T. Nicole

     “Hold on,” he told the person on the other end of the phone. Looking at Sheree, “I am not discussing this with you right now. I am tired and I need to get some sleep before I have to go back to work at nine,” he informed Sheree calmly as he walked off. He pinched the baby’s cheek and walked up the stairs toward the bedroom. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?” he continued on the phone.

Sheree couldn’t believe what had just transpired. She and Matt had been married for a little over a year and had dated for three years. She had never seen him act like that. She was used to coming second when we in the eye of the public, but never in their own house. He was treating her like some ho off the street. Sheree didn’t understand it, but she damn sure wasn’t about to settle for it. She put Lil Matt’s swing on automatic and ran up the steps. By the time she got to the top of the steps she heard the shower start. She attempted to catch him before he actually got in the shower.

      “Matt!” she pounded on the door. “Matt, open the fucking door!”

     “Sheree, I am not in the mood for this right now; I just wanna clean up so I can get a quick nap,” Matt replied in his normal, non-emotional voice.

     “Not in the mood….just wanna clean up?! Don’t you think I need to know where you been all night?!”

     “A meeting ran late,” he responded.

By this point Sheree was heated. She couldn’t believe he was acting like it was no big deal that he hadn’t been home since the morning before. It was almost as if he thought since Sheree hadn’t made a big deal out of anything before that he could do whatever he wanted to.

     “Matt if you don’t bring ya ass out of that bathroom, we gonna have a problem,” she threatened.

The door didn’t budge. Matt was not going to open that door. Sheree decided that if he wasn’t going to open the door himself, she was going to do it for him. She ran down the steps to grab a butter knife. She heard noises on the way down the steps. She had completely forgotten Lil Matt was in the swing. He was giggling and enjoying another half hour of Blue’s Clues on the TV. She tiptoed behind the swing into the kitchen. If he saw her he would want to her to pick him up. She inched into the kitchen, opened the silverware drawer and grabbed a butter knife.

She tiptoed back by the swing and ran up the stairs. Matt was still in the shower and it didn’t look like he even attempted to come out and talk about anything. She was livid, so much so that she couldn’t get the knife in the straight keyhole because her hand was shaking so much. She took a couple of deep breathes, gripped the knife with both hands. She slipped the knife into the long shaped slot and turned it slowly. She didn’t want him to know she was coming in.

She turned the doorknob and entered the bathroom and looked around. His clothes were on the floor and his cell phone was on the sink counter. Sheree thought about checking his phone to see who he was talking to when he entered the house. Matt had no idea she was in the bathroom and she wanted to keep it that way. She grabbed his cell phone and pushed the talk button. The last seven calls came up on the screen. Five of those calls were from Kelly. Most importantly, she was the last call outgoing call. That call was made at three forty-five in the morning. It was almost like he had been with her at the ‘business dinner’, left and went out with the potential clients and met back up with Kelly later on that night. The pattern of the calls made it evident that she was calling him to see when he was going to be done with those clients. Sheree was far from stupid and her imagination was far from being dull. She put that whole scenario together by just checking a phone log. She placed the phone back on the sink counter and thought about what she should do. She had no concrete evidence, but she knew the two of them were together.

     “Matt?!” she yelled at the shower curtain. “You ain’t gonna just walk up in here and not acknowledge the fact that you just got home! It’s almost five in the morning…”

     Matt slid the shower curtain back and gave her the nastiest look, “Why are you in here?”

     “’Cause you wouldn’t open the door. And I’m not leaving until you answer some questions!” she screamed holding the butter knife upright, as if she was threatening to stab him.

     “I am not answering any questions you have. I told you I had a business dinner and that is that. You need to put that knife down before you do something you are going to regret.”

I awoke to the sound of banging on my door. I sat straight up, feeling the pain in my lower back from sleeping on the floor. My heart started to pound and my pulse picked up about a hundred more beats per minute. Who the hell would be banging on my door like that? Only three or four people actually knew where I lived. The first thing that came to my mind was Aamir. It had been to quiet to be true. Deron sat up and looked at me as if he was waiting for an answer. ?I don?t know?? I answered without him saying a word. ?Should I answer the door? Should I act like I?m not home?? ?Are you serious?? he questioned like he couldn?t believe how shook I was. ?Hell yeah!? I paused as I started to get up off the floor. The last thing I needed was to open the door and get punched in the face. The way Aamir had been acting, there was no telling what he may do if he found me. Deron ran over to the window seal and grabbed his gun. Oh, it was so sexy! Even in a time of possible distress, he was still sexy! The banging continued and I refused to open the door. He ran up to the door and stood on the side of it. It was like he was doing a raid or something. I backed up down the hallway into my bedroom. I didn?t want to be a part of whatever was about to go down. I ran to the window to look out to see if I saw some suspicious outside. Nothing. Everything was quiet, except the banging on my door. I peered back out into the hallway to see what progress Deron had made. None. He was still posted up on the side of the door, listening to the consist banging. Normally when someone is banging on your door they are yelling something too. Well, that wasn?t happening in this case. I walked back out and into the living room. I ain?t answering that door, they just gonna have to keep bangin?! I told myself as I stood in the middle of the room. ?Look out the peep hole,? he whispered as he nodded his head toward the door. ?I ain?t lookin? out that peep hole?you do it!? ?Girl, if you don?t get ya ass ova here and look out that damn peep hole, me and you gon? have some problems,? he whispered back in a more forceful way. The last thing I wanted to do was have a problem with him; he was too damn fine for that. ?Ok,? I agreed walking slowly over to the door. The moment I got close enough to look out the peep hole three loud bangs hit the door. I looked at Deron and he gave me the ?girl you betta look? look. So I looked. ?The whole is covered,? I gasped looking at him. ?Aight, stand back,? he told me as he took his place in front of the door. I moved as far away as possible. He held his gun with one hand and swung the door open with the other one. With his gun drawn and pointed directly at the door way he had the most stunned look on his face. ?Trinity?!? I yelled out not understanding what was going on. ?You know her?!? Deron yelled back at me, not taking his eyes, or his gun, off of her. ?Yeah, that?s my homie?s friend.? ?Aight,? he answered lowering his gun. ?Why was you bangin? on my door like that?? ?Bitch you know why!? she screamed as she entered my apartment pointing her finger at me. I couldn?t believe what I was hearing and seeing. This bitch had lost her damn mind. Didn?t she just see my latest sexual encounter pointing a gun in her face? ?What the fuck are you talkin? bout?!? ?Trevor, bitch! That?s what I?m talkin? ?bout!? she continued to yell ?He told me all ?bout how was tryin? to talk to him yesterday. I knew ya ass was a fuckin? ho! I mean you fucked Jay after only knowing him for three hours!? I couldn?t believe Trevor?s bum ass would tell her I was trying to get at him when in fact he was the one all pressed about me. And not to mention she just put me on blast about Jay in front of Deron. This bitch was about to get exactly what I had been holding in to give Aamir when I saw him; an ass whooping! ?You need to back ya ass up and get the fuck outta my apartment. Ya corny ass nigga came over here tryin? to talk to me. I sent his ass packin? and instead of actin? like a real man and takin? it for what it was worth he gon? run and tell you some bullshit! Get the fuck outta here!? Deron hadn?t said a word since Trinity entered the apartment. He was either shocked that I slept with someone else on the first day meeting them or he was enjoying the fact that I was holding my shit down. ?Just to let you know, ya bitch is a fucking ho!? Trinity yelled at Deron. She was really trying to mess up my shit with him and it may have been working. Trinity turned around and walked out of the apartment, but not before slamming the door. I looked at Deron and he looked at me. He unloaded the bullet he had cocked into the chamber before opening the door and tossed his gun on the floor. He just stood there looking at me.