Page 12 of No Remedy for Love

“Hey, boo.” Reanna answered the phone with a smile.

“Ain’t shit. What you got going on?”

“Bitch, let me tell you what just happened with me and Ferris.”

Reanna took a few minutes to tell her girl what was going on. Although she was Blaze’s sister, Blaire was her best friend first. She knew that her brother wasn’t doing right by his wife, so she understood why her girl looked for intimacy elsewhere. Blaire was lowkey with her shit, but Reanna didn’t care one way or another. She knew that her girl used to mess with a married man but she didn’t know if that was still going on.

“I hope he don’t think you scared of that hoe. I would have been on my way in a heartbeat.”

“That part. But no, girl, I was kinda embarrassed when I found out who she was but I still don’t like the bitch. If I would have had something on underneath that shirt, we probably would have been in there fighting. I can’t be trying to beat a bitch down with my ass hanging out.”

“Girl, that is too damn funny. I had it out with your stupid ass husband earlier.” Blaire frowned as if her girl could see her through the phone.

“What happened this time?”

“Same shit as always. He got mad because I wasn’t available to bring our Nana to her doctor’s appointment. Talking bout he had to leave the barbershop to do it himself. I was already pissed and he only made the shit worse.”

Blaire didn’t really tell too many people her personal business, and Reanna was no exception. Mav, her latest fling, had cut her off with no explanation, but she had to keep it pushing. The married man that she had been on and off with for years decided that he wanted to work on his marriage, but she knew that was some bullshit. More than likely, he found some new pussy to slide up in when his flight attendant wife was traveling for work. It was time for her to find her own man and stop settling for other women’s men.

“I just don’t understand how Ms. Bertha became his responsibility. She got eight kids and multiple grandkids. That nigga ruined his whole fucking life behind nothing. How the fuck you go from possibly being drafted into the NBA to being a payroll advisor and barber? Shit just don’t even make sense,” Reanna spoke up and pulled Blaire out of her depressing thoughts.

“Exactly! Fuck all that. I have a life and it does not revolve around Nana. Her ass know how to find a ride to go to the casino or a bingo game. She Uber her way to the store for lottery tickets but act helpless for doctor’s appointments. I agree with my mama. I think she be faking just for attention.”

“Yeah, well, she damn sure got your stupid ass brother fooled.”

Reanna despised her husband’s grandmother for a plethora of reasons. Blaze would have probably been playing for the NBA now if it wasn’t for her needy ass. She was alwaysclaiming to be short winded when she walked but she was just fine when she wanted to gamble. She played the lottery so much that it was like a second bill. She always got a bunch of tickets and never even hit the smaller jackpots. She hit at the casino a few times but never enough to get and keep her straight. Blaze still helped her out with bills and he didn’t see the issue. He was losing his wife a little more each day and he didn’t see an issue with that either.

“Girl, you’re fighting a losing battle. She’s been having him fooled since forever. But let him do everything for her like she did for him. She worked her ass off to make sure that Blaze was straight, like he was her only grandchild. Now, she expects the rest of us to do for her what she never did for us. I don’t know about the rest of my cousins, but I had to work and save up for my first car. Blaze got his handed to him off the showroom floor. My mouth was jacked the fuck up, but she went broke getting him braces and veneers.”

“Whatever she did for him has been paid back times ten.”

“I seriously doubt that. Me and my mama went over there the other day, and she had a new nurse there with her. I know her insurance ain’t paying for it, so he must be footing the bill. Bitch looked at me and my mama sideways because we said that Nana was being too dramatic. You should have seen her acting like she was out of breath just from walking to the bathroom.”

“You should hear how she sounds when he call her. All that fake ass heavy breathing and he be eating the shit up. I can’t wait to finish school and leave his ass.”

“That’s all on him. He probably go move right back in with Nana. I see why most of her kids left New Orleans. Nobodydon’t have time for all that. Bitch, that’s exactly why I’m single now. Blaze would have been got served with some papers.”

“Don’t tell his ass nothing because I damn sure been thinking about it. I left home right after high school following behind his ass and a career that never happened. Hell, I could have stayed with my mama and struggled.”

“Y’all ain’t struggling yet but, if he keeps trying to take care of two households, y’all will be.”

“Girl, let me get out of this car and bring my ass inside. This nigga better tread lightly cause I’m not in a good mood. A bitch couldn’t even get no dick, and I know I can’t get none from his ass.”

After being gone for two weeks with no contact or explanation, Ferris called her like he didn’t just up and disappear. Reanna was pissed but she knew that questioning him was a waste. He always reminded her that she wasn’t single, so she didn’t have an argument in the case. She was sexually frustrated and still needed her back broken.

“Better luck next time,” Blaire laughed before she hung up.

Blaze sighed as he looked at the legal documents that were in his hands. He had just picked them up from his lawyer’s office and was told to read over it carefully. He was playing with the ring on his finger, contemplating whether he should keep it on or not. Blaze had been battling with himself for a while until he finally made up his mind to file for divorce. Now, seeing the dissolution of his marriage in black and white had him second-guessing himself. He didn’t marry to get divorced, but Reanna was no longer the woman that he married. His selfless, humble high school sweetheart had been replaced by a shallow woman who cared more about her appearance than the feelings of others. He loved her sexy slim figure but he soon learned that he had married a follower. That was exactly why she caught a flight to the DR to get a BBL with his sister and cousin.

Admittedly, Reanna didn’t look bad when she got her work done. It wasn’t too much and it fit her small frame. It wasn’t until she went back for round two did things start to change. Blaze begged her not to do it but she did what she wanted to do, just like always. He was shocked but disappointed when his wife returned with an ass so big, it looked like it weighed more than she did. It looked awful protruding from her tiny legs but nobody could tell her that. It was then that things started to change, including the way she dressed.

Blaze could have been a stylist with his fashion sense but Reanna opted for a more laidback subtle look until she had her second surgery. He used to help her put her clothes together, but she switched up on him once her body healed from surgery number two. Now, all of her shorts were short enough to show off her purchased ass cheeks. She never had a stomach, so crop tops and tanks replaced her usual tops. She looked trashy, and Blaze was too outspoken not to tell her so. She was the talk everywhere she went but not in a good way. People laughed at her shape and he understood why. She was always saying that somebody was jealous of her but they really had no reason to be.

It was sad that Blaze hated to see his own wife naked and he was no longer attracted to her. They barely had sex, even though she always tried to initiate it. It had been almost four months since they’d been intimate and he wasn’t in a hurry to change that. The fact that she had a problem with his grandmother just added a little more fuel to the fire.

Reanna had an image of how she assumed their life was supposed to be. Granted, Blaze was a fool on the basketball court but there were no guarantees. Yeah, there were talks about him being drafted into the NBA, but that’s all it was. He was never approached by anyone, even before he took some timeoff from school to take care of his grandmother. His focus was on getting his degrees, not the fame and limelight of being a professional basketball player. If anything, he would have played internationally before anything else. Unfortunately, with his grandmother’s rapidly declining health, that wasn’t happening either.

Blaze jumped when he heard the alarm going off. He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn’t even hear when the door was opened. He hurriedly put the papers back in the envelope and put it in his safe. As soon as he put the small box back in its place, Reanna walked into the room with one of her barely there outfits on.

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