Chapter 8 Brion #2
“Loosen up. You’re not getting married, right? That’s what you told me. Don’t think about it too hard. Just relax and flirt a little but not too much. Don’t come across like a thirsty airhead.”
“Wait, let me put all this advice in my notes. One second,” I stated in a fake excited tone making Josie stick her middle finger up at me. “Here he comes,” she sang lowly looking over my shoulder.
My heart hammered in my chest as I swallowed down a lump. Despite being sarcastic, I remembered the advice my sister had just given me and tried to follow it. Turning around, I locked eyes with Hymn and Lord knows that was one handsome man. He didn’t look upset, so that was a good thing.
“Hi,” I smiled at him while praying I appeared friendly rather than mortified.
“I invited you to a game and lost. That’s not a good look, is it?”
“Please. First off, you only lost by two points. It was a really good game, and it seemed to me you were carrying the team. You can’t win them all.”
“I guess,” he chuckled and glanced over at Josie. “My bad, I’m rude as hell. What up? Josie, right?”
“That is correct, and you’re not rude at all. You spoke to the important person. I’ll be right back. I have to use the restroom. You two keep chatting.” My head dropped a bit because she wasn’t even trying to be discreet.
“Please ignore anything that comes out of her mouth.”
“I have to get going because the press is going to want to ask me some questions, but I want you to consider dinner with me on Thursday. The catch is, I’m in the public eye, and I don’t like being in the blogs and shit with people in my business, so I’d prefer you to come to my home.
My chef can cook for us. If you’re not comfortable being alone at my house, I’ll make it a group thing and invite Isaac and London. ”
I couldn’t stop the smile that lifted my cheeks if I wanted to. And it wasn’t because he invited me to dinner. It was because my comfort was a priority for him. “You don’t have to make it a group thing. I trust you a little bit.”
Hymn laughed. “Bet. I’ll text you later, aight? And my head is all over the place so forgive me but,” his eyes poured over my frame. “You look fucking amazing.”
“Thank you.” It felt as if someone had a lighter against my cheeks the way they were burning.
What in the world was happening?
Two days later, I was mentally exhausted from dealing with chaos and children.
I had to go to London’s at six AM to do her makeup.
I was out of there in time to make it work by nine.
Even though Alisa told me I could work from home if I wanted to and despite loving my parents, I wanted to be out of the house as much as possible, so I decided to go in.
By noon, Sky’s teacher was calling and saying I had to come pick her up because she was being suspended for two days.
How in the hell did a child in kindergarten get suspended?
According to the teacher, she’d been acting out for the past few days but this day, she took it too far.
She grabbed one of her classmates by her ponytail and pulled her out of a chair.
When I asked Sky why she did it, she said because the little girl was talking about having fun with her dad, so Sky said, “Who cares?”
The little girl then replied, “Are you mad because you don’t live with your dad?”
I didn’t expect children to deal with sudden change well.
I knew there was going to be some fallout when I chose to leave Corey, but I was tired of dealing with it all on my own.
Yes, it was my choice to leave, but it was his choice to cheat.
No matter how well I tried to explain it to the girls, I still looked like the bad guy.
I texted Corey and told him what was up.
I also let him know that we were going to talk to her together.
He was at home, so I was headed in that direction.
Seeing Corey’s face wasn’t something I was looking forward to, but since we had kids together, it wasn’t really something that I could avoid.
Sky was in the back seat pouting, but I really didn’t care.
I had been as gentle, understanding, patient, and loving as I could be.
It was time to be a little stern and let her know that she could be sad or even mad, but she couldn’t put her hands on people or go around acting like a bully.
Pulling up behind Corey’s car made my gut twist. Over the years, I’d put so much time and thought into decorating the home and making it comfortable and stylish.
It wasn’t just my safe space, but it was also a safe space for my daughters.
I missed it too. I missed it a lot, but it just wasn’t home anymore, and it never would be again.
After unclicking my seatbelt, I looked over my shoulder at Sky who wasn’t moving.
“Let’s go.” My tone was low, but she knew I meant business.
With the saddest look she could muster, Sky removed her seatbelt.
She was about to be in front of daddy, so the attitude was gone, and the puppy dog eyes were in full effect.
Just as we made it to the door, it opened, and I refused to even look Corey in his face.
I brushed past him and went straight to the couch.
Looking around, I frowned slightly at the lingering smell of something burnt.
One thing I didn’t play about was the way my home smelled.
Anytime I entered, there was some kind of scent dominating the air around me.
Sometimes, vanilla, others it would be a clean floral scent, or maybe coconut.
Candles, air purifiers, wax warmers, were all my thing.
However, this wasn’t my home anymore, so it could smell how Corey wanted it to smell.
“What’s going on with you, Lil’ Mama?” he asked looking down at Sky.
Corey sat down beside me, and I had to resist the urge to cringe. I didn’t want to be immature in front of my child, but it was one of the hardest tasks I had to endure. In a sad voice, Sky told her father what happened, and he listened intently.
“Baby, I know you’re upset that you can’t be home right now, but you can’t be mean to people. You for sure can’t put your hands on them. I know it’s hard to be patient, but you have to give mommy and daddy time to figure out how to fix things. Okay?”
My blood began to boil. I was so pissed that I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from going off.
Corey had me fucked up. He knew what he was doing, and it wasn’t fair.
No longer able to ignore him, I whipped my head in his direction and shot him daggers with my eyes.
Corey knew me, and he could see that I was overly pissed.
Closing my eyes and inhaling a deep breath through my nose, I listened while he attempted to chastise Sky.
“Can I stay with you this weekend?” Sky asked.
“Of course. I’m going to come pick you and your sisters up on Saturday.”
“Okay.”
Sky sounded satisfied, so I stood up to leave.
“So, we not gon’ have a conversation?”
Ignoring him I walked to the door and opened it.
Corey could kiss my ass. With each passing day, I hated him more and more.
He was playing games, and I didn’t appreciate it.
Star and Serenity were about to get out of school, so I went right back to get them.
I could have signed them out when I got Sky, but I chose not to.
I decided that I would take the girls out to dinner.
Since I moved back home, we had dinner with my parents every night.
I was going to have a dinner with just me and the girls.
I wanted to talk to them and see how they were feeling.
I knew how Sky felt, but I wanted to allow the others a chance to vent as well.
I knew they missed home and their father, but I wasn’t going back to Corey, so we were going to have to figure something out.
After the game when I told Josie about Hymn inviting me to dinner at his house, her loud, dramatic ass almost burst my ear drum screaming.
She volunteered to take the girls to the movies then bring them home and put them to bed.
I wasn’t sure what she thought would happen at Hymn’s house, but I wasn’t giving him any booty.
Yes, he was handsome, respectful, and rich, but it was too soon.
I was open to having fun and getting to know him, but I was still very much heartbroken and not looking for a rebound.
Having sex with another man might make me feel better in that moment, but it wouldn’t help me get over Corey.
Actually, Corey was helping me to get over Corey.
I was so disgusted by his actions that I literally felt the love I had for him fading.
However, that didn’t stop the mourning I was doing for the life that I thought I would have with him.
Dinner with the girls was wonderful. Sky’s attitude had improved, and it was great to see them smiling and enjoying themselves.
After I got them tucked in, I took a long hot shower, and got in bed myself.
Even though I was pretty much exhausted, I knew sleep wouldn’t come right away.
I was trying to decide between scrolling social media or reading when my phone vibrated in my hand.
Of course, I knew he had my number. We’d talked on the phone before, so I wasn’t sure why I was surprised that he was calling. Clearing my voice, I answered the call. “Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Hymn sounded like he was on the verge of sleep himself.
“No, you didn’t. You sound tired. Why are you awake?”
Hymn chuckled. A sound that made goosebumps appear on my arms. Why? I had no clue. “I’m extremely tired and usually, I am asleep by now. Maybe I have too much shit on my mind.”
Snuggling underneath the covers, I got comfortable. I turned on my side and sighed. “I for sure know what that’s like. I hope it’s nothing too stressful.”
“Oh nah, just my younger brother getting expelled from college, and my mom needing pretty much round the clock care after being discharged from the hospital and despite me hiring nurses, she gives them and my sister hell.”
“Oh no. That does sound like a lot. I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. I already threatened my mother and told her if she keeps it up, she’s going to a facility to get better.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. But she did stick her middle finger up at me though.”
That got a laugh out of both of us. “That’s not funny, but it is. How many siblings do you have?”
“Two. My mom was addicted to drugs. My grandparents raised me and my sister, and my brother’s pops raised him. Up until she went to the hospital, my mom was still on drugs. At this point, as long as she’s on pain medication, technically, I can’t say she’s clean. But we’ll see.”
Biting my bottom lip, I tried to think of something to say that wasn’t cliché. “That seems like a lot and though I don’t know you, it seems that you handle it pretty well. I’m sure at times it can get to be too much.”
“Tell me about it. Especially when everyone thinks you’re Superman, and you’re not supposed to get tired or need a break from being needed. I didn’t call you to trauma dump my shit on you though. How was your day?”
“About as stressful as yours.” I yawned and wanted to roll my eyes because don’t get sleepy now, bitch.
“Excuse me. But my girls aren’t fully grasping why we’re at my parents’ house, and they can’t be at home.
I don’t talk negatively about their father to them, plus, they’re only five.
I’m not going to tell them he cheated. So, I take the blame.
I’m the big, bad, wolf that left daddy and made the girls leave home. ”
“That’s tough. Damn. And you don’t think you’d ever take him back, like once you cool off, and if he attempts to change.”
“Hell no,” my face contorted into a frown.
“I let that man play in my face long enough. Anytime anyone said we should have been married after seven years and three kids, I brushed it off. In my opinion, he was going to propose when he got ready to propose, and I wasn’t about to beg that man to marry me.
When he changed and stopped being as affectionate, and we stopped having sex as much, I blamed myself.
Wondering if I’d let myself go and thinking he was tired of seeing me look throwed away all the time.
I did everything but make him take accountability for his actions. Cheating was the last straw.”
“I get it.” Hymn yawned, and I laughed.
“It sounds like we both need to get some sleep.”
“You’re right. I have to be up in five hours. It was nice talking to you, Brion.”
“It was nice talking to you too.”
Placing the phone on the nightstand, I got comfortable in bed, and closed my eyes. The entire time, I had the goofiest smile on my face.