Checkmate 3: Playtime's Over

by Tiece

  Monty wanted to reach out and touch her but the only thing stopping him was the fact that he didn’t hit women, but more so, because she was still holding MJ.

  “I think this conversation is over. I’ll holla at you later.” He said knowing that if he stayed any longer things would surely get worse. Their conversation had gone from being cordial to being hostile in a matter of seconds and he knew that it was definitely time for him to go. He quickly reached for the doorknob and opened the door to walk out but Dee damn near pushed him back inside the house.

  “I’m glad you’re here!” She said to Monty.

  “What the hell?” Monty frowned. He thought Dee wanted to fight him from the way she was acting.

  “Your boy is a fucking fag!” She blurted out not caring who knew about it at this point. She hated Maurice with a passion.

  “Who?” Monty asked out of confusion.

  “Dee chill out,” Candy said while hip rocking a clueless MJ in her arms. She hated for Dee to show up while Monty was still there because she knew that Dee would tell all.

  “No this bitch ain’t gon’ play me and get away with it.” Dee paced talking out loud to herself. Monty was really confused by now, but was eagerly waiting to hear what Dee was spazzing off about. “Your boy Maurice is fucking a dude!”

  “What?” Monty had to replay her words a few times in order for it to process. “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “Nah, I just caught a nigga over to his house. The nigga told me himself that they were messing around.” At that time Monty’s phone began to ring. It was Maurice and Monty knew he couldn’t answer it while standing in front of Dee.

  “Look, I gotta go.” Monty said.

  “Yeah go ahead and confront your boy. Let him know that I told you that he’s got a dirty dick!”

  “Damn,” Candy whispered. Dee was unraveling and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Monty looked at Candy. He knew that Dee was pissed and that whatever was going on Maurice had surely fucked up big time.

  “Aye, calm your cousin down.” He said. “I gotta go, but we’ll continue our talk later when tensions aren’t so high.”

  “I think we’ve cleared up more than a few things,” Candy uttered. Monty just looked at her shaking his head and quickly exited the house as Dee paced the floor attempting to make phone calls back home to have Maurice knocked off.

  “Dee, please calm down… Let’s talk for a moment.” Candy said.

  “Nah, I’m gon’ get this nigga back for making me look like a fool.” Dee angrily said. Her feelings were hurt and Candy knew the feeling all too well.

  Dee stormed down the hallway. From the venting she was doing, Candy knew that she’d gotten in touch with someone from back home. Candy pressed her lips against the back of MJ’s head with a light kiss. All she could do was shake her head in hopes that this didn’t turn out bigger than what it already was.

  **********

  Mona walked inside the house following Rico as she held Aiden in her arms. She smiled at her life, feeling blessed about having her own little family.

  “Is she still sleeping?” She asked Rico as he held Caylin.

  “Yep,” he said kissing Caylin on the forehead.

  “Lay her in her bassinette.” She said as they entered the living room. “I’m gonna sit this little one in the swing for a bit.”

  Rico smiled looking back at them. It was a nice feeling having his family under the same roof.

  “What are you smiling about?” Mona asked.

  “This is just a nice feeling. I look around this place and I feel nothing but blessed. I’m living life like I supposed to be and you’re here sharing it with me.” Rico sat down on the recliner and Mona sat down on his lap.

  “Aww, trust me I know the feeling.” Mona said as she grinned. “Isn’t it crazy how I ended up with my brother’s best friend and my brother ended up with my best friend? Did you ever think about that?”

  He grinned. “All the time, but from the looks of things my best friend isn’t with your best friend anymore.”

  “I know and I hate it too, because in the end the only person who really got hurt was Candy.” Mona responded.

  “My boy hurting too though,” Rico commented.

  “Brother or not, your boy is still seeing the woman who caused their break-up. I don’t see how he is hurting.”

  “It might look that way, but trust me he is.”

  Mona sat quiet for moment. “I wonder why men do stupid shit like that. I mean, if you really love someone then why are you out doing shit that you know will hurt your ole lady if she finds out. Some men are so stupid. They’ll lose it all over a piece of pussy.”

  Rico didn’t really want to comment on that subject but he knew if he didn’t then it would surely start something.

  “I definitely wouldn’t want to lose my family over no bullshit.”

  “You meant over no pussy,” Mona cut in.

  “That too,” Rico said.

  “For the most part I can say that we’ve been good. I still don’t like the idea of Monica being a part of our lives, but I love Aiden and I trust you. Monica can’t do any more than you let her. I just hope that you value our relationship enough to know that if you ever fuck me over with her it’s a wrap. There is no way that I’ll stay with you knowing that you’ve given her the upper hand in our relationship.” Rico didn’t know where this was going, but he hoped like hell that it didn’t start an argument. “I wouldn’t ever be able to look at you the same knowing that you’ve been fucking her behind my back.”

  “Baby, what are you talking about? You just come out the blue with this shit. You act like I’m fucking Monica now or something.” He said in his defense.

  Mona realized that she’d taken her insecurities a little too far. “I didn’t say that babe, but I just hope that you would never do me like that.”

  Rico looked into her eyes. He definitely knew that he’d been fucking up lately but he didn’t want to lose Mona. She was a wholesome chick that would make any man the perfect wife and he wasn’t willing to risk that for no one, not even Monica.

  “Mona Banks…” He cleared his throat. “Soon to be Mrs. Mona Mack,” he said making her smile. “I love you and I don’t want to be with anyone else. You’re beautiful, smart, outgoing, lovable, hmm…” He smiled. “You have a nice fat ass.”

  “Do I,” she laughed.

  “Yes you do and you’re great in bed and out.”

  “Oh am I?” She grinned.

  “Yes, you are.” He said thinking about the great sexual experiences they’d had at given time in the most unusual places. “You’re sweet, I love your small slanted eyes, you’re a great mother to our daughter and you’ve accepted my son into our family like your own. I couldn’t lose you. I wouldn’t know what I’d do if that happened.”

  Mona smiled hearing the seriousness in his tone and the look in his eyes as he stared at her. “Babe,” she softly said.

  “I mean it. I know I wasn’t the right guy for you at first. I mean selling drugs and shit. Just doing crazy shit, but I knew what I wanted and that was you. Who better to settle down with than someone you truly know. I can’t lie; at times I still feel that I’m not what you deserve.”

  “Don’t say that,” Mona said.

  “I mean it,” Rico said thinking about the lies and the cheating. “But whatever I’ve done to ever hurt you I’ll fix it, I just pray that you’ll stand by me every step of the way.”

  Mona felt the love and his words were very touching. “Baby, I will stand by you always. I love you.” Mona said kissing Rico on the lips. He knew that what he had with her was a good thing and he seriously needed to get his shit together or he was going to be just like Monty; standing on the outside trying to look in.

  “Repeat of last night?” He asked, kissing her around the neck.

  “Only two rules,” she said.

  “I’m listening,” he commented, continuing to explore her body with his soft lips.<
br />
  “We have to be much quieter.” She grinned as the kiss on her ear tickled a little.

  “And the second one,” he said caressing her breasts.

  “And it can’t be as long as it was last night.”

  “Say no more,” he said, picking her up and taking her to the bedroom where the pleasurable games would begin.

  **********

  Candy sat on the porch as the cool breeze blew across her face. The day’s events were definitely surprising. She wouldn’t have ever in a million years predicted some of the shit that had happened. Dee was still locked up in her room after hours had passed. Candy had knocked on the door a couple of times in hopes that she would feel like talking, but Dee still wouldn’t open it. She sighed resting her head back on the rocking chair. All she wanted at the moment was to relax after finally putting MJ to sleep.

  She could smell food being cooked on somebody’s grill. Damn that shit smells good, she thought. She caught a good whiff of it as the wind blew directly up her nostrils. She thought about Brendon who she was hoping to go see later that evening. She wanted to take things all the way, but she still had doubts, although they weren’t as big an issue after talking to Monty earlier. She looked down at her phone as it rang. It was Payton and she quickly answered it.

  “Hey Payton, what’s up?” She asked not knowing what he was going to say after the shit that went on between him, Dee, and Maurice.

  “Hey Gurl,” he dully said. “I know you’ve heard about the shit that happened this morning.”

  “Yeah I’ve heard about it, but I was waiting for you to call and tell me your side.” She said.

  “I called you twice earlier today, but you didn’t answer.”

  “Yeah, you can say that I was a lil tied up at the time. Sorry ‘bout that.” She said.

  “Let me start off by saying that I had no clue that your cousin and my boyfriend were actually dating each other. I’m not surprised that it happened because it has happened to me before, but I was totally caught off guard when I introduced myself to Dee only for her to turn around and introduce me to her boyfriend.”

  “Which happened to be your boyfriend,” Candy commented.

  “YES!” Payton stated. “I was so thrown off last night after that encounter until all I wanted to do was get wasted, flirt my ass off, and do anything else possible to keep my mind off of going off on Maurice and embarrassing him.

  “Talk about a small world.” Candy responded.

  “Please, just talk to your cousin for me. That shit was killing me last night, but I couldn’t say anything. I knew that there had to be someone else, but I chose to accept the lies. He claimed that he didn’t want us out in public like that because of his career and I ran with it. He didn’t care for me staying the night to his house because he didn’t want his neighbors thinking sideways about us. Damn!” He sighed. “I was only over to his house this morning because I was breaking up with him. That’s all.”

  “Well damn.” Candy said.

  “I know Chy. I won’t be in class this week, but I’ll call you. I need to re-evaluate some things in my life. I knew this shit with him was too good to be true.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good, or at least I will be. Tell Dee I’m sorry and I’ll holla at you a lil later this week.” He said.

  “Ok I will and take care of yourself Boo,” she said as they ended their call. Candy could hear the sincerity in Payton’s voice. She hated that Dee and Payton were going through the same thing that she was trying to get over; a nasty break-up. Hopefully, she would be able to talk with Dee and settle some unresolved issues that she may have with Payton. Maurice on the other hand, was on his own.

  **********

  Brendon walked through the hotel room with a white towel wrapped around his waist. He headed straight for the bathroom, but thoughts of Candy constantly crossed his mind. His eyes focused on his cell phone as he walked past it lying on the bed.

  Call her, his thoughts advised him. He sat on the edge of the King sized bed to please his thoughts.

  “What’s up Big Head,” Candy immediately answered.

  “Hey, what are you doing? I was just thinking about you.” He said.

  “Oh you were, huh?” She asked with a slight smile on her face.

  “I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t.”

  “Don’t be getting biggity with me nigga.” She commented.

  “Girl stop!” He teased making her grin. “So what are you doing?”

  “I’m just sitting on the porch enjoying the breeze.” She responded feeling pretty good that he’d called.

  “You’re not thinking ‘bout me?”

  “Maybe,” she teased.

  “Have you thought about what I said earlier?” He asked.

  “That among other things,” she said.

  “So what’s the verdict?” He asked.

  “The truth is that your cousin was someone that I was in love with. I still love him, but the love isn’t the same. I like you, actually more than I should. Is that confusing for you? Keep it real, because hell it’s confusing for me. What isn’t confusing is the fact that I want to kick with you, continue to talk with you, and even one day possibly even sleep with you. I don’t wanna think about what’s right or wrong at this point. I just wanna go with what I’m feeling.”

  “And what’s that?” Brendon questioned as a soft knock was heard at his door.

  “You,” she said.

  “If that’s the case then you know where to find me.” He said walking over to his door and opening it.

  “Indeed I do,” she said with a smile on her face. “Le’me see what’s poppin’ on my end. I’ma hit you back.”

  “Do that,” he said and ended their call. “What’s up Trina?” He asked as Trina stood in his doorway with a dissatisfied smirk on her face. He didn’t know what she wanted but he knew that she couldn’t stay there long if Candy was coming over.

  Candy smiled as she hung up the phone. She didn’t know if Dee would be up for babysitting or not, but it was only one way to find out.

  “Hopefully she’ll answer me this time when I knock on the door,” she said as she walked inside the house.

  Chapter 25

  Brendon walked out of the bathroom. The shower water could be heard from the door being left open. He looked over at Trina since she’d sat down on the bed and damn near made herself at home.

  “Trina, what are you doing?”

  “I’m chilling.” She casually said.

  “Yeah, but you need to be chilling in your own room not mine. Come to think about it, your room isn’t even in this hotel.”

  Trina walked over to him grabbing at his towel. “Come on, Babe. What’s wrong with you? I come all this way to your opening night and this is how you treat me?”

  “Look, we talked last night and still nothing has changed. The last time I spoke to you was when you had the nerve to introduce me to that nigga.” Brendon said.

  “So this is why you’re acting like that?” Trina asked.

  “You know what time it is Trina. You left me because I couldn’t give you what you wanted.”

  “And what was so bad about marrying me if I was someone you truly wanted to be with.”

  “That’s the thing. I told you that I wanted to be with you, but I wasn’t ready for marriage. You were too impatient and acted like you couldn’t wait.”

  “Yeah but you should’ve stopped me from leaving if you really loved me.” Trina tried explaining.

  “We’re not going through this anymore. I’ve moved on and apparently you had too at one point. What happened?” He grinned. “Oh that didn’t work out for you either?”

  “I don’t see anything funny. No that didn’t work out, because I’m here ain’t I?”

  Brendon shook his head. “Women,” he nonchalantly said. “Y’all really get me sometimes. I just can’t understand you at times.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “T
hat’s supposed to mean that I’ve moved on and last I knew you had moved on too.” Brendon moved her hand. “This ain’t yours no more.”

  “Well who’s is it?” She asked thinking about Candy.

  “That actually wouldn’t be any of your business. As a matter of fact, I’m ‘bout to shower.”

  “So,” Trina interjected.

  “So you need to be leaving.” Brendon stated.

  “Can I join you?” She asked. Brendon used to be tempted by Trina’s seductive lure, but things had changed. Even though she was still sexy as hell, he didn’t want her. All he wanted to do was leave his past in the past and Trina was definitely part of his past.