GUILT

Chapter 17

     Chantelle took a deep breath and grabbed her phone to call Shay immediately. As she dialed her number, she walked over to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water.

     "What's up girl? How did the date go?" Shay picked up the phone.

     "Girl, I just had to force myself away from him because he started acting creepy out of no where."

     "What do you mean?"

     "He kept bringing up the past, insisted that he's the one for me, and he kept reassuring me that I have someone else because I kept turning him down."

     "Did you mention Trae at all?"

    "No, because I couldn't. I kept feeling uncomfortable around him because now that I know what he's up to, I have no interest in him and I can't let him know that right now," Chantelle put down the water bottle, "He tried to kiss me and damn near followed me into my house before I slammed the door in his face."

    "Oh hell no. That is creepy. You gotta let Trae know about this."

    "I don't know how to tell him because he might get--," Chantelle looked down at her phone and saw that Trae was calling her. "This him now, I'll give you a call back." Chantelle hung up the phone with Shay and switched the call.

    "Baby, you home safe?" Trae asked.

    "Yeah, I'm home. Safe really ain't the word to use right about now."

    "What's wrong? What happened?"

    "I understand that I'm doing this to protect you and everybody, but I feel so uncomfortable when I'm around him now. He act so damn demanding and pushy, and I don't like that. He kept trying to ask me why we never worked out, then tried to kiss me and grabbed me while I was trying to get into the house."

   "The fuck wrong with him?" Trae voice raised. "I'm sorry for putting you through that ma, I'm really am. I'm going to talk it over with Devin to see if we can come up with something. I promise you I owe it to you when it's all over baby."

    "You promise?" Chantelle seem to love the way Trae had things in order, even though she hated that she had to deal with JT's actions.

    "I promise baby. Now do me a favor and get some rest beautiful. Don't worry about it, I got you."

    "I'd feel much better if you stayed on the phone with me until I fall asleep," Chantelle whined.

    "I gotta call Devin real quick. I'll call you back as soon as we finish baby."

    "Okay boo." Chantelle hung up the phone and went upstairs to her bedroom. As she dressed for bed, she tied her hair up and laid down, thinking about how her life changed since she met Trae. She thought about their future, and everything down to family and marriage. It caused her to blush and smile and she soon fell asleep without needing Trae to call her back.

   Trae called Devin and told him about how JT acted, then discussed the other ways to keep Chantelle safe. "Hey bro, we gotta do something different because Chantelle don't like how he act towards her and I don't like it either."

   "Keeping everything unknown is the best way to go about things right now bro," Devin said while rolling a blunt.

   "I'll be damned if something happen to her man," Trae said.

   "It's not your fault and it isn't her fault either. But him finding out that we know what he's up to cause more damage to the situation."

   "How long this supposed to go on?"

   "Give it time bro. But look, you said she's uncomfortable right? He's already knowing that she feels that way so if she turn him down on his anymore of his plans, he might give in to that."

   "Yeah, you right. If something happen to her, that's just gonna be the day."

    "You know I'm behind you ten toes down in whatever you do."

    "Word bro," Trae hung up the phone and dialed Chantelle's number but didn't get an answer so he sent her a text telling her that he hopes she sleeps well.