Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
CASSIE
“ I haven’t talked to you in two days, baby. I need you to come to the rodeo so we can spend some time together.”
I glanced at Mesani as he stared at me. I was on the phone with my daddy, and I’d put him on speaker so Mesani could hear him and what he was saying. My daddy was a smart man, and he would start figuring shit out. Kendrall hadn’t been able to catch up with him, because he was on a job in Houston. I knew he didn’t have time to go meet Daddy in Houston when he had a competition to prepare for.
“Daddy, I really need?—”
“I’m not taking no for an answer, Cassie. I’ll be there to pick you up in the morning.”
He ended the call on me. I huffed and knew Kendrall and I would be talking to him together. I wasn’t afraid of my father, but I knew when he meant business, he stood on that shit. I somewhat cowered in his presence when I knew what I had to say would disappoint him. When I had a pregnancy scare my sophomore year in college, the disappointment in his voice was evident. He’d sacrificed a lot to take care of me.
When he found out that I wasn’t his biological daughter, he could have left me with my mother. He could have walked away and not looked back. Instead, he was going to try to fight for me. I was his baby… his all, regardless of blood. She signed her rights away and allowed him and Kendall to adopt me. I had no clue who my other family was and really didn’t care. Price and Kendall Daniels were my parents, and no one could tell me any differently.
“So I guess you’ll be going to see your man. Maybe I should go.”
My eyebrows lifted, and I wanted to beg him not to go, but I knew that would set him off. While Mesani had never been abusive, I didn’t want him to start. We would be in here fighting like two men, because there was no way I would go down without one. My moment of shock became a moment of anger.
“Nigga, you know what? Fuck you! Do what the fuck you have to do, because I’m already tired of kissing your ass to preserve my career and reputation. If I have to live with my parents for the rest of my life, then so be it.”
I grabbed my phone and put my phone on speaker as I called my daddy back. Before he could answer, Mesani snatched the phone out of my hand and threw it to the wall. “Who the fuck are you talking to, Cassie? I will fuck you up in here before anybody could get here to check on you.”
“And you think you gon’ come out unscathed? Huh? Don’t forget who fucked you up the first time.”
He crossed the room, and I quickly stood from my seat. “What? I don’t give a fuck no more, nigga. For real.”
“Good.”
He took his phone from his pocket and dialed 9-1-1. Before he could even hit the send button, I snatched that shit and threw it against the wall just like he did my phone. “If I can’t make a call, neither can you.”
I could tell he wanted to get at me, but I was no longer interested. The only thing keeping him from trying to fuck me up right now was the charges he planned to file. If he beat my ass, I could file charges as well. The charges I filed would be taken just as seriously as his, if not more seriously simply because he was a man. I at least had a legitimate reason. I wasn’t trying to fuck him up as bad as I did, but he would clearly be trying to hurt me if he attacked me.
I walked away and went to our bedroom, pulled my duffel bag from the closet, and began packing shit. We purchased this house together, and I could kick my own ass every time I thought about it. The first legal document we should have signed together should have been a marriage license. No agreement was as important as that one, but yet, I signed loan documents with this nigga.
When I put deodorant and shit I needed in there and went back into the bedroom, he was standing there. He glanced at my duffel bag and nodded repeatedly then left the room. When the phone in my pocket vibrated, I knew it was Kendrall. It was the phone he’d given me that I did my best to keep out of sight. Since I had on black, oversized sweats, I knew Mesani wouldn’t be able to tell it was in my pocket unless he was staring extra hard.
I went back to the closet to change into some jeans and a crop top. Once that was done, I dropped the phone inside my purse and grabbed the duffel bag. When I got to the front, he was sitting on the couch, looking pathetic.
“Cassie, after three years, this is what you’re going to do? I thought we were better than this?”
“I did too, until I saw you fucking that bitch in our house.”
“See, you supposedly forgave me for that shit, but you keep bringing it back up.”
“Oh, like you forgave me for hitting you with that vase? Fuck outta here.”
I grabbed my keys from the kitchen countertop, but before I could leave, he pressed his body against mine, sliding his arms around my waist. “Damn, Cassie. This is it, baby?”
I closed my eyes, wishing things were different… wishing that I’d never met him and that I would have been with Kendrall from the start. After taking a deep breath, I said, “Yeah. This is it.”
“Honestly, I was just trying anything I knew of to keep you here. I could see that you weren’t happy. Suddenly, you seemed excited again, and I knew it wasn’t because of me. That was why I mirrored your phone. I felt the woman I loved slipping away from me. I’m sorry for everything, Cassie.”
I turned around in his arms and stared into his eyes. I nodded, and as I was pulling away, he kissed my lips. Swallowing hard, I turned away from him and left the house. He was doing whatever he thought he could to make me stay. Things had gone way too far for that. Not only did I cheat on him, but I had fallen out of love with him.
Kendrall was quickly consuming every part of me, even though we hadn’t been seeing one another much. After getting in my car, I backed out of the driveway and headed to my dad’s house. When I got to the red light, I took the phone out of my purse to see Kendrall’s text message. I love you so much. Call me when you can.
I quickly responded before the light changed. I love you too, baby.
The tears fell down my cheeks, but they weren’t tears of sadness. Despite what I felt like Mesani was going to do, I felt a sense of freedom. I could help kids without a career in education, eventually. I knew that a felony charge would slow things down, but it wasn’t a death sentence. My calling couldn’t and wouldn’t be denied.
When I turned in my parents’ driveway, my daddy was standing outside on his phone. He dropped it to the ground and ran to my car. I opened the door, and he practically yanked me from the seat.
“Cassie, shit! I thought something had happened to you, baby girl. I called you back, and your phone was going straight to voicemail. When I called Mesani and his phone did the same, I was starting to panic. I was calling the hospitals, but I was about to head to your place.”
I hugged him tightly and sighed, trying to decide if I wanted to tell him now or call Kendrall to come meet us. I laid my head on his chest for a moment then pulled away to get my bag and purse from the car. I supposed my dad realized I hadn’t said a word, because he said, “What the fuck that nigga did?”
When I turned around with my duffel bag and purse, I said, “Can we go inside?”
The fire I saw in his eyes didn’t do a thing for my nerves. Before we could get inside, Ebony drove up. Great. She’d probably tried to call me to see if I was going tomorrow and was coming to see if Dad had heard from me. She got out of her car and practically ran over to us. After grabbing my hand, she kissed it and followed us inside. Hopefully, Evan didn’t show up. His temper had a hair trigger. The nigga flipped on a dude at McDonald’s because he asked to see his receipt when he told them his order was wrong.
Once inside, I saw Mama at the stove. She smiled big and said, “Cassie! Hey, baby!”
When I cleared the countertop, her smile dwindled some. “Wh-What’s going on?”
“Hey, Mama. I’ll talk to y’all in the front room.”
My dad led the way. I dropped my bag and my purse to the floor, then fished my phone out of it. I called Kendrall on speaker so they could hear. I knew that would spark the conversation instantly. When he answered, he said, “Hey, baby. How was your day?”
The frowns on everyone’s faces only made me tremble in nervousness. “Hey. My day was interesting. I’m uhh… I’m at my parents’ house about to explain.”
“You want me to meet you there?”
“You don’t have to. I know you’re trying to get ready for tomorrow.”
“Cassie, ain’t shit more important than you. You think you can hold off telling Mister Price anything until I get there?”
“No. They’re staring at me as I talk to you.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll just stay on the phone until I get there, baby.”
My dad had a frown of confusion on his face. When his head tilted to the side, he said, “Kendrall?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Aww shit. No wonder the two of you have been trying to avoid conversation about the other.” He slid his hand down his face then looked right at me. “So, did you cheat on Mesani with Kendrall?”
“Yes, sir, but only after Mesani cheated on me. Almost eight months ago, I walked in on him and another woman at our house.”
My dad stood and started pacing as Mama came and sat next to me, grabbing my free hand. Ebony was already seated next to me, refusing to allow me to be in the hot seat without support.
“Was that before or after you saw Kendrall at the gas station?”
“After. Kendrall and I had been getting reacquainted for months, strictly on a friend basis, but old feelings didn’t take long to resurface. When that happened, I immediately went to Kendrall a drunken mess of emotions. Well… technically, he came and met me.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Ebony asked.
“I didn’t want to get y’all involved in my bullshit. Plus, I wanted to be with Kendrall. I knew that the day I saw him at the gas station. But I was engaged, and I was honoring my commitment to Mesani until that night.”
“Well, why did you stay with him, Cassie? This isn’t making sense at all,” my daddy said.
“Mister Price, she stopped talking to me. She said she was trying to work things out with him. She felt guilty about what happened between us, and I only saw her maybe once a month after that, to have lunch or whatever… as friends. I wasn’t cool with that, but I wanted to see her. I took whatever I could get.”
“You sound like your father,” he said.
“I assaulted Mesani, Daddy. When I walked in on him, I threw a vase at his head. The concussion he suffered had lasting effects on him. That’s why he’s hardly ever busy when you call him. He isn’t in school anymore, and he can no longer work. His memory is horrible when it comes to learning or retaining information. He’s trying to get disability. I felt so bad.”
“Oh my God. Is he going to file charges?” my mama asked.
“After I started evaluating things, I felt like if I left him, he would. Well, he threatened to do that earlier this week because he found out about Kendrall. I was devastated because I didn’t want to lose my career and everything I’d worked hard for, but now, I just want to be free of him.”
The doorbell rang, and I asked in the phone, “Is that you?”
“Yeah.”
My dad made his way to the door, and things remained quiet until he came back with Kendrall. I knew he wouldn’t have a problem with me being with Kendrall, because he’d known him his entire life, but I never wanted things to boil down to this. The second he entered the room, he made his way to me, pulling me from the couch to hug me.
Ebony and Mama went to the other couch, and Kendrall and I sat on the couch together. Speaking up, Kendrall said, “I’m prepared to take care of Cassie until we can figure things out. I mean… if she never figures anything out concerning her career, I’m here. I love her. Had I not been stupid when we were teenagers, we would have been together.”
Once again, Daddy started pacing. “Does Kenny know about this?”
“He does. I talked to him yesterday. I was going to talk to you, too, but you were out of pocket.”
“Yeah,” Daddy said as he glanced at me. There it was… that look of disappointment. “Cassie… I… Damn.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I can see your disappointment. It was the one thing I was trying to avoid.”
“Baby, you reading me wrong. That isn’t disappointment. Well… in a way, I suppose it is. I wish you would have told me all this when it happened. I don’t give a shit about all that other shit. I care about your heart. He broke your heart, and you endured that shit alone. Nothing is more important than your well-being… physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I love you, baby.”
I stood from my seat and ran to my daddy’s arms. He held me tightly as I buried my face in his chest. “We gon’ figure this out, baby. That nigga ain’t getting away with this shit. In the meantime, we have a competition to get ready for tomorrow.”
I pulled away from him and looked over at Kendrall. That man said he would take care of me. He said he had me whether I had a career or not. I walked toward him, and that nigga stood up and grabbed my duffel bag. He looked over at my daddy and said, “No disrespect, Mister Price, but I got it from here.”
My face heated up tremendously. When my dad didn’t respond, I turned to him to see a closed-mouth smile on his face as he nodded. “I know that’s right, KJ!” Ebony yelled.
I closed my eyes as a smile played on my lips. Grabbing my purse from the floor and my phone from the table, I hugged my mama as tears fell down her cheeks. It didn’t take much to make her cry. “I love you, Cassie. We’re always here for you, baby.”
“Yes, ma’am. I love you too.”
Ebony gave me an under-eyed look then wriggled her eyebrows. I slowly shook my head, trying to contain the smile that fell on my lips. “See you tomorrow, sis.”
“Okay.”
I kissed her cheek and followed Kendrall out. He walked to my car and turned around and stared at me. Bringing his hand to my cheek, he used his other hand to grip me at my waist, pulling me to him. He licked his lips as he stared at me. “Damn. So tell me you all mine, baby.”
“I’m all yours.”
He kissed my lips. “We’ll talk about what went down when we get home. I’m glad this doesn’t have to be so secretive now.”
“Me too. Thank you for being patient with me. I love you.”
“I told you I would’ve waited forever. I love you too.”
He kissed me again then opened my door after I unlocked it with my key fob. Once I was inside, he said, “I see this shit you got on too. I can’t wait to take it off. Damn.”
I smiled and bit my bottom lip. Even with my rolls and fupa, I knew he would appreciate this outfit. He closed the door, and I watched him walk to his truck in my rearview mirror with a smile on my face. He was all mine… finally.