Sorry Ain't Enough 2

by Tiana Grover

  I hadn’t had the desire to sleep with a man in over ten years until I laid eyes on Prince. I could tell he was about five years younger than me but his presence took over the room without him even having to try. Everything about him screamed that he was a boss. That was a quality that attracted me to both men and women. It was one of the main things that attracted me to Maria. That’s all I was drawn to: bosses. I guess you can say it had a lot to do with my upbringing. My mother was an ATF agent and my father was a deputy in the FBI. Being raised in a family of high-ranking law officials, I was used to being surrounded by power. It was an aphrodisiac for me; I absolutely loved it.

  I gave Prince the sexy eye all night but he never said a word to me. Either he was gay or wasn’t attracted to me. I didn’t believe he liked men at all and knew my looks weren’t the case. I was the color of milk chocolate with gray eyes. My short hair was always laid right and only the finest designer clothes graced my body when I was off duty.

  When all of my subtle looks to him didn’t work, I decided to try a different tactic. I’m used to getting what I wanted so instead of waiting for him to come to me, I decided to approach him instead. I sent him a drink and the rest was history.

  Prince handled my body like a pro. No one had ever sexed me the way he did. Plus on top of that, the man was smart as hell. He had my mind gone. Here I was, a highly decorated officer on the Pittsburgh Police Force, married to a judge, daughter of an ATF and FBI agent, and I was screwing the man that flooded Western Pennsylvania with pistols and assault rifles. We all saw the increasing availability of firearms to both the street kids and street generals over the last ten years but we had no idea where they were getting them. Come to find out they were getting them from him.

  As an officer of the law, I should have hauled his ass in but there was no way in the world I was about to do that. To keep him off the radar, I turned everyone’s focus on a motorcycle gang based in Lawrenceville. They were something like the Hell’s Angels and a few of their leaders had various weapons charges. It didn’t seem implausible that they could be supplying the city with guns.

  After successfully busting a few of them, I was able to focus full force on my affair with Prince. My mind told me to stop before I got too caught up with him but my heart and my body were on a different page. I couldn’t leave that man alone if I tried.

  I got so caught up with Prince that I basically neglected Maria. I definitely didn’t do that on purpose; it was just that I was so in love with him that pleasing him took precedence over my marriage. I knew that was wrong but I couldn’t help it; I’m not ashamed to admit the young boy had me open like that.

  Even though we were technically on the creep, we didn’t act like it. We did everything that regular couples did. We went to the movies, comedy shows, restaurants, everything. I never asked him if he had a woman in his life because he treated me like I was his woman. He knew I was married but since I didn’t talk about it, neither did he. We had the perfect “situation” until Maria caught me leaving our little spot out Harmarville with him. My suspicious ways had made her follow me and as a result, I was busted. She didn’t say a thing in front of Prince and waited till he drove off to confront me. She basically gave me an ultimatum: her or Prince.

  I chose my wife that day but that didn’t mean I stayed away from Prince. I couldn’t stay away from him if I tried but I didn’t try; I felt like I was addicted to him. I loved him more than Maria and I guess I was showing it. When she caught me a second time, by going through my phone, she was devastated. She threatened to leave for good. I knew I was being selfish but I couldn’t let that happen. I definitely wanted to have my cake and eat it too.

  In hindsight, it was definitely one of the dumbest decisions I had ever made to invite Maria to come to bed with me and Prince. At the time, I didn’t want to lose her and I guess for whatever reason I thought it was smart for her to see why I loved him so much. I thought if she could experience him the way that I had, she would see why I couldn’t just walk away from him.

  At first she refused. Like me, she’d been in an extremely abusive relationship that had had turned her towards men. After much convincing, she finally gave in. I was thrilled. I could really have my cake and eat it too.

  Or so I thought.

  The threesome went completely opposite of the way I planned it. Prince couldn’t get enough of Maria. I felt like I was the outsider instead of the other way around. I tried to blame it on the fact that my wife was beyond beautiful, plus she was built like a porn star. Any man would be enthralled with her. Yet when he slid up in her raw in that Jacuzzi, something he had never done with me, I knew it was because he was really feeling her. He’d always been so careful when we had sex, even going so far as to pull out of me before he came and he would have a condom on! But that night he was so far up Maria’s ass that when she started to bounce on his dick in that Jacuzzi, he didn’t make a move to push her off. They were so into each other that they barely paid me any mind.

  Needless to say, things didn’t return to normal after that. No matter how many times I called Prince, he didn’t answer. My relationship with him wasn’t the only thing that changed though. I could tell from the way Maria reacted to him that his persona and magic stick had her under his spell too. We only slept together two, maybe three times after our threesome. I knew why. We were both craving Prince.

  The tables had turned, and this time it was Maria that became the distant one. She left for work earlier and came home later. I barely saw her anymore. On her days off all she did was sleep, all day long. I noticed she was getting a little thicker around the hips and her breasts were a little fuller but paid it no mind… until one day I came home early and she was standing in front of the mirror butt ass naked, rubbing her stomach. The bump was barely there but it was noticeable.

  “What the fuck?!” I’d yelled at her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her bulge.

  She’d jumped like I startled her.

  “When were you planning on telling me?” I asked her as my heart broke. I knew without a doubt she was carrying Prince’s baby. That hurt more than the fact that she was actually pregnant. If anyone was supposed to have his baby, it was supposed to be me! He didn’t even know Maria and had only fucked her once; why was she the one that got to carry his baby? Why wasn’t it me?

  I didn’t even want to look at her as she put her clothes on. She didn’t offer an explanation because one wasn’t really needed. I already knew who she was pregnant by and I knew exactly when it happened.

  “I was going to tell you, Bree, I just didn’t know how. I honestly thought that I needed to tell him first,” was her response.

  “For what? I’m your wife!”

  “Yes you are my wife but he is my baby’s father,” she replied smartly. “You don’t have anything to do with this baby. This is something that I needed to discuss with him before you, seeing as how we created this child. You had nothing to do with it.”

  “I introduced you to him! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be pregnant right now!” I yelled at her. I felt so betrayed by her. It was one thing for me to share Prince with her; it was something entirely different for her to go and get pregnant by him. He had been mine for years; she had no right to make any claims to him.

  Maria was dressed by now. She shook her head at me and chuckled. “I know right? Isn’t it ironic? The man that you couldn’t stay away from, the man you couldn’t keep your hands off of, the man that you put before our marriage, is the father of my baby. Kinda funny when you think about it right?”

  Steam was coming from my ears. If I didn’t know any better I would swear this bitch did this shit on purpose. It seemed like she was getting a kick out of it. She knew how much I loved Prince so she knew just how much this was hurting me. “Get the fuck out!”

  She grabbed her Prada bag and threw me a disgusted look. “Bree, please. This is both of our house, and it has more than enough room for me to raise my baby. If anybody leaves, it’ll be you.
You know you can’t keep this house up without me.” She smirked, hitting me where it hurt. She knew that it bothered me that she made more money than I did. No matter how many promotions I received or how much I moved up the ladder at the force, I would never make as money as she did as a judge.

  “Now I’m going to see my baby’s father to tell him about this. We can talk when I get back.”

  My baby’s father. You would think I would be more hurt at the fact that she was pregnant, but I wasn’t. I was torn that she was pregnant by the love of my life, and from the smug look she had on her face before she left, I knew that she was perfectly aware of that fact. It seemed like she was gloating about it to me.

  Heartbroken over the fact that Prince had a baby on the way, and with my wife no less, I called him to warn him that she was on her way over there. I expected him to be sympathetic towards my feelings since I had been rocking with him for so long. Instead I was thrown for a loop once more when he told me he had a woman.

  A woman? Now where did this bitch come from? I was so heartbroken over him that I could do nothing but sit there and wail as I put Maria’s clothes into her bags and suitcases. Her smug ass had to go. Yeah I might struggle to keep appearances by keeping this house knowing damn well I couldn’t afford it without her, but her backstabbing ass wasn’t going to live here with me. She was bold as hell to think that having a baby by my man was okay with me. What did she expect us to do, raise the child together? No. If anyone deserved to have Prince’s baby, it was me. I wanted her out of my house and out of my life for this shit. She knew how much Prince meant to me. I started to think she did this shit out of spite just to hurt me. She had always been jealous of the way I felt about him.

  I went to my bar and poured a shot of Crown Royal. I was going crazy wondering what Prince said when he saw her. It made me mad all over again.

  I know I should have been upset with him too, but something in me just wouldn’t allow me to be. I guess I loved him too much.

  I did know one thing though. I was tired of our “situation.” It was time for me to start playing for keeps. I didn’t care about his woman or Maria for that matter. He was all I really wanted. I was confident in my ability to get him too.

  I always got what I wanted.

  Chapter Five

  “Cause it’s not about love, it’s all about revenge…”

  K. Michelle “Cry”

  Chloe

  “Can I have my change please?”

  I looked at the drunk girl in front of me. It was two thirty, and all the partygoers that didn’t hit the after hours spot seemed to always make it to the Sunoco on Negley Avenue where I worked. I hated dealing with all their drunk asses.

  The girl in front of me probably weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet. She had to have about six bundles of the best Brazilian hair money could buy in her head, a pound of makeup on her face and her fake lashes were crooked. She was swaying from left to right to keep her balance in her cheap heels. Still, she had the nerve to put her hand on her hip and glare at me.

  She had purchased a ninety-nine cent Arizona Iced Tea with a dollar bill. Most people didn’t want the penny that was their change, but here she was acting like I didn’t give her one hundred dollars back instead of one cent.

  Sighing, I reached into the drawer and got her penny.

  “Mmmph, she got the nerve to have an attitude about your money,” one of her friends said with a snort.

  Of course that comment, combined with her liquid courage, got her hype. “Right! Her attitude is probably why she got that scar on her face.”

  Her friend, and a few people in line behind them, snickered.

  I was pissed. Any mention of the scar on my face immediately set me off. I slammed her penny on the counter and glared at her.

  “Oh you mad? What, you feeling froggy? If you that bad, leap,” she challenged me.

  I shook my head. If she knew what was good for her, she would shut up… Quickly. “You really don’t want these problems. Go home and sleep it off.”

  “Naw since you got such an attitude and so much to say, I wanna know if you mad!” Her voice grew louder with each word that she spoke, making my temperature rise.

  I leaned over the counter. “You wanna know what I do to smart mouth little bitches like you?”

  Before the girl could respond, I felt someone pulling on my arm. “Chloe its time for your break,” Gerri said with a smile. The drunk girl yelled obscenities as she walked out and I had half a mind to follow her and take all of my frustrations out on her. I had plenty, starting with this damn job.

  It wasn’t really my break time. Gerri had just said that to save my ass… again. I waited a few minutes then walked out to the front to smoke a cigarette.

  It was the middle of November but it felt good as hell outside. I wished I could climb in my whip and pull off but I couldn’t afford to leave. I needed every single hour I could get since Prince had cut me off financially.

  It still seemed unreal to me. This was the first time in my life that I actually had to work to support myself. I hadn’t wanted for shit since I was sixteen; Prince had taken care of me financially ever since we hooked up. Now that he called himself getting a woman and settling down, I had to take whatever job I could get to pay the bills. With no GED or high school diploma, the pickings for me were slim to none. I didn’t want to work at Sunoco at all, especially during the graveyard shift, but I really had no choice in the matter.

  The little paycheck they gave me should have really been considered a stipend but I needed it. Gerri knew that too, which was why she took over for me when I was ready to leap over the counter and beat that drunk girl senseless.

  I finished my cigarette and went back into the store. It was pretty clear now. I walked behind the bulletproof glass.

  “Thanks, I’m good now,” I told Gerri. “You can go head.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked me, her face full of concern. “I hate to see you let these folks get to you like this.”

  I was about to tell her yes, I was sure until the door swung open and two more drunk customers came in. I recognized one of them right away. I touched the scar that ran down the length of my cheek as I glared at her. “Sierra,” I mumbled.

  I wanted to run from behind this counter for the second time and whoop her ass as payback for the shitty situation I was in. The scar on my face was from her. I was working for minimum wage because of her. I was miserable because of her. I hated that bitch with a passion. She had stolen Prince from me, which was basically stealing my way of life. I blamed everything on this hoe.

  “You are not ready,” Gerri told me with a shake of her head. “Go on in the back, Chloe. I’ll handle them too.”

  I stepped aside but didn’t go in the back. I couldn’t. I looked Sierra up and down from head to toe. The orange dress and jewels she had on showed me that she was clearly living it up with Prince, living the life that was supposed to be mine. I was the one that had put in ten years with him and accepted all of his bullshit, but here this bitch had came out of nowhere and he put her ass on a pedestal. That burned me up to no end. What about me?

  Sierra approached the counter with wobbly legs. The girl that was with her was holding her up, laughing. They both put Wild Cherry Pepsi’s on the counter.

  “I can’ wait to get home to my man,” Sierra sang in a drunk voice. “He’s gone put it on me soooo good…” She swayed her hips back and forth like she was dancing.

  “Si! Cut it out!” The girl looked at Gerri with a laugh. “Sorry ma’am. My big sister is a little drunk right now. It’s her birthday and her man just proposed to her, so we’re celebrating her engagement too.”

  Proposed? I looked at Sierra’s left hand, which she had on the counter. Sure enough, a huge rock was shining on her finger. I was literally sick to my stomach.

  “Yup!” Sierra held her hand out to Gerri and sang, “He liked it so he put a ring on it!”

  Gerri laughed at her drunk version of Beyonc�
�’s “Single Ladies” and rang them up. “Congratulations,” she said with a smile as they left out.

  Sierra, still stumbling, turned back and grinned. “Thank you!” Then she left out of the store.

  Gerri turned towards me. “You can take over now, Chloe.”

  I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get the image of Sierra’s ring out of my head. Absently, I stroked the scar on my cheek. It was a souvenir from the fight me and Sierra had back in the summer. I had told Prince about her being all hugged up with some nigga in the bar and instead of being mad at her, they left the bar together. Where they do that at? The bitch had some sort of spell over him that didn’t cause him to think straight.

  When I approached her, the bitch pulled a punk move and slid out of my way, so I tripped. She took advantage of the fact that I was on the ground and started kicking me in my face with her heels, which is where the scar came from. That was the biggest punk move in the world to me. She couldn’t even fight me like a woman.

  “Chloe!”

  Gerri was calling my name but I didn’t hear her. I couldn’t believe that Prince had really put a rock on that bitch’s finger. After all we had been through together, he continued to choose her over me. What was so good about her?

  I walked away from the counter and Gerri. I had to get the fuck outta there, even though I really couldn’t afford to leave early and lose any money on my paycheck. I still left though. The news about Sierra and Prince’s engagement through me for a loop.

  Even though it was the middle of the night, I texted the one person who I knew would be even more pissed about this engagement than I was.