Girls From da Hood 8

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Give me Henry . . .” Nicole moaned, playing with her hot spot.

  Keisha teased her with it, outlining her outer lips then dipping into her slightly over and over again. She could see Nicole’s excitement about to burst so to put her over the top, Keisha bowed her head and stuck her tongue deep inside her, causing all her juice to spill over. Feeling her climax made Keisha want more; quickly she pushed Henry in and fucked Nicole harder and stronger until she reached her pivotal moment.

  After another hour of playing with her new friend Henry with Nicole, Keisha collapsed on the bed out of breath. “Oh shit!”

  Nicole’s head was touching the floor and the lower part of her body was still on the bed. She tried to pull herself up, but she was too weak. Looking up at the ceiling she could see the sunrise’s light peeking through from the tops of the window. “Keisha, help me,” she called out, reaching out.

  “I . . . can’t . . . move.” Keisha’s words were slow and broken, almost retarded.

  Nicole laughed as she rolled the rest of her body off the bed and stood up. “I told you I would put that fear out of you. So now you know what you want, right?”

  Keisha raised her head. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, I mean . . . You hungry?” Nicole stopped the questioning and changed the subject.

  “What time is it? Where the hell is my phone?” Keisha slowly turned over and allowed her legs to hang off the bed.

  “Umm, it’s about five-something; the sun is starting to come up. I’m going into the shower then I’ll fix us some breakfast,” Nicole said, picking up Keisha’s phone and clothes off the floor, then setting them on the edge of the bed.

  Keisha reached for her phone because the notification light was blinking. She missed a few calls so she touched RECENTS for the call list to appear. “What the fuck?” Standing up she scrolled through the list.

  RONNIE 3 MISSED CALLS

  SHAWNA OUTGOING 20 SECONDS

  SHAWNA INCOMING 2 SECONDS

  Her heart pumped faster. “I didn’t call her. Fuck, I wonder . . .” Keisha touched her text inbox on the screen of the phone. There were two messages from LaRhonda.

  Bitch u need to ans yo phone

  Where u at?

  “She must’ve heard somethin’. Ain’t no way Ronnie gonna be callin’ my ass like that for some bullshit. Fuck! How the hell I’ma explain this shit?” Keisha said to herself, rushing to put her clothes on. Hearing the shower still running Keisha headed for the door. She didn’t care what Nicole would have to say later. Keisha shut the door behind her and bypassed the elevator for the stairs. When she got to the front door she looked at herself quickly, making sure there were no white residue marks on her face. She threw her hood over her head and walked toward the train station on 125th Street and Lenox Avenue to head home.

  She got onto the train and sat back in her seat, hating that her secret was finally in the forefront. Keisha was built like an athlete; strong and muscular. She had light skin, smooth short hair, with light brown eyes, total opposite of her mother. Her appearance at times could be misconstrued. From week to week her look changed; tight pants with high boots to hoodies and sweats. Thinking back to what confirmed her path made it easier for her to digest her imminent reality.

  “It’s your turn.” Keisha nudged her.

  “I don’t wanna play this no more,” Shawna moaned.

  “Well, what you wanna do?”

  “I’ma tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?” Shawna asked.

  “Tell me . . .” Keisha begged.

  “I saw Tyrek in the hallway today and we almost kissed but . . .”

  “But what?” Keisha started to giggle.

  “I didn’t do it because I . . . I . . . don’t know how,” Shawna said, embarrassed by her inexperience.

  “So that’s why you shoulda kissed him.” Keisha sat closer to her. “All you have to do is pucker up like this . . .” She poked her lips out.

  “No, I wanna learn how to do it.” Shawna looked at Keisha. “Umm . . . don’t think of me funny but can you teach me?”

  Keisha laughed. “Ahh, Shawna, I’m a girl!”

  “So . . . You’ve done it before. I’ve seen you with what’s his name every day right before fourth period lunch. Y’all look like experts in my eyes. C’mon, KeKe, we ain’t gonna tell nobody. It’ll be our little secret,” Shawna said, trying to convince Keisha.

  “Okay, just once.” Keisha got up and closed her bedroom door. “Stand up.”

  Shawna stood up with excitement and faced her. She was a little taller than Keisha so it was a bit awkward.

  “Okay, I’m just gonna do it and you follow what I do. You ready?” Keisha looked up at Shawna’s beautiful eyes and flawless skin.

  There was something different Keisha felt when their lips touched. It was softer, nicer, and much sweeter than her little fling make-out sessions in the schoolyard at lunch. Instead of fresh Doritos Ranch chip breath, it was bubblegum luscious. Goosebumps trickled down her arms and for the first time someone else made it tingle down there. From that day forth Keisha always hinted at a practice session when they were alone. Their little secret survived middle school, but once they got to the seventh grade, Shawna decided she was an expert and wanted her to show off her capabilities to every boy who showed her attention.

  The sudden movement of the train shook her out her flashback. She still had that feeling for Shawna, and felt she had to come clean to her to preserve their friendship. Keisha wanted Shawna in her life, as a friend or more, she didn’t care. It was she who made me see what I really wanted, she admitted silently. She stood up to exit as the train pulled into the station.

  It was bright outside and too early in the morning to see anybody hanging about. Her phone was buzzing. It’s probably Nicole. I’ll talk to her later. She entered her building and headed for the staircase. With her mind flooded with emotions and thoughts, she climbed slowly four floors up. When she opened the door to exit the staircase she saw her mother kissing an older man good-bye. Quickly she closed the door back and listened for her mother to close the apartment door. Fuck, I didn’t think she was gonna be up!

  Keisha heard the apartment door slam closed. She waited another five minutes before opening the exit door again. Walking toward the door she pulled out her keys, then unlocked the apartment door. The smell of liquor and sex still lingered in the air from her mom’s previous activities. It was dark in the house, despite the morning brightness outside. In a few steps she bumped into something hard. What the hell is my bike doing in the hallway? Walking a few more steps forward she bumped into something else. What the fuck is this shit?

  When she flicked on the light switch she let out a gasp. Boxes labeled with her name, large black garbage bags, her bike, her TV, and a couple of suitcases littered the hall, spilling over into the living room. She hurried to her room and pushed the door open. When she turned the light on she saw that her room was no longer her room. Her bed, dresser, and TV stand were still there. This bitch is buggin’! She can’t do this to me now.

  Keisha’s anger became known. “Ma, wake the fuck up. Why is all my shit out my room?” she screamed at her mother’s bedroom door.

  She heard no movement. Keisha banged on the door. “Wake the fuck up!”

  Her mother finally unlocked the door. “What?”

  “Why is all my shit in the fucking hallway?”

  “What the fuck you mean why is all your shit in the hallway? We spoke about this, Keisha. You need to leave. I was about to just put you shit outside so be fuckin’ happy you got shit.” Her mother yawned. “Listen I already spoke to Mr. Vasquez and he said he could keep yo’ stuff in the basement until you ready to come get it. The locks gonna change, too, by the end of the week.” She closed her door, not waiting for any response from her daughter.

  Keisha wanted to kick the door in and choke her mother out with all the betrayal and anger she was feeling. Instead she went to t
he kitchen, and emptied all the liquor from the bottles lined up on top the fridge. Then she looked under the kitchen sink and pulled out the metal mesh covering the rat hole. She walked into the living room and picked up the heavy glass ashtray and smashed it against the TV.

  The loud crash made her mother rush into the living room. “Keisha, what the fuck are you doin’?”

  “I ain’t leavin’ on good terms since you wanna do it this way,” Keisha yelled.

  “Oh, so you also want handcuffs on your wrists, too, huh? You think you can break my shit and get away with it? Who the fuck do you think you are? You don’t run shit up in here. Don’t make me call the police.”

  “After all the shit I done did for you, you gonna do me like this. Like some fuckin’ trick off the street. I’m your daughter. I left school early and got a job just so we could eat. Now you kickin’ me out ’cause I walked in on you and some random motherfucker?” Keisha didn’t want to believe that her mother could be so cruel.

  When her mother stopped going into the city there was no money coming into the house. It was as if her mother couldn’t bear to show her face outside since her trickin’ ways were exposed. That’s when she starting allowing tricks into her home, but the only setback was her clients weren’t the old, rich white dudes who showered her with gifts. Her clients now sported missing teeth, exact change, and barter haggling skills—“give me this and I’ll give you that.”

  Keisha worked most days and was out most nights. Her mother’s company was never a problem until lately; it was more frequent and at all hours of the day or night. Leaving her mother’s house never entered her mind, but now it seemed necessary. She looked at the broken glass on the floor and the smashed TV screen on the wall.

  “You need to go now!”

  Keisha stared at her mother with disgust and rage. “You ain’t shit! You shoulda dropped my ass off with my father.”

  Those words infuriated Keisha’s mother. “Your father?” She laughed. “Let me let you in on a secret . . . I don’t know who your father is. Why don’t you go find him?”

  Keisha’s heart sank. She doesn’t know who my father is? Is she just sayin’ that? She walked closer to her mother and back-smacked her.

  With her face burning her mother shouted, “Get the fuck outta here! I don’t ever wanna see your sorry ass ’round here again!” She rushed into her room, holding her face and slamming the door behind her.

  Keisha stood there, regretting her actions. She looked around, dropped her keys on the coffee table, and emptied the knapsack lying on the floor. She shoved in it what was important to her: some clothes and paperwork. On the way out she took her bike and exited the apartment. Leaving the rest of her stuff didn’t matter; it was all junk now: pictures, books, clothes, and small reminders from her childhood. Fuck it, she thought, walking out the door.

  Her phone buzzed when she reached the outside of the building. Keisha pressed ANSWER. “Hey what’s up?”

  “What happened to you this morning? You just left without sayin’ nothing. What’s the deal with that?” Nicole unleashed.

  “Nicole, I just got kicked out my house. I had to leave to come get my bike or else I can’t work. So if this is one of those calls where you get all fuckin’ loud and shit I don’t need it.” She sighed.

  “Oh shit . . .” Nicole felt stupid. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

  “Nicole, I don’t need to answer stupid questions either,” Keisha snapped back.

  “Why don’t you just come back over here? You can stay with me until you figure something out. I promise it’ll be fun. Okay?” Nicole encouraged.

  “I don’t know ’bout that. I ain’t . . . I’ll call you.” Keisha ended the call.

  With no stability her thoughts were rattled. How the fuck I’ma pull this shit off now? Now who do I call? Shawna? LaRhonda? Where the fuck am I gonna go? Fuck it.

  Keisha rode her bike to the corner store and used the ATM. She retrieved enough money for a hotel room for the night.

  7

  LaRhonda

  “Fuck this shit. I can’t do this no fuckin’ more. I can’t be truckin’ up here with these fuckin’ kids and yo’ ass wanna do this shit to me,” LaRhonda mouthed off loudly so everyone around could hear.

  “Ronnie, calm the fuck down, man. I don’t need yo’ ass actin’ crazy right now.” Vincent’s tone was low and gritty. He tried to hold on to Aaron a bit longer.

  LaRhonda started to gather her things and pulled her kids away. She was mad as hell. When she signed the visitors log before going through security she saw another female’s name and it wasn’t his mother. LaRhonda knew the name; it was from their past. “What the fuck, Vincent? Since when she start comin’ up here? How she even know you here? That only means you was fuckin’ talkin’ to her ass when you got in here. You ain’t been here but so long. You must think I’m fucking stupid, Vincent.” LaRhonda’s hands started shakin’; she wanted to slap the shit out of him, but getting arrested wasn’t her plan.

  “That bitch don’t mean nothin’. You go ’head on with that bullshit. I don’t care ’bout that bitch! You see I ain’t callin’ you for no commissary. Why you trippin’? She plays her role. She ain’t said nothin’ to you ’bout nothin’ so ain’t no reason for all this.” Vincent had to control his anger; he just came out the hole for catching wreck on some dude for playing around with him. He sat there with a straight face and his hands on the table, eyeing the CO on watch. Hearing his kids crying and Ronnie acting up, he nodded to the CO.

  There was an underlying understanding between inmates and COs when they were on visits. When the visiting guest starts to fly off the handle, two nods gets the inmates out of there to prevent any more added time to their sentence—in most cases something always goes wrong. Most COs were cool about it, but there were those who wanted inmates to wild out. The CO walked over with a grin. “Let’s go.”

  “What the fuck you smirkin’ at? C’mon, Diamond, say bye to yo’ daddy ’cause you ain’t gonna see his ass no more. Stupid-ass motherfucker!” LaRhonda took hold of Aaron and stomped out with Diamond slowly following her. “Diamond, I said c’mon!”

  LaRhonda held her tears while walking out the building and toward the bus idling to return to Queens. Diamond looked at her and asked, “Mommy, why we can’t go back to see Daddy?”

  “Diamond, just be quiet and sit there. We don’t need yo’ no-good daddy. You got me and yo’ brother.” LaRhonda sat back and stared out the window, losing herself in her thoughts. How could he do this do me? He knows how I feel ’bout that bitch. Did he not think I was gonna see the visitors log? Fuck that nigga; he ain’t doin’ shit for me or his kids right now. I can’t believe he would even talk to that bitch after she did what she did! He can have that crazy stalker bitch. To think I beat that bitch’s ass every single time she was in the vicinity, almost getting locked up for it, too. But this is how he repays me? Fuck this bastard!

  She pulled out her phone and sent a text. Can we talk?

  Yeah, was the reply received.

  Meet me at the train station in an hr

  One minute later a text alert chimed. A’IGHT. I’LL BE THERE.

  She knew what she had to do. It won’t be hard to convince him.

  The last time she spoke to Eric was when she returned to her mother’s house. He found out that she was back and called her to smoke some weed and to catch up. She didn’t understand why he was so stuck on her. LaRhonda cheated on him, played him for a fool, then almost got his ass killed by her baby daddy. With her kids beside her, LaRhonda stepped off the train and walked toward the exit in a hurry. It was thirty minutes past the initial time she told Eric to meet her. I hope this fool ain’t leave!

  “Hello, beautiful, what’s your rush?” Eric asked, walking up behind her.

  “Mommy, I’m hungry.” Diamond tugged on LaRhonda’s hand.

  “Diamond, I’ma fix you somethin’ when we get back to the house. Now be quiet,” LaRhonda snapped.

  Er
ic wasn’t surprised at LaRhonda’s response to Diamond. “Why don’t we go to my house?”

  “How we all goin’ to yo’ house, Eric? C’mon be serious.” She rolled her eyes at him.

  “I told you my moms left for Florida. She ain’t comin’ back. It’s just me now. Didn’t I tell you that?” Eric smiled.

  “And you want us”—she motioned her hand to her kids and herself, mirroring Vanna White’s actions—“all of us to come to yo’ house?”

  “I ain’t askin’ you again. If you don’t wanna go that’s on you.” Eric turned to walk down the stairs to the street level.

  “Eric, don’t you gotta get on the train to go to yo’ house?”

  “I don’t ride on trains anymore. I’m takin’ a cab,” he responded quickly.

  LaRhonda pulled on Diamond’s hand with Aaron on one hip and followed Eric like a lost puppy dog.

  Before reaching his house he picked up some Chinese food for LaRhonda and the kids. After stuffing their faces, LaRhonda’s kids were fast asleep in his mom’s old room while they hung out in the living room.

  “What happened today?” Eric asked, rolling up a blunt.

  “You better open that window and put a towel down by the door before you spark that. Don’t forget my kids in here.”

  “Nah, we gonna just go out into the staircase for ’bout twenty minutes. ’Em kids ain’t wakin’ up, trust me.” He put his final lick on the blunt and walked toward the door. “You comin’?”

  LaRhonda stood up with a cheesy smile on her face and followed him through the door and into the staircase.

  “So what’s the deal, Ronnie?”

  “Umm, you know I’m sorry for what I did and all that stupid shit that happened with Vincent. I know—”

  “Aaron’s mine, ain’t he?” Blowing smoke O’s into the air, he smiled then passed her the blunt. He knew what she was about to say; after all, he had suspicions the entire time, just never acted on them.