Page 1 of Do You Understand?

What Happened Was…

“Ijust don’t understand the shit! I’ve been with the company way longer than you, but you’ve already been put on active fucking missions,” Kevin whined like a child. “I guess that’s that bullshit nepotism.”

Taelyn sat on her bed while she zoned in and out. Her boyfriend’s bitching about not getting what he considered his just due was a major turn-off. How was she supposed to help the family that she was born into? She was an infamous Smith. Mont, who was the President of Christianson Enterprises, was her brother, and Jacob, who was the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, was her cousin. Taelyn Astoria Smith was the youngest daughter of Trell Lamont and Tae Zoie Smith. She had wealth before she and her twin brother, Neziah, were formed in her mother’s womb.

Her eyes cut over to Kevin. He paced her bedroom floor like an idiot lunatic. All she wanted to do was carry her ass to sleep. They were at the condo that they shared. Not really shared because it was her condo. Kevin just lived there. Taelyn had a house in Washington Circle, but between her father, cousin, brother, and sister, there were too many noses in her business.

“Um, if you call a year and a half way longer than me, then alright. You act like I didn’t have to go through the damn wringer more than anyone to become a part of our organization. As far as active missions, I was in the damn office working remotely on the tech side. You act like I was out there busting my guns.”

Kevin’s pacing stopped. His head rotated in his girlfriend’s direction. All he could do was stare at her. Taelyn was a beautiful woman, which was a part of the reason he hollered at her a year ago. The other reason was far more devious. He assumed if he got into the good graces of Mont by being the doting boyfriend of the Taelyn Astoria Smith that it would give him an advantage. He learned quickly that would not be the case.

Mont himself let him know that, and it was followed up by Jacob, Codeine, Smoke, and Choppa, who were Taelyn’s three uncles. They also had a hand in the founding of Christianson Enterprises. Their grandfather and father founded the enterprise. However, under the leadership of the three brothers, the organization was brought to greatness and billions. Much of those assets came from legit contracts with the government and the private sector.

Kevin had been working overtime to be good to Taelyn, and for what? Her ass wasn’t even giving up the pussy. She sucked dick, but that shit wasn’t enough. How the fuck was she twenty-eight but not fucking yet? That was his main reason for getting his pussy elsewhere. It would be different if he loved her, but he didn’t, no matter how many times he told her.

“I don’t give a fuck what you were doing, Taelyn. You’ve been listed on four missions.” His head dropped sideways toward his left shoulder. “Your ass has only been in the organization for eight fucking months. Do you know how it feels to hear niggas tell you that you aren’t ready or there was doubt in your ability to participate in missions, better yet lead one? Nah, you don’t, because what the infamous Taelyn wants, she gets.”

The audacity of this nigga, Taelyn thought. Yes, he’d been bitching about his entitlement, if she could call it anything, but tonight he really went in. “Kevin, I don’t know what your problem is tonight, but I’m tired. I just came from a mission, and I need my rest to wake up and perform my normal job. Oh, I guess that makes five missions now.”

Yep, she chose to take the petty route. She knew that he expected to have some kind of favoritism because they were in a relationship. Unfortunately, that was not how the shit worked at all. She refused to sit there and allow him to continue to bitch like, well, a bitch. Trell and Tae didn’t raise her to coddle a grown ass man. Kevin was two years older than her, so he should have been the mature one.

Kevin gawked at her like she had two heads. Yeah, he had better things to do like get pussy. “Yeah, you on some other shit, and I don’t have time for the shit. You go ahead and get the precious rest that you need.”

Taelyn lowered her body into her bed. “Whew. At least we can agree about our time. Make sure you lock the door on your way out. Kiss, kiss.”

He hated her nonchalant attitude about every damn thing. It was like nothing upset her. The last time he spoke on this issue, she sat there and silently listened to him rant his envious heart out. After a while, he felt she was too quiet. There was a reason for her silence. At some point, she’d put in earbuds and was listening to something. Once she realized his attention was on her, she simply asked if he was done.

Kevin felt like she had a keen way of making him feel like less of a man lately. He didn’t like that shit. It wasn’t like that in the beginning, and Taelyn would admit that. In the beginning and for the majority of their relationship, she worshipped the ground that he walked on. When he started to show his weird, envious behavior, her like turned to tolerance. Taelyn had plans to break up with him soon, unbeknownst to him.

He picked up his key from the table near her bedroom door. He didn’t bother to turn to address her with his parting words. “Fuck you, Taelyn.”

She snickered at his immaturity. There that bitch shit went again. “Nah, we’re not fucking remember. Go to your lil slide’s house and let her handle that. Aye, tell her that she might want to go to her doctor too. If you were wondering why I stopped giving you this award-winning head… That smell on ya dick a month or so ago was not pleasant.”

That deserved his attention. With tight eyes, he turned to gaze at her. This was the kind of nonchalant stuff that he talked about. She knew, based on what she had just said for over a month, that he was cheating, but acted as if she didn’t care. Most women would be ready to kill a nigga. There was no reason for him to deny it at this point. “So, you knew I cheated and didn’t give a fuck?”

Without lifting her head from her pillow, she tiredly responded. “Kevin, it’s not as if I love you. I have far more important things to do in my life than run behind a grown ass man who should know better. As far as caring, I didn’t care much, but I did a little. I cared enough to crash yours and her credit score. Oh, I think this should be a wrap on us, too.”

There was no reason for her to continue to wait for tomorrow what she could do today. Technically, not tomorrow, but later today. It was already one in the morning.

“Wow, so you’re really breaking up with a nigga while you doze off to sleep?” he questioned incredulously. “You really don’t give a fuck. You don’t love me either. How do you think this break-up shit is going to work out for you?”

She took the time to lift her head from her pillow to place her eyes on her ex-boyfriend. She wanted him to feel the weight of her words. “It’s going to work out beautifully for me. Let me tell you why, because you’re not stupid. Just like you love to point out, I’m a Smith from the infamous Washington/Christianson/Smith clan. Fuck around and die—fuck find out.”

Taelyn’s arrogance sickened Kevin. He wondered if she would have as much confidence if she wasn’t a Smith. He doubted it.

Taelyn had one last directive before he left. “Like I said, lock my door on your way out. I’ll make sure I pack your stuff up later today. You want me to send it to your slide’s house or your son’s mother? Oh, yeah, I know about her too. I didn’t do anything to her livelihood since she has the responsibility of taking care of your son.”

Kevin wondered who else knew about his trysts. He was not as covert as he thought he was. If Taelyn knew, did she tell her brother, cousin, hell her brother-in-law Brandon who also worked for the organization? Maybe that was why he couldn’t get an edge up on missions. He left without a fight because what was the point? Taelyn wasn’t his girl anymore, therefore, he didn’t have to give her the courtesy of respecting her.

In The Wee Hours of the Morning…

Taelyn slept comfortably in her bed. She had to be in the office at nine in the morning. Her condo was in Charleston, which was about thirty minutes from Washington/Smith Brokerage Firm’s downtown location. Kevin was from Charleston whereas she was from Mount Pleasant. He felt more comfortable with their condo being there because he felt like there were too many eyes in Mount Pleasant. Taelyn believed that train of thought was asinine. There were eyes everywhere, but in the beginning, it was whatever Kevin wanted.

Much had changed since her and Kevin’s relationship began. It started to go downhill about four months ago. That was when the weird behavior started after her cousin Mauri asked for Taelyn’s assistance on a big mission. Mauri knew what a lot of people didn’t. Taelyn was an expert level hacker like she was. Sure, there were hackers out there, but the number of expert levels that even the government feared were few and far between. There were several hackers in the technology security department of Christianson Enterprises, but they were not all equal.

When a mission was completed, it was not spoken to individuals that were not assigned to the mission. Kevin assumed that wouldn’t apply to them because they were together. Taelyn showed him differently the night of that assignment when she wouldn’t tell him anything about the mission no matter how much he asked. From that point on, the resentment that Kevin harbored in his gut started to surface. It was subtle things, but noticeable to Taelyn.

Before Kevin came to work for the organization, he worked as a college professor which was ironic. As immature as he could be, he was a role model for younger minds. He still taught at the College of Charleston and was deemed the cool, hip professor. He was great as a professor of economics. Kevin wanted more. He wanted to not only be the man on the missions, but he also wanted to be the man that led them. He was ready, or so he thought.

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