Hersband Material

by C. Wash

  “Girl, you want me to choke you out here,” dude threatened looking dead in her eyes. “Fuck no I ain’t threatened by no bitch. I’m a man. She can’t give you what I can, and you and I both know that.”

  “Then why you doing the most? I mean that whole showing up at the gym and getting into it with her in the parking lot was way over the top. You played yourself. I thought you blew it for us. Keep your feelings under control, I’m always gonna be yours.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t fuck it up. So how much longer you got with her anyway,” Dude asked.

  “Oh, I know what it is, this is the first time I have ever been with a Dom and you can’t handle it, huh.” Church teased. “You like the soft and feminine ones, who are fuckable to you.”

  Dude looked away and flexed his jaws while sighing.

  Church laughed. “Well, don’t worry about it. Whether she’s fem or dom, it’s all money for us. Be patient, baby, they are getting us paid. I already got them heavy into the fucking part of the plan, so just a little bit longer and we out, and on to the next flunkies. Don’t worry, she won’t steal me away from you,” she laughed and puckered up for another kiss. This time the kiss was deep and passionate. Dude reached down and cupped Church’s ass while he slid his tongue into her mouth strongly.

  Church pulled away. “Baby, I gotta go and you trying to get something started.”

  “Five minutes, come on,” Dude begged pulling at the erection in his shorts.

  Church grabbed his dick, kicked her car door shut and led him back into the house and slammed the door.

  ********

  “I knew that broad was on some crab shit,” Baby Dom said to herself still staring at the house. I’m gonna get that sneaky bitch if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Chapter 23

  Baby Dom stood on the outside of Native and Mystro’s house holding a large pizza and a twelve pack of canned Budweiser’s. She had an eventful day and just wanted to be around her homies. She sat the beer down and banged on the wooden door.

  “Slim, why we gotta tell you every time to stop banging on this door,” Mystro said. She snatched the door open to let Baby Dom in before she walked away.

  “I be wanting to make sure ya’ll hear me, Fam, that’s all. My bad,” she said as she picked up the beer, and stepped into the house. Once inside she turned and closed the door.

  “I made sure that I came correct, I hope ya’ll hungry,” Baby Dom yelled awkwardly, while she sat the stuff down on the coffee table and walked to a chair. Native sat up from her slouched position on the couch and opened the box of canned beer to grab one.

  “Hell yeah, I was just saying I was starving, this right on time, slim.” Native stated while she reached for a slice of pizza.

  Mystro walked the box of her belongings that she held in her arms, near the door, and approached the table of food and drink.

  Baby Dom sat on the opposite side of the room. She appeared to be off in her head and deep in thought. She positioned herself in the living room chair shaking her leg.

  “BD, why you over there looking crazy?” Native asked observing the awkward behavior she displayed.

  “Huh,” she said snapping out of her thought. “Oh, I’m cool…hey did ya’ll see that game?” Baby Dom asked out of nowhere trying to spark conversation and take the eyes off her.

  “What game are you talking about, kid? Skins ain’t play today.” Native replied staring her down as if she was trying to see through her. “Fuck is wrong with you? You must’ve got into some shit huh?”

  “More than you know, Fam,” she eluded the question and shook off her thoughts. “It ain’t nothing though, really, just had some broad that was fucking with me in my head, but it’s cool now. What ya’ll been up to?” She asked avoiding giving more detail about her issue.

  Mystro shook her head and gulped down her beer. “We need to go fuck some folks up or what?” Mystro asked.

  “Oh naw, Fam. I took care of it already. Shouldn’t be no more issues.” Baby Dom smirked.

  “Well, we ain’t doing shit in here…I’m just watching this fake ass Martha Stewart ass nigga get her stuff together to pack. You know she about to move into her crib,” Native said smartly before she took a bite of her pizza.

  “She don’t need to be packing nothing yet,” Baby Dom said under her breath. “If I were her I’d slow my roll…all the way down.”

  “I heard you lil nigga, I told you about hating on my boo too,” Mystro scolded. Baby Dom rolled her eyes.

  “Son, I can’t believe your pussy whipped ass is really trying to leave the crib, this is the bachelor pad.” Native proclaimed.

  Mystro gave her a look over top of her beer can before she asked, “You joking right?”

  “I’m serious as shit, I mean I can’t fathom why the fuck you wanna roll out of our spot here to shack up with that bitch.” Native asked with venom.

  Mystro slammed her beer down on the table and yelled, “I told you not to call her that. You gonna make me hurt you, Native. I’m serious.”

  “Call ‘em like I see ‘em,” Native yelled back. “She a bitch and you a fool for still fucking with her.”

  “Say that shit to my face.” Mystro stepped up and stood over top of Native who still sat on the couch. If she said the wrong thing she was prepared to fight her like a nigga off of the street.

  Native leaped up and matched Mystro’s stance before she yelled, “I said you’s a fucking –”

  Mystro cocked back to hit her best friend in the face, when Baby Dom jumped up and ran toward them to break it up. “Whoa, Fam what ya’ll doing,” she asked grabbing Mystro’s arm. Native stood in a defensive stance ready to block Mystro’s punch.

  “Get off me, Baby Dom,” Mystro yelled snatching her arm from Baby Dom’s grasp.

  “Calm down, Mystro. We shouldn’t be coming undone over some bit’--” Baby Dom stopped herself from calling Church a bitch too. Mystro turned her angered look towards Baby Dom. “I meant we shouldn’t be fighting over some female…female.” Baby Dom finished, while she held her hands in front of her in a defensive mode.

  While the tension remained in the air, there was a loud knock at the door. Mystro turned away from Baby Dom and walked over to answer the knock.

  “Church,” Mystro said shocked, “what are you doing here?” She let her in.

  “Uh…I gotta bounce,” Baby Dom said when she saw Church coming in the door.

  “Fuck no, slim, you ain’t gotta go nowhere. This my house. Chill out,” Native said with her arm on Baby Dom’s shoulder to hold her back. Just then, she noticed a scent she hadn’t smelled before and knew immediately it was Baby Dom. “Why you smell like gas,” Native asked her in a whisper.

  “Oh, uh, the car I was in ran out and I had to go get some more with a gas can. It spilled all over my feet.” Baby Dom explained before staring at Mystro and Church.

  “Babes, you don’t look so good. Everything alright,” Mystro asked Church still standing near the front door.

  “No, there was a fire at my house, Mystro.”

  “A fire, what…how?”

  “The fire department is not sure yet. But they are looking at possible arson.” Church explained with a tear in her eye. Native looked back at Baby Dom.

  “I’m so sorry, shawty,” Mystro said pulling Church into a warm embrace. “I’m glad you got out ok. I would’ve killed somebody if something happened to you.”

  “No, I wasn’t even home at the time. I was just coming back from class when I pulled up on the scene. The house was already in flames. I have no idea what I’m gonna do now, it completely burned down, I lost everything.”

  “Church, I know it’s kinda fucked up, but it may be a sign. Look,” Mystro pulled back from the hug and walked over to the stairs and grabbed a folder.

  “Open it,” she told Church as she stood back in front of her and handed her the folder.

  “Mystro…it’s a lease,” Church looked at the contract in shock.

  “Yep, I
mean it ain’t a condo, but it has a view of the water and it’s all ours,” she said while she reached into her sweatpants and pulled out the keys. “We moving in tonight, I gotta get outta here, anyway.” Mystro continued looking back at Native who just stared on in anger and sadness.

  Chapter 24

  Mystro was in her new apartment where she prepared a home-cooked meal for her and Church. It had been two weeks since Church’s house burned down and they moved in together. Mystro was disappointed, the experience had not been the complete bliss she thought it would be living with her boo. All Church did was book dates for her and Native while she focused on the money. They only had sex once since they moved in, and Mystro was beyond frustrated.

  “Hey, do you want any garlic bread,” Mystro yelled from the kitchen where she cooked their dinner, Shrimp Alfredo. “It’s ready.”

  Church didn’t respond.

  Mystro walked to the kitchen door and looked out of it to see why Church did not answer. She found her sitting in the living room wearing a pair of pink boy shorts, a white wife beater and no bra. As usual her head was buried into her laptop.

  “Church,” she called out again, “did you hear what I asked?”

  “Huh, oh no, what,” she replied never looking up from the computer screen. Mystro annoyed her. “What you want?”

  “I asked if you wanted garlic bread with your pasta,” Mystro repeated. She hated when Church ignored her and lately she had been doing that often.

  “Ummm, no.” Church noticed an incoming call on her cell phone. She answered it but did not say more than two words during the entire conversation, as if she was talking in code. Although she did not say much on the call, her facial expressions indicated that whatever she was being told had her pissed.

  “Are you sure it was her,” Church said into her phone. “How do you know?”

  Mystro tried to ear hustle but her attempt failed. When Church ended her call, Mystro asked, “Who was that?”

  Church looked up from her computer and stared directly at Mystro with heat in her eyes as if she did something to her. “What is your problem? I mean, why are you asking about who calling my phone? Do I ask who it is when your friends call?”

  “No, my bad, baby, I just thought it might have been a job or something.”

  “Well, it wasn’t. And speaking of your friends, where is Baby Dom? I haven’t heard you talk about her much lately.”

  “She prolly on the block or hanging with Native, why you ask?” Mystro walked back and forth, while bringing the food out to the table.

  “No reason really, she just crossed my mind, that’s all.” Church lied.

  Mystro shrugged it off and sat at the table, “The food ready, baby, come eat.”

  “In a second, I just got two more bookings for you. One is a request for you and Native, and it’s worth a lot of money.”

  Mystro looked up from blessing her food with concern. “Me and Native? As in going on a job together,” she asked. “What kinda freaky shit is that? I ain’t ‘bout to be in some wild ass threesome with my best friend, well…ex-best friend.” Mystro shoved a fork full of pasta in her mouth angrily. Her and Native hadn’t spoken since the beef and she missed her.

  “Oh yes you will too, if they paying,” Church said in her dictator’s voice that she was famous for. Mystro continued to eat in anger with her nostrils flared. “But don’t worry your neat little cornrows, it’s not just one girl, it’s three and they paying for a private dance only.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t know ‘bout all that. Me and Native ain’t vibing too tough right now. I don’t know if she trying to go on no jobs with me, and I feel the same way.”

  “Listen,” Church said standing up to face Mystro. “I am not out here busting my ass to get bookings, just for you two bitches to get in ya’ll feelings and fuck my money up. Now whatever problems ya’ll got with each other, fix ‘em because you will be working this party.” She finished with her hands on her hips waiting on a response.

  Mystro continued to stab at the food on her plate with anger. “Shawty, how long do we gotta do this shit for anyway? I’m saying, we got the apartment, the bills are paid and I even got almost fifteen stacks saved in our room. I’m trying to do something different with my life, and for my family. I was thinking about going to culinary school, I mean, I do like to cook. Maybe I can make it a career.” She smiled.

  “Culinary school…that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard you say out your mouth,” Church started. “In case you didn’t know, school cost money and just where do you think you will get that money from?”

  “I just said I got savings, and it don’t cost that much.”

  “You are a fucking idiot, it’s school, it does cost that much. And just what kind of family do you think you will be supporting? It can’t be me.”

  “What you mean, I’m supporting you now ain’t I?” Mystro yelled into her feelings.

  “No, boo, don’t get it twisted, I made you, and I book your shows and dates to get you paid. Therefore, I own you. I’m supporting you.” Church stared at Mystro and waited for her comment. There wasn’t one.

  “You must not get what the fuck I been trying to tell you from the start,” Church informed. “Sit right there,” she continued as she left the dining room and dashed to the back of the apartment.

  Mystro stopped eating her dinner. She sat in silence awaiting her return.

  When Church came back into the room, she held a tan shoebox in her hands. She sat the box on top of an empty white plate on the table across from Mystro. She took off the top and removed a black stiletto shoe with a red bottom. “This is a Christian Louboutin stiletto. It retails at fourteen hundred dollars, US dollars. This is a simple black pump, but some of this designer’s shoes cost several thousand dollars a pair. I only wear the finest in clothes, shoes and handbags. And that little bit of savings that you have would only provide me with half a day of shopping, maybe.” She shrugs. “If I’m lucky.” She placed the shoe back in the box and replaced the top.

  “Church, I get that, I’m just saying –”

  “You talking about caring for your family by quitting the one thing that is bringing you steady income,” she cut her off. “Get real. You need to work this shit as long as you can while you still young and fine and bitches still want you. Because trust me, it won’t always be the case. And when you got close to a million dollars saved up, come back and holla at me about quitting. Then you can go off and learn to cook pancakes, pastas, pies or whatever the hell you want.”

  Without another word, Church picked up her box and walked out of the dining room, leaving Mystro looking stupid.

  Chapter 25

  Mystro sat in her car outside of Native’s house where she waited on her so they could go to their scheduled booking. She had not seen her since the night of their argument, where she almost hit her with a closed fist. She hated how things were left between them. They had never had an argument of this magnitude and it weighed heavily on her. Not just because of the break in the friendship, but because she was starting to think Native was right about Church. But she loved her and was torn.

  “What’s up, son,” Native said after she opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat.

  “What up, champ,” Mystro shot back while Native shut her door. There was awkward silence as Mystro drove off towards their destination.

  “Thanks for coming to get me,” Native said breaking the silence.

  “No problem.”

  “Mystro, look, I’m sorry about last time,” Native jumped out and apologized first. “I mean regardless of how I feel about Church, she ain’t my girl. I shouldn’t have called her out of her name.”

  “You know what, slim,” Mystro said looking straight out onto the road while piloting her car through the dark and chilly DC streets. “You always been upfront ‘bout not fucking with her. I shouldn’t have gotten that pissed…you my family. I’m sorry for trying to swing on you. You got your opinions on the matter
and I got mine. So, we cool?” Mystro held her right fist up towards Native.

  Native held her left fist up and gave Mystro a pound. “Yeah, we boys again.”

  “Bet, let’s go get this money.”

  ****

  Mystro and Native stood at the hotel door waiting for their clients to let them inside the room. After what seemed like only thirty seconds, the door swung open and a beautiful Brazilian looking woman stood on the other side.

  “Brisa,” Native said before stepping through the door. She had not seen or talked to her since she first met her in the mall parking lot before her and Mystro’s failed caper.

  “Hi, Native,” she replied with a smile that lit up the room. “Come on in, we have been waiting on you all night.”

  “So, you knew it was me coming,” Native asked still in shock.

  “Well, I figured it had to be, how many sexy Dom’s do you meet with a unique name like Native?” Brisa laughed. “You must be Mystro.” She extended her hand for a shake.

  “Yes, I am, pleased to meet you.” Mystro shook Brisa’s hand.

  “Damn, how did you hear about us,” Native asked.

  “My friend actually was the one who brought it up and booked you guys.”

  “Where are your friends? We were told this was a three person request for a private dance.” Mystro stated.

  “Oh, she’s coming, she’s in the other room, but it’s just her and I. Our other girl chickened out. She was afraid her son’s father was going to find out and go off.” Brisa informed.

  When the bedroom door opened, Mystro could not believe who entered the living room area of the suite looking sexy and seductive.

  “Breezy,” both she and Native screamed. Mystro was in shock as she looked into the eyes of her friend that used to keep her braids tight.

  “Hey, boo,” Breezy yelled as she ran up to Mystro for a hug. Mystro held her arms opened and when Breezy slid inside them, she scooped her up into an embrace.