The wiser part of Kimani told her she should just cut the conversation short, but the emotional part of her wouldn’t let her leave. Like driving by a traffic accident, she couldn’t resist sparing a glance. Did this woman have a purpose in initiating this conversation or was she just making small talk and usually this candid?
“But, you know, he’s not even that great sometimes,” Eumie continued. “The other night, he just gave up and took the easy way out by making me use a vibrator. Maybe he’s getting old and losing his stamina.”
Okay, now is a good time to exit the conversation.
“I’m sorry to have to be short—it was nice meeting you—but I should get these flyers printed,” Kimani said, hitting the print button and heading over to the printer.
Eumie followed her. “Oh, are you working for Uncle Gordon?”
“I’m a volunteer. Are you family?”
“Alice Lee is a cousin of mine. Ben suggested I come and visit her and Gordon. When he invited me to fly out here with him, I thought, why not? I haven’t seen Alice in a long time.”
Kimani couldn’t stop a small pit from opening in her stomach. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that Ben was sleeping around. What she had with Ben didn’t qualify as a relationship. But somehow it had felt different when they were precinct
walking together in East Oakland.
She gave a silent sigh. Maybe it had been her imagination.
“Although I wasn’t sure it was such a good idea at first,” Eumie said. “I thought he might want to get back together again since we used to date, but I did not want to revive our old relationship. He was so bossy and possessive. The worst boyfriend material. So I’m very relieved to find he’s screwing someone else at the same time.”
Was she? Kimani thought she heard a hint of sarcasm.
“Because I’m focused on my modeling career. What is it that you do?”
“I’m a news reporter,” Kimani answered. “For the San Francisco Tribune. Or, I was.”
“Oh, is that the thing that Ben recently bought?”
The small pit in her stomach suddenly opened into a chasm. “What?”
“How funny...I overhead him talking to his attorney or someone like that about shutting down a paper with the word Tribune in it. But I was in Ben’s shower, so I didn’t catch everything that was said. So is it just a coincidence that he’s having sex with you?”
Kimani looked past Eumie to Gordon’s office. Ben was still talking to his uncle and aunt, but, as if he sensed that she was looking his way, he turned. He stiffened. Most likely because he had noticed Eumie. It was probably a guy’s worst nightmare to find his ex-girlfriends talking together. No, Eumie was the only ex-girlfriend.
I’m just a fucktoy. A fucktoy he put out of a job.
Chapter Eighteen
Ben didn’t need to hear what Eumie said to know that it wasn’t good. Excusing himself, he exited Gordon’s office and made straight for Eumie and Kimani. The look on Kimani’s face confirmed his suspicions. What the hell had Eumie said?
“Oh, hi, Benji,” Eumie greeted when she heard him behind her. She turned back to Kimani. “Do you call him Benji, too, or does he have a different pet name with you?”
Kimani’s frown deepened.
“Eumie,” he said in a tone one would use with a wayward child.
“Kim-hani and I were just exchanging notes,” she replied with a devilish grin.
He looked to Kimani, who stared at him with more intensity than he had ever seen from her.
“Is your attorney a man by the name of Murray Jones?” she asked, her voice quivering slightly.
“I have a lot of attorneys,” he answered. “He’s one of them. Why?”
She glanced at Eumie before returning her gaze to him.
Her bottom lip trembled. Her eyes narrowed. “So it’s true. It was you.”