Clichés In the Dark Past {FIN}[Editing]

Chapter Four.

Jay

TyTy soon offered me 10K to take care of Bey, and though I found the cash to be unnecessary, I still took it. Any money that we could salvage would definitely not be wasted, considering we were building a retirement fund over the course of about a month and a half. The ride home in the rickety car soothed me with silence and arrived me at the hotel fairly quick. In the hotel room, I noted that Bey was sitting on the bed with Jeremy watching Scandal, but my gut instinct told me that something was not as sunny side up as it seemed.

"So what did ya'll do while I was gone?" I was well aware that neither of them would confess their mischievous doings to me, but I thought I'd at least offer the opportunity. Beyoncé ran to me and smashed her lips onto mine, transporting me to some version of heaven for a few moments when I kissed her back and she forced her tongue into my mouth, pulling back abruptly as she likely remembered Jeremy's presence.

"You're okay," she gushed, sighing of relief and kissing my face multiple times. I chuckled subtly at her natural, bubbly dramatics and led her toward the bed. Sitting next to her my nose detected the unmistakable smell of gun powder in her hair.

"Yes baby, I'm fine. But you didn't answer my question," I raised an eyebrow at her, our mutual signal that I knew something she thought I didn't.

"Oh, well..," she hesitated, "We just watched TV and ordered room service, right Jeremy?" When Jeremy nodded, it became evident that they thought they had me fooled. Their negligence to small details like the smell of gunpowder, the sweat upon Jeremy's forehead, and the safety clip left undone on the gun in Jeremy's belt. I decided it best to wait until Jeremy left to blast the woman, as I didn't want to air out drama with a guest in the room.

"Yeah, man. It was chill. I caught up on Scandal," he teased, getting up and stretching his back out. "I'll catch ya'll later. Jay, good seeing you again. And Bey," he offered beaming while she giggled, "It was a pleasure to meet you," he finished, and she hugged him tight. "I'll catch you on the flip side." He gave me a dap that I returned thoughtlessly.

"Bye Jeremy," she yelled behind him. I hardened my expression.

"Beyoncé what the hell was that about?" Oh, she knew I was pissed, alright.

***

Beyoncé

I was so grateful to Jeremy for his help, and his belief in me. Despite only knowing him for five hours, it felt as if I could open up to him without shame.

"Nothing Shawn, he was just a really cool guy." I understood that Shawn was going to be livid when he caught wind of me and Jeremy being at the gun range, but his wrath was something I was willing to withstand in exchange for learning how to defend myself. Naturally, Shawn got jealous when he saw me with other men, and especially when those men were attractive. The vexation and anxiety it caused him was very much real, but I still found his jealous streak to be a bit adorable.

"It sure didn't look like nothing, man. You and him were flirting right in front of my face," he began, placidly, "The smirks and giggles and shit? Ya'll fuck? Is that it? You fuckin' other niggas now, Bey? That's how you do me now, Bey?" He knew good and damn well that I didn't have sex with Jeremy and that it never crossed my mind; I was very much in love with Shawn, and plus, Jeremy was married. I simply didn't get down like that.

"No! It was nothing. He just taught me a few things, that's all. He's really nice, Shawn," I mitigated, hoping to cool the heating situation. His paranoia was starting to become out of control.

"What did he teach you? How to fuck upside down? You think that bullshit is gonna help u-"

"Don't curse at me, Carter. You know I hate when you curse at me, boy. Second of all, you know I love you and you know I would never betray you or hurt you like that! So stop with all this foolery. Now, if you've got your life together I can sit down with you and tell you what I learned." He nodded obediently, seemingly shrinking in size to a child, since that's the way I had to treat him when he got worked up in such a way. I sat beside him on the bed and turned to face him. "Jeremy and I went to the gun range so that I could learn how to shoot a gun. He didn't want to take me, but I didn't feel safe, and we both thought it'd be best for me to know how to protect myself," I explained, my tone just as calm as before. Guilt washed over his face and drooped his lips down into an apologetic frown.