The Boy Is Mine - The Finale (BWWM Romance) Read online

  “I just wanted to share some good news with you.”

  “Please, share.”

  “Since you asked so nicely, Michael and I are officially together!”

  “Oh my god! Yay! This is amazing. Do you realize that we could possibly be sisters?”

  “I’m not thinking that far ahead.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Last night. I was out on a date with someone else and so was he. My date ended horribly and Michael came over. One thing led to another, we talked and now we’re an item.”

  “I’m going to need those juicy details later.”

  “I’m not going to tell you all of my business.”

  “Yes you will and you’ll do it with joy.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “I just wish that I could see you in person as you tell your story. Your face tells it all. You know what, we’re going to have to Skype for that conversation.”

  “You’re a nut.”

  “And you love it. So what happens now?”

  I shrugged, “I don’t know. We’re meeting tonight to talk things over. He says that he has something he needs to tell me. I’m a little nervous but overall, I’m just ready to get this over with. I want us to move forward with a clean slate.”

  “Wow, you really like him. I’ve never known you to give someone a free pass.”

  “I more than like him,” I said in a low voice.

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Does he know?”

  “Yes he knows.”

  “What does he think of that?”

  “He loves me too,” I responded in a voice that was lower than before.

  “I hate being so far away. I’m missing all of the good stuff. Stop whispering all of this shit. You should be jumping with joy. Michael is a wonderful man, you’re a wonderful woman and the two of you deserve each other.”

  “You sure know how to flatter a woman.”

  “I’m not trying to flatter you. I’m just telling you the truth as I see it.”

  “Thank you, I needed to hear that.”

  “Have you told Jasmine yet?”

  “Not yet.”

  “I got told first? I’m going to have to rub this in her face then next time I talk to her. Now I feel all special.”

  “You better not. You know she takes stuff like that hard.”

  “I’m in Paris, she can’t do anything to me.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m the one that will have to deal with her moping.”

  “Fine, I won’t rub it in…a lot.”

  “Don’t tell her at all, please. I would rather do it myself.”

  “Fine, I’ll wait until you tell her.” I could hear her pouting through the phone.

  I gave a big laugh, “You enjoy your evening. I’m going to get dressed and get some cleaning done. Tell Kenneth I said hello.”

  “I sure will. Give everyone hugs and kisses for me. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  I hung up. I felt like myself again. Nicole always seemed to make me feel better. She’s actually one of the few people who’ve seen me cry. At the time, she didn’t ask me what was wrong or what happened, she simply said, ‘screw her,’ told me how fabulous I was, and then changed the subject. It was exactly what I needed. Nikki could always make me feel better without even trying.

  I pushed my mom’s negative words out of my head and headed to shower. Some women were miserable and determined to bring you down with them; she was one of them. I loved my mother, but she was hard to deal with. My father left when I was about five and she never truly got close to anyone again. She decided men weren’t worth shit. She did a great job with raising my brothers and me but her mood always went up and down; you never knew what would come out of her mouth.

  I had to stay on guard because she could be so mean sometimes. I don’t think that she did it on purpose; it’s just a part of who she is. Her heart was broken and she never truly recovered from it. My father claimed she wasn’t always like that and he doesn’t know what happened. But, my dad assures us he didn’t leave us. He left her. He said that she had become one of the meanest women that he’d ever encountered and he couldn’t take it anymore.

  I was happy as hell when she moved to Florida. She claimed she needed a change when I was in my sophomore year of college. She packed and moved. I went to visit her every now and then but I mainly stayed with Jasmine or Nicole during breaks. I took some time to visit my brothers but I tried to keep interactions with my mom to a minimum. I know it hurt her but it’s the only way for me to keep my sanity.

  I stepped into the shower and enjoyed the feeling of the water pounding against my skin. My muscles were all achy from the night before. It felt good to clean my body. I tried to imagine my insecurities falling away, down the drain.

  #Chapter2

  “You just have to promise to be patient with me.”

  Michael

  I met Michael that evening in the restaurant. I’d been looking forward to it all day. My house was sparkling clean because of all of the nervous energy I’d been harboring: I couldn’t believe that I had a boyfriend! Not only did I have a boyfriend, I had a boyfriend that I loved.

  “Hey beautiful,” he said as he pulled out my chair for me.

  I smiled, “It’s good to see you. I’ve missed you. You would think that I hadn’t seen you in a long time.”

  “I get the sentiment. I felt very much the same way. That’s why I kept texting you all day. I’m sure that I drove you a little crazy.”

  “Not at all. I enjoyed talking to you throughout the day. It’s one of the things that helped me wait until tonight.”

  I looked over and him and drank him in. I loved the salt and pepper hair at his temples, which accented his full head of unruly black hair. I reached over and played with his hair a bit. He gave a mischievous smile.

  “If you keep doing that, this night may end earlier than we expected.”

  “You like that?”

  “I love it.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  He and I resorted to small talk for the next hour. It was as if we were avoiding the huge elephant in the room.

  After some time, I decided it was time. I wanted to know what was so important that we had to talk about it over dinner. “Okay, can you please tell me what’s going on?”

  He sighed before he took a sip of his drink, “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “How about the beginning?”

  “Fair enough,” he laughed nervously.

  “I don’t want to push you but I don’t want anything hanging over our heads.”

  “You’re right. It’s just that I want nothing more than to be with you but…”

  “Are you telling me that I misunderstood last night? In my head, we’re together. Am I wrong?”

  “No, you’re not wrong. But I’m not sure if you’ll want to be with me after this.”

  The pained looked on his face broke my heart. I didn’t know what he had to say but I wanted to be there for him.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I grew up with two brothers and an evil ass mother. I still love all of them. I’m used to having to forgive people. You don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything.”

  “I have a past. I’m not sure if I ever told you but I was married before.”

  “No you didn’t tell me.”

  He hadn’t told me about his past marriage but Nicole gave me the scoop. She let me know about his past love, Maggie, and how he’d gotten his heart broken. He’d been married to a woman but he caused the end of his own marriage because he couldn’t get over his ex.

  “Well, I was in love with her. She couldn’t have children and so I chose to be with someone else. A decision I regret.”

  “Seeing as though you’re single, I’m assuming that didn’t work out too well.”

  “No, it didn’t. I doubt if my ex-wife Laura ever wants to see my face again.”

/>   “Are you still in love with Maggie?” I didn’t want to ask but it was hanging over the both of our heads.

  A flood of emotion flashed across his face before he controlled himself. “I’m in love with you,” he answered.

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “I was in love with her for a long time but after what she’s done, I don’t think that I can ever feel the same way about her again.”

  I was confused, “What do you mean?”

  He got quiet. He looked like he wanted to say something but he couldn’t get the words out. “Nothing.”

  “That’s not true. Something is still bothering you. We’re not going to be able to get pass this point if you don't open up to me.”

  “She’s married now with three children. I’ve heard that she just had another.”

  “So you’re upset with her because of that?”

  His jaw clenched and then his eyes went blank before he drained his glass. “No, she has a right to live her life.”

  “Okay then I’m not understanding the problem.”

  “The problem is that I need to banish these demons. I’ve gotten into counseling to deal with my commitment issues. I don’t want to treat another woman the same way that I treated Laura. You deserve better. I’m bottling up a lot of emotions and I know that it’s holding me back. I don’t want to let another good woman slip through my fingers.”

  I still felt a little uneasy, as if I weren’t hearing the whole truth but I let it go. He wanted to make our relationship work. And, I was impressed that he was doing the work on his own. He became more attractive to me at that moment. He was man enough to admit that he needed help.

  I smiled, “Is that it?”

  He stared at me for a few moments and then said a haunted, “Yes.”

  “I can work with that. You don’t have anything to fear.”

  He still looked a little uneasy but he was trying to loosen up.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes I’m sure. Now let’s get you another drink and enjoy the rest of our night.”

  “Okay, you just have to promise to be patient with me.”

  “As long as you’re patient with me, too.”

  “Then we have a deal.”

  #Chapter3

  “Here’s to love.”

  Jasmine

  A few weeks later, things were still going strong between Michael and me. I was still having a hard time believing I was with someone as wonderful as him. I wondered what I’d done to finally get so lucky. Then I figured that God kind of owed me one for all of the horrible relationships that I had previously.

  He and I were both busy with work but we enjoyed getting together at our apartments to spend some much needed time with each other. I couldn’t wait to rush home at the end of a long day because I knew I would get to see him. My life was complete bliss. The only problem was, I still hadn’t broken the news to Jasmine. I don’t know why I was keeping it from her. I hated doing that but Michael still hadn’t told anyone about us and I was trying to take the lead from him.

  He didn’t know that I’d spilled the beans to Nicole or my mom. I didn’t feel bad about telling anyone, but did I want to tell Jasmine. My mom’s voice kept playing over and over in my head Does he claim you publically? But I was just giving him time to adjust. And, when I was with Michael, it was difficult to believe he had any ill intentions. He loved me, it was clear. Plus, I liked having something special between the both of us.

  Jasmine had been making a lot of remarks about how happy and agreeable I’d been lately. She wanted to know who I’d been having sex with. She swore that women were only that happy when they were getting dick on the regular. I ignored her and secretly hated how right she was.

  One night, Michael invited Jasmine and Cedric over for poker. Michael and Cedric had a friendly rivalry going on and it was always funny to watch. They both hated to lose and would play all night if they could.

  Cedric and Jasmine showed up to Michael’s house and I did my best not to look too comfortable.

  “Heeeeeey!” Jasmine said as she gave me a big hug.

  “Hola folks,” Cedric said behind her.

  We all greeted each other and sat at the dining room table.

  “So, are you all ready to hand over your cash? You can make it easy on yourselves and give it to me now, or I can win it from you over the course of the night,” Cedric said.

  I rolled my eyes, “I’m not worried about you Ced.”

  “Me either, babe,” Michael said. His eyes widened from his slip. I hurriedly moved the conversation along.

  “How much money do you plan on forking over tonight?”

  Cedric looked at me with a grin, “I’m not forking over anything. I brought a wallet with $20 in it and I plan to have it overflowing when I leave.”

  We all laughed. An hour later, the only person laughing was Cedric. He was on a winning streak and it was getting on my nerves. The odds just seemed to be in his favor. Over the course of the evening, Michael and I stole glances at one another. We kept touching each other and eventually Jasmine couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Okay, so which one of you is going to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Don’t act slow, Patrice. I see you and Michael can’t keep your hands off of each other.”

  “Well, that’s because we’re together,” Michael said.

  “What?” Jasmine shrieked. “When were you going to tell me?”

  “I’m sorry, we didn’t want people to get involved. Our relationship is really new and the fewer people that know about it, the better,” I said.

  “Yeah, but I’m not ‘people,’” Jasmine said, emphasizing her word with air quotes.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t try that quick apology bullshit on me,” Jasmine said playfully, “That’s not going to make me shut up.”

  I laughed, “Please forgive me, Jasmine. You know now.”

  “That’s only because I pulled it out of you. Nicole is going to flip the hell out when she finds out.”

  I smiled and nodded. I wasn’t going to tell her that Nicole already knew. I wasn’t a fool.

  “Congratulations to the both of you,” Cedric said, “Now you can stop sneaking around like teenagers.”

  “We weren’t sneaking around,” Michael said.

  “Yeah, whatever man,” Cedric laughed.

  “Since we’re announcing things tonight, I have one more thing to say,” Michael said, “The bar is ready to open in a few weeks. I’m in the process of hiring a manager and then I’m good to go.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” I lightly slapped him on the shoulder.

  “I know. I was waiting on some licenses to come through and they finally did today. I was worried about it for a while.”

  “Now you don’t have anything to be worried about. It all worked out.”

  “Yes it did, baby.”

  “Awwwww,” Jasmine said.

  “Shut up Jasmine,” I scolded.

  “I’m just happy that me and Cedric aren’t the only mushy couple anymore. The two of you are as mushy as it comes. It’s so nice to see this side of you, Patrice.”

  “You mean she isn’t like this with everyone?” Michael teased.

  “Keep it up, Michael.”

  “You know I’m just kidding. I love my fiery woman.”

  Jasmine almost spit out her wine, “Love?”

  “Yes…love,” I said before I stuck out my tongue.

  “Well, alrighty then!” She said as she raised her glass for a toast. “Here’s to love.”

  We raised our glasses and toasted to our new relationship.

  A couple of hours later, Jasmine and Cedric were finally gone. I enjoy having them around but I needed some alone time with my man. My libido had gone up a couple of notches after he announced that we were together. A weight was lifted from my shoulders and I was happy he was the one that told them
and not me. He said it quickly and decisively. He soothed a lot of my fears.

  “They’re finally gone,” he whispered into my ear after he wrapped his arms around my waist.