Mario was not done, as he pulled off the rubber loaded with thick cum. He tossed it on the floor, allowing the sticky substance to leak out on the carpet. Yanking her body all the way onto the bed, Mario spread her legs. He’d imagined what she tasted like since first laying eyes on her. Angie V was soon squirming, caught up in how good Mario’s tongue game truly was; but she was still off in her emotions. As he reached his hands up to cup each of her breasts while eating her out, he took a small break to look at her face.
“What’s wrong, ma? You ain’t feeling this shit?”
Angie V didn’t mutter a word as tears fell from both eyes, trickling down her cheeks. Right then and there something strange came over Mario. He stopped devouring the cat, and stood. Staring down at the completely nude female, he knew that she was different from anyone else he’d tricked with. While some bitches fucked because they had white livers for sex, and others did it just for sport, Angie V was dead serious when she said she had to pay bills and needed the money bad. There was no new pair of sneakers being released, or a new iPhone that just came out she wanted to stunt with. Angela Vega had a much different agenda. She was selling ass to survive.
That truth became painfully clear to Mario as he had a brief flashback to the life his now deceased mother used to be forced to live. When alive, she had been much like Angie V in the way that she would do and say just about anything to make sure her kids had what they needed. Tragically, one night when walking home from her third job cleaning office buildings, she was gang raped and killed by a group of intoxicated factory workers who had just finished their shift and were out celebrating one of them taking the company-offered buyout. Never having dealt with the pain of losing his mother, or his older sister to a drug overdose, or his best friend in the world, Dino, Mario gave himself strong doses of hood therapy by smoking as much weed as he could and fucking around with as many females as possible, not caring that he was even married to Sasha.
Not bothering to ask her what was wrong, Mario got up. His demeanor was solemn as he headed toward the bathroom. Instead of taking a long, hot shower in the room he’d paid for, he wet a washcloth. With the quickness, he cleaned his private area after washing his face. No more words were exchanged between the two as Mario got dressed and left through the door.
In shame, Angie V got up and gathered her clothes, which Mario had tossed here and there in his rush to get what he paid for. Hearing what she believed to be his SUV’s door shut, the engine start, and Mario pull off, she cried even harder at what she had done and who she felt she had become again: a common slut just like in high school. When she finally got herself together to leave she reached for the money that was on the dresser. There was no longer $283 dollars there, but $500.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nightfall came and Kat was sitting on the edge of the couch waiting for her uncle to check in with her with the good news. Ever since Regina had called telling her the plan that Sasha and she had come up with to get rid of Mario once and for all, she was happy. He would finally get what was coming to him, which was nothing.
As she fumbled with the remote, as well as her cell, Kat knew when her uncle’s customized ringtone went off she’d be elated. Not only because Mario’s no-good, slick, wannabe ass had just had his pockets run once again by Big Dae Dae, but also because she was going to get a cut of the winnings. She knew it was kind of foul to be benefiting from his loss, taking into full consideration that it was Sasha’s money he was gambling with; but in Kat’s distorted way of thinking someone was going to get that cheese, so why not her?
It was getting later and later and still there was no call. Kat had watched two and a half On Demand episodes of Power and there’d been no word from her family. She wanted to text him and ask what was really good, but she knew better. He had warned her plenty of times before not to disturb him during a game. If there was money on the floor, him answering might jinx his luck.
Going into the kitchen to get a late night bowl of cereal, Kat fumed as she puzzled about what was going on at the dice game that had her uncle so tied up he couldn’t give her an update. She figured he could bust Mario down easily. The entire squad who shot with him would joke about his constant bad luck but his wild-minded eagerness to keep at it until the gamble gods finally would bless him with a win or two. Emptying the last bit of the cereal from the box and into a bowl, Kat prayed tonight wasn’t Mario’s time in line to receive such a blessing. She knew he definitely didn’t deserve it, not after how he had played her best friend.
Pouring the milk almost to the edge of the bowl, Kat smiled seeing the cereal was completely submerged, just as she liked it. Using both hands to carry it, she slowly walked back into the living room trying not to spill a drop. Only yards away from the coffee table, that dream was short-lived. Startled by the sound of her cell flashing and ringing, she stumbled, shifting half of the contents out of the bowl and spilling them onto the floor. Fuck! Son of a bitch! Kat was pissed. Carefully placing down the now half-empty bowl, she snatched her cell up off the couch. Finally this nigga calling! “Hey, Unc, what’s the good word? We all the way up or what?”
With the noise of fellas still very much off into the game, Big Dae Dae stepped away from the commotion. Standing on the front porch of the spot, he gave his sister’s child the bad news he knew she didn’t want to hear. “Yo, your peoples ain’t show up tonight.”
“What the fuck you mean he ain’t show up?” Kat quizzed as if she didn’t believe him.
“Hey now, Katherine.” He deliberately called her by her government name to let his much younger niece know he was serious. “Watch your damn mouth and remember who the hell you talking to. I’m not one of your friends you run with.”
“Sorry, my bad,” Kat apologized, not because she was sorry but because she wanted to know what went on at the dice game tonight.
“It ain’t no thang. We good. Now just what I said, I been here since seven getting shit all the way in and that little nigga ain’t darkened the doorstep to shoot, fade, or just stand around being a spectator. So apparently your little Inch High, Private Eye ESP information is off. And I know he ain’t at no other real game, because this the only one jumping off tonight.”
Kat didn’t laugh as her uncle joked and teased. She didn’t find shit funny, not tonight and not ever where Sasha’s husband was concerned. First, because she wanted Mario to get what she felt he had coming. And, secondly, she needed her share of that come up money to pay her cell phone bill. Sure, she had plenty of free phones with government-issued minutes, but this time she was really going to try to keep up payments on this prepaid Android. “Well, how long you gonna be there? Maybe his dumb ass somewhere tricking with some hood rat and gonna fall through later. I know he gonna be betting big. I know he is. Sasha done handed that nigga his walking papers and I know he gonna clown with her money.”
“Well, if he do come by here, my black ass won’t be here to see it. I done crapped out way too many times for the night. Your favorite uncle about to call it. It’s a wrap for me and all that revenge shit your delusional ass on. I done told you that you can’t beat a couple. They be having crazy bonds and ties we can’t even fathom.”
Kat wanted to beg him to stay, but she didn’t. She knew when her uncle said he was done he meant just that. So she reasoned with herself that tomorrow would be another day and Mario’s dice-addicted ass would show up sooner rather than later, ready to give away more of Sasha’s hard-earned money.
Ending the conversation with Big Dae Dae, she stuck her spoon into the bowl of cereal, or what remained of it. Seconds after putting the crunchy treat in her mouth, Kat spit it out, realizing it was soggy. She couldn’t win for losing tonight. Her entire attitude was fucked and, in her mind, it was all Mario’s fault.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Several days and nights had passed and still there was no sign of Mario. Big Dae Dae had done what he and the rest of the hardcore gamblers had done over the past week or so. They had made their ro
unds hitting up the various high-stakes games scattered throughout the city, especially on the east side of Detroit. But, as he reported by to Kat almost daily, Mario had been AWOL. Kat didn’t understand. She was confused. That was nothing like Mario. From what she knew about him from not only her uncle but Sasha as well, Mario could not stay away from his addiction to the taste of taking chances. To her understanding, that was how he ended up in jail so much: taking dumb notions and risks that were uncalled for when there was no need.
Wishing she could talk to Sasha and see exactly where her head was at in this whole sordid situation, unfortunately she couldn’t. When she didn’t get her cut from her uncle the other night, she had no funds to pay her cell bill and her phone was turned off. Sasha had written to her and informed Kat that she could have only so many numbers on her approved call list. She didn’t want to waste a slot on one of Kat’s many numbers that would change or run out of minutes in a few days.
Confused, Kat decided to finally call Regina and see if she had seen or heard anything from not only Sasha, but Mario as well. Dialing Regina’s number, before being connected, Kat was informed she only had six minutes remaining on the 250 free minutes flip phone. So that of course meant she had to talk quick.
“Hey, Kat. I was just thinking about calling you.”
“Oh, yeah, okay then. That’s what’s up.” Kat was glad Regina and she were on the same page.
“Have you heard or seen our little punk-ass boy lately?”
“Naw, not me or my uncle. He said it’s like Mario done went underground and stopped coming around for some reason. What about you? Have you seen him?”
Regina hushed one of her crying kids in the background so that she could hear better. “Naw. I was gonna drive by the house later on. That’s why I’m glad you called when you did so I could check in. You know your ass be having so many damn numbers a bitch never know how to get up with you.”
“You right and I swear I’m gonna get my shit together because I need to be able to holler at Sasha. Have you talked to her any more or gone to see her again?”
“Naw, Kat. She ain’t called me back like she was supposed to and I’m getting worried. I know she got money on her books, ’cause I put that shit on it my damn self,” Regina announced, now pacing the floor as she spoke, getting more worried by the moment. “I hope when I left she ain’t nut the fuck up about what I told her. I mean, she was acting like she had it all together and whatnot, but you know Sasha. She’s a ticking time bomb underneath all that nicey-nice exterior. She’s liable to have fought a bitch in there or run off at the mouth to a guard and gotten thrown in the hole. With her, ain’t no telling. All I know is she should have called by now and told me what was good when she got at Mario’s slime ball ass.”
Kat agreed with her best friend’s sister. “Yeah, when she gets mad, it ain’t no stopping her, that’s for sure.”
“Well, after I get dressed and get the kids together, I’ma do a drive-by over to the house and see if I see Mario’s punk ass posted up.”
Before Kat could reply, the line went dead. Her six minutes had expired. Tossing that cell in a drawer, she searched through several others to see if they had any minutes left so she could call Regina back.
* * *
Things had been hectic for Mario. Strangely, since his sexual encounter with Angie V, he was starting to see things in another light. He had not been out late at night in days and had not even thought twice about picking up a pair of dice. Everything that he claimed he did when he spoke to Sasha he was busting his ass trying to accomplish. He had cleaned the entire house, including the bathroom, which had become beyond filthy. He tried his hardest to bring her plants back to life, even though he knew it was a losing battle. The grass that was overgrown in the rear of the house and the weeds that had taken over the driveway were now gone. Mario had gone to Home Depot and purchased a lawn mower himself, instead of paying the next man to do what he should have been doing as a man all along.
Nightly, instead of running the streets, he would talk to his wife twice, maybe three times, begging her to call back if time ran out. Mario was content for the first time in his always wild life and he didn’t know why. Sure, he was still using Sasha’s money; but now it was for something positive to help them both. The only thing he could attribute the abrupt change to was the sight of Angie V’s tears. She looked just like his mother sobbing late at night, wondering how she was going to make ends meet, while she thought he and his now deceased older sister were asleep; and it haunted him. Whatever the reason was for the change, Sasha was living the best she could in the celebration, never having seen this side of him even in the beginning of their relationship.
Backing out of the driveway, Mario threw up his hand and spoke to the neighbors as if he had not been a disrespectful menace to all of them since he and his wife first moved on the block. Not knowing what to make of his actions, they just waved back, praying this behavior would continue. Mario drove a few miles through traffic, not once having the usual road rage he’d incur.
Pulling up in the parking lot of Walmart, he found a place to park in the always crowded lot; and he not once complained. Going inside, he headed to the rear of the store, grabbing a bottle of orange juice and a package of lunch meat. After scanning the two items through the self-checkout and paying, the sworn womanizer never once wondered where Angie V might have been. As he headed up to the customer service counter, however, she spotted him.
Her heart raced, knowing he would probably come over to her and try to buy some more pussy. Or he would say that the extra cash he’d left on the dresser that evening was a down payment on some more head. But that didn’t happen. He didn’t look in her direction, not once. He handled his business and left straight out of the store. Angie V was relieved she didn’t have to have that scene with him, but still she was confused as to why he hadn’t even bothered to look her way.
“I just sent you some more money to put on the phone and I wrote you a damn dumb-ass note online. So check it out when you can,” Mario told Sasha, who had called on his drive to pick up his carry-out from the restaurant.
“I love you, Mario.” She smiled from ear to ear, finally knowing that although her husband had let her down, he was trying his best to make amends. She had no worries in life, except for of course breaking the news to her older sister that she and Mario were going to try to work things out despite what she was told he had been up to since her incarceration. Sasha had not called her for days on end, and she dreaded reading the letter from Regina that had arrived in mail call earlier.
* * *
Having gotten her children ready for the day, Regina strapped them in their car seats. Ready to make the ride across town, she decided to ride in silence apart from the chatter of her babies. She was not in the mood to hear the radio blasting rap song lyrics about this or that. Regina knew that at a drop of a dime she could be incited. She didn’t want to take a chance on a song coming on that instantly put her in clown mode. At this point she was just doing a drive-by to check on her sister’s house and make sure it was still standing and that Mario had not illegally sold it to the highest bidder.
Only one block away from the house, a strange number flashed across her cell phone screen. Not hiding from anyone, including the bill collectors, Regina answered. It was Kat calling back from yet another random number.
“Hey, sorry about that earlier. My joint ran out of minutes. You know how it is.”
“Naw, honey, you got me twisted. I don’t know how it is.” Regina could only shake her head in denial. “I swear, you young girls kill me. Between you and my sister I don’t know who is the craziest. She in jail for some fool who don’t give a fuck about her and you can’t keep a phone on to save your life.”
Kat laughed. “Fuck all that. I ain’t going to jail for nobody, not even Jesus.”
“I heard that.” Regina laughed back. “Well, me and the kids is right down the street from Sasha’s so I’m about to check it out an
d see what’s good. Holler back at me later. That is, if you can come up on any more minutes,” Regina taunted before hanging up.
Pulling up in front of the house, she was shocked. Regina couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing. The front grass was cut and the weeds were out of the driveway. The water sprinkler was going back and forth full blast as if white people lived there and didn’t care how high the bill would be. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought Sasha was back at home making sure her surroundings were on point.
Regina got out of her vehicle, leaving her now asleep children inside still strapped in their car seats. She made her way around to the rear of the house and was amazed even more. The back grass was cut as well. Propped up against the black plastic garbage can was an empty box that a lawn mower had come in. What in the entire hell?
Regina walked back down the driveway and saw one of her sister’s neighbors watching her every move. She spoke to him and soon found out that Mario had been the one to cut the yard and was taking out the garbage to the curb on time. Regina couldn’t believe her wayward brother-in-law’s actions. From the moment her sister had introduced him, Regina, like their parents, knew Mario was no more than a lowlife opportunistic high school dropout looking for a come up. That nigga is bugging. He must be up to some real shit this time.
Stepping foot on the porch, she saw that all the sales papers, which were piled up in the corner that last time she was there chin checking Mario, were gone. Peeping in the window, the house appeared to be clean. The strong smell of Pine-Sol filled the area. His lazy, no-good ass cleaning and shit. Oh hell naw! I need to talk to my damn sister. I hope she get that letter and call a bitch back, ’cause this shit ain’t right.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A solid month had flown by since Sasha had received the letter her sister mailed. She had read it repeatedly and was at a loss for words. The four-page letter detailed each and every thing that Regina had known Mario to be involved in. While some of his wrongdoings were beyond contempt, others were not as severe.
Around the Way Girls 10 Page 8
