“Competition?” Aaliyah gasped. “I’m not competing with anyone!”
“It doesn’t matter.” Soul turned towards Aaliyah. “If they won’t admit their jealousy of you, they’ll damn sure show their resentment.”
“I was at an event back in D.C. and then I came back here.”
“With who?” She asked. “We’re adults here.”
“A business associate of my father’s.” Ocean replied. “Nothing important.”
Aaliyah nodded. Ocean went on a date and couldn’t even admit that much to her. “I’m going to see you and her in the papers, aren’t I?”
“You’re going to see me being a politician politicking.” He crawled his fingers up her arm and kissed her shoulders. “That might mean I’ll be spotted with different women. It doesn’t mean I’m dating them.”
Everything slowly began to make sense. Thomas set up that date between Ocean and Ximena. The question became why? It seemed the brothers knew how the Montezes got down and wanted nothing to do with them, yet Thomas insisted.
Aaliyah wished Brittany’s cousin would hurry up with that information about the family.
“Soul!” Ximena greeted him with air kisses and a hug. “Pleasure to see you again.”
“Yeah, likewise.” Soul replied. He forced himself to shake hands with Ricardo. “Ricardo.”
“Soul.” The older man greeted him and did a glance over at his attire. Only Soul would show up at a political fundraiser wearing sneakers. “New line coming out?”
“Always.” Soul grinned. He finished his champagne and took another glass. “Ricardo, Ximena, this is my brother Ocean’s girlfriend, Aaliyah.”
Aaliyah noticed the transformation Ximena underwent in just a few seconds. She was warm and loving with Soul, but clinical with Aaliyah. Her posture straightened out and Aaliyah realized Ximena scanned her entire body from head to toe.
Ximena wasn’t a bad looking woman but she wasn’t what anyone would call a classic beauty. In fact, beautiful was probably not the word anyone would look for to describe her. She had quirkiness that wasn’t the adorable trait that made Zooey Deschanel famous or made women relate to Tina Fey or Maya Rudolph.
Ximena seemed to be stuck between being a try hard and not trying hard enough. She carefully hid her disgust behind a plastic smile. “Aaliyah! Pleasure to meet you.” She held out a hand.
“Likewise,” Aaliyah shook her hand.
“Aaliyah,” Ricardo shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you. How long have you and Ocean been dating?”
“A short while,” she replied, though Aaliyah felt that was too much to say.
“I see,” Ricardo nodded. “Are you the same woman in the pictures with Ocean a short while ago?”
The way Ricardo said that it sounded more like an interrogation than a simple question. “That’s me,” Aaliyah answered.
“Very good.” Ricardo replied. “I hope you enjoy your evening here tonight.” He looked over and saw other people he wanted to speak with. “Excuse me, folks.” He soon left.
“I’m about to talk to the DJ about the wack-ass music he’s playing,” Soul shook his head, “shit, play some Wu-Tang, Black Milk, or something.” He whispered to Aaliyah. “I’ll be back in five.” He left.
Aaliyah sipped her champagne and began to people watch. She saw an A-list actor hobnobbing with an A-list rapper. The A-list actor declared how much he hated rap and hip-hop music and told anyone who had an ear, yet it appeared he was best friends with the rapper. She would’ve never put those two in the same picture, let alone the same room.
She saw B-list celebrity hanging on the arm of another A-lister. The A-lister was married with a new baby. The B-lister was a rising star. They both were out in the open without a care. Aaliyah just shook her head.Hoes are gon’ hoe,she thought.
“So, what are you intentions with Ocean?”
Aaliyah was snapped out of her people watching and turned to Ximena. The woman had a smirk on her face and her scheming eyes studied her. “I’m sorry?”
“Your end game with him?” Ximena repeated. “Do you want his money? Money for your business? You have a reality show you’re filming, right?”
Ximena studied up on Aaliyah and Aaliyah wondered how much did the woman actually know about her. “Why does any of that concern you?”
“I just want to know what possible interest you have with Ocean. It’s clear as day you two have nothing in common.” Ximena shrugged. “And let’s face it, a reality star doesn’t belong in D.C. politics.”
