“I gotta go return these shoes, then we can get to shopping.”
“Damn, so you gotta go return the wife’s shit? That’s a hell of a side chick.” I could have killed her with my glare. I stared a hole through her forehead until she started apologizing.
“My bad. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” She gave me a half hug. “Now let’s go over this shit again. Yo Husband...My Trick...make yo nigga suck my dick.” It was catchy, I couldn’t get it out of my head.
“Wait till I get in the studio and put that down.” I was excited, I felt a new energy with my sister here.
“I’m telling you sis, this shit is going to be a hit.”
“Watch all that shit a’ight. I respect you with your decisions. I call you Fendi not Fennis, and I referred to you as a she before anyone else didn’t I…” My words were barely above a whisper but I could tell they slapped her in the face.
“Yeah...yeah you did.”
“Then I need the same fucking respect a’ight. I got some things going on, but just follow my lead.” Without another word I walked into the Gucci store.
“How may we help you ma’am?” The man said, his black suit was impeccable. All the workers at Gucci looked like they were torn out of a magazine.
“Yes, I need to exchange these shoes for a different size.”
“Oh...really? I believe these are…” He took the bag ruffling through the shoes and the receipt. “These are for Mrs. Woods.” The gelled, mohawk cashier was cheesing as he said the name. “You are her assistant right?” He said to me like I was nothing.
“No, I am her husband’s assistant.” I wanted to laugh and tell him more about how I was assisting Don, but I kept that to myself.
“Oh okay. He is a big shot music producer or something right?” I only smiled. It wasn’t my place to tell their business, especially not to this man.
“I think she wants a size 41 now.” Was my only reply.
“No problem. I know we have that size. I’ll go get it. Is there anything else your employer wants?” He was being annoying now. Using buzzwords like employer and other shit to rub in the fact that I was working for Don, but luckily Lark gave me a distraction.
“Hey Lark. What about this girl? Can I get it?” Fendi held up a cute pair of Gucci shoes.
“Yeah, that’s cool. As a matter of fact, can you set up a dressing area for us? I would also like a sprite with lots of ice, please.” I smiled, knowing the drill. In the back area Gucci had a special room for VIP clients, and before he asked me for my VIP card I slide it out of my purse and across the glass display case.
“We’ll need the set up immediately please. We have other shopping to do so chop, chop.” A smile and a snap of my fingers and his ass was moving.
The place came alive within minutes. We were shown to the back to the exclusive dressing lounge. My ice and sprite was brought in, I played the beat on my phone and we were given our own personal concierge to retrieve items and sizes as Fendi shopped.
“What’s my limit?” After the way I was treated I didn’t feel like we deserved a limit.
“Girl, get what you want.”
“A’ight then...Oooh I gotta pace myself. This is just the first store. Give me those two black dresses and those sandals up in the front to try on first.” The gelled haired associate did as he was told, as Fendi disappeared into the dressing room. That left me all alone with my sprite and the music. Taking advantage, I slide the medicine bottle out of my purse. The purple liquid was thick in the bottle, barely moving as I tried to swirl it around. Opening it up the strong smell of cough syrup came out as I poured the lean in the cup. I only poured out a little bit and mixed it with the sprite, but it was just enough to tint the contents of the cup in a light purple.
“Girl I’m so glad I came here. I needed some new clothes, bad.” Taking a swig of my drank I felt all my worries slip away.
“Alright ma’am. I have the new size seven up front for you.” Gone was his smirk.
“Great. Can you give me back my VIP card now, please?” I held out my hand, waiting for the thick gold Gucci card to be placed in my hand.
“Certainly. I see William is out getting sizes. Is there anything else I can do?”
“No, that is all.” I shoo-ed him away, dismissing his ass. And he scurried off without saying a word.
“Alright girl. How does this look?” Fendi came out of the dressing room looking like a model. She had a dick yet she looked way better than me in her clothes.
“Damn girl...you look so good.” I said standing up and getting closer.
“So you think we are gonna be able to trick these motherfuckers in Houston or what?”
“Hell yeah.” I told her giving her a five. “I think we are back, like old times baby.”
“Old times…” Fendi laughed but I wasn’t joking.
“It’s back to us getting this paper.”
Picking up her own champagne glass from the table, she held it up to give me a toast.
“A toast to us getting this paper, and setting this motherfucking city on fire.” She drank the champagne and I sipped my lean. I was about to say some things my damn self, until my phone buzzed. A text message from Don brought me back to reality.
“Don’t forget, my wife wants a size 7. Make sure you do what the family needs.” He told me again for the millionth time. I had never met this bitch before but he demanded that I think of her like family. My wife is a part of me, and if you love me you gotta love her. He said and I did, but one day I was going to be the wife. I was tired of playing second fiddle, and right now was when my domination began.
“Earth to Lark.” Fendi said laughing. “You okay?”
“Hell yeah…” As the personal concierge came back with more clothes. “Try all that on. We gotta get you right. We’re about to take this city by storm.” It was a perfect match, and H-Town didn’t know what was about to hit it.
8
Devil In A New City
Fendi
Riding around the city with Lark felt like old times. Some shit that I didn’t want to think about, and some things that made me laugh.
“You remember all that crazy shit we used to do, before I got really serious about my transition?” She laughed. “Girl, you used to have tissue in your bra, borrowing my clothes, and stealing wigs out the beauty supply.” She reminded me of the old days. Houston was a lot better than Atlanta already, riding through the streets with my sister made me realize how much I missed her.
Trickin niggas out they money and riding off in their cars. It was how we survived after Mama died, and if I had it to do over I wouldn’t change a damn thing.
“Wow really, you bring up the stealing wigs?” I had to laugh at that. At the time it wasn’t funny, but running out of the beauty supply with the owner chasing after you with a shotgun wasn’t the best way to live.
“Look, that’s the club I work at, over there.” She pointed to a warehouse looking building. I would’ve barely noticed it if she hadn’t pointed it out. Club Diamonds is what the sign said, with a few diamonds sparkling on the sign, but besides that it looked regular.
“You dancing?”
“Yeah bitch. I’m clapping this ass and making these coins. I don’t give a fuck no more.”
“I know that’s right, cuz. I wish I could move my ass to a beat. You always were the one with the clappers.” She laughed and so did I. It was like I always knew she would end up in some kind of profession making her own money. But with us, there was no judgement. Just how she supported me in my transition, I supported whatever she did. As long as Lark was happy, so was I.
“That’s wassup. So you a boss on that pole huh?” I couldn’t imagine my big sister flying around poles, shaking her ass. This was something I had to see.
“Hell yeah. You should see how much money I come out with. It's so much I gotta put it in trash bags. Take it home, dry it out and put it on the money counter.” She laughed but the way she was telling me things over the phone w
as that her business was barely making any money.
“Damn. That’s a part of the business they don’t tell you about.” I laughed, imagining her sitting naked with a hair dryer blowing hot air over thousands of dollar bills, while she’s lying to me on the phone about being broke. I didn’t say a word, I needed her help a few times but that's the shit that happens when you don’t have parents. You get by on whatever, just because Lark took care of me a little bit, didn’t mean she owed me shit, she wasn’t my Mama. Even the woman I called Mama wasn’t our mother, she was our grandmother. Our real Mama was gone in the wind before we learned how to count.
“How you feeling sis? We about to go to the house, then I’m gonna hit the club and clock in.” The sun was starting to go down and I sat back in the seat and took an honest inventory of myself.
“You know what L? I’m okay. I’m feeling more like myself every second.”
I walked into Houston with a few pieces of clothes in an old suitcase, now rolling around this bitch in a brand new car with clothes worth more money that I’ve seen this year.
“Girl, I can’t thank you enough.” I told my sister as we rolled through the Houston streets.
“Shhiiit...It's no problem.” She said slowly like she was moving in slow motion. “For realz you need to be thanking Don’s ass. He’s the one that’s paying for alls this.” She was slurring her words, driving slow like she was a grandma with glaucoma clouding her vision.
“Girl, you alright? You’ve been talking weird since we left the mall.”
“Girl, it's all good. I’m glad you're fucking here in Houston.” She said turning off a main street and riding through a subdivision. But the way she weaved across the road made me feel uneasy.
“You sure you good? You want me to drive?”
“Naw I’m straight. We're almost there.” She said but I didn’t feel safe until she pulled into a driveway. The house looked like money and luxury all rolled into one.
“Damn, did they just build this?”
“Yep, it's only a few years old. Three stories.” I looked up, seeing a balcony with two men sitting under a ceiling fan.
“Yo, what y’all doing? You got bags boo?”
“Yeah...Come down and meet my sister.” For some reason I felt nervous. In Atlanta there was no homophobia. Everybody was gay, you either get over it or live with it, but as I waited for the man I owed my new life to to show his face, all the fear came flushing over me.
“Do I look okay?” I asked her. New clothes, fresh makeup, and my hair curled courtesy of a salon near the mall, I felt like a new woman but I needed to be more than that. I needed to be a woman for real and that was something I couldn’t change. “Yeah, you're fine. Just act normal.”
“Hey hey...wassup, you're Fendi right? I recognize you from them pictures. I hope you don’t take offense to this, but you fine as fuck. I’m Don,” I reached out my hand to shake his, but instead he gave me a hug.
“I’m a country boy, I do hugs. You apart of the family now anyway.” He laughed.
“Yeah, you're right. We are family.” He was handsome, brown skin, but when he opened his mouth it was like I was almost blinded. Gold teeth on the fangs was like something from a music video.
“Damn, this is nice.” I admired the house, but somebody was watching me.
“Damn, Lark baby...you ain’t gon’ introduce me to your sister, ya dig.” I heard the New Orleans accent as soon as he opened his mouth. “Shit, I’ll introduce myself. Excuse me.” He was polite as far as I could see, but I knew a creep when I saw one, and this dude in front of me was a classic creep and the worst kind, he was a creep with money.
He didn’t take his eyes off me. He was dripping in jewels, a Rolex on his wrist and Range Rover keys conveniently hanging out of his pocket. His smile seemed like the sun was coming back out, his teeth shone and sparkled from all the gold and diamonds he had packed behind his lips.
“I’m just struck by ya skin. It’s so beautiful.” He said walking towards me and taking my hand in his. A soft kiss while staring straight in my eyes, must have been his signature move.
“Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” He asked with his voice still dripping in the New Orleans bayou.
“I’m Fendi.”
“Damn...that’s your real name?” As real as you will ever know - is what I wanted to say, but I held back. “Yep, says it on my birth certificate.” The birth certificate that I will have once I fully transition, yet again something he didn’t need to know.
“Damn. Well it's nice to meet you Fendi. They call me Uzi, boo. But as fine as you is...you can call me whatever you want...ya dig.” I found myself staring at his lips, and I would have kept staring if Don hadn’t started yelling.
“Yo...what’s all these damn bags in the trunk?” Don cut into the conversation.
“What? Me and Fendi went shopping. She needed some new clothes, you told me to take care of her.”
“I told yo ass not to do no extra shopping. Gonna have the Feds all in our shit.” Feds, why would they care about us shopping? I didn’t ask the question. I wanted to stay out of their business as much as possible.
“Shit, I told you to take care of her, not go shopping across the whole motherfucking Galleria.” I felt a knot in my stomach as he yelled. A part of me wanted to go off on his ass, but I was literally wearing hundreds of dollars of items that belonged to him.
“Yo you need to go shopping...I can handle all that. Fine as you look you need a shopping spree every day.” It was hard to take his compliments serious. I was too busy sizing him up. I watched how he pivoted from his left leg to his right. The drawl of his words, the way his pants hung off his hips.
He’s gay as fuck. My gay meter was going off on full blast, I already knew this motherfucker was down.
“Did you return them shoes?” Lark rolled her eyes and walked to the house.
“Bitch, did you hear me?” Everything in my body tensed up as I heard him screaming at my sister. But the nigga in my face was unfazed.
“Don’t mind them baby girl. They do that shit all the time, you dig.” They moved the argument into the house but I could still hear him screaming at her.
“Bitch, you hear me? Don’t walk off when I’m talking to you.”
“The bitch at the store asked me if I worked for your wife. You know how fucking humiliating it is for her to ask me if I work for that bitch…?” I heard a noise so loud that I thought it was thunder. But the screams in the house told me it was a slap.
“What I tell you about talking bout my wife? She was there when nobody was. She took a motherfucking bullet for me, and took a charge. Nobody can talk about her...you hear me.” I wanted to rush in the house and slap him just as hard as he did Lark, but I wasn’t that strong. 5’5 and one hundred and forty pounds I wasn’t holding nobody back or hurting anything.
All I could do was listen to Lark’s cries and the yelling.
“Don’t get all into that shit baby girl. That’s what they do.” He told me. “But here...put my number in your phone.” I worked on auto pilot. Taking my phone out and letting him save his number, but my heart was in the house. I had a fight with myself about whether I should run in there and try to help, but as soon as Uzi’s number was saved all the yelling stopped. Don emerged looking sweaty and flushed like Ike Turner after he whipped Tina’s ass in that one movie.
“Yo Uzi, you ready man?”
“Always bruh. Nice meeting you Ms. Fendi. Can’t wait to see you again darling.” he was a charmer, but I already knew what to do with them.
“Glad you here Fen. I think Lark told you about the business but we’ll talk later. Make sure you save them receipts so we can keep track of what you owe a’ight?” he said the shit so fast all I could do was nod my head.
I didn’t even watch them drive away. Instead I snatched my bags out the car and headed into the house.
“LARK!” I screamed for her. Going from room to room in the house that looked more like a showroom t
han a house that people actually lived in. Everything looked high end, from the animal carpets she had in the living room, to the video intercoms scattered throughout the house, and the gold and diamond chandeliers hanging out in various rooms.
“LARK!” I kept screaming until I finally heard the sound of water. Opening a door was a bedroom suite the size of my old apartment.
On one side was a closet, I saw a mirror and the reflection of enough shoes to fit an all-girls high school.
“No way bitch…” I slid into the closet, seeing all her outfits. It had to be stuff she wore to strip in. All various colors of the rainbow, and all textures. Some with fur, others with animal prints, see through, and even glowing bikinis and sexy tight thongs were lined up.
“I’m sorry you had to be around for that.” I turned around to face Lark. Her head down and her long black hair covering the little bit of her face that I could see.
“Girl...did he hit you?” I heard it but I needed to confirm. Raising her face up I felt my heart increase in speed and my blood start to boil. “That motherfucker…” I felt the man in me come up, my voice even changed. I felt like punching a hole in the wall.
“Shhhh, shhh, calm down.” She looked around like she was afraid, like somebody was going to come in here and hurt us. I took a deep breath and corrected my tone, but I didn’t change anything about how I felt.
“That motherfucker is not allowed to hit you. I don’t care how much money he has.”
“Please...I owe Don so much. I owe him everything...and you do too.”
“Me...I don’t owe him shit.”
“Those clothes, your ticket, that shit isn’t free, it wasn’t a gift. He really means it when he said he wanted you to come down here and make some money.” She had to be tripping if she thought I was going to stay here after he put a lightning shaped bruise on her face.
Your Husband My Trick Page 7
