Cameron 6 (3 page)

4

Cameron tensed up after Jude and Magyc walked in the hospital room some twenty minutes after she arrived. She would’ve been perfectly fine if he hadn’t shown up period. Just the sight of him made her ass itch; she was so done with him and his antics.

Cameron still couldn’t believe he’d arrogantly tossed cash at her in his club. The shit was beyond rude and disrespectful. She was his wife, not some bitch in the streets. Thankfully, Justin was fast asleep when his father finally showed up. She didn’t want the toddler witnessing a possible altercation. Cam had a mouthful she wanted to say, but she knew now wasn’t the place or the time.

Jude swaggered over to Cameron, knelt down and attempted to kiss her cheek — but she quickly moved from reach. His ass was like the plague. She wanted to avoid him at all costs, especially when there was no telling where else his mouth had been.

“Damn. Like that?” Jude asked, somewhat offended. He’d felt guilty for what went down earlier, but it was clear Cam was still upset.

Cameron didn’t even bother making eye contact when she said, “Yeah. Just like that.”

“I guess I’ll make myself scarce,” Roxie said, standing to her feet. The last thing she needed was to be in the middle of whatever Jude and Cameron had going on. Roxie could feel the tension in the air just being there, and she wanted no parts of it.

“You rode with me,” Cameron reminded her. “Do you need me to take you home?”

“I could take her,” Magyc spoke up.

Roxie immediately looked over in his direction. It was her first time noticing him since he’d stepped in the room. She did an automatic double take after realizing how fine he was.
How did I not see him walk in?
Roxie asked herself.

Magyc was equally as impressed with what he saw. He’d always had a thing for dark-skinned women, and Roxie was right up his alley. Magyc had seen her once during a family get together, but she hardly even noticed him then. As a matter of fact, she hardly noticed anyone. The only person who seemed to have all her attention was her daughter, Rain. Magyc loved that about Roxie. She was low-key and from what he could tell, loyal.

Cameron looked from Magyc to Roxie. “Are you okay with that?”

“I guess,” Roxie answered dryly. Even though he was cute, Roxie didn’t know him from a can of paint. She did recognize that Cam and Jude needed privacy to hash out their differences, so she begrudgingly agreed.

“A'ight. I’ll get up with you later, bruh,” Jude said before giving Magyc dap. Together, he and Roxie dispersed, leaving the troubled couple alone with their problems.

Neither spoke to the other on their way out of the hospital. When they reached his Lamborghini Roadster, Roxie stopped and frowned.

“I’ll be sure to drive careful, Ms. Lady,” Magyc said, reading her thoughts. He then walked around her and opened the passenger door.

Roxie hesitated for a second. It didn’t look safe for an infant, but she trusted Magyc would get her home safely. Reluctantly, she climbed inside before making sure Rain was comfortable.

Magyc closed the butterfly door, walked around to his side and climbed in. The heavenly scent of his Tom Ford cologne was intoxicating. Roxie could only imagine the groupies he attracted.

“What’s your name?” she asked. “I just realized I climbed in the car with a total stranger.”

“I’m not a stranger. You know I work for Jude.”

Roxie just wanted to fuck with him now for the hell of it. Not only that, but she also wanted to test his patience. “I don’t care. You’re still a stranger. I don’t know your name.”

“Magyc,” he answered calmly. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his thick lips. They looked incredibly soft to the touch.

“Magyc?” she repeated skeptically. “Is that your birth name? Or did you just hit me with some fancy, street pseudonym?”

Magyc chuckled, clearly amused by her feistiness. Roxie was definitely proving to be his type. “It’s my government, ma. The name my mama blessed me with.”

Roxie twisted her mouth up and looked away. “Oh, okay.”

“Any other questions, Ms. Lady?”

She loved the way the words ‘Ms. Lady’ rolled off his tongue. Magyc was charming, sexy, and intriguing. Still, Roxie knew to keep a safe distance if she didn’t want to wind up hurt again. “No,” she said. “That’s all… for now.”

After punching in her address on the navigational system, Roxie and Magyc rode in silence while enjoying the lyrics to J. Cole’s
“Born Sinner”
album.

***

Subsequently following Roxie and Magyc’s departure, Cameron climbed in bed with Justin. Jude wanted to believe it was because she yearned to be close to their son, but he knew it was because she didn’t want to sit next to his ass.

Jude would’ve been blind to not see the disconnection between him and Cameron. She was losing faith in him, and he couldn’t say he blamed her. Lately, it felt like all he had to offer was his net worth. Because running the business took up so much of his time and energy, he couldn’t give Cam all of him. Instead, he gave her attitude and half-assed efforts. It was a true miracle she’d stayed around for as long as she did with everything he’d put her through.

The sudden sound of his phone vibrating interrupted Jude’s thoughts. He quickly sent Essence to voicemail before she woke up Cam or Justin. He was supposed to “handle” her months ago, but he bitched up on the task. Although he wanted to, Jude just couldn’t bring himself to go through with it. He may’ve been heartless and cynical, but he still had a conscience.

Instead of burying his deep, dark secret, Jude fled her apartment and cut all ties he had with Essence. There was only one other problem. The bitch was four months pregnant and relentless.

Thankfully, she kept her distance from Cam since Jude had put fear in her heart that fateful night. But she refused to let up on her baby’s daddy. Essence was determined to make Jude pay for all the grief he had caused. She made it her mission to harass him constantly, even popping up at the Warehouse once to talk. She wanted to know why he wouldn’t accompany her on doctor’s visits, and why she wasn’t good enough to have his child.

It wasn’t fair for Jude to place Cameron on a pedestal when she had shown him more devotion than his own wife. Essence was good enough to lie down with, but not good enough to bear his seed. None of it made sense to her.

I should’ve gotten rid of that headache when I had the chance,
Jude thought, slipping his phone back in his pocket. He could only hope over time the issue somehow resolved itself. Little did Jude know, Essence was only the least of his problems...

5

Magyc brought his flashy sports car to a slow stop in front of Roxie’s high-rise apartment building. He wanted to try his hand with her before she climbed out the car, but feared the outcome.
Fuck it. YOLO,
he convinced himself.

“Look, I don’t wanna beat around the bush,” Magyc told her. “I think you beautiful and I wanna get to know more about you. Is that possible?”

Roxie unfastened her seatbelt and turned to face Magyc. There was once a time when she adored street niggas and their nefarious appeal. She’d dated bad boy rapper, O’ Zone for a year and a half before he was gunned down in an Atlanta nightclub. He wasn’t shit, and he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants to save his life, but Roxie loved him unconditionally. She’d gone through something similar with Joaquin. After losing two men who’d once possessed her heart, Roxie couldn’t bare the thought of losing another.

“You cute or whatever… but I don’t fuck the help,” she said bluntly.

Magyc felt like she had kicked him in the nuts. His pride was wounded after hearing Roxie say that shit. “Damn, for real?” he said, somewhat shocked. Magyc thought about bragging on how he was next to run the ring, but decided against it. After all, he had nothing to prove. He’d never been the type to boast or let his echelon speak for him. If Roxie did ever give him the time of day it’d be because he was a real nigga. Not because she was impressed by his money or position — like most of the birds he came in contact with. She was different, and he knew it. “I can dig that,” he laughed.

Suddenly, Roxie felt bad for throwing shade. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that,” she said. “It’s just that I’ve already been there and done that. I didn’t know how to separate business from pleasure with my baby’s father, and now I’m a single mom. I don’t ever wanna mix the two up again.”

“So you can be involved in da business, but you can’t be involved with a nigga in it. Am I hearin’ you right?”

“I’m sure you can understand.”

Magyc didn’t… but instead of telling her that, he simply said, “Fasho. I get it.”

Roxie slowly opened the door and climbed out. Even though she had said one thing, he was determined to make her feel another. Magyc had planted a seed in her ear. When it was all said and done she wouldn’t be kicking that business and pleasure bullshit. Instead, she’d be happy she took a chance on the kid.

Magyc watched her disappear inside of the building. After making sure Roxie made it in safely, he pulled off with thoughts of her being his girl on his mind.

***

Justin was released the following afternoon after his swelling finally subsided. The drive back to their Buckhead home was silent and tension-filled. Cameron still felt some type of way about how Jude reacted last night. And to add insult to injury, he hadn’t even apologized.

“So you still ain’t talkin’ to me?” Jude asked. It was the first thing he’d said to Cameron all day. She had been giving him the cold shoulder for their entire stay at the hospital, and he was tired of it. “You ain’t fuckin’ with me now?”

Cameron rolled her eyes in response and looked out the window. She had no words for her husband.

Jude reached over and touched her hand, but she quickly moved it away. Lately, there had been so much strain on their relationship that they hadn’t been intimate in months.

Jude quickly withdrew his hand after noticing her standoffishness. Cam didn’t want to be bothered and he could respect it. Out of nowhere, his iPhone began ringing in the cup holder.

Cameron’s nosiness prompted her to look over so she did. A twinge of jealousy washed over her after seeing Essence’s name displayed boldly on his screen.

“Your hoe is calling,” she said, sarcasm oozing from her tone.

Jude didn’t respond as he continued driving. He didn’t feel like entertaining her charades, but Cam just wouldn’t let up.

“Did you hear me? I said your hoe is calling—”

Fed up with the bullshit, Jude snatched his phone, rolled down his window, and tossed it out. “There. You fuckin’ happy now?”

Cameron laughed and shook her head in disbelief. “You act like that’s supposed to change something.”

“I wish it could,” Jude mumbled.

“And I wish you had strapped up with that bitch. Hell, I wish you would’ve
never
laid down with that hoe, but you did—”

“Cam, watch ya mouth around our son, a'ight. He’s in the backseat—”

“Don’t act like you give a damn about Justin now!” Cameron lashed out. “Out of all the fucking money you make you couldn’t pay to have that shit dealt with! Now I gotta deal with this bitch every—”

“What the fuck do you want from me, Cam!” Jude yelled. “To abort the lil’ mothafucka myself?! I did everything I could! I fucked up! Damn. I don’t ‘een deal with that bitch no more and it still ain’t enough for yo’ ass. I’m tryin’—”

“Nigga, you ain’t trying,” Cameron waved him off. “You don’t even know the definition of the word ‘trying’.”

“Why do I have to go through this shit with you every fucking day, yo’? You gon’ let your insecurities tear us apart, Cam—”

“You’ve already beat me to it,” she retorted. “And whose fault is it that I am? For three months —
three months
— you paraded this second-rate bitch all over the city! Buying her cars, jewelry, and shit — I saw the receipts, Jude. And then you have the nerve to continue lying to me by saying she was just some fling. That bitch is carrying your baby! I have to live with that shit every time I wake up and go to sleep at night! Do you ever really stop to think about how the consequences of your actions affects those around you?”

“What the fuck do you want me to do, Cameron?” Jude asked calmly. “Why you stay givin’ me the third degree over dat bullshit? What’s yo’ fuckin’ problem?”

“I HATE YO’ TRIFLING ASS!” Cameron screamed. “You wanna know what my problem is? I hate yo’ mothafucking ass, Jude!” She clapped her hands together with every word to emphasize her extreme dislike. Tears steamed down Cam’s cheeks as she finally let her true feelings surface. “And it ain’t just the pregnancy and whatever other hoes you probably smash on the side. It’s everything! You changed and I despise what the hell you’ve become. I can’t even stand to look at your ass. You make me fucking sick,” she cried. “I hate your ass, Jude. I really do…”

Jude sat silent in his seat as he navigated the vehicle. He was at a complete loss for words. Although he held his ground, he was breaking down inside. Cameron had never spoken to him with such animosity and discontentment. He hardly even recognized her. It felt like a stranger was cursing him out. He almost didn’t want to believe the shit spewing from her lips.

“You don’t mean that,” Jude said in a low tone. “I know you don’t mean that shit.”

“As sure as that mothafucking baby is yours, I mean that shit with every fiber of my being.”

Damn.

There it was.

Jude had no idea that Cameron felt such a strong disdain for him. He’d really fucked up, and this time the damage was irreparable. Jude slowly pulled through the tall wrought iron gates that led to his seven-bedroom home.

Things quickly went from bad to worse when he saw a familiar face awaiting his arrival outside a parked limousine.

What the fuck is he doing here?
Jude asked himself.