Page 125 of Certified To Handle You 2

Reni looked at the message and I knew she was listenin’ to the whole thing. Then she finally responded.

That’s cool, but the nigga in my bed right now.

A new picture came through seconds later.

Renza was still asleep next to her, and this time she had the camera close enough to show the side of his face and the chain around his neck. There wasn’t no question about where he was or whether the picture was new or old.

My eyes burned as I stared at it.

When I see you, I’m beatin’ yo’ bitch ass up. I should’ve slapped you in yo’ shit when you was playin’ with Pluto. You so slow, you thought he wanted my sis… the whole time the nigga was lustin’ after me,I typed.

Reni’s answer came back almost immediately.

I don’t fight dirty ghetto bitches. Renza had no business messing with a bitch who came from nothing and still ain’t got nothing. You had to live with Toni and Kay’Lo and live off them. Stay in your broke ass lane where you belong.

I was too pissed off to keep typin’ ‘cause I knew the next thing I said might take me somewhere I couldn’t come back from.

“Toni, I’mma call you back,” I told her.

“You good?” Toni asked.

“No,” I answered honestly. “But I’m finna handle this.”

I ended the call and pressed Renza’s name before I could rethink it. The phone rang until his voicemail picked up, and the fact that he ain’t answer made the hurt inside me feel worse.

Of course he wasn’t answerin’. He was sleep in that bitch bed.

When the beep came, I sat up straighter and let everything I felt come through my voice.

“Renza, don’t ever call my phone cryin’ about how much you love and miss me again while you laid up with another bitch. You sat there and lied straight to me when I asked about Reni, and now her mush faced ass got you posted all over Instagram like you some prize she won back. Yo’ stupid ass talked all that shit when you tellin’ me what I needed to do, but you ain’t man enough to tell me the truth about what you doin’.”

I wiped a tear from under my eye and kept goin’ before my voice could break.

“You had me sittin’ here feelin’ guilty ‘cause I ain’t call you back, and the whole time you was runnin’ behind the same bitch you swore you wasn’t dealin’ with. So stay with her. Shit, she had you first so y’all bitches got it. Let her have you, and don’t come back to my fuckin’ city lookin’ for me when that shit fall apart again. You wanted me to trust you enough to leave my whole life and come be with you, but this right here is exactly why I never did it… muthafucka!”

I took a breath and looked down at the picture Reni sent me.

“And tell that bitch she better keep that same mouth when I see her, ‘cause she ain’t gon’ be able to do shit with me when I see her. Y’all deserve each other. Don’t call me no more hoe ass nigga.”

I ended the voicemail and sat my phone down before I could throw it across the room.

My chest felt so tight that I had to lean forward and press my hands against my knees. Tears kept fillin’ my eyes, but I blinked ‘em away ‘cause I refused to sit here cryin’ over a nigga who had just proved every fear I had about him right.

This was the first time I could honestly say Renza hurt me.

I had spent all this time thinkin’ I was the one keepin’ us apart, but he had been givin’ Reni enough room to believe shestill had some claim over him. Then he called me in the middle of the night beggin’ me to come home like there wasn’t another bitch laid beside him.

I told myself I dodged a bullet.

Had I gone back to Trill-Land when he wanted me to, I would’ve dropped my whole life for a nigga who could look me in my face, tell me he wasn’t dealin’ with ol’ girl and then end up in her bed days later. I would’ve been the one stuck on that island while he moved however the fuck he wanted.

The more I repeated that to myself, the easier it became to turn the pain into anger.

I ain’t lose Renza…

I saved myself from him…

Solé Gardens