Chapter 2 #2
I was beyond pissed. Not only because my fiancé was cheating, but the whole situation was cliché as fuck.
Of course, Lawrence went after the slightly younger, half-white and half-Hispanic assistant who had long black hair and was a size three.
She didn’t have much of an ass, but her breasts were full and heavy.
After watching so many movies with this exact scenario, I used to run my mouth, declaring that I would never let that type of shit happen in real life.
Now here I was, looking stupid as the exact situation stared me in the face.
We hired Sandra about six months ago to help with the mundane tasks around our shop.
We had five employees, and she really stepped up to help ensure everything was running smoothly.
I should’ve known they sneaky asses were up to something, but if I were being honest, I was ignoring my intuition.
Sandra was always very helpful when Lawrence needed something, and they always left the office less than five minutes apart.
My fiancé was becoming distant, but I chalked it up to the stress from our business and trying to plan a wedding.
The wrath I harbored over the entire situation had me leaning over and slicing at Lawrence’s big toe with my knife.
“Fuck, Natalie!” he wailed in pain, tucking the comforter under his feet.
I scoffed. Like, I couldn’t cut through that.
“Ms. Hunter, what-I thought…you were supposed to call when you were on the way. You usually call first.”
My eyes squinted as I stared at Sandra.
“Lucky for me, my phone had died. So, how long have you two been fucking since you seem to know my routine?” I asked, staring between Lawrence and our assistant.
Sandra and Lawrence glanced at each other. I could tell they were arguing with their eyes and debating who was going to be bold and tell me the truth.
“Answer my fucking question.” I snapped, jabbing the knife toward Lawerence’s feet again.
“He’s going to bleed out!” Sandra whimpered, standing in the corner of the room.
“Shut your ho ass up! His dumb ass is not going to bleed out–I’m barely nicking the skin. As a matter of fact, you can take his place, since you’re so concerned.”
She frantically shook her head.
“Natalie, baby, let me explain,” Lawrence whined, sitting up in bed.
“Oh, this I got to hear!” I said sarcastically, folding my arms across my chest. “Please, explain to me how you and Sandra ended up butt ass naked in our bed.”
Lawrence rubbed the back of his neck before flicking his tongue over his bottom lip. “It was an accident. We-”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“An accident? Really? Dropping food on your favorite white shirt is an accident. Pulling out of a parking spot without triple-checking and almost hitting another car is an accident. This shit,” I barked, pointing my finger between the pair.
“This is intentional. So, I ask again. How long have you two been fucking?”
I twirled the knife between my fingers as I glared at Lawrence. I wasn’t going to hurt him, but his toes were about to feel my wrath.
“Nine months!” Sandra blurted out, causing me to snap my head toward her.
My eyebrows scrunched up. “How is that possible? You barely started working with us six months ago.”
“We, uh, we met a while back at a bar,” Lawrence murmured. “Remember when I went out with my homeboy for his birthday? Well, I met Sandra there. We started talking, and one thing led to another.”
I clutched my pocketknife tighter, causing my knuckles to ache.
This whole time he was cheating. All of his lies that I didn’t blink twice at.
I was oblivious to his actions and thought that I was getting closer to marrying the man of my dreams. The days he would already be gone when I woke up, but not at our shop, he claimed he was at the gym.
Or when he would leave the shop before me, claiming he was having a meeting with potential investors.
Lies on top of lies, and I fell for them. I fell for every one of them.
Then a thought hit me.
“And when you told me you’d take care of the hiring for our assistant, you gave her the job. You watched me sign over an employee check to her, knowing damn well y’all had been fucking this whole time.”
“I’m sorry, Natalie. I was going to tell you after the quarter was over.”
“The fuck!”
“Look, we can still run the business together.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fuck you, fuck Sandra, and fuck that damn business. I do thank you, though, for only wanting your name on the loans. Good luck running shit without me!”
With that, I turned around and headed toward the door.
“About time her slow ass found out. I was tired of all the sneaking around, Pooh Bear.”
Sandra’s voice made me stop in my tracks.
I know this bitch didn’t! They say it’s better to be the bigger person and to turn the other cheek.
Usually, I was the bigger person because I knew better, but at the same time, some people needed to just be slapped in the mouth.
Turning on my heels, I ran towards Sandra and threw my fist into her gut.
I grabbed her by her hair and slammed my fist into her nose.
Lawrence finally hopped out of the bed and pulled me off his mistress.
“Natalie, stop!”
I growled and slammed my elbow into his ribs. His hold on me loosened, allowing me to step away from him. I balled my hand into a fist and punched him. Pain radiated across my knuckles, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about either of them. The love of my life had betrayed me in the worst way.
Tears brimmed in my eyes as I pivoted on my heels and dashed out the front door.
I couldn’t stomach being in the same room with them anymore.
My heart was shattered, and I wanted to do nothing but crawl into a ball and cry.
Yeah, hurting them felt good, but only for a moment.
At the end of it all, I was the one who was crying from a broken heart.
“I told you I was having a better day than you.” Ms. Mills chuckled as I slammed the front door behind me.
I slowly turned to face her. I wanted nothing more than to go upside her head, but the minute my hands were on her, she’d be hootin’ and hollerin’. Instead, I snatched up her brand-new box of cigarettes and ran down the stairs.
“Black bitch! Give me my damn smokes!”
“I got your black bitch right here,” I shouted back before dumping the entire box onto the ground.
“Wait! Stop!” Ms. Mills pleaded as she slowly waddled down the stairs.
Ignoring her, I kicked each cigarette into the pile of dog shit her ass always left when she let her dog out. I smashed each one into the shit so that it had fully submerged.
“Nooo! I can’t afford another box until my check comes next week.”
Huffing out a laugh, I shrugged one shoulder. “Sucks to be you.”
With that, I got into my car and sped out of the parking lot.
I lay in my bed and stared up at the ceiling.
It was moments like this that I was extremely grateful that I followed my gut instinct and kept my condo.
When Lawrence and I first got engaged, I thought about putting my condo on the market to sell.
Instead, I decided to keep it and charge rent to help pay for our wedding.
I moved whatever was left to my savings account dedicated to our house.
I let out a sad chuckle before sitting up in bed.
It’s funny because last month I had contemplated whether I should continue to rent out my condo or simply sell it once my previous tenants moved out.
I got so far as to draft a ‘for sale’ ad when all hell broke loose.
I definitely got my answer, but not in the way I was expecting.
Am I upset? Hell yes! I spent three years with Lawrence.
Three long years of getting us out of debt.
Three long years of planning and mapping out a solid and profitable business plan.
I carried on our relationship when he was working only part time to finish his business degree.
Granted, I thought we were in love, and I am all about supporting my partner.
Plus, his extensive knowledge of running and maintaining a business came in handy.
So I didn’t mind working two jobs and compromising to accomplish our goals.
I prayed for our relationship and for God to remove things and people from my life that needed to be removed throughout those three years so that we’d be successful.
I didn’t realize that the whole time Lawrence was the one I needed to be separated from.
Then again, there were red flags all over the place, but I chose to ignore them.
The lack of effort when it came to romance and intimacy, the way he’d leave the room when he had a phone call, the times he didn’t come into the shop for hours at a time, or sometimes never at all.
I wasn’t mad at only him, though. I was pissed at myself for being vulnerable with him.
What was I thinking? Letting down my walls for him, and all because of what?
Love? What a ludicrous notion. Why didn’t I stay to myself and open up the shop on my own?
It had always been my dream to have my bookstore, and I was obviously ambitious enough to do it.
Hell, it took me less than a month to come up with an extensive and lucrative plan that would have guaranteed success.
That was my fault for letting Lawrence in and assuming he loved me as much as I loved him.
Well, you know what they say when you assume?
Groaning, I placed my forearm over my eyes. Oh well. At least I didn’t marry him. I would’ve felt like a fool marrying a man who was cheating on me this whole time. Still, the pain was there, and I couldn’t help but cry. My phone rang as I swiped away the tears from my eyes.