As Vegas held him back, Ross gave me a look that I had never seen before. He looked as if he was scared of me. He looked at me as if he didn't know who I was.
“What the fuck has gotten into you?!” he asked.
I just glared at him, feeling the stinging pain on the side of my face that was way too familiar to me. But what wasn't familiar to me was what Mello had made me feel in just a few hours. It was foreign as fuck to me. But this fighting and arguing, I knew like the back of my hand.
I didn’t have a response. He didn’t want to know the answer. I had been bold enough to fight back but not bold enough to give him the answer. I just glared at Ross. He shook his head and snatched away from Vegas. I got ready for another fight, but he just shook his head, stared at me as if he was taking in this new person that I had become, and then walked out.
I knew that his frustration in not knowing what had changed me would have him out of the house for hours. And I was happy with that because it would take him forever to figure this out. He didn’t have a clue, because instead of asking me what had gotten into me, he should’ve asked who.
I hadn't even noticed that Treasure was with Vegas until I stormed upstairs. She was right behind me on my heels.
“Girl, what the fuck happened? I can’t believe you were hitting him back. Finally! Good for you!”
I didn't have anything to say. I was still feeling too many confusing and mixed emotions. I was still pissed off. I just continued on into my bedroom. I immediately saw the suitcase that had started all this shit.
Treasure was looking at me the same way Ross had. “What happened?” she asked.
“This motherfucker was out of town with some trifling-ass bitch that had the nerve to put her thong in his suitcase, and I found it.” I plopped down on the bed, expression still filled with fury.
“Woooow,” Treasure replied.
“Then he had the nerve to hit me.”
Treasure sucked her teeth. “Of course.”
“I got so fucking mad.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
“Girl, you look pissed the fuck off. What is wrong with you? It’s not just Ross. He acts like this all the time and I’ve never seen you this pissed off.”
I looked at her, wanting to tell her what happened between me and Mello. She had been the first person I wanted to tell about that good dick and incredible head. More importantly, I wanted to tell her about the date that we’d had that wasn't even supposed to be a date but definitely felt like the best that I had ever been on.
But I couldn't tell her. I wasn't ready to say it out loud. I felt like such a slut, even though I had just caught my husband cheating. But I was sure that his mistress wasn’t my family member or friend. She was a stranger. I couldn’t say the same and it still embarrassed me.
So instead, I told her, “Divine is pregnant.”
Treasure’s eyes rolled. “Damn. For real?”
“Right. I know that a lot of girls are having babies who are way younger than Divine. In this day and age, I can’t believe she didn’t get pregnant before now.”
Treasure chuckled with a nod. “True.”
I sighed and told her, “And she wanna keep it.”
“Who is the baby's daddy? She doesn't even have a boyfriend.”
I laughed sarcastically. “That's exactly what I was thinking when she told me. Girl, you would never believe who she's been fucking with.”
Treasure inched closer to me and sat on the bed with this look of potential good tea in her eyes. I knew Divine had told me not to say anything, but it was too late. It was easy to tell her secret over mine, and I wasn't ready to tell mine yet.
“Spill the tea, bitch. Who she fucking with?” she anxiously asked me.
“Damo.”
I was waiting for her dramatic-ass response or a gasp to drop from her mouth or something. But there was nothing. She just sat there looking at me with this sick look that slowly came over her. I sat there staring curiously at how suddenly so serious she had become.
After a few seconds, “Oh my God,” finally left her lips in a whisper. And then tears came to her eyes and I was so confused.
“Why are you crying?” I asked. I watched her with both sympathy and confusion in my eyes. “It's not that serious, girl. I mean I don't want her to have the baby either,” I started to ramble. “But she will be okay. Clearly, she's way more into him than he is into her, but—”
“Oh God!” she suddenly snapped and threw her hands over her face.
I watched in disbelief as she broke down. Treasure was a strong-ass chick. I hadn't seen her cry since we were in high school.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she started to chant in tears as she started to rock back and forth, pacing.
Now, I was starting to get scared, so I put my hand on her shoulder and asked, “Treasure, what’s wrong?”
When she looked up, I had never seen such fear on her face.
“I… I…” she stuttered. “I’ve been fucking Damo.”
What the fuck? I jumped to my feet with my hands clasping my mouth. Confusion and shock were pouring from my eyes as I gawked at her. “What?!”
“Ssshhhh!” she insisted.
No one had heard me, though. Vegas had walked out of the house, chasing after Ross. Divine was gone with her friends and Esperanza was out grocery shopping. Surprisingly, all the chaos Ross and I had caused downstairs hadn’t awaken Sunshine from her nap.
“You’ve been what?!” I snapped.
“I knoooow.” She cringed as she held her forehead. “I fucked up.”
“How long has this been going on?” I asked as I sat back down next to her.
She answered with reluctance laced in her voice, “A few months.”
My mouth dropped. “What?! And you never told me?!”
“I know. And I'm so sorry. I just…I knew I was wrong and I was too ashamed to tell you.” Her own words made her shake her head. “That sounds fucked up because I wasn't ashamed to do it. I can't explain it. I was just being my usual ain’t-shit self. It had been so long since I had something new. And Damo lets me into his world. You know I love that shit. He treats me like his Bonnie. That’s why I have been letting it go on so long.”
I had to agree. “Right. You never fuck a dude for months.”
“I know. I liked Damo. I thought he liked me. But he was a fraud.” She cringed. “I have been risking my relationship for this motherfucker, and he has been fucking your sister the whole time?!”
I shook my head. The feeling of disbelief couldn’t even describe what I was feeling. I felt like I was in the fucking Twilight Zone today. “I gotta tell Divine.”
Treasure’s eyes bucked. “Noooo!”
“I have to, Treasure. She wants to have his baby. She needs to know.”
Treasure winced and gave up, “You’re right.”
“She won’t say anything.”
“I know.”
I sighed and shook my head. “You gotta stop fucking with him.”
She pouted, laying her head on my shoulder. “I know.”
14
Ross
“Argh!” I fussed as I swatted at April’s hand.
She sucked her teeth, saying, “Be still, Ross.”
My face balled up as April applied the cotton swab of alcohol on my face. “That shit burns!”
April had the nerve to chuckle. “Are you serious?”
I ignored that smart-ass comment and sat still as April cleaned up the scratch on my face that Heaven had left.
“I can’t believe she fucking hit me,” I fussed.
The first time I ever hit Heaven, she looked up at me with these big doe eyes full of tears. I was scared she was gonna leave me. I had been putting my hands on women for years. I saw my father do it. I saw him keep my hoe-ass mama in line that way after she cheated on him. I started doing it to show a woman to never fucking think about cheating on me. But I had never been scared that a woman would leave me for putting my hand
s on her until that first time I hit Heaven. That's when I knew I loved her. That's when I knew I could never let her do to me what my mama had done to my daddy. And when she didn’t leave me for doing it the first time, I ran with it. She had never fought back.
But now, suddenly, she was. Something was up with that.
“This was her first time hitting you back?”
Since April and I had been knowing each other for so long, she knew me well. She knew how my hands worked because she had felt them a time or two.
Even though I didn’t have much of a relationship with my son, his mama stayed on my dick. April was too busy pressing me to have a relationship with her to make me have one with Mello. As long as I was sending money to Florida and fucking her every time she came to Chicago, she was cool. When she moved back to Chicago, I stayed dicking her down on the low. She didn't even make me stop when I got married. She knew I would never want to be with her and she was cool with the time and dick she got.
“Yeah. She’s been in this weird-ass mood all week. I don’t know what’s gotten into her.”
“I know what’s gotten into her,” April mumbled under her breath. When I whipped my head towards her, she swatted my shoulder. “Be still.”
“Fuck you mean you know what’s gotten into Heaven?”
“I mean, nothing makes a woman stand up to her man more than…another man.”
I frowned, hoping she wasn’t saying what I thought she was saying. “Huh?”
“She’s probably cheating on you.”
Just the suggestion made my chest swell up with rage. “Shut the fuck up. You don’t know what you talkin’ about.”
April smacked her lips. “I’m a woman so I know.”
I grimaced in disagreement, but my mind started racing. My ego was too big to say it out loud to April, but she had hit the nail right on the head. For two years, Heaven hadn’t been anything but loving and submissive. Even when I acted a fool, put my hands on her, and denied cheating on her, she remained the same sweet, loyal girl I had met a few years back. I knew it was because I had taken her from nothing and given her something. If she had left me, she would have nowhere to go.
Yet, over the last two weeks, I had seen that helpless girl turn into a woman who didn't give two fucks. It was clear that Heaven’s mind was on something else. Something was changing her. And I knew nine times out of ten that something was another man.
April looked at me with her eyebrows curled as I jumped up from her bed.
“Where you goin’?”
“I gotta go.” I marched towards her bedroom door and she swiftly followed me.
“Why?” she nagged.
“I got some shit to do.”
“Wait. You said it was me and you today.” She grabbed my arm, trying to pull me back. I flinched when I felt her nails clawing at my elbow. “Ross, stop!”
I snatched my arm back, drew back, and tried to knock her ass out.
“Ahhh!” she screamed when my fist connected with her jaw. Her head whipped to the side so fast that I thought the sudden movement had broken her damn neck. She held her face and went flying to the floor, crying.
I gruffed and continued towards the door.
“Ross, waaaaait!” I could hear her crying.
I grimaced and kept it the fuck moving. Fuck her. I needed to get to the crib. I had been so busy under other bitches that another man was possibly under my bitch. If he hadn’t already been under her, considering the way that she was acting, he soon would be.
As I let myself out the front door, I still heard April’s tears and begging. But fuck April. She would be here…right fucking here whenever I decided to come back. But my baby, Heaven, I wasn’t so sure… not anymore.
Treasure
I bit my lip and groaned as my phone started ringing. Flying down the e-way, I hit the answer button on my steering wheel and Vegas’ voice came through the car.
“Babe?”
I cringed. Now that I knew what Damo was really on, the guilt was killing me. “Yeah?”
“Heaven good?”
I tried my best to sound like I wasn’t falling apart. “Yeah. Where that stupid motherfucker at?”
“We got something to eat, and then he split.”
“Oh.” That was all that I could muster up the strength to say. I was literally sick to my stomach. What had I done? What the fuck had I done?
“I can't believe Heaven was hitting his ass back,” Vegas said.
I tried to make my laughter sound sincere. “Right. I hope he doesn't try to make her feel that shit when he gets back to the crib.”
“He looked too blown to have any strength to fight. That motherfucka scared.”
Now, my laugh was authentic as hell. “Scared? Ross scared? What he scared of?”
“He’s scared that Heaven is stepping out on him. He said she’s been acting different since he got back from his trip.”
“Oh, so he’s been cheating on her for years, but now he’s scared she’s fucking around?”
“Aye, when a woman cheats on her man, it’s different.”
“How?” I wanted to know that for personal reasons.
“For men who cheat, it’s okay for them to, but it's not okay when their woman does it. Men cheat for the pussy. But when a woman cheats on her man, he knows it’s a wrap because women cheat for deeper reasons. That shit fucks with our ego.”
I became silent in my guilt. I got quiet because I couldn’t talk and keep my food down at the same time. I couldn’t believe that Damo had been playing me all of this time. He’d had no right to play me. I had been honest with him from day one. He knew my situation. I wasn't stupid enough to think that he wasn't fucking somebody else nor did I give a fuck if he was. But my best friend’s little sister? That was on a whole other level. Now, knowing how low he could be, I realized what I had risked my relationship for. Damo’s slimy ass wasn’t worth me losing Vegas over.
“It took everything in me to stunt with Ross,” Vegas said with a growl.
“But you have to until—”
“I know. I just hate this shit. I hate being around his ass pretending to be cool, knowing that he is playing the shit outta me.”
“It will be over soon,” I assured him.
As I got off the expressway, I heard him groan. “You should have just let me kill his ass.”
“You can’t, babe.”
“Why not? I done killed motherfuckers for less...way less.”
“I know, but we gotta think about Heaven and Divine. I can’t be a part of hurting them like that.”
“You right.”
“The plan we came up with will work.”
“I know.”
“But make sure my friend and her sister aren’t involved at all, Vegas.”
“I got you. You think it’s gonna work?”
“Yeah. Trust me.” I cringed as soon as I’d said those words. This was the wrong time to for me to ask for his trust.
This was definitely bad timing because just as I pulled up in front of Damo’s house, Vegas said, “I trust you, baby.”
Tears instantly pooled in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away and swallowed my cries.
“I love you.” I hadn't said that with such deep meaning in so long. But if I didn't know it before, I definitely knew now that I loved Vegas so much that I was done fucking around. Heaven was dealing with a dog-ass Ike Turner and had never even thought about betraying him. Vegas was far from a Ross-type of guy. He wasn't even a person like me. He was rare. He was a unicorn. But I was out here treating him like he was dispensable. What the fuck was I thinking?
“Love yo’ fine ass too, bae. You cookin’ tonight?”
“Fa sho. Just text me what you wanna eat, and I’ll stop at the grocery store on my way home.”
“Gotchu. See you in a few.”
I cringed again as I hung up. I was kicking my own ass as I got out of the car. Damo wasn’t expecting me, so I walked up to his crib and knocked like I was the police.
<
br /> “Open the fucking door, Damo!” I shouted as I pounded my foot against the door.
Since his BMW was in the driveway, I knew his slime-ball ass was at home.
“Open the fucking door!” I kicked the door so hard that it sounded like the house was shaking. Within seconds, Damo was swinging the door open, looking at me like I was the one playing him.
“What’s wrong? Why you bangin’ on my door like that?” he asked with his bushy eyebrows curled.
As I simply said, “Don’t ever talk to me again,” I never knew there could be so much anger in a voice so calm.
His eyes bucked. I had caught him all the way off guard with that. “Huh?” he asked. “You serious?”
“Serious as fuck!”
As I spazzed, his eyes bucked and he asked, “What I do?”
My mouth formed into a psychotic smile. “What did you do?” My arms folded tightly across my chest as he waited for me to go on. “You got Divine pregnant!”
“Oh, that?” He waved his hand dismissively, leaning on the doorframe. “That ain’t shit.”
My eyes bulged out of my head as I stood in front of him. I couldn’t believe how he actually said that like it was no big deal at all. He acted like Divine was just some regular bitch off the street. And that pissed me off even more. Heaven was like a sister to me, so Divine was definitely like my little sister.
Niggas…
I no longer gave a fuck about getting dicked down or getting the excitement I was missing; I couldn’t fuck with a dude like this and I couldn’t believe that I had risked my reputation and relationship by idiotically doing so all this time.
My head tilted to the side as it shook slowly and disgustedly at him. “I am done wit’ yo’ ass.”
His eyes bucked. “Because of Divine? C’mon now. She doesn’t mean anything to me.”
I was disgusted. “What the fuck did you just say?”
He had the nerve to shrug. “She doesn’t. Me and Divine fucked around a few times, but—”
“But what? But you think it’s okay to fuck my best friend's little sister and me at the same time?”
When the Side Nigga Catch Feelings 1 Page 14
