“What’s this?” she asked.
“He said your old car was beyond fixing. That’s the key to the new one. It’s on the first level to the parking garage. Spot 6A,” the man said.
Charlie snatched the key from his hand and stormed out of the apartment.
“Show me where the car is,” she demanded, as she headed toward the elevator.
When they made it to the garage, a beautiful brand new Audi SUV sat in her parking space. Charlie climbed inside and started it. Putting the car in reverse she hit the gas, ramming into the pole behind her.
“Yo! What the fuck you doing? That’s a seventy-thousand-dollar car!”
Charlie put the car in drive and rammed the front fender into the barricade wall ahead. She hit the wall with so much speed that it ruined the entire front of the car.
“Tell Demi I don’t want this shit and to bring my old car back,” she said before storming back upstairs. “And stay off my doorstep before I call the police.”
Her phone was ringing by the time she made it back to her apartment and Demi’s name on the screen made her silence it instantly. Seconds later, the text came through.
DEMI
Answer the MF phone, Bird.
There was nothing to say, however. No conversation to be had. He was married. There was nothing he could do to take that fact away.
Charlie powered off her phone and then climbed back into bed. She just wanted everything and everyone to go away. She was exhausted. She hadn’t slept the night before and now she just wanted to close her eyes. In her dreams, it couldn’t hurt this bad. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out before he began infiltrating her unconscious thoughts. The scent of his cologne interrupted her peace and when she heard Bails barking, she knew he was there. Her eyes fluttered open and he sat there, beside the bed, leaned over onto his elbows, staring at her in the dark.
“I got the nigga blood all over me,” Demi whispered. “I took three showers and it’s still all over me.”
Charlie didn’t even sit up. She didn’t have the strength. She just laid there, with her head flat on the mattress, looking at him. He evoked instant emotion from her.
“Say something, baby,” he said.
Charlie turned over in the bed and faced the wall so that she could let her tears fall without him seeing them. She felt Demi’s weight in the bed as he spooned her.
“I’m sorry, Bird,” he whispered in her ear as he wrapped one arm around her body.
“I don’t want the car. I do not want anything from you. I need my car back,” she said, sniffing, holding back as best asshe could. She didn’t move, though. She laid there, in his arms, staring at the wall. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears.
“The car was scrapped, Bird. Wasn’t no point in fixing that old shit. I junked it and bought you a new one.”
Charlie sat up and turned to him. “You did what?”
“The shit was 25 years old, Bird,” he reasoned. “You needed a new...”
“I needed a man who wouldn’t lie to me! Someone who was available to me and only me! That’s what I needed!” she shouted. She jabbed his ass with every word.
“Say, man, you pushing it with the fucking hands, Bird,” he said.
“You pushing it with the fucking wife!” she shouted. Her resentment was so loud that Bails began barking.
Demi couldn’t say shit. She was right. The shit had hit the fan, so he had to let her get her shit off.
“How long have you been married?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” he asked. “Married is married.”
Charlie’s nostrils flared as she stared at him in contempt. “Just like a nigga, man.” She shook her head in disgust.
“Stop asking for details to make this worse,” Demi said.
