Matthew got to his office and Bo, his friend for years, was already there.
“Look, I need to know who the fuck is calling my lady. If it’s that ex-husband of hers, I swear to god I will slit his throat and feed him to the dogs.”
“Damn, I haven’t seen you like this in quite some time.”
“Man, I told her I would always protect her and I meant every word of it. She has been through years of shit and she is not going to go through that again.”
“Nigga, I’m straight. The real question is does Terry know about this part of your past?”
“Nope and he never will,” he said as he sat down beside his friend. “First I need to find out where this call came from.” He showed Bo the number he had gotten from Cheryl’s phone. “Can you call your contact at the phone company?”
“Just give me a few minutes,” Bo said as he motioned for him to get up. Matthew paced around his office until Bo yelled ‘got it’ and turned the computer screen for Matthew to see it. Matthew let out a stream of curse words and grabbed his keys from the desk.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to deal with it,” he said and stormed out.
“Open this fucking door!” Matthew yelled while pounding on the red door.
“What in the hell do you want?” Sherrie asked while pulling the door open.
He grabbed her and shoved her into the wall of the foyer.
“I’m only going to ask you one fucking time, and you better tell me the fucking truth. Why are you calling and harassing Cheryl…did you actually believe I wouldn’t find out it was you?”
“Get your fucking hands off of me!” Sherrie said while pushing around him, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” He said as he grabbed her and spun her around.
Her eyes grew large. “I’m not! I swear.”
He released her arms, “Look, somebody has been calling me and Cheryl and it is freaking her out.”
“Well, that’s what you get for getting involved with someone that has a crazy ass ex-husband. No telling what that nigga would do.”
Donell opened the door and let Matthew in. He was immediately hit with questions.
“Care to tell me what in the hell is going on?” Donnell said.
“I am not sure myself. Where is Cheryl?” Matthew said walking past Donnell.
“What does that mean, you’re not sure?”
“Donnell, trust me when I tell you, I am going to find out who it is, and when I do…How’s your mom?”
“She is finally calm, if that is what you mean.”
“Is she ok?”
“Yeah, she finally fell asleep, but wanted me to wake her up when you got here.”
Matthew told him not to do that as Donnell headed for the stairs. “You two should get some rest.”
Donnell came back down the two steps and stood in front of Matthew.
“Thanks for loving my mom and showing her that she is actually worth it,” Donnell said before grabbing his girlfriend’s hand and walking upstairs.
Matthew walked into Cheryl’s room and saw her curled in a ball, He lay down beside her and she opened her eyes and tried sitting up.
“Lie back down and sleep. I’m here now.” he said and wrapped his arms around her. He drifted to sleep after a while. Her snores pulled him awake and he pulled his gun from his leg and placed it on the nightstand. As he fell into a half sleep, he thought, better safe than sorry.