Chapter 7
C
ourtney lay in bed with Christian beside her as she snickered at the group text thread she was engaged in with her girls.
It felt so good to see her friends. She hadn’t realized how much she missed them until they were all in the same room.
She heard the front door open, and she looked at the time.
It was a little after midnight. He was home early.
She hated the tension that filled her home when he walked through the door.
He filled her with instant anxiety, and she didn’t know when their dynamic had become this toxic exchange.
She listened to his every movement as he made his way through the house. The way her body braced itself for bullshit was alarming. Her eyes misted because she realized somewhere in the history of their relationship, she had begun to fear this man. She didn’t even know when or how it had occurred.
His shadow appeared in the bedroom door, and he flicked on the light without regard.
“Can you turn out the light?” she asked. “The baby’s asleep.” It was insensitive habits like this that made him selfish. He only considered himself in their existence.
“My bad,” he said. He turned out the light and undressed in the dark, coming out of his clothes and leaving them in the middle of the floor.
“I thought you were working a double tonight?” she asked.
“They shut down construction for the night due to the snow we’re expecting,” he explained. “What you been doing all day?”
“Not much,” she said. “Ran a few errands.”
He had just gotten home and had already earned two strikes on her shit list. He never picked up after himself. He just assumed she was going to come behind him and take care of it. It was like she had two kids to take care of.
“I thought you were going to clean up today?” he asked.
“I didn’t have time,” she answered. “I’ll get to it tomorrow.”
“How is it possible that you sit at home all day but don’t have time to clean this house? Did you cook?” he asked.
That, she had done. She had put a roast in the Crock-Pot before she met up with her girls.
“Yeah, there’s a plate in the oven for you,” she informed.
That seemed to be enough to stop him from talking shit.
He walked into the adjoining bathroom and closed the door.
She sighed in relief when she heard the shower come on.
Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up to continue her conversation with her friends when she noticed Ellie had hit her on the side.
Ellie
Hey! Cass just pulled up to your house. He has diapers and formula for you.
“Shit,” she mumbled as she scrambled from the bed, making sure to push Christian to the middle of the mattress as she hurried to the door before Cassidy rang the bell.
She opened the door just as he was coming up the stairs.
“Hey, Court. How you doing, baby?” Cassidy asked. “My fault about stopping by so late. It took me a minute to wrap things up. I put this stuff to the side for you. I thought you could use it for the baby.”
“Oh, umm, I told Ellie we didn’t need charity, Cass,” Courtney stated.
Cass placed the boxes down on the porch and stood, hiking up his pants as he stared Courtney in the eyes.
“No charity, Court. This is just extras. If you don’t take it, I have to give it back to the sponsors. I’d rather gift it to the baby, you know?”
Courtney heard Christian begin to whine, and she glanced back inside the house.
“I’m sorry, the baby just woke up. Give me a second,” she stammered. She rushed back into the bedroom, slipped into her satin kimono robe, and then scooped Christian from the bed. She rushed back to the door.
“You can… umm… just place the stuff right here by the closet. Thank you, Cass. This really wasn’t necessary,” she said.
“No problem, Court. You’re family,” he said. “Man, he’s little. Handsome, too,” Cassidy complimented.
Courtney smiled as she bounced Christian in her arms while rubbing his back.
“Thanks, Cass,” she smiled and kissed her baby’s cheeks.
“I’ll get this stuff inside and get out your hair,” he said.
He began to carry the cases of diapers inside.
There were over twenty cases, and over thirty cans of formula that he had pulled aside for her.
“This should last you for a while. If you ever need anything else, you know I’m just a phone call away, right? ”
“What’s all this?” James asked as he emerged from the bedroom.
Courtney stiffened, and panic filled her because she knew James and his pride would take Cassidy’s kindness as offensive.
“This is Ellie’s brother. We went to support his charity event today,” Courtney explained.
“Cassidy.” Cass stuck out his hand to greet James.
“It’s kind of late, ain’t it?” James held suspicion in his tone and reluctantly shook Cassidy’s hand.
“Yeah, man, my bad. I just wanted to make sure I got this to Court.”
“We ain’t in need of no handouts, my man. We appreciate the gesture, though,” James stated.
She sucked in air because she knew he would take this the wrong way.
Cassidy frowned. “It ain’t like that, man. She’s my sister’s friend. I’m just looking out.”
“Yeah, nah, we’re good, fam,” James stated sternly. “Take the baby in the back and get him to sleep.”
Cassidy’s frown deepened, and he squared his stance defensively. He turned his attention to Courtney.
“Yo, you good?” Cassidy asked.
Courtney looked at James nervously and then back to Cassidy.
“Yeah, Cass. Thanks for thinking of us, but we’re good.
I promise. It’s late. I do need to get this one down,” she said, tripping over her words as her heart went haywire in her chest. She could see James’ temper raging just from the look in his eyes.
She knew he was piecing together a puzzle in his head and overthinking.
“Look, man, I ain’t got the room in my truck to pack all this back in there. If you really don’t want it, I’ll send somebody by to pick it up tomorrow before we go tree chopping,” Cassidy stated. “You coming to that, right?” Cassidy’s question was for Courtney.
“Umm, I…” she was going to try to make it after James went to work, but she had no plans of telling James.
“It’s a part of Friendsmas,” Courtney said, adding context for James.
“I thought Friendsmas was all girls,” James stated with no nicety in his tone. There was accusation in his tone, like Courtney had been caught in a lie. She was so embarrassed and unnerved that her eyes watered.
“Yeah, well, they gon’ need some help binding them trees and loading ‘em up and all that. Ellie volunteered my services. You should come, man. Make it a family affair,” Cassidy stated.
Courtney appreciated Cassidy trying to make James comfortable.
She recognized an olive branch when she saw one, but she was mortified that he was witnessing her toxic relationship in person. She knew he would tell Ellie.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” James stated dryly.
Cassidy was trying to smooth an awkward situation over, but James wasn’t giving him much effort in return. Cassidy stared James down, and Courtney knew he was deciding whether he needed to check James. She prayed he didn’t .
“Thanks for stopping by, Cass,” she said softly. Her eyes said, “Please, just go.”
“A’ight,” Cassidy said skeptically, never taking his eyes off James. “I’ll see you around, Court.”
As soon as James shut the door, she braced herself for the argument to come.
“So, you thought I was working a double shift and had a nigga pulling up to my house in the middle of the night?” James accused.
“Here we go,” Courtney sighed. “He was just being nice. Nobody wants Ellie’s brother.”
“You ain’t say shit about going to no charity event.
That’s why this house wasn’t clean,” James stated.
“I bust my ass for you, and you out here fucking with niggas.” James practically growled the words as he pointed two fingers at her face, mushing her and then pushing her toward the bedroom.
“You ain’t coming up off no pussy, but fucking on another nigga in my house? ”
Courtney pushed him off her. “I’m not fucking anybody!
” she shouted. Christian’s screams erupted as he yoked Courtney up.
Her eyes widened in horror as she held on tight to their son.
It wasn’t until he was in her face that she smelled the alcohol on his breath.
She lifted her foot and kicked him in the balls, taking the wind out of him long enough for her to rush into the bedroom.
“What the hell is wrong with you?! I’m holding our son!
” she shouted through the door. James’ jealousy was out of control.
She couldn’t even pick up her phone without him thinking she was secretly texting someone.
She was livid. She put her son in his crib and then grabbed the baseball bat she kept under the bed before pulling open the door.
“Nigga, you got me fucked up!” she shouted.
She kept her distance but pointed the bat at him.
“You think you slick. All that slick shit gon’ catch up to your ass one day,” James stated. “I thought I told you that Friendsmas shit was dead.”
“It was just a charity event! I haven’t seen Ellie in four years! I couldn’t just skip everything!”
“But you can skip work, though? You said your mental state wasn’t right. You taking a leave of absence from your fucking job; got me picking up all these overtime hours to compensate for you sitting at home on your ass all day, but you feel good enough to link up with your friends,” he accused.
“It’s not like that. I was only there for a little while,” she defended.
“When I asked you what you did today, you ain’t mention shit about no charity event. You fucking with that nigga?” he asked. He was on the attack, looking to discredit anything she was saying, and Courtney felt cornered.
“No!” Courtney shouted.
“What other niggas were there?” James demanded. His mind was fixated on assigning guilt when there was none for her to claim.