Page 13 of A King’s Obsession

“Jru, calm the fuck down!” Mama snapped, clutching the sheet against her chest.

I slowly turned toward her.

And just like that, something inside me shifted.

The cheating hurt. I wasn't about to pretend it didn't. But standing there looking at my own mother, knowing she'd been hiding bills and eviction notices while sleeping with the man I'd been calling mine, made the betrayal feel so much deeper.

I lifted the red paper, my hand trembling.

“I gave you the money for this electric bill,” I told her, my voice suddenly quieter.

Mama's eyes shifted away from mine.

That was all the answer I needed.

“And you knew about the eviction,” I continued, watching her face. “You knew we were about to lose this apartment, and instead of telling me, you hid the notice underneath the couch like that shit was just gonna disappear.”

“Jru, I was going to—”

“YOU FUCKING KNEW!” I screamed, cutting her off.

Montae had finally managed to get his pants on and was inching toward the doorway like maybe nobody would notice six feet of cheating motherfucker trying to sneak out of the room.

Unfortunately for him, I noticed everything.

“And where the fuck are YOU going?” I demanded, turning toward him.

He stopped with one hand against the doorframe, looking like he wished the floor would open up and swallow him. “I'm finna let y'all talk. This between you and your mama.”

I stared at him in disbelief before letting out a sharp, humorless laugh.

“NAWWW. Don't get respectful now. You was just inside my mama. Stand in this shit with everybody else!”

Ashlynn was wheezing in my ear.

Actually fucking wheezing.

Montae dragged both hands down his face, looking exhausted as though he was the one having the worst night of his life.

“Look, Jru, I fucked up,” he finally admitted.

“Oh, really?” I asked, tilting my head. “I thought maybe you tripped and your dick fell in her.”

“JRU!” Mama gasped, her eyes widening.

I spun toward her so fast she actually leaned back.

“You don't get to Jru me! We finna have no lights, no house, and apparently no fucking boundaries!”

My chest was heaving, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I looked between the two of them, waiting for somebody to say something that would make any of this make sense. But Mama wouldn't look at me, and Montae suddenly found the floor fascinating.

That was when I realized I couldn't do it anymore.

Not another argument. Not another excuse. Not another night spent wondering how I was going to fix something I hadn't broken.

I turned and stormed out of Mama's bedroom, ignoring her calling after me as I marched down the hallway. I slammed my bedroom door hard enough to shake the wall, then dropped my phone onto the bed and dragged my duffel bag from underneath it.

I started throwing clothes inside without bothering to fold anything. Shirts, jeans, underwear, whatever my hands touched first. I didn't care if anything matched or whether I was forgetting something important. I just knew I couldn't spend another night underneath that roof.