He Brings Out The Hood In Me 4

by Nikki Brown

  Saque made his way into the room with Piper, she was slamming things around and throwing things every which way.

  “Piper listen to me, don’t do this. Regardless of how you feel right now you are here to do a job. Look at all your models. You need to bring business into your shop and acting off emotions is a bad move.”

  Piper stopped moving and sighed heavily, she knew that he was right, but she really didn’t want to be anywhere near him right now. She had worked so hard to build the business just the way she liked it and she enjoyed being her own boss.

  Sitting down in the chair she looked up at him. Every time her eyes blinked a tear rolled down her cheek and Saque felt more like an idiot. He finally had what he needed and had been looking for in Piper and this time he messed it up.

  “Can you leave?” Piper turned to the table with the mirror attached. “I’ll stay if you go to your room and leave me alone.”

  “Piper we have to talk about this.”

  “I really don’t have anything to talk about. You did what you did, I feel how I feel, and it is what it is.” She shrugged. On the outside she was trying to play it cool but, on the inside, she felt like her heart was about to rip out of her chest. “I just want to get through this show and then I’m gonna get my things and move out.”

  “What? Yo you bugging. I apologized for that shit and it won’t ever happen again. You know what I been through and how that shit fucks with me. I messed up and I will do anything to make that shit up to you,” Saque said damn near begging.

  Piper wasn’t perfect and there were a few things that she could work on, but he did love her and wanted to work things out with her. She was loyal and treated him like a king and he needed that desperately.

  “What if it were me?” Piper asked.

  “Huh?”

  “I said what if it were me? What if I was the one that cheated on you? You would be ready to throw me to the wayside.” She glanced at him through the mirror, but he had his eyes to the sky. He really didn’t want to talk about this right now but there was no way around it. He was really hating Sutton right now. “I don’t know why I keep doing this.”

  “Keep doing what?”

  “Giving myself to niggas that don’t deserve me.” She shook her head. “The fucked-up part about it is Sutton tried to tell me a long time ago to be careful and slow down. Don’t be so quick to fall in love, to figure out who you are first, and I didn’t listen. Now I’m sitting here feeling like someone knocked the wind out of me.”

  “Fuck Sutton she—”

  “Don’t you dare blame her!” Piper said sticking up for Sutton, something that she felt she should have done a long time ago. She hated that it took this long for her to realize that she was just looking out for her. Now she feels like it may be too late to apologize to her. Too much had been done. “She loves me.”

  “I love you.”

  “You gotta fucked up way of showing it,” Piper said fixing her make-up.

  “I know and again I’m sorry. I think we can get past this,” Saque said confidently.

  “I don’t know if I want to get past this.” Piper threw down her makeup brush. He would have to show her a lot for her to want to continue anything with him. Piper was starting to see things a little differently.

  Saque walked in behind Piper and she looked at him through the mirror. He was trying to be patient with her because of the situation that he had put her in, but she was trying him. He placed his hands on her shoulders and lowered his lips to her ear so that only she could hear what he was about to say.

  “If you want to keep the little life that you have you will, if you leave me, your leaving behind A Touch of Beauty by Piper,” he said slowly, and her eyes stretched a little further with each word that he said. “I don’t want to be like that, but I love you and I want us to get through this, if I have to use that to my advantage then so be it.”

  With that he walked off, leaving Piper with her thoughts. She had just gotten comfortable enough in her life to be happy about it. She was proud of her accomplishments and now she was left with choosing between her sanity and her livelihood.

  ***

  “No one’s gonna fuck with you while I’m standing here.” Cassidy boasted pissed off that Key was trying to leave.

  She was scared out of her mind and didn’t know what to do. Cassidy thought that she was scared of Saque because of what he did to her, but she was scared for a whole different reason. The last thing she needed was Saque questioning her about who Kane’s father was.

  “I’m good I swear I just need a minute,” Key lied, she was trying to get the hell out of there before her secrets come out.

  She didn’t know how Cassidy would respond knowing that she kept a man from his kid. Key knew that it was selfish not telling Saque about Kane but the last thing she needed was to be tied to this man for eighteen years. She wanted to keep as much distance as she could between the two.

  If Saque didn’t know about him then it would make her life easier. Yes, it was selfish, and it ate at Key’s conscious often, but she just couldn’t subject herself to the torture of having to co-parent.

  As if reading her mind, Cassidy grabbed her hands that were shaking, “Is there something that you need to tell me?” Cassidy tilted his head. He was starting to feel like her nervous energy was more than her seeing her ex.

  “What, no,” she shook her head and looked around for Kane. When she located him, she saw him and Kahlil chasing each other. They were at the side exit because she was trying to leave.

  Her worst fear came true when Kane ran right into Saque and came tumbling down. Saque stopped in his tracks and looked down at the little boy that he had knocked down. Something felt familiar about him, his eyes and the way that they held a tint of light brown to them. The way his mouth curved down slightly.

  “Aye ma, who this nigga?” Kane yelled out to his mother. “He look just like me.”

  Kane was very observant, sometimes too observant. He had a keen sense of knowing when something was wrong especially with his mother and when he looked back at her and he saw the tears streaming down her face.

  “Whose son is he Akiya?” Saque asked as he glared at Key.

  Cassidy stood back, looking back and forth between the two and he could feel his guard slowly making its way back up around his heart. He had asked Key on numerous occasions about who Kane’s father was and she would always say that he wasn’t involved. Never once did she say that he belonged to her ex and she had plenty of time to do so. He was definitely looking at her sideways.

  “Let’s go Kane,” Key called out to her son who got up and ran to his mother who took his hand and started out of the building.

  “The man asked you a question Key,” Cassidy said grabbing her by her elbow to stop her stride. She jerked away from him and sucked her teeth.

  “Who is and isn’t my son’s father is none of his fucking business and to be frank it isn’t yours either.” She hissed, not meaning to take her frustrations out on Cassidy but she couldn’t help it. Right now she blamed him for not letting her leave when she wanted to.

  “So we lying to each other now?” Cassidy slipped his hands in his pockets and took a step away from Key. He wasn’t mad that her ex was her baby daddy, he was pissed that she felt she had to hide that from him, and she didn’t have a reason to. That led him to believe that it was more to the story than what she was telling him.

  “I didn’t lie to you Cassidy.”

  “Omitting is lying.”

  “Is he my son?” Saque growled taking quick steps towards Key. He couldn’t believe what he was saying. His head was spinning and pissed was an understatement. He was trying this best to remain calm, but this was too much. “Or does he belong to that other nigga or maybe he belongs to one of the niggas you were taking your clothes off for? I heard you were a good little prostitute.” He didn’t really hear that he was just heated and loved Key that much that he would say anything to help ease the confusion that wa
s clouding his mind.

  Cassidy glanced at Key who wore both a shocked and disgusted look on her face. She didn’t think that he would take it there. When Saque went to jail and she found out she was pregnant with Kanaan she didn’t know if it was Saque’s or the guy she cheated with.

  When she got him tested and it came back not his baby then she knew that Kane belonged to Saque. She was embarrassed to say the least to even have to question that. Saque was behind bars and his sister threw her out of the salon and blackballed her from working in another salon so she did somethings that she wasn’t so proud of.

  Webcam modeling is what paid the bills until Vinny started working for the Maler organization. She didn’t get completely naked, but she did dance topless on the Webcam and got paid a hefty amount. She wasn’t proud of it, but she didn’t regret it either because raising a kid alone was expensive.

  She never met any of her clients in person and she made sure to use an alias and cover her face. No one would ever know who she was unless they were able to identify her by the birthmark on her stomach. So what Saque was saying was a lie and he was doing it because Cassidy was standing there.

  “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” Key hissed as she pulled Kane along with her out the door. Cassidy went to follow her because he was taken aback by the comment made about her taking her clothes off for men, and possibly being pregnant by them. He was basically calling her a prostitute, at least that’s the way that Cassidy took it and he didn’t take her as that kind of woman.

  “Is that my kid?”

  “Leave me alone Saque, you’ve done enough.” Saque tried to head in her direction but Cassidy stopped him. He was pissed at Key right now, but he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt her. “Akiya!”

  Key ignored him and put Kane in the car safely before getting in herself. Once she was in safely, she looked back over at Cassidy and the disappointed look on his face killed her. She was pissed that she was leaving him alone with Saque to fill his head with lies but she couldn’t stay. She would just have to do damage control sometime tomorrow.

  Crossing Lines

  “Henny on the rocks and a Heineken,” Cassidy said as he slid on the bar stool. His emotions were all over the place and he couldn’t get them together. He just knew that Key was the woman that he needed in his life but the skeletons that were falling out of her closet bothered him.

  Not only did she keep that man from his kid, but Saque pretty much called her a prostitute and she didn’t deny it. Cassidy went back through his memory trying to think of a time when he got the inkling that she may be into something like that and he couldn’t think of one time.

  “Damn,” Cassidy said to himself.

  “Here you go handsome,” the bartender slid his shot of Hennessy across the bar. She couldn’t help but stare at the chocolate god that sat in front of her. From his tall frame to the broadness of his shoulders. Everything was sexy about this man, even the solemn look on his face.

  Cassidy looked up and stared the bartender in her face. She was cute, her butterscotch colored skin was covered in strategically placed tattoos. They weren’t too busy it was like each one of them had a purpose. She wore black booty shorts that fit her womanly curves. The sports bra that donned her upper half showed her wash board stomach.

  The short haircut that she wore framed her slender face and brought out the lightness of her eyes. She was sexy but the only person on his mind was Key. He gave her a smirk and she could have sworn that she creamed her panties.

  “Preciate that beautiful.”

  “Damn,” she said as she watched his lips move. “Has anyone ever told you that you are sexy as hell?”

  Cassidy chuckled at her bluntness. He loved a woman that was straightforward, it added to her sexiness. Dragging his tongue across his bottom lip he pulled it into his mouth and lightly bit down. He did it just to fuck with her and it was working, the sweat that formed on her brow let him know that.

  “Keep on playing with me handsome and I’m gonna pull ya ass back here in the back and take you on the ride of your life. I won’t even care about your girlfriend.” She winked.

  “Who said I got a girlfriend?”

  “You did.” She smiled and poured two shots of Hennessy, one for him and one for herself. “It’s on the house.” Cassidy lifted his glass and they toasted and took the shot.

  “I never said anything, all I did was sit down and order a shot.”

  “I never said it was verbally.” She leaned over on the bar allowing her breasts to spill out of the small top and gain Cassidy’s attention. “I can tell by the way you walked in. Your shoulders were hunched and every step you took was heavy. The tone of your voice held hints of disappointment, like someone had let you down.” She leaned in a little closer. “And when you looked at me the first time, your dick didn’t get hard.” She smiled wide causing one to spread on Cassidy’s.

  “So you read me like that huh?”

  “Like a sexy ass, thick, orgasmic book.” She tucked her bottom lip in between her teeth and lightly bit down while walking away to help another customer.

  Cassidy’s eyes followed her ass and he had to lick his lips at the way it moved inside of the tight black shorts that she wore. When she looked back at him, she winked making him shake his head.

  “You just can’t help yourself can you.” Cassidy grabbed the shot that he had originally ordered and took it to the head before turning to meet Piper’s stare.

  “What you talking about?” he asked pulling out his phone. He didn’t want to talk to her right now. Giving advice to people who won’t accept it wasn’t on his list of things to do right now and he damn sure didn’t want to talk about the situation with Saque and Key.

  “The bartender, she wants to fuck you.”

  “Everybody wants to fuck me.” Cassidy chuckled and then put his beer to his lips and turned it up.

  “Everybody does not want to fuck you Cassidy,” Piper slid on the stool next to him, big mistake. Cassidy leaned over and Piper immediately felt her nipples harden against the fabric of her bra.

  “But you do,” Cassidy turned so that he was facing her. “I can tell by the way your breathing sped up and your lip is sweating. You’re trying your best not to look at me because you know that one look into my eyes and you’re losing your panties. I won’t even get started on the way your nipples are trying to stab their way out of that shirt.” He licked his lips and bent down so that they were touching her ear. Every inch of cotton that lined the seat of her thong was soaking wet and she didn’t even try to control that. “If I wanted to bend you over right now I could because I’m just that good.”

  Piper cleared her throat and leaned back from Cassidy. She grabbed the collar of her shirt and moved it back and forth to create some air. She was hot and he was right. If he wanted to fuck her tonight, she would be fair game.

  “I’m gonna call you lucky, I would have paid for him to get that close to me.” The bartender smiled looking at Piper. “What can I get for you sexy?”

  “Can I get a Surfer on Acid please?” Piper said to the bartender who licked her lips and nodded her head.

  “Have you ever tried a Masturbating Butterfly?” the bartender asked her, and she looked at Cassidy who looked back at the bartender with a smirk on his face.

  “You a big ol’ freak ain’t you?” the bartender bent over laughing.

  “Handsome and a sense of humor. Whoever she is, she’s lucky as hell.” She winked and then turned around to get what she needed to make the drinks. “But a Masturbating Butterfly is the same thing as a Surfer on Acid, you got Malibu Rum, Jager, and pineapple juice but you add Midori. You layer everything like this.” She held the spoon upside down and slowly poured the pineapple juice first, then added the Malibu rum, followed by the Jager and then added just a small amount of Midori directly in the middle making the drink look like the wings of a butterfly.

  “That shit is so pretty.” Piper beamed as she reached for her
glass. Pulling out her phone she snapped a picture of it and saved it to her Snap Chat. “That’s dope.” The bartender handed her the drink as well and then fixed Cassidy another shot while moving on to the other patrons.

  The two sat in silence for a while, just milling over the events of the evening. Piper was still in her feelings about the whole Sunny and Saque thing, she felt so stupid, but she couldn’t help who she fell in love with.

  “Speak.” Cassidy said. He felt her keep looking over at him like she wanted to say something, and he would rather her just say it.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” She said barely above a whisper. “Like this shit just keeps happening, I don’t get it. I really thought Saque was the one for me.”

  “What’s that nigga’s parents name? What he like to do besides fuck? Where was he born? Where’s his family from? What makes him tick? What makes him happy besides pussy?” He looked at Piper while she lowered her head and nursed her drink. “Exactly, that’s why it keeps happening. You don’t take the time to get to know a nigga before you jump in the bed and fall in love.”

  “I bet you don’t know anything about the Key bitch yet you fucking her.” Envy dripped from Pipers lips.

  “First of all watch your fucking mouth,” Cassidy said through gritted teeth. He wasn’t feeling her right now, but he wasn’t about to sit and let Piper talk shit about her either. “You don’t know shit about her. I on the other hand know that her mother’s name was Diane and she died of cancer. I know that when she’s nervous she chews on her bottom lip. She’s silly as hell and if you can make her laugh than you win your way into her heart.”

  Cassidy sighed because even though he was saying all of this he didn’t know if him and Key would even be a thing after what was said. That shit fucked him up about the taking her clothes off for money because he felt like that was something that she should have told him. Keeping shit like that away from him made Key look sneaky in his eyes. He knew that he would at least have to have a conversation with her but right now was not the time.