Right now, I was in my store, Lil Divas, changing the clothing on the manikins. As the manager/owner of this store, this wasn’t really my job, more like my employees’ but I was a perfectionist and there were certain things I just liked to do myself. Even though this store was pretty much handed to me by Jaquan, I still busted my ass in here every day as if I’d had to go through a lot to get it. There are times when I was in here as late as midnight, going through inventory or sorting through go-backs when I should have been home in my bed. Half of the time, I didn’t even take a lunch break because I never sat my ass down. I had 15 employees that worked for me, all of which were ages eighteen to twenty-five. I didn’t have an assistant manager because I felt like I could handle it without having an assistant up under me. Besides, my workers are pretty good even though I worked the hell out of them and I knew I was every bitch in the book when they were not around me.
I was folding up new shirts that just arrived and was laying them out on the table when two females walked in. “Welcome to Lil Divas,” I called out and one of them looked at me and rolled her eyes real hard while the other one just didn’t speak at all. I paid that shit no attention because I was used to nasty ass bitches coming in here. I went back to what I was doing but kept them in my peripheral because something was telling me to watch those bitches.
“That’s that bitch right there,” I heard the one that had rolled her eyes at me say to her friend.
Charlie, breathe. Relax. I had to coach myself because I was about one second away from slapping that hoe for calling me a damn bitch. My interest got the best of me, so I just had to make my way over there to see what the problem was.
“Hey, I’m Charlie. I don’t know you, but from the looks of things, you might be a little clear as to who I am, being as though you felt the need to call me a bitch. Where exactly do you know me from again?” I asked, getting right to the point. Hell, I was being very professional right now. There wasn’t anything wrong with me wanting to know how the hell this bitch knew me.
“What makes you think I know you?” one girl asked. It was the same chick that rolled her eyes at me when she walked in. Taking in her appearance, she actually wasn’t a bad looking chick, but the bitch wasn’t fly enough to dress with me or sit with me. I mean, she was cute. Right now, she was sporting an all-white romper with a pair of gold sandals on her feet and carrying a gold Michael Kors purse. She was a deep complexion of chocolate and she had a beauty mark above her top lip. Her long hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, making her eyes look Chinese. Again, she was cute but she couldn’t sit with me.
“It’s obvious you know me or know of me! Listen, I’m not trying to argue with you. Let’s just make sure that’s the last time you call me out my name because next time, I won’t be so nice,” I said, prepared to walk off until she said some shit that made me turn around.
“I called you a bitch but I should have called your ass a hoe! How you feel knowing your baby daddy posting nude pictures of you on his Instagram? Don’t you have a daughter? What kind of example are you supposed to me setting?” she asked and both her and her little friend laughed like that was the funniest shit in the damn world.
“Bitch, fuck you! You got me confused with somebody else because I know for a fact my baby daddy wouldn’t post no shit like that! Best believe he’s real possessive when it comes to me, so I know he couldn’t want the whole world seeing his shit! Get the fuck out of my damn store before I have security escort your ass out!” I said in a voice that was low but loud enough so that they heard me and got the message. They took heed to my warning and got the fuck from out of my store.
I was about to get to the bottom of this though so I could see what nude pictures this bitch was talking about. I didn’t have an Instagram, all I had was Facebook and I barely even used that shit. Half of the pictures on my Facebook were of China. I left the shirts on the table, not bothering to finish folding them, and made my way to the back so I could go inside of my office. I went inside, locked the door and went over to my desk to get my phone. I sat at the edge of my desk and called Monae.
“Hey, Charlie Charlie,” Monae sang into the phone.
“Monae, do you follow your brother on Instagram?” I asked, skipping all the pleasantries and getting right to the matter at hand.
“Yes, but I haven’t been on Instagram in about two weeks. Why; what happened?” she asked me.
“I don’t know. This bitch just came in the store talking about Jaquan posted nude pictures of me on there. Go look and see what she was talking about,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I was indeed nervous.
“Charlie, seriously? Hold on, let me look,” Monae said. I waited for a few seconds and then she came back on the line. Laughing, Monae said, “Charlie, you bitch!”
“Monae, what the fuck is so funny? What happened? What did you see?” I asked, standing up and pacing my office back and forth.
“You fucked him, didn’t you? And don’t fuckin lie to me, Charlie,” Monae said and I could tell that she was trying not to laugh.
“Yes, last week. So what happened?” I asked, trying my best to go around the question that she had just asked me.
“It’s not a nude picture, Charlie. Jaquan posted a pic of you today and made you his WCW. The picture is of you laying in his bed sleep with the covers covering your ass. The only thing that’s showing is your back but bitches know it’s you because of the red hair. The caption he put was, ‘Just made her lil ass put in work, hashtag WCW,’” Monae said and then laughed. Looking at myself in the mirror, my face turned beet red from embarrassment.
“Monae, shut up, damn! That shit ain’t funny,” I said, getting annoyed.
“That shit is funny, Charlie. But damn relax. I told you, it’s not like you’re naked but people know it’s you because of the hair. I’m going to screenshot it and send it to you so you can see it. I’m mad you didn’t tell me and Toya this, though. As soon as we hang up, I’m about to call her ass and tell her how you fucked Quan and swore up and down that you would never do that shit again,” Monae said.
“Fuck you, Monae, and send the damn picture,” I said.
“Charlie, for real, is no big deal. Them hoes only saying that shit because they wishing it was them that was lying in the bed with him. Best believe if it was them that he had put on Instagram, do you think they would have been singing the same song, talking about that picture was inappropriate? Hell no! So fuck them and keep it moving,” Monae said, making me feel a little bit better about the situation.
“You right,” I said, nodding my head and letting my nerves calm down a little bit.
“I know I am. I’m going to hang up so I can send you this picture. Love you,” Monae said.
“Love you more.” And with that, I ended the phone call.
A minute later, the picture came through and all I could do was shake my head. I mean, it wasn’t that bad, but damn, did the whole world have to know that we had just finished having sex. I sat my phone down and went back out front to finish up.
Before I knew it, it was two o’clock and time for me to pick up my baby from school. Usually I would drop her off to my mama’s house and then head back to work but I thought that I was going to call it a day at work. I left Adam, my team leader, a list of things for him to do tonight since he was the one that was in charge since I was leaving. Five minutes later, I was out the door and jumping into my 2015 matte black Range Rover. Fifteen minutes later, I was parking my car at my daughter’s school and stepping out of my car. My daughter attended school in Miramar. I felt like that was a better area to have her go to school instead of putting her where I’d attended school. I’m not saying I had a problem with the area I’d gone to school in. It was just that there was so much shit that happened on a daily on that part of town and I wanted my daughter away from all of that shit.
I walked inside the building and went into the cafeteria where they held all the students who were in the aftercare program so that they co
uld do their homework first. I wasn’t even in the room for a good minute before I heard, “Mommy!!” followed by two little feet running towards me. I bent down and scooped up my daughter in my hands. With one arm, I held her close and with my free hand, I signed her out. When we were out the door, I took her book bag and her lunchbox from her hands.
“How was school, China?” I asked her, knowing she had some crazy story to tell me. I swear that her first grade stories were interesting sometimes and once China got to talking, she couldn’t stop.
“It was good, Mommy. Me and Linsey aren’t friends anymore though because she said that I think I’m all that,” my daughter said, batting her long eyelashes at me.
“Tell Linsey that you are all that. China, you’re going to realize that everybody isn’t always going to like you and everybody isn’t really your friend. So, if Linsey doesn’t want to be friends with you anymore, then tell her that’s fine,” I said to my daughter, knowing she wasn’t going to adhere to the message. Most likely, her little first grade drama was going to be over with by tomorrow.
“Okay, Mommy. Can we go and see daddy today?” China asked me as I sat her in the backseat, putting her in her booster seat.
“China, you know your daddy is probably busy right now,” I let her know.
“Pleassseee, mommy. Let me just call him,” she said. I nodded my head and went and dialed Jaquan on my Bluetooth from the car. After a few rings, his deep voice came over the speakers in the car.
“Charlie, what’s up?” Jaquan said, answering the phone and I looked at China through the rearview mirror.
“Hey, daddy,” China beamed, sitting up in her booster seat.
“Hey, princess. I miss you. What are you doing?” Jaquan asked and I could tell that he walked into a much quieter room because the background wasn’t as loud as it was when he’d picked up the phone.
“Nothing, mommy just picked me up from school. Can I come see you or are you busy?” China asked.
“Baby girl, you know I’m never too busy for you. Tell your mama to bring you to my house,” Jaquan said and I sucked my teeth. I had no intentions on driving all the way to his home in Star Island. I was in Miramar right now and with the afternoon traffic, it was going to take me at least an hour to get there. Plus, I was hungry. The only thing that I had eaten today was the banana and yogurt that I’d had this morning for breakfast.
“Yess, daddy! Mommy has you on the car speaker so she heard you,” China said, smiling, and then sat back in her seat.
“Charlie, take me off speaker. Let me say something to you,” Jaquan said and I kept my left hand on the steering wheel as I rummaged through my purse with my right hand to find my iPhone. After I got it, I took the call from the car’s speaker and placed my phone to my ear.
“Hey,” I said.
“Charlie, don’t play with me! Why you didn’t speak when I answered the phone? Plus, why I hear you sucking your teeth when I told China to have you bring her to my crib?” he asked me and I could hear the attitude in his voice.
“I didn’t speak because China wanted to talk to you. Plus, I don’t feel like driving all the way out there. Can’t you just come over to my house or pick her up on Friday?” I asked, in hopes that he would say yes.
“Charlie, just bring her over here. Let me spend time with my daughter,” Jaquan said and I sighed.
“Whatever, I’ll be there soon.” And with that being said, I hung up the phone.
My daughter was in the backseat, engrossed in the TV that was hooked to the back of my seat with her headphones in her ears. I dreaded taking this drive but I didn’t want to come off as a bitch who was keeping my daughter from seeing her dad. I knew that China missed Jaquan because she hadn’t seen him in about four days because after the night we had sex, he had to fly down to Atlanta for an appearance.
As I was driving, I decided to use this time to meditate and think about certain things, since I knew for a fact that I was going to be in some serious traffic. I couldn’t help but to think about those two bitches that came in my store today and tried to come for me. I had to seriously sit down and ask myself if this headache that I was about to bring upon myself really worth it. I knew for a fact that if Jaquan and I decided to take things to another level, I would be constantly getting confronted my bitches and steady trying to fight for my place. This generation of bitches were so fuckin bold nowadays, too. Coming into my place of business to confront me about a nigga that I was dealing with? My fighting days were long over because I had a daughter looking up to me and I didn’t want to look like some damn hoodrat out in these streets fighting. Been there, done that and I was really not trying to relive that, but if push came to shove and a bitch thought that it was okay to jump crazy, then I would have no choice but to handle mine.
Damn near two hours later I was pulling up to the gated community of Jaquan’s household and after going through security at the front and having her run my driver’s license, I was let through. I looked in the back and my daughter was knocked out with her thumb in her mouth. I hated when she did that shit and I promise I had no idea how she’d inherited that bad habit because neither Jaquan nor I sucked our thumb as a child. Pulling up to Jaquan’s house, I parked my car, shut it off and jumped out. I went and grabbed my purse from the passenger seat and got my baby from the back, before taking that damn finger out of her mouth. With all of that, she still didn’t wake up. I promise this little girl acted as if she worked a 9-5 instead of being a first grade student. I noticed that there were like four different cars in the driveway and I was hoping the house wasn’t crowded. I didn’t plan on coming over here today, so the key that I had to Jaquan’s house was at home on my key rack. I knocked on the door and a minute later, Quay came and opened the door for me.
“What’s up, sis? How you doing?” Quay said, giving me a hug.
“I’m good, just a little tired and hungry. Who are all those cars out there for?” I asked him, stepping inside the house.
“Oh, that’s because our nigga Dre just got home from jail. Nigga did five years for assault for pistol whipping that bitch Nariah when he found out that that damn baby that she had wasn’t even his. That nigga felt disrespected because he was all over the city with the baby, dropping checks on the baby and her ass and come to find out, the damn baby wasn’t even his. They gave his ass five years because come to find out, Nariah ass was pregnant at the time,” Quay said, letting me know.
I remembered Dre from back in the day. He, Jaquan and Quay were all close, almost like brothers. I also remember Nariah, with her hoe ass. I was surprised Dre’s ass even fell for that damn okey doke, thinking that baby was his when he already knew how Nariah got down. I’m not the type of person that goes off of everything that I heard in the street but shit if everybody in the hood calling you a hoe, then nine times out of ten, your ass is a hoe.
“Wow, that’s crazy,” I said. I honestly didn’t even know Dre’s ass was in jail. I just thought he might have moved or something. Jaquan didn’t tell me everything that happened around him, so I guessed that this was one of those things that he probably felt like I didn’t need to know or something.
“Is that lil Charlie over there?” I heard a familiar voice say and that’s when I looked up and realized that it was Dre.
I’ll admit, prison did do his body good. Not that his body was bad before, but I could see the extra muscle that he had put on. Dre was standing about 6’3 and was maybe 220 pounds of pure muscle. He was the perfect color of caramel and his mouth was filled with golds. I hoped the shit was pullouts, too. Right now, he was wearing a Nike tank and you could see the many tattoos that covered his arms, upper back and even a few on his neck. I’ll admit, Dre was a good looking dude but I wasn’t checking for him in any way, shape, or form.
“Yes, it’s me. But ain’t nothing little about me,” I boasted and Quay took China out of my arms.
“Girl, please, you still the same size you were in high school,” Dre said, walking over to m
e, pulling me into a bear hug.
“Ay, nigga, get your fuckin hands off my girl,” I heard Jaquan say. I heard him put I didn’t see him because Dre was blocking him. I looked up and Jaquan had a smirk on his face, so I knew that he was only playing with Dre.
Dre threw his hands up in surrender, laughing. “My bad, nigga,” Dre said and I shot Jaquan a look, letting him know to cut it out.
“Aww, man, is this China? Last time I seen her, she was a little baby,” Dre said, walking over to Quay and taking China from out of his arms. She woke up and looked at Dre like he was crazy and immediately her eyes scanned the room, trying to find out where I was.
“What’s up? I’m Uncle Dre. You don’t remember me, huh?” Dre asked her and China shook her head no, looking at me the whole time with sleepy eyes.
“Ugly ass nigga, give me my damn daughter. You scaring her and shit,” Jaquan said, walking over and taking China. She instantly laid her head on her father’s shoulder as he placed a bunch of kisses on her face.
While they disappeared, I went upstairs to China’s room to find her something to throw on. I was very funny like that. I couldn’t stand for my daughter to walk around in her school uniform because I knew that she would get it dirty. After going through the dresser drawers and looking through the clothes that she had over here at her father’s house, I found her a pair of pink Nike tights with the matching pink and white shirt. I stood in the hallway upstairs screaming for China to come up. I knew she was up because I could hear her laughing from all the way up here.
“Yes, mommy?” my daughter said, coming into the room.
“Change out of your uniform and put this on, and when you finish, tell your daddy to go out to my car and get your book bag so I can check your homework that you did in aftercare,” I said and she nodded her head.
305 Lovin' Page 7
