“Seems like every time we try to go somewhere together they look at you and keep me waiting on the outside of the door. I’m starting to think you’re bad luck.”
Ming laughed and said, “Ming has made you a millionaire, just by her affiliation alone. If anything you’re bad luck.”
When Bricks came to the door he seemed shocked to see her there. He partially stepped into the hallway and used his foot to hold the door open. “What up, Yvonna? I thought we were meeting at my party tomorrow. Is Yao here or something?” He asked looking down the hall only to see Onik who was grilling him with evil stares.
“No. Yao’s not here, Bricks. I came to talk to you. Can I come in?” She moved toward the door.
“It’s not a good time, Squeeze.” He said calling her by the nickname he’d given her years earlier. He blocked her entry. “I got company.”
Yvonna swallowed hard and said, “But you told me nobody before me. That whenever I needed you, you’d be there? Now I’m at your hotel door, miles away from home and you turn me away? Is what you told me a lie?”
Bricks looked down at his feet, opened the door wide and said, “Alright…come in.”
When Yvonna walked in with Ming closely behind her, she had a smile on her face having gotten her way until she saw Carmen and her two friends sitting on the sofa with Tina, Melvin and now Kelsi. None of which cared for her very much.
“I got my eyes on you, Yvonna! I’m watching your every move!” Melvin said.
“Kick rocks, Melvin!” Yvonna replied. Then she turned her attention to Carmen, who looked better now than she did the last time she saw her in the hospital, on the day Swoopes shot Bricks. “I see you’ve flown your Georgia branch ass all the way here from Atlanta. What, there wasn’t any more cotton to pick, bitch?”
“Georgia peach, baby.” Carmen corrected her. Her voice was seductive and sensual, even when she was mad. “And I was flown out here by special request.”
That hurt. “Why aren’t you somewhere fucking Urban Greggs? I seen your groupie like behavior in the lobby earlier today.”
Carmen smiled. “Just a fan meeting the champ. Ain’t nothing wrong with that now is it?”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said tiring of her already. “Bricks what the fuck is she doing here? I thought I told you I ain’t want you banging with this whore no more! Anybody but her, baby!”
“Bitch, you can’t tell him who to be with.”
Yvonna felt heat creep up her body. And then she saw Gabriella. “I don’t know why you just don’t kill this chick right where she stands.” Gabriella whispered closely in her ear. “Gank this bitch and get it over with. And Bricks too for that matter.”
Trying to do what Yao asked, by staying out of trouble she said, “Bricks, can I please talk to you in private? Please. Before I hurt this bitch.”
“Yeah, come to my room.”
“Don’t keep me waiting out here long,” Carmen said. “I came all this way to see you, and I’m not going to let her take that from me again.”
Fed up, Yvonna walked toward her and said, “Bitch, you’ll get him back when I release my leash off his neck!” Carmen and her friends stood on guard, while Ming watched to see which bitch she could cut first.
“Hold up, the fuck you just say?” Bricks asked. “What type shit you talking about? Leash on my neck.”
“I’m sorry, baby,” she said realizing she’d gone too far.
“Girl, this bitch is trying it! When Me-Me come we rolling out of here before we hurt somebody.” One of her friends interrupted.
Ming flicked a knife Yvonna didn’t even know she had. “Ming wishes one of you bitches would make a move.” They all looked at the short but feisty girl. “Ming has access to twenty Chinese men in that hallway who could bury all of you with a wave of her thumb. Who’s first?”
“Who is Ming?” one of Carmen’s friends asked, not use to someone referring to themselves in third person.
“ME BITCH!” They all sat down.
“Yvonna,” Bricks said grabbing her by the arm, “come into my room. So we can talk. Alone.”
“I’m sick of her shit.” Yvonna looked at Carmen ready to dig a grave and bury her. “She don’t even know who the fuck I…”
“You came to see me,” he whispered putting his hand softly on her lower back, “now let’s talk. Come with me.”
“Okay,” she said calming at his touch. Ming followed behind them until Yvonna said, “Girl, stay out here! You following me closer than a bloody pad.”
“You leave me out here with all of them?” She pointed.
“You’ll be fine, girl. They won’t eat you. And even if they do don’t act like you won’t like it.” Ming smiled momentarily relishing the horny thought.
Yvonna disappeared into the room with Bricks and the smell of his cologne made her weak. Not to mention he was so fucking handsome it was ridiculous.
When the door closed Bricks said, “Don’t ever tell somebody you got some shit around my neck.”
“Sorry.” She said under her breath. “I went too far.”
“Fuck all that,” he paused, “You got me alone now what’s up, Squeeze?”
She sat on the bed and he sat next to her. I can’t believe after all these years, we still haven’t fucked. She thought. Trying to maintain some control she decided to talk business. “Yao is coming tomorrow around six. We can meet with him before your party if that’s okay with you.”
“It’s fine, now is there anything else? I got company.”
“Uh…how was your flight over?”
“Cool.”
“Really?” She asked with raised eyebrows. “Because we had a lot of turbulence and Ming was terrified. She had to rub my titties most of the way over here. She said it was the only way she could calm down…”
“Yvonna?” He interrupted her, touching her softly on the shoulder.
“Yes, baby?” She inhaled, breathing him in. Realizing the way she said ‘baby’ expressed too much emotion, she tried to toughen up and said, “I mean…what’s up?”
“Do you wanna tell me something else?”
“Something like what?” She said staring into his eyes.
“You tell me. You say you had something to talk to me about. Now that we alone you ain’t saying nothing.”
Feeling backed in a corner she decided to keep it one hundred. “Why…I mean…what is that girl doing here? You know she’s just a user, Bricks. You don’t need nobody like that around you. I mean, long distance relationships don’t work anyway…you know that. Why don’t you get rid of her?” She paused. “You want me to kill her for you?”
“What?” He asked shocked at her question.
“I’m just playing,” she lied.
Still getting over her question he said, “Me and Carmen not together, Yvonna. So don’t worry about that.”
Slightly relieved she grew arrogant. “I’m not worried about shit. You can do whatever you want.”
He laughed having seen her true feelings and said, “I know you not worried, but since you asked, my brother hooked that up and she came through. You know everybody was going to be in Vegas for the fight anyway.”
“Is she staying here? With you?”
“Squeeze, you haven’t grilled me this much in years.” And then he was silent. “Or maybe before Carmen, you didn’t have anything to grill me about.”
“Boy, please, half the bitches in DC wanna fuck you. Including Quita, and don’t think I don’t know.”
“You right. But we both know loving and fucking is two totally different things. Yeah, I found my way through a pussy or two back home, but I’m a nigga. Shit, I got needs and you not fucking me.” Then he looked at her as if he could eat her alive. “I want nothing more than to be with you, shawty. But I’m sick of the fuckin’ games you play. I mean…you want a nigga or what?”
“What games?”
“The ones you playing now,” He paused. “I know what it really is, you scared of losing me.”
Her words hurt him and the air could be seen leaving his body. “Aight, then” he said shaking his head, “well if that’s the case, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Yvonna stood up and tried to relieve herself of the sinking feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. She said the wrong thing and had accomplished nothing by coming to the man’s room. Truth be told, she loved Bricks…more than she loved any man before, including Bilal.
Yvonna walked to the door and said, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” And then in an effort to pick a fight she said, “You never loved me anyway.”
He threw her up against the door and raised his shirt. Five bullet holes covered his chest. “I took these for you, and never, not once brought it up until now. Now tell me again I don’t wanna be with you, and I bet I fuck you up.”
She shook him off and said, “That don’t mean shit. Just that you can’t dodge a bullet.”
He laughed a little. “I’ma eat that.” She turned for the door again, “Squeeze.” Facing the door she smiled. “I mean, Yvonna.” The smile was gone. “If you keep it real with me, about how you feel, I’ll keep it real with you.”
She still didn’t face him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m ready to be your man, baby. But you gotta stop running from me, because I ain’t chasing you no more.”
She examined the ridges in the door, unable to keep it real with him. “Bricks, please stop acting like…”
“Do you hear me, I’m not chasing you no more, Yvonna.” She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “But I’m telling you right now, that I still love you even after all these years. But you gotta let me take care of you like I told you I would back at my house. And you gotta start trusting me. I waited five years for you. Never gave you no shit ‘bout nothing you did, including living with the nigga Terrell. But now, baby,” he said massaging her shoulders, “I want a woman in my life, I’m almost forty years old. But you gotta ask yourself if you’re ready for me to be your man. Are you?”
Yvonna turned around and said, “It’s obvious you don’t know me like I thought you did, Bricks. ‘Cause love don’t live here. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that she turned around and walked out the door. Bricks stayed in the room for a second, needing a minute to get himself together. She succeeded at fucking his mind up again.
When she walked into the living room part of the suite, she saw Ming flicking her silver lighter, sitting behind the couch in a dining room chair.
“That was quick,” Carmen said as her friends laughed.
“Fuck you!”
Carmen laughed as everyone focused their attention back on the TV. And in that moment, Yvonna’s eyes roamed to Carmen’s long jet-black hair, which was hanging off the back of the couch. Being next to her hair when Ming saw Yvonna’s gaze she grinned. Without saying words, Ming knew what she wanted her to do. So on the way out the door, Ming flicked the lighter again and put the flame on the bottom of Carmen’s hair, setting her long black mane on fire.
They were all the way in the hallway when she heard Carmen’s scream followed by, “I’MA GET YOU, BITCH! I’MA GET BOTH OF YOU!!!!!”
Sin City
Yvonna
The casino was busy with every walk of life imaginable. The Cha-Ching sound of the slot machines resonated in the background and Yvonna tried to clear her mind. Finally she was alone but getting the “Me Time” she so desperately desired wasn’t easy because at first Ming was having none of it. Afraid Yvonna was going to meet some men with friends and she’d miss out. That was until she said her ass looked flat in the jeans she was wearing and that if she wanted some dick, she had better go change her clothes.
Anger over Carmen being in town had rubbed her all sorts of raw. She hated that bitch more than anything and would’ve murdered her there if it hadn’t been for the witnesses who would’ve loved to sit in a court of law and point narrow fingers in her direction.
Yvonna’s mind was heavy. Because after taking a heavy dose of what she considered to be rejection from Bricks, she didn’t want to talk to anybody, not even her best friend. She was so use to niggas fighting crazily for her, that when a man actually said the words ‘I want to be your man’, she brushed it off as weak and meaningless.
On the way to a slot machine, some girl talking on the phone bumped into her knocking her to the drab carpet. Yvonna’s diamond earring fell from her ear and her MCM purse was knocked from her arm.
“I’m so sorry,” the girl said.
The girl helped Yvonna up and handed her back the MCM bag off the floor along with her earring. Yvonna saw the girl, but for some reason, her eyes focused on a man in the corner, off to the side. He seemed to be intently watching her and the scene.
“Bitch, next time watch where the fuck you walking.” Yvonna said putting her earring back on. “Stupid ass huzzy!”
The woman frowned. “Whatever, bitch. I was trying to help you out.” She stomped away.
Yvonna still angry at the world, sat down at a quarter slot machine and put her card into the entry hole, which had ten thousand dollars worth of gambling money on it. She was on her fifteenth pull and was winning some but losing most. In the end all she really wanted to do was fuck Bricks and tell him how much she loved him, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to.
When her phone buzzed she looked at the text. It was Terrell. ‘I really hope we can spend some time together, like you promised. Otherwise I came out of here for nothing.’ She frowned and threw the phone back in her purse.
On her second drink, it dawned on her that Onik was not following her. In fact, Onik was not outside of Brick’s room when she and Ming left in a hurry after burning Carmen’s hair. Where had he gone?
Looking around the casino, she wondered if anybody else had a life as fucked up as hers. And when she looked to her left, she saw a man and a woman, butt ass naked on the casino floor fucking. When she closed her eyes and opened them again, they were fucking doggie style and the woman was drinking a martini from a shoestring.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She said rubbing her temples. “This is not happening!”
Again the psychiatrist’s voice played in her mind. “But always, always, take your medicine. If you don’t your mind will convince you of the most absurd things and you’ll find yourself in the craziest situations.”
“You winning much?” A pretty chocolate colored girl said sitting next to her waking her out of the freak fest before her eyes. When she looked at the place where the couple was fucking, this time they were gone. Still tripping off of the scene, when she focused on the girl next to her she wondered if she was real.
In one second Yvonna peeped her black Giuseppe heels and new Gucci purse, which came out two weeks ago. “I was down here earlier and ain’t win shit.” The girl continued. “Please tell me you doing better than me.”
“I just got here, too,” Yvonna said, not up for company. “But I’m a sure shot so I’m sure I’ll win something.”
The girl laughed. “The name’s Satori.” She extended her pink colored minx nails. “Your name?”
“Yvonna.” She said turning her rude neck to focus back on the slot machine.
“Well, Yvonna,” the girl dropped her hand, “you look like you just lost your best friend. I wouldn’t happen to be right now would I?”
“No, unfortunately for me my best friend is upstairs trying to find some jeans to make her ass look phatter than it already is,” she laughed.
“I heard that. So…what brings you here? Business or pleasure?” Satori bet back the small winnings she had just earned on her slot machine.
“Well, let’s see, I was here to exterminate someone for my boss, and mediate a drug deal between him and the man I love. But as time passes, I think the only reason I came was to lose the man I love and be humiliated in the process.”
Yvonna thought the information she gave her would be too heavy, but Satori didn’t seem phased. “Well, did you tell the man you love that you love him?”
“So nothing I just said shocked you?”
“Look, I’ve learned to never ask a question I wasn’t willing to hear the answer to.”
“I like you,” Yvonna said opening up more, “But no, I couldn’t tell him. I had my chance but my pride forced me to let the opportunity slide by.”
“Why didn’t you take it?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “It’s like this,” she paused, “I’m bad luck.”
“Bad luck?”
“Very bad luck…every man who has ever loved me has died or been murdered. I know for a fact, that if I give him the time of the day, and take the relationship seriously, that he’d be next. In my mind I’m keeping him safe.” A single tear fell from her eyes. “I just…I just I love him sooo much.” Yvonna was shocked at her heart-felt confession; she didn’t realize that it was always easier to admit your feelings to a complete stranger.
“I know what you need to do.”
“What?”
“You need to change your train of thought. You have to work on being a good person and loving those around you. Love conquers all. If you don’t, and this is a promise,” she paused, “things in your life will get worse before they get any better. It’s law.”
“Law?”
“Yes…the law of attraction. Basically it says that which is likened to itself is drawn. In your mind you know bad things will happen, so by law it has to happen.”
“What are you, some ghetto self proclaimed profit?”
“No. I’m just someone who finally gets life.” She says pulling the lever on the machine again. “I know now that I can be rich, happy and treat people well all at once without sacrificing a thing. I’m kinda living my dream.”
Shyt List 4: Children of the Wronged (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 5
