Page 40 of Whatever It Takes
“Yeah this shit hit the spot.” Saint nodded. He stood from his seat, walking over to me, holding his hand out. “Dance with me.”
I took his hand, following him to the open space in front of the stage. He placed his hands on my waist as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The saxophonist started playing a familiar sound. “There is only one for meee.” I softly sang, grazing my fingertips along the back of his neck, staring into his eyes. He leaned his head down, placing soft kisses on my lips. “I’m about to let you know.. You make me so, so, so.” I mumbled against his lips. He spun me around so my back was against his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, swaying to the beat.
“You feel so good in my arms..” He whispered into my ear. “Like you were meant to be right here with me. On my mama, I want this shit for the rest of my life.”
We slow danced to a few more songs before deciding to call it a night. I kicked my heels off as soon as I got into the truck. I couldn’t help but watch Saint as he drove. His left hand gripped the steering wheel while his right hand rested on my knee. “This might be our song,” I said, turning the knob on the radio.Kut Klose’s Surrenderwas playing. He turned to look at me with a smirk on his face.
“Shit, it just might be. The band played this while we were dancing.”
I was about to lean over and kiss him, but my phone started buzzing inside my purse. I grabbed it, watching my social media notifications blow up. I openedInstagramconfused, cause I hadn’t posted anything. I clicked the first notification. I was taken to a video where both me and Saint were tagged. “What. The. Fuck.” I shouted, watching a video of us on thescreen. Someone had recorded us making out in the section last weekend. “Saint who the fucked leaked this video?” I asked, tossing the phone into his lap.
“Fuck.” He mumbled, slapping his hand against the steering wheel. “Blessing… before you flip out. Just listen… I ran into Mariah when I left the suite on Thursday. She showed me the video and threatened to leak it and report you to your boss if I didn’t leave you alone.”
“Saint.. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?! You knew this for two whole fucking days! Is that why she was calling you back-to-back? HOW THE FUCK DID SHE GET THE VIDEO? You said we were good, Saint. What the fuck. I’m going to lose my job.” I cried.
“You’re not going to lose your job. I’m going to handle it. I promise.” He sighed, gripping my thigh. I pushed his hand from my lap, turning to face the window. How the fuck did our perfect date end in disaster?
The ride back to his house went by quickly. I could see his jaw clenching the entire time. As soon as we entered the house, Saint was on the phone with his lawyer, trying to get the video taken down. It didn’t even matter. Once something hits the internet, it’s there forever. I already knew Mrs. Johnson would be calling me soon. She was very strict about us not dealing with the athletes we worked with. She felt like it was bad for business. Next week, I was supposed to return to working in the office, because my sessions with Saint were now only twice a week. I just prayed I still had a job to go back to.
I took my heels off and made my way into the living room to lie on the couch. My phone had been ringing since the video had been posted. I ignored it, not wanting to be bothered. After ending the call, Saint came into the living room.
“First, I need to apologize for not telling you that Mariah had that video. I didn’t think she would actually leak it. Evenif I did stop dealing with you, I still wouldn’t get back with her. Taegan is working on getting the video taken down. I know you’re scared of losing your job, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’m sorry our date night was ruined. I wanna show you something though. Come on.” He said, pulling me up from the couch, grabbing my hand. I followed him down the hall until we reached a door, I’d never paid attention to. He opened the door and flipped the light switch on the wall. There was a short set of steps that led to a room with an indoor pool and a jacuzzi.
“Why’d I never know you had this?” I asked as we descended the steps. He pushed a few buttons on the wall that turned the jets on in the jacuzzi and heated the pool.
He shrugged, “I barely ever come down here. I usually use the outdoor pool. Sometimes I forget it’s even down here. I know you’re upset, but before everything happened, I planned on bringing you down here to relax in the jacuzzi with me. Can we still enjoy this night?” I nodded, slowly pulling my clothes off.
I proppedmy phone up on my tripod and turned on my ring light. My hair was parted down the middle, with big spiral curls. I had my makeup artist give me a full glam beat earlier today. The video I posted went viral, but Saint had yet to call me. Now, I was going live onInstagram.
“Hey y’all,” I said as people started to join. The viewer count was growing by the second. I was waiting ‘til the views hit 1,000. “Thank you, I did my own makeup today.” I lied, responding to one of the comments. “Okay, I came on here today to let y’all know what the fuck has been going on. I need to tell my side of the story. I am so hurt right now; I don’t know what to do. I know I posted saying I was single a while ago, but y’all know how it is. We post saying we’re single and be back in the bed, laid up with the nigga the same night. That’s exactly how it went.
Let me start from the beginning. From the first day that girl started working with my man, I could tell she wanted him. Shecame in with scrubs so tight I could see her fucking panty line. So I told her ass to use that money my man paid her to go up a size or two.” I shrugged, rolling my neck. “Moo dropped a bag to have her work with him. So there was no reason her shit shouldn’t fit. It was embarrassing as fuck. Anyway, that same week, she told my man that she wasn’t comfortable with me in their sessions anymore and that he needed to stop me from coming. I was fucking heated. The nerve of that bitch to have a problem with me sitting in to watch my man. Mind y’all, I don’t think she even knew what she was doing for real. I don’t even know why my man hired her.”
I stopped for a moment to read the comments. “Right, that hoe was plotting on my man from the jump. She ain’t even his type for real. Fast forward, she posts that video of them on here of their progress. I knew what she was doing; she just wanted a reason to post him on her page. She’d never even posted her other patients.” I lied again. She did have a few videos of her and other athletes she’d worked with. “I’m sure this isn’t even her first time using her job to fuck on an athlete. I read the comments on the video and immediately got pissed off. I called Moo and demanded the video be taken down. He told me she refused to do it. So I broke up with him for the moment, but we were right back together.”
I rolled my eyes, reading a comment from Blessing’s best friend, Chanel, claiming she knows for a fact we weren’t together anymore. “Chanel, shut up. You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Of course, you’re going to come up here to defend your homewrecking best friend. Loser ass bitches.” I scoffed.
“Y’all see this shit? These bitches are so weird. They’re the type to sit around and tell each other they aren’t wrong when they’re dead ass wrong. But like I was saying, Me and Moo were back together, happy, working on our relationship. She was coming over every day with an attitude cause I had the man shewanted. I had no clue she was fucking my man until I was sent the video from someone close to me. She was out with them when the video was taken, and she even said that wasn’t the first time she’d seen them together. This shit is heartbreaking. I gave my all to this nigga! When he first got injured, I was there every day. Even when trifling ass slipped in the bathroom and pissed all over himself. I was the one to clean him up. That nigga is so ungrateful, and his mother just enables him.”
“Exactly. He was just sending me money the other day, begging me not to release the video, but fuck him. If I have to hurt, everyone else does too.” I read over a few comments and responded to a few of them before ending the live. The majority of the shit I said was a lie, but if I can’t have Saint, no one can. There were multiple tea pages on my live, so I knew the videos were screen-recorded and would be uploaded soon. It was only a matter of time before Saint reached out to me. I knew Blessing wouldn’t stick around for the drama. Once she was gone, he’d come crawling back.
I heard the door to my bedroom open, and Symone walked in with a scowl on her face. “Was all that necessary? I gave you the video. Adonis is going to flip the fuck out.”
I shrugged, standing up to walk past her. “I don’t give a fuck about how Adonis feels. He knew what it was from the jump.”
“You’re fucking pregnant with his baby, Mariah. What’s your end goal here? Seriously.” She asked, following behind me.
“Why the fuck are you so worried about it? Clearly, I’m not going to keep the baby. Adonis is a washed-up athlete who ruined his career trying to be a street nigga.”
“You’re being stupid. The only reason you’re still alive is because of that baby.”
“Symone just shut the fuck up!” I snapped. I was getting annoyed with her minding my fucking business. She was right,though. If I wasn’t pregnant with this baby, Adonis would’ve killed me when he came home.
Before he got locked up, he gave me money to hold for him until he came home. Instead of saving it, I used the money to open my beauty bar, pay my bills, and go shopping. I’d promised him he’d have his money soon, but I had no clue where I was going to get it from. I make good money at my salon, but it wasn’t nearly enough to give Adonis the million dollars he left me with.
With the money Saint was giving me, plus the money I made from social media and the salon, I only had half of what I owed him. Maybe I had no choice but to keep this baby to save my life.
“I’m going to go. I hope you figure your shit out. There’s only so much I can do to stop my brother from killing you.” Symone said, before turning to leave.
