Deceitful | Book 3

| F O U R |

PAST –

Me: Good Morning, beautiful. Did u get everything handled w ur car?

Tereny: Oh. Yes. I have the car now. Thanks for checking up on me. You're too sweet.

My mind was surfing around, trying to find some kind of exception for the shit I was getting myself into as I held the small flip phone that Cheri had just purchased in my hand, texting Tereny's number that she'd given me yesterday. I sighed, not wanting to continue this text, but I was doing this favor for Cheri. And as much as I complained and tried convincing Cheri that I wasn't doing anymore of her dirty work, I couldn't help but feel guilty that my sister was going through this mess and wanted revenge against Tereny so bad.

Me: Good! Watch ur back... U never know who's watching u. I see u have a new boo. U really like him?

I was laid up in bed, moments later, realizing that Tereny wasn't going to respond to that last text I'd sent her and I couldn't understand why. The shit probably had her all scared and shit.

    This shit had me feeling guilty.

    Cheri walked into my room and that's right when I felt the phone vibrate in my hand, making me open it up and view Tereny's text.

Tereny: Never text me again!

I started to feel bad that I was playing with her, so I just closed the phone and threw it at Cheri. If her reflexes weren't so fast at that exact moment, she would've gotten snapped right in the nose.

    When she caught the phone, she looked at me as if I'd hurt her or something.

    "I'm not doing this stupid shit no more." I say as I stand up from my bed.

    "The hell wrong with you?" She asked me, opening the phone. She smiled and went to typing away on the phone. I shook my head and looked away from her petty ass to keep from saying something that would possibly hurt her feelings.

    Instead, I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the wall for a moment. Cheri sucked her teeth and sat down next to me, wrapping her arms around me and leaning her head onto my shoulder.

    "This is just wrong on so many levels. Tereny never did anything to me for me to be doing this to her. This is the shit y'all got going on and I'm not a part of it. I don't wanna be a part of it anymore." I tell her as I brush her arms from around me and stand up to be clear of her. Cheri sucked her teeth.

    "Bruce, don't act like that. You're helping me."

    "Helping you be petty as fuck. Man, this some gay shit. I'm not with it." I say to her as I look at her to see her face. "You're on your own, Cheri. I'm not doing this shit no more, a'ight. Find you somebody else who get a hard on for shit like this because it ain't me. A'ight?"

    Angry with Cheri, I just walk out of my bedroom and down the stairs. She was using me for the last time. And I mean, all I really wanted to do was help Cheri get revenge. But that moment in that car that I shared with Tereny yesterday, it was just something different. I really like Tereny and the last thing I want to do is hurt her like that. I mean, I already did some foul shit, but I can stop now before I go ahead. Tereny's innocent and she doesn't deserve any of the shit Cheri's putting her through. And I admit, I was a sucker for going along with it. But I'm out.

    Rather or not Tereny feels the same way for me, I don't want to play with her like that anymore. I sit down at the kitchen table and bury my head into the palms of my hands and just close my eyes for a moment just before looking up.