Page 53 of I Heard It All Before

Chapter 19

Cam pulled up to Randy’s shop around eleven the next morning and spotted Kobe out front talking to a customer. Two other employees were busy painting a car, but Randy wasn’t outside with them. His car was there, so Cam knew that he had to be in his office. After talking to Kobe for a minute, he made his way to the office and knocked on the door. When he was granted access, Cam walked inside and found Randy sitting behind his desk.

“Damn nigga, I thought you dipped out on me. You said you were taking a few days off, not a few weeks,” Randy said when Cam walked in.

“I had a lot of shit going on man,” Cam replied.

“All the customers been coming through looking for you. I know we lost some business when I told them that you weren’t here,” Randy added.

“But, what’s been up with you? We haven’t talked in a minute,” Cam said.

“Same shit, different day. Business as usual.” Randy shrugged.

“How is Nia? I haven’t see her in a while,” Cam stated.

“She’s good. You know how she is. Just work and school,” Randy replied.

“What’s up with the marriage thing? Did you propose to her yet?” Cam asked.

“Nah, I ain’t said shit yet,” Randy answered.

“What’s the holdup?” Cam questioned.

“Man, I don’t know. I guess I need to make sure that she’s ready to wear my ring on her finger,” Randy answered.

“I don’t understand how you’re gonna do it,” Cam said.

“How I’m gonna do what?” Randy asked as he adjusted his glasses.

“How are you gonna get her to wear your ring? It’s gonna be kind of hard to do, since its sitting on Asha’s finger,” Cam said while looking his childhood best friend in the eye.

“Wh… what?” Randy stammered nervously.

“Just keep it real nigga. You broke up with Nia a month ago, so don’t even fix your mouth to lie,” Cam informed him.

Nia and Lacey were tight, so she called his cousin for a shoulder to cry on when her boyfriend of six years ended their relationship abruptly, for no apparent reason. Cam and Kobe hated to hear about the breakup, but they decided not to say anything until Randy mentioned it first. Cam knew that they were having some minor problems, but he didn’t think it was bad enough for them to separate. He and Kobe through it was strange that Randy never said anything, but they let it go. They were both aware that people handled their emotions differently. Randy was their boy and they would be there for him if he ever needed them.

“Yeah, we did break up. What’s your point?” Randy asked as he nervously fidgeted with some objects on his desk.

“I just don’t understand how you could leave a good, educated, hard working woman like Nia, for a money hungry bitch like Asha. Her head game is fierce, but it ain’t that serious dude,” Cam acknowledged.

Cam wanted to be shocked, but nothing that Asha did surprised him anymore. He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t hurt though. Not by her actions, but by his best friend’s betrayal. When Asha showed up to his house the day before, Cam didn’t think anything of her trying to get back with him. What he wasn’t expecting to see was the same ring that Randy had shown him a while ago, gracing her finger. When she grabbed his hand, he had to study it just to be sure he wasn’t tripping. Things started to make sense to him then. Asha knew way more about his wrong doings than she should have and now he knew why. Randy, his boy, his best friend, and employer, had sold him out, all behind some pussy. Cam had even thought back to the day that he’d seen Lo at his job. Lo wasn’t there to see him; he was there for Randy. Asha wasn’t playing dumb because she really hadn’t sent Lo there for him. He was there for her other nigga. Her leaving him couldn’t have come at a better time. Cam would rather die and be buried next to his father before he shared his money and home with her.

“Man, fuck it. Yeah, me and Asha are together and we’ve been together since you were locked up. She needed a man to be there for her and I was that nigga. I wasn’t trying to do you dirty or nothing, but it is what it is. She chose me and you need to accept that,” Randy confessed, making Cam chuckle.

“The fact that you’re sitting here acting like Asha is a prize is funny as fuck. The same bitch who showed up to my house yesterday and begged me to take her back,” Cam laughed.

“Nigga, please,” Randy snickered. “You work for me. The fuck she wants with a nigga who barely makes twenty dollars an hour? You couldn’t even afford to keep a decent roof over her head. We’re getting real money nigga. Not that chump change that you wait for me to pay you.”

“Nigga, you’re talking like I didn’t help you pay for this shit. It was my money that got you here to begin with. The fuck is you saying,” Cam snapped.

“Yeah, well, it’s my money that’s making it happen now,” Randy noted.

“Bruh, you ain’t even bout this life that you’re trying to live. You ain’t built like that and you know it. Hell, Asha knows it too, which is why she recruited your stupid ass. She could never get a real nigga to go out there head first and do what you’re doing. Fucking with Lo is the quickest way to get your stupid ass caught up.” Cam shook his head and laughed.

Randy was a lame and his actions proved just how much of a duck he really was. He felt played by how Cam was talking to him. Granted, Cam was more into the streets than he and Kobe were, but he was learning his way around. Cam was just mad that the woman that he was in love with loved his best friend instead. Randy wished Asha would have left him while he was in jail, like she was supposed to. Instead, she ran her stupid ass up there to visit him until he was released. Randy played it cool, but he was really starting to wonder if what Cam said was true. When he got back home with Asha’s food the day before, she wasn’t there. When she did come back, she ignored him when he asked her where she was. He knew that Asha still had feelings for Cam, but she assured him that she loved him more.

“Fuck you, Cam. It doesn’t feel too good to be on the losing end, huh? I’m on top for once and that shit is killing you,” Randy bragged.

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