. I didn’t know Mr. Blackwell got down like that. A meth overdose though? I thought he would warn him that he would shoot the shit out of them. I saw he was creative with his threats.

Senator Givings’ face was strawberry red. See, that was a different hex of red than a tomato. Call me Sherman Williams . “Chief Blackwell, are you threatening me and my family?” he asked.

Mr. Blackwell’s head bucked back. “I would never threaten a person; call it a premonition. I mean, meth is not too far off from cocaine.” His eyes fell on Troy for a second, then back to the senator.

“Word on the streets is you and your son likes to get y’all nose dirty when y’all fuck on your high-class prostitutes.

Wait, Senator Givings. Your more into the boys if I recall. ”

The amount of gasps that were heard let us know that our party was not the only one tuned into the conversation.

Mr. Blackwell didn’t exactly whisper the part about the cocaine, prostitutes, or the senator liking boy pussy.

This whole thing was tragic. Mrs. Givings looked like she wanted to cry.

It wasn’t an I didn’t know cry either. It looked more like an our secret is out in the open cry.

The senator straightened his back and cleared his throat. “Chief Blackwell, I will not stand for the disrespect. Let’s see how long you last in your position from here.”

He laughed. “I have never stood for disrespect. I’m not worried about my position, but you should be worried about the amount of proof that I have that could bury you, your son .

. .” He pointed at Mrs. Givings. “And your little dog too. Now get the fuck out of my party and take your pussy ass boy and security with you.”

A defeated cloud seemed to hover over the senator. He stared at Mr. Blackwell before he grabbed his wife’s hand then marched around him. Troy followed closely behind.

“Mr. Blackwell, how the hell do you know all of that about that man and his son?” I asked. I didn’t know too much about Aeon’s father, but tonight, some things were put into perspective. His ass was a few cards short of a full deck. That was cool because so was I when I needed to be.

He cut his eye over to me. “I started to do my research on Troy’s family when this one brought him to meet me.

In the recent years, some things have come to me from different avenues, and I fact-checked them to have ammunition in my back pocket.

” He spoke to all of us in the circle. His hands went into his pocket.

“I learned quickly at the beginning of this position that it’s more politics than anything.

Politics is not a clean game, and I don’t mind getting dirty. ”

I peeked at Aeon who had been silent during the whole exchange. My arm was wrapped around her waist. “You alright?”

“I think I’m in shock. Was he doing cocaine when we were together, Daddy?” she asked. I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but it wasn’t big enough of a topic to ask her why.

He smiled then said, “No, baby girl. You know if he was, I would have cut your relationship short no matter how you felt. From what was reported back to me, it started shortly after the girl he cheated on you with went back to her boyfriend.” He squinted over at me.

“Oh, I’ve done my research on you and your family too, Declan. Just know that.”

I snickered with everyone else. “I’m not worried, sir. I’m sure if there was something not right, you and my father wouldn’t have plans to hang out.” Mr. Blackwell didn’t come across as a person who would intentionally mix with people that weren’t on the up and up.

I started to say something else, but something or, should I say, someone caught my attention. My head tilted to the side at the familiarity of the person. Why the hell do they . . .

“Happy birthday, Vernon.”