Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
TRINI COLEMAN
“Okay, listen now, bitch, you gonna go inside that house and act like you have some home training. You not gon’ say nothing or touch nothing. Just stand in a corner and wait for this slow-moving ass nigga to get ready,” I said, giving myself a little pep talk before I messed up these people’s day.
My eyes landed on my phone again, and I turned my lip up at his message.
Anton: Come in and wait. Not ready yet. The door is open.
This had to be a test—or God just wanted to see me act a fool today, because why wasn’t he ready? And most importantly, why did he think I should come in his house to wait?! That’s the shit that was bugging me the most.
Still, I decided to act like a lady today and climbed out of my car, promising I was going to keep my mouth closed.
Just like Anton said, the front door was unlocked. I did the ladylike thing by kicking off my shoes before I literally tiptoed further into the house. Deciding I would just wait in the foyer, I aimlessly swung my arms, trying to busy myself, while I prayed that this man was quick.
I suddenly froze when I felt someone tap my side. I looked down and almost jumped when I saw it was Anton’s three-year-old daughter.
I looked around, confused on where she suddenly appeared from, and frowned seeing that we were alone.
“What’s your name?” the little girl asked me. I wanted to act like I didn’t see or hear her, but she was just too cute to ignore. Something about her innocence pulled at my heartstrings.
With a smile on my face, I crouched down to her level and said, “Trini. What’s your name?”
“Londyn!”
We both jumped when her mother yelled her name. Me and Andrea locked eyes as I slowly stood to my full height. She stood there, holding a newborn baby, glaring at me.
Londyn rushed away back where she came from, leaving me alone. For her sake, I chose not to say anything.
I turned away from Andrea and looked at anything and everything, except her, in hopes that she wouldn’t talk to or about me.
“What you shouting for?” Anton appeared, complaining.
I sighed, relieved that her attention was now on him and no longer on me. I looked at Anton, pleading with him to continue this conversation with her later so that we could leave. I was starting to feel uncomfortable.
“Don’t worry about why I’m shouting. Explain to me why the fuck you got this bitch in our house?!”
My head snapped back in their direction at her words. I took a deep breath and shook my head, telling myself to let it go.
“What, bitch?” Andrea snapped.
“Nothing, Andrea,” I said and then looked at Anton again, confused on why he wasn’t trying to rush.
“Nah, say it,” Andrea pushed me.
I huffed before responding to her. “You are always worried about me for no reason.”
“Because every time I turn around, you in my nigga’s face!” she fired back, making me gasp.
“Girl, you must be crazy to think I’m worried about Anton.”
His face fell, but it was the truth. I didn’t give a fuck about what this nigga was doing.
"First of all, I'm not a hoe. The world isn't that small, and there's more than enough dicks out there for me to find one for myself. I ain't that desperate, sad, pathetic, lonely, weak, delusional, or a bum ass chick to fuck a nigga that I know has a bitch." I smirked.
"And second of all, I'm not missing anything with Anton. I'm good, sweetie. Even if he was the last nigga alive, I still wouldn't touch his ass. If I would die unless he sniffed my shit again, trust me, a bitch would rather die."
Andrea looked from me to Anton like she couldn't believe I said all that.
"Damn, you saying it like a nigga ain't shit or something. The fuck?" Anton angrily spat, and I chuckled.
"Boy, you standing there with a damn three-year-old and a newborn baby, and we only broke up a few months ago. So, yeah, you ain't shit, Anton." I shrugged.
He could be mad all he wanted to, but the truth was the truth.
This nigga cheated on me with this girl the whole five years we were together, that I only found out about a few months ago.
That was when I left his ass. I wish I would care about his feelings when he clearly didn’t give a damn about mine.
I then turned my attention to Andrea since she was the one who got me started.
"Girl, the problem is that you're worried about karma coming for your ass after you fucked with Anton the whole time I was with him.
But trust me, if karma is coming for you, she's not using me, sweetie.
I'm not even mad, you did me a favor. Besides, you won, girl.
Congratulations." I clapped and smiled for her.
“You think you did something great or got one over on me by having his kids, but baby girl, I’m happy for you and glad that it’s not me.”
A man couldn’t pay me enough to hide me and his damn kids.
As I said, Londyn was three years old, and I’d only just found out about her because Andrea blew up his shit.
By that time, she was getting ready to drop his son.
The nigga wasn’t even outside claiming her kids, and she thought I would be jealous?
Nah, I was good on letting a man treat me like that.
Andrea looked over at me with tears in her eyes. Even after I found out about her, I didn’t say a damn thing to this girl. She used to pop up on us whenever we were at the club, telling me she was a family friend, so she knew about me and still messed with him, but I was wrong.
Anton turned to look at me with this weird ass look in his eyes.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have believed it was remorse; however, I wasn’t stupid.
You didn’t make two damn kids on accident while continuing to lie in my face.
Had it not been for Andrea confronting him one day, I probably still wouldn’t know.
Sighing, I said, “I’ll wait in the car.”
I walked right past both of them, put on my shoes, and exited the house.
It would have been so much easier if I didn’t have to continue to work with him, but I had no choice in the matter. After finding out he’d been cheating our whole relationship, the last thing I wanted to do was be near him, especially knowing that they were probably laughing at me behind my back.
For so long, I truly believed that Andrea was nothing more than a family friend. Fooled me!
On the way to the car, I noticed Anton’s neighbor watching me, but when I looked at him, he almost fell on his face trying to get into his house away from me.
I exhaled and climbed into the car.
As I slumped in the passenger seat and slammed the door behind me, I couldn’t help but think about Orlando. He was the reason why, after everything, I still had to work side by side with Anton.
He and I had been working together for the past six years, which is how we even ended up together. We worked as Orlando’s inspectors. Wasn’t the ideal job but one I couldn’t do without. Orlando knew this, which was why he knew I would stay even if it meant I had to continue to work with Anton.
Once you were in, The Society owned you and there was no coming out.
So, despite the unbearable embarrassment of finding out my man had a secret family on me, I still had to face him every day. This was business, The Society business, and no matter what, that always came first.
“I bet he told me to wait inside just to rub my nose in it,” I huffed lowly to myself.
My work phone received a text, and I instantly froze when I saw that it was Orlando.
Orlando Sanchez: Y’all better not be slacking with my money!
And this was why I wanted Anton to hurry up.
I wasn’t trying to get into it with Orlando. We should have been at the first stop already.
A few seconds later, their front door opened and a frustrated Anton stepped out while I could hear Andrea screaming at him. He slammed their door and stomped over to the car.
It was a company car used only for when we worked, and usually, he was the one to drive it until I took it home in the evenings. That was why my stupid ass even had to come here to pick him up.
Usually, he was ready and would be waiting for me outside by the time I pulled up.
But today, the day I was in a shitty ass mood, would be the day he was running late, making me have to face Andrea and their children.
I’d found out about them, but that was the first time I actually saw the children.
Anton climbed into the car and sucked his teeth before starting it and pulling away.
“You just had to say all that shit to her, Trini!” he fussed like I knew he would, but he had me fucked up like I was the one who started that shit.
“She started with me, Anton!”
I turned slightly so that I could look at him.
He had a frown on his ugly, cute ass face as he concentrated on the road.
As much as I hated him right now, I couldn’t deny that he was a fine ass man.
Looking like Lloyd with long ass Nipsey braids because of his beautiful heritage of black and Indian.
Anton nodded and said, “You right, she shouldn’t have called you outside of your name, but you ain’t had to say all that to her.”
I gasped loudly.
“She called me a bitch when I didn’t do nothing to y’all!”
“Trini, I fucked up with Andrea, and I will admit that, but you gonna sit there and act like you didn’t have a hand in it?”
I turned my body back and leaned my head against the window, but I had no words.
“At least she wanted a nigga, but how did you think I felt seeing you—“
“Let’s stop talking about it, Anton,” I cut him off. He looked at me, but I couldn’t look him in the eyes.
He snorted a bitter laugh and bounced his head at me, but thankfully, he didn’t say anything else. My stomach started to churn because although he hadn’t said it, I still knew what he was going to say, and I wasn’t willing to accept the truth.
Anton turned up the radio, and we drove to our first of many destinations in silence.
As soon as we pulled up at Mike’s mechanic shop, all the workers scattered like roaches. Anton hopped out of the car quickly, and I followed behind, taking a look around.
“Trini…Anton! I wasn’t expecting y’all here today.” Mike stepped in front of us, looking jittery.
“That’s the whole point of an inspection, Mike.
Now step aside,” I said, pushing him out of my way.
Out of the both of us, I was the less lenient one.
Something that Orlando liked. He was a power-crazed asshole and thrived on running his empire with fear.
He was the one who made up this inspection role just to instill fear into his workers.
With the way I’d been feeling for the past few months, this job was helping me release some of that pent-up frustration, so right now, I was in rare form.
I immediately headed for Mike’s office with him scampering behind me. Because of Orlando, inspectors like me were untouchable. So although I knew that Mike hated me and probably wanted to put hands on me, or intimidate me somehow, he couldn’t. And that gave me a boost.
With my brazen self, I took a seat right in this man’s chair and flicked my eyes up at him.
“Turn on your computer and give me your files.”
It wasn’t a question; it was a demand.
Mike signed heavily and reluctantly reached around me to log into his computer. Just then, I saw Anton slither past the door with the receptionist. I almost laughed, knowing that Andrea was worried about me while her man was fucking anything with a pussy on our jobs. That was karma for her ass!
An hour later and after giving Mike a few violation notices, we were on to the next stop, which was Oblique’s motorcycle shop.
A smile was on my face when I noticed Hell’s car was parked outside. I didn’t even have to ask, I knew that Havoc was with him too. It had been a minute since I saw my two best friends, so I was happy to know I would see them. Anton suddenly turned to look at me.
“You just gonna--”
“I’m just happy to see my friends,” I cut him off. Anton simpered.
“Is that all?”
“Yes!” I snapped back for some reason. He sat there looking at me. I avoided eye contact and rushed out of the car before he could open his mouth.
Stepping into the shop, my eyes landed on Hell and then on Havoc.
“What’s up y’all!”
They both turned to look at me and smiled. Since Hell was closest to me, I approached him and gave him a hug first.
“What’s good, Trini?”
Hell kissed my cheek and took back his seat as I made my way over to Havoc. He embraced me in a sideways hug while he continued his conversation with Oblique. I frowned at how quickly he went back to talking.
“Nigga, shut the fuck up!” Havoc yelled, making Hell cry laughing.
Oblique laughed and waved Havoc off.
I just stood there, watching the three of them converse as I got lost in my best friend’s face.
I had seen a lot of fine ass men in my time, but nobody could top my best friend. In my eyes, he was the word perfection itself.
Smooth brown skin, not a blemish in sight, and a glistening full beard surrounding perfectly shaped lips.
Hazel eyes that sparkled whenever he laughed too hard.
A nose that fit his face perfectly. A tall body covered in clothes that did nothing to hide his strong physique beneath.
The white t-shirt resting on his abs, I would do anything for it to reveal what I needed to see.
The sleeves hugging his biceps just right.
My lips suddenly parted in a silent gasp when my eyes landed on his print, clearly visible in the gray sweatpants he was wearing.
Everything about this man screamed to my womanly instincts, and it was getting harder and harder not to give into the whispers of my body. I craved him like my lungs craved air to breath.
My mind started playing tricks on me as I envisioned us being together. In love, maybe married. I looked down at my stomach, imagining it growing daily with our love child inside. I returned my gaze to Havoc, a smile on my face as if I could see my dream becoming a reality.
Anton suddenly appeared beside me. His presence felt heavy, but I was too entranced to pull my sight away. He nudged me, but still, my vision remained locked in place—a place that I could stay in forever.
I gasped when Anton leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“After all this time, you still stuck on the same shit, and you wonder why I fucked with Andrea.”
My head turned to face him, and he was frowning deeply at me.
“I fucked up, I hold my hands up, but you’re more fucked up,” he whispered harshly, catching me off guard.
“How?”
In my mind, I was the victim, the only one who hadn’t done anything wrong.
Anton snorted a laugh. “For being in love with Havoc right in my face,” he said, revealing a secret I couldn’t even admit to myself.