Because I Love You

by A'zayler

  “Hey daddy,” I purred into the phone anyway.

  I rolled my eyes as soon as I heard him chuckle. I knew then what was up. Whether I felt like it or not, I was about to fuck.

  “What’s my baby up to?”

  “Just relaxing a little, but never too busy for you. You need something?”

  Some more of that sexy laughter that was slowly getting me in the mood came through the line, and I actually smiled. Master was a lot of stuff, but at the end of the day, he was loyal, and he cared about me. We had a good time whenever we were together, so I tried to calm my attitude down some.

  “Yeah,” his voice changed a little, “Get ready, I want you to spend some time with daddy today.” He coughed, obviously smoking on one of those Cuban cigars he was addicted to.

  “I’ll be there in a few. You want me to be at the gas station?”

  “That’s cool unless you want me to come and get you.”

  I twisted my mouth to the side. He knew better than that. “Nah, baby, it’s okay. I don’t want you to come too far out of your way. I’ll meet you at the gas station in twenty minutes. Love you.”

  “Love you too, baby. See you soon.”

  I hung the phone up before he could say something else. I had moved out of the hood because I wanted to keep my living arrangements private, and Master wasn’t about to change it, no matter how much I pretended to love him. Well, I guess I wouldn’t call it pretending, because I did actually love him, but not like that. I loved him for what he did for me, not who he was to me.

  The love I had for him was like the love I’d have for a good coworker or boss, not the kind I would have for my man. So, whenever I had to lay up or spend some real time with him, I still had to mentally prepare myself. The same way I got ready for my tricks, I had to get ready for Master. Maybe even a little more because there were actual feelings behind us simply because he was the way I funded my life.

  If I ever stopped turning tricks through him, I honestly didn’t know what I’d do next. This was all I knew, so like the good girl that I was, I packed a bag, showered, put my wig on, and took my ass to that gas station to wait on daddy. Like it always was, niggas and bitches were all up and down the sidewalk. I hadn’t been there for a whole five minutes before Master’s truck came creeping up the street.

  When he stopped in front of me, I smiled before he even opened the door. It popped open seconds later, and his sexy face came into view. He was leaning back up and smiling at me at the same time. I climbed in and closed the door behind me. The smell of him made me melt. He always smelled better than anything I’d ever smelled. Except for Egypt. Egypt smelled so good, he made me want to taste him. I’m talking about real life open my mouth and slurp his rude ass up.

  “Look at my baby looking all pretty.” Master smiled at me as he drove.

  The way his body slouched over in the seat was mad sexy. It was the simple things about men that made me want to dive into them, and the way he always sat so coolly in his seat made my panties a little more excited about coming off for him.

  “For you.” I winked at him.

  His hand rested on the top of my thigh before squeezing it and going higher. Before we could get to the end of the street, he had his hands so far between my legs that I was sure he could feel my every ounce of moisture that was brewing for him.

  “Take your panties off and let me play in it before we get to the house. It’s some people there who I want you to meet, but I need to get me some of this first.”

  I hurried to pull them off and stuff them into my purse. I momentarily wondered who was at his house that I needed to meet, but I guess I’d wait and see. I should have known it was a catch to him picking me up. Whenever he had niggas he wanted to impress, he had the same dependable girls that he used. Me being one of them. When his fingers dipped in and out of my honey, it momentarily allowed my mind to go somewhere else.

  “You know I been hearing good stuff about you.”

  “Like what?” I grabbed his wrist to slow his motion. He was getting a little too happy and moving too fast, getting all off the right spot.

  He smiled as he watched me slide his fingers around between my legs. If he was going to touch it, he’d better at least do it right.

  “The streets can’t get enough of my wet Dream.” His finger flicked, and my back arched off the seat. “I been thinking about you all night. I couldn’t even get any work done today because of you.”

  “All you had to do was call. You know I’m here for you always.” I coaxed him into a submissive state like I did the rest of the niggas who I tricked with my body on a daily basis.

  “Wait a minute. I need to pull over for a minute after hearing that.”

  He looked around, checking the scenery once before he pulled that truck over. There were cars parked alongside the road in front of and behind us, so his truck blended right in. As soon as it stopped, I pulled the gold wrapper from my purse and set it on the armrest, so he would already know the deal.

  Master had caught my drift and was unbuckling his jeans. As soon as they were down, and his seat was pushed back, I climbed on top. I made sure the condom was in place before joining us. His head hit the seat, and his eyes closed. The moment his chest rose and stayed there, I knew I had him.

  “Breathe,” I whispered into his ear before licking it.

  His body shuddered, and I smiled hard as hell. These niggas were so easy. It didn’t matter how big of a front they put up in the streets; when it came down to some bomb ass pussy, they were weak like bitches. Master was one of the heaviest pushers in the city, whether it be prostitutes or drugs, and I had him lying there unprotected, getting his dick rode on the side of the street.

  Anytime I fucked off with a nigga, it became notably obvious how they got set up all the time. I could have easily been setting Master up to get robbed or some shit, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because he wouldn’t see it coming. His eyes were closed, and I was moaning loud as hell to boost his ego.

  “Damn, Dream, you missed me like I missed you, huh? Fuck, you riding the shit out of me, baby.”

  I licked up and down his neck as I thought about Egypt and how good he’d felt while we’d danced. He had been high as fuck, so his dick was poking me, and it was giving me a feeling I’d never felt before. Then the way he would wink every time I looked over my shoulder at him had me feeling like I was in love. It had been on the tip of my tongue so many times that I’d almost let it slip out when I was hugging him goodbye.

  “Oh, daddy, I love you.” I hugged Master’s neck and slid closer to him while feeding him my typical lies.

  Like the master pimp that he was, he hugged me back, making me feel all loved and shit. “I love you too, baby. So much.”

  I knew that to be a lie, so even though I didn’t believe it, I loved to hear it. It made me feel good. Anytime I felt bad, being with Master made me feel better. I don’t know why I hadn’t wanted to chill with him from the beginning, especially after the way Egypt had just dogged my ass. My feelings were still hurt about that shit.

  “Fuck, Dream, I’m about to nut, girl.”

  I wasn’t, but I’d let him enjoy his. I squeezed down some more, making sure to make him feel good until completion. As soon as he opened his eyes and looked at me, I smiled. He looked in love like hell. I couldn’t even stop myself from laughing.

  “A nigga will have to kill me to get you.”

  “That’ll never happen because I’m never leaving you.” I slid off him, taking the condom with me.

  Once I was back in my seat and cleaning up, he pulled out. I made sure to clean him and myself before returning to my seatbelt. I tossed the condom out of the door as we pulled off. We talked about a little bit of nothing for the rest of the ride to his house. When we got there, like it always was, cars were all over his driveway. See, Master was really our fucking master. Half of the hoes he ran lived with him. I mean, his crib was massive, but I just couldn’t see myself doing that.r />
  I liked my privacy, and too many bitches didn’t allow that. Being up under that many hoes all the time would have me fighting every day, and I honestly just didn’t have the time or the energy for it. I did enough scrapping in the streets.

  I’d just unbuckled my seatbelt when Master grabbed my arm and stopped me from getting out of the car. I looked back at him and gave him an encouraging smile. I didn’t know what he wanted, but all this looking was getting on my nerves. I wished he would just say what he had to say and stop acting like he was in love with me. I couldn’t stand how soft niggas got after getting some ass. Old touchy-feely ass niggas.

  “Dream, you know I’d do anything for you, right?”

  I nodded but got a little nervous. Where in the hell was this conversation going?

  “I need to know you’d do the same for me.”

  Oh fuck. “I will,” I said a little softer than I probably should have.

  Probably because I was lying. I would do anything for Master; my anything just had limits to it that he didn’t need to worry about. As long as what he asked didn’t brush against them limits, they could remain a secret from him.

  “Okay, come on. I need you to meet someone.”

  There he was with that shit again. When we finally got out of the car and into his house, he grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him. A few of the other girls were lounging in the living room or walking through the house as we passed. Jealous ass hoes saw that nigga holding my hand and had to stop and give him hugs, kiss him and shit. I just rolled my eyes. These desperate ass bitches.

  When we were finally able to make it to his upstairs office, we walked in, and he kicked the door closed behind us. I was in the middle of the floor and about to ask him about the person he wanted me to meet, but I didn’t have to. He walked out of the bathroom in a dark blue sweatsuit with a blue bandana hanging from his back pocket.

  He was a dark-skinned man who looked to be around Master’s age, maybe late thirties or early forties. His face was hard and unmoving as we stared at each other. I’d never seen him before, and judging from the color of his bandana, he was clearly a Crip, and I didn’t normally deal with them.

  I confined my ass selling to a certain territory, and it was oversaturated with Bloods. Not that I had a particular preference because all of their money was green, but from my understanding, all of Master’s people were bloods. So, why in the hell he had this Crip nigga in his house was extremely suspect.

  “Dream, I want you to do me a favor and make sure my guest enjoys his stay.” Master smiled at me like he hadn’t just pulled out of my pussy. The fuck? This fool didn’t even give me time to wash off. “He asked for you specifically, so don’t be shy, baby girl.”

  I cringed when Master walked past and kissed the side of my head. I wanted to elbow him in the back, but I kept my cool. When the door to his office closed, I fiddled with my fingers before looking back at the man whose name I didn’t even know. For some reason, his presence was making me nervous. Not scared of sex nervous, but afraid for my life kind of fear.

  “Umm, hi. I’m Dream,” I told him once I finally made myself look at his face again.

  His gaze softened some as he walked toward me and grabbed my elbow. He pulled me toward the small sofa in the corner and took a seat on it. I joined him but stayed on the edge just in case I needed to run for my life. He, on the other hand, was laid back comfortably with his arms stretched out along the back of the cushions.

  “You scared of me?”

  Damn. Was I that obvious? I looked at him out the side of my eye and slowly shook my head.

  “Why you sitting there like that then, if you ain’t scared?”

  I tried to scoot back some and relax my body, but I was still uncomfortable as hell. “I don’t know. I didn’t know I was sitting any kind of way.”

  “Don’t lie to me. Yes, you did. If you scared, just say that.”

  I licked my lips and looked over at him again. He was still watching me, but he wasn’t frowning anymore. He was a nice-looking man, but there was absolutely no sexual attraction to him whatsoever. Those were always the hardest tricks.

  I normally tried to find at least one thing that I liked so I could focus on that while we had sex, but it was pure torture when I couldn’t find anything. This was about to be extra hard. Not only was I not sexually desiring him, but I was scared to death of him too. I was going to kill Master about this shit.

  “You scared?”

  “You must want me to be scared of you. You keep asking even after I’ve said no.” I tried to get my nerves in check.

  I wasn’t about to keep doing this back and forth thing with him unless he was paying me extra to role play. That shit took too much out of me, so I didn’t do that for free. You wanted me to act, you were going to pay me to do so.

  “I’m asking because of how you’re sitting. You look like if I say, ‘on your mark, get ready, set, go,’ you’re going to jet.”

  I looked at him before bursting out laughing. I’d tried not to laugh, but that had been funny as hell. When I noticed he was laughing as well, I relaxed a little more.

  “You do this scared act with all of these niggas?”

  I shook my head. “No, only the Crip ones.”

  His smile left, and I got scared as hell. I should have known not to bring up his gang. These niggas didn’t play about that shit. My stomach flipped in fear as my hands began to shake. He was quiet and rubbing his chin.

  “So, you out here only fucking with these slob ass niggas?”

  My eyes bucked. Oh, he was real disrespectful. Afraid for my life, as if there were some Bloods somewhere around us, I looked around Master’s office in shock. I couldn’t believe his blatant disregard for my people. Well, not my people, but Master’s people, in Master’s house. He was a raw one.

  “You can fix your face. Ain’t a nigga alive that’s gon’ do shit to me, or you for that matter. Chill.”

  I looked at him. “Me?”

  He nodded. “I’ve heard a lot of shit about you. I don’t care to speak on it, but from what I’m seeing now, it has to be all lies.”

  “More than likely, it was. Depending on what you heard. I don’t be doing half the shit I hear these niggas lying about.”

  “You ain’t got no boyfriend?”

  Why on earth Egypt’s face popped into my head was beyond me because he couldn’t stand my ass, he’d never be in a relationship with me. I quickly shook my head.

  “You hesitated.”

  I sat back some and tucked one of my feet beneath my butt. “Well—”

  “You getting comfortable now, good. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you a little bit.” He interrupted me before I could finish what I was saying. “Finish what you were saying.”

  “I was saying, I only hesitated because there’s someone I like, but he hates me.”

  “Why?”

  “The obvious.” I waved my hand around the room as to reference me working for Master.

  “What’s the obvious? A man shouldn’t base an opinion that strong off assumptions. Have you ever hung out with him for him to know that he hates you?”

  I shook my head dejectedly and played with the strap of my sandal. “Not really. I danced with him once at the party house, but that was it.”

  “The fuck you doing in that death trap? Master sends you in there?”

  “Sometimes, but I only went that time because my best friend didn’t want to be there alone. She’s not really in the streets, but her husband is.”

  “Who’s your friend?”

  I zipped my lips then. I wasn’t about to tell this nigga who I didn’t know all my business. I assumed he got that because he resumed our conversation with another question that blew my mind.

  “Egypt, that’s the li’l nigga you like?”

  My eyes got shifty when he asked that. Who in the hell was this man? And how did he know anything about Egypt or me? Oh, see, now I was scared again. I even began trying
to scoot to the edge of the sofa, but he grabbed my arm.

  “Sit back.”

  My heart was beating wildly, but I sat back.

  “Some of my youngins were in the party house the other night and singled you out by name. Told me you were there with BB’s wife. Is this true? That’s your best friend?”

  What the fucking fuck? What had Master gotten me into? I was so scared right then that I could hardly breathe. I’d experienced so many deaths of other prostitutes because of gang crossfires. I wanted no parts of that shit. With nothing to lose, I hopped from the sofa and tried to make a run for the door, but he snatched me up so fast and covered my mouth.

  “Be quiet.” His tone was even and low. “Don’t make me hurt you when all I want to do is talk. Sit your ass back down and finish our conversation.”

  I didn’t say anything, but I nodded. When he released me, I walked back to the sofa and sat down. I prayed in my head so hard that he wasn’t about to have me set Egypt up because I wasn’t doing that. I didn’t care how scared of him I was. His face was frowning again, and I hated that I’d ruined how easy the conversation had gotten.

  “Egypt? That’s who you like?”

  I nodded slowly.

  “He ever paid for time with you?”

  I shook my head.

  “What about BB? He hates you too?”

  “No, he’s really nice to me. He does a lot of nice stuff for me when I’m with Brina.” I cleared my throat. “He doesn’t let any of his young Bloods disrespect me. Egypt is the only one who kind of has a mind of his own.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? He doesn’t follow the commands of the people in charge of him? BB is his OG, right?”

  I shrugged because I had absolutely no idea what an OG was and who BB was to Egypt. All I knew was that they were friends. Anything else that happened in gangland, I had absolutely no idea about.