Even if I could find my voice, I didn’t know what to say. I knew Alisa was a genuine friend. She didn’t find pleasure in giving me the news. My friend damn near looked like she wanted to cry while I blinked back tears. Closing my eyes, I willed myself to get it together. I had a right to be hurt. Breaking was normal. But not in the restaurant. There was a fine line between being vulnerable and being weak.
“Whatever I decide to do,” I chuckled. “What can I do? Either stay with him and side eye him every time he leaves the house for the rest of my life, or pack up three kids and move them from the only home they’ve ever known.” The mere thought of such a task made my voice crack. “Fuck,” I finally allowed tears to spill over my lids but quickly wiped them away as the server came over with our drinks.
“I know you’re on your lunch break, so go ahead and order your food. I lost my appetite.” Staring off to the side, I couldn’t believe how fast things had gone to shit.
I had gone from simply wondering what was up with my relationship to having actual proof that Corey had indeed checked out. He gazed into ole girl’s eyes and looked at her with lust that he hadn’t displayed toward me in months. Hell, maybe a year.
“I’m so sorry, Brion.”
“I feel pathetic enough. Please stop apologizing. Thank you for telling me. Had you not, I’d still be at home clueless. I doubt this was the first time. I’m so dumb.” Fresh tears began to flow, so I covered my face with my hands.
I didn’t want to break, but if I had to, I knew I was safe in the presence of Alisa. When I finally uncovered my face, Alisa was dabbing at the corner of her eyes with a napkin. Despite my stomach feeling sour, I picked the margarita up and sucked through the straw feverishly. I was so pissed; I ignored the brain freeze I got like it was nothing.
“What am I supposed to do, Alisa? Move in with my parents? I have like $4,500 in my savings. That will barely even pay the first months’ rent and deposit on a place.” I kissed my teeth.
“I can’t tell you what to do, but whatever you do, I’m here for you. If you need a job, you can be my paralegal.”
“Really?” my pulse quickened. “I thought the office had a paralegal.”
“We do, but if you think I won’t create a job for you, you’re out of your mind. It’s not a lot, but I can at least pay you $22 an hour.”
“Thank you so much,” I rubbed my temples. Getting a job, juggling the girls and work, it was going to be a lot. But I had to do it. Staying with Corey for the sake of keeping things easy wasn’t an option.
By the time I downed my drink, I didn’t feel better, and it was time for Alisa to go back to work. She took some sushi to go, and I stayed and had another drink. Halfway through, I knew if I didn’t eat something, I’d be sick, so I ordered steak and fried rice. I was only able to eat a few bites, but that was better than nothing.
On the drive home, I felt like a zombie. After I realized that I drove right through a red light, I erupted into tears. Gripping the steering wheel, I forced myself to get my head in the game. I couldn’t kill myself just because Corey was a cheater. I had three children to live for. No matter how long ahead the road was or how hard it would be, I had to do what I had to do for my daughters. Corey wouldn’t get multiple chances to play in my face.
CHAPTER 2
BRION
I had just placeda staple in the packet of papers I’d put together when Alisa walked into the office. Sitting around sulking wasn’t something I had the luxury of doing. It had only been three days since I found out about Corey cheating on me, but it was my first day of work. Alisa had me putting together documents, doing research, and going over evidence that she needed for an upcoming trial.
“Hey, boo. You good?” she asked with a small smile.
“Yes. I am done with this.” I extended the papers toward her. “I also updated your calendar since Todd confirmed the meeting next week.”
“Thank you so much. This trial starts in three days. It’s crunch time. You can go ahead and leave. I’ll pay you for eight hours.”
I had only been at work for five hours. “Alisa, you don’t have to give me special treatment.”
“Nonsense.” She waved my comment off.
Giving her an appreciative smile, I logged out of the computer and gathered my things. It was time to face the music. When I got home from lunch that day, I began to pack clothes for me and the girls. I put everything in the car and told mymom what was going on. When the girls got home from school, she took them to her house and when I was done with my client, I went to my parents’ house. For someone that swore he’d be home around nine, the security cameras showed Corey entering the house at almost midnight.
Of course, when he saw that me and the girls weren’t at home, he started blowing my phone up. I blocked his number. It wasn’t a surprise fifteen minutes later, when he was ringing my parents’ doorbell. My father went out and told him that I needed some time, and I’d talk to him when I was ready. Not knowing why I left was probably stressing Corey like crazy, and that was what he deserved.
The girls had questions. They wanted to know why they weren’t at home. I didn’t know what to tell them. It took every ounce of strength that I possessed to put on a brave front for them. In the shower and in the car, I cried like a baby. It was so bad that I even began to second guess myself. Was he wrong for what I saw? Yes, he was. But how would I explain that to three five-year-olds that loved their trifling ass father.
I drove to the home I once shared with Corey sweating bullets. Even making $22 an hour and doing makeup on the side, it was going to take me a while to move. There were some dope three bedroom townhouses near my parents for $2,000 a month. There was no way we could fit in a two bedroom. Especially since the extra bedrooms were small as hell. My parents told me not to be in a rush to leave and honestly, I appreciated the help with the kids. Even though they wanted me to stay, I was giving myself three months to get my own place.
When I saw Corey’s car in front of the house, my body burned with rage. It had been torture not saying anything to him. I wanted to tell him what I saw and see the look on his face when he denied it. I didn’t want to throw Alisa under the bus, but as long as he didn’t think I actually had proof, he’d lie until breathleft his body. With my own eyes, I watched him be more intimate with a stranger than he’d been with me in a long time. Corey tattooed everything from women’s vaginas to their asses. I never once beefed with him or acted insecure about his job. I trusted him because he’d never given me a reason not to.
Adrenaline pumping, I let myself in the house and found him sitting on the couch with red eyes looking as if he hadn’t slept in days. Good. Corey didn’t move a muscle when I walked in the house. In fact, he had the nerve to glare at me like I was the one that did something wrong.
“Do you have a problem?” I snapped with an attitude matching his funky ass energy.
Corey wasn’t quite six feet, but he was taller than me, and that was all I cared about. His dark skin, light brown eyes, and bare face were all features that contributed to his attractiveness. Corey was skinny. Hell, he could even be referred to as scrawny, but that was fine. He was packing where it counted. When we first had sex, I was appalled that a man so skinny could have a dick so big.
