Page 23 of The Millionaire Mortician

“ D ai, stop shaking. Please, calm down. You’re scaring me.” Talina was worried sick.

I couldn’t control myself. Tears just kept pouring out as my body shook vigorously. My emotions were all over the place. I couldn’t believe what had just happened to me.

“This shit is crazy. I told you to be careful,” Talina stated.

She was up to speed with everything since she came to help me get my things out of Milan’s house. Maverick gave her the rundown, while I couldn't even get two words out. All I was able to do was cry.

“I fucked up, Lina. I fucked up.” I shook my head and bawled my eyes out.

One stupid night just ruined my relationship and potentially my business. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but it was too late when I tried to back out of things. The crazy part was, Fabian, Frost, whatever the fuck his name was, wasn’t even worth everything.

While I felt for myself, I was more hurt for Milan. I’d broken his heart and done the unthinkable. That man was so good to me. I don’t know what got into me that I fell weak, and to his opp at that.

“Shh, shh, I know. Just take it easy,” Talina coached me. She hugged me tight and didn’t let go until I calmed down, which took forever.

I kept a poker face the entire time I was getting my things out of the house.

It was almost easy to do since Milan locked himself in his office.

He couldn’t stand to see me. Once I got in my car, which I’m thankful I kept, the dam broke.

And when I reached the inside of Talina’s house, it only got worse.

“He’s probably going to take the salon away,” I sniffled.

“Let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s focus on you relaxing,” Talina suggested. “Are you hungry?”

I shook my head no. With everything going on, I didn’t have an appetite.

“Nah, let’s go get your favorite. I can deal with having some seafood right now, too.”

She wiped my tears and helped me adjust my clothes. I knew Talina wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I just gave in. We left the house and went to a seafood spot that was open until like two in the morning.

When we arrived, I stayed in the car while she went to order.

As I stared into space, my thoughts flashed back to the way Milan wrapped his big hands around my neck.

His eyes were dark, almost looking like the devil himself with no soul.

I thought he was going to kill me the way he looked, especially when I started to see white dots.

I just knew it was over for me. It was now either that I move back to Atlanta or that I get my own place in Brooklyn. It all depended on whether or not Milan snatched the salon. Thinking about all the what-ifs and how things would be for me made me zone out completely.

Before I knew it, Talina jumped back in the car with the seafood boil, and we were headed back to her place. The ride back wasn’t long since it wasn’t any cars on the streets. Besides that, my mind was so far gone, I wasn’t even paying attention to shit, for real.

Once we were back inside, Talina didn’t waste any time unwrapping the pan to dig in. We got our plates and bags, then set them up on the floor in the living room. I turned on Baddies so we had something to watch while we ate, which was a habit of mine if I was in front of a TV.

First, I ate corn, an egg, and a mussel. Then, I cracked one of the crab legs and sucked the meat out of it. Moments later, I felt a rush of vomit rising, so I jumped up and sped to the bathroom. I threw up everything I had just eaten.

“You okay?” Talina questioned, eyeing me closely.

As I was about to answer, another wave came up and I had my face in the toilet bowl once again. Sliding down onto the floor, I just stayed put in case I had to go again. My body instantly started to feel weak.

Talina stood over me with her arms folded. “Daija, have you gotten your period for the month?” she came out of nowhere and asked.

I thought about her question for a moment, not realizing I hadn’t noticed it hadn’t come. Oh fuck.

“No,” I replied, low and scared.

“Shit, if you’re pregnant, I guess Milan might take it easy on you.”

That sounded good, but there was one problem — I wouldn’t know who the father was.

When Fabian and I had sex, the condom popped, and he ended up cumming inside of me.

It was something I wanted to forget completely, but it seemed to make its way back to the surface.

Then, Milan returned home a day or so later, and we had sex and came inside me.

“What if it’s not his?” I looked up at her with glossy eyes.

The tears started once more. I was an emotional mess.

“Okay, okay. Relax, baby. I have a test in this cabinet. How ‘bout we know first before you get your pressure up for nothing?” she suggested.

I nodded in agreement.

Talina retrieved the test, opened it, and handed it to me. I sat on the toilet and pissed where I needed to. Putting the cover back on, I set it down on the sink while I cleaned myself up. By the time I was done, the results still didn’t show. It was still early.

I left the bathroom and returned to the living room to pace the floor. My hands got hot and clammy while my stomach felt weird and light.

“Please say negative, please say negative,” I whispered to myself.

Talina came walking out of the bathroom and approached me. She handed me the test, and when I saw the two lines, I almost fainted. Rushing to my side, she helped me sit down.

“What are you gonna do?” she asked in a worrisome tone.

A single tear dropped. “I don’t know.”

The following morning, it was hard as hell for me to pull myself out of bed. I just wanted to sleep so I could avoid my troubling reality. Thankfully, I wasn’t feeling sick anymore, but I was hurting in my heart.

Talina was a true friend through it all.

She got up and went to open up the salon and run things in my absence.

Seeing as though that was taken care of, I decided to go to my doctor just to be sure the test wasn’t playing tricks on me.

While I was hopeful of negative results, the official test came back positive.

I was indeed pregnant, but with whose baby, I had no idea.

Obviously, I wanted it to be Milan’s. That was my man and my everything.

Besides, Milan and I fucked like rabbits.

Fabian was a one-time thing, although we had sex twice that night.

I just didn’t want to tell Milan, but it turned out it wasn’t his.

Plus, he would’ve probably have said it wasn’t his since I cheated.

After I was finished at the doctor’s, I decided to go to the salon so I could distract myself from thinking myself into a deeper depression.

When I got there, the place looked booked and busy, not missing a beat because its owner wasn’t around.

Talina had canceled all my appointments, so I was helping with other people’s clients and taking walk-ins as they came.

By the time I reached the salon, half the day had already gone by.

When I blinked, night took over the sky, and the client list was basically at the end.

I finished up a guy’s cut, then made my way into my office to relax until the rest of the team was finished.

There was no need to rush out. I had no man to go home to. Hell, I had no home to go home to.

As I laid back on the sofa, I tried to close my eyes for a little while, but out of nowhere, I heard a commotion outside. I immediately jumped up to see what was going on. When I opened the door, Fabian was pushing his way past Talina in a hurry.

“You can’t be here!” Talina yelled.

The poor girl was half his size, just like me, so there was no hope for her to stop him. He made his way to me with a blank expression. I couldn’t really tell his mood except that he was obviously desperate to see me.

“I need to holla at you, now,” Fabian demanded.

The entire salon was looking on, so I just turned and led him into my office, out of earshot of everyone. I signaled to Talina that everything was fine.

Once the door was shut and it was just us two, silence filled the room for a moment before either of us spoke.

“Why you ain’t tell me Milan Marcano was your man?” he started.

I looked at him, then took a seat back on the sofa. “I didn’t know I had to,” I retorted.

“It would’ve been helpful to know. Now you just started a fuckin’ war because you couldn’t keep your legs closed.”

That nigga has some nerve. He must’ve forgotten who pursued who first, and who wasn’t giving up until they got what they wanted?

I jumped up and stepped toward him. “Keep my legs closed? Last I remembered, you opened them and almost didn’t give me a choice. You were on my body hard, not letting up, not the other way around. So, don’t make it seem like it was all me. I just fell victim to your charm,” I ranted.

He held the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Besides who your nigga is?—”

“Was,” I cut him off and corrected him.

“Was... I really fuck with you. But this shit here is wild as fuck,” he expressed.

“Yeah, and now a baby is involved,” I let slip out subconsciously. “Fuck.” I caught on to my mistake immediately.

“Baby? You pregnant?” He stepped closer.

I bit my bottom lip as I thought about what to tell him. Should I be sure it’s Milan’s, so he can go about his business, or should I tell him the truth that the baby could potentially be his?

Fuck my life , I thought.

“Yes,” I simply answered.

“Whose baby is that, Daija?”

I looked him dead in his eyes. “I don’t know.” I shrugged.

“Fuck you mean you don’t know. Daija, this some?—”

“Fabian, stop! At the end of the day, my baby and I will be good regardless. Fuck Milan and fuck you. I don’t know y’all,” I raised my voice a bit higher than I wanted to.

I grabbed my phone, bag, and keys and bolted for the door. Fabian was hot on my tail as I rushed out of the salon. He tried grabbing my hand, but I snatched it away and hurried into the car. Starting the engine, I placed my Audio in drive and pulled away from the curb, entering traffic.

My eyes were filled with tears as I started becoming emotional again.

I couldn’t believe that was what my life had come to.

I speed through the streets of Manhattan, swerving in and out of lanes.

My mind was so preoccupied that I missed the turn to get onto the Brooklyn Bridge, which led me to end up on the FDR Drive.

Now I would’ve had to make a long, unnecessary drive to get back to Brooklyn.

“Fuckkkk!” I screamed, hitting the steering wheel.

I felt like nothing was going my way, and everything and everyone seemed to be against me. I knew for a fact my mother wanted better for me, and she was looking down, displeased.

At that point, I just wanted to disappear. I wanted to be gone. Maybe being with my mother would be better , I thought.

I mashed on my gas as the needle rose quickly toward eighty miles per hour. Looking ahead, I thought I had room to switch lanes, but a car ahead slowed down, making me have to swerve. I hit the side of the FDR, and my car was airborne, which was the last thing I remembered.