This Could Be Us But You Playin' 2

by Cachet

  “What?” Kaleb asked, picking his beer up off the bar and taking a sip.

  “If I would take her to get her cheeks pierced this weekend.”

  Almost spitting out his drink, Kaleb sat up and yelled. “Hell nah! Don’t she know she’s too pretty for all that unnecessary shit?” He was never into facial piercings and things like that, and whenever he saw a female with earrings and tattoo’s and shit like that on their faces, it immediately turned him off. Kaleb liked more of a natural beauty, not a freak show.

  “Man, you ain’t gotta tell me. You already know that I shut that shit down with the quickness. I told her ass no so fast, she didn’t even get all of her question out her mouth. Then I told her if she went and got one behind my back, I was gone beat her ass.”

  “Even though I know you bullshitting, you tell her that I said we gone jump her ass if she does. Straight beat down.” Kaleb threw his hands up and threw a few jabs. “And I ain’t throwing nothing but body shots!”

  “Nigga, you dumb as fuck!” Desmond said as he smacked his hand down on the pool table and cracked up.

  The best friends continued to laugh and joke as they played a few games of pool. While Desmond spoke about NiChia, Kaleb wanted so badly to ask if she’d said anything about her sister, but he didn’t want to be the first to bring it up. Kaleb knew that if anyone knew what Dominique had been up to, it was NiChia. As Desmond shot ball after ball into the pockets, all Kaleb could do was think about was Dominique’s claim to still love him. That was something that Kaleb couldn’t understand. If she loved him so much, how could she ignore him as if he doesn’t exist? Walking away from the pool table, Kaleb went back to the barstool and took a seat.

  After unlocking his phone, he went straight to Instagram. He wanted to see what Dominique had been up to that was so important that she was ignoring him. When he searched her name and went to her page, he saw that the only thing she’d posted was a photo of her son. He was a cute little boy who looked just like his mother. Seeing DJ made Kaleb wish that he was his. That way things between he and Dominique would have been a lot less complicated. With nothing else to see on her page, he went to the home screen to see what was going on with his followers.

  Kaleb looked down at his phone as he used his thumb to scroll down the many pictures that had been posted. There were quite a few selfies, photos of little kids dressed as grown-ups, and more memes than he could keep up with. Kaleb paused for a second when he came across one picture that stood out. It was a plate of food. A quick glance at the poster’s name forced him to chuckle out loud. With a name like ‘TightN’JuicyKat’, he hoped that her box was good and wet like she claimed because from the photo that he was looking at, she damn sure couldn’t cook if her life depended on it. The fact that she posted it made him wonder what the hell she was thinking in the first place.

  The plate that was sloppily made looked disgusting and just the thought of eating something so vile made him sick to his stomach. There were three pieces of fried chicken legs that were doused with hot sauce, but even then, Kaleb could still see that they were way too dark for his liking. To the left of the chicken was a clump of extremely soupy macaroni and to the right sat a pile of collard greens that were stiff looking. They also looked like the chick had just pulled them off the stem a few minutes prior because they didn’t look to be cooked at all. The very last thing he saw on the dish made Kaleb do a double take. It was a charred slice of cornbread that she had the nerve to put a large piece of butter on top of, as if that would actually help.

  “I hope this shit is a fucking joke,” he said to himself in utter disgust.

  *****

  Kaleb’s mind was still stuck on what Desmond asked him about Dominique the night before. ‘Do you think she would do the same with her nigga if you told her that you wanted to be exclusive?’ echoed through his head over and over again. Although he said that he knew she would, Kaleb couldn’t help but think that he lied. He actually had no clue what Dominique would do if he actually sat down and asked her something like that. Crazy thing is, in order for him to ask her anything, she would have to accept his calls, which she wasn’t doing. At the moment, all he had left were the memories of the last time they were together weeks ago.

  “We have to figure out something,” she told him, climbing off of him and kissing him once on the lips.

  They were at another one of Kaleb’s properties. They had just finished getting hot and heavy, and Kaleb was exhausted. He gripped Dominique’s waist and pulled her body closer towards him. She responded by draping her arm across him stomach and laying her head on top of his chest. Kaleb inhaled and smelled the fruity fragrance of her hair.

  Kaleb brought her head up to look her in the eyes. “Figure out what?”

  “Us. What are we going to do about us? Are you we going to just keep creeping around?”

  “You already know what I want,” he told her seriously. “I want you to be mine. I don’t say anything or push the issue, but I hate it when you leave me and go back home to him. That shit hurts, but I accept it because I know that’s ya man, and the father of your child.”

  “I know, I feel the same way when I think about you being with her.” Dominique hesitated for a moment before she asked, “Do you love her?”

  Kaleb though about her question for a minute before he replied, “Yes, I love her, but not the way that I love you.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Although she tried to stop them, Dominique’s eyes pooled with tears. When one fell, Kaleb brushed it away with his finger. He used his hand to tilt her chin upwards while he looked down at her intently. He wanted to make sure that she completely understood what he was about to say.

  “I love Tiera. I care about her and I would never want to see her hurt, but I’m not in love with her. You are who my heart belongs to, always has and probably always will. I remember the first time I saw you again,” Kaleb told her, thinking back to the day that she walked into the house with her dude. “It was as if time stood still. I was shocked, sad, happy, and confused all at once. I didn’t know whether to speak or act like I didn’t know you.” He laughed. “I think I played it cool though, what do you think?”

  Dominique smiled. “You did a good job at first. Then you got thirsty.”

  “I’ll take that.” Kaleb laughed again. “I was happy as hell to see you. You don’t know how much I missed you and now that I got you back, I don’t plan on letting you go again.” He leaned down and slipped his tongue into her mouth…

  “Kaleb!” Tiera yelled, waving her hand back and forth in front of his face.

  Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked over at her and when he saw how she was staring at him, he wiped the goofy grin off his face. “Yeah?”

  “What is going on with you?”

  “Nothing. What you talking about? I was watching the TV,” he lied. He knew he couldn’t tell her that he was thinking about the last sexual encounter he had with another woman.

  Tiera tilted her head to the side and peered at him. “Really? Well, what just happened?” When she saw the dumb look on his face, she knew that she had him. “Exactly.”

  “Come on now, Te Te,” Kaleb moaned. “I was just thinking about something,” he told her honestly.

  “Care to share?” She propped her legs up on the couch and turned to completely face him. “Maybe I can help.”

  “Nah, it’s nothing.”

  Tiera snorted, “Whatever!”

  Standing, she picked up the plate and glass that she had been using and marched towards the kitchen. She was irritated that he was, once again, ignoring her. Today, she had planned to tell Kaleb some exciting news, but immediately changed her mind when she saw that he was caught up in his own thoughts, yet again. Things were already strained between the two of them, and Kaleb was to blame. Tiera had reached her limit. She was fed up with being treated as if she didn’t exist, and these last few weeks, it was even worse. Placing her hand on her stomach, all she could do was shake
her head. She had just recently found out that she was pregnant and more than likely conceived while they were on their vacation. At first, she as ecstatic and couldn’t wait to share the news, but when she got to Kaleb’s house the other day and saw that he was still acting a little distant, she changed her mind, planning to tell him that day. Now, Tiera was faced with a task on what to do next. There she was pregnant by the man she loved, and things were so messed up between the two of them, that she was contemplating on not telling him about it at all.

  What is the point? It’s not like it’s going to freakin’ matter anyway. Kaleb is too caught up with his own shit that he probably won’t even care, Tiera thought to herself before she sighed in annoyance. While she didn’t want to raise her child alone, she knew that she could. Tiera made more than enough money to support herself, and what she slacked in, she was sure her father would help. As she stood in the kitchen, she fought with herself on if she should say something or just let it be. Fuck that, I’m not going to be silent anymore. He’s going to have to tell me something because if he doesn’t, I’m walking out of that door and not looking back. With her mind now made, Tiera turned the faucet on and started to wash out the dishes she’d used. When she was finished, she sat them in the dish rack, turned off the water, and stormed back into the living room.

  “You know what? You are so full of shit, Kaleb!” she shouted, once she was standing beside the couch he was sitting on. Her French manicured finger pointed in his direction.

  “Damn, what I do now?” he asked, looking at her confused. When she placed her hands on her hips and looked him up and down, he spoke again. “Oh, you still tripping because I wasn’t watching the damn show? Come on Te Tee, it ain’t even that serious. We can always rewind it,” Kaleb told her, as if it was no big deal.

  Tiera’s face twisted into a look of pure annoyance because he didn’t get it. Kaleb had no idea why she was so upset, and that alone made her even more hurt. It had been weeks since he actually paid her any mind, but apparently whoever had his attention was much more important. As Kaleb sat on the couch looking up at her like she was the one with the problem, Tiera couldn’t do nothing but snort and shake her head.

  “The damn show ain’t the problem, Kaleb, you are!” Tiera snapped, “The sad thing is that you don’t even realize it. You’ve been ignoring me for weeks, and I’m tired of feeling like a fucking stranger when I’m around you.”

  Kaleb sat back on the couch and ran his hand over his face. “I make you feel like a stranger? Don’t you think you’re exaggerating now?”

  “Exaggerating?” she mocked him. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Kaleb! I’ve been ignored, put on the back burner, and made to feel like I was invisible for weeks! It doesn’t matter what I do, it doesn’t matter what I say, it’s like you don’t even see me anymore.” Tears filled Tiera’s eyelids, but she ran her hand over them to keep them from falling. It hurt her to know that there could possibly be someone else that Kaleb was dealing with behind her back. The fact that she was now pregnant with his child made it even worse. “I thought that maybe it was because business was stressing you for a minute and figured that once we got to the Virgin Islands, you’d go back to your old self. Boy, was I wrong.” Tiera sniffed before she threw her head back and laughed.

  “You were normal for the first few days. We had so much fun that I thought that I’d finally had my man back. Then, out of the blue, you became distant once again. Everything I wanted to do, you shut down. What started with sex all day long, turned into you not touching me once during the last few days. Do you know how fucked up that made me feel?” she asked, but didn’t give him a chance to reply. “We barely talked… hell, I started to feel like I was on the damn vacation by myself.”

  Although Kaleb wouldn’t admit it, he knew exactly what Tiera was talking about. Things were cool between the two of them the first three days of their vacation. They shopped, ate, had fun, and sexed until they both passed out. That is, until Dominique called him about NiChia going to jail. Once she found out that he was in the Virgin Islands with Tiera, she flipped out and told him not to call her again. While he felt she really didn’t have a reason to be mad, Kaleb still called her phone over and over again, only to never get an answer. From that moment, his attitude changed and he instantly felt down. No longer did he want to do anything with Tiera because all he could think about was Dominique and what she may have been doing back at home.

  “I just had a lot on my mind, baby. Shit was crazy those last few days,” he explained. “I apologize.”

  “Kaleb, please! You have been treating me like a damn stepchild since the day you came home from showing that house a few months ago.” When she said that, Kaleb’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He knew that he had been putting a lot of himself into Dominique, but not enough that he thought Tiera would notice. “So, I am on to something?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. Kaleb couldn’t do anything but drop his head. “Just tell me if there’s someone else. I can deal with it,” Tiera told him, even though she knew that it would break her heart to hear. It was one thing to think it, but entirely different to actually know.

  “There’s no one,” Kaleb lied.

  “Well, you know what? I don’t believe you.”

  With that, Tiera turned and walked away. As she passed the table in the foyer, she grabbed her keys out of the crystal bowl they sat in. Kaleb continued to sit on the couch. He figured she was going upstairs to his room and wanted to give her her space. When Kaleb heard the jingling sound of her keys, he knew she was on her way out the door. He jumped up and rushed over in that direction. By the time he got there, Tiera was removing her purse from the coat hook and slipping her feet into her shoes. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do next. Kaleb knew he was selfish to try to keep her, knowing that he was in love with someone else. A part of him wanted to just let her go, but he couldn’t because he really did care for her and didn’t want things to end between the two of them. Not only that, but Kaleb was afraid of letting Tiera go because he wasn’t even sure if Dominique was an option anymore. It was a fucked up way of thinking, but it was how he felt.

  “What do you want me to say? What do you want me to do?” he asked, reaching out and grabbing her by her arm.

  Tiera turned around and snatched away. She looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Tears were now streaming down her face. She was hurt, confused, and angry all at the same time. On one hand, Tiera really wanted to believe that maybe she was overreacting. Maybe Kaleb did have a lot on his mind, which would explain the way he had been acting towards her lately. She also wanted to believe that Kaleb would never cheat on her, but her gut instincts told her a different story. Tiera knew her boyfriend was a very handsome and successful man, who had women just waiting for an opportunity to get a take her place; a place that, up until then, she was sure she was secure in. Now, Tiera couldn’t be certain. She looked up at Kaleb with sadness in her eyes. This was a man that she loved so much. Other than her father, no other man had captured her heart the way Kaleb had; and that was a big deal to Tiera.

  After her mother walked out on her and her father when she was ten, Tiera was lost. She didn’t know what to do, who to trust, and how to feel. Every day, she went to bed crying because she believed that her father, Ron, would up and leave her as well. Her mother had gotten tired of playing house, so why wouldn’t he, was what Tiera asked herself constantly. She couldn’t understand how a mother could just leave her child and never come back. It wasn’t like she was on drugs or anything; she just didn’t want to do the whole ‘family thing’ anymore. Ron was also crushed, but he wouldn’t dare let his daughter see him broken. Instead, he worked hard and make sure that Tiera had everything she wanted and needed. Tiera became a daddy’s girl, and, soon after, all her fears of her father leaving went away. She knew that if no one else loved her, her daddy did.

  With Ron being named The Accountant to the Stars, he worked with everyone, from the top paid athl
etes, to the A-list movie stars. In fact, his connections were what gave Tiera her big break in modeling. Once she graduated school, Ron allowed her to travel with him. On one of his trips to Paris to do business with his client who played Rugby, Tiera caught the eye of his wife, who just so happened to be the owner of her own modeling agency. During that trip, Tiera took a few pictures for an ad for swimsuits, and before the month was out, she was getting calls from fashion lines all over the world. Seeing that his daughter was about to blow up, Ron hired her one of the best agents in the game, Blake Reeves. With Reeves now running things, Tiera’s face was everywhere, and in just six short months, she took the modeling industry by storm.

  Tiera’s reign lasted for four years before she got tired of all of the traveling and long hours and decided to take a step back. Coincidently, that was also when she met and fell for Kaleb. Now, she poses strictly for the company that she works for and nothing more. Tiera had settled into the comfortable life with Kaleb because she thought that they both wanted the same things. Marriage, children, and a family were things that they’d talked about before. Now, it seemed Kaleb wanted something else, and no matter what he said, his actions showed it. Tiera was no fool and wasn’t going to play one. She was tired of chasing Kaleb down and made up her mind that, if he wanted her, he was going to have to prove it.

  “I want you to tell me the damn truth!” She cried, “I know you, Kaleb. We’ve been together for over a year and never have you switched up on me. You’ve always been the same man that I’ve grown to love, but now something is different.” She looked him up and down with a frown on her face. “It’s like your body is here, but your mind isn’t. I’m not sure what or who has gotten into you.”

  “I’m sorry for being distant, but I promise to you that there’s no one else. I love you, girl.” Kaleb hated to see her cry.

  While Kaleb tried his hardest to make her believe what he was saying, she didn’t. Tiera saw right through to his façade, and knew that although she knew he did in fact love her, she wasn’t who captured his heart any longer. Just knowing that broke her heart into a million pieces and made it hard for her to breath. This was the man that she planned to someday marry. The father of her unborn child, and there he was standing before her lying through his teeth. Tiera knew that Kaleb was a good guy who didn’t really play games, and it was then that she realized that whoever it was that held his attention was someone that he truly loved, even more so than her.