Free Unknown by Shante Harris Page A

no?”
    “Listen, I have to get back to my job and start getting myself together. I need to get back on track. You don’t want a broke chick who can’t do anything for you right?” I prepared that lie in my head as fast as the words spat from my mouth.
    “No, you know I don’t. But, it’s the weekend and you ain’t shit but a damn secretary. Besides ain’t your job closed on the weekends?” He asked suspiciously.
    “Not necessarily. Sometimes when they have big cases, they stay open twenty four seven. Lawyers never sleep.”
    “Hm. Well that may sound good and all but I need you to come and cater to your man. I need some of that good good girl and Trina need that ass too.”
    “Brian…ugh. I can’t okay. I just can’t right now.”
    Confidence radiated through my blood. If someone stood too close they would probably get smacked with it. I was bigger and better. Simply taking control of the conversation made me feel ten feet tall if I was a foot. There was a long pause on the phone. It was uncanny like a murder’s prank call. Without a doubt, it sent chills up and down my spine. I could not tell whether he was stark raging mad or if he was calm, cool, and collected simply processing the information I had given him.
    The background was filled with the sounds of his trunk, beating bass louder than the lyrics along with the chatting voices of some people. People whom were probably his friends listening in while he had me on speakerphone. I hated that and was not impressed. It was his way of trying to embarrass me. It seemed the more I gave into Brian’s advances, the more he treated me like shit and I was dog-tired of it.
    “I need you to come and meet me at the spot, Starla. I’m not gonna tell you again.”
    “Brian, you’re some sort of sex addict who needs hel—“
    “Now, Starla! Get your ass in that car and drive your pretty little light skinned ass the fuck over here. Don’t make me tell you again. Are you trying to embarrass me or something? Huh?”
    “Embarrass you? Embarrass you in front of whom? How am I embarrassing you?”
    “By being defiant. You know I don’t like an old disrespectful bitch.”
    “Fine, Brian, fine. I’ll give you want you want and just put my business on hold for you. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
    “Now that’s what the fuck I’m talking about and you can keep the attitude where the hell it’s at. Leave that shit at home ’cause we ain’t got no room for it here.” He hung up the phone.
    The aura after the call told me that he was snarling as he finished his sentence. He was the epitome of an asshole and it bothered me that I was only seeing it now. People should come with a warning label attached to their asses. One that says, “Hey, I might be defective later on down the line”. He used to be sweet and kind. He used to talk to me with the highest level of dignity and respect. Now, the only word I could think to describe him was, asshole. I was tired of jumping to his every beck and call and was ready to get back to whom I used to be, the old me.
    I grabbed my purse and keys before trotting out to my Benz. Angrily, I tossed my purse in the back seat. Something inside of me told me that the first step in the right direction was to come clean to my husband. If I was going to salvage this marriage I was going to need to air out my dirty laundry. I started the car and pulled off with only one thing in mind.
    I needed to talk to Chino about my faults, in order to get him to want to try to work on his as well. I should have told him what I was thinking, this morning before he left, but his kiss threw me off. It seemed desperate and so not like him. My reaction was not ideal but I wasn’t expecting him to catch me off guard that way.
    “What the fuck could you be doing that’s so important that you can’t answer the phone?” Rage filled my thoughts.
    His phone kept going to voicemail. He was clearly upset when he left so rightfully I was being punished.