She Gave Her All to the Hood's Finest 5

by Shvonne Latrice

  32

  Shanece

  Today I would be working from home, so I decided to dress pretty comfortably in some tights and a tube top. I had my signature individuals back in my head, so my hair was taken care of.

  I’d been feeling pretty sick, so I wasn’t in the mood to be in my office, stuffed into some dressy attire and dealing with a bunch of entitled music managers and artists. So today I would just handle my overloaded ass emails finally.

  I heard the doorbell ring just as I put some lotion on my hands. Making my way out of the bedroom, I wondered who it could be since Camarih said she wouldn’t be here for another fifteen minutes. When I looked out through the door, I spotted Cheri and rolled my eyes so hard I was surprised they didn’t get stuck.

  “Yes?” I opened the door, but only a little.

  “I thought I would bring you a peace offering.” She held up a tray of muffins that smelled like heaven. I could tell they were banana nut, and if I didn’t pull myself together, I would be drooling in any minute.

  “No thank you. Did you get everything out of the guesthouse yet?” I raised a brow.

  Ever since that little blow up we had, which resulted in me punching the shit out of Cheri, Wade had been strict with his ex-wife. He made her ass rent a condo since she claimed finding the perfect house was what was taking so long. She tried to scheme her way out of that, but my man wasn’t having it, thank God. So, for the past week, she’d been moving her stuff, with the help of a moving company, to her new condo, which was a good forty-five minutes away. That wasn’t too far for Los Angeles, but it was far enough to where she wouldn’t be popping up randomly.

  “I have, yes. I’m on my way out with the last of everything, but I did make these for you this afternoon. I do want to apologize for lying. I guess I was still a tad bit jealous of Wade moving on and so quickly in my opinion. However, I do think we’re even since you blacked my eye, Shanece.”

  “I did, huh?” I laughed. She pretended to be amused as well, but I could see that she was still salty about walking around like a pirate for a while. “I’m actually not in the mood for muffins, but have a nice life, and put your key under the mat.” I slammed the door.

  She called my name a few times, but I acted as if I didn’t hear it. She wasn’t about to rope me in with her good ass food any longer. I’d been missing her lasagna, since after I hit her she hadn’t been cooking for us any longer, because Wade told her she wasn’t allowed in the main house. But I’d just gotten a great recipe from Camarih, and when I made it, it was just as fire.

  I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit, taking out my teapot since Camarih said she had a concoction that would help me with my nausea. When I was finished, I heard her at the door, so I let her in then checked under the mat to get the key Cheri left.

  “So this magic tea is going to make me feel better?” I sat at the bar in my kitchen as Camarih washed her hands.

  “Yep. I always drank it during that period of morning sickness. Both of my pregnancies had me sick as a dog, but this always mitigated it.”

  “Camarih, I am not pregnant. I threw up a couple times, but that is it.”

  Truthfully, I was too afraid to take a pregnancy test, just for it to come back negative. For some reason, I felt like taking a new pregnancy test would be my last-ditch effort, and if it showed I wasn’t pregnant for the hundredth time, my marriage would be over. No matter what Wade said, I knew he wanted children, ones directly related to him, and shit, so did I. All I kept thinking was that God was punishing me for not having a child with Paul and cheating on him.

  “Well we don’t know if you are. But that’s why I stopped by the store to get some tests.” She held up a plastic bag.

  “What the hell! No, I am not taking one!”

  “Yes you are, and when it comes back positive, I want a back massage.” She dropped the bag onto the counter, looking at me.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes. While you’re drinking your tea, we can wait for the results.”

  Sucking my teeth, I snatched the bag and went into the half bathroom right outside of the kitchen. I paced for a little bit, looking in the mirror every now and again. Finally, I just said a prayer to God, begging for forgiveness of my sins and asking that He please bless me with a child.

  Feeling a little better after talking to Him, I peed in one of those small mouthwash cups, and then submerged the test in it. Washing my hands, I dried them then left out to have some tea with Camarih while we waited.

  “Wow, this is really good!” I frowned in astonishment at the cup of tea as if it were a person. “It does settle the stomach some.”

  “Told you.” Camarih took a sip of hers.

  We talked to pass the time, mainly about that viral video of Tony beating the brakes off of Mac. Mac didn’t want to press charges because it would take away from his street credit. I knew this just because nothing was a secret in the music industry. Mac King was a fake gangsta who unfortunately ran across a real gangsta. He knew snitching or going to the courts would ruin his whole tough guy persona.

  “Yes. He needs to stick to fucking with these other rappers who are fake thugs.” I laughed. “Has he flirted with you since?”

  “Girl, hell no. Would you?” Camarih grinned.

  “Nope, but I wouldn’t have tried in the first place knowing how off Tony is, especially regarding you.”

  We both shared a chuckle, just as I checked the time on my Rolex. I saw the five minutes had passed, so after making eye contact with Camarih, we gulped down the last of our tea and went into the bathroom to check the test.

  “What does it say?” she inquired.

  “You look for me.”

  Camarih happily trotted over, took some toilet tissue to cover her fingers, and then pulled the test from the cup. While she read it, I emptied the cup into the toilet, flushing it, and then I trashed the cup.

  “Someone is going to be a mommy.” She showed me the test, with the window reading pregnant.

  “Oh my gosh.” I covered my heart in disbelief. “Let me take another to be sure.”

  Camarih giggled and left me alone to try again. I was happy she got so many. Five more tests later, I finally believed that I was pregnant. Lining them all up, I snapped a photo and sent it off to Wade.

  Wade: Told you all we needed was to get Cheri out of the house.

  Wade: All that stress free sex is what did it.

  Wade: I love you.

  I simpered at his text then showed Camarih what he’d said.

  “Wait, so Cheri is gone for good?” Camarih asked.

  “Yep! She got the last of her shit this morning. Bitch tried to bait me with her good ass food again, some muffins, but nope! I have never been happier to never have to see someone’s face again.”

  “Hmm, let’s go snoop in her house.”

  “Why? She took everything.”

  “True, but maybe there are some things she left. I just want to go see if the bitch is crazy.”

  Chortling like mischievous children, Camarih and I left out of the back once I grabbed the key I’d taken from under the mat and put on the kitchen counter. I unlocked the front door of Cheri’s place, and we stepped inside to see an empty house.

  “Told you nothing is here.” I looked around. I hadn’t been anywhere past the living room because I had no reason to visit this bitch.

  Camarih toured the whole empty house, looking in her bedroom, the closet, the linen cabinets, bathroom, medicine cabinets where Cheri left some old prescription bottles, and then her extra bedroom, which was pretty much a ghost town. Last was the kitchen, and since the fridge was still there, we looked around. While I checked the cabinets and drawers, Camarih looked under the sink.

  “Shanece, come here!” She called out to me, looking in the small trashcan that was basically built into the area under the sink. She’d pulled it out.

  “Ugh, Camarih, don’t reach in there!” I turned my lip up, seeing her put the empty package of nuts th
at Cheri had clearly used for the muffins to the side. She then picked out package with a lavender and white swirl kind of effect on it. Holding it up, she allowed me to read it, and I did, confused on what Cheri was doing with all this Plan B. When it finally hit me, I looked to Camarih, who had clearly already figured it out.

  “She was putting this shit in your food, Shanece.” Camarih dropped it back into the trashcan.

  “What the fuck,” I mumbled. All the times she cooked for me and I ate it, I had no idea.

  This whole time, this bitch had me stressing, thinking I couldn’t reproduce, and she had been fucking with my body. I wanted to murder her. Thank God I turned down those damn muffins earlier, or she might have harmed the baby I was carrying now, since I was surely too far along for the Plan B to work.

  When I got ahold of her ass, she was gonna wish she was fucking dead.

  Judgement Day…

  Currently, I was seated in a stuffy room with my husband next to me for support. Across from me was Paul’s mother, Yris, and his father, Paul Sr., or better known as Sir. To my left was my lawyer, who was across from Yris’s lawyer, and at the head of this long brown table was a damn arbitrator.

  Yep. This bitch had taken me to ‘court’ over Paul’s will because she felt I no longer deserved his money and things because of my remarriage.

  My lawyer assured me that I had nothing to worry about, and I believed him. What bothered me about this wasn’t the fact that I may lose all of Paul’s things; it was the bond I’d lost with his parents. Yes, I had my own parents, although they didn’t live in Los Angeles, but I loved Yris and Sir too. It hurt me to see them on the opposite side of this table.

  “Arbitrator Morris, my client here feels that Mrs. Bias, formerly Mrs. Porter, should not be able to benefit from the will of her late husband for a plethora of reasons,” Yris’s lawyer explained.

  “What exactly are those reasons?” the arbitrator replied.

  “Well, for starters, they have no children, and Mrs. Bias has a great job making well over six figures a year, so it’s not as if she needs the money for herself or childcare. On top of that, her husband is a wealthy hotel chain district manager, so even if she didn’t have the job she has, her new husband is more than capable of handling her financial needs.”

  The arbitrator put his hand up to stop Yris’s lawyer from talking, and then turned to my lawyer.

  “Although what Mr. Myn is saying is true, we have to uphold the deceased party’s will. Paul Porter strictly stated that he wanted everything he owned and any monies due to him to go to Mrs. Bias and any children that he may have. As we know, there are no children, so she does get everything. The fact that my client makes great money, does not have a child by the deceased, and is married to a wealthy man is irrelevant.”

  I squeezed Wade’s hand, which was in mine, letting him know I liked what my lawyer had said.

  “The will was written by the deceased without knowledge of his wife’s infidelities,” Mr. Myn pointed out, and shock took over me. I had no idea Paul’s parents knew about my trysts with Rahim. My lawyer looked at me, puzzled, because I hadn’t divulged that to him. I didn’t think it would matter because I didn’t know Paul’s parents knew.

  The lawyers continued to go back and forth as I sat there feeling upset, ashamed, and saddened.

  “Okay, well I’ve heard enough at this point. Regardless of any infidelities, the will stands as it is. There was no prenuptial agreement between the two, and the same way the deceased took measures to protect the what if of a child, he could have done the same for any infidelities. However, he did not, so what he put in the will is what we have to honor.” The arbitrator spoke up, making his decision.

  He talked to us, giving some information we’d need for the outcome of this case, and then we were free to go. I knew this would happen, so I wasn’t shocked; I was more surprised at the fact that my cheating was well known news.

  “Congrats, baby.” Wade kissed me as we walked through the parking lot to our car.

  “Thank you.” I smiled, seeing Sir open his car door for Yris. “Give me one second. I’ll be to the car in a little bit,” I told Wade and then made my way to the Porter’s vehicle. “Can I say something?” I looked down at Yris who was in the passenger seat with her window cracked.

  Sighing dejectedly, she unbuckled herself and got out of the car.

  “What, Shanece? You won. Be happy and go on somewhere.”

  “I’m not happy I won, Yris. I’m not happy that you two seem not to like me anymore either.” I gestured toward Sir, who was still seated in the driver’s side of the car. “Is it because of the cheating?”

  “Why, Shanece? I thought you loved my son?” Yris’s brows dipped.

  “I did… I do love him. It was a complicated thing, but I regretted it and still do. Paul and I were having issues, his illness was making him an asshole, and it just tore us apart.”

  “That’s no excuse.”

  “You’re right, it’s not. I’m just explaining how the affair came to be. If I could go back in time, I would’ve handled my loneliness in a much more mature way. Not once since the day I met Paul have I not loved him. I made a stupid decision, acting on my emotions.”

  Yris’s scowl softened eventually.

  “I guess I forget sometimes how young you two were when all of this was going on. I’m still upset with you for what you did, but mainly because you’re better than that, Shanece. Stepping out on your marriage is not the Shanece I know or have grown to love.”

  Wiping my tears, I nodded sadly.

  “I agree. That was a bad time for me, Yris. I hadn’t been myself for a long time, and I was blaming everyone else, including someone who is now my best friend,” I referred to Camarih, and me putting the fact that I’d fucked Rahim on her.

  Yris pulled me into a hug, just as Sir got out of the car to do the same.

  “We love you, Shanece,” his deep voice cooed, soothing me for some reason.

  As we released one another, I said, “I will give you Paul’s money and his things. I haven’t spent any of the cash. However, I do want to keep a few sentimental items to remember him by.”

  “That’ll be just fine.” Yris nodded, embracing her husband from the side.

  “Okay. See you soon.” I walked a few steps. “Just out of curiosity, how did you find out about the affair?”

  “I ran into Keira, and she blurted it out. She claimed she thought I knew already and that it was old news.”

  Keira. That bitch always found a way to fuck some shit up, even years later.

  “Of course.” I laughed, and they followed suit before we said our goodbyes again.

  I went to get in the car with Wade, buckling my seat belt and giving him a kiss. As he drove off, I ran down to him what had just happened and my decision to just give them everything, with the exception of a few things that meant too much to me.

  “That was cool of you. That’s why I love you, Shanece.” He glanced away from the road for a second.

  “I love you too.”

  “Well we can still celebrate, so where would you like to eat?” He made a left turn.

  “Before we eat, I want to visit Cheri.”

  “Cheri? Why?”

  “I feel bad for hitting her, and I’d like to apologize in person,” I lied.

  “Uh, we can’t eat first?”

  “Nope. I want to eat and then be able to go straight home to celebrate in another way.” I knew mentioning sex would have him doing whatever I wanted. Men were too easy.

  “Sounds like a plan.” Wade smiled, falling right into the trap. I tittered at that fact, but he thought it was a sensual one.

  Since traffic was light at the moment, a rarity, we got to Cheri’s place in thirty minutes instead of what usually would’ve been forty-five. Wade called her to make sure she was home, and then she buzzed us through. It was a nice rental community, with big ass homes next to one another. After Wade parked, I couldn’t get out of the car quic
kly enough.

  “Hey, guys. What brings you over here?” Cheri came out of her house to greet us in the grass.

  “Oh, Shanece just wanted to—”

  WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

  I hit Cheri right in her face and kept on going as she backed away, trying to catch her balance.

  “Get off of me!” she screamed, falling in her doorway.

  “Shanece! Shanece, what the fuck!” Wade growled, tugging at me to get off of his ex-wife.

  I pounded that bitch’s face like a butcher tenderizing meat, until blood touched my fingers. Finally, Wade yanked me off, holding my body tightly as Cheri screeched and cried.

  “You stupid bitch! I know about the Plan B! Be lucky I don’t fucking kill your hating ass!” I hollered as Wade threw me into the car.

  He rushed back to Cheri to get her into the house, so I used that as an opportunity to exit the car. Unfortunately, before I could hit that hoe again, Wade caught me and carried me back to the vehicle, but this time he got in too, on his side, and drove off.

  “Why did you do that shit, Shanece? What the fuck!” he barked, speeding out of the community.

  “I found out she was putting Plan B in my food, Wade! That’s why I wasn’t getting pregnant! I was eating that bitch’s food almost every damn day!”

  “You fucking serious?” His voice was calmer now. At the red light, he shut his eyes and sighed. “Fuck, baby. I’m sorry. This shit is all my fault. I should’ve been made her move the fuck out.”

  “No, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know she was fucking crazy.” I caressed his back as he looked out of his window in distress.

  We shared a kiss, and when the light turned back green, he drove off, going a normal speed now.

  “I think we should sell the house and get something new that’s ours. This current crib got too many old ass memories, and I shared that house with Cheri. You deserve a place that doesn’t have her spirit in it.”

  “We don’t have to do that ba—”

  “Yeah, we do. It’s only right.”