Loyal to His Lies

by T. C. Littles

  “Ooh, you sooooo clever, Z gurl. You get her,” she whispered, amused. “I like plan already!”

  A few hours later, Sue Lee had finished my hair, and my nails were soaked off. I had Kimmie do a manicure on my natural nails. I didn’t need any glamorous curves to do my dirty work, and I sure was not trying to have them break, either. I didn’t care what bullshit I went through; my appearance meant the world to me. A bitch would never catch me slipping.

  After we were done with the whole makeover event, I took Melanie past her house to grab some clothes and wash her filthy ass. I couldn’t take her smell any longer. Of course, I waited in the car. After that, we went to check in at the Doubletree across the street from Fairlane Mall. I was not going to be staying at my house for a while. I needed peace and quiet and a place where Nardo couldn’t find me.

  As for Melanie, she had no idea what I really had in store for her. She was having a good day. I’d posted her bond, and now she was benefiting from the luxury of her own room in a hotel. Just being geeked to be able to hang with me was enough to cloud her dimwitted brain. Poor, dumb bitch!

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Nardo

  I’d been calling Zaria all day, and she was shooting me straight to voice mail. I was starting to really get pissed off that she was playing me to the left. I rode past the house but didn’t see her car or any other sign of life. I thought about calling her mother’s house to at least see if Cidney was over there, but I was not in the mood for all her mom’s “I’m tired of y’all’s bullshit” speech.

  “This ho got the game twisted!” I fumed, slamming down Auntie’s phone on the hard wood table.

  Izzi was sitting across from me, bagging product. He glanced up, shook his head, and then looked back down to concentrate on what he was doing.

  “All right, so I got all the weight from the last package set up in the spots on the east. We need to take some bread out the stash and meet up with the connect again to get the west pumpin’ real good.” Izzi was focused on business.

  “Naw, we’ll keep the east for profit and flip that into product. The west will just have to wait it out a while. No sense in overbidding our shit.” I let him know how I felt.

  “Fuck that, man. You always playing that slow role. Hit ’em and hit ’em hard! I can’t stand all that fall back garbage!”

  “Izzi, you try and run up on brothers putting in work in their territory with no strategy or plan. Shiiiit, that’s how empires come down and dudes get killed.”

  “Well, when I see a weak set of fools, my job is to put them out of their misery.”

  “Damn, cuzzo. Slow yo’ roll! Let’s just hold off a few days at least and meet with our soldiers. Stop making all these irrational-ass decisions. We’ll rule the D in due time.”

  Izzi didn’t bother to come back on me because his cell rang.

  “What up, ma?” He questioned the person on the other end with a soft-spoken tone.

  After he got off the phone, he informed me about a wild party a few strippers he dealt with were throwing at All-Stars. That was what I was talking about. I was down for some ass shaking, so I let him know we could roll out together. Fuck Zaria, Melanie, and Spice!

  Izzi

  I was tired of Nardo thinking he could make all the decisions and kick back. I was trying to make money hand over fist. Who in the fuck did he think he was?

  I’d already monopolized the east side, while he was dancing around with only a few spots on the west. Soldiers on the street were starting to see who the true boss was, and that was proving to be me.

  While Nardo was preoccupied, getting so caught up in baby momma drama and stank hood pussy, I was demanding respect and planning on his demise. Hell, deep-dicking Zaria was just an added bonus. And besides, I’d messed around and caught feelings in the process. We were in the middle of kicking it about adding more spots on the west when Zaria called my phone.

  “What up, ma?” I smiled, answering the phone on the first ring, happy to hear her voice. “Where you been hiding out at?”

  “A whole lot you already know. Are you around Nardo?” she asked.

  “Yeah, ma. Ya know I keeps it on the grind. What ya need?” I said, letting her know and keeping it low key in front of her baby daddy. I didn’t need that lame getting even more suspect.

  “Well, I need to talk to you in private, maybe at our spot,” she said, giving my manhood an instant boost, thinking I could hit it again. Make-up sex was known to get a brother a lot of special oral attention.

  “Yeah, that’s what’s up. What time is the set up?”

  “Come as soon as possible, sooner than later, but do me a quick favor and make sure Nardo be busy later on tonight. I’ll explain when I see you. And, baby, I’m sorry,” she ended before hanging up.

  “Yeah, see yo’ hot ass there,” I spoke to no one, still wanting to play the shit off.

  I knew Nardo was ear hustling, and I had to come up with a something since Zaria wanted me to occupy him later. I wondered what that was all about, but I knew I would soon find out. Knowing her, at this point, it had to be something wild that I’d probably end up regretting.

  A chick I used to mess around with was a dancer, and she’d told me earlier about the set they were throwing, but I was not gonna deal with Nardo on this one. It was perfect timing for Z, so to hell with it.

  “Let’s roll out to see some booty poppin’ at All-Stars tonight,” I suggested to Nardo. Things were a definite go from there.

  Zaria

  I pulled up at the Comfort Inn and decided to call Nardo back for the playoff. I glanced around the parking lot to see if I saw any familiar cars then decided to pull around to the back. As I was pulling into another parking spot, Nardo answered his phone.

  “I see you can’t stop calling. What do you want?” I blurted out when he picked up as I reclined my seat back.

  “I think you done forgot who the fuck I am, girl! Pregnant or not, I will beat the hell out of you. Where you at, anyhow?”

  “Boy, bye. You ain’t in no position to call shots around here or question me. Now, I’ve been wasting time on this conversation too long, and you haven’t even said what it is that you want so damn bad,” I said, rubbing my face, getting impatient.

  “I’ll be by the house at ten, so you should make sure you are there too. I miss my baby girl.”

  “Nigga, please! I was born at night, but not last night. You don’t miss Cidney. You just call yourself doing damage control. You don’t want me to have this baby. I’m not stupid. And I’m just as pissed that your rotten-ass seed made it back up in me. Please believe that! You don’t have to come around and play daddy to make me give it up. I’ll stick a rusty hanger up my coochie before I breed for you again, ho!” I flipped my phone shut, smacking my lips.

  This fool really thinks I’m stupid. Damn, how did I let him run over me so long? I questioned myself as I pulled down the mirror to check out how I was looking.

  My lip gloss was still popping, so all I had to do was fix a few loose hairs. I leaned over, checking to make sure I had enough cash on hand to pay for the room. I didn’t need any trails to my credit card. No one needed to know my whereabouts. I knew the attendant wouldn’t ask for an ID if I tipped him an extra fifty. Money always made questions disappear.

  I walked into the room, turning the air temperature on low. I flicked on the TV. One of my favorite movies, All About the Benjamins, was on. Mike Epps was in the convenience store mocking the clerk; it was the beginning. I pulled out my cell phone to call Izzi.

  He needs to quit! I thought when I saw there were two missed calls from Nardo and one voice mail. Choosing to ignore them, I didn’t return his calls. Dude would learn that I was not a fucking joke or a raggedy pair of house shoes.

  “Talk to me,” Izzi said, answering the phone.

  “Hey, boo boo, it’s room two twenty-five. I’m powering off my phone, so get here quick.”

  “Yeah, that’s what’s up. I’m en route shortly.”


  I could tell from the simple conversation he was taking care of business, so that was just protocol of being wifey to a street boy. I took off my clothes and got into the warm, steaming shower. I was still mad at Izzi for putting me on front, but my pussy was yearning for some attention, and I knew he’d be more than willing to answer the call. Besides, I knew I could manipulate him to do what I wanted with sex. He’d let it slip through his actions that he’d caught feelings for me, and in the state of mind I was in, that was a bad damn move. I didn’t care about hurting anybody, as long as my revenge was played out.

  I soon heard Izzi knock on the door as I was putting a little lotion on my skin. I wrapped the fluffy white towel around my damp body and went to the door. After glancing through the peephole to make sure it was him, I opened it, quickly turning around prancing back toward the bed. This was all a playoff game. When I saw him on the other side of the door, I wanted him right then. His hair was still braided tight, and he had on his signature wheat Timberlands, dark denim True Religion shorts, and a green-and-beige matching shirt. He thought he was still walking the streets of Brooklyn.

  “What up, Z?” he greeted me, coming in and grabbing a sista from behind.

  Twisting around, I gave him a long hug as I nibbled on his earlobe a little bit to arouse him. He ran his hands down my back until he gripped my ass firmly.

  “You, baby,” I cooed

  “You come to your senses yet or what?” He yanked down on my weave, getting a little rougher with me. “I didn’t like your attitude before.”

  “We’ll talk about that later, Izzi. Just get between these legs and release some stress.” I giggled, ignoring his question for the time being.

  He laid me down on the bed and gave it to me just the way I liked it, and definitely the way I needed it. He was ’bout it and it made me be ’bout it right back. I gave him my best Jenna Jameson imitation fuck, not because I felt he needed it, but because I felt like if he came good and right, he would do anything I asked of him. After we finished sexing, we relaxed in the bed, legs entangled.

  “So, Z, you ready to play my wifey or not?” The question made it seem like he was already pussy stroked. “You need to be housing my seed in that belly.”

  “Naw, not quite. I gotta tie things up with Nardo and take his ass down. A woman scorned is a bitter bitch.” I let him in on my fury.

  He fell out in laughter and got up to roll himself a blunt. “What the fuck you mean, take him down?”

  “I mean tear his shit up, break up him and Spice, make him wish he never fucked me over and ran my name through the mud.”

  “Are you serious, girl?” he asked, gazing over at me as if I was funnier than those lames he’d seen on Comic View. “Are you?”

  “So serious that I bonded Melanie out from jail and made amends with her punk ass.”

  “You lying!”

  “Naw, Izzi. By the time my plan is played out, Mister Renard will have paid the ultimate price for doing me dirty.”

  “And you’re confiding in me because you trust me, huh?” he asked, catching me off guard. “What makes you think I won’t put my boy up on your little plan?”

  “You ain’t loyal to that nigga, Izzi, so let’s just cut the bullshit and keep it boogie. You wouldn’t be here with his baby momma if you were.”

  “Yeah, truth told. So, what part do you want me to play in this little game of yours?” he wondered, still laughing and not taking me seriously as he lit his blunt.

  “Well, for starters, understand that everything I do with Nardo is for his downfall and my come-up only, not for me to be with him. So, unless I ask for your assistance, keep quiet and don’t act all suspect around him. And tonight, keep him from going home to his li’l bachelor pad. That will be the first place I hit tonight.”

  “Girl, you crazy. I got yo’ back, but you better slow up on that stupid shit. Nardo ain’t tough tone to me, but that buster might be competition to you.”

  “All right, act like it. I ain’t never scared!” We had to laugh at that one, but deep down, a bitch was serious.

  After I put Izzi up on the rest my game plan for later, I crawled seductively across the king-size mattress and gave him another taste of my deep throat head shot game before I dipped out back to the other hotel to meet up with Melanie, who was more than likely ordering room service and VIP massages on my pockets. That was the type of chick she was: a user who loved to try to get over on muthafuckas. Nevertheless, me and her had some preparing to do.

  Izzi

  Zaria was getting ready to ball in dangerous territory. Nardo had messed her head up so much that she was just ready to fuck him over and shit. Since I was trying to be on the come-up and he was slow-walking, I might as well join in on the scheme.

  “What up, dude?” I asked Nardo when I called him. I was lying in the bed recuperating from the wild sex me and his baby momma just had. She was definitely gonna be a keeper if baby girl could keep me cumming like she had.

  “Slow motion, slow motion. Now, what’s up on that stripper’s situation? A nigga dick is a li’l dry, and I’m not trying to head to the crib with Spice.”

  “Man, that broad, sac-chasin’ Sara, I used to bang out said they was throwing the set. I’ll go trick my cash off on her for a while, but you know she gotta pay with that ass afterwards.” I got a hard-on picturing Zaria, not Sara, naked. No doubt I was trying to tap some of my new wifey when we left the club later.

  “That’s what’s up. What time you trying to hit it up?” Nardo quizzed.

  “About twelve. We gonna VIP all night, you know, so damn trying to get seated up front. You feel me?”

  “Squared up. I’m about to swing by the condo and check on my spot, and I’ll meet you on the block in a few. We can take separate cars just in case one of us gotsta bounce.”

  I set the phone down and rubbed my manhood, thinking about Zaria. She had me open, but that pregnancy predicament was not gonna work. I was trying to savage fuck the baby out of her earlier, but it was a trooper. I guess the little fetus had his protective headgear on and was not gonna go without a fight.

  Anyhow, I got up and jumped in the shower to get myself together. I threw my clothes on and was out the door. I had to get to Zone 8 and hook up this spot.

  Fuck Nardo and Zaria. I got money to make!

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Spice

  “Renard! I’m so sick and tired of you completely disregarding my feelings and doing me wrong for her. I cook, clean, keep you sexually pleased, and give you access to my money. I deserve more than you allowing your baby momma to run up on me. If you don’t want to answer the phone, then to hell with it and you! Yo’ shit will be on the curb,” I hollered onto Nardo’s voice mail before hanging up and calling again.

  I couldn’t believe Zaria’s childish, good-for-nothing begging behind was pregnant again. On top of it all, Nardo had the nerve to be mad at me because I was tired of all the over-the-top, constant drama she brought. I didn’t know why she just couldn’t leave him alone. The whole ordeal was taking a toll on me.

  “Renard!” I screamed when he finally answered to my incessant calling. I was not giving up without a fight.

  “I see you calling, but damn, I ain’t interested in the shit you gotta say, Spice. Now, give a nigga some space, will ya?” Nardo fired back, not giving me a chance to vent first.

  I’d been calling every minute on the minute since he dropped me and my son off, but he was probably so busy trying to chase and mend stuff with Zaria’s knocked-up ass that he was forgetting about home and that I could have problems going on, too, with the crazy, twisted-up love triangle situation he caused. It was like he had a blindfold on to what was so obvious: my love and devotion.

  “I need you to come home.” I ignored his harsh words. “Right now!”

  “Spice, you always in need. You turning into my damn baby momma with all that needy, clingy crap. We ain’t got no kids, so I don’t owe you nothing.”

  “Go to
hell, Renard. I’m done! Yo’ shit will be curbside,” I repeated, hanging up the phone.

  I picked up my car keys and got my little man in the car. We was about to take a short road trip. Bottom line, I was headed to Zaria’s house. Me and her was gonna straighten this bullshit out once and for all! Tonight, Nardo would have to choose between us.

  Zaria

  I walked into the Doubletree and enviously looked around at all the couples that were enjoying each other’s company and seeming to be overly happy. I’d never completely felt satisfied with Nardo. I loved my child’s father unconditionally, but we spent so much time arguing and debating his trifling ways that we never got the chance or opportunity to enjoy each other fully. Now, here my dumb ass was with one small baby, a pregnant belly, and a heart ready to kill. The next guy to come around would hate that he crossed my path. I could see it now. My life would be a perfect sequel to A Thin Line between Love and Hate. I was damaged goods.

  Damn that Renard!

  I opened my room door and walked straight to the shower to turn it on. Before getting undressed, I stuck my head into the other room to see what my newly ordained partner in crime was up to. This tramp! Melanie was stretched across the bed, eating hotel food on my pockets, just as I predicted, watching syndication re-runs of Girlfriends.

  “Hey, girlie!” Melanie greeted me as if we were best friends all over again.

  “Hello.” I could barely stomach the words as my skin crawled at the sight of her. “I see you been chilling.”

  “Yeah, I figured I deserved a treat after them hours you made me spend behind bars.”

  “Whatever, Melanie.”

  “Girl, be quiet. I can’t hear my show.”