Soul Ties, page 11
Nina was happy when she arrived back at her home the next day. Miami was cool, but she’d grown accustomed to Atlanta. The only thing she dreaded was facing Chance. Depending on what Chance had to say, Nina would make her decision. She took a deep breath as she unlocked the door to her mansion.
Walking through the door, Nina almost tripped. Looking down, she noticed an unfamiliar pair of high heels in the foyer. “What the fuck?” she asked herself.
“Chance!” Nina called out as she headed up the stairs. The door to their room was slightly ajar, but Nina saw everything she needed to see. Chance’s chest was bare as a dark-skinned female slept on it. Her panties, bra, and dress were on the floor in front of the bed. An empty Magnum wrapper was on the nightstand. One of the girl’s legs was intertwined with Chance’s. Nina gagged at the sight and swallowed hard.
Instead of spazzing out and making a scene, Nina stormed to the closet and grabbed her Gucci luggage. In a rage, she grabbed some of her belongings and stuffed them in the bags. Chance really had her fucked up. No matter what they’d been going through, there was no way Nina would have ever brought another nigga into their bedroom, or home for that matter. Nina admitted that her actions weren’t innocent either, but she didn’t fuck Yasin. Not while things between her and Chance weren’t completely figured out. Chance had obviously made the decision for her. She held back tears as she headed to the bathroom to grab a couple of toiletries.
Chance stirred in the bed and woke up slowly. His eyes bulged wildly when he saw Nina, with her baby bump, moving through the room like a whirlwind. He knew he’d fucked up when he met her sad eyes. He couldn’t even say anything as he looked at Naomi lying next to him, still naked and knocked out.
“Nina . . .”
Nina raised her hand up to silence Chance. “Don’t say anything.” Her voice shook. “No matter the circumstances, I would have never carried things so disrespectful like this. I hope you’re happy.” Tears fell down her face as she dragged the two duffle bags behind her out of the room. If she didn’t plan on leaving Chance before, he had left her with no choice now.
“You left me for Yasin, Nina. What did you expect from me?” Chance yelled at the top of the stairs.
“I expected for you to give me a choice! For once in your fucking life! But you’ve left me with no other choice now.” Tears slipped from the corners of Nina’s eyes. “Goodbye, Chance.” With that, Nina walked out of Chance’s life.
* * *
Sitting in the waiting area of the hospital, Quan scrolled down his Facebook timeline. He wasn’t a social media junkie; it was how he stayed connected with his family from up top. Time seemed to be going by slow as hell for him. There was no telling how long it would be before Tiana finished giving birth to her baby boy. Chance had instructed him to stay at the hospital until he arrived.
Today would be the moment of truth. It would be determined whether the baby Tiana caried belonged to Chance. Quan had looked after Tiana since Chance moved to Atlanta. The plan was, if the baby was Chance’s, to relocate Tiana and the baby to Atlanta. Tiana might have thought shit was all good, but Chance had big plans for his son, and none included Tiana.
“What’s good, my nigga?” Chance greeted his best friend as he entered the waiting area. “How you living?” Chance leaned against the wall wearing a navy blue Tom Ford suit. The suit jacket rested in the crook of his arm. His diamond cufflinks alluded to his newfound wealth. All his energy and frustrations had been put into making money. After the morning Nina left him, Chance was all business. Working seemed to be the only thing that kept his heart from missing his woman. It was fucked up how things had gone down, and Chance wished he could turn back the hands of time, but like his grandma always told him, everything happens for a reason. What’s meant to be, will be. He wasn’t stressing it.
Quan dapped his mans up. “I’m living.”
It was a good feeling to know him and his right hand were eating. While Chance was focusing on going legit in Atlanta, Quan had picked up where the empire left off in Charlotte. Everything was everything.
“Shorty in the room. No family or anything showed up. If I didn’t know how Tiana got down, I would be feeling bad.” Quan didn’t know much about childbirth, but he understood enough to know that it was supposed to be the happiest day of a woman’s life. He’d seen enough movies to know that babies were meant to be surrounded by loved ones when they came into the world. Tiana had no one, and Quan figured her grimy ways influenced her loneliness. He shook his head.
“Well, if the kid is mine, he’s going to know love.” Chance tried not to get his hopes up about being a father because he doubted that Tiana knew the true paternity of her child.
“You talked to Nina lately?” he inquired as he sat down in a chair across from Quan. Nina had completely erased him from her life. After leaving the mansion that day, Nina had blocked Chance and blocked his access to all her social media profiles. She even went as far as to change the passwords on their shared Netflix and Hulu accounts.
“Maybe like a week ago. You know she’s going to drop a kid soon too.” Quan didn’t want to shit on his boy’s parade by telling him Nina sounded happy the last time he had talked to her. That was like his sister, and he had known her long enough to know when she was smiling.
He hated how Nina and Chance carried their situations. Love wasn’t supposed to go like that. In his eyes, they were always meant to be, like a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, even Michelle and Barack, depending on the setting you caught them in. Nina and Chance completed each other. But Quan had never been in love before, so he wasn’t in a position to judge.
Chance nodded as his thoughts drifted to Nina. Till this day, he couldn’t believe that she had left him. After all they’d been through together and all the shit they had to look forward to, was it that easy for Nina to give up? Was that nigga Yasin making her happy? An uneasy feeling settled in Chance’s stomach when he thought of Yasin. Together or not, if the nigga caused any harm to Nina, he would put him six feet under.
“Yeah, she’s going to be a great mother,” Chance said.
“Excuse me, are you the family of Tiana Cruz?” a petite female nurse asked. Chance and Quan nodded. “The baby is here. Follow me.” The nurse led the two men down the hall, then into the maternity ward. She knocked on the door before slowly pushing it open.
Tiana was sitting up on the bed, cradling a small baby boy with a head full of slick black hair.
Chance approached Tiana slowly. “How you doing?” he asked as he looked down at the precious little boy. Instantly, there was no doubt in Chance’s mind that the baby was his. The little boy was practically a spitting image of him, even down to his bushy eyebrows and mocha complexion. The feature that stood out to Chance the most was the baby’s birthmark right behind his right ear. Chance had the exact same mark.
“What’s his name?”
“Chase.” Tiana smiled as she saw Chance fall in love with the baby just as she had. As much as she wanted to be a great mother to the baby, she knew she wasn’t ready. Being a mother wasn’t a job she was up for right now. The lifestyle she lived didn’t cater to mothers. Tiana stripped to provide for herself and partied almost every day of the week. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that she would make a bad mother. “I can’t take care of him Chance. I know he’ll be better off with you.”
Chance stroked his beard in thought. He had planned on getting full custody of his son regardless, but Tiana was making it too easy for him. “That was the plan anyway, T, but I need your help while he’s a baby. You’ll have those motherly instincts. Until he’s old enough, I’m going to set you up in a place in Atlanta. Don’t worry about bills or anything. I just need your help for now,” Chance explained. He peered into the bassinet and reached out to pick up the sleeping baby. Their bond instantly solidified as the baby wrapped his small fingers around Chance’s forefinger. “I got you, Tiana. Just help me out here. You owe me that.”
Tiana felt shitty as she listened to Chance practically beg her to be a mother to her child. “I can do that.”
“Cool.” Chance smiled brightly as he walked the baby over for Quan to see. Quan peeked at Chase, beaming, and tapped Chance’s shoulder twice. “My li’l man.”
As happy as he was in the moment, Chance couldn’t help but wish it was Nina lying in that bed.
* * *
Yasin puffed a Cuban cigar as he watched Nina practice her favorite yoga moves on the lawn. Every day, Yasin still marveled at Nina’s beauty. He couldn’t believe that she was finally his. Everything had been great since she walked away from Chance three months ago. Their relationship and love grew stronger by the day. Their son would be here any day now, and they both were ecstatic. Nina looked up and beamed when she noticed Yasin watching her. She blew him a kiss.
Since the day Yasin laid eyes on Nina, she made him feel whole. He wished that they had met under different circumstances, but even then, he knew it was fate that brought them together. His intentions may not have been genuine when he first met Nina, but his love for her was real. Every move he had made since reuniting with Nina was to rectify his previous mishaps, and no one could take that away. This was the woman he intended to marry. Yet, there were still some things they had to talk about before they could get to that point.
“Baby, can you order us some Mexican food? I want an enchilada,” Nina called out to him. She enjoyed being pampered by Yasin. Having money wasn’t new to her, but Yasin’s bankroll seemed like it was endless. There was no limit to how far he would go to spoil Nina. Whatever she wanted, he provided, and it wasn’t just the material things that Yasin showered her with. He gave her his undivided attention whenever he was in her presence. With Chance, there had been some days that went by when Nina didn’t even see him.
“Yeah, baby, anything you want. I’ll run out and go get it for you now. You need anything else?” he asked. Nina shook her head. “I’ll be back in a few, ma.” Yasin headed toward his multi-car garage. It was only right for a man of his stature to have multiple foreign cars at his disposal. He spent money so frivolously because the work he put in to be able to afford these luxuries could’ve killed him. There were things that he did that he would never tell a soul, not even Nina. His past was something he didn’t need coming up, because he wasn’t proud of it.
* * *
Relaxing in the hot tub Jacuzzi, Nina let the melodies of SZA ease her mind. She was more than ready for her son, Nasim, to enter this world. Being pregnant was a tiring experience, and she told herself that this would be her last pregnancy. She’d always imagined herself having Chance’s baby and getting married to him, but things didn’t always play out how you expected them to.
Her iPhone vibrated, and Yasin’s name flashed across the screen. “Wassup, baby?”
“I know I was supposed to bring your food back, but I got caught up at the dealership for a while. How about you meet me in midtown, and we’ll go grab something to eat?” Yasin spoke into the phone.
Nina sighed but replied, “Okay.” She lifted her body out of the water and wobbled into the house. “I’m so tired of this.” Nina pouted as she headed into the house. A small task such as showering took a lot of effort now that she was carrying an extra thirty pounds on her body.
Walking into the enormous master bedroom that she and Yasin shared, Nina smiled. Scenes of lovemaking from the night before flashed in her mind. Yasin took her to heights in the bedroom that she’d never climbed before. He was gentle and deliberate when they made love. He paid attention to every one of her impulses and acted accordingly. Being a few years older than her, Yasin was a seasoned lover. That was one of the reasons Nina was so crazy about him.
“What to wear?” she asked herself as she stood in the middle of her huge closet the size of the average person’s living room. Nina decided on wearing a ruffled, off-the-shoulder Burberry dress and a pair of Moschino sandals. She took a quick shower and got dressed. Brushing her hair into a sleek, curly puffball, Nina applied her Fenty lip gloss before grabbing her keys.
* * *
Naomi accompanied Chance for a dinner date. They weren’t an exclusive couple, but they’d been seeing each other often since the night they met. Neither one of them wanted a serious relationship. They were just having fun and enjoying each other’s company.
“How’s the baby doing?” Naomi asked as she savored the delicious Mexican dish in front of her. Chance had informed Naomi that he had newborn son when he linked with her for the second time. Naomi didn’t run away from the fact, which made Chance dig her even more.
Chance gave her a slight smile. “He’s doing good. Getting bigger every day.” Being a father fulfilled Chance in ways that he had never imagined. He had grown up without a father of his own and desired to give Chase every experience he’d missed out on. “I’m going to let you meet him soon.”
Naomi gasped and held her hand to her chest dramatically. “I’m honored. Does that mean I get to meet your lucky girl too?” she asked and smirked. Naomi could tell that Chance was being careful with his heart and keeping her at a distance. She knew from experience that there had to be someone who had hurt him before. That was the only explanation. “Are you finally going to tell me about her?”
Chance opened his mouth to speak but closed it instantly when he saw the couple walk through the door. They looked like money, dressed in designer garments, and adorned in diamonds. And indeed, they looked happy together. His palms began sweating as Yasin and Nina stood in the entrance of the restaurant, waiting to be seated. His eyes wandered to Nina, who clung closely to Yasin’s shoulder. She looked even more beautiful than the last time he’d laid eyes on her. Her pregnancy had her honey brown complexion glistening like an Egyptian goddess. That smile that used to make his heart weak graced her face. His temperature rose as he noticed the shimmer in her eyes. It was the same look she used to have when she was with him.
“Chance?” Naomi waves her hand in front of Chance’s face. Then, her attention focused on what Chance was looking at. “You know them?”
Chance shook his head as Nina’s eyes met his. Something deep down inside of him begged him to go hug and kiss her and make things right, but shit wasn’t right. Everything that was right about them had gone wrong. He knew they were both to blame. Their time together had passed, and he had to move on. But seeing her in the flesh let him know that he was far from over her.
“She’s gorgeous,” Naomi complimented. She couldn’t even hate on the woman that had Chance’s attention. Her eyes roamed to the dude standing next to the girl. She coughed on her drink when she noticed who it was. It was the same nigga her and her girls hit a lick on once before. She shuddered as he briefly locked eyes with her. That was the last person she ever wanted to see in her life, especially after he killed her friend for robbing him.
“You good?” Chance asked Naomi.
“Can we go?” she asked as she abruptly rose. “Please.”
Chance looked at Naomi strangely. “It looks like you seen a ghost,” Chance commented, but he didn’t protest. He dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table, and they headed out of the restaurant.
“That nigga is bad news, Chance. If you love that girl, no matter what y’all went through, you better get her away from him,” Naomi said once they were safely inside Chance’s Benz. Tears rolled down her face. “I can’t tell you why, but just take my word.”
* * *
Nina’s heart skipped a beat as she noticed Chance sitting a few feet away from her in the restaurant. A familiar girl was sitting across from him at the table. The same bitch he was laid up with that day, she assumed. He looked a little different from the last time they were in each other’s presence, in a good way. Despite their time apart, Nina could still read him just from a look. He was just as surprised to see her. Jealousy crept upon Nina, and she locked her arms with Yasin, pulling him close to her. She flipped her hair over her shoulders and turned her nose up. She silently thanked herself for taking the extra time today to complete her full look. The way she turned heads, pregnant and all, she was sure that Chance enjoyed the view.
“You good?” Yasin asked her, but his attention was on Chance and the girl. “Tell ya mans he better watch that ho. She a leech.”
“Oh, you know her?” Nina asked. As the words left her mouth, Chance and the girl were exiting the restaurant.
Yasin nodded as the host escorted them to their table. “There’s a lot of shit that I done in the past that I’m not proud of. Shorty fits into that category. Her name is Naomi,” he responded vaguely.
Nina leaned across the table, ready to hear more. She refused to believe that the world was this small. First Tiana, and now this chick. “Small world. So y’all used to fuck around?” she asked skeptically. “Because shorty rushed out like she seen a ghost.” Nina wanted answers. There weren’t enough coincidences in the world to believe that there wasn’t a connection between these women who were with Yasin and Chance.
“I promise, when the time is right, I’m going to tell you everything,” Yasin vowed. He just hoped Nina would still choose him when she heard the truth.
* * *
“You haven’t said a word since we left the restaurant, Chance. Are you okay?” Naomi asked nervously.
“I don’t know what to think about you, shorty. Anybody connected to that nigga is suspect to me.” He rubbed his chin hair lightly, deep in thought. All the wheels in his head were turning. Was Naomi sent to Chance by Yasin? Was he just a mark? He didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he didn’t want any dealings.
Naomi chuckled in disbelief. “You don’t know what’s up with me? I haven’t given you no reason not to know, Chance! I been a hundred with you since day one.” Naomi’s body swiveled in the seat until she faced Chance.
“Bet,” Chance responded calmly, resting his hand on his waist near his gun. “So, tell me how you know that nigga.” If Naomi said one wrong thing, Chance was going to blow her ass away. He wasn’t taking no more chances with anybody. He would shoot first and ask questions later.
