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 ofplanning 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.
I didn’t have the willpower to talk to anyone. Besides, it could only be one of two people. My parents confirming if Lawrencewould make it to our monthly family dinner. I hoped not, because I didn’t have the heart to tell them what had happened. Not yet anyway. Or, it was Lawrence. He had been calling my phone over the past four days, trying to talk to me so that he could explain himself, but I wasn’t having it. There was nothing to explain.
A part of me wanted to block his ass and move on, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My stupid heart was flip-flopping between wanting to hear him out and going back to kick his ass some more. I shook my head. The deed was done, and I may forgive, but I wasn’t going back. I couldn’t. My phone rang again, causing me to exhale a long sigh.
“Might as well get this over with,” I groaned, grabbing my phone. “Please be my mom.”
I glared at the phone when I realized it wasn’t my parents calling.
“What could you possibly want?” I snarled.
“Nat, baby. Please hear me out,” Lawrence whined.
“My name is Natalie! What the hell do you want, Lawrence?”
“Look, I know you are pissed off at me, but please listen to what I have to say.”
“You're doing a lot of talking but not saying shit.”
“Okay, okay. Look, I know I have no right, but can you please not tell your parents about what happened?”
I shot up out of my bed. “You are right. You have no fucking right to ask me no shit like that! For months, you’ve been cheating on me. Months, Lawrence! You had that hoe smiling in my face while I used the hard-earned money fromourbusiness to pay her.”
“I know, and I am very sorry. I-I don’t have any excuses except that I fell in love with her.”
“Fuck you, Lawrence. You could have said something. Why lie and carry on as if everything were okay with us? You know what? It doesn’t matter. Goodbye.”
“Natalie, please! I need your help.”
“Help?” I scoffed. “Give me one good reason I should do anything for you?”
Lawrence exhaled a breath before clearing his throat. “I need to stay connected with your father’s country club until this other deal breaks through for me.”
My jaw dropped. Not only did this lying, cheating muthafucka betray me, but now he wanted to keep using me for my father’s connections? The shit was so crazy that I burst out into a fit of laughter. I haven’t really laughed this hard since I walked in on him and Sandra a week ago.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” I wheezed, wiping away tears that were rolling down my face. “Shit, I can’t fucking breathe.”
I held onto my sides as I kept laughing. I could hear Lawrence grumbling as he waited on the other end for my laughter to subside.
“Are you done, Natalie?” he finally asked as I quieted down.
“Boy, you have lost your ever-loving mind if you think-”
“I’ll pay you five grand a month until I can get squared away.”
