Page 11 of The Big Catch

“There you go with that disrespectful shit again. Is Alabama A&M University not a real school? That’s your second time. Make it your last, Belle. I promise you won’t like the outcome if we hit number three,” I warned her.

She raised her hands in surrender. “I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful. You just don’t look like a person who went to college and actually graduated. I was surprised. Sorry.” Her smirk told me that she was still trying to be a smart ass.

“You’re funny. You look like a person who does have a degree or two. What was your degree in again?” I tapped my chin. “Wait, you didn’t finish because you opted to drop out to get fake married.”

Her face figuratively dropped on the floor. “That was a little bitchy, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from a nigga like you. Is it time to walk My Boy yet?” When she mumbledcountry ass niggaunder her breath, I wasn’t surprised.

I gave a hearty laugh. “A nigga like me, huh? Well, this country ass nigga knows how important it is to file the marriage license to the woman I love. I also know not to marry another bitch while I’m still fake married to the first.”

I dried my hands off that I just finished washing with a towel before I moved my body behind her. I leaned my body forward,putting pressure on her back and my lips to her ear. “It sounds to me like you should have put your chips on a downhome country nigga. Then maybe you would have been really married and getting good dick. From all that attitude, it tells me that you haven’t had good dick in ya life. Fuck a puppy. You need some dick.”

Her shoulders rose, back stiffened, and breath hitched. “Um, I think we should walk the dogs now. Th-they’re probably done eating.”

She said that with her mouth. Her body said something different when her ass pushed back on my dick.Yeah, she may not like country boys, but she wants this country boy dick.

A SHORT TIME LATER…

“Letme find out that you have a crush on a country boy. Say it ain’t so, Miss Adabelle Caroline Lee!”Gabrielle said. She did the giddy wiggle that she always did when she was overly excited.

We were on our daily video call. I missed her so much. Distance didn’t appear to have an effect on our relationship. I’d just finished giving her an update on what was going on with Gunner and me. Not that anything was going on with us, but yeah. It’d been almost three weeks since I started spending time with My Boy. I decided not to change his name because I liked the name My Boy.

I wasn’t sure what the hell was taking Gunner so long to let me take my baby home. At this point, I went to his house, used the spare key that he hid, and started the dogs’ morning routine while his ass was still sleeping. The first morning that I did it, he walked into the feed room where I’d just put down their foodand watched me silently. He didn’t interrupt or help me; he just watched. After that day, he didn’t wake up until it was time for the dogs to go out for a walk.

His dogs had a certain area on his land that they used for the bathroom. That wasn’t unusual in the least. What was unusual to me was that he still picked up their poop and disposed of it. After they used the bathroom, they went to play in the massive doggy park that he had built on his land. I didn’t think that I’d ever seen one as big, even in Los Angeles. It had stuff for them to play with, climb on, and all kinds of activities within the gates.

“No one said anything about having a crush on anyone. I can think someone is sexy without having a crush on them,”I fussed.“Besides, he talks reckless to me.”

Gabrielle gaped at me for a beat before she chortled.“Girl, shut the hell up. I know you talk to that man crazy, and he returns the favor. Furthermore, I bet ya lil kitty gets wet when he lets you know he’s not going to play with you.”When I didn’t say anything, she laughed.“I fuckin’ knew it!”

My head dropped. She was right, and I hated it for myself. As much as I wanted to not like him, I did.“Shut up. I don’t give a fuck what my kitty does because broke boys don’t deserve no pussy.”

“Girl, you sound stupid. Did you forget that you had me on video when you were getting the food ready for the dogs? Plus, you told me how many full-grown dogs and puppies he has. There is no way that man is broke.”Gabrielle’s lip twitched.“I know you’re not very good with money outside of spending it, but let’s use deductive reasoning here.”

I heard what she was saying, but I didn’t give a damn.“First, fuck you. Secondly, he may be country rich, butthat’s not the same as being rich, rich. Trust me. I can promise his bank account is not hitting on shit that Carson’s is.”

“Girl, that man’s bank account is none of your concern anymore. Please let that and him go. Money is what blinded you from realizing that you were in a fake ass marriage. The signs were there that Carson was on some funny shit, but you were too busy spending his money to care. How about you take a step back and get to know a person, not their bank account.Although her words were sharp, her eyes were soft.

I didn’t want to talk about this shit anymore.“You should come see me this weekend. I miss you. I need one of your amazing hugs and some of your tacos.”

She smiled.“Well, my boss told me last week that I had too many vacation hours. He told me that I need to take at least forty within the next sixty days. Let me text him to see if I can get next week off.”

By the end of our conversation, she’d got permission from her boss to take the next week off and booked her flight. I paid for her flight with some of the money that I got from the sale of my house. Before I put my house on the market, I took a loan out to pay my back mortgage. Once my house closed, I paid the loan off. Gabrielle made sure I did too.

After Gabrielle and I got off the phone, I took a shower. It was almost time for dinner with My Boy. I spent most of my time at Gunner’s house with My Boy. Today I planned to broach the subject of taking him home. There was no need for him to still be at Gunner’s.

I blew out air when I pulled into his yard and saw his cousin Tink’s car. We hadn’t liked each other since high school. She talked shit about me. I talked shit about her. It was a revolving door of fuck yous. I heard the dogs when I got out of my Wagon.Instead of going into the house, I walked around it toward the doggy park.

My smile widened when I saw my baby boy running around with whom I considered his best friend, Stitch. He was a year-old American Foxhound. I never thought that I would like bigger kinds of dogs like My Boy and Stitch. When they noticed me after I entered the gates, they came charging at me. I bent down to receive their love. “Hey, my babies!”

It took less than a few seconds for the other dogs that were in the park to join the love party. I laughed as I toppled over from them all jumping on me. This time with the dogs made me realize something that I never knew: I was a dog person.

“I didn’t know Gunner added another bitch to his numbers.” Tink had a very peculiar voice that sounded like nails on a damn chalkboard. It could have been just me because I couldn’t stand her or her voice.

I ignored her as I got myself up from the ground. I heard another female voice tell her to stop being so mean. When I finally trained my eyes on her after I got up from the ground, I saw another female standing next to her. I wasn’t 100 percent sure who she was, but if I had to guess, I would say another family member.

“Ignore my cousin. I’m Nadine, Gunner’s sister.” She stepped closer to the gate. “You must be Belle. It’s nice to meet you.”

I was confused by her niceness. I hadn’t been around many people in this town since I’d been back. The ones that I had interacted with had not been the most pleasant. My daddy said that was my fault because of my nasty attitude. I wouldn’t deny or confirm his theory. The fact that nice Nadine was related to mean ass Gunner and stupid ass Tink was even more confusing.I guess I should say something.

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