Never Knew | s.o

13.

Thought I was in love before.
Now, I see I was wrong.
You came in my life and got me feeling something strong.
'Cause I never knew love like this before.
Knew love like this before.

TRINITY
I ain't gone lie, that shit really fucked my head up. You out here getting my name tatted and swearing you love me forever, but you show up to meet me with a fucking hickey on your neck? Niggas are real life embarrassing. I am so fucking good off Shareef. That shit was distasteful.

After I was temporarily done crying my eyes out, I went inside and up to my apartment. I stripped out of my clothes and slid on my pajamas. I got straight back in the bed and buried myself in the covers.

To Mama:

Can you keep Salem again tonight? I'm sorry. I'm not feeling well.

From Mama:

Ofc. How'd the talk go?

To Mama:

I don't even really wanna talk about it. I just wanna take a nap.

SHAUNIE
After I put Salem down for nap, I went downstairs to call Shareef. I didn't really have an expectation of how their talk would go, but if Trinity didn't want to talk about it, I'm sure it didn't go well. My best bet to find out what happened was to call my son.

"Hello?"

"What's up, ma?"

"What happened during the talk with Trinity?"

"We didn't talk. I showed up late and when I got there, she threw some pregnancy tests at me and left."

"Have you tried to reach out to her?"

"No."

I shook my head.

"Why did you go get her name tattooed if you ain't even putting in no effort to try and get her back?"

"I figured she wanted some space."

"Did you read the room properly?"

"I thought I did."

"I'm about to call her and try to figure this out, but Shareef, I'm not gone fix your messes. You're a grown ass man. If you wanna be with her, show her. If you don't, get that damn tattoo covered up."

I hung up and called Trinity.

"Hello."

"Hey, sweetie. Are you feeling any better?"

"No."

"Are you feeling bad physically or emotionally? Shareef told me you stormed out this morning so y'all didn't get a chance to talk. What happened?"

I could hear her start to sniffle on the other end of the phone.

"What'd he do that has you so upset that you're crying, sweetheart?"

"He showed up.. basically 45 minutes late.. He seemed off a little.. I just looked at him.. analyzed him.. to make sure he was okay.. He was breathing really hard.. He had a hickey.. on his neck. Why would he.. why would he come meet me right after fucking on some bitch? That's nasty.. disrespectful.. and most definitely tasteless. I'm good.. The same way we go through you about Salem.. we can do with this baby. I'll send you pictures and stuff.. and you can forward them to him. This shit was the last straw. I don't want shit to do with him."

"He's young. He still learning."

TRINITY
I hung up the phone because ain't nobody trying to hear that shit. Shareef was even younger when we met and we ain't never had no issues like this. If he done decided he wanna have a hoe phase after settling down, starting a family, and getting engaged, he can stay all the way away from me. When he done with this little phase, he can wife the next bitch. I'm only focused on being a good mother to my kids.