Page 12 of Beacon Grove Chronicles 1: Hassan & Sylvia

“You think the folks round here don’t know that you made sure she didn’t get arrested last night? Or that I didn’t hear the way you were on the phone caking it up with yet another girl to try to ease your ego over what happened? That’s why I say you’re not ready to be a husband, Dave. At least not a good one. Your wife had her heart broken and was publicly humiliated by your actions. And what were you doing? Looking to link up with yet a third woman who is caught up in your bullshit. I don’t even like the lil’ Bianca bitch because she’s a home wrecker. But you playing with all these people’s emotions and for what reason? Just because you can? That’s a dangerous game, Dave.”

It was hard to swallow because the pancake felt caked up in my mouth. Like my mama hadn’t cooked it as a labor of love. It felt like culinary entrapment so that I could be lectured. I was too damn grown to be talked to like a lil kid. My mama was always trying to be holier than thou and I should’ve known better than to stay here last night.

“All this ain’t necessary right now. I need support, not condemnation.”

“You think that shit is going to work with me, D? It won’t. I’m your mama and I love you but I’m always gone to call you on your shit. But don’t worry. Karma will hit you quicker than anything I could say or do. Just watch.”

“You wishing ill on me?”

“Karma doesn’t judge right or wrong. It only gives you what you put out in the world. If you’re worried about it bringing you harm, you should’ve done more good. Fix your plate and then clean up after yourself when you’re done. I’m going to my room.”

She got up and headed toward the steps the ease in which she spoke on my down fall pissing me off. You’d think that the woman who gave birth to you would give a fuck about your life being hard. But that’s not who I’d grown up with.

My phone ringing yet again kept me from going off the way I probably should have. I looked down at the number and rolled my eyes yet again. I cleared the call but when it called right back I knew I wasn’t going to escape having this conversation so I needed to get it over with.

“Why do you keep calling me?!” I looked back to where my mama had gone hoping she didn’t hear me fussing with this stupid ass girl. The kitchen was basically unchanged since I was in high school but I no longer felt the familiarity and warm welcoming that I usually did here.

My mama’s words lingered in the kitchen the same way the scents from her efforts with breakfast had. Instead of being inviting and nostalgic, her words felt foreboding and this call was like an affirmation of something bad to come.

“What the fuck do you mean why? I’m two seconds off getting your bitch arrested for assault.” Bianca’s words were muffled and I was sure that her lip was still swollen. She’d sent me a bunch of photos last night like her condition would make me rush to her side but it only made me laugh. Sylvia used to wrestle in high school so I knew that Bianca’s prissy ass would never stand a chance in a fight with my wife. It had been kinda comical to see the two of them fighting. I loved Sylvie and fucked with Bianca so I wasn’t rooting for either of them to get hurt.

“The fuck you mean? You ain’t hear JJ when he said he’d call the damn police? We got caught fucking at school. I’m sure they got that shit on multiple occasions because your freaky ass just couldn’t get enough. I’m not trying to end up on anyone’s registry behind some pussy.” I was putting the blame on Bianca but I knew better. I couldn’t lie like that it had been exciting to link up at school all over the place. The thrill of doing something taboo with someone I shouldn’t have been with was a rush that had to be like a drug. Shit, I probably was a sex addict or something. Maybe that was the angle I could use to get Sylvie to stay off my back about my dick and keep our family together.

Shit, that might work. That nigga Eric Bennet did it and Sylvia ain’t no Halle Berry.

“Shut up. I didn’t see you turning me down. And why have you been ignoring me all night? Trying to get back in that bitch’s good graces? It’s never going to happen now.”

I wanted to kick my own ass for fucking around with Bianca for as long as I had. She’d come on to me at school and I thought she was lookin for a fun time. The pussy was good and I was cool with doing stuff here and there for her but she started to want more. I wasn’t sure how all this shit spiraled the way it had but it did. I’d ended up trickin’ off on her because I knew that Sylvia would take care of home. I wasn’t crazy in thinking that Bianca was entertaining other niggas. I had a whole wife and Bianca wasn’t the only pussy I’d dabbled in on the side. She was the first and only person I’d dealt with from Beacon Grove and that proved to be my downfall.

“She ain’t even here.”

“She’s probably somewhere getting her lick back after what she found out yesterday.”

Bianca’s words gave me pause because I hadn’t thought about her getting it in with someone else.

“You’re full of shit. Nobody is looking at Sylvia that way.”

“You talk about her like you don’t even like her. You might feel some type of way because of the situation you have at home, but your wife isn’t ugly. When I first met her I was shocked because you kept saying how you weren’t getting what you needed from her. I’m the better pick than she is, but she’s not an ugly woman.” Leave it to Bianca to still be in a competition with my wife she’d never win.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Sylvia wouldn’t do that shit. She’s married.”

Bianca busted out laughing and I was trying to see what was so damn funny. “So are you, Dave. But I guess that’s about to change.”

She sounded so fucking smug I wished Sylvie had done more damage so she couldn’t be flapping her swollen lips at me right now.

“You outcho damn mind. Sylvie’s ass ain’t going no where else.”

“But she didn’t come home, did she?”

“How would you know that?”

“Because people have been reporting on the three of us all night. Everyone knows that I had to go to the hospital by myself because you weren’t man enough to come with me. She was out at the bar and you went to your mama’s house like a lil boy instead of stepping up for us!” She had the nerve to raise her voice like that was supposed to move me.

“Us? Who the fuck are you talking about?”

“Me and you, stupid! This backwoods ass town has the nerve to be looking down on me. Even at the hospital the nurses were gossiping about this shit. Do you know what it will look like if my family finds out?”

I hated to tell her that it was a sure thing that her people were going to find out but that wasn’t my business. Her people were some kind of big deal in Atlanta or so she said whenever she talked shit about the people here in Beacon Grove. She wanted me the same way I’d wanted her. We were both a fun nut for each other because she told me that she wanted someone who could give her a high-class life. That shit was a blow to my ego which was probably why I started spending my money on her. She’d played me like I was a ho and I was going to pay to fuck her like she was one. It had worked out for me up until now but I probably shouldn’t have been spending what little money I had on someone that wasn’t even a long-term thought besides the next nut.