"Nia." Her name softly fell from his lips and she soaked in his sweet breath like a pancake to syrup. Her eyes were low and she was watching his chest rise and fall. She couldn't look at him just yet. She was frozen in place.
With just this brazen...
"Um, why didn't you tell me he had a kid?" Nia looked at Malcolm squarely in his eyes on Sunday evening as she filled her wine glass dramatically to the brim.
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"Weird way to say 'thank you Mac for introducing me to the love of my life', but ok." Malcolm shrugged.
Nia glared at Malcolm sitting annoyingly like a sprouted weed from the corner of her couch - again.
"Malcolm, he has a child! A young kid at that."
"Wouldn't it be weirder if the kid was like 18 or something?"
"I could strangle you."
"Why? You love kids."
"Yeah but I don't want to be a step-mother."
"Relax! It's really not a big deal. You're nowhere near close enough to being introduced to princess Ciara yet."
"But see this is why I can't date a father - it's me, I'm the princess here." Nia wagged her index finger as she spoke.
"OK princess Nia," Malcolm smirked. "But you're not gonna meet her and even if you do you're not her mother. You're just some woman who threw that ass back on her daddy on the first date."
"He told you already?! Men are trash I swear."
"He's my friend, you know. I bet you've already caught ya girls up."
Nia couldn't argue. She knew that was a big double standard. She chose a different angle:
"But why didn't he tell me sooner?"
"He told me he tried, but you were giving him what he described as 'fuck me eyes' - his words, not mine." Malcolm closed his eyes and held a hand up in protest to stop Nia before she could get her defense started. "And to be honest, your reaction now is exactly why he hesitated. Be real, would you have said yes to the date had you known?"
"Known he was trash or a father?"
"Watch your mouth. He isn't trash - he's a good guy and a great dad."
"You date him then." Nia narrowed her eyes, puckering her lips into a heavy pout.
"You didn't answer my question, Nia."
"I don't know what I would've said!" Nia said exasperatedly. "No, probably, because I don't want to be throttled into parenting a child I didn't even conceive!"
"See."
"But that's no reason to lie."
"He didn't lie. The situation was messy and complicated and he hates talking about it. He loves Cici but damn. He was throttled into parenting too."
"Nuh uh. He chose to have unprotected sex."
"Nuh uh. He made mistakes, like cheating on his ex, but he swears he always wore protection. The story goes that she found out before he told her and she fucking tampered with his condoms."
