I Heard It All Before Read online

  I HEARD IT ALL BEFORE

  BY:

  CHENELL PARKER

  Copyright © 2017 Chenell Parker

  Published by Chenell Parker

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locals are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents are entirely coincidental.

  OTHER TITLES BY CHENELL PARKER

  (In Order):

  HER SO CALLED HUSBAND

  PARTS 1-3

  YOU’RE MY LITTLE SECRET

  PARTS 1-3

  YOU SHOULD LET ME LOVE YOU

  CHEATING THE FUTURE FOR THE PAST

  PARTS 1-3

  WHAT YOU WON’T DO FOR LOVE

  CREEPIN’: A NEW ORLEANS LOVE STORY

  PARTS 1-3

  COMPLICATED PARTS 1-3

  NEVER KNEW LOVE LIKE THIS

  PARTS 1 & 2

  HATE THAT I NEED YOU

  Prologue

  Camden bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, as sweat dripped down his forehead into his eyes. His female companion had her legs wrapped around his waist, as he pumped in and out of her with the speed of lighting. They didn’t have much time, and he was trying hard to finish what they had started before somebody decided to break up their little private party. The small bathroom in the club already smelled stale and the stench of their sex wasn’t helping it all that much.

  “Shit Cam, that’s my spot baby,” Courtney moaned as she dug her nails deep in his muscular back.

  She had come to the club with her man, but she was in the bathroom with her ex, getting her kitty beat out the frame. Cam was no good for her and she knew it, but there was something about him that she just couldn’t resist. Her man stopped trying to satisfy her, but Cam always knew just what to do. He had a girl too but, thankfully, she wasn’t with him that night. Usually, his girlfriend, Asha, didn’t let him out of her sight, and Courtney knew why. The way he fucked had to be a crime. Courtney was an officer of the law, but Cam had her heart imprisoned. They had broken up years ago, but she couldn’t seem to stay away. His face and body were works of art, and that was only the beginning. His bad boy swagger had her all the way gone, and she was sure that Asha felt the same way.

  “That nigga ain’t hittin’ this pussy right. That’s why you’re always looking for me,” Cam said while turning her around and taking her from behind.

  Courtney had her palms planted on the dingy bathroom door, as Cam had his way with her. The sundress that she wore was bunched up around her waist while her underwear dangled around one of her ankles. She was thankful for the music being so loud because it drowned out her screams and moans. Her roller-wrapped hair was damp with sweat and so was her face.

  “Shit Cam, I’m coming baby. Don’t stop,” Courtney begged, as she backed up into him until her legs weakened and her entire body shook. Cam kept pounding into her until he was filling up the condom that he wore a few minutes later.

  “You better hurry up and go back out there before that insecure ass nigga come looking for you. I’m not in the mood for no bullshit tonight. I’m trying to make some money and chill,” Cam said as he wet a few paper towels and cleaned himself up.

  Courtney followed his lead and fixed herself up too. She used the feminine wipes that she kept in her purse to freshen up. Courtney fixed her hair and makeup while Cam peered into the hallway, making sure the coast was clear before he walked out. Courtney waited a few minutes before she left and went in the opposite direction. She barely made it back to her seat before her man, Alton, jumped up and started going off.

  “The fuck you coming from Courtney?” he yelled, getting up in her face.

  “Calm down with all the yelling. I went to the bathroom,” she replied.

  “That’s bullshit. I find it mighty strange that you and your ex nigga disappeared around the same time. Then, a few minutes after he reappears, so do you,” Alton said, looking at her skeptically.

  Courtney was a nervous wreck when he squinted his eyes and came closer to her. “Move! What are you doing?” Courtney yelled when he stared sniffing around her like a dog.

  “You smell just like that nigga too. Both of y’all got me fucked up,” Alton fumed as he looked around the club, in search of Cam. He spotted the well-known pretty boy posted up against the wall with a few of his friends and made his way over to him.

  “Alton, no! Don’t go over there starting no shit,” Courtney pleaded as she tried to pull him back. He was too strong for her to stop him, but she kept trying.

  “This nigga here,” Cam sighed when he saw Courtney and her man headed in his direction.

  “You just fucked that man’s girl in the bathroom. What did you think was gonna happen?” his friend, Kobe, said while his other friend, Randy, laughed.

  “He don’t know that. Not unless she told him and I seriously doubt that,” Cam replied, right as Alton stepped to him.

  “Cam, I’m so sorry about this. Alton is trippin’ for nothing!” Courtney yelled, letting him know that she didn’t admit to anything that happened between them.

  “I don’t need you to apologize for me. You and this nigga must think I’m stupid. Both of y’all disappeared, then reappeared at the same time,” Alton pointed out.

  “What’s your point? I’m handling business. I’m never in the same place all the time. The fuck you watching me for anyway?” Cam questioned.

  “Ain’t nobody watching you, nigga. I’m watching my fiancée, who can’t seem to stay away from your ass!” Alton snapped.

  “Alright, well, you need to be having this conversation with her. Bring your lame ass somewhere else with all that bitching. You drawing all that unnecessary attention over here and shit,” Cam fumed.

  He was heated when he saw just about everybody in the club looking in their direction. He was almost out of the weed and pills that he came to the club to sell and, then, he was going home. Having it out with Courtney’s man was not on his to-do list.

  “Nah nigga, I’m talking to your disrespectful ass!” Alton yelled.

  “Let’s go bruh. I can already see that shit is about to go left. I’m dirty as fuck and I don’t need to be going to jail tonight,” Cam said to Kobe and Randy.

  They understood what their boy was saying, so they got up and prepared to follow him out of the club. Alton wasn’t feeling how he was being dismissed. When Cam turned his back, he moved Courtney out of the way and snuck him from behind.

  “The fuck!” Cam yelled out in surprise.

  He couldn’t believe that Alton’s punk ass had the nerve to hit him when he had his back turned. He was a hoe and his actions proved that. The lick was hard enough for Cam to feel, but it wasn’t enough to drop him. He was heated that the nigga even tried it and he was ready to make an example out of him. In a flash, Cam turned around and delivered a few blows to Alton’s face that had him bloodied and on the floor in no time. The club was straight chaos as people started running for the exits. They didn’t know if gunplay was going to be involved or not, so Cam didn’t blame them for leaving. Randy grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the exit, and Kobe was right behind them.

  “Get in your truck and peel out Cam!” Kobe yelled over all the noise.

  He didn’t have to tell him twice. Cam heard the sirens in the distance and that was what he was trying to avoid. He hopped in his truck and pulled out of the parking lot, but he was too late. Police cars were coming from every direction and two of them had him boxed in.

  “Fuck!” Cam ba
rked as he banged his fist on his steering wheel.

  He didn’t think to leave the drugs that he had on him behind with his boys. He was sure that he was about to be searched and arrested, but that was nothing new. Cam had been in and out of jail since he was a teenager, but he never did any real time. He was sure that his mother would make one phone call and he would be out in less than twenty-four hours. No matter how many times he told her not to, she just couldn’t take her one and only child being locked away like an animal.

  “Step out of the car!” one of the officers yelled over the loud speaker.

  Cam did as he was told, but he wasn’t in the mood to go through all the motions. He knew the routine all too well and he was ready to get it over with.

  “Just cuff me and bring me to central lock up. I don’t have shit to say, so don’t ask me no questions. Talk to my lawyer,” Cam said as soon as they walked up in him.

  The officers did as he requested and put him in the back of the car. Cam had stuffed his stash between the seats, but he was sure that it wouldn’t be hard for them to find. He reclined his head on the back seat of the patrol car, closed his eyes, and waited to be taken to his home away from home. He would have to give his boy Lo a call when he got there, to let him know what was up.

  Chapter 1

  “Boy, you got more luck than sense. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen your ass come in and out of this place,” the older deputy said as he escorted, Cam, an inmate who was being released, out of the correctional facility.

  “I guarantee that you won’t see me again,” Cam swore as he sucked in as much fresh air as his lungs would allow.

  When he got arrested that night at the club, he didn’t anticipate his stay being that long. Aside from the rare occasions where he was allowed a little recreation time on the yard, Cam hadn’t seen outside for the past eighteen months. He spent his days and nights crammed in a dingy dormitory surrounded by other men.

  “You always say that, but then you turn around and come right back. Your rich daddy ain’t gon’ always be around to bail you out,” the deputy said, making Cam stop to look at him and frown.

  “Man, fuck that dude! I never asked him to help me with shit. I would have done twenty years in this bitch before I begged him to do anything for me,” Camden swore.

  “See, that’s the problem with y’all kids now. Just too damn ungrateful. Do you realize that you’re a fifth-time offender for drug possession? After three strikes, your ass was supposed to be benched for life or damn near close to it. You didn’t get caught with no small amount of shit. Most men don’t even get a court date until two years or more. You’re blessed and you better recognize that, with your hot-headed ass,” the deputy fussed.

  “I really don’t give a fuck. I would have done life plus fifty before I asked him for anything. And I wish my mama would stop calling his ass on my behalf. Fuck him and anybody that look like him!” Cam snapped.

  “I guess that includes you,” the deputy smirked, knowing that he was getting under Camden’s skin.

  Camden was the youngest racist that he’d ever met in his sixty-two years on earth. He had a strong dislike for Caucasian people, even though half of him belonged to the same race. Camden’s father, Camden Blaire, was a high-powered attorney who was known worldwide for winning some of the most difficult cases near and far. He was the most sought-after attorney in New Orleans, but he only took cases that guaranteed him six figures or more. He owned The Blaire Building downtown with his father, which was also the location of The Blaire Law Firm.

  Camden was the product of an affair between his African American mother who, at one point, worked as a janitor in the office. Camden was married at the time, but he and his wife never had kids. They never really had the time. That all changed for Camden when Nora, the head of the janitorial staff, became pregnant. Nora was beautiful to him, with her bronze colored skin and wild honey tinted hair. She was a hard worker, which was why he’d promoted her to supervisor over the other workers after just two months on the job. It was nothing for Nora to be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave the building. Most nights, Camden would be there late working on a case, and he and Nora often talked.

  Talking was all that occurred between the two of them at first. Since he’d always found the slightly younger woman very attractive, it didn’t take long before things between the two of them escalated. They had an affair that lasted for over a year before Nora broke the news of her pregnancy to him. Camden was excited, but his wife and family were livid. Nora wasn’t his first extramarital affair, and his wife and family knew that. She was, however, the first black woman that he’d ever been with. Camden didn’t care about the color of her skin, but his wife did. She felt like he’d disgraced them and the Blaire name by getting, ‘the help’, as she called Nora, pregnant. Although Camden understood her frustrations, it was too late for her bigotry. Nora was expecting his first and only child, and he refused to ask her to get an abortion. He started her a bank account and purchased her a home in a nice subdivision in New Orleans East. She wanted to continue working, but things at the office were too hectic, being that his wife, Amy, worked there as an attorney as well. Camden made sure that Nora was well taken care of, even after Cam had grown up and moved out on his own. She never had to work another day in her life.

  “I don’t look like that punk ass cracker,” Camden spat as soon as they walked up to the final exit gate before he was a free man.

  Cam hated his light-colored skin and weird colored eyes. His mother called it self-hate, but that wasn’t quite how he saw it. He didn’t want to have any resemblance of a man who loved his money more than he loved his one and only child. Cam wanted no parts of the other side of him and he always made that clear.

  “You need to look in the mirror more often. And make this my last time seeing you, unless it’s on the streets somewhere,” the deputy said as he opened the gate and ushered the former prisoner outside.

  “I told you to come check out my work. I got a job lined up at my boy, Randy’s shop. Don’t take my word for it. Come see for yourself,” Cam replied.

  Camden was a lover of all classic cars and had been that way since he was a little boy. Every time he got his hands on some money, he begged his mother to bring him to the store for more hot wheels. Every birthday and holiday, he knew what he was getting because that was all that he’d ever ask for. Randy, his best friend from middle school, was a car lover too, but not more than Cam. They both, along with their friend Kobe, went to car shows in and out of town. Cam and Kobe took their passion a step further and started doing car restoration. When Cam started selling drugs, he spent thousands of dollars buying old cars and turning them into masterpieces. He wanted to open his own business to do what he loved, but he wasn’t making legal money. When Randy came to him with the same idea, Cam wasted no time investing in both he and his best friend’s dream. Randy wasn’t good at car restoration or body work, but he hired a few men who were, including Kobe. Cam was heavy in the streets, but he still made time to help his friend out whenever he needed him to. Randy had a job lined up for him already, and Cam was ready to get to work.

  “I told you that I’m gonna pass through. Don’t forget, you promised me a test drive,” the deputy reminded him.

  Cam had two classic cars that he’d restored and kept for himself. They were covered in his mother’s garage, but he couldn’t wait to get behind the wheels again.

  “I got you,” Cam replied as he shook his hand and walked away.

  He swaggered out of the gate with a huge smile covering his handsome face when he saw his girlfriend, Asha, standing there waiting for him. She had her sexy frame leaned up against the G-wagon that he’d just purchased for himself two months before he got locked up. He never even got a chance to enjoy it, but he planned to change that. Asha had a Benz of her own, courtesy of Cam, but she decided to drive his truck to get him. It stayed parked in their condo’s two-car garage and she never drove it. It wasn�
��t her favorite car, so she had no desire to.

  “Hey baby!” Asha squealed as she jumped into Cam’s arms and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips.

  “What’s up sexy?” Cam replied, as he spun her around and squeezed her ass.

  He looked over her body in appreciation while licking the taste of her strawberry-flavored gloss from his lips. Asha was a short, dark-skinned beauty with a thick but sexy frame. Cam met her through her cousin a while ago when they were incarcerated together, and things took off soon after that. He and Asha had been together for four years, with him being locked up off and on for some of them. Each time she stood by his side, and he appreciated her loyalty. Asha made the hour-long trip to visit Cam every other weekend and they talked almost daily. She made sure to keep their bills paid and put money on Cam’s books every month. It was money that he’d left when he got locked up, but Asha didn’t blow it all like some of his friends and cousins said she would. He hadn’t always been the best boyfriend, but Asha held him down anyway.

  “Where’s my mama?” Cam asked as he looked behind her at the truck.

  “At home, where she belongs,” Asha said with a roll of her eyes.

  “The fuck is that supposed to mean?” Cam asked, getting defensive like always when Asha said anything about his mother.

  “She’s at home Camden,” Asha said as she broke their connection and fixed the dress that she had on.

  “I told her to ride with you to come get me. I wanted to see her,” Cam replied.

  “You haven’t seen your mama in eighteen months. A few more hours won’t kill you,” Asha noted.

  “You can miss me with all that shade you trying to throw. You already know why she hasn’t been up here to see me. That was my choice. My girl didn’t need to see me like that,” Cam replied.

  “Your girl?” Asha said as she twisted her neck and put her hand on her shapely hips.

  “Man, Asha, cut the bullshit and let’s go. I don’t have time for your tantrums right now,” Cam said while snatching his keys from her hand.