by Cachet
“Okay.”
“And bitch be ready, ‘cause I’ll leave yo’ ass!”
“Whateva hoe, you ain’t leaving shit.” Paris giggled, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
After Shanice hung up the phone, she smiled at how silly her cousin was. Paris knew just what to say to make her feel better. She got up off the couch and went upstairs. When she was in her room, she sat her phone on the nightstand on the charger. Shanice rolled her eyes when she realized that she had to repack. All of the clothes she had placed in her suitcase were strictly to entice Deondre, and since Paris was now going, there was no need for all the sexy lingerie. Picking her suitcase off of the floor, she laid it on her bed and unzipped it. One by one, she removed all of the clothing she no longer needed and placed it all on top of her dresser before walking over to her closet and grabbing a few other things to replace them. Once she had a couple sundresses, bikinis, shorts tank tops, and a few pairs of sandals inside her suitcase, she closed it and laid it down by the door of her room.
Back alone with her thoughts, Shanice flopped down on her bed and lied back against her pillows. Although she was glad that her cousin was accompanying her on the trip, she still wished it could have been Deondre. She was still upset that he’d so easily up and changed his mind about going. Shanice figured that even though he had bumped into Dominique at the mall, he could have still made up some other excuse to leave if that was really what he wanted to do. Instead, he cancelled their plans, deciding to spend the next few days happy at home with his nagging ass bitch and their son. Knowing that Dominique had all of Deondre’s attention made Shanice sick to her stomach. She wanted so bad to tell her so-called best friend that her fiancé wasn’t as loyal to her as she thought, but knew better. Deondre wouldn’t go for that, and that was something that Shanice was sure of. She’ll find out one way or another, Shanice thought, and that’s something I can bet on.
No longer in the happy mood, tears started to spill once again from her eyes when Shanice realized that Dominique had found a way to rain on her parade like she always did. Whether it was on purpose or not, it didn’t matter. It was like she was always there. Shanice felt like Dominique was nothing but a fucking thorn in her side and she was tired of it. With her face covered with tears, Shanice thought about all of the times that Dominique had fucked up her plans. It seemed like she always went after everything that Shanice wanted for herself. It had been that way since they were kids. Shanice would set her eye on someone, and before she knew it, Dominique would somehow make that person like her. That is exactly how it happened with Kaleb years ago. Dominique knew that Shanice thought he was cute first, but apparently that didn’t matter because soon after, she and Kaleb were a couple. Shanice giggled through her tears when she through about how she’d ruined everything for the fake ass so-called loving couple years prior.
It was the night of the neighborhood party. Everyone was supposed to be in attendance and Shanice was looking forward to having a little bit of fun. Paris and her parents had come to visit, and Shanice was going to introduce her to all of her friends. That evening after receiving the phone call from Dominique about the fight that occurred at her house earlier that day, Shanice knew that her best friend wouldn’t be able to attend. With Paris being there, it didn’t bother Shanice one way or another because she already had someone to go with. Once they got there, she showed Paris around and they both started to enjoy themselves. Not long after they got there, Kaleb walked in accompanied by his best friend, Desmond. Shanice watched as Kaleb greeted everyone at the party, while scanning the crowd with his eyes. When they landed on Shanice, she smiled and waved, but Kaleb didn’t pay her any mind, and instead, continued to look around the party.
For close to two hours, Shanice watched him from afar, wishing that it was her that he constantly looked around the room for. He looked so cute sitting there, looking like he had just climbed out of the barber chair before he arrived. Soon, Shanice got tired of just watching and went over and joined him on the couch. She started to strike up a conversation, but immediately, Kaleb interrupted her and began to ask about Dominique. After she lied and told him that she hadn’t heard from her that day, they started to talk about school and other things, but before long, Kaleb’s focus went right back to having a conversation about Dominique. Annoyed and feeling ignored, Shanice excused herself and went off to find her cousin. Once she found Paris, she gave her a rundown of the plan that she had come up wit. Just as she expected, Paris was down. Not wanting to be seen together by either Kaleb or Desmond, the cousins separated and went their own ways.
Ten minutes later, Shanice rejoined Kaleb on the couch, but this time, she had a drink in her hand; a drink that was sure to put him on his ass. The day before, Shanice and her father stopped at the pharmacy to pick up her mother’s prescription. When they got there, the line to the drive-up window was around the building, so Shanice went inside. Once she was finished cashing out, she left the pharmacy and put the bag into her purse to give to her mother once she got home. Somehow, it slipped her mind, and she ended up with her mother’s Ambien at the party. After crushing one up with a soda can, she opened the beverage and emptied the powdery medication into the can. Shanice walked over and handed the drink to Kaleb before she turned around with a smile because she knew it was only a matter of time before he started to feel woozy, just like her mother did many nights.
A half hour later, Kaleb stood up, and Shanice started to panic. She thought that he was about to find Desmond, and they would leave and mess up her plans. When she saw him make his way over to the stairs, she looked over at her cousin and nodded. That was Paris’s cue, and immediately, she went to work. Shanice waited close to ten minutes before she slowly walked up the stairs. The music was playing, so she couldn’t hear anything, and for that reason, she had to check two bedrooms before she came across Paris on her knees in the bathroom. Quickly, Shanice snapped a few photos with her cellphone and hauled ass back down the stairs before anyone noticed her. Not long after, Paris came down and the two of them left the party. Shanice didn’t want to be there when Kaleb finally woke up because if he figured out who Paris was, she knew he would tell Dominique.
Once Shanice made it back to her house, she used Paris’s cellphone to forward the pictures of Kaleb getting head to everyone she knew. With only the back of Paris’s head showing, no one knew who he had hooked up with, so everyone guessed that it was someone who was not from the neighborhood. Paris and her parents ended up leaving the following day, and that was when Shanice made up the story about it being a ‘new girl’ who supposedly transferred to their school. She had no idea that once she told Dominique what had happened with Kaleb that she would leave their neighborhood and move in with her grandmother. Although that part wasn’t planned, it still worked out in Shanice’s favor. With Dominique out of the way, she quickly took her place and became the most popular girl in school.
Kaleb, on the other hand, took Dominique leaving pretty hard. He reached out to Shanice quite a few times to get her number, but she always told him that Dominique didn’t want him to have it. He even went as far as to write her a letter and ask Shanice to pass it on. While she told that him she would, the letter never made to the mailbox because after she read it, she tossed it in the trash. She didn’t feel the least bit of remorse for Kaleb because in Shanice’s mind, he brought it all on his self. Had he approached her and they became a couple, he wouldn’t have been going through the things that he was going through at that moment.
The vibrating of her phone brought Shanice out of her thoughts. She sat up and reached for it, realizing that it was a text message. When she saw who it was from, she kissed her teeth in annoyance.
Baby Daddy: I just wanted to let you know how truly sorry I am about the fact that we couldn’t go on our trip as planned. You think that you were the only one who was excited, but I was too. I was looking forward to being able to spend time with you uni
nterrupted. I also want to apologize for hanging up on you earlier.
Shanice rolled her eyes and shook her head because Deondre was a piece of work. If he thought that weak ass apology was going to work on her this time, he had another thing coming. Removing her phone from the charger, she quickly typed out a response, and hit send.
Shanice: Whateva Dre! You are EXACTLY where you want to be, so save that shit for somebody else. Like I said before, I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this.
Knowing that Deondre wasn’t going to respond like he usually did when she was mad, Shanice laid her phone back down and got up to use the restroom. Once she was finished handling her personal care, she washed and dried her hands and stood in the mirror. Shanice looked at herself thoroughly. She smiled when she noticed that the swelling in her nose had gone down, and her face was completely free on any signs of the fight. A few days ago, Shanice ditched the wig she had been forced to wear and opted to get micro braids instead. Since NiChia had pulled out a lot of her hair during the fight, the stylist braided all around her crown and suggested that Shanice wear her hair in a high ponytail. This way she wouldn’t have to put any more stress on the middle of her hair. With Shanice’s braids pulled up, you couldn’t even tell that there were quite a few bald spots present because her braids were so small.
After applying and washing off her facial mask, Shanice removed her clothes and turned on the shower. Although it was only a little after eight, she was tired from all of the crying she’d done and was ready to call it a night. Since she had to wake up early to go pick up Paris before they hit the road, Shanice didn’t mind turning in early. She knew her body needed to rest anyway. While the water ran down her body, Shanice placed her hand on her stomach.
She still hadn’t really grasped the fact that she was going to have another baby. She didn’t know if it was because London kept her so busy, or the fact that she wasn’t sure how things were going to work out between her and Deondre. Having a second child by him was something that Shanice hadn’t planned. Of course, they weren’t using protection, but it had been that way for the last three years and nothing had happened. Now, the mother of two of his kids made it official in Shanice’s book and the fact that things were exactly the same as they were when she was pregnant with their daughter bothered her. She wanted nothing more than to be Deondre’s woman and eventually his wife, but for some reason, he didn’t see that she was the better woman.
Once Shanice finished washing up, she turned off the water and climbed out of the shower. After a quick pat down with her towel, she shuffled naked back into her bedroom, where she cut off all the lights and climbed under the covers. Almost immediately, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Not even five minutes later, she heard the sound of her phone going off again. At first, she ignored it because she figured that it was probably nothing, and it could with until the morning. That is until she remembered that she had texted Deondre before her shower. Rolling over on her side, Shanice reached out and grabbed her now lit phone off of the nightstand. Once she unlocked it and saw that she had a message from Deondre, her heart skipped a beat. She just knew he was texting her some smart shit like he usually did when he had fucked up, and because of this, Shanice debated on whether or not to even open it. She didn’t want to take the chance of him pissing her off and making it hard for her to go to sleep. Curiosity ended up getting the best of her, and instead of ignoring the message, she tapped his name to read the text anyway.
Baby Daddy: I know sometimes I can be a pain in the ass, but I don’t do it intentionally. I need you to understand that my love for you is genuine, even though sometimes you don’t believe it to be true. Honestly, I feel bad when I hear you crying, because I know that it’s because of something I did. You think I be bullshitting when I say that you cross my mind at least a few times a day. Your smile, your laugh, and just hearing your voice is something that I look forward to. Please believe me when I say that I’m going to try to be a better man. Things aren’t perfect right now, and I can’t guarantee that they will ever be. What I can assure you is that I will always be here for you and our children no matter what. Just keep riding with me baby. I promise it’ll be worth it.
By the time Shanice finished reading the text message that Deondre had sent, she crying once again, but this time it wasn’t because she was sad. These damn hormones got me emotional as hell, she reasoned. I’ve cried enough today to last me all damn month. Shanice read the message two more times before she sat her phone down and wiped away her tears. It was things like that that made her love Deondre so much. He could be ignorant at times and curse her out when things didn’t go his way, but there were also times when he was a sweetheart. Those times and his occasional sweet words were what Shanice longed for. She enjoyed hearing about how much Deondre thought about her during the day, and how much he loved her. It made her feel like she wasn’t in it alone, like she sometimes felt.
Now feeling much better about where she and Deondre stood, Shanice laid back against her pillow with a new attitude. She was still going to Myrtle Beach with her cousin, but when she came back, she was going to begin her task of putting an end to Dominique and Deondre because she was officially tired of sharing.
Chapter 3
The television was playing, but Kaleb wasn’t paying any attention to it. Instead, his mind was elsewhere. It had been a week and a half since he’d been with Dominique at the mall, and he had yet to hear from her. He had dialed her number at least a hundred times within the first few days, but never received an answer or a call back. At first, he thought that her dude had done something to her, but after checking her Instagram page, he knew that Dominique was just avoiding him. Why, Kaleb wasn’t sure. He didn’t know if her dude believed that he was actually NiChia’s boyfriend or if he saw right through the lie that she fed him. At that time, neither he nor Dominique knew just how much he’d seen. All they saw was him standing at the entrance with an angry scowl on his face.
At first, Kaleb didn’t even see that. He was too focused on watching Dominique walk in front of him with the tight pair of jeans she was wearing. The switch of her hips and that ass had all of his attention at that moment, so when she stopped, he ran right into the back of her. Looking up, he was about to ask her if she had seen something else she wanted, but when he saw the frightened look on her face, he knew something was wrong. After following her eyes, Kaleb saw what the problem was. It pissed him off to see her so afraid. Although Dominique didn’t want to get caught, it didn’t matter to Kaleb. He actually hoped that her dude saw them kiss because if that were the case, they wouldn’t have had to creep around anymore. Kaleb was tired of keeping their love a secret and was ready for it to just be the two of them.
It irritated him to hear Dominique’s dude interrogating her. Standing there listening to her answer each of his questions was even worse. Kaleb wished that he would have gotten out of pocket because, even though he didn’t want to have to act up in the mall, he would have given his big black ass what he was looking for. Just thinking about how he tried to question him got Kaleb hot all over again. What made him even more upset was the fact that it seemed as if Dominique was giving him the cold shoulder once again. Kaleb wasn’t sure what she was trying to prove, but he was sick and tired of her playing games. One second they were cool, and the next, she was disappearing. Something had to give.
Taking a seat on the barstool in his basement, he looked at the television, which was playing Scarface. It didn’t matter how many times he’d seen that movie, whenever it was playing on TV, he made sure to watch it, even though he already had the DVD.
“Alright, I’m ready to tap that ass again!” Desmond yelled, as he jogged down the stairs. “Had to talk to my baby about a few things, but now I’m back.”
“How is Peanut’s crazy ass?” Kaleb asked, thinking about just how perfect Dominique’s sister was for his best friend. “I ain’t seen her in like a week.”
“She’s good. I been keep
ing her feisty ass out the way because every time I turn around, she popping off on somebody.” Desmond threw his head back and laughed. “I be trying to tell her to slow that shit down, especially since she still got a case pending against old girl, but you can’t tell Peanut’s ass nothing. That damn girl is a fucking nut!”
Kaleb cracked up. “I guess you ran into yo’ match this time, huh?”
“Hell yeah, and then some,” Desmond agreed. “Her little ass ain’t nothing but about this big.” He held his hand out by his waist. “But always trying to swing on somebody.”
“Call me crazy, but I recall you acting the same exact way.”
Desmond picked up the pool stick that was lying across the table and looked at Kaleb. “Bullshit! I may have a bad temper at times, but I’m nothing like Peanut. You gotta get me riled up for me to put a nigga on they ass, whereas Peanut gone swing first and ask questions later. It doesn’t even matter what the situation is, she’s always ready to get that wreck in.”
“Yeah, okay.” Kaleb turned around in the barstool. “You can say what you want, but y’all are a perfect match. You be on the same shit.”
Desmond smiled at the thought. NiChia was his baby, even though she may have been a little crazy. Her take no shit attitude was what he liked about her the most. NiChia didn’t bite her tongue; if it was something she wanted to say, she said it, no matter how you felt afterwards. Not only was she gusty, but she was also the most loving person that he had ever met. Underneath that tough girl act was a sweet little girl that Desmond was growing to love. Spending time with NiChia had become one of his favorite pastimes, and as soon as he left Kaleb’s, that was exactly where he was going because he missed her already.
“Guess what she gone ask me earlier?” Desmond leaned down and aimed the stick. Once his shot was lined up, he took it and watched as the ball rolled into the pocket.