Free Raging Blue by Renee Daniel Flagler

wrong initially, Mia had a hard time accepting any semblance of defeat. She had been that way since childhood, harboring a need to at least appear like she came out on top in every situation. Even when her biological father walked out on her family, she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much his absence hurt. She claimed to be happy when he stopped showing up, while her mother, sister, and brother openly mourned the breakdown of their family. When her mother remarried, she tried to act unmoved, refusing to acknowledge her stepfather’s good qualities. She preferred to focus on what she presumed was his flaw—his frugality.
    She despised feeling like she was the underdog. It made her feel weak, and she despised weakness even more than she despised defeat. Somehow, she was going to make Blue pay for her soiled wardrobe.
    Mia shot up from her position on the couch and marched back upstairs. She loaded everything she could salvage into the trunk of the car and headed to a nearby hotel. The whole time, her thoughts were entangled with vindictive acts of retaliation, such as breaking out all of the windows of the townhouse or flooding it. She shook those thoughts out of her head.
    Her relationship with Blue was ruined, with nothing left to salvage. Mia’s emotions were bound into a gang of twisted knots. Feelings of empathy gave way to anger, hurt, resentment, and somehow reverted to guilt. She felt like crying, but sulking wasn’t her style. She would have to get used to the fact that Blue would no longer be considered a friend, and after this episode, it would make it a little easier to put Blue out of her life.
    Jay was another story, though. In addition to paying for her things, someone was going to take care of this baby. She didn’t work so hard and risk so much to get pregnant for nothing.
    Mia pulled over, grabbed her cell phone, and dialed Jay’s number. The first two attempts went to voicemail. She called again and planned to continue calling until she got an answer. Jay picked up the third time.
    “Who is this?” Jay snapped.
    “You know who this is. You never answer unknown calls,” Mia snapped back.
    “What’s so important that you had to call me so early in the morning?”
    “This baby, that’s what. We need to talk, Jay! How are we going to work this situation out?” she asked.
    “That’s your problem. You figure it out.”
    Mia’s ears grew hot, and she could almost feel the steam seeping, ready to blow.
    “Jay, this baby is yours! You hear me? I didn’t want this to happen any more than you did.” She choked back the unexpected surge of emotion that caused the end of her sentence to waver.
    “Why do you want to try and pin this one on me?” he asked.
    “You are an arrogant bastard. We both know what we did was wrong. Don’t try to lay all the blame on me. You crawled into my bed while knowing your wife was my best friend.” Mia sucked her teeth. “And to think I’ve been trying to protect you from this since the day I found out.” Mia paused. “Either we work together to deal with this, or I’ll have to become the bitch you know I’m capable of being, and you will really have problems.”
    Silence.
    “Yeah, I thought so. I’m not Blue. I was never that nice!” Mia paused and thought about the bathtub filled with her speckled belongings. “So what’s the plan?”
    Jay remained silent, and Mia allowed him to wallow in the depth of the uncomfortable moment.
    “Damn!” Jay said.
    Mia could hear the rustle of the covers and pictured Jay getting out of bed naked. He was never an early riser, and he refused to cover his taut body with pajamas. His self-admiration was fanatical. Admittedly, his physique was a work of art; Mia had to give him credit for that. The vision of his dark chocolate skin poured over his muscular frame flashed before her eyes. She pictured his deep-set eyes sparkling like black pearls. Jay was a lot of man, and both he and Mia knew it.
    “What