by Chunichi
We all just looked at her and busted out laughing. She became very upset with our reaction to her statement.
“I bet your ass won’t be laughing if I smack the shit out one of y’all bitches!”
And then it was on. Now, I would usually be the first to react to a situation like this, but this time, Mickie beat me to it. She stood up face to face with the girl and said, “If you a see a bitch, smack a bitch!”
Being from the hood, the girl was not about to back down. Instead, she challenged back.
“Cross this line, bitch,” she said as she drew an imaginary line with her foot.
At that point, Mickie and I both looked at each other from the corner of our eyes to give a silent signal for attack. We both launched on her ass simultaneously. Immediately, her girls ran over to her rescue, but they got the same beat-down as she did. Tionna’s New York instincts kicked in and out of nowhere a blade was produced. After a minute, blood was everywhere and we were out. We headed straight to Carmin’s. The night was over, and what a night it was!
Once in the car, Mickie counted off, “One . . . two . . . three!”
“Friends are forever!” we all shouted together. We used this statement whenever we were faced with an issue and we came together as friends to overcome it.
On the ride to Carmin’s, Mickie received a phone call. It was Cash. Cash was the manager of the escort agency we worked for.
“I need you for a job. Where you at, yo?” I could hear him yelling through the phone.
“I’m coming through the tunnel. Meet me at Ocean View.”
We agreed we would never do spur of the moment jobs, but for some reason, Mickie agreed. I don’t know about anyone else, but I found that quite shady. Still, we dropped her off and continued on to Carmin’s. Later, we found out she was so eager because Cash had arranged a date for her with the rapper from the show.
When we got to Carmin’s house, my cell phone rang. It was Vegas. I was surprised to hear from him so late.
“How was your night?” he asked sarcastically.
“It was all right.”
“That’s it, just all right? From what I hear you had a pretty exciting night,” he responded just as sarcastically as before.
“What are you talking about, Vegas?” I asked, getting quite annoyed at the little game he was playing.
That’s when he went on to tell me all about my night. I mean, he knew everything from what I had on, to us smoking with the rappers, to us fighting. I could not figure out how in the hell he knew this shit.
I know this nigga ain’t psycho enough to follow me, I thought. He’s too damn cool for that.
Not wanting to get into it with him while my girls were within earshot, and much too tired to argue, I decided it would be best just to end the call and deal with him later.
“We’re at Carmin’s, and I’m really tired. I’ll holla at you in the morning.”
“A’ight,” he said flatly before hanging up and leaving me to stare at the phone in wonderment.
Chapter 4
Mickie’s Hustle Struggle
A couple of months passed, and things between Vegas and me grew. Things were moving really fast. Vegas moved in with me and we planned to purchase a house the following year. We had plenty of room in my crib, but he still wanted a house. Really, the only thing he could complain about was the garage. He had two cars of his own plus my car, and my garage was only equipped for two cars. Not that it mattered, because his brothers were always driving one of his cars anyway. Speaking of cars, I was happy to learn that neither of those cars parked in the driveway of that big old house in Norfolk belonged to him. Vegas drove an Acura coupe for daily activities and his big boy Escalade for night excursions. Damn, that truck was tight! It turned me on from the first time I saw it. It was pearl white with mirror tint and twenty-two-inch rims. The inside was equipped with five TVs, one in the deck, one in each visor, and one in each headrest. Of course, there was also a DVD player and PlayStation attached. The interior had upholstery made of beige leather. I swear, if that truck had a dick, I would have fucked it. Needless to say, that truck was his pride and joy.
Since it had been declared that I was officially Vegas’ girl, a lot of things had to change. The first and most major was the escort job was out the door. There was no way his girl would be doing something like that. I had no problem giving that degrading experience up, though. Vegas had the best of everything, so he made sure I had it too. But the closer we became, the farther Meikell and I separated. Meikell seemed to think all the luxuries went to my head, and that’s what eventually forced us apart. On the other hand, I thought she had become too involved with the side job and had changed herself. To her, it was no longer a side job. She made it her way of life. In fact, she quit her job as a director at a franchise daycare to escort full time. She talked, walked, looked and acted like a cheap whore. She wore wigs of every color, talked with ebonics slang, and dressed very distastefully. Cash was no longer just providing protection and setting up dates. He was now playing the role of her pimp. He had her fucking anything, including women, for little or nothing. The thought crossed my mind that she may have even been strung out. The word on the street was when she wasn’t hooking, she was at the strip club trying to make a dollar. When I heard that, I decided it was time to have a heart-to-heart talk with her. She was my friend, and I wouldn’t idly stand by and watch her destroy her reputation like that. Therefore, I called her.
“Yes, Mrs. Vegas,” Mickie answered, obviously after looking at the caller ID.
“Mickie, I know things have been rough between us the last couple of weeks, but I’m calling to speak to you about the situation.”
“Okay, so speak.”
I knew Meikell was not going to make this easy for me, but I wasn’t going to give up yet.
“Mickie, you really need to stop doing the side job.”
“And why is that, Mrs. Vegas? Just because your life is so perfect now and you have all the things you want, you think you’re better than me. Did you forget you were doing the exact same thing not so long ago? I’m sorry, C, but I’m not as fortunate as you are. I have to work for mine. Besides, it’s not much different from what you’re doing. I mean, you fuck Vegas, don’t you?”
That was it. The little bit of compassion and concern I felt for her before went right out the window. I had to let that bitch have it.
“You know what? I was actually trying to help your ass out, but you’re obviously jealous of me. So, do you? And just so that you know, niggas on the streets are saying you’re hooking and stripping and all for small change.”
“So what? Fuck those niggas and fuck you too.” Click.
Those were the last words I heard before the dial tone began buzzing in my ear. I couldn’t understand Mickie. Hooking and stripping? And where was the money going? She had the same crib, same car and same clothes. At least I cared enough to say something. Everyone else was just disassociating themselves from her. But after that last note, I was joining the disassociation group my damn self.
The closer Vegas and I got, the more things I began to find out. It seemed like his age wasn’t the only surprise he had in store for me.
One day we were in the mall and out of nowhere this ghetto ass park chick comes behind us yelling, “Your son here! I know you hear me. Yo’ son here!”
Vegas just kept walking, looking straight ahead as if he didn’t even hear her. Now me, on the other hand, I had to see who the fuck this chick was just in case I was out one day and something jumped off. You can never be too careful with those park bitches. You just never know.
The more he ignored her, the more ghetto and louder she got. Vegas isn’t the type that likes controversy, so he decided we should just leave. Of course, she followed right behind us. When we got to the car, she got in his face and said it again.
“I ain’t got a damn son,” he said back to her calmly. Then he stepped around her and closed the door to the truck. She stood there yelling
in the middle of the mall parking lot, looking just like a damn fool. I folded my arms, rolled my eyes, and grinned in her face as we pulled off. But by no means was that the end of it. I had a thousand and one questions that I needed answers to.
“Your son? Your son? What the fuck was that about?” I asked in a tone that signaled I was about to lose it.
“She’s a chick I was screwing while I was with my ex-girlfriend,” he explained. “When I tried to cut things off, the bitch cried pregnant. So, to shut her up I gave her five hundred dollars to get an abortion. More than likely, she used the money to buy a new outfit. Mainly, those park bitches are only after the money. Now months later, she’s hollering some shit ’bout the baby being here. I haven’t even spoken to her since the day I gave her the money.”
In my heart, I wanted to believe he was telling the truth, but simply responded by saying as I had said to his ass many times before, “Yeah, well, time will definitely tell. Just as time told that your ass lied about having no kids. When we first met, you told me you didn’t have any children. The next thing I know, you got three.”
Vegas did not speak. He just glanced over at me with that dumb ass blank expression.
“And now it’s turned to three and a fucking possible!” I continued.
Vegas still did not respond. Instead, he just stared at the street and shook his head as he exhaled heavily. When I first found out about the other three kids, he said he didn’t tell me about his oldest because he didn’t think the kid was his. He never had a blood test. He just took the responsibility. And the other two lived in DC, so he thought I would never find out. He said that his reason for not telling me that he had kids was because I didn’t have any and that I seemed like the type who wasn’t trying to be bothered with no baby momma bullshit. And his ass was right!
Since I was now on a roll, I decided to ask another puzzling question. “And why do you have a Virginia Beach address listed on your ID?”
Finally, he opened his mouth.
“I lived there with my kids’ mother and when I left her, she packed up and moved to DC with her family,” he said with a pitiful ass look on his face.
With all the things I was finding out, I wondered what in the hell was next.
Chapter 5
A Sister’s Deceit
It was September Seventeenth and Vegas’ birthday. I swung by to pick up Tionna and her little sister, Tonya, and then we headed to the mall. I purchased Vegas a Versace sweater, Versace jeans and some Durangos. It didn’t take me long to figure out what he liked when it came to style. His taste was similar to mine. I guess that was just another reason why we were such a good match.
While out, Tionna bought her sister a few things. Tonya had been living with Tionna for a few months now. Tionna decided to take her in after their abusive aunt damn near beat Tonya to death. One night, she came in pissy drunk and accused Tonya of sleeping with her husband. When she confronted Tonya with her accusation, Tonya responded in a very snappy way by saying, “Maybe if you weren’t drunk all the damn time, you’d be fucking your man and wouldn’t be worried about me fucking him.”
Tonya had a mouth that would make a preacher curse. So, you can imagine the effect it would have on an abusive drunk. That one simple statement caused Tonya to be bruised for a lifetime. The aunt beat Tonya until she was delirious. She beat Tonya with anything she could get her hands on, from a hanger to a phone to a chair. Not to mention all the punches and kicks that were included in that beating as well. By the time the police arrived, Tonya was unconscious and literally near death.
Of course, after that incident Tonya had to move out of her aunt’s home, but there was no place else for her to go. Their mother was serving a life sentence for murder and their father was nowhere to be found. Their grandmother was already raising their younger sister and brother, so there really was no room for Tonya in her home, either. Therefore, Tionna fell obligated to move Tonya into the two-bedroom apartment that she shared with her boyfriend.
Tionna and her boyfriend, Shawn, were the happiest couple I knew. They had their ups and downs, but that’s what made their relationship so strong. When Tionna met Shawn, he was in the Marine Corp and quite demanding. After a night out with the fellas, he would come home drunk and start drama. He never hit Tionna, but he would do much damage around the house. Although he would not physically hurt her, he would verbally abuse her by calling her all sorts of names. His acts of rage got so bad that Tionna began to question if he was on drugs. After investigating, she found it to be true.
Tionna was furious when she learned that Shawn was occasionally sniffing heroin. She immediately kicked him out. Afraid of losing her, Shawn begged for forgiveness and asked her to get him help. Not wanting to ignore his cry for help, Tionna got him into an inpatient rehabilitation center. While in rehab, he began to explore the Muslim faith. It was as if he became a completely different person. He was much calmer and more sincere. His whole demeanor changed. He was just a humble man overall. Witnessing the change take place, Tionna decided to stick by him, and they made it through that difficult time together. Next to Jada and Will, they were one of the most committed couples I knew.
After shopping, Tonya seemed to be in a rush to get home, so we dropped her off, and then Tionna and I headed to the twins’ house. India and Asia were new to the circle of friends, but no one would have ever known. They were both account executives at major banks in the area, and they both screwed their way up the corporate ladder to get those positions. Contrary to the way they were now living, they were raised as perfect Christian girls. Their father was a pastor and they had attended Christian schools. They still lived at home but were no longer those perfect twins that Daddy raised.
Asia had twins out of wedlock and was currently dating a guy who was married. India was a player in the cash exchange for all the major drug import into the eastern coast of the U.S. Her fiancé was a kingpin out of Kingston, Jamaica. This guy was honestly the craziest muthafucker I have ever met. He had a tall, fragile frame, with dark skin, and eyes as cold as ice. He spoke with a deep voice and strong accent. Each time I saw him, I froze up with fear. He had India under some sort of trance, but no one realized it except me. With my Creole background, I notice the power of voodoo very quickly. At times, it was as though India was not even herself.
India was planning to move and join her fiancé in Jamaica the following year. He told her that by then he would have reached his 2.5 million mark and would be ready to retire.
The drug ring that her fiancé operated had been passed on in his family from generation to generation. However, with that title came a lot of other shit that I didn’t think India even knew about. I’d learned from firsthand experience. The guy Red, who Vegas dealt with, was part of the Dominican drug ring. I’d seen this guy fly to the States just to kill a nigga. He even had a little ninety-pound chick that he would send at times to do the job for him. The shit was wild, and I definitely wouldn’t want any parts of it.
As we sat and tripped out with the twins, Tionna’s phone rang. It was her sister’s boyfriend.
“Tonya had an accident! Get to the house quick!” I could hear him yelling into the phone.
We dropped everything and drove to her apartment in record time.
“Toooonyaaaaa!” Tionna screamed as she burst through the door, but there was no answer. We noticed Tonya’s clothes strewn all over the living room floor and heard loud music coming from the direction of her bedroom. Tionna twisted the doorknob, but the bedroom door was locked. Out of panic, Tionna busted the door down and there was Tonya, completely naked, and she wasn’t alone. Tionna’s man was in there with her.
It was terrible. Tionna’s face was filled with hurt and anger. She stood motionless, screaming as I rushed over to hold her. She resisted my hold and began to fight frantically as a half-naked Shawn approached her. I immediately pulled her from the house and into the car. This was truly a sad day for both of us.
Once Tionna calmed down, I t
ook her back to my condo. I tried everything to make her feel better, but after such a traumatic experience, I knew it would be a long time before she healed. She had lost two people that meant the world to her. As we were talking about the situation, Tionna received another call from Tonya’s boyfriend.
“Is Tonya okay?”
Tionna wasn’t sure how to break the news to Tonya’s boyfriend, and she sure as hell wasn’t eager for him to experience the hurt and pain that she was, so she stalled for time by asking him a few questions about his earlier phone call to her.
“Exactly what happened to make you think Tonya was hurt?” Tionna asked.
“I got a call, but when I answered, no one spoke,” he explained. “I heard a lot of commotion in the background, though. I recognized Tonya’s number, so I kept listening. There was a lot of tussling and moaning, like some kind of struggle. I started calling Tonya’s name to see if she could answer me, but there was no response. I hung up and called back from my cell phone, but I just got a busy signal. I was afraid Tonya was hurt and just couldn’t get to the phone. That’s when I called you, ’cause I knew you could get there faster than me.”
Tionna probed further to see if there was anything else Tonya’s boyfriend could add to make the situation clearer. Unfortunately, there was not. She would never know what had really happened.
As Tionna and I resumed talking, Vegas walked in.
“What’s up, baby?” he said as he kissed me on the lips.
“Nothing, honey, just comforting Tionna.”
“What’s the deal, T? No jokes today?” Vegas noticed Tionna wasn’t her normal comical self.
“Nah, not today. I’m not in the mood, Vegas,” Tionna responded in a daze.
“Damn, we can’t have that. Why don’t you ladies come with me? I’m gonna take y’all out. We can go to this spot on the oceanfront. I got one quick stop to make on the way, though. Is that cool?”
I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood to be social,” Tionna said.
