by Jahquel J
“I love you, baby,” she told me and placed her arms around me. She loved the shit out of me and I knew it. Any other bitch would have been gone with only half the shit I put her through. Still, she stuck around and tried to fix and understand me when she didn’t have to. It was something she didn’t have to do and here she was trying to fix something I kept shitting on in her face.
“Ma, I love you so much.” I kissed her forehead and pulled the cover closer onto us. We needed to have a night like this every night. My high was kicking in and I felt like I was on top of the world right now. My ass wasn’t even tired, I was just high and staring at the damn ceiling. This shit had me feeling all numb and shit. It almost felt like the first time I took a sniff in the back of my whip with one of my workers. When that nigga tried to out me, I popped his head off, and now he was six feet under. Yoshon had to go to his damn funeral and didn’t even know why the fuck he was going. This little nigga had loose lips and that’s why I permanently made sure they would be shut. I could stop doing this shit whenever the fuck I wanted, I wasn’t addicted. The shit took the edge off and allowed me to calm down every once in a while. On the real, it calmed my anxiety too.
Hazel ripped the blankets off me and jumped on the bed. By the time my high wore off, the sun was peeking over the water. My damn head felt like it was about to explode if she didn’t close those blinds and let me get some more sleep.
“Babe, you went to sleep with me last night, how are you still tired?”
“I couldn’t sleep so I went and sat on the balcony until a little after four. What time is it?” I pulled the covers over my head and sighed in relief.
“It’s ten in the morning. The personal shopper is coming in a few minutes with the clothes she pulled for us. You need to get up so we can try everything on.”
“Babe, I’m not gonna hold you, I’m tired as fuck and feel like I’m gonna be sick if I don’t go back to sleep. We got the yacht later and I don’t want to be in a bad mood.” If she didn’t get the fuck out this room, our entire trip was about to be fucked up, because I was ten seconds from cursing her the fuck out.
“Fine, I’ll try on my clothes and then go grab some breakfast. Mo’s cousin lives out here so we’ll do breakfast and some more shopping.”
“Yeah, whatever, have fun,” I mumbled under the blankets and waved her ass out the bedroom. She closed the door behind her and I squeezed my eyes shut to finish getting some sleep before later on today. The way I was feeling, I needed to fucking sleep, or anybody around me was liable to get cursed the fuck out.
Between Hazel continuing to burst in the bedroom to use the mirror while trying on clothes, and then her and Mo’s loud ass cousin laughing and catching up, I was irritated. Fuck the boat, fuck Miami and fuck life, that was how I was feeling. Even though I was feeling like that, I had to suck it up and show Hazel a good time. I promised that I would work on myself and I wanted to keep my promise. Let it had been a few days ago, and she would have been crying on a plane back home because I wouldn’t have hesitated on letting her know how I feel. Quietly, I put my sneakers on and stared at myself sitting on the bed through the mirror. Not too bad for a chick that was born and raised in the hood. I wore a white Versace button down, plaid shorts and a fresh pair of all white Yeezy boost.
“You clean up very well.” Hazel came out the bathroom putting her earring into her ear. She wore a pink sundress that clung to every curve she had on that fine ass body of hers. On her feet, she wore a pair of gold sandals that came up her thighs. The slit on the side of her dress showed the detail of her sandals. She had just got out the shower, so she had her hair curly, wet and wild. Shorty looked good as fuck, and I was ready to rip this dress off and stay our ass in the crib tonight.
“Talking about me and you over here about to get banned from stepping out in that tonight.” I licked my lips as I stared at my wife looking all good and shit. Her booty bounced with each step she took. I was ten minutes from telling her ass that we weren’t going nowhere with her in that damn dress.
“I look good, don’t I?” she spun around and propped her hand on her thick hip. “Well, Pit Pat called me a bunch of times since earlier. When I called her back, she told me she would speak to me when we got home.”
“You know Pit, she’s dramatic and probably found a ant in the crib and want to call an exterminator,” I waved it off.
Being raised by my grandmother, I already knew about her dramatics. She had OCD and cleaned any and every damn thing. Once I was old enough and could afford to move out, I was out. Yoshon had always been her favorite, and that’s why he chose to have her move in with him instead of buying her a home. She babied the shit out of us and I hated that shit. Yeah, it was nice to have her do shit that I didn’t feel like doing, but she always questioned me on shit I knew to do. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the shit out of my grandmother and would lay down and die for her. It was something about immigrant grandparents that screamed overbearing. When she came over a couple times a week it was good enough with me. She usually would bother Hazel with anything and everything since I stayed gone.
“Yeah, I guess,” she touched her neck with a worried expression on her face. “Yeah, you’re right, she is dramatic.” She tried to convince herself.
“You alright?”
“Uh huh. I’m fine,” she said and spritzed some perfume onto her wrist. “You ready to go? What exactly will we be doing on this yacht?”
“Chill, you don’t need to worry about that right now,” I told her as I grabbed her hand and led her out the hotel room.
We made our way downstairs and caught a town car to the docks to board the yacht. I walked around the whip and opened the door for Hazel. She looked beautiful as she stared up at me as I helped her out the car. My phone buzzed, and I looked at the caller ID and it was Cherry’s sister. Ignoring the call, I helped Hazel onto the boat as the captain and the catering team greeted us.
“Thank you for choosing us to show you around Miami, Mrs. And Mrs. Santana,” he greeted us. He had white hair and a beard, and his skin had seen better days. It looked as if he sat under the sun all day and didn’t bother to use sunscreen.
“Thank you for having us.” Hazel smiled and shook his hand.
“If you follow me, we have you set up right in front of the sun, so that you can see how beautiful the sunset is. We also have a delicious meal that’s being prepped and ready for you,” he explained as he held out the chair for Hazel.
“I got it.” I stopped him from holding out the chair for me. Sitting my phone facing down on the table, I looked out at the water. The waiter poured champagne in both our flutes and Hazel smiled.
“Thank you.”
“This shit is dope. Worth all the money I paid to have this shit to ourselves.” They had a nice little setup and it was nice to be on the water, sipping champagne and enjoying each other’s company.
All of this should have been enough for me, but it wasn’t. I had a itch that I needed to scratch, and I needed to find the nearest bathroom. “It is. You okay, babe? Your nose is bleeding,” she pointed out. I thought my shit was just running, but it was actual blood pouring from my nose.
“Shit, let me go to the bathroom and clean this shit up,” I jumped up and Hazel tried to come with me. “Babe, sit and enjoy yourself. I’m good.”
I rushed off into the bathroom and held my nose with some tissue. It was bleeding for a good ten minutes before it stopped completely. I paced the bathroom with the baggie of coke wondering if I should snort just a little. I had never experienced nose bleeds and I didn’t want this shit to start back up. I placed the baggie in my pocket with the other two I had stored there and headed back out to where Hazel was sitting. When I got to the table, she was no longer sitting there, instead she was standing with a glass of champagne while staring out at the water. We hadn’t took sail yet, so the boat was rocking slowly on the waves while still being docked.
“Beautiful, ain’t it?”
She too
k a sip of her champagne and nodded her head. “You left your phone on the table over there.” My heart fell in the pits of my shoes. How the fuck did I slip up like that? My fucking bloody nose made me forget about my phone that I sat on the table.
“Got a real interesting call while you were in the bathroom,” she continued and guzzled the rest of her champagne. “Who the fuck is Cherry and why does her sister feel the need to inform you on how she’s doing in the hospital?”
I could either lie or I could tell her the truth. Only a fucking dummy would sit there and tell the truth. Obviously, Cherry’s sister didn’t into detail, so I was still in the clear to swing this shit how I wanted.
“Ma, you tripping over Cherry? For what? Her sister better tell me what’s going on with her because she was beat the fuck up and robbed while making deliveries for me. I want to know if this shit was planned or she was really attacked.”
Her face calmed down and she held onto her glass. “Why didn’t you tell me about that? I thought this was some side bitch or something.”
If she only knew the laugh I was doing was a fucking nervous laugh, she would have backhanded the shit out of me. “Nah, Cherry is good people. Shit, I hope because I’d hate to send her to God anytime soon.”
She sat the cup down on the railing and came over to hug me. “I’m sorry. You know I get crazy when it comes to you.”
Kissing her on the lips, I sighed in relief because I had pulled myself out some deep shit. God had my back with how I was able to finesse my way out of this situation. Hazel was pleased and that’s all that mattered. This trip needed to be a good one, and I wasn’t trying to fuck anything up.
16
Golden
I sat behind Yoshon’s desk and went over the employment applications for his tanning salon. It felt nice to finally have something to do other than sitting around the house and wiping the kitchen counters down every five minutes. He handed me a stack of applications and told me to go through them and call who I felt fit the job descriptions in for an interview. While I worked, he sat on the couch in his office watching highlights from the basketball last night with his laptop and phone beside him. Although he was supposed to be chilling, he still was working and answering calls.
After my third sigh, he turned around and stared at me before he spoke. “You good? Need me to come over there and give you a massage?”
“I think I can manage, Yoshon. You’re my boss; you want me to file a sexual harassment suit?”
“Nah, I’m just trying to make sure my employee is cool and comfortable,” he chuckled. “On the real, I’m hungry as fuck.”
“I have some salmon patties I made for breakfast left. I can put them over a salad for lunch,” I offered.
From him licking his lips and rubbing his hands, I already knew his answer so I placed the application I was going over down. “Yeah, shit sound good as fuck.”
“It does now that I’m sitting here thinking on it. I’ll bring it in here and we’ll have a working lunch.”
“Bet.” He turned his attention back to the TV and I went to make lunch.
From his kiss the other night and the kiss at the zoo, things weren’t weird between us. I guess because he already stated that he wanted me, and I knew that he did. All I was interested in was making some money, so I could afford some place for me and my son. I appreciated Yoshon for all he did, but long as I was living under his roof, I couldn’t be involved with him. Each time he spoke, I watched his lips and wanted to suck on his lips while I rode his dick. When I went past his bedroom, I wanted to turn the knob and drop my clothes and show him how nasty I could get. The thoughts that ran through my head about this man shouldn’t have been thoughts running through my head. Our kiss… it was something that I thought about all the time. Why was I so consumed with one stupid kiss from this man?
He was my knight in shining armor. He saved me from something I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do alone. I was strong and could handle as much that comes at me. That night when he found me, I was weak. I didn’t know how I was going to survive for myself and my son. How was I going to keep us warm in this car for the winter? When my car broke down, I didn’t know what I would do. As a mother, we were supposed to find solutions for our babies. They looked at us for answers and we had to pull a solution out of thin air. At that moment, if my son asked me what we were going to do, I had no answer for him. Yoshon came along and pulled me out the hole that seemed to continue to get deeper and hasn’t asked for anything. My son loved him and would spend hours talking history, animals and anything else. Yoshon was different from street dudes and it’s what I liked about him.
He had the swagger and hood about him, but then he could sit down and talk about history and other stuff. With him being older, I could tell he didn’t have time for the games and knew what he wanted. When he left the house, he wasn’t gone for days and didn’t come in with no explanation. He went out to handle his business and made it home for dinner every night. We’ve fell into these roles while Pit Pat was gone. If he was going to be late for dinner, he would call me and tell us to eat without him. If he was really late, I would leave his food in the microwave with a note. It was a routine that we fell into and neither of us spoke on it. It just worked for us, so there was no need to speak on it.
“I left the salmon cake cold so that it would go with the salad better,” I handed him a plate and leaned up. Walking over to his desk, I sat my food down and got right to business with these applications. With all Yoshon had done for me, I didn’t want to let him down with this job. Anything he needed, I wanted to make sure I was on my job.
“Damn, these shits were good as fuck this morning and they’re better now.” He chewed loudly while smacking on his food.
“The door. I’ll get it,” I stood up. “It’s probably a package that needs to be signed for,” I told him and went to the door.
My slippers slid across the wooden floors as I made my way to the front door. Looking through the glass was a woman with a short pixie cut, standing there with bowls in her hand. Opening the door, I smiled at her and wondered who the hell she was.
“Hey, can I help you?” I politely questioned her.
“Um, who are you? Is Yoshon here?” she asked as she tried to stare around me into the house.
“He’s here. Can I ask who you are?”
“Eva, his girlfriend,” she felt the need to toss in there. This man hadn’t lie to me yet, and couldn’t stand lying, so I knew she was adding more into their relationship than he was. Yoshon had told me a million times that he didn’t have a girlfriend and he was just messing with someone.
“Ohhh, yes, his friend, Eva. Follow me, we were just having lunch while working,” I spoke as we walked through the house. “Do you want some water?” We stopped in the hall and I fixed a sculpture on the table.
This woman looked so offended as if I was asking her if her hair was real. I could tell that me acting like I was familiar with this house was pissing her off. Meanwhile, all I was trying to do was help her out with some water or something. We walked into Yoshon’s office, and he looked over his shoulder and saw me with Eva. Any other man would have spit his drink out, sat up or jumped up, but he was cool as a cucumber.
“What’s good, Eva? What you doing here?”
“I made you some homemade soup and tea. Thought I’d drop it off and spend the day with you because I’m off today.”
“Oh word? You should have called before coming over,” he told her as I sat back at the desk. Tossing another application in the trash, I continued to go through the pile. All I had was three solid candidates, and I needed to hire ten.
“I need to call to come visit my boyfriend?” she scoffed. I took a bite of my food and shook my head. If he was really your man, he wouldn’t have questioned why the hell you showed up at his home, uninvited. Instead, it was more about trying to take an imaginary dig at me when I didn’t care about her and Yoshon’s situation.
“We’re not together,
Eva, so why you fronting?”
Her head snapped over to me and I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to figure out what the hell this person filled out. “Can you give us some privacy, please?”
Looking up, I stared at Yoshon and smiled. “Sure. I need to concentrate anyway. I’ll be in my room going over these, if you need me.”
“She lives here? You failed to let me know that, Yoshon.”
“Since when the fuck do I have to run who lives with me by you? You don’t pay the property taxes on this bitch. Why is she even a topic of conversation?” he questioned her.
“Yoshon, you should have told me you have a woman living with you. Why do you think that this alright?”
“Eva, she’s my fucking friend and assistant. Why the fuck are you tripping!” he barked. This man never raised his voice, and here he was irritated by this bitch’s constant questions about me.
“I’ll be upstairs. If you need me, send me a text message.”
“What would he need you for?” she replied, instead of the person I was talking to. Ignoring her, I walked out the room and went upstairs. “Were you checking out her ass?” I heard her squeal and chuckled to myself.
Yoshon liked to say he wasn’t in a relationship, but it was clear his ass was. Eva thought that was her man and was obviously very protective of him. What good would it do for me to become offended and want to pick a fight with her because she bothered by me? Obviously, I was already winning if my presence bothered her and I hadn’t done anything to her. When I got to the bedroom, I closed the door and put the stack of papers on the nightstand and plopped on the bed. I grabbed the remote and scrolled through the channels until I found Animal Planet. It was something about animals that I loved. It was probably why Gyan loved them too. When we were settled in our own home, I wanted to get a mini pig and name him Bacon. Both me and Gyan came up with the name two years ago. Grand told me that he wasn’t about to let no pig in this crib unless it was fried up in a skillet and placed on his plate for breakfast. My eyes were getting heavy as I watched a bird get prepped for surgery. Turning the volume down, I turned over on my side and decided to catch a nap before I had to go pick Gyan up from school.
