Chapter 30 Echo Lennox
The Lennox Residence
It had only been a couple of weeks, and I still wasn’t hearing from Kay’Lo, and the shit was eating at me in a way I hated to admit.
I was not the girl who waited by the phone.
I was not the girl who got pressed over no nigga ignoring her.
I was usually the one who disappeared first, blocked numbers first, stopped replying first, but Kay’Lo had flipped the whole script on me and left me stuck in this weird place where I felt confused as hell and a little embarrassed that I even cared.
I kept checking my phone even though I told myself I wasn’t.
I kept opening our thread like maybe the message bubbles would magically update while I blinked.
I even texted him something sarcastic like I guess you went back to your wife, but he didn’t respond to nothing.
Not a hey, not a chill out, not a leave me alone.
It was just silence, and the silence felt way loud as fuck.
I hated how it made my chest feel heavy so I tried to distract myself, but I still ended up on Toni’s page checking her story like I had no damn pride.
She was still posting, still living her life, and she didn’t look stressed over him either.
At this point, it bothered me that I cared enough to watch her, and it bothered me even more that she was the one he married.
She was one he was loving publicly, but keeping me tucked away like a fuckin’ secret.
I closed out the app and sat on the edge of my bed for a second, staring at the wall like it had answers.
I didn’t know what the hell he had going on, but I hated being confused.
I hated feeling like somebody had tossed me to the side.
Every time I called his phone it went straight to voicemail.
Every time I texted I saw nothing but delivered.
I had never been the girl begging for attention but it felt like he was playing in my face, and that was something I couldn’t tolerate.
Finally I grabbed my purse, snatched my keys off the dresser, and walked out the apartment. If he wasn’t gon’ answer the phone then I’d pull up. The last two times I slid through his shop he wasn’t there, but I wasn’t letting this shit go another day. I needed answers and I needed them from him.
The drive felt long even though I was speeding, and by the time I pulled into the lot my stomach was tight with nerves and irritation.
The shop was busy as hell with music playing, tools clinking, and people walking around working on cars.
The smell of rubber and motor oil hit me as I stepped inside, and that’s when I saw Kay’Lo.
He was bent over a luxury car, wiping down the inside of the door panel like he built the whole car from scratch.
Even though I was irritated, I couldn’t help noticing how fine he looked.
He glanced up, saw me, and something in his face changed instantly.
He didn’t smile, nod or even look confused. He looked irritated.
He took his time finishing what he was doing before he finally stood up, wiped his hands on a rag, and walked over to me with this look like he was barely keeping himself from snapping.
“What you doin’ here?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off before a word left my lips.
“Don’t pop up at my fuckin shop no more.”
His tone slapped the breath right out my chest. I blinked because I couldn’t believe he was talking to me like that.
“Excuse you?” I snapped back. “Who the hell you think you talkin’ to like that? You might talk to your wife crazy but you ain’t gon’ talk to me like that.”
His whole expression shifted like I had just offended his ancestors.
“I don’t talk to my wife like no hoe,” he said, stepping closer to me, “and even she don’t pop the fuck up at my place of business like this. The fuck wrong with you, girl?”
It felt like he ripped my pride out my chest right there. My stomach dropped because I never expected him to react this hard. I thought he’d be irritated, maybe, but not this cold.
“So that’s what we doin’ now?” I asked, my voice shaking with anger. “You ghost me, disrespect me and play me?”
He shrugged with no emotion on his face. “Echo, I ain’t play you. I can’t play somebody I never claimed.”
My heart stung all the way down to my toes.
“You dick dizzy, and that’s my fault for fuckin’ you,” he said without blinking. “But I told you we was chillin’. You knew I had a wife. You knew what it was from day one.”
“You made it seem like y’all was done!” I yelled.
“No,” he replied, “you heard what you wanted to hear.”
I felt something in me snap.
“I swear if I was a nigga, you wouldn’t talk to me like this.”
His eyes went flat and empty in a way that scared me.
“If you was a nigga,” he said calmly, “yo’ ass would be dead.”
The words hit like a punch. I could see it in his face. He wasn’t bluffing. He wasn’t saying this shit for show. This was who this nigga was and I finally saw it for myself.
“You really played me… but I’m gon’ show you how I play,” I whispered because I didn’t know what else to say.
“You played yourself,” he said.
He leaned in a little closer.
“Now don’t come back to my shop.”
With my pride in shambles, I walked out before my face crumbled. I got in my car with my ego hanging by a thread. I sat there gripping the wheel, breathing hard because the embarrassment was eating me alive. I had never let a man make me feel small.
By the time I made it home, my hands were still shaking. I kicked off my shoes, sat on the edge of the bed, and opened Instagram because I couldn’t stop myself even though it made everything worse.
His wife had just posted a story, and the shit stopped me cold.
She moved her camera slow across the mansion hallway, and the whole place looked unreal.
Roses covered the tables and stretched out across the floor like somebody ordered half the island’s flower supply just to make her smile.
Balloons floated near the ceiling, candles glowed in the corners, and a giant teddy bear sat in the middle.
The mansion itself was beautiful, and beautiful in a way that hit me hard because Kay’Lo had this woman living in a world I had only imagined for myself.
Then the caption slid across the screen with laughing emojis: My husband really tryin’ y’all
My throat got tight. Kay’Lo had never decorated shit for me.
He had never sent me flowers or surprised me with anything thoughtful.
I didn’t even get a single rose out of him, not one.
I gave him attention he didn’t deserve and feelings he didn’t earn, and he gave his wife a whole mansion full of proof that she was the only one he was willing to go all out for.
It hurt in a way I didn’t expect, and it pissed me off even more because I felt it.
The roses, the gifts, the soft lighting, the caption… all of it showed me exactly where I stood with him.
It burned me all the way down to my bones.
I stared at her profile picture for a long time before I finally said fuck it and clicked message.
Me: Hey, I don’t know what’s goin’ on between you and your husband, but I been messin with Kay’Lo while he tellin’ me y’all separated and I just need to know the truth.
I sat there staring at my phone until it lit up twenty minutes later.
Toni: Don’t be askin’ me about my husband. Stop inboxin’ me.
Her tone made my blood boil.
Echo: Girl bye! I asked you a simple question.
Another reply came back fast.
Toni: Don’t ask me shit.
My pride snapped clean in half, and I couldn’t help but hit this bitch where it hurt.
Echo: Again, I asked a simple question but since you wanna be rude about it, Kay’Lo fuckin’ me now and I’m not comin’ up off that nigga. I was tryna get to the truth but since you wanna play, cool.
I hit send and sat back, my heart pounding, and anger mixing with shame because even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. I just hated how she talked to me. I hated how small he made me feel, and now this bitch was doing the same thing.
Her reply came within seconds.
Toni: Girl, I don’t give a fuck about you not comin’ up off him cause I’m the one he answer to. You not lettin’ him go, cool… just remember I’m the one he can’t come up off. Get the fuck out my DMs.
I stared at the screen, and even though I sent laughing emojis because I refused to let her see me fold, nothing inside of me felt funny.
This lady had me fucked up in every direction, and now all I could think about was fighting her, fighting him and fighting anybody who made me feel this damn worthless.