Having just arrived at my apartment, I'm sitting in my car, still on the search for a good lawyer to get Rufus off of my business and looking for a different sign company for a new sign for the store. When we were establishing the building, we used his cousin who is in the sign making business to make the sign for my store, the name having both of our first initials in it; I don't want his name anywhere near my business anymore but I just don't know how I'm going to afford a lawyer to take care of this for me.
I can't worry about that now. Nope, Rufus is home and he and I have some talking to do.
I leave my car and walk up the stairs to our front door. Entering the apartment, his bags are sitting in the living room and the TV is off, which is a little odd considering he likes to watch random sports games after getting home from a business trip. Ignoring that, I walk into the bedroom to see him sitting on the bed flipping through some papers, a bottle of Jack Daniels on the nightstand.
"Rufus, you're home." I say entering the room.
"This is where I live, where I pay the bills, right? Of course I'm home."
I'm seriously in no mood for him to be having an attitude.
"Okay, drop the 'tude dude, we need to talk." I say crossing my arms and he lets out a low laugh.
"Yeah, we sure as Hell need to talk."
"Riiight...Rufus, what're you reading?" I ask and he stands up and looks me dead in the eye, his eyes bloodshot red, probably from downing almost half a bottle of whiskey.
"Joe." He croaks out and I roll my eyes.
"What about him, Rufus?"
"You've been texting him."
"I text a lot of people."
"No...I have the messages right here, the-the pictures...I have them all right here!"
Ah shit, did he really go ask for my message history? Of course he did, he pays for the damn phones.
New note to self: pay for your own shit.
"Rufus, I don't think you—"
"Shut! Just shut up! You've been cheating on me! I-I can't believe you would cheat on me! On me! H-How does that make any sense??"
"Okay, you clearly have your priorities all fucked up. Listen, I just got tired of bending over backwards for you, to try and save us and you clearly weren't interested in doing the same. Do you know how many times I've tried to fix us? I've done everything I can but you didn't care about us, you never did! And don't you dare talk about someone cheating when the only cheater has always been you."
"Excuse me?"
"Damn, are you and Paulette both crazy and deaf? I said that. The. On. Ly. Chea. Ter. Here. Is. You!" I say between claps and he just squints at me.
"Where the fuck did you get that from??"
"Cut the shit, Raul caught you, just give it up."
"Raul said that? Man, fuck that gossipin' faggot, I ain't no cheat."
"First off, you say another fucked up thing about Raul and my foot is goin' straight down your throat and out ya ass. Secondly, you can't lie to me anymore, I know you cheated 'cause I know you cheated the first time. You always thought that I didn't know about you and Beatrice but I did, I just turned the other cheek 'cause I loved you so much and wanted you so bad. Now, I see that you're not worth it."
"Whoa, nothin' happened with Beatr—"
"I fuckin' saw you, you stupid jackass! You fucked her in the park! The fuck you mean nothin' happened?! Just...tell me who the new girl is and let's move on from this conversation."
"It's no one, I'm not doin' anythin'!"
"Bullshit! I smell the perfume on your body, I see the lipstick on your shirt, the hickies on your neck when you come home from a 'business meeting'; all the classic signs are there and you're kidding yourself if you really think that I'm that stupid."
I walk over to try and snatch the papers out his hand but he snatches them away from my reach.
"Nuh-uh, we're not done talkin' 'bout you and that Samoan dipshit. You been textin' him for over a month, tellin' him all our business. How you askin' another man about how to please me and make me happy?"
"It's not like you were givin' me any ideas, therefore, I don't see the issue with gettin' another man's opinion when I was doin' it for us, for you."
"Oh yeah? How would you like it if I was askin' Oneida about how I should massage you, kiss you, make love to you, cook for you? Airing all our shit out and tellin' her all this personal shit about you, huh?"
"Okay, first off, why would you be talkin' to Oneida about all that of all people?"
He purses his lips as if he's just realized that he's said too much.
This. Fucking. Drunk. Ass. Stupid. Bitch.
"Rufus. Tell me you're fuckin' my employee, the first employee you hired for me. Tell me you're fuckin' Oneida." I say to him but he stays silent.
"TELL ME THE TRUTH, GODDAMMIT!" I yell but still, he stays silent. So, I just shake my head and step away from him, walking to the closet.
"That's fine, don't say anything, that's okay. In fact, we don't have to talk about anything else here; just know that I'm working on getting you removed from the business and I'm going to embark on continuing this journey as the sole owner."
His head shoots up and he looks at me angrily.
"You. Wouldn't. Dare." He growls.
"Try. Me." I growl back.
"Aesha, I have invested too much into this damn business, literally; you can't just pull me like that without compensating me."
"Uh-huh, I hear you. I guess you shoulda thought 'bout alladat before you cheated on me...twice."
"Aesha, don't you fuckin' dare!"
"Or what, Rufus? You gonna buy my business, run it into the ground, and bankrupt yourself? Take the damn store, fuck it, I'll start again, I just don't want you anywhere near me ever again which means I don't want to be your business partner anymore. Sue me."
I finish angrily throwing garments of clothing in my luggage bag and zip it up.
"Whoa whoa whoa, hol' up, hol' up. The fuck you think you're goin'?"
"It's over, I'm leaving, Rufus. This is your place, you pay for all of this, you can keep it, fuck whoever you want in here, we are through and I'm leaving."
I go to walk out the closet but he's right there and he firmly pushes me backwards, almost causing me to trip back over my bag.
"You're not goin' anywhere, we're not done." He growls angrily at me.
"Oh, but alas, we are." I say and sidestep him but he grabs my wrist tightly.
"Ow, the fuck?" I say and he yanks me close to him.
"Ow, shit, let me go!" I yell at him trying to wiggle free of him but he only tightens his grip.
"You're not goin' anywhere until you promise to drop that Joe prick and you learn that you're mine, bitch! You need me, you are nothing without me and you're gonna learn to respect me!"
"Let go!" I yell louder.
"You're not goin' no where!" He roars in my face raising his free hand.
"I said LET. GO!"
Fed up with this nonsense, I knee him hard in the groin to bring him to his knees and jab and uppercut him right in the jaw. I grab my luggage bag and leave the apartment, quickly entering the Uber that I discretely ordered during our fighting.
"Go, drive, now." I command.
"Okay, you alright?" The driver asks.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, just drive."
I look behind me at the apartment complex quickly disappearing into the past as we drive away and a sense of relief washing over me but there's this small voice in the back of my head telling me that things are about to get a lot worse before they get any better.
And to that little voice and anyone wanting to start some shit, I say bring it on, bitches.