16
Monty pulled up to his destination and parked.
He gripped the steering wheel tight as he berated himself internally for letting things go on for as long as they did.
He prided himself on being a real nigga but he was acting like a childish ass lil boy.
It was now Wednesday, and he hadn’t been home since he left for his brother’s wedding and reception the Saturday before.
Caprice had been blowing his phone up with calls and text messages that he never answered or returned.
Reuniting with Iva was clouding his judgment already but he wasn’t complaining.
He was happy that they finally grew up and discussed their feelings rather than arguing.
They spent the past few days getting reacquainted with each other, discussing their relationship that neither of them ever wanted to end.
He was so caught up that he went shopping for new clothes instead of going home to get some.
He didn’t want to leave Iva’s side and, for the most part, he didn’t.
She made her feelings clear but she really didn’t have to.
He was grateful for his second chance with her and nobody, especially Caprice, was worth losing her.
He fucked up and done that before but his soon-to-be ex wasn’t all that innocent either.
It wasn’t long before Monty heard about how Caprice made sure that Iva found out about her.
It was all good though because the joke was on her.
She did all that for nothing because he and Iva were back like they never left.
After gathering his thoughts for a while, Monty exited the car and jogged up the steps to the apartment.
He used his key to let himself in but paused as soon as he did.
There was no furniture in the living room and the tv was no longer mounted on the wall.
A quick glance at the small dining area yielded the same results.
All of the pictures had been removed from the wall and the dinette set was gone.
All of his belongings, including his game console, was neatly packed in the living room as if waiting for his return.
Out of everything that could have happened, he definitely wasn’t expecting any of that.
Once the temporary shock wore off, he ventured further into the apartment.
“What’s up?” Monty asked when he saw Caprice in the bedroom, taping up a box. The bedroom set was gone, but the closet was still full. Caprice had a few items from the bathroom on the floor that she appeared to be boxing up.
“What does it look like, Monty? The lease is almost up and I’m moving,” Caprie snapped, not hiding her anger.
“Damn, you could have at least told a nigga what was up.” Monty regretted the words as soon as he spoke them. He sounded selfish as hell and he deserved whatever backlash that he was about to receive.
“If you’re gonna be anything, Monty, be fucking for real. I haven’t heard from you since Saturday. Hell, you ain’t even bother coming home. I can’t say that I blame you though with those nice ass condos. I wouldn’t wanna leave either.”
“What condos?” Monty looked at her skeptically.
Once again, Caprice had said too much already and she wanted to kick her own ass.
She was a mess when Monty didn’t come home the first night.
She had her speech all prepared for when he did decided to show up.
She felt bold and ready to say some things that she had been wanting to say for a long time.
When he didn’t come home that night or the next, the confidence that she once had turned to anger and hurt.
That was the ultimate disrespect, and she felt stupid for always defending their one-sided relationship.
His heart never was in it and she saw that when he first came home from jail.
She passed around Iva’s house a few times and felt a sense of relief when she didn’t see his car.
That was until she drove around and looked inside of the gated parking area.
Monty’s car was parked right next to Iva’s liked he lived there. Well. He probably did live there now.
“Your shit is packed and waiting. No need to say anything. I already know what it is and I hope you enjoy your past.”
Caprice tried not to frown but she couldn’t help it.
Just the thought of Iva made her skin crawl.
She did everything in her power to keep them apart, only for him to turn around and run right back to her.
“She’s not my past, she’s my future.”
“Wow,” Caprice laughed sarcastically, “Really, Monty?”
The mere thought of jail frightened her.
She saw firsthand how the inmates lived.
They made the best of their circumstances but it was still prison.
If it weren’t for that, she nor Iva would have Monty because Caprice would have put a bullet in his forehead and left.
She was sure she wouldn’t get far with some of his crazy ass family members but it was a chance she would have gladly taken.
“Real shit, I owe you an apology. That shit that we had in jail should have stayed behind those four walls. The guilt that I felt from you losing your job was the reason why I made sure you were straight, but I shouldn’t have done that either. You knew what the outcome would be if you got caught.”
His father was right and he didn’t owe Caprice a damn thing.
She took a risk just like he did and lost.
“You said all that to say what?”
“We should have never happened. I should have just followed my heart and we wouldn’t even be here. I’m too real not to say what’s on my mind and move the way I was doing. And, for that, I apologize.”
“First off, ain’t shit about you real. This ain’t never been what you wanted but, instead of you just being honest, you go fuck with your ex behind my back. How real is that?”
“I ain’t bout to sit here and act like I never fucked around before but it was never with Iva until a few days ago.”
“Yeah, ok. No need to keep lying, boo. My sources keep me well informed.”
“Man, fuck your sources. The fuck is you supposed to be that a nigga gotta lie?” Monty was trying to remain calm, but she was pissing him off. He didn’t know who her sources were but he was damn sure gonna figure it out.
“Bye, Damont.” Caprice turned her back and tried to think of anything that would stop the tears that were threatening to fall.
“I can’t take all that shit right now. I’ll be back.”
“You got two weeks before the keys get turned in and maintenance toss it.”
She actually had a little longer but she wasn’t trying to make shit easy on him. She wanted to piss him off just to get a reaction. His calmness hurt more than anything. That was her confirmation that it was really over as if she didn’t already know.
Monty ignored her and started looking through some of his bags.
He wanted to take the things that he needed most before anything else.
Unbeknownst to her, he wasn’t coming back.
He would send Hank and his brothers to handle it for him.
As bad as he wanted to spazz out, he had to take his lick.
She was hurt, and he was the reason for her pain.
He put as many bags in his car that could fit before going back inside to look through a few more.
“Where my design books at?” Monty asked when he walked back to where Caprice was.
“In one of the bags I guess.” She shrugged like she didn’t care.
“I looked through everything and didn’t see them.”
“Maybe they’re at you’re new house,” Caprice smirked.
“Stupid ass bitch,” Monty mumbled angrily.
He went into the spare bedroom and saw that nothing looked out of place.
That room had become his since he stopped sleeping with Caprice.
The closet was empty and so were the nightstands on the side of the bed.
He searched high and low for his books and didn’t see them anywhere.
He was just about to leave the room when he saw something sticking out of the trash can in the corner of the room.
Monty wanted to wrap his hands around Caprice’s neck when he saw that it was his art books.
He quickly thumbed through everything to make sure they weren’t damaged and he was happy that they weren’t.
He rushed out of the room, ready to go off about his books being in the trash.
Fortunately for her, she was no longer in the spot where he’d left her.
Monty wasn’t even in the mood to argue so that was a good thing.
He was about to leave until something caught his attention.
Caprice had left her phone sitting on one of the boxes.
Monty never cared enough to look through her phone, but something was compelling him to do so now.
For some reason, he had a feeling that a few of his questions would be answered if he did.
It only took a second for him to make up his mind.
He picked it up and entered her father’s birthday to unlock it.
He had to hurry so he went straight to her text messages.
Monty knew that he didn’t have much time so he used his phone to take some pictures so that he could read it later.
Caprice was in a group chat with some of Clover’s cousins.
He saw Clo and Iva’s name in most of them and he couldn’t wait to see what they had been saying.
He even saw Diva’s name, but that was nothing new.
Seeing Amina’s name jump out at him was a shock though.
His sister-in-law was one of the sweetest people that he knew.
He couldn’t imagine someone having anything negative to say about her.
Monty went up as far in the thread as he could before deciding to call it quits. He was just in time because he heard the front door open, followed by Caprice’s laughter. More than likely, she was outside talking to one of the neighbors that he never cared to meet.
“You finally leaving,” Caprice sarcastically remarked.
“Shit, I don’t even know why the fuck I ever came,” Monty matched her sarcasm with a chuckle.
Caprice frowned the entire time as she watched him walk to his car and pull away. Him and his entire family had her fucked up if they thought they were gonna silence her. She knew a few secrets and she wasn’t gonna be satisfied until they were all revealed.
“That’s enough spice, Dot. It’s hot enough,” Diva said once she tasted the food that her mother was cooking.
Dot’s oxtail pasta was good enough to be sold and she sometimes did if she was in the mood to cook it.
Everybody who came to the bar begged her to make it a regular thing but she didn’t like to cook as much as she used to.
She used to serve food seven days a week for years but she stopped a while ago.