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 withouttriple-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.”
