Pieces of Forever

33 - MELISSA

Melissa

"Mel, stop. I'm good."

"You're hurt.

He shakes his head. "I'm pissed." He glances at me. "Not hurt."

He bangs his hands on the steering wheel, and I jump in my seat. It's been a long time, since I have seen him this upset. He pulls over on the side of the road and takes the key out the ignition.

He looks at me, angrily. "Man, Mel, don't ever do this shit again. Do anyone know where you were?"

I look down and debated rather or not to give Kerri name up. "Ker."

He shakes his head, and I can tell that he is going to yell at her too. Tears start to come to my eyes. He looks at me and pulls me close to him.

"I'm sorry. I was just worried about you. I mean, you called me crying, telling me a dude is disrespecting you in the worst way. I just got angry."

"I'm sorry."

"Not at you, babe. I just wished you had told me this is where you would be tonight. I mean, dude brought you to a whole 'nother state and started acting crazy. This dude took you out of Chicago and brought you here, Mel. What if I didn't catch Leslie on my phone? Then what?" Jason shakes his head trying to gather his thoughts. "I could kill someone for looking at you the wrong way." He looks back at me. "Seriously. If it weren't for his people breaking us up, I would have put that nigga in the hospital tonight."

*****

I stand in front of my closet, thinking about Kerri and her party tonight. I admit that I didn't tell Cameron about the party at all. When he told me that he was going to handle some things with family, I decided to keep the details of the party to myself. I just don't see the reason to make him feel insecure, or worry about my whereabouts.

I've been standing in front of the closet for ten minutes, lost in my thoughts about any and everything that can happen tonight. I've been doing so well in trying to get pass him. Him being Jason. I even stopped stalking him on social networks and been giving Cameron all of me.

Cameron walks into the bedroom, fully dressed and ready to go out. "Hey, ma, what are you doing? You looked sort of out of it."

Plastering a weak smile on my face, I closed the closet door. I'm so confused on rather or not to go to this party. If I don't go, Kerri might get hurt feelings. No one wants to deal with Kerri, when she gets her feelings hurt. If I do go, I might be dealing with him. How many closures are we going to have? I know eventually that I will have to face him, because we're both closest to Kerri, but I don't know if I'm ready. I don't know if I will ever be ready.

"Are you good?" Cameron asks, coming up behind me and putting his arms around my body. He kisses the side of my neck and rubs my stomach.

"Just trying to figure out what to wear."

"Oh, are you going out?"

I peek at him and nod a little. I promise myself that I will stay honest with him. I just don't want a re-run of the shit that I did to Jason.

Cameron licks his lips a little, but doesn't say anything. I push his arms from around me and step out of his embrace. I walk towards the bed and sit down.

"Kerri is having an engagement party. That's it. It's going to be at the beach." I explain to him.

Cameron nods his head, keeping his eyes on me. "Will he be there?"

I meet his gaze to keep from frowning. "He?" I play stupid.

"Yeah, you know the dude that you're still married to? The one whose name is tatted on your back? The one I stole you from? Him. Come on, ma, don't do that shit. I have a low tolerance for bullshit."