Love & Other Drugs

Chapter 2: One Year Later

Rolling over , Keri felt around the bed for Jamari. Nothing. Yet again she woke up in the middle of the night, only to find she was in bed alone. Yawning , she turned over to look at the clock. 4:38 it read. What could he possibly be doing out so late ?! Being a no good nigga 9/10, she thought.

Suddenly a piercing cry came from the next room. Keri got out of bed, knowing the routine. Baby Amad must be hungry again. And she was the only one there to do the dirty work once again. She wondered if Amad even realized he had a father at this point.

It wasnt that Jamari and Keri weren't together, he just was never home. At this rate baby Amad would learn to crawl , eat, & everything else without his father around. This was NOT how she planned to raise her child. It was bad enough that she wasn't raised by either of her parents. She just wanted so much more for her own child.

Baby Amad never wanted for anything, it was just the principal of the thing. Every child should have their father around , especially boys. Jamari was supposed to be teaching his son the basics, yet he wasnt even home at 4 in the morning. She thought of the possibilities of where he may be and what he may be doing. No good thoughts came to mind.

After feeding Amad & rocking him back to sleep, she lay him down in his crib. She began to leave the room and head back to her empty bedroom. Until she heard the front door creep open. Was she being robbed? She quickly opened the closet door in the hall & grabbed Jamari's gun. Shaking, she headed in the direction of the noise.

"Baby what you doing?!", Jamari hollered, startling the heck out of Keri.

"Nah nigga , what you doing ? Creepin in here all hours of the night! Ian know who tf you was!" Keri replied, hollering back, sighing with relief.

"Man , not this nonsense again. Girl how many times i gotta tell you that im handling my business. Unless you wanna live in the streets, and give up all those gucci bags, then you gone have to deal with it ma." Jamari tried to reason with her.

"Whatever brah, im going back to my empty ass bed!" Keri stated as she turned to walk away.

Turning her back to him , she began to walk down the hallway, until she was snatched back by Jamari.

"And where you think you going while im talkin to you, huh? Must forgot who i am ma!" Jamari yelled, all in her face.

"Jamari let me go , you're hurting me !" Keri pleaded.

"IDGAF, you not about to walk away from me while im talkin to yo ass!" Jamari said as he tightened his grip on her forearm.

"Ok baby ! Now let me go , dxmn!" , keri said , saying anything to make him let her go.

He finally released his grip on her. Regret was plastered all over his face.

"Im trippin babe. Ion even know why im actin crazy. Im the one who messed up.", Jamari whispered , as if there were a million ears listening.

"I forgive you baby, just chill out. Okay?" Keri said, not wanting to anger him further.

He grabbed her by the waist gently, hugging her as if it may be the last time. He was already thinkin of what gifts to get her to make up to her. Anything to make her believe he was actually sorry. If she was one of his other girls he wouldn't even bother to apologize but this was wifey, his baby's mother, he loved this girl, regardless of how unfaithful he was.

Letting her go, he looked deeply into her eyes. He tried his hardest to look pitiful. He had to make her feel just as guilty. There was no way he was lettin her go, that's for sure.

"This'll never happen again , on everything i love.", Jamari told her as sincere as he could.

"I believe you Jamari, can we go to sleep now? I gotta get up in a few hours." Keri said sweetly so he would let it go.

He didn't believe her but what more could he say. Layin down, he reached out to hold her, but she flinched, making it apparent that she didnt believe him earlier.

A few hours later Keri got up to hit the gym. Her body wasnt banging for nothing. She made it a priority to keep her body tight & right. Walking out of the door, she heard Jamari snoring loudly. If only she had her own money to give Amad the perfect life without his fathers money, she would leave his cheating ass right where she found him.

She was deep in thought on the drive to the gym. How did it get to this point? A year ago there was nothing she wouldn't do for that man. Now it seemed that that time was so long ago.

To have the perfect finish, you gotta have the perfect start. To get the perfect start then you gotta go hard! She chanted in her head as she put in work in the gym. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the most handsome man of her life, and he obviously noticed her too. He smirked her way and began walking over to the area she was in. Pretending that she wasn't looking at him, she continued to exercise.

"You come here often? I couldn't have seen you around before ." , he asked as he smiled at her with his eyes.

"I come whenever i have free time, which is probably why you dont see me around." She chuckled. She looked around the gym to see if there were any people there that she knew. The last thing she wanted was for someone to go back and tell Jamari that she was in the gym with some random man.

"Looking for someone?" He asked as he watched her every move. She had to be the baddest female he had seen in a while, except the bruise mark on her upper arm. Everything about her was perfect. Surely she must have a man , he thought.

"Nah, i just thought i saw an old friend of mine.", she said , leaving out the details of her crazy boyfriend.

"Well if you dont mind, I'd like to become a new friend of yours." He flirted.

Keri knew she was In WAY over her head. No way was she going to get away with cheating on Jamari, honestly she didnt even want to. She just wished he would act right. Was that so hard?

"I don't think my man would appreciate that." Keri stated , giggling. What was she doing?

"Well if he ever decides not to appreciate you then you can always come to me. My name's Cameron by the way.", Cameron said to her. He was so full of confidence that he had to make you wonder.

Leaving the gym Keri felt guilty as hell. She didn't cheat but she sure did want to. If only Jamari knew what he had at home, Keri thought to herself.

Pulling up to the 2 garage home, Keri couldn't wait to get back to her son. He was her world & a few hours away from him felt like an eternity.

"Where you comin from , looking so happy?" Jamari asked as he walked her way down the driveway.

"I went to the gym. If you were home earlier, you would've been awake when i left." Keri replied with an attitude. She was really fed up with this treatment, especially since Cameron reminded her that she still could get niggas.

Suddenly Jamari's whole demeanor changed. Reaching into the open window of the car, he grabbed a fist full of her hair. She howled out in pain.

"You really thought I wouldn't find out about ole boy?" Jamari yelled for the whole neighborhood to hear. At this rate, the police would be coming shortly for complaints of domestic violence.

Keri cried as she tried to make him loosen his grip on her hair. Finally making her way out of the car she tried to fight back but she was failing.

Taking the fight inside, they continued to go at it. Every piece of glass in the dining room was broken. Keri curled up in the corner, waiting for the next few blows to come. When the punches ceased, she looked up slowly.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Jamari was in the doorway, talking to Cameron. What the hell was he doing here ?! She watched intensely,waiting for a fight. When the men stayed civil, she began to feel set up. She looked around at all the broken glass & messy furniture. When she looked back at the doorway, the men were both watching her. Now she was really scared...