“No, you know how people talk.”
“Yeah, but they are saying that you got somebody pregnant. Now we both know it ain’t me, so why they saying that?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask them if you are all concerned?” he said as he turned around and looked up at her.
“Don’t be getting all testy with me. I was just asking a question. Damn. Unless you keeping something from me.”
“W-what is that supposed to mean.” He said as he jumped up from his spot on the bench.
“Nothing. God, can’t anybody joke around with you.” She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him close to her.
“Not about that!”
“Well, I should ask Dee. She knows everything, then we will go and tell them to stop spreading lies about you.”
“What would you do that for? You know Dee is just plain nosey anyway and likes to keep shit stirred up.”
“Dang, I was only kidding. Don’t bite my head off.” Shaun started kicking leaves and looking a little uncomfortable.
“Hey, you know I love you, right?” he said looking up at her.
“Yeah, Yeah.”
“No seriously. Right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, just remember that.”
“As long as you don’t forget it,” she said as she poked him in his chest.
“Let’s get out of here; do you mind if we stop by my house first?” he asked her as he led her to the car.
“Nope, as long as I’m home before eight, that’s fine.”
They pulled up to his apartment building and got out and Paul walked up to him.
“Hey, B said to call when you got here.”
“Whateva, Nigga,” Shaun replied.
“Well, I’m only the messenger. And the message has been told.” Paul said, and walked away.
“Who is B?” I asked.
“Nobody.”
“Well, nobody wants you to call.”
“Yeah, I got that.” he said and started toward the door.
They got on the elevator and as the doors closed the smell hit her like a brick upside her head. The urine smell and the dingy carpet were enough to make her move closer to Shaun. The lights in the elevator didn’t work so once the doors closed you were in darkness. Luckily it wasn’t night yet so it didn’t bother her. The people in the building must have taken the stairs all the time at night. They got to his floor and he opened the door and she barely made it in before the door shut.
So much for manners, she thought to herself.
“Baby, I know you must be crazy, to walk up in here and not speak to your grandmamma,” she said as Shaun breezed by her on his way to the back.
“Granny, I was just thirsty,” he said while walking back into the living room. “I was going to speak.” He bent over and gave her a kiss.
“That’s better, ‘cause I would hate to have to get up out of this chair,” she said while swatting at him.
“And do what. Need more oxygen?” He laughed, but Cheryl cringed at the disrespect she felt he had just shown to his grandmother.
“Don’t look so serious, baby,” the older woman said. “If I thought that boy was serious, I would be whooping his ass right now.”
“Grandma, why you always trying to get a look at my butt.”
“Boy, I diapered your black ass when you was a baby. The only thing different now is the size…I guess.” She laughed.
“Whatever you say grandma,” Shaun said as he walked back towards his bedroom. “Cheryl, I’m going to change my clothes real quick. Be right back.”
She sat down in the living room, on plastic no less. She thought to herself: What is it with black folks and plastic on the furniture? All it does is make the furniture look more dingy once the plastic turns yellow. His grandmother was watching an old black and white movie. She could have at least offered her something to drink. She guessed she wasn’t like most grannies.
“Baby, you can go on back. That boy will be forever if you don’t hurry him along.”
She walked back into his room and he had on his jeans and shoes, but no shirt. She finally saw him as most girls did. He was the color of a Hershey’s bar, had a flat stomach, muscular arms, and a short haircut.
“Grandma wouldn’t think you were such a nice girl if she saw you now,” he walked up to her and kissed her on her neck and face.
“Oh really, what would she think if she saw this.” She said as she kissed him back with lust.
“Babies, I don’t hear no talking going on in there.”
“Yes grandma,” he yelled back.
“Hey, I want to give you something.” He walked over to his dresser and came back with a black opal ring.
“This is my grannies. She told me to give it to whoever I wanted to spend my life with.” He put it on her right hand, middle finger.
“You know that’s the wrong hand.” She said
“Dang, why can’t you just take it? God, why does it have to be on the right finger, I gave it to you; ain’t that enough?” he asked as he dropped her hand and walked over to his chair.
“I’m sorry. I just thought you should know that if you want to get married, you need to ask me first,” she said walking over to him.
“Look I know. Can you let me just be the man for once and stop trying to be so damn bossy. God! Now I see what my dad was talking about.”
“What does that mean?” she said with her hands on her hips.
“Just that…well sometimes a woman gotta let a man be a man and stop trying to be the woman AND the man.”
“What! That is just stupid.” She said as he walked away from her. “Besides I was only making a point. You don’t have to bite my head off about it.”
“Whatever.” He grabbed his shirt from the chair and walked out of his room.
“See you later, Granny. Tell Ma I will be back around ten.”
“Ok, be careful,” she said as the door closed.
They got outside and there stood Brenda.
“Hey Shaun, wait up,” she called as she breezed past Cheryl. Shaun acted like he didn’t hear her, and kept walking.
“I know you heard me. Oh, sorry. I guess you have to walk your dog first,” she said as she got closer to them.
“I got your dog, bitch,” Cheryl said while walking towards her.
Shaun grabbed her arm. “C’mon, I thought you weren’t supposed to be around her.”
“She better keep her damn mouth shut or I will shut it for her.”
“Shaun, you better come see what I want, unless you want everybody out here to know your biz-ness,” Brenda said with her head rolling around like it was about to come off.
With that, he turned and walked towards her. Whatever he was saying to her had her about to cry. He wouldn’t let her get a word in whenever she tried talking. He walked back over to Cheryl, grabbed her hand and started walking.
“What did she want?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why in the hell did you go over there then?”
“What’s with the million questions?”
“Cause, I want to know why she calling you out.”
“Look, just leave it alone.”
She snatched her hand from his. “I will not! Why can’t you just tell me?”
“Cause it ain’t none of your business.”
“Like hell it ain’t! You are my business!” She said, acting just like the girls she didn’t want to be like.
“Look, don’t ask me nothing about her.”
“Then maybe I’ll just ask her.”
“Look, just leave it alone; don’t give me the third degree. Let’s just go to the movies like we planned.”
“Not until you answer my question and tell me what that bitch wanted.”
“Look, you don’t have to keep calling her names. Let’s just go.”
“Did I just hear you right? You are defending her fat ass!”
“Hell no.”
“Then just tell me.”
> “Tell you what? Ain’t nothing to tell.”
“You are such a liar!”
“What!”
“You heard me. Obviously you had something to say to her and now you all mad at me for asking. I think its best that I go home.”
“For what?”
“Because I don’t feel like going anywhere.”
“Damn, you sure know how to spoil a fun day.”
“No, I didn’t spoil anything. All you had to do was answer one damn question, but you would rather take up for that bitch instead of answering it.”
“Look, maybe I do need to take you home since you are all irate!”
“Good.”
They got into his car and rode in complete silence. When he pulled into her driveway, she got out and slammed the door. Before she had walked away from the car he was out of the driveway and down the street. She stood there until she couldn’t hear his muffler anymore.
Chapter 14
She slipped off her shoes when she went in the house so she didn’t wake anyone up. If she could put off the drama until morning she would. She knew there would be plenty of it and she just hoped she could get some sleep before it happened. She noticed that she had forgotten to blow out the candles and that would cause another argument, since he hated for candles to burn when they were out. At least he was asleep so she crept into the room.
With shoes in hand, she got into her bedroom but bumped into the chest at the foot of the bed.
“Crap,” she whispered and grabbed her toe.
“If you turn on some mothafuckin’ lights, you wouldn’t be bumping into shit,” Kevin said.
“Why are you standing in the dark? If you were up, then you could have turned on a light,” she whispered.
“My house, I can stand in the dark if I want to. Where in the fuck have you been? It’s after one in the morning.”
“Right where you left me,” she said.
“Left you? You mean where you decided to stay and chat it up with all the men in the club.”
“No I wasn’t. The only reason I was stuck was because you decided that I wasn’t pretty enough to take anywhere. So I decided that I should let you enjoy your night without me,” she said as she walked past him towards her bathroom. “Besides the woman that was hanging all over you, that trick is probably right up your alley.”
“Slow your roll. I don’t think she would appreciate being called a trick,” he said as he walked behind her.
“Well, I will damn well call her whatever I want.”
“You really need to stop. She is a business associate.”
“Oh, is that what they call themselves nowadays?”
“See, that’s your fucking problem, always jumping to conclusions. You need to check yourself.”
“No, you are the one who needs checking.”
“You always are accusing me of sleeping around.” He had cornered her near the closet.
“Cause you are!” she screamed.
“Look, I am not in the mood to hear this shit again. I asked you a goddamn question, where have you been?”
“Well, I am not in the mood to hear your fucking lies again, just don’t expect me to keep putting up with it either.”
“And what the fuck does that mean?” he said as his arm came up to the wall behind her.
“It means, don’t expect me to keep putting up with it. I am well aware that you gotta be sleeping with someone else, because you barely touch me anymore and when you do, you act like you doing me some sort of a favor.”
“You lucky I touch your ass at all, I don’t touch you anymore because you aren’t attractive to me anymore!”
“Oh, like you’re my apple pie,” she half laughed.
“Yeah Cheryl, real mature. You act like you are eighty fucking years old. You walk around here like a fucking raga-muffin. You wear the ass ugliest clothes I have ever seen. You shop at the thrift store like some women shop at Macy’s. You never get your hair done anymore. I am so sick of your hair in a ponytail, I could scream. I am embarrassed for you to even come down to the office because you look like something that the cat dragged in. Just sleeping with you makes my stomach crawl. It just ain’t no reason for this shit! You could do better if you wanted to.”
She slapped him harder than she thought possible and he slapped her back immediately.
She tried moving past him but his hand prevented her from moving away.
“Move Kevin, I’m tired,” she said trying to squeeze by him.
He grabbed her by the arm and shoved her back against the wall. His hand met the side of her face and she saw stars for an instant. She felt as if her face were on fire. He then grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall.
“ Ah no…you want to hit me, you bitch…you did that shit earlier and I should have kicked your fucking ass then, but I didn’t. Now, oh yeah, now I’m going to deal with you properly.” He slapped her twice more.
“Kevin, stop it! I’m sorry. Please just let me go to bed,” she screamed as she struggled against his massive frame.
This time the slap sent her to her knees. He pulled her up to him and shoved her against the wall.
“You want to try again? Now answer my goddamn question. Where the fuck were you?”
He slapped her again and sent her to her knees. He yanked her up by her hair and swung her around to him. “Answer me!”
“I’ve been trying to get home!” she shouted.
“Wrong, if you were, you would have been home hours ago!” He slapped her again, “I am your husband, and don’t forget it! You come in here all hours of the night, in a limo no less, and question me about who I am fucking. The better question should be; who did you fuck tonight to be brought home in a limo?”
She let the tears fall.
“Who was it?”
“Nobody!” She screamed.
“I don’t fucking believe you!” He yanked her dress up and pushed his hand down her into panties.
“Stop it!” she screamed and tried pushing away from him.
“Didn’t I fucking tell you?” He said as he slapped her hard once more. “Answer my fucking question. Who the fuck brought you home?”
“Kevin, please!”
“Wrong answer!” He shoved her to the floor, and then tore at her dress.
“Stop it!”
“Did you tell him to stop?”
“There is no him!”
“Sure there is!”
“Stop Kevin, you’re hurting my arm.” He had pinned her arms above her head.
“Oh, poor thing. You better tell me the truth or so help you, you will regret it.”
“Kevin please stop!” He yanked her panties down.
She struggled against him and continued screaming until he covered her mouth.
Suddenly the phone rang. After three more rings he snatched it from the cradle.
“What!” He stood up and took two steps away from her. “What! Yeah, yeah nigga, they are on top of the desk on top of the purple folder.” He hung up and looked down on her. He came over and knelt down. “You are lucky. You just remember if you ever think about doing that shit you did tonight, you will be sorry. If I ever find out that you slept with someone else, your ass is mine. You’ll be sorry. Do I make myself clear?”
She didn’t answer fast enough, so he yanked her up by the hair and put his hand around her throat.
“I said, do I make myself clear?”
She nodded her head rapidly.
He pushed her away from him and she stood there until he left the room. Suddenly her bladder was full and she rushed into the bathroom. As she sat there, the tears flowed down her face and then the sobs racked her body. She heard the bedroom door open and she grabbed a towel from the rack and covered her mouth. He didn’t’ like to hear her crying. Not because he felt sorry for her, but because “it got on his nerves.” After ten minutes she calmed herself enough to stand and pull the washcloth down and ran the cold water. She placed the cold cloth against her
face and thought she let out a soft “ah” as the coolness felt absolutely wonderful against her burning skin. She opened the door and saw him sitting there with a glass in his hand. She walked by him and then stopped.
“Kevin, the bar offered free rides, so I accepted. I’m sorry.”
She knew that the apology was a lie, in her heart and in spirit but she had to get him calm before his business trip the next day. He couldn’t function when he was stressed. She knew he needed to be at his best. “You have an early flight, why don’t you get to bed.”
She pulled the covers of the duvet back and he stood quickly, causing her to react. He unbuckled his pants and started undressing. She left the room and headed downstairs to make sure that he had packed everything and that his coffee was set. He liked two things for his trip: his favorite coffee mug and the strongest coffee possible. She pulled out the mug and went to the pantry and pulled the container of bold roasted coffee beans from the shelf. She readied the pot and set the timer for 5:00 AM. While she did this she continued crying, not for what happened but because of what she was doing. She was still making sure that he had everything he needed and yet he never did the same for her. She continued crying and then he called from upstairs.
“Cheryl, look, I’m sorry. You know I don’t mean to hit you but you know you shouldn’t piss me off, right?”
She got up and started towards the stairs, she saw him in the darkness standing at the top, “I know, I am sorry, it won’t happen again.”
“You know I have to get up early and can’t sleep without something beside me. So come on upstairs and get in bed.”
“I will in a minute.”
“Sorry, didn’t hear you.” He took one step down.
“Sorry, I was in the middle of fixing your coffee for tomorrow. I’ll be up in one minute,” she said meekly.
Chapter 15
Cheryl hadn’t heard from Shaun since the day in the park and that was almost two weeks ago. He hadn’t been to school and when she asked Paul about him, he acted as if he was being questioned by the police and needed a lawyer. She wanted to call him so many times but her stubbornness wouldn’t let her. Now she was beginning to get worried about him. It wasn’t like him to miss this much school unless something was wrong.
Let Me Just Say This Page 6
