Gia's P. O. V

"I loved you why would you do this to me? After everything we've been through." tears stream down my face, blurring my vision.

"Wasn't that hard, I mean, look at you and her? She looks better why wouldn't I cheat?" Kareem smirks as he climbs out of the bed from fucking Lisa, his assistant.

"YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T DO THIS TO ME AGAIN", I loved you unconditionally, and "this is how you treat me." I half yell as my rage surges to its boiling point.

"Does it matter it not the first time I've cheated, and you stayed? Tell me what makes this time different? You know you love me and can't live without me." His chuckles advance into a menacing laugh, causing Lisa to follow suit. Her cackles sound like nails on a chalkboard to me.

"FUCK YOU, YOU CHEATING SON OF A BITCH. I'm DONE FOR GOOD THIS TIME!!" I scream as more tears cascade down my face, yet all I see is red. I grip the fire poker so tight in my hands my knuckles turn white, blinded by anger. I let my rage takes over and I blackout for a moment. The last thing I remember is there laughing but, it is soon cut short. Blinded with fury, I swing the fire poker around blindly, destroying everything in sight. A few minutes after blacking out, I come to my senses. With trembling hands, the fire poker falls to the floor with a clatter. Before things escalate, I grab my purse and keys before I bolt for the door without a second glance.

'How did I end up here?' This is what I keep asking myself, as I lay in bed replaying this past summer over in my mind. His name was Kareem Golden; we'd been together since a junior year of college. First 2 years we were best friends, we took our friendship further. Despite my constant fears and insecurities, I trusted him and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Never really saw things ending this way between us after 4 years. He was the second man I come to trust loved me.

I figured he would treat me like a queen, but he maltreated me far worse than the rest: he treated me like a peasant. I roll over in bed with a sigh, playing in my head how he preyed upon my insecurity. He used it against me until he broke me. Tears overflow my eyes and down the side of my face. I soak my pillow till the point I have to move it to the side. Our relationship meant everything to me, but nothing to him. My heart aches from how he tricked me.

Since he broke my heart, I now hate that son of a bitch for what he did to me. He started, always telling me how beautiful I was and how he loved me. As our relationship progressed, he started treating me horribly. He would call me a fat bitch, a cow, a whale, and every other horrible name he could think of. Breaking me down psychologically and emotionally draining me. It's been two weeks since I caught Kareem in bed with his whore ass bitch of an assistant Lisa. To make matters worse, it all happened on our anniversary. It all started when I stopped by his house. I had to work and swung by his house on my lunch break to decorate. I wanted everything to be perfect maybe he wouldn't berate me. So I went to his house to set up early for that evening he said he had to be out to show a new house to a potential client... well that's what I thought.

I used my key to enter his house; I walk into the kitchen and place the bags in my arms on the counter when I hear sounds coming from upstairs. For a second I stop and listen for a minute and the sounds continue. I grab fire poker by the fireplace and creep up the stairs, silent as a cat. Down the hallway, the sounds get louder the closer I get. Once I'm standing outside the bedroom door, I take a deep breath. Slowly twisting the doorknob lightly and pushes the door open slightly to peek in what I see shatters my heart. In shock, I push the door all the way open before they turn my way stunned. Tears burn my eyes and threaten to spill over but, I won't allow that. They just look at me for a moment and then smile and continue with their sexual act on her. My rage takes over and I blackout.

It wasn't my second or third time catching him cheating. It was the first time I caught him in the act, and that was the end for me. He dared to come over the next day as nothing happened. This time I turned him away, no matter how much I wanted to give him another chance. It took me some time to break free and leave him, but as they say, time heals all wounds. I see now all I have is me, myself, and I to depend on, I get out of bed to start a new day. My name is Gia Lovelace and I work as an interior decorator for Leopard Lux Designs. I'm a pretty shy and quiet person until someone pisses me off.

I sit up in bed debating on what I should do today. Swiftly jumping out of bed, I decide to listen to music and roll a blunt to get out my feelings. It's Saturday morning, so I don't have to work, thankfully. I walk into the living room decorated in medium chocolate brown, coral pink, and chiffon, white furnishing and leopard print decorations scattered tastefully throughout the room. I grab my red Bluetooth speaker and pair it with my phone, I feel like playing some old school music I think I'll start with some Erykah Badu her song "Didn't cha know", blast through the speaker. Once in my room, I get up to get my stash box with my bud, then head into the living room to sit on the couch. This time I roll up some sour diesel to clear my mind. After I'm finished, I walk in the kitchen with my blunt in my hand, my speaker, and ashtray.

I decide to make breakfast while I smoke. Lighting up, I stand there and take a few puffs for a minute before I walk over to the refrigerator and look around for something to eat. Today I feel lazy and don't want to cook anything grand, I settle on making something quick. A couple of scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and some toast, I cook the oatmeal first. To get in a better mood, I dance and sing around the kitchen while I cook. When I finish, I eat, clean up and take a shower. Once I'm done, I put lotion on my body and get dressed in a black long sleeve bodysuit with high waist blue jeans and black wedge heels. I detangle my hair and braid my hair into two braids. Since I don't feel like putting on makeup and throwing on a little eyeliner and some strawberry shimmer lip gloss. Before leaving, I decide to smoke again. When I'm done, I spray myself with perfume. Afterward, I grab my keys, purse, and phone. Today I plan to go to the nail salon and running a few other errands afterward.

I make my way to the elevator after I hastily lock my condo door. There's no one in the lobby today, I notice as I walk out the door to my car. The sun is already beaming down I start the car up; I head to the nail salon first. It's still pretty early, they shouldn't be full yet. If not, I'll have to come back another day. Luckily, it's only a few people here as of now. Once I'm in, I walk around picking out the color for my nails; I settle on an olive green color. I sit and play on my phone while I patiently wait my turn. She calls next; I get up hand her the polish and let her know I want. A coffin nail with the polish I chose with a rainbow holographic glitter topcoat. Since I choose the gel polish, I don't have to sit and wait for them to dry. I pay and leave a tip, then head to my next destination to my dad's house.

It's been almost 4 months since I've seen him. But; it's nothing new been this way since he married Alicia my stepmom when I was 10. Our relationship hasn't ever been the same since. Even though I was always quiet and stayed out of trouble and out of her way. She would still try to find reasons to make my dad punish me. Alicia never showed my brother De'Angelo the same cruelness, which I'll never understand. He's a year older than me. Our dad wouldn't do anything he ignored it. Because he was afraid he would end up alone after my mother passed away from cancer. While I understand his mindset, I would never put someone over my kids, ever. I've been trying to rebuild our relationship for the last couple of years. Hopefully, today goes well, I think to myself as I pull into the driveway of their house.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

There, her car is in the driveway, I groan as I turn mines off. I sit here for a few minutes to prepare myself mentally for dealing with my stepmom. I get out of the car and make my way to the door to knock. After a few moments, I hear someone approach the door and swing it open. Unsurprisingly, it's Alicia standing before me. The smile on her face vanishes and turns up with a cold, cruel sneer.

"Is my dad home?" Is all I say to her.

She rolls her eyes and walks off. I step through the half-open door and let myself inside. A deep sigh escapes my lips as I walk in and close the door. It hasn't been five minutes yet, and she's already with her bitchiness. Alicia sends a scornful glare at me for calling out for my dad before disappearing back into the kitchen. I roll my eyes and walk upstairs to find my dad. I find him in his office, busy on his computer. He owns two accountant firms and is about to open one another soon. I'm proud of him I hate that our relationship isn't what it used to be.

"Hi, dad." I walk over and hug him.

"Hey, baby girl, how have you been? I haven't seen you in a while." With a smile, he reaches to hug me.

"I've been great dad, what about you?" I sit my purse in one chair and take a seat before him in the other.

"I've been great as well, I'm going over some paperwork before we have lunch would you like to join us?" he pauses on his work to look up at me for my answer.

I stare at him for a moment, as I debate on what to do I see in his eye that he wants me to stay.

I sigh deeply, "Yeah, I'll stay for lunch dad." 'maybe he'll change this time.

"Great," smiles as his eyes drop to his work. While we make small talk about the few good times we had. We talk for a while as he works, even have a few laughs, and feel like I have my old dad again, possible that is until he says, "Let's head downstairs and see what Alicia has prepared." he rises from his squeaky leather chair.

I join him and head out of his office with him. We make our way downstairs and into the kitchen to see Alicia setting the table. When she sees me still there here, she rolls her eyes and mumbles under her breath. Before she goes to get another place and glass. She walks in and places everything on the table with more force than necessary. My dad ignores it and just takes his seat calmly. Alicia walks in and out of the room to place food on the table. She mumbles obscenities under her breath. Had I known he would have wanted me to stay, I would have smoked two blunt instead of one. Now I have to deal with her crude remarks and leers. After 45 minutes I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get out there. All she did exactly what I said she would do. She talked about how if she had known I was staying to eat she would have to make salads since I need to lose weight because I'll never get a man looking the way I do.

Guess what my dad did he sat there. His eyes are on his plate as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. That was it for me I knew I had lost my dad forever. He didn't even try to defend me, I'm not saying he had to get all up in her face snapping on her, but he still could have done something. I stare at him for a moment, waiting for him to look up, and he avoids eye contact while she smiles, satisfied with herself. Without saying a word, I get up and walk straight out the front door, never looking back. Tears burn behind my eyes as I drive home I have to keep it together until I get home then I can let it out. First, I stop by the liquor store to buy some red wine and the convenience store to buy some blueberry cigarillos since I'm about out.

Once I'm home, I put my wine in the fridge to chill while I take a quick shower; unbraid my hair. With a sigh, as I close my eyes and run my hands through my hair. I go in the bathroom to strip then shower; I cry for the first half of my shower about all the bullshit that's been going on in my life. From my mom passing away from cancer, my dad abandoned me, and catch Kareem in the act, it's all been too much for me to handle right now I can feel my heartbreak continuously. I feel so alone with no one to turn or talk to, even though I have my brother, it's not the same when we both get treated so differently. Finally, I exit the shower slowly and wrap a towel around my body as I head into my room to dry off; I ignore my puffy eyes while I stand in the mirror to detangle my hair.

For my hair, I pull it in a messy bun to let it dry naturally. Next, I put on some leopard print booty shorts and a black oversize shirt. In the kitchen, I take out the bottle of wine and pop the cork. I fill my wineglass to the top before I head into my room. After several sips of wine, I place my wine down on the bedside table after I realize I left my bud tray in the living room. As I rise I groan and go grab my bud tray, speaker, and cigarillos from the living room. Once I'm back in my room I sit on the bed Indian style with the tray placed on my lap, I turn on music as I break down and roll up Marvin Gaye's "How can you mend a broken heart," blasts throughout my condo. I light my blunt up and take a few long drags to ease me after what should have been a good day turned sour.

To take my mind off things, I call Sasha an old friend to see if she wants to come over and catch up. She answer's on the third ring. We talk for a few minutes and she agrees to come over in a few. While I wait, I order some cheesy breadsticks, chicken Alfredo, and a brownie for dessert. The doorbell rings 10 minutes later. I swing open to greet Sasha. She squeals cheerfully as she rushes in to hug me. We hug for what feels like forever before we separate. "Hi, you look good, girl." She compliments me as I close the door.

"Thank you, you look good too. Come on, let's go get some wine and smoke until the food arrives." I lead the way to the kitchen while we chat.

We smoke while I fill her in on what's been going on in my pathetic life. Once I'm done telling her everything, the shock is obvious all over her face. "Girl, why didn't you call me sooner. We could have beat her ass together."

That fact she's dead serious causes me to laugh uncontrollably. "That is exactly why I didn't call, you. I would have been in jail for sure messing with you."

"Yeah, you might be right. He didn't deserve you anyway, and I told you that the last time we talked." She shakes her head before taking a sip of wine.

I nod in agreement, "You did, but you don't have to worry about that anymore we're done officially it's been months now."

She eyeballs me, searching my face to see she believes me. The doorbell rings, showing the food is here. "I'll get the door." She exits the kitchen while I grab some plates and glasses for us.

She enters the kitchen with food, and we fix our plates. The first few minutes we eat in silence. "Did I tell you what happened at my dad's house?"

"No, what happened?" She takes a bite of her food and waits for me to fill her in.

"Where do I start? Alicia berated me whole the time dad said nothing." My sadness is now gravitating to anger.

Sympathy shines in her eyes, "I'm sorry you had to go through that." It's silent for several minutes.

"Well, I decided from this day forward, I've decided would feed my dad with a long-handled spoon. I can't allow him to break my heart anymore. You know." I look up at her.

"Good, you should. Let no one treat you like that again." She reaches over and squeezes my hand.

I appreciate her comfort. We finish eating and retreat to the living room. Sasha fills me in on her marriage. 3 years ago she married Josh, a doctor. We smoke a couple more times and talk about her life. Soon after, we call it a night. I set my alarm for work before I get in the bed and turn off my bedside table lamp; I fall asleep peacefully for the first time in a long time. That night I dreamed about Lucas, my first love and first heartbreak.