Page 45 of He Don't Play About Me
I paused, not even knowing if I really wanted to bring my mama into it.
“Some woman, she was knocking at my door saying she didn’t know who she wanted, then I saw her at court. It was just… weird.”
“I see,” Ma said. “I can’t tell you much because I don’t know how you feel, but what I would say is trust your instincts.”
I nodded to myself and drove back to the complex. I talked to Ma while I ate and waited for the movers and cleaners to come. I saw Bully come and go a few times, but I wasn’t interested in talking to him after how he lied to me earlier.
Some time passed, and finally, everybody I needed showed up at the same time. I got off the phone with Ma and led them inside to get started.
The cleaners were the first I gave directions to, having them get the couch out and most of the things out of the living room, then I split the movers and packers between the bedroom and the kitchen.
To stay outta their way, I packed up the bathroom until I saw them carry the mattress and bed frame out, knowing it was shit under that bed I wanted to throw out.
I went into the room and started looking through things, making my keep and throw pile, when I saw Gio’s phone lying on the floor. I was surprised.
“Those dumbasses flipped the bed and never found his phone,” I said to myself with a smile on my face.
I just knew they ain’t have shit on him since I had that.
I was about to turn the phone so I could delete shit later when it rang in my hand.
A text alert.
I looked at the screen and saw it was from T. I tilted my head. If my mama knew about Gio being locked up without me telling her, I knew that T had to know. I clicked on the message, unlocked the phone, and almost fell out.
It was a picture of him and the bitch who knocked on my door, the same one who was at court.
My heart started racing the more I scrolled.
“Gio, I miss you.”
“Gio, can we duck off for a few days?”
“Baby, I miss your dick in me.”
I rushed to the bathroom and continued scrolling, not wanting the movers to be all in my business. But the more I scrolled, the sicker I felt. Gio was flirting back with her, telling her she looked good when she sent him a picture, and randomly asking her to send him something. They had certain days they met, date nights that she planned, and he went along with it all, while leaving me at home waiting for him.
I went through every picture she sent him, every video, even some of them fuckin’, and my heart was shattered, but I couldn’t stop scrolling.
I ended up scrolling all the way to the start of their message thread, and it looked like their relationship started three years ago.
“How could he do this to me?” I whispered to myself. “I love him,” I cried out.
I don’t know how long I sat in the bathroom crying and scrolling, but it was long enough for the movers to pack up the whole apartment and knock on the door to tell me they were done.
I told them not to leave yet and to take a break on the clock. I needed to figure some things out. Once they were gone, I walked around my empty apartment with his phone still tight in my hand.
Each part of my house had a memory of us. I could still hear my heart beating in my ear the more I walked around, thinking about how many times that nigga told me he was going to meet with T, work with T, do a drop for T. It then shifted to Bully and how that nigga clearly lied to my face for Gio.
I was beyond pissed, but I wanted to think straight, move smart. I took a deep breath.
“This nigga had a side bitch for three years,” I reminded myself.
He thought I would never find out; he wanted me to marry him while he had this secret. Tears started to fall down my face the more I thought about it, more angry tears than sad. Gio played in my face while I was planning a future with him, standing ten toes down for him, loving him through everything, but that was about to come to an end. I could never physically hurt him; that wasn’t me, and he was locked up. But what I was gonna do was make him sick.
I got myself together, then bought a storage unit, and called the movers to come back.
“Before you go to the original address I gave you,” I said, talking to the movers. “I need you to drop the female’s things off somewhere else.”
