Chapter 18 #2
“Girl,” I drawled. “Come to find out, they both got arrested and had to do forty-eight hours. As soon as he was released, he sent me a long text message saying that he was done with her. He was wildin’ and doing dumb shit when I left him, but he wants his family back, and he’ll forgive me for dealing with another man. ”
Josie stared at me with a slack jaw. “Crack. Is it crack? That man has to be on drugs.”
“The only good thing about it is that I don’t think the girls are too pressed to go back with him, so I won’t have to lie and make excuses for him or deal with attitudes when he doesn’t show.”
“Even the kids see how lame he is.”
“According to Alisa, when Imani got out of jail, she was told by her manager that she had been let go. She’s missed too much time out of work and had been given more than enough grace. She was crying to her mother that she doesn’t even want the baby, but it’s too late for her to have an abortion.”
“Poor stink,” Josie replied sarcastically. “She was so happy to have him and so elated to call him her man. She got just what she signed up for.”
“None of that has anything to do with me. I’m trying to figure out how to go to Greece with Hymn for a week when the season is over. He’s going for three weeks, but I for sure can’t stay that long.”
“What are the dates? As long as I’m not traveling myself, I’ll stay at your house with the girls, so they can ride the bus to and from school per usual.”
“Really sister?” I asked with a huge smile on my face.
“Girl, don’t piss me off,” she frowned.
I was so glad that it was an unusually warm day for winter.
I absolutely despised the cold. Maybe for next season I’d invest in a fur or something.
I still couldn’t get over the fact that I was a WAG.
Despite my new status, I was still me. Of course, I wouldn’t attend a game looking thrown away, but there would be no heels or super extravagant ensembles.
I was clad in dark grey cargo pants, a pink hoodie, and pink, black, and white sneakers.
My hair was in long box braids that stopped past my behind.
The girls talked a mile a minute during the entire game. Of course, I took tons of pictures and videos. After the game, they had only been in the car for ten minutes before all three of them were asleep.
“You have any idea when you want to introduce them to Hymn?”
“Nope,” I pushed out a deep sigh. “Maybe in another month or two. I’m just afraid to move too fast. But Corey has or had a girlfriend, and they don’t ever talk about her.”
“That’s because they probably recognize she’s a nut job.”
Josie’s comment got a chuckle out of me. “You ain’t never lied. I don’t know how it will be when the baby is born, because I wasn’t playing when I said he wouldn’t be getting my daughters again. I don’t want anything to do with Imani so that’s that.”
I didn’t have a problem with them having a relationship with their sibling, but that would be hard to do when both the parents were idiots.
At home, I woke the girls up, so they could walk inside.
I also texted Hymn and congratulated him on his win.
The next morning when the girls went to school, I’d give him a proper congratulations.
Five days later, I walked out to London’s car and got inside.
Even though it had been a minute since Corey saw the girls, his mother called them at least once a week.
She asked if she could keep them overnight, and I told her she could.
London knew that the girls were with their grandmother because I did her makeup for an event that she had to go to.
I was just about to take a shower and get in bed when she called asking me to ride to Charlotte with her.
Charlotte wasn’t right around the corner, but she could get there in less than two hours depending on how she drove. “You good?” I inquired after closing the car door.
“Not really. I thought Isaac and I were in a better place. He finally stopped being stubborn and forgave me for communicating with my ex and not telling him, but something is suspect about how he’s been acting. If he uses what I did as an excuse to cheat, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
I truly felt sorry for London because no woman wanted to be cheated on.
That feeling was something no one should have to experience.
I was nervous myself for what London may find.
Isaac and some of his teammates were going to an afterparty at a popular club in Charlotte.
They had lost the game, so I wasn’t sure what the mood would be like.
I talked to Hymn for an hour after the game.
He was going to the club, but he assured me that he would be at my house bright and early the next morning since I didn’t have the girls.
Once I’d had my IUD in for three months, my periods stopped.
I loved that for me and the fact that I never had to worry about Aunt Flow coming at an inconvenient time.
Despite the fact that Hymn hadn’t met my children, we found plenty of time to get it in.
Dating an athlete was challenging for sure, but it was much easier than I had anticipated it to be.
“I’m pregnant,” London blurted out.
“Really? Aww congratulations, boo.”
“Huh,” London laughed sarcastically. “Isaac has wanted a baby for so long. When I finally decided we could try, I didn’t get pregnant for five months.
Every month we had sex like maniacs, and my period came each and every month like clockwork.
The very moment we aren’t in the best place, I pee on a stick, and it’s positive.
I really don’t like God’s sense of humor,” she grumbled.
“Does Isaac know?”
“Nope. I just found out last night. I was going to try and hold out until Christmas, so I could surprise him.”
Christmas wasn’t that far away. She’d be able to hide it as long as she didn’t have insane cravings or terrible morning sickness.
“I’m sure Isaac isn’t doing anything that would upset you. You two have been together for a long time. I know you know there will be some bumps in the road. Those challenges will only make you two stronger.”
“I hope so because no amount of child support is worth me bringing a child into something broken. Lord knows it would kill me to walk away from Isaac, but I’m tired of apologizing.
Maybe I was wrong for communicating with my ex and not telling him, but he could see for his self that nothing inappropriate was going on. ”
I was doing everything in my power to comfort and reassure London, but the closer we got to Charlotte, I was lowkey nervous.
What if I walked into that club and caught Hymn doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing?
Of course, I didn’t want to be cheated on, but they say when you go looking for things you find it.
On the car ride I told myself if I could get over Corey cheating, Hymn would be a walk in the park.
He said if we ever broke up, I could keep the makeup bar, and I intended to do just that.
I wasn’t about to be starting over every time a man couldn’t keep it in his pants.
Aside from him giving me his card to decorate the makeup bar and money for the girls’ Christmas, he had given me $4,500 toward decorating my home.
No matter how many times I told him he was doing too much, he never let up.
And honestly, it felt good to be spoiled.
I yawned at least five times on the way to Charlotte. If I had it my way, I’d be home in bed and not out on a Cheater’s episode.
“Alright, you ready?” London looked over at me with a small smile on her face.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Heart pounding like an African drum, I walked behind her as she walked super-fast. Nervousness had it feeling like my heart was beating to the rhythm of the music blasting through the club.
I wasn’t exactly dressed for the club, but neither was London.
She was on a mission and had straight tunnel vision.
The club was packed, and it took London a few seconds to spot Isaac’s teammates.
About six of his teammates including Hymn were in a section littered with bad bitches.
I couldn’t spot one ugly one. On top of that, there was a woman talking to Hymn.
He was seated on the couch, and she had her palms flat on his thighs while she whispered in his ear.
Of course, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it should have been nothing after, “I’m in a relationship.”
Just as I suspected. Come to catch Isaac and just might leave single my damn self.
Trusting Hymn when he was on the road was imperative for a healthy relationship.
I wanted nothing more than to put my insecurities to the side and walk with my head held high confident that my man would never cheat, but I would never play myself.
I didn’t see Isacc right away, so I continued to follow behind London while keeping my gaze trained on Hymn and his companion.
It had been at least ten seconds, and she was still in his face.
My mouth was suddenly dry, and it was looking like London wouldn’t be the only one pissed.
London and I were three feet away from the security guard securing the section when big tits backed up out of Hymn’s face.
He picked his phone up from his lap and was about to unlock it when he spotted me.
Hymn did a double take before shooting up off the couch.
He headed in our direction just as London was telling the bouncer she was with one of the patrons of the section.
“They good,” Hymn brushed past the burly man. “What you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” He didn’t seem upset that I was there. Just shocked.
“And miss the chance to see women all in your face?” I was hurt but trying not to show it. Was this what giving a man your heart felt like? Constant games of Russian roulette.
Hymn chuckled. “Shorty works here. It’s her job to flirt and be extra. She wants to be tipped good and maybe fucked after, but as you can see, I sent her on her way.”
I wasn’t all the way convinced. “You sending her on her way consisted of her touching you? Is this what you do when you’re away from home? Let me know now.” My stomach did back flips while I waited on his answer.
Hymn’s orbs darted back and forth across my face.
He didn’t look like a guilty man that had been busted doing anything wrong.
He was cool as a cucumber. “Baby, I shouldn’t have let her touch me.
I swear on everything I love, I told her I wasn’t interested, and she asked me if I wanted another drink.
I told her I was good on that too. I understand boundaries, and she shouldn’t have been that deep in my personal space, and for that I’m sorry.
But I knew what it was when I pursued you, Brion.
I have no interest in hurting you, and you have to know that. ”
I was triggered. Bad. There was a fine line between not making him pay for Corey’s screw ups and just being dumb as hell. I was so afraid of being dumb. As I swallowed down a lump, Hymn ran the pad of his thumb across my cheek. With a crooked grin, he inched closer.
“I don’t want anybody but your big-headed ass. The only reason I didn’t invite you was because I didn’t think you would come. Which you never told me. What are you doing here?”
His question made me remember the reason I was there. Scanning the area, I spotted London walking my way with a frown on her face. “Hymn, where is Isaac? Is he not with you all?”
Before he could answer, Isaac came back to the section with not one but two women hot on his trail. My heart dropped, and I didn’t know what to say. My eyes shot over to Hymn, and I was pleading without words for him to help me. Say something. Do something.
“The fuck?” London ran up on Isaac and pushed him.
He was drunk out of his mind, and her hard, unexpected shove made him stumble. “What are you doing here?” he asked with a confused look on his face.
“I’m asking the questions! Where are you coming from, and why are you with two skanks?!”
The women standing behind Isaac drew back clearly offended by London’s words, but they knew not to say shit.
I didn’t know what to do. Of course, I didn’t want everyone in my friend’s business, but she was pissed, and she had every right to be.
Hymn stepped forward. “Why don’t we leave? You two don’t need to talk in here.”
“When I walk out of this club, I’m going back to North Carolina. Isaac’s answer to my question determines where I’m going when I get back to North Carolina.”
Isaac eyed his wife with a cocky smirk. “I was consoling them. They’ve been through some shit.”
London chuckled. “You have a very nice life, Isaac.”
She walked off, and I scrambled behind her with wide eyes.
I didn’t even say goodbye to my man, but I was sure he understood.
London was walking super fast. After she got in the car and slammed the door, she erupted into tears.
Getting out of the car, I walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door.
Reaching in, I wrapped my arms around her.
I knew all too well how she felt, and I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone.
“I’ll drive, boo. Come on.”
London stopped crying, chuckled through her tears, and wiped her face. She got out of the car, and I took her place. I knew the car ride back home would be a long silent one. My heart was breaking for London.