Page 44 of Always There Bayou
I can’t even lie, it was such a turn-on to have someone to speak for you when you couldn’t get your brain to produce words. The way she always commanded attention and took control was beautiful to me. She was as antisocial as they came, yet she was a completely different person when it came to getting shit done or making shit known. I admired her so much.
“Okay, got it!” Kash smiles. “I’ll have those drinks and appetizers out in no time.”
“Thanks, my man,” Cory nodded before turning her attention back to me. She smiles before pulling me closer until our lips are only an inch apart. “Now, where were we?”
“I knew it!”
Our heads snapped up once again, and I rolled my eyes at the sight of Christie standing there with some other woman I didn’t recognize. She looked as if she were processing who we were, and her mouth fell open when she realized. She tried to tug Christie away, but she brushed her off.
“I knew that your ass was in love with her!” Christie shouted for the whole restaurant to hear. “You swore up and down that y’all were just friends. That y’all were justchildhood besties.But look at this shit!” She motions to us before throwing her hands up. “Y’all couldn’twaituntil I was out of the picture so that y’all could finally date in public, huh? This was what you wanted from the beginning, huh, Cory?”
“Christie, not today,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t have time to deal with your insecurities and bullshit.” She flashed her a look that made her freeze in place. “Stop trying to play the fucking victim all of the time! Youcheatedon me multiple times, Christie. Did you forget about that? Huh? Yes, I’m the dumb ass that took you back time and time again, but that shit got old.”
“Yeah, but they…”
“And don’t even try to make it seem like Denny was the reason you did all of that,” Cory replied, standing from her seat. “Notoncedid I ever cheat on you. I told you that Denny and I were just friends, and that’s all we were until a couple of weeksafteryou and I broke up. You knew that while we were dating, I was committed toyouand only you.”
“I know, but…”
“But nothing,” she shakes her head. “I cared for you and loved you, yet you were busy sleeping around with people becauseyouwere insecure. I would’ve respected you so much more if you had just broken up with me instead of keeping me in that same old loop of heartbreak.” She pauses. “Christie, I truly cared about you, but even I could tell that it was never going to work out. We practically wasted all that time for nothing.”
“Yeah, because you werealwaysgonna end up with Denny,” she argued. “I realized that, and it broke my heart.”
“Then why didn’t you break up with me?” Cory questioned.
“Because…” her eyes flickered over to me, and I saw a dark look appear. My eyebrows furrow. “Because what do they have that I don’t?!”
“What?”
“What do you even see in them to have you so hooked?” Christie argued as she waved towards me. “They’re just some weird ass bitch who can’t do shit without you!”
“First of fucking all, you better watch your mouth,” Cory said, her voice dropping dangerously low as she stepped in Christie’s face. “Secondly, don’t you ever fucking disrespect them again.”
“And the only weird one here is you,” I say, standing as well. “How do you cheat on someone and then get mad when they break up with you? Then to trash her place out of spite? Yeah, weird as hell, and toxic. You never fucking deserved her!”
“Hoe, I don’t think I was talking to you,” she snaps. “Fuck you!” She turns her attention back to Cory and smirks. “You deserve everything bad that has ever happened in your life, Cory Tate. You don’t deserve anything good because you’re weak and you’ll always be weak. You couldn’t even save your alcoholic, cracked-out mama, now could you?” She pauses and smirks when she sees that her words cut deep. “Oh, I’m sorry, is that a touchy subject?”
The room goes silent, and I feel like the whole restaurant is tuned into what's happening. I could hear a few people muttering and cameras recording, and my blood began to boil. I glanced over at Cory, and she looked visibly sick as she stood there. My eyes cut over to Christie, and she was laughing like it was funny. I know that Cory had told her about her mom in confidence, but now she was throwing it back in her face? Nah, I wasn’t having that.
All I see is red as I pull her by her braids and start swinging on her. She yells out, trying her best to fight back, but I don’t let up. I wanted that bitch to hurt for how she had hurt Cory. How she’d always hurt Cory. She didn’t deserve to be treated like this, and I needed Christie to know that one thing she wasn’t about to do was play with my girlfriend.
I wasn’t sure how long the fight lasted, but we were eventually kicked out of the restaurant, and cops were called to the scene. Luckily, some of the patrons stuck around to tell their side of the story, and everything was handled fairly quickly. I contacted Cory’s lawyer, and they met us at the police station. I’m not sure what they talked about, but I walked out of there with no charges, and Cory was able to start the process of getting a restraining order against Christie.
The ride home was quiet, and my heart hurt at how broken Cory seemed. She didn’t have any energy for the rest of the day, and all she wanted to do was cuddle up with me. It wasn’t until we were in bed that night that she finally broke down. She sobbed for hours as she yearned for her mom. I stayed with her and held her until she eventually drifted off to sleep. Cory rarely broke down like this, so when she did, it was always so painful to watch. I wanted to take all of her hurt away, lock it in a chest, and sink it to the bottom of the ocean.
There was nothing more important than Cory’s happiness and well-being, and I was determined to do everything I could to ensure she never had to stress again. She had me, and I had her. That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it would always be for as long as I had anything to do with it.
12
Cared For Bayou.
CoryTate-February12th, 2025
It’s been almost a month since that little run-in with Christie, and all the attention was finally starting to die down. Because someone had recorded the altercation, it’d made it onto every major news outlet, and my name was the number one trending topic for three days after it happened. I was sick of getting mentioned and tagged in shit, so I shut off my comments and tags and made Denny stay offline while my lawyer and PR team got everything under control.
Denny and I have been spending all our time in the apartment or at our parents' houses because the last thing I wanted was for Denny to get harassed out in the streets by obsessed fans or paparazzi trying to get a scoop. Luckily, both of our families had money and were able to get this shit under control, but I was still cautious. I cared way too much about Denny’s well-being to put them in that position. So for now, we were going to keep chilling at their place.
“What time is it?”
