It's Either Me Or Her: A Side Bitch Story Page 3

  Chase grinned like he was relieved. “Good, because I need a break from around you, anyway.” He snapped. “Let’s go, Rayne.” He was outdone with the way that Brooke had clowned at his place of business for the umptenth time. He didn’t care how she felt about him taking Rayne home. At that point, she had truly pissed him off.

  Rayne looked over at Brooke as she walked passed her. There was no way that she was turning down a ride home; she didn’t care who was taking her as long as it wasn’t Brooke. A part of her wanted to laugh at the bitch as she passed her, but she didn’t. However, she knew to keep an eye on her ass, because Brooke looked like she wanted to blindside her with a punch to the back of her head. I wish that bitch would, Rayne thought with a slick roll of the eyes.

  “Chase, you’re just going to leave with her like I’m not standing here?” Brooke questioned in a high pitched tone. Chase and Rayne exited the control room, neither of them looking back as Brooke stood there with tears in her eyes. “Chase,” she called out as she started to follow them.

  “Aye,” Jeremy called out to stop Brooke. “Why do you do this to yourself?” he asked her. She stopped in her tracks as she glanced back at him with an unsure look in her eyes. “You should never act like that in front of another woman. That insecure shit has played out, Brooke.”

  “You ain’t kidding,” James mumbled with a shake of the head. He knew Brooke very well and this was certainly nothing new, but he thought she’d gotten her shit together since she hadn’t been to the studio clowning in a long time. Apparently, he was wrong.

  “Sit down. Let’s talk,” Jeremy told her.

  “I don’t have time to sit down and talk. I’m going after Chase. If he thinks that he’s…”

  “What?” Jeremy cut in. “Ain’t taking Rayne home, then what? Because, we both know that he’s taking her home. You pushed him to that point.”

  “I didn’t push him to do shit. He wanted to take her home. I know that he’s fucking her.”

  “Oh Lord,” James said. “I guess that’s my queu to leave,” he said and quickly, without further delay, he made his exit.

  Jeremy shook his head. He hated to see a woman display her weaknesses in such a manner. Nothing looked worse than that. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. Chase hasn’t slept with her. Rayne is his artist.”

  “Artist or not, that ain’t stopped him in the past.” She shot at him. She felt that Rayne was just too pretty and talented for Chase to pass up on getting that ass.

  “I ain’t speaking on no past shit. I’m talking about what’s going on now, and right now he ain’t fucking her. But…”

  “But what?” Brooke quickly questioned with a jerk of the neck.

  “If you keep up this shit, he will.” He bluntly told her. “No man likes an insecure woman. It’s nothing attractive about that and you’re going to keep right on and push him into somebody else’s arms.”

  “You mean her arms.” She said glancing towards the control room doors like Rayne was still standing on the other side of them.

  “I mean anybody’s arms. The way you’ve acted out for years, I’m surprised he hasn’t left you yet.”

  “Yeah, well he knows not too.” Brooke said with her arms folded.

  Jeremey shook his head as he glanced over at her, and then sat down on the sofa across from her. “Sit down.” He said.

  “I’m leaving. I’m not about to sit in here and talk to you when my man is outside leaving with another woman. He is not about to play me and you can say whatever you want too, but I ain’t no fool.” She said heading back towards the doors.

  “Brooke,” Jeremy called out. “SIT DOWN.” He insisted in a more stern tone. Brooke stopped shy of pushing the doors open again. “See, I’m no fool either.” He told her. “I know all about your threats of leaving my cousin and taking off with Mason. Yeah, he told me about your plans of moving back to Los Angeles and not allowing him to see his son.”

  Brooke slowly turned to face Jeremy with an annoyed facial expression. “I’m from Los Angeles. That’s where my people are at. So, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me moving back home if Chase can’t get his shit together and start putting us first.”

  “Putting y’all first, Brooke? Are you serious? He has done nothing, but taken care of you since he’s been with you.”

  “Well, not exactly.” She quickly chimed in while thinking that when she and Chase first got together he didn’t have the kind of money that he had now.

  Jeremy chuckled a little at Brooke’s response. She was indeed something else. “I just don’t get why you’re so jealous of other women being around Chase when you were the one that supported him in starting this company with me.”

  “I did support him, because I believed in his dreams and I wanted to stand by him.”

  “So, why are you so jealous then? You had to have known that he’d be working around women.”

  Brooke rolled her eyes. “Me, jealous? Jealous is a strong word and I don’t believe I’m jealous of anyone. I just don’t like these bitches around my man.”

  “Look around, Brooke. This is a thriving business. There is no way way around it.”

  “With all the groupies that hang around here, I’m most certain that it ain’t.” Brooke shot with a slight roll of the eyes.

  “That’s your problem. You’re too concerned about pussy being in his face, but I bet you’re not complaining when he’s taking you on week long vacations in Barbados or when he’s giving you bands to go shopping with. Don’t act like you came from money, just because you showed up here with your fresh Cali style, big hoop earrings, and rings on every finger. Not to mention, forking over all that money to help him start this business, but I know better. You might have my cousin fooled with this good girl, ride or die act, but I know you. All this acting a fool and coming up here starting fights should’ve stopped a long time ago, but you’re still at it. When are you going to learn that your bubble can be popped any day now if you keep it up.”

  Brooke stared at Jeremy with menacing eyes. She wanted nothing more than to curse him out, but he had certainly caught her attention. “What do you mean by that?”

  Jeremy rested his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. He’d been waiting for the day to shut Brooke’s big mouth by putting a stop to her selfish threats. This couldn’t have been a better time.

  “Jeremy, what do you mean by that?” She questioned again with a puzzled look on her face.

  Jeremy lifted his head and looked over at her. She looked anxious and now nervous. He stood up and walked over to her. In slow motion, he leaned in and whispered in her ear.

  “There won’t be a need to keep threatening my cousin with Mason or trying to move back to California to hurt him, because if he finds out what I’ve heard about you, he won’t give a damn about you anymore or what you do.”

  Brooke stood there with a frown on her face. Jeremy had certainly gotten under her skin. What the hell do he think he knows? She quickly pondered to herself. “Look, I don’t have time for this. Whatever you think you know, I’m sure it’s probably a lie. So, it doesn’t matter.”

  Jeremy grinned like he really did know something. Brooke rolled her eyes at him, and without saying another word, she exited the control room doors leaving Jeremy standing there. He shook his head at her, but was glad that he’d rattled her cage a little bit. Maybe now, she’d think twice before showing up at their place of business to show her ass again.

  ***

  On the other side of town, Chase was pulling up to Rayne’s condominium. As he parked directly in front of her place, he glanced over at her as she quietly sat there. She hadn’t said two words to him the entire ride over. In a way, he felt somewhat embarrassed that Brooke had showed up to the studio acting a fool.

  “Are you sure that you’re okay?” He asked again.

  “I told you when we first got inside the car that I was fine. Women like Brooke don’t faze me. I’m from the projects. Trust me, I’ve dealt with much w
orse.” She said as she grabbed her handbag and reached for the door latch.

  Chase reached over and grabbed her by the arm, causing her to look over her shoulder at him. “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “Today should’ve been a really special day for you and I hate that Brooke spoiled that for you.”

  “She didn’t spoil anything for me. I got my single finished and it sounds amazing. I’m good.” She responded with a light bat of her eyes. She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about me, Chase. I’m good.”

  “I hear you,” Chase said, but he knew that Brooke showing up to the studio had definitely dampened the mood for not only Rayne, but for him, too. “Let me walk you in.”

  “I’m good,” Rayne said opening up the car door.

  “So you keep saying.” Chase chimed in. “I’m still walking you in.”

  Rayne smiled while stepping outside of the car. “For some reason, I already figured that you would, anyway.”

  Chase grinned a little. “I’m glad you know.” He said, and then stepped out of the car.

  A few minutes later, they had made it inside of Rayne’s crib as she immediately turned on the lights since it was now dark outside. Chase looked around the spacious condominium. It was modernly furnished and very clean.

  Rayne turned to face Chase. “You don’t have to stay. You should be getting back home to your woman. I know she must be having a fit right about now.”

  Chase shook his head as he headed into Rayne’s kitchen. “She’ll be a’ight.” He commented while going inside of her cabinet and grabbing a glass. He then went inside of her refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Belaire Champagne. Without hesitation he popped the top and poured himself a glass of it.

  “You’re gonna have her looking at me crazy from now on when she sees me.” Rayne responded as she sat down on a bar stool that was right next to where Chase was standing. Chase turned up the glass of champagne. He really wasn’t thinking about Brooke and didn’t really care how she felt at the moment. If anything, he wanted to piss her off just as much as she’d pissed him off.

  “Brooke isn’t your problem. Let me handle her, and you worry about yourself.” He told her.

  “Okaaaaay,” Rayne dragged as she tapped her freshly manicured nails on the granite countertop. “I just don’t want any shit, Chase. All I wanna do is sing, tour, and have a great career.”

  “And that’s going to happen, regardless. So, any talk about Brooke should be over with.” He said. He never was one to talk about his relationship with his baby mama to nobody, whether it was good or bad. Some things real men kept to themselves or inside of their households. He faced Rayne and opened her legs as he stood in between them still with the wine glass in his hand. “Can we talk about us?”

  “What about us?” Rayne questioned as she shyly looked away from his intimate stare.

  “I want you in my life.” He told her.

  “I am in your life,” she said with sarcasm causing Chase to laugh.

  “You know what I’m talking about. I wanna be that man in your life.”

  Rayne shook her head with a slight smile on her face. Chase was one good looking catch and she wanted nothing more than to give in to his requests, but she couldn’t. “Look, I know you don’t want me mentioning your baby mama, but you gotta know that I don’t want any parts of an intimate relationship with you like that; especially after meeting her today. I refuse to deal with somebody like Brooke. Plus, I don’t play second fiddle to no one.” She bluntly told him while taking the glass out of his hand and turning up the rest of the champagne in it.

  “Who said that you’ll be playing second fiddle to anyone?” He questioned as he stared in her eyes.

  “Who said that I wouldn’t be?”

  “I’m saying it now.” Chase told her. “I don’t really want to talk about it, but I’m ready to move on and I’d like to do that with you.” He said as her cell phone began to ring. She looked down at the screen of the phone and noticed that the call was from Jeremy.

  “It’s for you,” she said handing him the phone.

  Chase reached for the phone, and then answered it. “What’s up, Cuz?”

  “Aye, I tried calling your phone a few times, but it went straight to voicemail.”

  “Yeah, I turned it off, because I figured that Brooke would be blowing it up.” He said walking off from Rayne for a little more privacy.

  “She did leave here pretty upset with you.” Jeremy told him. “I was able to get your keys from her so I’m in your car.”

  “She didn’t wanna give them to you, I bet.”

  “Actually, she went ahead and gave ‘em up without a fuss whatsoever.”

  “I’m surprised,” Chase responded. “She always gotta make things more complicated than what they should be.”

  “She wouldn’t be Brooke if she didn’t. How is Rayne?” Jeremy questioned.

  “You know Rayne. She’s good.”

  “I bet,” Jeremy said with light laughter. “She actually was the one that came out on top today. That shit caught Brooke completely off guard with you taking her home. You ain’t never did that, Cuz.”

  “I know, but I’m tired of her shit. I thought we’d gotten over her acting like a fool. I guess I’m gonna have to start acting just as crazy as her ass.” Chase said as he glanced back to see that Rayne had poured another glass of champagne and was downing it as he watched her. She then stood up and looked at him.

  “I’m about to take a shower and get comfortable. If you leave before I get out, just lock up.” She told him.

  Chase nodded his head up and down as he watched her sexy ass exit the kitchen and head down the long hallway to her bedroom. He then redirected his attention back to Jeremy.

  “Are we still meeting up tonight?” Jeremy questioned.

  “Well, uh… Well,” he said again trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to do as thoughts of Rayne in the shower took over his thoughts.

  “Cuz,” Jeremy called out since Chase had gotten quiet on him.

  “Oh, uh, I’m here.” He responded. “Look, let’s postpone the meeting until tomorrow.”

  Jeremy chuckled in the phone. “What are you up, too?”

  “Nothing much, but since Brooke said that I better not come home after bringing Rayne home, then I’m not going home.”

  Jeremy smiled. It was about time that Chase had started standing his ground with Brooke. She’d held him by the balls way too long and it was time that she knew that she could easily be replaced.

  “A’ight Cuz, and if Brooke calls?”

  “Don’t answer it, but if you need me call Rayne’s phone.” He said. “We’ll talk later.” And with that, Chase ended their call. He sat there contemplating what he should do next, but first he’d fix him another drink and whatever happened after that, happened.

  Chapter 4

  Brooke pulled up to her parent’s split level house to pick up Mason, she and Chase’s three year old son. She sat there in the car for a minute in deep thought. She was still heated over the incident that took place at the studio. She couldn’t believe that Chase had handled her like that in front of his new artist.

  “That nigga has lost his damn mind, for real.” She spoke out loud like someone was in the car with her. “I got something for his ass, though.” She said while getting out of the car and heading towards her parent’s house. She had the key so she didn’t even bother to knock. She just entered like she was the one that paid bills there.

  “Mom, Dad,” Brooke called out looking around the open spaced foyer.

  “Mommy,” Mason shouted as he came running towards her. He grabbed a hold of her leg almost knocking her down.

  “Hey baby,” She smiled rubbing the top of his head. “Where’s your gramma and papa?” She asked while bending down to pick him up. Mason looked a lot like Chase. They had the same complexion, same deep brown eyes, and even had the same wavy, low hair cut. At three, he was already taller than most kids his age. People could already tell that his
height would also come from his father’s side.

  Toya sat in the living room as she leaned up to look toward the foyer, and then she called out, “They’re not here. They had plans for the evening.”

  “Mom, didn’t tell me that.” Brooke responded putting Mason back down on the floor. He took off running back into the living room to play with his car as Brooke followed him.

  “Did you even bother to ask them if they had plans?” Toya pondered as Brooke entered the living room. Brooke flopped down on the couch right next to her baby sister, and then glanced over at her.

  “Yeah, well no,” Brooke responded as she thought about how she just dropped Mason off without even asking her parents if they could keep him. The only thing that was on her mind earlier was getting to the studio to see Chase. It was never her intention to go there and act a fool like she had done in the past. A part of her really did wish she could get in some quality time with him, even though she was also itching to meet the infamous Rayne that he’d mentioned to her more than a few times.

  Toya shook her head thinking about her sister’s selfish ways. “I figured you didn’t,” she said, but her voice trailed off when she saw the frown that was on her sister’s face. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  Brooke pouted. “Girl, I think Chase is cheating on me with his new artist.”

  Toya immediately rolled her eyes. “Brooke, don’t start that shit again. When are you not thinking that he is cheating on you? Every time I turn around you talking about he’s cheating, but you never have any proof.”

  Brooke held up her hand to stop her sister from saying anything else. “Well, can I least tell you what happened first before you add your two cents?”

  Toya nodded her head up and down. “Yeah, go ahead; I’m listening.”

  Brooke took in a deep breath. She slowly let it out, and then started. “See, after I dropped Mason off earlier, I went to the studio to surprise Chase. I thought maybe we could have lunch or something. We hadn’t been really spending that much time together lately, because he has been spending the majority of his time working. When he’s not at the studio he’s out with his trifling ass cousins.” She said the last part with a scowl on her face as her thoughts reflected on how much she despised Jeremy. To her, both Jeremy & James were no good and kept a different woman on their arms. They were bad influences on Chase and she hated it.