Money Is King: The Complete Series

by Nicety

  “What did you say?” He asked looking down at me confusingly.

  “I said I’m fucking pregnant again, baby.” I responded whimpering like a helpless puppy. “Didn’t my mother call and tell you?”

  “No. I haven’t gotten any damn calls on my phone.” He huffed slowly leaning back against the bare wall. “What you mean you pregnant, Mink? We ain’t been doing nothing and the last time we did, I pulled out.”

  “Nigga, I’m pregnant okay! I know how to read the damn test.”

  “Shit, how do I know its mine?” Cesar snapped.

  “You know its yours, Cesar! I used a condom with everybody else. Why you playin’?” I snapped back at him.

  I got up off my knees; standing toe to toe with him so he knew I was for real. I looked him dead in his eyes so he couldn’t misread my expressions and think that I was lying even though I was. At the very least, I knew I was a damn good actress. His scent was that of a strong ocean breeze musk that almost made my knees buckle as I wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “Get off me, Mink! Your ass ain’t slick. I know you. I know you will do anything to get what you want and it ain’t even no telling if this baby is mine or if you’re even pregnant at all!” He was angry.

  Before I knew it, he had reached his hands up to my neck squeezing with every fiber of his being. For a minute, I thought I would blank out and lose consciousness right then and there. My eyes felt like they were filling with fluid as they rolled to the back of my head. Spit flew from my mouth trying to speak words that would get him to loosen his grip on me. I rolled my eyes back forward again catching a glimpse of the dark and sinister grin he had on his lips. I knew it was nothing but frustration from all of the grief that I put him through, but if he didn’t let go this would for sure be my last day on Earth.

  “AGH!” Cesar breathed as he ultimately released his hands backing away from me. “I swear Mink, if I was a different type of nigga your ass would be dead by now.”

  I could see the tiny lines forming on his forehead, that’s how angry he was. Gasping and coughing, I marched right back up to him reaching out my arms for him to hold me, to let him know that what happened didn’t matter to me and that I loved him still. He backed up from me pushing my arms down to my side letting them flop like a fish out of water. He didn’t want to be near me, touch me, or hold me like he used to. Whoever this bitch was that he was seeing, didn’t just have his dick, she had his heart. That fact alone, was a deep machete slice to my abdominal area. For a moment, I actually felt like I was pregnant as painful cramps formed in the lower part of me; feeling as if my uterus was about to fall out. I didn’t know what was wrong but I clenched my stomach tightly thinking that this was the moment that God was going to take me to Heaven to be relieved of all this earthly drama.

  “Cesar…” I gasped bending over in complete and utter pain.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, man?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know! Help me!” I begged him.

  “Go over there and lay down on the couch on your stomach or something.” He suggested as I made my way over to it. “You think you need to go to the hospital or something?” He asked.

  “NO!” My body tensed up from the pain. “I mean, no. I should be okay. It’s probably just pregnancy gas or something.”

  Honestly I didn’t know what the pain was. But I couldn’t have him sit there in the hospital questioning the doctors as to whether I was really pregnant or not. I knew the truth but I’d be damned if he found it out. Regardless of how it happened he would take care of it like he always did. He was too good of a man to just let an innocent baby go without a father. I knew he would take care of it once he saw the innocence shining on the baby’s soft face. I knew he would take care of my baby just as he did CJ. I didn’t need him to get me pregnant to do it either. I knew I could falsify the paternity test to prove it to him and he wouldn’t even question it. And once I did, whatever bitch he had in his life would be vapor.

  “It’s probably just morning sickness, baby. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I assured him playing the sympathy card to the fullest.

  “Yeah but its not even morning.” He replied confused.

  “It doesn’t have to be baby. It can happen at any time of the day.” I laughed at how cute he sounded.

  “Oh, well you need to lay there and get it together then cause I’m gone.” Cesar said before heading for the door.

  “Who is she, Cesar?” I asked in a low tone trying another stab at finding out his truth.

  “You got the nerve to question me about what I’m doing when your legs are like a Burger King drive thru, open 24 hours a day.”

  “Ugh, you really need to stop that shit okay? Can you honestly sit there and try to pretend like you ain’t been doing your own thing too? Com’ on now, C. Let’s be real.”

  “I am being real. I didn’t have time to cheat cause I was too busy supporting your ass and our son—“

  “And who supported you while you was locked up? Huh? Me that’s who!” My hands began shaking. “Who put money on your books? Who came to see you every chance they got? Who sacrificed a life to hold you down, Cesar?”

  “And I humbly appreciate you holding a nigga down, Mink. But how soon do we forget how I went to jail in the first place. Yeah cause somebody was poppin’ off at the mouth and got hit in the jaw by a nigga. So I, being the man that I am, went to defend your honor and got popped off with them keys in my fucking trunk.” He sighed.

  “Ain’t nobody tell you to take that shit over there with you. I just wanted you to do something about him.”

  “UGH! And you still don’t fucking get it! It was never about that. It was always about the fact that I had to be there at your beck and call every single minute of the day. I was gone in the head for you cause you was my woman but I’m done being a sucker for you, Mink. It’s over! Rest that shit in your head.”

  He moved towards the exit, almost allowing his big brawny shoulders to rip the door clean off the hinges when he opened it. I could tell that he had bottled in any and all bad feelings he had about me, instead of releasing them like we talked about before. It was always hard to get him to open up and talk to me about his feelings, which was one of our problems in the first place. But I refused to let him go without getting the answers that I felt I so deserved.

  “Just tell me her name, Cesar and then I will leave you alone. I promise.” I bellowed right before he tried to walk out.

  “You’re so concerned about where my dick is going; you need to be worried about the fact that I broke the lease and you now have 24 hours to vacate the apartment or your ass will be out on the streets.” He snickered. “I’ll be to get my son before school starts.”

  “Wh…what about…” I was so fucked up in the head that I could barely speak.

  Joe Budden began to blare through Cesar’s phone chanting She Don’t Put It Down Like You, instantly letting me know who was calling him. He took the phone out of his pocket, staring down at the screen as if it would change before shooting his eyes up locking them with mine. I could have sworn that I saw a slight smirk slowly draw on his face before he pressed the answer button and placed the phone to his ear.

  “Hey….yeah, they’re out there?” He spoke still locking his eyes with mine as if to tell me to remain quiet. He didn’t have to though because I was at a lost for words. “Alright, I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Cesar hung up the phone and placed his hand on the doorknob. Revealing a stupid looking smile on his face and shaking his head at me, he leaned in like he wanted to say something to me before he left. I just knew he was going to say something like ‘you know that pussy is still mine’ or ‘I’m still going to tap that ass when I wanna’ to assure me that I still had his ass. It would have secured that I just needed to work overtime to get him back around my pinky finger. But as he leaned in further and grinned like the Mad Hatter, I couldn’t help but feel a certain emptiness in the pit of my stomach.

  "D
on’t call my phone unless it’s about my son. Got it?” Cesar sneered as he slammed the door.

  To say that my feelings were hurt was an understatement. They were crushed, almost annihilated. The emptiness inside slowly transferred into vomit as I struggled not to hyperventilate and hawk it up. But the taste in my mouth was unbearable. My legs couldn’t move fast enough to the bathroom as I lifted up the toilet seat blowing chunks of shit into the porcelain oval beneath me. A few upchucks and dry heaves later, I sat on the side of the toilet wondering where the hell that could have came from.

  Cesar might have choked me too hard causing my body to feel the need to throw up my stomach’s nonexistent contents or the unthinkable could be true. I could actually be fucking pregnant. I couldn’t deny that I was scared shitless about being fat and bloated with swollen feet for the next nine months. But a part of me was glad, glad that I had succeeded in my goal to trap this nigga once again. Not to mention that I was glad I didn’t have to put in too much work to try and get pregnant if it was already true. I quickly rose to my feet to grab my keys and Dooney purse to head out and walk to the Walgreens five blocks away. Only one test stood between my residual income and me.

  Chapter 2-

  **Cesar

  The movers were sitting in front of Lasha’s building waiting on me to give them the word to move the stuff inside. As I leered out the windshield staring at the back of the large white moving truck, I realized that I didn’t want any of that shit it contained. It held too much sentimental value, value that had become invaluable over time and just I wasn’t willing to hold onto it any longer. I had finally erased that toxic bitch out of my life so it was only right that everything else went with her. But I’d be damned if I allowed her to keep any of the shit I worked so hard to provide. Besides, CJ would bust flips to get a whole new bedroom set and his own TV in his room.

  “Hey guys!” I said as I banged on the passenger side window suitcase in tow, with the palm of my hand before the guy rolled the window down. “Aye, why don’t y’all drop this shit off at the Salvation Army or something?”

  “Huh? You don’t want none of these items guy? Not even the TV?” The heavy accented Arabic dude asked with a confused look on his face.

  “Naw brah. Take it or give it to charity or something.”

  “Ha ha, charity right in my own apartment! Thanks man.” He smiled revving the truck up before pulling off down the street.

  I chuckled at his need to get away fast as hell like I was going to try to change my mind and take the shit back. My finger pressed the buzzer to Lasha’s bell and without fail the door buzzed open without her even asking whom it was. She knew who it was. She knew that her man was here, ready to begin our new life together. On my way up the stairs all I could think about was the great memories we were about to create as we began spending the rest of our lives with one another. See, what she didn’t know was that I was a man who women yearned to have. It takes them forever to get my heart but once they got it, I was hooked and I loved hard.

  Most niggas would call that being a pussy, loving these females when they were nothing but bitches in heat. But I didn’t see them as that. My momma raised me better than that and used to always tell me to treat a woman how I would want a nigga to treat her. So that’s what I did. I not only chose carefully but I was careful with their hearts as well as their pussies, making sure not to break either one of them. Both were as fragile as glass in my eyes, so I knew to handle with care. I was a fool for Mink because she had my seed and I had faith that I could change her. But fuck that, I deserved to be happy and I knew I would be with Lasha.

  “Hey baby.” She greeted me as I walked through the door. “You hungry?”

  “You sure you wanna ask me that?” I said sitting the suitcase down on the floor before heading to the couch.

  We snickered.

  “Shit after that tongue you laid on me earlier…hell yeah!” She said walking over to the couch plopping down next to me. “You got everything straight?”

  Her vanilla scent filled my nose. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Why do you think so?”

  “Mink…Mink always got some tricks up her sleeve. You know?” I responded vaguely not really wanting to blurt out that Mink had told me she was pregnant again.

  “That bitch was no good for you baby. You did the right thing.” Her soft lip glossed lips kissed mine.

  “Yeah, but now my son is out of his two parent home.” I side eyed her.

  “Well baby, you know I’m going to be here for you and CJ. I can’t wait to finally kick it with him outside of just playing with him when he came up there to the job.” She said playing with the hairs on my chin gently. “So what’s in the suitcase and what happened to the movers? They aren’t outside anymore.”

  “Oh. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Pack the shit up that you really don’t want to part with and leave the rest. We’re moving out of this joint.”

  “Huh? Nigga don’t just come up in here making demands…but where are we going?” She smiled playfully.

  “We’re moving up out here. The first house you pick out that you want, is yours.”

  “House? What? Cesar, that’s…that’s nice and all but you don’t think we’re moving too fast? I mean hell we just moved in together and then you’re talking about marriage and buying houses—“

  “Aye, I told you I ain’t got time to play games. So you either in this shit with me or you out. I gotta raise my son and he needs a mother figure in his life. You said you was down for me so if that’s true then don’t renege on that. If it’s too fast then that’s cool. I can be out.”

  "Cesar, I'm down for you. You know that, baby. But I...well there's something that you ought to know."

  "Man, if its bad I don't think I even wanna hear it." I replied as I bowed my head. “But back to where we’re going, you asked.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask again.” She giggled. “What do you have planned, Mr. King?”

  “Maybe we can look for houses in the Chicago Ridge area. Woman when we get this house, you ain’t never gonna work again. I’m tellin’ you, all you’re gonna wanna do is look beautiful while you’re decorating it.” My tongue gently coated my lips with saliva.

  “Oh my God, Cesar! A house? You’re really doing big things over there with Yolo, huh?” Lasha smiled as she turned away from me.

  “Eh.” I shrugged.

  “Damn, that’s hot shit baby! I’m so excited for us! That’s amazing!” Lasha squealed beaming from ear to ear.

  “I thought you might like that.”

  “Like it? Baby, I love it! Cesar you are an amazing man and anyone who can’t see that, well, that’s their loss.”

  I studied her much like I did anyone else I was about to give my heart to. I needed to know early on if she was going to be another gold digging skank like Mink’s ass. There was no way in hell I was going to go through that shit again. Fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice and I’m the damn fool. Never would I allow another female to penetrate my heart so deeply that I wouldn’t be able to see past their bullshit. Yeah, I was feeling shorty but I was in no way about to let her have me out here open like a butt naked dope fiend gone off that trippy shit. My daddy used to say it was hard for him to trust anything that bled for five days and he didn’t die. Now I knew exactly what that meant.

  “Ahhh! We’re moving to a great area too!” She screamed. “I’m just so excited!”

  “Yeah I think my son deserves to grow up outside of poverty. Don’t you?” I replied solemnly not really looking for a response. “So what was it that you needed to talk to me about?”

  I prepared myself for bad news even though I had no idea what it was yet. I just knew she was about to come up out the box and say some off the wall shit like she got a man or she couldn’t be with me the way I needed to be with her. I guess I was using her to fill the void that Mink left in my heart but at least my feelings were true for Lasha. I was not going to just string her
along like her feelings didn’t matter. I knew time needed to be invested in this for her to feel the same but if she was truly down for a nigga like she said she was before, then the short time we’ve been together won’t even matter. All we needed was a dope connection, a bond that only best friends had and we would be like Bonnie and Clyde forever.

  “I might not want to hear it but fuck it. I’m listening.” I assured her.

  **Lasha

  “Cesar, what I have to say may come as a shock to you. But know that my feelings for you run deeper than the Pacific Ocean…”

  “But?”

  “But there is something that I gotta say before we go on and I don’t know how you’re gonna take it or how you’re gonna feel about me afterwards.” I continued fiddling with the flat rim collar of his polo shirt.

  I brought my eyes up from the floor, bolting them to his. He looked as if he wanted to be able to read me, to read my eyes but they were stone. Years of deceit gave me the ability to master the art. His dark brown eyes were so sexy and dreamy. How could I look at them and explain to him that everything he thought he knew about me was a lie? Falling for him like this was not in my initial plan and if my papa found out he’d kill me for sure. But Cesar was no ordinary man to me. These past six or seven months I had been undercover trying to get close to him made me realize the beautiful person he was inside and out. But apart of me couldn’t deceive him any longer, especially not when this nigga was talking marriage.

  “Cesar…”

  “Aye, you can tell me anything aight?” He licked his juicy lips. “What’s up?”