Sweet Love [Book Two]

Chapter Fifteen

Mariah's POV
"C'mon girl! you gotta push yourself.",August said as he ran ahead of me up the hill.
"August." I whined "slow dooown!"
"Nu-uh, catch up."
"I can't! You're going too fast."
"Aight."he slowed down to a stop and waited for me to catch up and when I finally did, I was huffing and puffing like crazy! "I....can't.....run.....any....more."
"Sure you can, you're just a little outta shape that's all. You'll get back in a couple of weeks."
"Can't we just walk?"
"Walking ain't gon get you to where you wanna be Mariah."
"Shut up August and talk to me."I said as we started walking, continuing our trail.
"Aight, so what's up? You aight?",he asked me.
"Yeah, I'm fine! How are things going with you and Cass?"
He shrugged,"Same old, same old. Sometimes we get into it but you know, nothing serious. It is what it is."
"Right. So how's the music going?"
"Tryna set a date for my album to be released. Everything is working out though."
"I'm glad."
"So...... you and Chris good?"
I nodded,"Better than good. He's finally doing everything I could ever want from him. I wish you guys could bury the hatches though."
He shrugged,"Mariah, you know how I am. I don't tolerate any kind of disrespect from nobody. I gotta handle mines the best way that I know how."
"The male ego is too big."
"Whatchu mean by that?"
"I mean all you guys are the same. You all want someone to come to you with an apology first."
"Women are the same way!"he laughed.
"Some of them are, but those are arrogant ones."
"Huh."
I furrowed my eyebrows,"Huh, what?"
"Nothing, it's just last I remember back in high school you were one of those "arrogant" people. Two words: Tonya Reynolds."
I crinkled my face and August just laughed. I shook my head,"Shut up August. And don't you ever bring her name up. Gosh, I hated that bitch."
"I know, all because she gave you food poisoning on the day you were giving your speech while you two were running for senior class president."
"Yeah because she knew I would win and I would have if I didn't throw up on that kid that was sitting in the front row. But I didn't wanna be her friend after that so there was no need to be her friend after that so you can't compare me and her to you and Chris."
We both laughed.
"Well, if it makes you happy I'll try and talk to him."
"Really?",I squealed.
He nodded and I gave him a tight hug. I love this guy, he's truly one of my closest friends.

Chris' POV
"Tina, I can't do no interviews this week.",I said through the phone.
"And why not?",my manager asked through the phone.
"My wife and I just had our baby two weeks ago!"
"Okay, okay. We can compromise."
"But that's just it, I really ain't tryna compromise. You gotta gimme and my wife time to plan out our next move. I can't just up and leave her to handle our newborn."
She sighed,"My phones are going off the hook with all the talk shows wanting you and your family on their shows. It can be a family thing."
"Tina, you ain't hearing me though. You gotta gimme a couple of months before I go out and do interviews."
"Alright Chris. Alright, but I'll give you two months tops."
"Three."I urged.
"You're pushing it."
"Aight, two. I gotta go Tina, Faith just woke up from her nap."
She laughed,"Take care Chris."
I hung up. I walked upstairs into Faith's room and picked her up from her crib and smiled down at her. I planted a small kiss on her forehead then took her downstairs with me.
By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, the doorbell rang. I walked over to the front door and answered it and saw Taylor and Camille standing outside.
"Uncle Chris! Uncle Chris!",Camille squealed and ran up to me with her arms wide open.
I looked down at her and smiled,"Hey baby girl. Hold on, lemme go put down Faith so I can give you a big hug."
We walked into the living room with Taylor trailing behind us with a worried look on her face. I set Faith down in her bassinet then turned over to Camille and picked her up and attacked her faces with a bunch of kisses. She giggled and I set her down and said,"Tyson is upstairs in his room, go on up there aight?"
She nodded and ran upstairs. I turned over to Taylor with a look of concern. I can tell something ain't right with her so I reached out and gave her a hug she surprised me when she returned the hug tighter than I expected.
I pulled back and asked,"You aight Tay?"
She looked around and sighed,"Is Mariah home?"
"Nah, she working out with one of her friends or something. But foreal, what's up with you?"
"Chris, I'm fine."
"Bullshit. I know you better than you know yourself, what's up? Is it work? Is it Trey? Are y'all havin problems again?"
"Chris jus-"
"What did he do?"
She shook her head and put her hands up in defense,"Nothing, I just came here to talk to Mariah. When will she be back?"
The doorbell rang and I pointed to the door,"That's her right now." and I got up from my seat and answered the door and sure enough it was Mariah. As she walked into the house I gave her a peck and said,"Hey babe."
"Hey."she smiled at me. "Is the baby awake yet?"
I nodded,"Yeah, and Taylor is here to see you."
"Alright. Gimme a couple minutes and I'll start dinner okay?"
"Take your time. In fact, I'll make dinner tonight.",I said genuinely. I hope what ever was bothering Taylor would be solved soon. I hate seeing her sad.

Mariah's POV
Hm, I wonder why Taylor is back from her vacation so early? she's supposed to be there for another two days. I shrugged and walked into the living room and saw her sitting on the couch staring in a daze. I cleared my throat and she sort of jump and stood up and gave me a hug,"Hey Mariah."
I looked at her and said,"Hey Taylor. You alright?"
She looked around and said lowly,"Can we talk? In private?"
I nodded and led her outside to sit on the patio chairs, that always seems like the perfect place to talk in private especially on a nice warm evening in the summer.
I sat down beside her and asked,"Tay, what's wrong? i'm worried about you."
She sighed,"Trey is cheating on me."
"What? No, I thought we already went over this. He said he would never chea-"
"Yeah, well his ass is a damn liar. I caught him and he tried to lie about it, he;s till still sticking to his bitch ass lie too."
"Wait,"I choked "You saw him with the other woman?"
"No."
"Then how did you catch him?"
"He has this weird name saved in his contacts on his phone."
"What was the name?"
"C.A.P."
"C.A.P? What the hell?"
She nodded,"I know."
"What does that even mean?"
"I don't know!"
"Okay so wait, this C.A.P person just called and said she's fucking your husband?"
"No. She called twice and then hung up when she heard it was me on the phone not Trey. then she left a voice message and I listened to it and she was saying 'Hey Daddy, lemme come suck your dick when your wife ain't home.' "
My mouth dropped wide open,"Oh my gosh. How are you so calm right now? I'd be breaking shit. Burning up his car, his shoes, an-"
"I know" she nodded then ran her hands through her hair "I'm just done crying over him. I'm so confused."
"What are you confused about? Just divorce his ass!"
"But that's just it Mariah. I don't know if that's what I wanna do. Camille loves him to pieces and it would just tear her to shreds if that happened to us. She loves hhim like hell."
"And what about you Taylor? You have to do what's right for the both of you. Do you still love him?"
She remained silent for a moment then said lowly,"I'm not so sue anymore."