His Side Chick III (But I Love Him To Death)

Chapter 15 (Courtney)

For the past two weeks, things seemed to be looking up for me. School was going good, and Jay, and I seemed to be in a good place. We still weren’t where I wanted us to be, but at least we were making some progress. I was really excited because he finally agreed to come to the house and spend a few nights with me and our kids. He still didn’t want to go back to counseling, but I was hopeful that I would get him to change his mind about that one day. He was trying, and I had to give him credit for that. On the other hand, my mama wasn’t too pleased when she found out my husband, and I was trying to reconcile. Thanks to my big mouth sisters she knew everything that was going on. They told her about Beyonce's pregnancy and about us running into her at church. She was also convinced that Jay only wanted to be with me because Beyonce didn’t want him anymore, but I didn’t believe that to be true. I’m sure by the time they finished filling her head up she probably hated Jay even more now than she did before. She kept telling me that the devil comes in all forms, and Jay was a devil in disguise. I stopped going to church with her again, and she said he was to blame for me falling back into my old ways. Of course, I wasn’t trying to hear it. If anything getting my family back was going to keep me happy and not depressed like I’d been for the past few months. I’d even accepted the fact that he might have another mouth to feed once Beyonce's baby came. I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t change what was already done. Even though she was driving me crazy with her dislike for my husband, I still agreed to go with her and my sisters to take my kids on an outing today. My kids have been dying to go play laser tag, so they were excited to be finally going today. It was rare for my mother to get any time off. Between her job as a nurse and her dedication to the church, most of her time was always accounted for. I was surprised to find out she took two weeks off from work and didn’t have anything planned. She said the only thing she wanted to do was spend some time with her kids and grandkids. I pulled up to my mother’s house, and my kids jumped out of the car before I had a chance to put it in park. My mom had an SUV, so we were all going to be riding with her. Before getting out of the car, I said a silent prayer that things would go smoothly today. My sisters and I did things together all the time, but it’s been a while since our mother joined us. We all loved her dearly, but sometimes she was just too critical. I think she was even harder on me because I was the only one out of the three of us who had kids. I was also the only one of her kids who has ever been married. My sisters, especially Camilla, got around a lot, so I don’t think marriage was ever in their future. I, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to be a wife and have a family. “Hey everybody,” I said when I walked through the front door. My sisters were sitting in the living room watching TV. I didn’t see my mama or my kids so I figured they were upstairs. “Hey girl, you’re looking cute today,” my sister Chariece said. I playfully twirled around to show her my entire outfit before I sat down on the sofa in between them. Camilla was on the phone, so she didn’t pay much attention to us. “Where’s mama?” I asked. “She was still getting dressed. I’m sure your kids are up there rushing her,” Chariece replied. Just as the words left her mouth, we heard all of them trampling down the staircase. “We’re ready,” Denim announced in her usual loud voice. “Hey mama, I know they probably dragged you out of your room,” I said. I laughed when I saw that her shoes weren’t tied, and her shirt was buttoned up wrong. “They sure did. One of y’all will have to drive while I get myself together. I haven’t even combed my hair yet,” she complained. I offered to drive her truck as we all got up and headed out of the front door. As soon as we pulled up to the laser tag building, my children were ready to jump out of the truck. “Wait a minute,” I yelled. “When y’all get in there I want everybody to stay together. Y’all make sure to hold Drew’s hand wherever y’all go.” I had to give them some instructions before we went inside. The place only had one way in and one way out, so I wasn’t worried about them going anywhere. I was going to be sitting right near the door. When we walked inside the place was kind of crowded, but there were still a lot of tables available. “Y’all find a table while I go and pay for them to play some games,” my mama told us. “Okay, let’s find a table close to the door so I can make sure my brats don’t try to leave out of here,” I replied. It didn’t take long for us to find two tables close enough for us to push together. We sat down and got comfortable while my mama ordered the food and made sure the kids were straight. “So what’s going on with you and that husband of yours?” Chariece asked. “Not much is going on. We’re trying to get things back on track, but we’re taking our time,” I replied. “Taking your time with what?” My mother asked when she came back to the table. “She’s talking about Jay's dog ass,” Camilla said sarcastically. “Watch your mouth,” my mother said while pointing at my sister. “But what about Jay?” She asked while looking at me. “Nothing, Chariece just asked what was going on with us,” I said no longer wanting to discuss it. “Hopefully nothing, but this is not the time or place to discuss all of that,” she said waving us off. I breathed a sigh of relief when she changed the subject and started talking about something else. A little over an hour later we had all eaten and was just sitting at the table talking. I had to round up my kids to make them sit down for a while and eat the pizza that was ordered for them. As soon as they were done they ran off to play some more games. They were almost out of game tokens so I knew it would only be a matter of time before they came back to beg for more. Just like I thought, I saw my oldest daughter heading in our direction with her sister and brothers following close behind. “I guess I need to buy some more tokens,” my mama said laughing. We were all laughing with her until my children got closer to us. The smile on my face faded when I saw that each one of my kids had a huge bucket overflowing with tokens that I knew none of us had purchased. “Where did y’all get those tokens from?” My mother asked in a panic. “My daddy’s friend bought them for us,” Lil Sean said happily. My heart dropped as I looked around to see just who they were referring to. I knew they weren’t talking about any of his male friends because they would have made their presence known if they were here. The first person that came to mind was Beyonce, but they knew her. They would have called her by name if she was who they were referring to. I hated Jay for always involving my kids with him and his other women. It was bad enough that he was doing wrong in the first place. “That’s her right there,” Denim said pointing the woman out. When I looked in the direction that she pointed, I almost died when I spotted Mya standing there smiling at me. As if I wasn’t already pissed off, the bitch had the nerve to wave at me. “That’s the girl I told you I saw Jay with,” Camilla said louder than she needed to. “Give me those tokens,” I said taking all of them away from my kids. I jumped up and headed over to where she was standing and of course my sisters followed me. I had only seen Mya once when I went to visit Jay at the facility that he was in, but I remembered her face just like it was yesterday. “Y’all come back here. This is not the time or place for this foolishness and especially not in front of these kids,” my mother yelled. We ignored her and kept moving towards our target. “Here you go,” I said shoving the buckets of tokens in her hand. “I don’t need or want you to do a damn thing for my kids. As a matter of fact, do me a favor and stay the fuck away from them.” “What’s up wifey?” Mya said with a smile. She was standing with another woman who immediately started laughing when she made the comment. “No bitch you got the wrong one. I’m the wife,” I said in response. “My fault, you are the wife, I’m wifey,” she said laughing. Before I had a chance to reply, Camilla reached over me and grabbed Mya by her hair. I saw my mother running towards us, but it was already too late. Mya’s friend jumped in and helped her, which made Chariece, and I jump in to help our sister. I really wasn’t worried about Mya’s friend because I had my sights set on her. I heard my kids screaming, and the other customers were doing their best to get out of the way as we fought like wild animals in the middle of the floor. “Stop this, y’all need to be ashamed of yourselves,” my mother was screaming as she tried to pull us apart. When Mya’s friend fell, Camilla took it upon herself to finish her off, while Chariece and I beat Mya out of the shirt and bra that she was wearing. Some of the male workers immediately rushed over and did their best to pull us apart. When the staff was finally able to separate us, they had to give Mya a souvenir t-shirt to cover the naked top half of her body. “You guys have to leave. The police have already been called,” the manager said when he walked over to us. “Let’s get out of here before I have to bail all of you out of jail,” my mother said in disgust. “Bitch I’m not Beyonce. I’m not going anywhere; you can trust and believe that. My daddy was a married man, so I don’t mind sharing,” Mya was screaming to the top of her lungs sounding stupid. I didn’t even waste my time replying. I gathered up my kids and their belongings and made my way to the exit. “Is this what you plan to be doing for the rest of your life? Fighting over a man that you are supposed to be married to”, my mama said as she stood in front of me. “Not now Ma, I swear I am not in the mood for all of this,” I said as I fought back tears. “I don’t care what you’re in the mood for. This is ridiculous. You can’t even have a relaxing day with your family without running into one of your husband’s mistresses and it’s not right for y’all to involve these kids in all that mess,” she continued. “I wasn’t the one that started it. Camilla hit her first,” I replied. Sometimes I had to wonder if Camilla was fighting for me or did she have her own motives. There were times when she would be more upset than I was. “You’re missing the whole point Courtney. What I’m saying is it wouldn’t have happened in the first place if your so called husband was doing right by you. I promise you. You are going to regret the day that you ever married Shawn Carter, and you can mark my words on that,” my mother said with finality. I never thought I’d see the day that I agreed with anything that my mother had to say about my husband, but today I did. I was actually starting to regret the day that I married Shawn Carter.