Chapter Eight
Ny’Airy Buckle
My phone buzzed against the kitchen counter while I was pouring coffee. I had finally gotten a good gym schedule going and Cozart and his woman drama had to go and ruin it. I was pissed at him for fucking up my progress because he couldn’t keep his dick to himself. I picked up the phone and scoffed when I noticed that the text message was from him.
When you thought of the devil, he might just appear.
The text read:
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Good morning everyone, this is Cozart Walker from Brick & Co Gym. The people in this group chat were scheduled for training with me today at different times. I apologize for the inconvenience, but let’s not derail your progress. The gym is closed for two days, but if anybody still wants training, meet me at 9am at Piedmont Park to get this work in. Gains don’t stop. Let’s Get It!
I read the message twice. Each time I read it, I got more annoyed. I rolled my eyes and locked the phone before putting it back on the counter. Men had more audacity than sense. Twenty-four hours ago, I watched his wife storm into the gym with her uniform on looking like she was through witheverything. I watched him yell at her, then yell at his sister, then she threw a fifty-pound weight through the window.
Now this nigga wanted to send motivational workout texts.Gains don’t stop.What the hell was that supposed to mean? The last thing he should have been worried about was some damn gains. I poured my coffee and walked toward the window overlooking my backyard. It was a mess back there. It had been my ex-husband’s job to keep it maintained. Now I paid the neighbor’s son to come over and cut my grass once a month. I had gotten our house and my car out of the divorce settlement. It was a gift and a curse. Part of me was happy that I didn’t have to pick up and leave the home that I had poured love into building just because I had gained weight and my husband didn’t want me anymore. The other part of me hated the fact that Larry got to start over. He had a new wife, new house, new baby; he didn’t have to wake up every day and be reminded of the past.
Every inch of our house reminded me of our life together. Even when I wanted to forget, when I looked across the room at the couch in front of the TV, I thought about him sitting there watching the game. When I looked at our jacuzzi tub, I thought about him sitting there letting the jet streams massage his sore muscles after a long day of work. He got to start over, but I was stuck living in the past.
Then suddenly I thought of him, even though I didn’t want to.
Cozart Walker was fine. The kind of fine that made women ignore common sense. Tall, muscled, pretty smile, perfect teeth, expensive car, he looked like somebody had asked God to create an Atlanta personal trainer, and the Lord said bet. Unfortunately, God left some important parts out of the creation like a heart and emotional intelligence. I looked at the time, and it read 7am. I needed to stop by the office today to gather somefiles that needed to be notarized and indexed. I planned to go up there around noon, which would give me plenty of time to go upstairs, get in my workout clothes, get my daily workout in, then get home change and go to the office.
My phone buzzed and it was the same group chat. Going down the list, five people in a row said different variations of No. Someone said, No thank you, another person said, I’m good, a few other people replied simply with NO. It looked like I wasn’t the only one who was judging Co because of what happened yesterday. I was tempted to pick up my stone and toss it at his head like the rest of the judgmental group, but I knew that I wasn’t perfect either. Besides me working out wasn’t for him, it was for me. I needed to lose some weight so I wouldn’t be on diabetic medication, and I wanted my husband back. I wasn’t going to accomplish those things by sitting in the house being mad at Cozart because he was a cheating womanizing man whore.
“I’m in, see you shortly,” I replied to the group chat. Yes, Cozart was fine, a blind man could see that, but unlike the rest of the butt hurt woman at the gym, I had never fucked him, and I had no plans to. I had worked too hard to lose progress. After getting dressed and pouring the rest of the coffee down the drain, I filled my Stanley cup with water and a hydration packet and headed out the door to Piedmont Park.
An Atlanta staple, Piedmont Park was beautiful in the summertime. The sky was still waking up. The grass glistened from dew. Joggers moved along the trails. People were walking their dogs, and white women with Louis Vuitton bags held their phone up to their ears and walked quickly like they had somewhere to be. Standing at the edge of the park near a few trees was Cozart Walker.
He was alone.
There were no clients.
No women surrounding him making him feel like he was a God. No fancy title to hide behind, just him and a few resistance bands. He looked up as I approached and a slow smile spread across his face. I didn’t know what he was smiling about, I didn’t like his ass just like everybody else didn’t.
“You look awfully happy for a man who just lost his job,” I commented.
“I can’t lose my job, I own the company,” he shrugged solemnly. He didn’t say it in a cocky way, it was almost regretful. Like he wished he could have consequences for his actions. If he was looking for sympathy from me, he wasn’t going to get it. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms while leaning up against the tree.
“Why you looking so lonely? Don’t act like you are upset about what happened. This is usually what comes with cheating on your wife,” I taunted him.
“I didn’t cheat on my wife, like I told her and my sister yesterday, I didn’t forget to pick up the kids because I was with another woman. I was exhausted and I went in the house and fell asleep.” He looked down at his foot and kicked a piece of dirt from in front of him.
“Have you ever forgotten to pick up your kids before because you were with another woman?” I asked him.
He scratched the back of his neck and spread his leg in the typical guilty nigga stance.
“I may have a time or two,” he shrugged.
“Well can you really be mad if they don’t believe that the same thing didn’t happen this time?” I smirked.
He looked up to the sky and threw his hands up in surrender.
“Look I’m not here to bust your balls. I think I’m the only woman at the gym who has never fucked you and never wants to,” I told him. I was slightly embellishing. Since the day I laid eyes on his fine ass I had fantasized about fucking him but that wasn’t the point and he didn’t need to know that.
“Well damn.” Cozart grabbed his chest like he was hurt by my revelation. I was sure it was a blow to his ego to hear that there was one woman who didn’t melt into a puddle at the mention of his name.
“I mean, I’m not as disappointed in you as they are. You showed me who you were the day we met and I have never expected you to be anyone else. You are a married man who loves fucking multiple woman and you sometimes put pussy ahead of being a father,” I shrugged.
“Again ouch. Is this supposed to be making me feel better?” he asked.
