When He Cheatin' and You Still Love Him 2

by Cachet

  After everything was said and done Terry had the nerve to try to tell me that he ain’t fucked with her in months. Talking about he cut her off when we broke up the first time. Yeah fucking right! I don’t know what kind of fool he took me for, but whatever kind it was, I ain’t it. When I said I was done with Terry’s bullshit, I meant it. This is why I’m glad that I didn’t allow myself to get sucked back into his trap. If so, I would have been more hurt than I was. I ain’t gone lie, that shit ate me up. I tried my best not to break down and cry in the car. Even though we aren’t together, to hear that he’s fucked another bitch—no matter when it happened—hurt my feelings. I held it for the entire ride back to the hotel, and only after Kendrick went to bed did I let it out.

  Yeah, I’m done with Terry. He can try all he might, but that chick put the nail in the coffin. These hoes can have him. As long as he takes care of our daughter, I don’t care about nothing else.

  “Mommy, your phone was ringing,” Kendrick tells me handing me my phone.

  “Where did you find it?”

  “It was in the kitchen.”

  “I did have it earlier today when I was cooking lunch,” I say scrolling through my missed calls. “Thank you, baby.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  When I see that Toya had called me, I hit the send key and call her back. The voicemail picks up on the first ring. I start to leave a message, but before I get a chance to my phone begins to ring. It’s Toya.

  “What’s up boo,” I say once the call is connected.

  “Shanair, is Terry around you?” She asks frantically.

  “No, he’s not over here. I haven’t spoken to him all week. What’s going on?”

  With a shaky voice she says, “Girl, Greg has gotten into an accident. I need Terry to come and get the kids so I can go meet him at the hospital.”

  “Oh my God, is he okay?” I ask in a panic.

  “I don’t know. They aren’t telling me anything over the phone. Terrionna!” She yells to her daughter. “You and your brother put some clothes on! Hello, Shanair?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Let me go, I need to find Terry.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. “Give me a minute to get dressed, and I’ll come over and get them.”

  “Thank you so much Shanair. I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll be there in a few.”

  After hanging up the phone, I tell Kendrick to get dressed before throwing on something quick myself. As I race around the house as fast as my growing stomach will allow, I say a quick prayer that Greg is alright. I’m not sure how bad the accident was, but I hope that he’s wasn’t hurt too bad. I can’t imagine how Toya feels right now. To find out that the person you love has been in an accident is already scary enough, and then to not be told anything more about it would drive anyone crazy. It takes me all of five minutes to get dressed. As I pass Kendrick’s room, he comes out dressed as well. Together we head down the stairs and out the door.

  Thirty minutes later I pull up in Toya’s driveway and see that she’s already outside. Tears are streaming down her face as she paces back and forth in front of her house. When she sees me she walks over to my car, and when I climb out we hug.

  “I’m so scared girl. I don’t know what’s going on.” She starts to cry.

  “It’s going to be okay, babe,” I whisper in her ear as I rub circles on her back.

  As we continue our embrace, I see a black car drive by out of the corner of my eye. It’s going extremely slow up the street, almost too slow. If I were a gang banger and we were in the hood, I would swear that it was about to be a drive by. The car continues its pace, and if I didn’t know any better, I would swear it feels like the driver is looking right at me. I can’t make out whose inside because the windows are tinted so dark, but something about it gives me the creeps. I continue to stare at it for a few moments as it continues up the street and out of sight.

  “Where are the kids?” I ask shaking off the eerie feeling.

  No sooner than the words leave my lips, they both come running out the front door. With smiles on each of their faces, it seems to me that Toya hasn’t told them anything about Greg’s accident. Either that or they don’t completely understand. Not wanting to scare the kids of something being wrong, Toya and I break our embrace. She turns her back to the kids and wipes the tears from her face, before turning back to face them with a weak smile. Terrionna is the first one to the truck, and as she opens up the back door, she tells me hello before sliding into the seat beside Kendrick. Terrance Jr., on the other hand, runs around to the truck and gives me a big hug. I’m not sure if it’s because of Kendrick or not, but he and I are much closer than I am with Terrionna.

  “Hey, big boy!” I greet him, bending down to kiss him on the cheek.

  “Hey Shanair, I’ve missed you!” He squeals.

  Hearing this makes me feel bad because I haven’t allowed him come over in a few weeks because I’ve been upset with Terry. Like I said before, it’s also because I really don’t want the reminder of Terry around. Looking at the way this little boy is squeezing me tightly around my waist lets me know that I’ve been selfish as hell, and I need to stop it. It’s not his fault that his father and I have decided to call it quits.

  “I’ve missed you too baby,” I tell him lifting his head with my finger. “I’m sorry I haven’t been to pick you up in a while.”

  “Can I spend the night tonight?” He asks looking up at me with those puppy dog eyes.

  I swear this boy looks just like his father, I think to myself before glancing over at Toya. She simply nods.

  “You sure can. I can do you even better. How about we make it two nights?” I give him a wink.

  Terrance Jr. smiles brightly before yelling, “Two nights are perfect!”

  “Can I spend the night too Shanair?” Terrionna asks.

  “I don’t see why not.”

  I stick around for a few more minutes while Terrionna and Terrance Jr. go grab their overnight bags. With the kids now strapped into the back seat, I prepare to leave, but not before I tell Toya’s to call me when she finds out something about Greg. As I’m pulling out of the driveway Terry calls. I answer and let him know what happen to Greg, and let him know that I have picked up the kids and are taking them home with me. He asks if he could come over, and since his children would be there I tell him yeah, but only for a little while. Even though I’m still upset about the mall thing, I’m tired of holding a grudge. We speak for a little while longer before we disconnect the call.

  On my way home, I decide to make a pit stop to get something to eat because I’m not in the mood to cook anything. Since I have a taste for Chipotle, it’s my next destination. When I pull into the shopping plaza, I’m lucky to find a parking space right in front of the restaurant. That luck seems to disappear when I see just how many people are inside. As always the line is damn near out the freaking door. I sigh as I gather the kids and go inside. It takes us close to twenty minutes to get to the front of the line, and once we do it takes another ten for the kids to decide what they wanted on their burritos which irritates the group of young females behind us. After hearing a few of them smack their teeth and say little slick shit to one another, I cut my eyes at the ignorant bitches, and just like I thought they shut the hell up.

  Once we left Chipotle, the rest of the ride home is spent with me in deep thought. Even though the kids are in the backseat excitedly talking about the fun things they are planning to do these next two days, I’m completely zoned out. I have finally acknowledged the fact that I have less than three months before I’m due to give birth to my princess, and that’s if I make it full term. My emotions overcome me when I come to terms with the fact that the things that I planned are not turning out the way that I intended for them to. The biggest being the fact that Terry and I are broken up. Although I’m coming to terms with it finally being over, it doesn’t change the fact that it hurts. I
t hurts because this is not how I imagined us. I pictured to two of us married and raising out children together.

  Thinking back, I can honestly say that if I had known years ago that this would be us at this moment, I would have never stuck around as long as I did. I ain’t gone lie, the reason I stayed with Terry for as long as I did was because I thought that he would finally change, and we would make it work out in the long run. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t work out that way, and even though it isn’t my fault, I once again am forced to accept the fact that I’ve had yet another failed relationship.

  *****

  It’s almost eleven, and I’m just now able to kick my feet up and relax. Terry came for a few hours to see the kids as promised. Once here, he shared with me the reason why he had Shad with him. He told me that as soon as we left the mall that day Katrina called him from jail. Apparently, she had gotten arrested for drugs that the police found in her house, and because Shad was home at the time they took him down to Children’s Services. Terry had to go down there and get him, and since that day the two of them have been living at the hotel where Terry has been staying. With Shad only being three, he doesn’t really know what’s happening with his mother, but even then it’s sad that he has to go through this.

  While they continued their visit, I warmed up the leftovers that I’d cooked the day before yesterday because knowing Terry, he and Shad had been living on nothing, but McDonald’s. Obviously that was the case, because as soon as I put the orange chicken, sautéed Brussel sprouts and rice pilaf on the plate in front of them, they both dug in. The kids and I laughed at how fast Terry cleaned his plate. He didn’t seem to care at all, though. I guess it was because he was happy to be eating. Before he left, he asked if it was okay if Shad stayed the night because he had to work. Since I already had all of the other kids I didn’t see a problem with it, and just told him to come by in the morning with him a change of clothes.

  It seemed like as soon as Terry was out the door, Toya called. She decided to stay the night in the hospital with Greg who thankfully is doing alright. He ended up walking away with a broken arm, fractured wrist, whiplash and a few stitches in his forehead from hitting it on the steering wheel when he collided with a tree on the side of the road. With the injury to his neck and head, the doctors are keeping him under observation for a few days until they are sure that he hasn’t sustained any further injuries.

  Toya explained that detectives had come up to the hospital and asked both her and Greg a bunch of questions. They wanted to know if there was anyone that they could think of who wanted to harm them. Toya said they both looked at one another baffled. Neither of them knew what the detective was trying to say until they revealed their reasoning behind the questioning. Come to find out the break line to the car had been cut. Toya cried as she told me how scared and nervous she was about the entire thing because she knew that Greg wasn’t the intended target for whoever set up the accident. You see, it was her car that Greg was driving that day. Since Toya was the last one to come home the night before, she had blocked him in. She and the kids were sleeping when he got up for work this morning, so he grabbed her keys and took hers instead of waking her up to move it.

  I tried my best to calm her down. I even told her about what had happened with Katrina, but after we both agreed that her being jailed was messed up, Toya started right back talking about the incident. She just kept saying that it could have easily been her and the kids in the car, and the accident could have turned out worse than it had. Although I wanted to calm her down, I knew she was right and hoped that whoever had tampered with her car didn’t try to do it again. I can’t believe that someone would be so cruel as to do something like that. With a car being so powerful and fast, having no breaks could have ended in quite a few fatalities. Even though it’s messed up, I’m thankful that Greg hit a tree because it could have easily been a crowd of people instead. Once Toya was good and tired from crying all day, she asked me to kiss the kids for her and promised to call me tomorrow.

  Lying in my bed, I elect not to take a bubble bath like I had planned earlier. My body is tired, and I’m exhausted from today’s events. All I want to do is close my eyes and go to bed. Sluggishly I climb out of bed and walk down the hall to Kendrick’s bedroom. He, Shad and Terrance Jr. are passed out on the floor in their sleeping bags while Terrionna is wrapped up in a sheet asleep on the edge of the bed. Usually, I would pick up Terrance Jr., and Shad and take them to the guest room, but the way my stomach is set up, I allow them to sleep right where they are. I step into the room and power off the television before going back into my bedroom, where I cut off the lights. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a light.

  *****

  The sound of glass breaking wakes me out of my sleep.

  “Ow!” I cry out when I feel a muscle pull in my stomach from sitting up too fast.

  My eyes quickly scan my dark room. When they land on the illuminating clock on the cable box, I see that it’s a little after three in the morning. Reaching over, I click the light on the nightstand, and toss the cover off. When my feet hit the floor, I shuffle over to the window and peep out. Nothing is out of the ordinary, so I close the curtains and make my way over to my bedroom door. The hallway is pitch black, and I silently curse at the kids for not leaving the light on in the bathroom like I’ve told them time and time again. It’s so dark that I can barely see in front of myself.

  Slowly I tiptoe down the hallway, all the while I’m straining my ears trying to see if I can hear anything else. The sound of someone moving around in the living room stops me dead in my tracks. Fear grips me, and I almost scream out in a panic before I remind myself that it’s best for me to stay quiet. Oh my, God, somebody is in my house? My first thought is to get to my son’s room and protect the kids. I’m almost at Kendrick’s door when I hear the toilet in the hallway flush. When I hear that I damn near pee on myself. Moments later I hear water running before the hallway brightens up when the bathroom door is opened. I’m relieved when Terrionna appears rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She gives me a sleepy smile as she makes her way back toward the room.

  Maybe it was her I heard. I rationalize.

  This relief is short-lived. Both Terrionna and I turn our heads in the direction of the stairs when we hear someone running up them quickly. I watch in horror as a big ass white pit bull rounds the corner. How in the fuck? It stares at the two of us for a second before it bares its teeth and starts to growl. My motherly instincts kick in, and I grab Terrionna by the back of her shirt and toss her into the room. When I do this, the pit bull crouches down and charges at me. Before he gets a chance to bite, I step inside the door quickly and begin to push it closed behind me. Right before it closes all the way, the head and shoulders of the pit bull pop through. It barks and attempts to squeeze its way completely inside the door while I’m trying like hell to keep my weight against it because I know if it comes into this room he’s going to attack us. It’s hard because this dog is strong as hell.

  “Ahhhh!” Kendrick screams when he wakes up to find a dog lunging just inches from where he’s sleeping.

  He and Shad hop on the bed and out of harm’s way. Terrance Jr., on the other hand, runs over and assists me in trying to close the door.

  “Terrionna!” I yell. “Grab Kendrick’s bat from the closet and hit the dog in the nose.” I instruct her. She continues to sit in the same spot I threw her just moments before. Fear is etched on her face. “Go ahead baby, you can do it. He can’t get to you. I just need him to move his head, so I can close the door, that’s all.” I coach her.

  Terrionna walks over to the closet and opens it. When she locates the bat, she slowly makes her way over to the door. She looks up at me, and I nod my head letting her know to do it. She raises the bat up and brings it down against the dogs head. It shakes off the hit as if it’s nothing before going right back to barking and trying to push his way inside. Terrance Jr. stops helping me with the door and rush
es over to his sister. He snatches the bat from her hand and begins to hit the dog in the face over and over again. His hits must have worked because before long the dog is whimpering and scoots backward out of the door. Once he’s back far enough, I slam the door shut and lock it.

  Immediately I grab the cordless phone in Kendrick’s room and dial 911. The dog begins to scratch on the door from the other side before finally walking away. Once the operator answers, I explain what had just happened. Since I’m not sure if someone is in the house or not, she keeps me on the line while she sends the police over. While I wait I thank God that neither of us was harmed. I’m so glad that I didn’t take the kids into the guest room to sleep because if I did, it would have been impossible for me to protect everyone and things would have not turned out in our favor. The sound of the dog tearing up something in my room gets my attention. For a minute, I wonder what it’s gotten into, but then I realize that I really don’t care. As long as it’s not me or the kids, everything else can be replaced.

  As I slide down the wall out of breath, I can’t help but to ask myself, how in the fuck did a dog get in my house in the first goddamn place?

  Chapter 15

  Terry

  I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but shit has been crazy this last past week. I’m over here going through it trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and who is responsible for all the fucked up shit that’s been happening lately. If it ain’t been one thing, it’s another because it seems as if every time I turn around something foul is happening to my baby mommas and I’m getting tired of the shit.