“…catch him solo, make the right man bleed…” – Nas

Consider these basic instructions fam.

Patience is a virtue.

Hold fast.  Just wait. 

When you rush, you fuck up.

Hold fast.

You get bored. You pace the floor.

You check your watch.

Hold fast.

Be easy….

He’s coming.

Breathe out slow….

Keep your adrenaline in check

Turn out the lights, don’t move.

Get in position.

He’s coming.

The wait is over

Hold fast.

Be easy.

Steady now, cock it slow

Wait for it…. he won’t even know

Close one eye, hold your target.

Aim…. peel that wig back… leave

No need to rush, go out the way you came in

Be easy

Who you running from?

If you followed, he should be DOA

Any questions?

I couldn’t get away with snooping on him for too long.  I knew that.
  This was all my fault.

Thing is, he never came in my room.  But he did this time…

I was busted… I had all of his information on the screen, all of the history, everything that was missing.  Everything he wouldn’t tell me…

His words echoed in my head, deep and raspy “What are you doing?”

The hair rose on the back of my neck as if satan himself was in the room with me.  He came closer… he smelled of alcohol..

  I didn’t bother shutting down the computer, I hit the power button so fast I chipped my nail.  That nail was the least of my worries..

“How could you do that to me?” “You’re snooping on me?"  "HUH?”

The tone of his voice changed from monotone to outright fury as the room began to swirl.  He grabbed at me, I told him to stop it… he told me he couldn’t trust me. I told him I had to know.

I don’t remember much after that, really.  Only that the son of a bitch ordered a pizza as I lay bleeding and unconscious in the next room.

I read all I needed to know anyway…

By now, he was probably out for payback.  Prison does strange things to people.  Every time he left, I would envision him at some big money strip club, the kind all the high rollers hang out at, waiting for a package.  Could be money, could be drugs.  Who knew.

He’d sit.  And he’d wait.

Then I imagine some rich cat would meet him at some agreed upon time.

Except there’s a twist.  The rich guy doesn’t want to play the game… He wants to try and have his cake and eat it too.

Then I see him getting dirty, real dirty.  The internet search I found mentioned murder so he had to have a pistol.  But would he kill again? Or use it to prove a point…?

The point being … he’s back. 

He’s back and not to be fucked with.

….. This is not the man I once knew.

Three questions….

Why did you lie? Why did you leave? What happened to you?

It was as if someone pressed record and kept playing the same scenes over and over again. 

We argue, he leaves, I lock myself in my bathroom.

Why did I let him back? Why do I care so much?

Fuck all of it.

I’m done.

The problem with having an amazing sexual chemistry with your ex is that, when the relationship is over, the chemistry doesn’t go away…

…… and I hated him for it.

“I don’t want to talk about that.  Why do you always bring up the same shit? Please… just…  leave it alone….”

He doesn’t talk about it.  He barely talks at all.  He doesn’t know what I know or how I know.  I want him to say it…. just say it to my face. 

Tell me…

I give up… there is nothing left.  There is nothing I can ask, nothing I can say to make him tell me everything; every gory detail surrounding the charges that kept him locked up for years.

I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t hurt.  I can’t sleep at night.  I hide in my bathroom and just sit.  I sit and I cry.

I miss him so much… I miss who he used to be.  I miss us…

Part 3: The Cardinal’s – Living Room, Office (yes, the youngest sleeps in the office.  He was a surprise baby, it happens), and half bath.

So while my family, The Cardinals, were fast asleep during the wee hours of the morning, I decided to take some shots of their house that I absolutely adore.  We’ll start with the garage leading into the laundry and kitchen.  More to come.