This Could Be Us But You Playin' 2 (14 page)

“Kaleb!” she yelled. When he didn’t respond, Dominique headed to the stairs. Once she made it to the top and heard the water running, she knew that he was taking a shower. The door to the bathroom was open. Steam seeped out of the crack as she pushed the door open and walked right in. “Kaleb.”

“Yeah!” he called out from being the glass door.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You were sleeping so peaceful and I didn’t want to bother you.”

Dominique watched as he turned around and allowed the water to hit his back. Even though the thick glass only showed her the outline of his body, it was enough to get her wet. “Yeah, but I need to get home.”

“You’re not staying the night?” Kaleb turned around and shut off the water, before sliding the door open.

“No, I gotta get home.”

Reaching up to grab his towel, Kaleb stepped out of the shower. He wasn’t the least bit shy about his body because he didn’t need to be. The thick pole that dangled between his legs was a beautiful sight to see, and Dominique couldn’t get enough of it. She watched as he ran the terrycloth material across his body, before wrapping it tightly around his waist. Beads of water sat on top of his bare chest and made Dominique’s mouth water. She knew that if she didn’t walk away now, she would definitely be staying the night. It was something about Kaleb that had her weak, and she wasn’t afraid to admit it.

“So, you can’t stay.” Kaleb took a few steps in her direction. “Why is that?”

“Be…because I nee…need to get ho…home,” Dominique stammered when he pushed his damp body up against hers.

“Come on, Nikki, stay with me. I ain’t had a chance to punish that pussy in the last two weeks.”

“Kal—” she started to say, but was cut off when he slipped his tongue into her mouth. They kissed for a minute, before Dominique broke it. “Okay, but I need to be out of here early.”

“I got you.”

Chapter 11

“Shit!” Dominique yelled as she threw the covers off her naked body.

She was supposed to have been home hours ago. It was noon, and she was still at Kaleb’s house. There was no doubt in her mind that Deondre was going to be pissed.
Where in the hell are my clothes?
Dominique looked around frantically. When she saw her leggings and underwear in the corner of the room, she rushed over to pick them up. Quickly, she jumped into her panties, before she slid on the leggings. After putting on both her shirts, as well as her bra, she looked around to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything. When she was sure that she wasn’t, she hurried out of the bedroom and almost ran right into Kaleb, who was carrying a tray of breakfast. He fumbled with the platter a bit before he was able to, once again, stabilize it.

“Damn, are you in a rush?” he asked, looking down at her. When he noticed that she was fully dressed, he frowned. “Where are you going?”

“Home, Kaleb!” Dominique yelled. “I told you I had to get out of here early, and you were cool with that. Why did you let me sleep so long?”

Stepping further into the room, Kaleb placed the tray on the dresser and turned around. “I really didn’t see the point of waking you up early. Plus, I went down to make us breakfast.”

“You didn’t see the point?” Dominique glared at him. “You didn’t have to see the damn point, Kaleb! I told you that I wanted to go home last night, but you practically made me stay.”

“Hold up, I didn’t make you do shit,” Kaleb said in his defense. “You could have gone home if you really wanted to. I didn’t twist your fucking arm!” Even though he was trying to keep cool, he felt himself getting upset.

“Yeah, whatever.” She turned and left the room, heading down the stairs.

“Nikki, are you really about to just rush up outta here?”

“Yes, I told you I have to get home.” Dominique made her way over to her purse, and picked up her phone. Her heart dropped once she unlocked it. There were eighteen missed calls from Deondre, four from her grandmother, and five voicemails. “Shit!” Dominique said, going to visual voicemail.
Please God, don’t let anything be wrong with my son.

“Calm down-” Kaleb started, but she lifted her finger, letting him know that she needed a minute. Tapping the first message, she put her phone to her ear and listened.

MESSAGE 1:
“Hello?” Silence. “Nikki, are you there?” Click.

MESSAGE 2:
“Nikki… pick up the phone, it’s important. I need you, baby.” Click

MESSAGE 3:
Man, I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, but you need to either pick up or call me back ASAP. Shit is important right now! I’m losing my mind over here.

MESSAGE 4:
(crying) What the fuck, man! This is how you gone play me right now? I’m calling you ‘cause some shit went down with Dwight and here you go sending me to voicemail because you out here doing some fuck shit! Keep doing whatever it is that you doing. Fuck you, for real. You ain’t even gotta call me back. I’m cool on yo’ ass!” Click

MESSAGE 5:
Hey baby, this your grandma. Dre has been calling here back to back since the wee hours of the morning looking for you. Something happened with his uncle, Dwight, and from what I’ve been told, he didn’t make it. Don’t worry about DJ because he’s with me. Dre’s mother dropped him off a few hours ago. I hope everything is okay with you. I’ve never had to call you this many times. Call me when you get this message, baby. Grandma loves you.

Dominique exited out of her voicemail and went to her call log. She tapped Deondre’s name and put the phone to her ear. As she waited for him to answer, she bit down on her bottom lip. She was nervous and didn’t know what to expect when he answered. It rang three times before she heard a
click.
The sound let her know that Deondre had sent her to the voicemail. Dominique stood in the middle of the floor and called a few more times, only to receive the same result. On her fifth call, she decided that she was going to just leave a voicemail, letting him know just how sorry she was. Just when she thought the call was about to roll over, she heard the sound of Deondre’s voice.

“What the fuck you want?”

“Dre, I’m sorry,” Dominique started. “My phone was on vibrate and I didn’t hear it going off. I’m on my way home right now, to be there for you. I’m sorry to hear about Dwight. Do you need me to meet you somewhere—”

“I don’t need you to do shit,” he told her coldly. “Stay where the fuck you at, because I know you’re not at your grandmother’s house. Just leave me the fuck alone, Nikki!”

“I’m with Peanut.” Dominique lied, “Plus, I said I was sorry for not hearing my phone—”

“Did you hear me, bitch? I asked you to leave me the fuck alone!”

“Dre! Dre!” she yelled before she realized that he had already hung up.

Dominique stared at her cell in complete shock. Her knees immediately felt weak. She grabbed a hold onto the arm of the couch, so that she wouldn’t crumble to the floor.
What the hell have I done?
Leaning over, she tried her best to catch her breath, but it was hard. She knew he would be upset, but never so much that he would call her out her name. Even then, she understood why he did. Deondre had always been there when she needed him, but when he needed her the most, she was nowhere to be found. She had left him to deal with the death of his uncle on his own. Dominique couldn’t even imagine how bad Deondre felt. He was extremely close to his uncle, even closer than he was with his father, and he was a mess when he died. Not only that, but he knew that she hadn’t stayed at Franny’s house. It was more than likely because his mother had dropped DJ off there. Dominique was sure her messy ass asked about her whereabouts while she was there; especially when she didn’t see her car parked out front.
How could I have been so stupid? If I would have taken my ass home, I would have been there for him.

“Is everything okay?” Kaleb asked when he saw the saddened look on her face.

“Dre’s uncle died early this morning,” she told him flatly.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I gotta go.” Dominique grabbed her purse off the table and headed towards the door.

“I know you’re in a rush, but drive safe and call me once you get there, so I know you made it!” Kaleb called out after her.

Dominique was in the process of sliding on her shoes when she stopped in her tracks. She turned around slowly. When she was facing him, she brought her eyes up and looked him dead in his. She was mad that she had fucked up and was looking for someone to blame. Since Kaleb was the only person there at the time, she decided that he would do.

“If you had woken me up like you promised, instead of acting like fucking Aunt Jemima in the damn kitchen, I probably could have been there for him.”

“Wait, are you blaming me for this?” Kaleb questioned in shock. “You can’t be serious right now.

“I’m dead ass. It’s your fault. I told you I had to go home last night, but you just had to have me stay here!”

“Look, just go ahead on home. I’m not about to argue with you over some dumb shit.” Kaleb waved her off. “Just close my door behind you.” He told her, making his way into the kitchen.

Kaleb snatched open the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade off of one of the bottom rack. After twisting off the top, he leaned his head back and took a large gulp. Once his thirst was quenched, he put the cap back on and slammed the bottle against the counter. Kaleb was hot as fish grease and Dominique didn’t know it, but she really had him fucked up for real. She wasn’t going to lay her guilt trip on him. He did nothing wrong. Kaleb knew he didn’t make her spend the night. Yeah, he may have persuaded her a little bit after he got out of the shower, but she was free to go whenever she felt like it. She was the one who decided to stay the night. Now that her ass was in hot water, she was looking for someone to blame. Although she didn’t know it, Kaleb heard the entire conversation she had with her dude. He heard the way he called her out her name and saw how Dominique reacted afterwards. The fact that she continued to call out to him even after he called her a bitch, let Kaleb know that Dominique was cool with her situation. In Kaleb’s mind, no matter how angry you get, you should never disrespect your woman and mother of your child.

The sound of footsteps could be heard on the tiled floor. Kaleb gritted his teeth when he realized that she was walking around his house with her shoes on. Dominique knew how he felt about that, and the fact that she was doing it anyway made him ready for her to go.

“Don’t fucking walk away from me!” Dominique yelled from behind him.

She was upset that he had told her to get out. While she was mad about spending the night and waking up later than expected, deep down she knew that it was she who was to blame. With Deondre being mad at her, she had to take her frustrations out on someone. She was only planning to yell at Kaleb and tell him that they needed to take a break. Never in a million years did she expect him to flip on her.

“What do you want?” Kaleb asked, turning around. “What the fuck do you want from me? I told you that you can leave, yet you’re still here wanting to fight. Can’t you see that don’t want to argue with you? Don’t you have some place to be? Go to your nigga and console him. Didn’t his uncle just die? Get the fuck outta here, man, with this dumb ass shit!” He yelled letting his anger get the best of him.

Dominique stared at him as if he were a stranger. The guy standing across from her was not the Kaleb that she knew. “You can kiss my ass,” was all she could say. With tears running down her face, she thought about all that she had sacrificed to be with him.

He shrugged his shoulders. “You know what, so be it. I don’t want to fight with you, Nikki. Take yo’ ass home where you wanna be. I don’t have to deal with this shit.”

“I don’t either!” she yelled.

“Well, why the fuck are you still here then? Just leave!” Kaleb roared. “Take your ass back to the door and walk out of it.”

“Now, you want me to leave. Last night you were begging me to stay,” Dominique snorted.

“Well, I fucked up,” Kaleb admitted. “You’re right, I should have let you take yo’ ass on home last night. In fact, I should have never even asked you to come yesterday. Ain’t no pussy worth all this.” He knew he was hitting below the belt, but he didn’t care. She had hurt his feelings repeatedly, and now it was her turn to see what it felt like.

Dominique stared at him with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe that he had just said something like that to her. “What is wrong with you, Kaleb? What have I ever done to you?”

“Are you kidding me right now, Nikki?”

“No, I want to know why you’re so angry?”

“You wanna know why I’m so angry?” He paused, “I’m angry because of you. You play games all the fucking time and expect me to just be cool with it. Do you ever stop to think about how I feel?” When Kaleb saw Dominique drop her eyes, he continued. “I know you don’t because you’re so fucking selfish. All you care about is Dominique. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters… fuck everybody else.” Turning away, he leaned his head back and tried to stop his eyes from watering. Kaleb was usually a pretty strong dude, but it was something about Dominique that always broke him down.

“I’ve told you time and time again that I wanted to be with you and only you, but apparently you don’t want that. No, you’d rather be indecisive as fuck. One day you want me, and the next you want him. You wanna keep yo’ nigga and have me on the side and available when it suits you.” He laughed. “I lost my girl chasing after yo’ ass, and I’m man enough to admit that I fucked up. I pushed her away because I was too busy trying to make sure that you were happy. So, it’s killing me to see you sitting here in my face talking mad shit because I asked you to spend the night, after not seeing you for weeks.” Tears fell from Kaleb’s eyes, but he didn’t care. He was on a roll, and whether she knew it or not, Dominique was going to feel him. “You blaming me because he’s mad at you. Take responsibility for your own damn actions and quit looking for someone to point your finger at. Did I ever call and dog you out when Tiera left me? No, I didn’t, because I knew that it was me who had fucked up. It wasn’t like I could anyway because yo’ ass wouldn’t answer the phone.”

Taking a deep breath, Kaleb decided to wrap it up. He was upset, drained, and ready to get her out of his house. “It’s clear that I love you so much more than you love me because you rarely put any effort into this shit.” He pointed between the two of them. “You only call or deal with me when you’re mad at yo’ nigga and I’m tired of it.” Kaleb felt kind of bad when he saw that Dominique was crying. The love that he had for her almost caused him to reach out and embrace her body, but he stopped himself. “Save your tears, Nikki. That shit ain’t going to work this time.” Looking away, Kaleb ran his hands across his face. “Just leave.” He turned around to face the counter before he waved her off. “Go home to that nigga. Don’t worry about me; I’m going to be alright.”

Dominique stood there feeling lost. She didn’t know what to do. It killed her to hear just how bad she’d made Kaleb feel. To know that the pain that he showed when he spoke to her stemmed from her selfishness ate her up in side. Never did she stop to think about the fact that while she was off living her life at home with Deondre, Kaleb was miserable.
Why didn’t he tell me all this sooner?
While Dominique wondered what would have happened if he had spoken up before that day, she didn’t really know if it would have made a difference. Her mind was so stuck on keeping her family together, that everything else took a back seat.