Page 11 of Royce (Atkins Family Saga #1)

Rasing my head, my brows were dipped, eyes squinted, and nose scrunched.

I was confused on how my balance was paid off when I hadn’t put anything on it in months.

I’ve always had to put other bills before it.

Hell, I just got the letter in the mail two days ago about a disconnection if I didn’t make a payment. There was no way it could be resolved.

“Excuse me?”

“Ms. Monroe, you don’t have a balance at the moment. There’s nothing for you to pay,” she repeated.

“How can that be though? I hadn’t made a payment in months. Are you screwing with me?” I asked still confused on what she was telling me.

“I have no reason to screw with you. You have a zero balance ma’am.” She turned her computer screen to face me and pointed to where my balance would be. Sure enough, it had the $0.00 inside the box.

“I see it, but what I’m saying is, I didn’t make a payment. Can you tell me when it was made?”

“It was paid yesterday right before we closed in cash. All I can tell you is to accept it as a blessing and move on. Is there anything else I can help you with?” she inquired.

Releasing a deep breath, I shook my head. “No. Thank you so much.”

I walked out the building feeling lost as hell.

One thing I knew for sure was Cojak wasn’t giving up money and paying bills.

It was one or the other with him. Then again, what went down might’ve woke him the hell up.

This changed nothing. I was cutting ties.

Thank you for finally stepping up but it was a little too late.

Back in the car, I called the landlords. The married couple was a white one, but they worked with me as much as they could. I appreciated them giving me grace when it came to paying them, but even I knew that shit stretched so thin. He answered after a few rings in his normal chipper voice.

“Hi, Klarity. How’s it going?”

“Hi Mr. Parrot. I was calling to let you know I can pay the back rent and next month’s rent as well, today. Can you meet me at the post office so I can get you a money order?”

“Oh, there’s no need. Your rent is caught up and already paid for next month. We appreciate you keeping your word. We get unexpected things happen all the time and we really didn’t want to evict you and your family,” he expressed.

“I’m sorry, you said it’s paid already?” I questioned. This was the second time I tried to pay something, and it was already handled. I scoffed the longer I put two and two together. This was him apologizing thinking it meant something to me.

“Yes I did. If you need anything fixed in the house, please let us know. Have a good day and congrats on the new baby since we won’t be in touch next month.”

“Thank you, Mr. Parrot. Have a good day.” Hanging up, I tossed my phone in the cupholder. He was a bitch ass nigga and what infuriated me the most was how I had to show my ass just for him to care.

I’d been begging this man for months to help me with the bills, but he always declined saying he didn’t have any money to spare.

Now all of a sudden, he was able to spare five grand and pay every bill.

He was a joke. Listening to me complain about the hard times and selfishly keeping me in that space didn’t make him move.

Oh, but when beating his ass, catching him with another bitch that’s pregnant might I add, and not answering any call of his since that day did.

That was pure bullshit, and he knew it. Things shouldn’t have gotten this far for him to even remember the life we built together. It was fucked up for real.

Leaving the energy place, I checked off two things.

The rent and light bill was squared away.

However, that left the Wi-Fi, water, and the many subscriptions we had.

The water was on its way to being cut off come Thursday so I knew for sure I had to pay that.

I should’ve been taking a rest but there were too many things to handle before I could sit and relax.

Clear Cascade supplied the city, and they too had several small offices located around the city where you could pay your bills.

I drove to the nearest location taking a smooth fifteen minutes of my time.

When I arrived, I grabbed the bill and envelope of money from the passenger seat then climbed out for the umpteenth time this morning.

Heading inside, I was able to snag a clerk who was just finishing up a customer. The rest of the folk had filed behind others. I opened the envelope, looked at the balance, and removed two Franklin’s from the orange envelope.

“Yes ma’am. What can I do for you today?’ she inquired.

“I came to clear my balance. It’s $146.98. My name is Klarity Monroe. That’s clarity with a k not a c.”

Nodding, she went to pecking on her keyboard much like the lady from Spring Energy. “What’s the address?”

“It’s 2120 White Road,” I answered feeling anxious for some reason.

“You said you were here to pay a balance off?”

“Yes ma’am,” I said handing over the bill. She took it from me then looked back and forth between the monitor and the paper bill.

“So, this balance was paid off already. Yesterday evening as a matter of fact. You’re set and good to go.” She gave me back the bill with a smile on her face.

I offered a quick one in return and said, “Thank you,” as I walked away annoyed.

Cojak was really pissing me off. If this was his way of making me stay, it was a little too late for real.

Why did it even have to take all that in the first place?

The dream he fed me should’ve been upheld even without me going crazy on him.

I was pissed because confliction was beginning to cloud my thoughts.

He was behaving like the Cojak I fell in love with.

My feelings shouldn’t have been tampered with just for me to see this side of him again.

Wobbling back to the car, I threw the items in my purse except my phone. I had to call Seri and tell her about this shit. Somebody had to hear me vent about this impossible ass nigga. Scrolling to her name, I hit Facetime and propped the phone up on the dash. She answered shortly after.

“Good morning pregnant baby!” she sang into the screen.

“Good morning,” I replied rolling my eyes.

“ Unt unh ! What the hell was all that?”

“Bitch…” I grabbed the orange envelope, pulled out the new money cause that’s exactly what it smelled like, and spread it into a fan in front of the camera.

“Where the hell you get that from? Don’t tell me that nigga trying to right his wrongs.” She hit the nail on the head with her response because that was exactly what the fuck he was doing. I was over his tactics to control me at this point.

“I check my mailbox after I get home from dropping off CJ and this is sitting in the back of it. I took this money so fast to go pay bills all for my fuckin’ bills to be paid, Seri.

I have been struggling for months but the second you get caught up you want to do right.

I am livid bitch!” I yelled into the phone.

“And you have every right to be. He could’ve done all this shit beforehand, and it wouldn’t have been a problem. I don’t know why that nigga always playing like he ain’t got it when he knows he do,” she chimed.

“I have been stressed the fuck out for months, Serinity. Months.”

“Oh, I know… trust me. All the bills?” she asked with a scrunched up face.

“All the bills. Hold on. Let me double check something right quick.” I grabbed the phone off the dash and logged into the Wi-Fi account. It too had a zero dollar balance. “ Tuh ! Yeah, they’re all paid.”

“Take that bread and go do for Essence and CJ. He stepped up, and you’re grateful, but he doesn’t have to know that shit. Take that five grand and get them kids straight. I know personally how bad you needed this breakthrough. Take it cousin,” she advised.

“I will… after I go see him and give him a piece of my mind. I can’t sit on this shit and be okay. Nah, I got to get this shit off my chest.”

“Leave it alone, Klarity, and just do what you got to do. Fuck him!”

“Oh, you better believe it’s fuck him, but I still need to speak my peace. I was quiet because the things he did didn’t really get under my skin, but this got me thirty-eight hot bitch for real. As soon as them visits open at ten, I will be there.”

“Klarity.”

“I already made my mind up cousin. You ain’t got to like it but it’s going to happen so…”

The things Cojak did leading up to this moment proved how selfish he was and how he only cared when things benefited him.

It was figure it out before but now he was making sure we were straight.

I truly didn’t understand him anymore. He was treating us like pieces to his game and I didn’t like that one bit.

“Cousin, please, please, please don’t let that man embarrass you for the hundredth time.

I can’t stop you from going but at least keep it real with him this time.

You don’t need him for real. Don’t even thank that nigga for paying the damn bills.

That’s what the fuck he’s supposed to do.

” Seri was giving it to me raw, and I thanked her for that ‘cause it was what I needed.

Many times, I forgave Cojak and swept the bullshit under the rug. This time he was going to clean this up himself. Me and our kids were worth more than a few grand and a few bills paid. He owed us so much more than that starting with some damn respect.

“I’m good cousin. That nigga can’t hurt me more than he already has. I’ll call you after I leave from up there. I’m about to go deposit this money and then go to the house. I’m a little sore from all this ripping and running.”

“Alright. I love you and remember, it ain’t shit for you to be thanking him for. You can tell him I said that!”

Shaking my head, I disconnected the call and headed to the house instead. I passed the bank going to the jailhouse and would do it then. I really was tired and needed to rest. My ankles and knees felt as if they could give out at any given second.