I Heard It All Before

by Chenell Parker

  “No, that bitch didn’t,” Imani fumed.

  “Yes, the hell she did. She’s a stupid insensitive hoe. Her baby is barely in the ground and she’s on social media selling all her baby shower shit. Ms. Nora said that her and Cam bought most of it anyway,” Demi replied.

  “That’s so sad. I know Cam is pissed. Has she still been bothering y’all?” Isis asked.

  “Cam blocked her stupid ass from calling again. He said he doesn’t have a reason to talk to her and I couldn’t agree more,” Demi replied.

  “I feel bad that Cam’s baby didn’t make it, but everything happens for a reason. Y’all would have been stuck with that gutter rat for the rest of your lives,” Imani noted.

  “He said he feels bad for being relieved, but he is. He wanted his son, just not the mother,” Demi said, repeating what Cam had told her.

  “Hopefully, your romantic weekend will make him feel better,” Isis said.

  “I hope so. My poor baby needs to relax and get pampered. He’s been through a lot these past few months,” Demi pointed out.

  “Both of you have been through a lot. I just hope this weekend brings y’all closer together,” Imani replied.

  “Me too.” Demi smiled.

  Demi had decided to plan a romantic weekend at home for her and Cam. She was cooking a big meal and planned to cater to him the entire time. Demi had massage oils on deck, ready to rub her man down.

  “Steve is getting the lobsters and crab meat for you like I told him too,” Imani informed her, pulling Demi away from her thoughts.

  “Yes, and I’m making the desserts that you asked for,” Isis replied.

  “I can’t wait for next weekend to come. Good dick and good food. I’m gonna be in heaven,” Demi said, making her sisters laugh.

  “Hey Imani,” a woman said from behind them.

  The sisters turned around and locked eyes with Cam’s friend, Courtney. Imani had met Courtney several times since they were married to cousins, but she’d only recently learned of her connection to Cam and Demi. She was cool with Courtney but, if Demi gave the word, she would beat her down without a second thought.

  “Hey Courtney,” Imani said with a phony smile.

  “How are you?” Courtney asked, trying to prolong their interaction.

  “I’m good and you?” Imani asked.

  “I can’t complain.” Courtney shrugged.

  “That’s good. It was nice seeing you, but we have to get going,” Imani said, dismissing the conversation and Courtney too.

  “Wait, Demi, can I talk to you in private for a second?” Courtney asked.

  Demi wanted to decline, but the inquisitive side of her wouldn’t let her. “Yeah, what’s up?” Demi asked as she walked a few feet away from her sisters with her man’s best friend.

  “I just want to start out by saying that I respect you and Camden’s relationship. I didn’t know how he felt about you in the beginning, but he made it very clear to me. He told me that you didn’t feel comfortable with us talking anymore and I just felt the need to clear up a few things,” Courtney said.

  “Courtney, look, I know that you and Cam have been best friends for a long time. I also know that y’all fucked behind your husband and Asha’s backs for years. You and Cam need to know that I’m not that bitch. I will cut his dick off and choke you with it while he’s bleeding to death,” Demi threatened.

  “Oh. Wow. I… um… I understand,” Courtney stammered.

  “Please do because I’m dead ass serious,” Demi replied. Demi was too pretty to be so crazy. Only a nut would utter the words that she’d just let come out of her mouth.

  “You and Cam’s relationship is different from the one that he had with Asha,” Courtney noted.

  “How so?” Demi questioned.

  “I can’t explain it, but it is. Cam would never cheat on you. Y’all weren’t even together yet and he shut me down. I’m trying to work on my marriage, so I promise you that whatever Cam and I had is over. I just want my best friend back,” Courtney answered.

  “I don’t have a problem with you and Camden being friends, just as long as you know your boundaries. I trust my man, but I don’t really know you,” Demi replied.

  “I understand Demi, I really do. I won’t ever cross that line with him again. You have my word. I’m trying to get my life right and I would never try to ruin someone else’s,” Courtney promised.

  “Cool, I’ll talk to Cam when I get home. And thank you, Courtney,” Demi said.

  “Thanks for what?” Courtney asked.

  “Thanks for handling the situation like a woman. I appreciate that,” Demi replied.

  “No thanks needed. You’re on your grown woman shit too, which is why I was able to approach you the way I did. No need to create unnecessary drama.” Courtney shrugged.

  “I agree,” Demi said as she walked away.

  “You do know that I’m number one in my kickboxing class, right? I can drop kick that hoe and karate chop her in the neck at the same time,” Imani said when Demi walked back over.

  “No, she’s cool and I respect her honesty,” Demi replied.

  “Damn man, I’m never gonna be able to show off my skills. I need a victim,” Imani pouted.

  “Imani, shut up. That girl is like your family since you married her husband’s cousin,” Isis replied.

  “Ask me how many fucks I give. I don’t know that bitch and I don’t know her husband,” Imani hissed.

  “I actually like her,” Demi noted.

  “Cool, if you like her, then she’s alright with us.” Imani shrugged as they continued to walk around and fill up their baskets with food.

  Chapter 35

  “What sense does it make for you to even go to counseling if you’re gonna sit there and don’t say shit?” Courtney asked her husband, Alton.

  They had just come from their fourth marriage counseling session and they were making no progress at all. Alton had taken the day off from work for nothing, and Courtney was happy that she hadn’t done the same.

  “I talked. I just didn’t say what you wanted to hear,” he replied.

  “All you ever talk about is me cheating on you. If you can’t get over it and forgive me, why are you still with me?” Courtney questioned.

  “I have forgiven you, Courtney, but the shit still hurts. I’m a good nigga and I didn’t deserve half the shit that you put me through,” Alton replied.

  “And I don’t deserve to be under thirty years old with a husband who acts like he’s sixty. All we do is sit inside and watch movies. We used to go out three to four times a week. Now, I’m lucky if you take me somewhere once a month,” Courtney acknowledged.

  “We both work Courtney. Our hours don’t always allow us time to do things,” Alton replied.

  “That’s bullshit Alton. You’re off every other weekend,” Courtney noted. Alton worked as a maintenance supervisor at an apartment complex.

  “Yeah, but you’re not,” he replied.

  “I work mornings on the weekends and I’m always home by three. Miss me with the excuses Alton,” Courtney said.

  “It’s not excuses, it’s the truth,” he replied.

  “I gotta go. I can see that this conversation is getting us nowhere,” Courtney said.

  She was a few hours early for work, but she needed to get away from her husband before she snapped. Alton wanted to stop her, but Courtney was gone before he could even open his mouth. He loved his wife more than anything, but he had a hard time getting over what she’d done to him. He knew all about her history with Cam and that only made things worse. Had Courtney would have cheated with anybody else, Alton knew that things would have been different. He would have still been hurt, but the sting wouldn’t have been so bad. He knew that feelings were involved when it came to Camden and that was the hardest part to get over. The fact that his wife kept running back to the same nigga just didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t want to lose her, so he had to make more of an effort to work on saving his marria
ge.

  “Damn man,” Alton sighed as he got up from his chair and headed to the shower.

  He had the rest of the day to do nothing, but he felt the need to do something nice for his wife. Courtney loved and collected all kinds of perfumes, so he decided to surprise her with a few things when she came home. She was always fussing about him taking initiative and he was following her advice. It took him almost an hour, but Alton was dressed and out of the house. He decided to go to the bank to get cash because he didn’t want the bank to send notifications to Courtney’s phone like they always did whenever their bank card was used. The line at the bank was long, but the inside was worse. Alton wasn’t in a hurry, so he got behind the last car and three more cars lined up behind him. He was deep in thought about his wife as the line barely inched up every few minutes. He looked around at the businesses that were next to the bank and did a double take when he saw Cam getting out of his truck and walking into the IHOP. Almost a minute after he went in, Alton was pissed to see a police cruiser pulling in and parking on the other side of the lot. His pressure rose when he saw his wife, dressed in her police uniform, walking into the restaurant soon after.

  “Lying ass bitch,” Alton fumed angrily.

  He was heated and he wanted to go confront Courtney and let her see that he knew what was up. Unless he was willing to leave his car and walk over, that was impossible to do. Alton was boxed into the narrow driveway and there was no way for him to move. He still had four cars in front of him and the person at the window was taking forever.

  “Fuck!” Alton yelled after twenty more minutes had passed and he had only moved up once.

  He was a little bit closer to seeing Cam’s truck, so he pulled out his phone and decided to take a picture. He was gonna send it to Courtney and let her know that she was busted. When another car pulled up next to Cam’s truck, Alton accidentally snapped a picture of that car as well. He looked on in confusion as the person from that car got out and looked around suspiciously. Alton switched from his camera to his video and recorded the entire scene.

  “The fuck?” Alton said as he zoomed in and continued to record.

  When the suspicious person got back into their car, Alton recorded until they were gone and out of sight. He didn’t know what had just happened, but he knew that it couldn’t be good. Under different circumstances, he probably would have intervened. Since he was being done wrong, he just didn’t give a fuck.

  ***

  “See, that’s your whole problem now. You be ready to give up too fast,” Cam said as he and Courtney sat at the table and ate their food.

  Cam was on his lunch break and Courtney needed to vent for a while. He hadn’t been to IHOP since his visit with Randy, but he agreed to meet her there.

  “I’m not giving up, but I’m getting aggravated with the lack of progress that we’re making. I fucked up and I’m not making excuses for that. I just want him to take some responsibility for the problems that we’re having too,” Courtney replied.

  “I understand, but you made shit worse when you cheated,” Cam argued.

  “Are you serious right now Camden? How can you give me advice when you were the one who I was cheating with?” Courtney asked.

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t married. You had somebody to answer to, I didn’t. It was still wrong, no matter how you put it,” Cam admitted.

  “I just don’t know what else to do. I love my husband and I’m trying to do right by him. I just need him to let go of the past. Either that or I’m gonna have to let go of him. I’m too young to be so miserable,” Courtney sighed.

  “Don’t give up Courtney. Keep going to counseling and see what happens,” Cam advised.

  “I will, but what’s going on with you? You and Demi should have a little peace since y’all don’t have to deal with Asha anymore,” Courtney assumed.

  “Ain’t no peace when it comes to Asha. She’s still on that baby mama shit, even though there is no baby. She seems to think that us losing a child should bring us closer together, but I disagree. Demi is ready to lay hands on her stupid ass,” Cam replied.

  “Demi looks all sweet and innocent, but she’s kind of violent. She damn sure had me fooled,” Courtney laughed.

  “Don’t let her fool you. I saw her ass in rare form at her sister’s wedding,” Cam said, laughing with her.

  “I was there, but I couldn’t really see what happened since the crowd was so thick. I can only imagine,” Courtney replied.

  “It’s only a matter of time before things get ugly between her and Asha,” Cam said.

  “I hope not. Demi has a career to think about. Asha don’t have a damn thing going for herself. Being your baby mama was her claim to fame, but she doesn’t even have that anymore. Tell Demi not to even waste her time,” Courtney replied.

  “I agree, but that bitch will make you wanna lay hands her on with the stunts that she pull. She had my mama so mad with that shit that she posted on Facebook,” Cam frowned.

  “Asha was wrong for that shit. People were going in on her in the comments. How your baby just died and you’re on Facebook selling all your baby shower shit? Just pathetic,” Courtney fumed.

  “All for a dollar. Money is gonna be her downfall because she’ll do anything to get it,” Cam replied.

  “Yep, just like her brothers,” Courtney agreed.

  “Yeah, man, but I need to get going. I got a few things to wrap up at the shop and I’ll be inside all weekend. Demi said we’re relaxing and I’m all for that. I need a mental break after these past few months,” Cam replied.

  “That’s good Cam. You do need some down time. It’s been one thing after another with you lately,” Courtney noted as they stood up from the table.

  Cam left enough money on the table to cover the bill and the tip, right before they left and headed to their cars. Courtney wished him well and promised not to disturb his and Demi’s relaxing weekend. She went on her way and Cam headed back to his shop. Kobe agreed to handle things in his absence, but he always did anyway. Unlike Randy, Kobe proved to be a true friend and Cam appreciated that. When he pulled up to the shop, Cam took out his phone and called Demi. She told him not to be late and he wanted to assure her that he wouldn’t be.

  “You better not be calling me with no excuses Camden,” Demi said when she answered her phone.

  “No baby, I was just calling to tell you that I’m about to wrap up a few things at the shop. I should be there in about two hours or less,” Cam replied.

  “Okay baby, that’s perfect,” Demi said excitedly.

  “What are you so happy about?” Cam asked with a smile evident in his voice.

  “Because Cam, we need some alone time. No phones and no outside world. Just me and you,” Demi replied.

  “Shit, I’m all for that. Let me finish up here and I’ll see you in a little while,” Cam promised.

  “Okay boo, I love you,” Demi said.

  “I love you too, baby,” Cam replied before they disconnected.

  Demi had him ready to rush through what he had to do, in order to make it home faster. Since Kobe was handling everything by himself, Cam didn’t want to leave too much on him.

  “You can leave if you want to Cam. I can handle everything that needs to be done,” Kobe said when he walked into Cam’s office about an hour later.

  “You sure you got everything?” Cam asked, just to be sure.

  “Yeah, I’m straight,” Kobe assured him.

  “Cool,” Cam said as he put some papers away and locked up his desk drawer.

  “What’s up with the other shop? When do you plan on opening it?” Kobe inquired.

  “Man, I don’t even know. Demi said that everything is legit and ready to go. We need to hire some more people and do some advertising,” Cam replied.

  “Yeah, I can help you with that. We can take turns working at both locations if you want to,” Kobe offered.

  “Nah, I was thinking about just letting you run shit over there. I mean, that’s only if you w
ant to,” Cam added.

  “Hell yeah, I want to,” Kobe said excitedly.

  “Bet, then we can start working on that next week. Demi got me on lockdown all weekend, so I can’t do shit,” Cam laughed.

  “You need a break, so enjoy. I’ll see you Monday or whenever you get back,” Kobe said as he walked away and closed the door behind him.

  Cam straightened off his desk and sent Demi a text, letting her know that he was on his way. He said a few parting words to a few of the employees before he got into his truck and headed home. When he got on the bridge, Cam noticed two police cars quickly coming up behind him. He got into the right lane to let them pass, but they got over with him. Cam thought he was tripping, so he got over again and, once again, he was followed.

  “The fuck,” Cam said, confused by what was going on.

  Since there was an exit coming up, he decided to get off to see what was going on. He was legit for the first time in his life and he didn’t mind stopping for the police. The two cars that were behind him followed him off the exit and another car joined soon after. Cam got his license and other paperwork out, assuming that it was a normal traffic stop. He didn’t think that he was speeding and they didn’t need three cars of police if he was. That was extreme, even for them.

  “Step out of the car,” one of the officers demanded as soon as he walked up to Cam’s truck.

  “What’s the problem?” Cam questioned as he removed his seatbelt.

  “Just step out of the car!” the officer barked, his hand on his gun the entire time.

  “It ain’t that damn serious for a traffic stop,” Cam noted as he followed their command.

  “Step over here and put your hands behind your back,” the officer said while removing his handcuffs.

  “For what?” Cam asked.

  “It’s for your safety and ours. Do you have any weapons in the car?” another officer spoke up.

  “I don’t have shit in there,” Cam angrily replied as he was cuffed and walked to one of the patrol cars.

  “Check it out!” the officer who cuffed Cam yelled to the others.