Rent Money

by Natavia

  This fool is definitely stressed. He never drinks hard liquor this early.

  His eyes followed me while I headed towards the shopping bags. Out of all the things he bought me, I settled for the all-white two-piece Capri track suit. I jumped when I felt Ricardo’s hands on me. He was hugging me from behind while caressing my pussy.

  “You smell so good,” he whispered against my neck. I pulled away from him, telling him we had to hurry up because I missed Ke’Ari.

  “We will be there soon, I promise,” he said.

  Ricardo laid me down on the couch then slid down the length of my body. He kissed the inside of my thighs.

  “God, I missed these tattoos,” he said. I had a bed of flowers on both of my inner thighs. Ricardo had a skillful tongue. Within ten seconds of him eating my pussy, I came. Ricardo pulled his dick out and I sat up.

  “I’m not ready for that.”

  He stood up in disappointment with my essence smeared across his face.

  “What the hell, Essa,” he said pissed off.

  “We can fuck as long as Evelyn can watch. If she can’t watch us, then I don’t want any parts of that.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” he spat.

  “Yeah, it does. You said she accepts your ways, so I want to see for myself.” Ricardo threw his hands up in frustration, went to the bathroom and slammed the door. I got dressed and stepped into a pair of white Fenty Pumas. Ricardo came out the bathroom and asked me if I was ready to see Ke’Ari. I was surprised when he handed me my Chanel handbag. When I went through it, everything was exactly how I left it, including my wallet and cellphone.

  “I have been paying your bills,” Ricardo said.

  “Thanks,” I replied dryly.

  He opened the door for me and we walked out the room. I couldn’t wait to see Ke’Ari.

  Thirty minutes later…

  It was five o’clock in the evening when we pulled up to Ke’Ari’s daycare. I couldn’t wait to see him and practically ran inside. When I walked in, Evelyn was at the sign-out desk holding my child like he belonged to her. She was laughing with Rayona, the girl who had Ke’Ari in her group. Ricardo looked at Evelyn and she smiled at us. My blood was boiling, and I wanted to smack her and Rayona.

  “So, you let anybody pick up my fuckin’ son?” I yelled at Rayona.

  “Noooo, it’s not what you think. Mr. Mitchell gave us written permission that Evelyn can pick up Ke’Ari on the days he can’t make it. I thought you knew. I’m so sorry. We can fix this right now,” Rayona nervously said.

  “That won’t be needed. Lyessa doesn’t have a say so because she doesn’t have custody. You’re supposed to call the police when she comes near Ke’Ari,” Evelyn said.

  “Put my son down, bitch! Don’t touch him!” I screamed. Ke’Ari reached out to me and I grabbed him from Evelyn. If I had reacted, they would have locked me up again. Evelyn knew what she was doing. That bitch wanted me to go back to jail.

  “Let’s walk outside so we can talk about this,” Ricardo said. They were arguing like a married couple while I stood off to the side hugging Ke’Ari. He was so happy to see me. I was afraid he forgot about me.

  “Bitch, you lost your fuckin’ mind!” Ricardo said to Evelyn which took me by surprise.

  “What were y’all doing? Fucking? You think I didn’t know she was getting out today? I’m your fiancée and this is how you treat me? You pick a criminal over me?” Evelyn asked, hurt. I noticed the huge rock on her finger and felt a twinge of jealousy, but I was relieved because I knew I could never go back again.

  “Take my car and go to the house, Essa. I’ll be there shortly,” Ricardo said. I took Ricardo’s car key and Evelyn had tears in her eyes.

  “You can pick up my son every day of the week, but you’ll never be his mother. I’ll die before that ever happen, Deloris,” I said to Evelyn.

  “You gonna let her talk to me like that after I have been there for you and Ke’Ari?” Evelyn asked Ricardo.

  “You were out of line, Evelyn! You knew she was comin’ home and tried to provoke her! She has done nothing to you! Be mad at me for spending the day with her. I also know about you visiting her behind my back. What me and her have goin’ on isn’t your business and will never be your business!” Ricardo said to her. They began arguing again and I walked away. I put Ke’Ari in his car seat in the back of Ricardo’s car before I drove off. Ke’Ari was blabbing off at the mouth, some words I made out and some I couldn’t, but it brought tears to my eyes because I missed him. Fourteen minutes later, I was pulling up in front of Ricardo’s house. My Lexus was still in the driveway and it was shining. Ricardo was still taking care of it. I took Ke’Ari out his car seat and we went into the house. He wanted to play when he saw his toys sprawled out on the living room floor. The house was messy. It used to be clean when we lived together. I wanted to call my family to tell them I was home, but I left it alone. Ricardo would’ve called the police on them for trespassing. While Ke’Ari was playing, I went into the kitchen to check the fridge and a foul smell hit my nose. There was rotten lunch meat and many other things on the shelf. I wondered what Ricardo was feeding Ke’Ari because he barely had any food.

  “Come on, baby. Let’s go out to eat,” I said and picked up Ke’Ari.

  When we left back out the house, I took my truck instead and it felt good driving it although it was going to be my last. My phone beeped inside my purse and it was Ricardo. He sent me a text telling me he’d pick Ke’Ari up from my hotel room on Sunday, so we could spend time together. I had the weekend to spend with my baby—alone.

  He’s probably fuckin’ Evelyn and trying to make it up to her for embarrassing her. Either way, good riddance, but I hope he kissed her with my pussy still on his tongue.

  Governor

  Three days later…

  “Y ou need to stop all that partyin’ shit. You’re gettin’ too old. Settle down and have some kids or sumthin. You betta hurry up before I won’t be able to babysit.”

  “Hold on, Ma. Let me hit you back. Someone just walked into the rental office,” I told my mother before hanging up the phone. It was a Monday morning and my head was pounding from chilling with my brother and a few homies at the strip club.

  “Hi, my name is Essa. I’m looking for someone by the name of Governor. He told me to come in at ten o’clock,” she said. Shorty was looking familiar like I seen her somewhere before. She sat on the other side of the desk and fidgeted with her purse and cell phone.

  “Ummm, I think I saw you somewhere before. Were you at the Circle of Downtown Hotel Friday?” she asked.

  “Yeah, that’s where I saw you at. How are you doin’ today? You lookin’ for a two-bedroom apartment, right?”

  “Yes, so are you Governor?” she replied.

  “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t expectin’ a young man to own the apartment buildings. I’ve seen your new development and it’s very nice,” she said.

  “Appreciate it much. So, tell me more, Essa. How soon do you want to move in? I have one apartment available. It’s a thousand square feet and it’s only one bathroom. The units don’t have a washer and dryer. They are in the basement of the building. All I need is your information and release papers.”

  “How much will my rent be?”

  “You won’t pay rent until you get a job. This program is for women who were incarcerated. Everything else, you’ll have to go through the county for the Section-8 program and that has a waiting list. That’s different from what I have but I do accept vouchers,” I replied. I got up and opened the file cabinet. Linda walked into the office and she was thirty minutes late as usual. Linda was an older woman, around fifty years old. She had custody of her granddaughter because her daughter was killed a year ago, so I cut her a lot of slack and opened up the office in the morning myself.

  “Good morning,” Linda greeted. I gave her a head nod and Essa waved.

  “Essa is going to fill out the forms, and a
fter she’s done, show her the apartment in Building 1077. It’s apartment E on the second floor,” I told Linda.

  “That apartment isn’t ready yet. It needs to be repainted and have new carpet. A few things got to be fixed,” Linda replied.

  “Aight.”

  I sent a text to the maintenance guy, so he could get on it ASAP. Linda sat across from Essa and showed her what she needed to sign.

  “I gotta head downtown, so I’ll see you later. It was nice meeting you, Essa. Y’all two have a good day,” I said to Essa and Linda.

  “It was nice meetin’ you and I appreciate this very much,” Essa said. I gave her my card and told her to call me if she needed anything. A tenant by the name of Sinna came into the office. It was the first, which meant rent was due. Unlike Essa, Sinna was on Section-8. She wasn’t living on the property long, probably for only three months and still couldn’t pay her rent on time.

  “Oh, hey, Governor. I was just coming in to see you. Do you have a second?” she asked.

  “What’s up, Sin? What do you got to tell me?”

  “I was wonderin’ if I can get an extension on my rent. I don’t have the money right now,” she said.

  Tell her fuck no! She needs to be on time like everyone else or tell her to find another spot so someone else can move in. Truth is, I wouldn’t be able to sleep right putting someone out with a newborn baby. It would fuck with my head for a while. So, just like that, I gave her another pass.

  “I promise I’m gonna have the money next month,” she said.

  Sinna wasn’t working and the Section-8 program covered most of her rent. All she had to pay was one-hundred and fifty dollars. So, technically, I was getting most of the portion anyway. But at the same time, I wanted shorty to be more responsible, so she wouldn’t have to depend on the system forever. It was a lot of young girls around the way that acted like Sinna. Shorty was around twenty-two years old and wasn’t working but had a nigga laying up with her, living rent-free.

  “Next month, Sinna or else Linda will have to report you. Bad rental history will make it hard for you to live anywhere in the future, shorty. And stop layin’ up with a nigga that can’t help you. You’re betta than that, baby girl.” Sinna hugged me but I didn’t return the gesture. It was too personal for me, so I backed away. Female tenants threw themselves at me on a regular basis, but I ignored it and most of them eventually stopped.

  “Please don’t be mad at me,” she said.

  Mannnn, this bitch is pissin’ me off. It’s too early for this, bruh.

  “The ceiling fan fell out the ceilin’ this morning while I was cookin’ breakfast. I think the grease from the bacon flew out the skillet and did sumthin to it,” she said.

  “Yoooo, Sin. Do I look like a dumb-ass nigga to you? Be honest wit’ me, did you or your baby father do it? I’ve gotten four complaints this week about noise comin’ from your apartment where it sounds like someone is fightin’.” Sinna rolled her eyes and smacked her teeth.

  “No, these bitches be lyin’ on me. Them hoes have been jealous of me since I moved into the building. Especially that Rochelle chick that came two weeks ago,” Sinna said.

  “Look, just remember what we talked about.”

  I walked out the small building and my apartment buildings were up the street. I bought three old buildings for a dirt-cheap price. I had a homeboy who was into real estate and he put me on with property that people didn’t want to invest in. I walked into building 1077, and up to the third floor. It was the only apartment on that floor because it was the biggest apartment in the building. I was going make it into a storage room, but I imagined muthafuckas complaining about someone stealing their shit. I used a key to unlock the door and there were still boxes in the hallway.

  “Yo, Rochelle! Where you at?” I called out to her.

  “I’m gettin’ dressed,” she said.

  Rochelle was stepping into her heels. Shorty was fly, but she was still stuck in her old money hungry ways. She was sorta like my shorty, but I wanted better, and I didn’t think she could be that for me.

  “Yo, can you take that off?”

  She was wearing shorts that dug into her pussy with a see-through top showing off her lace bra. Yeah, it was attractive when I first met her, but after a while, the shit was old.

  “Why are you jealous?” she asked. She came over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pecked my lips while I gripped her ass cheeks. Rochelle had been down with me for a minute, so I was looking out for her.

  “I love this apartment but these hoes in this building get on my nerves. How long do I have to be here?” she asked. Rochelle was here because her old landlord was selling her house, so shorty waited until the very last minute to tell me she had to move. But I think she thought I was going to tell her to move in with me. A nigga wasn’t ready for all that.

  “You can get a job or sumthin, Chelle. I need a secretary and you know I don’t trust many muthafuckas around my business.” Rochelle rolled her eyes and sat on the bed with her arms crossed. I wanted to wrap my hand around her throat. Truthfully, I didn’t mind kicking out bread to her, but it was getting to a point where it seemed like I was buying the pussy. She didn’t cook, couldn’t flip the money I gave her and all she did was shop.

  “First of all, nigga, who in the fuck told you to go out here and do all this stuff? Why do you have so many businesses anyway? You already have money. Let’s enjoy it instead of running around the city tryna put your name on everything like Donald Trump. Nigga, this ain’t the towers,” she giggled. The thing is, the bitch too ignorant to realize I was getting rich and owned a mansion by a lake that she’d never get to see. So, when she talked stupid, I let it roll off. Shorty was so used to me pushing weight that she couldn’t see my growth.

  “I’m not entertainin’ this childish bullshit. I’ll hit you up later.”

  “When are you gonna take me to your new house? Must got a bitch livin’ up there witchu,” she said.

  “Yeah, I might do and she ain’t sittin’ on the couch all day countin’ my fuckin’ pockets neither. Yo, go find you some business. I’ll holla at you in a few days,” I replied. Rochelle ran after me, her heels clicking across the floor.

  “Babe, I was just jokin’! But you know my eyes are too bad to be a secretary. I’m allergic to contact lens and glasses make me look funny. I just miss the old us before all of this. Now, you’re too busy for me and don’t spend time with me as much,” she whined.

  Bruh, why is this hoe in your life again? And she wonders why I can’t keep my dick in my pants.

  Rochelle was saying a whole bunch of nothing while I was texting a shorty that I was occasionally sliding in. She tried to look at my phone, but I locked the screen then pushed it back into my pocket.

  “So, that’s it? You just gonna leave while I’m talkin’ you?”

  “We ain’t talkin’ about shit, though, Chelle. I just came up here to check up on you,” I replied.

  “I need some money for groceries,” she said.

  I gave her five-hundred dollars knowing she doesn’t go to the store, but I knew it would keep her quiet for a few days. She thanked me then I left out of her apartment. While I was walking down the stairs, Essa and Linda were coming out of the vacant apartment.

  “How is everything?”

  “Great, it’s so cute. I really appreciate this and I promise I don’t plan on stayin’ long. I know there are more women who need this, so I’m leavin’ as soon as I get on my feet again,” she said.

  “No doubt, shorty. But I’ll check up on you soon and hit me up if you have any more questions.”

  Sinna’s nosey ass was walking up the stairs. I hurriedly left because shorty talked too much. When I got inside my Range Rover, I turned up the music and sparked a blunt. A nigga was stressed with the world on his shoulders. Money couldn’t talk to me at night nor give me conversations on a level outside of, “Can you buy me this” or “I need help with that,” type of shit. I pulled off bop
ping my head to Kendrick Lamar. I had a long day ahead of me. My cellphone rang, and it was my homeboy Roy calling.

  “Yo, what’s good?”

  “I got that for you,” he said. Roy was referring to the money he owed me from fronting him a few bricks.

  “I’m ready swing through.”

  Why am I hustlin’? I got money, a big house and legit businesses. Why is this life still consuming me? Damn, my mother was right. I need a nice lil’ shorty to settle down wit’. Pull me from the streets and give me a reason to be a better man. I have to grow the hell up!...

  Essa

  T he process wasn’t a short one. I was at the rental office for hours going over paperwork, but I had a little money left and I still wanted to pay something. It felt wrong living for free, so I spoke up and told Ms. Linda about my issue.