“You tried to sleep with me and you got a baby mama?” I ask while we’re in the kitchen cooking together.
“Nah, ma, not me.” He shrugs, adding the finishing touches to the pico de gallo. “My lil’ bro, Sean the one with baby mamas and shit. This like his 5th baby shower. Now I got some fine ass bitches, but I need me a chick with a fat ass to carry my babies,” he says, pretending to grab my booty.
I laugh. “Boy, you better keep them hands to yaself.”
“Nah, I just had to feel on magical booty for a second.”
I look at him crazy, for a second he reminds me of Lorenzo when we were younger, always, trying his luck. Except, Chuey makes everything seem funny.
“See, I needed to know if you could carry my son. That ass met protocol,” he says, looking down at my fatty again. I almost mentioned that I had his cousin’s son, but I’ve never told a soul about Junior really being Lorenzo’s.
“Check yaself.” I shake my head at his mess, trying not to laugh.
“Well, you got me making all these different salsas.”
“So?” I laugh again.
“Taste this and you won’t be complaining about it.” He puts a chip into my mouth with some salsa that he had put avocados and mangos in.
“Dammmmnnn, you got this, Chuey!” I flirt even more with him as Lorenzo comes into the kitchen. After trying to get my keys, the next morning Lorenzo thought we was cool like that and I’d be sleeping with him. It will be a cold day in hell before I ever sleep with Lorenzo again. I was on a survival tip when I let him hit anyway. And like I said, I really love Renz. Even if I don’t want his crazy ass anymore, I want to keep him safe from my husband’s family.
“What y’all doing, Mommy?” Junior asks as he starts into the kitchen with his baseball glove.
“Getting ready for Sean’s baby shower.”
“Nah, you ain’t having no party over here,” Lorenzo says, grabbing two Gatorade bottles out of the fridge so he and Junior can go outside to practice.
~~~
Hours later, I figure out that this “baby shower” ain’t the kind I’m used to with games and gifts and shit. Some of these hoes came thru with their children! These bitches ain’t got no clothes on so I see why Chuey don’t have a problem throwing his brother a baby shower all the time. As I help Chuey get all the alcohol bottles and put them at the bar, I ask, “I know you know where my phone is. Has my husband called?”
He looks at me for a second and sighs. “Rockwell, you know Lorenzo don’t want you dealing with that right now.”
“Please…” I bite my lip. After all the comedy Chuey can be, he can get serious too.
“Nah,” Chuey says, “Ya dude ain’t called.”
“Texted?” I try not to sound disappointed.
Shit, even Chuey tries to make me feel better by patting my shoulder saying, “Once.”
“What he say?”
“The mark stayin’ out of town for a few more days. Said he’d be back by the end of the week.” He looks me in the eye “C’mon, Rockwell, let’s do a shot for Sean’s new baby. Be happy.”
I frown for a second, his little brother ain’t even here yet. Chuey tells me more flirty jokes and then we start tossing back Patron as the sun goes down. The boys go upstairs when older company comes through. That nigga Trek was one of the first youngbloods my uncle had driving me around, even before Lorenzo. Been out the hood so long that I’m giddy as a kid as I go give him a hug. Then I see his girl, my jaw drops.
The same bitch was in Lorenzo’s room when I came by to tell him I was pregnant. This bitch is half the reason I waited so long to call Renz about being pregnant!
She was good enough to stay the night with Lorenzo, now she’s stepped up to my boy Trek! She tells their son to go upstairs to play with Junior and the rest of the kids then gives me a hug.
“I’m Shamika. Please, don’t get mad,” she whispers in my ear, letting me go.
“Why is that?” I snap. “Trek used to be like an uncle to me so…”
“Because you made an assumption the first and last time you saw me. I was at Lorenzo crib that morning, and y’all was already heated. You know how stubborn Lorenzo is so he didn’t even have me say nothing when it looked like I had spent the night with him. I had. But it wasn’t like that. I had slept in his bed, Lorenzo slept in the living room. Trek was at a funeral out of town. You see, I was pregnant.”
I can’t help to stare at her skinny dreadlocks. Her beautiful dark skin, and sexy lips. Please, this bitch doesn’t want Trek to know her and Lorenzo was getting it in.
“I’ve known Lorenzo just as long as you have,” Shamika says. She links arms with me and we take a trip outside to the pool area. “Lorenzo and I ain’t never got down like that. When you came over to talk to him, Lorenzo was just pissed off. Me being in his bed, prolly had you saying shit you didn’t mean. That had his evil ass saying extra shit that he didn’t mean. Like I said, Trek was out of town for a funeral and didn’t want me to be at home alone due to pregnancy complications.”
My mind keeps trying to add things up, I want Shamika to be real. She had been in Lorenzo’s bed when I came inside the apartment to tell him I was pregnant too. She sat up when I began shouting, the blankets were all around her. I don’t know if this bitch was lying.
“So what kinda relationship y’all got?” I try to piece her words together.
“We just cool with each other Rockwell.” Shamika sighs, but I don’t know what her version of ‘cool’ is.
“Whateva, I’m married.” I fold my arms. She glances at me as if the ring on my finger makes no difference.
“Rocky, I’ve heard all about you when y’all was younger. Lorenzo has mad love for you. Not in the USofA or Colombia or anywhere on this universe has Lorenzo cheated on you.”
Now she’s got me pissed, because one thing I know. Trek was watching out for me when I was a fucking toddler while trying to hang out with my uncle Marcel and his shady ass. Trek wouldn’t be fucking around with a foul bitch. And if Shamika has known about me so long, she knows about Renz going back and forth from Colombia when I turned seventeen.
Lorenzo didn’t cheated. In the past, I would always go off on him for being gone from me so long. I kept telling myself it was his hustle and not another bitch, but seeing Shamkia in his bed. That had me blowing up. That day, Lorenzo had the nerve to say I’d been cheating on him. So, I don’t even know what the fuck that was about.
So… we both hadn’t cheated.
“Gotta get me another drink.” I hurry up from the couch and head by all the twerking bodies to the wet bar.
I think back to the few times I’ve caught Raphael with naked cell phone pictures or the times he sneakily answers his phone. In my heart, I knew he was cheating since we got married. Shit, I began this relationship with him lying about Junior being his. But Lorenzo? What if my worries were just insecurities, as Shamika explained it so rationally. At the time, I was getting attention from a few Italian designers, that meant I was having a heart time managing my attention between my own damn hustle and Renz. But my bae was giving me mad love. When he wasn’t in Colombia, Lorenzo was right there with me. Going to fashion events that weren’t his style. Listening to my latest design ideas. Hell, one time I tried to use him as a manikin but my nigga is so hard, that was the only way I had crossed the line. Renz had been my rock, my number one fan.
But when I was in college, I knew Lorenzo wasn’t working for Marcel, but I knew he was being shady. Looking around this crib, I can’t tell how well he’s done with whatever the fuck he’s been up to. But really, my dude was hustlin’ and not fuckin’ no hoes?
“Sup, shawty?” says one of the dudes at the bar. He pours me a shot. Instead of taking it, I pick up the bottle and down it.
“You finna be bent.” He smiles as if that means I’m easy.
I look over and there’s a hoe dancing for Lorenzo, so I guzzle down some more. When I turn back around, they’ve disappeared. Then Chuey int
roduces me to three of his hoes. These bitches are either too stupid to know about the function, or they don’t care. Each and every one of his chicks are beautiful. Sean introduces me to his beautiful pregnant baby mama, and a few more baby mamas. Then I’m back at the bar wondering how long Lorenzo will be gone. The next thing I know, Nacho and Elisha are here with Bryson.
Elisha tells her nephew to go upstairs like all the rest, then she looks at me.
“Not tonight,” I wave her ass off, feeling too good to argue.
“Whatchu mean not-tonight?” her hands go into the air. “We can get down! Kids upstairs.”
“Don’t feel like hearing ya mouth, E!” My head is already spinning.
“Fuck talking, let’s get down then!”
“Okay, booboo,” I charge at her. A sea of people move back as we start tearing into each other. Now what the fuck was I thinking? Elisha has taken out some bitches tryna jump me way back in middle school, so why the hell am I rolling around on the floor fighting her. I can’t fight. Jesus take the wheel. Then we’re both yanked up, Trek has me and Chuey has her.
“Pump ya breaks. Rocky you too smashed to be gassed up,” he tells me. “Y’all asses need to turn the fuck down!”
Awhile later somehow me and Elisha end up in the kitchen together. Or maybe it’s Elisha’s funky ass followed me in here because I was leaning against the granite counter feeling like I was on an imaginary seesaw when she appeared. I throw the bowl of chips at her and she throws salsa at me. Bowls shatter and break and we keep going for food on the table until I trip in some salsa.
“Bitch, that’s why you need to stop wearing heels,” Elisha laughs and then I do too. We end up with our backs to the wall. She pulls out a blunt, “You got a light?”
“Nah, Elisha.” I give her the side eye.
“Yo’ ass ain’t ever got no light.” We both laugh.
A dark skinned chick with a banging shape comes into the room. I remember Chuey introduced us, but can’t remember her name, since he introduced about five chicks back to back. She looks at me then Elisha, and then starts out.
“Aye, Octavia, gimme a light.” Elisha calls after her.
The girl smiles, pulls a lighter out and tosses it Elisha’s way.
“Good looking out,” Elisha uses it real quick, and throws it back. Octavia grabs the bag of chips on second thought and is out the door.
“Trick, you got some lil’ punch ‘ems,” she chuckles.
“Nah, fuck that. You didn’t even try to kill me,” I say as she hands it over. Never hit the blunt before, but today anything goes.
“Kiss it slowly,” she tells me, but I suck the hell out of it. I’m worried about Lorenzo being murked by the Italians, my lying about Junior’s paternity, and why the fuck me and my nigga aren’t together over a misunderstanding. The toxic air burns my throat and makes my lungs flop. A hacking cough takes over me.
“Bitch, I told you to be easy.” She shakes her head. “Hit it again.”
After reaching up to grab a bottle water off the counter. I open it, down half the bottle then throw it across the room. We laugh again. Then I hit the blunt one more time. My head lays back on the cabinets and a mellow feeling creeps over me.
Man, I thought the weed would make me forget life, but now I’m talking. “Girl, I’m so sorry ‘bout Tee Tee, Elisha. I’m so fuckin’ sorry about him.”
“Why you ain’t come to the funeral then?” Elisha’s shaded eyes are still mad, but she takes a hit of the blunt. “Nah, see after yo’ daddy died, I came around. Tried to talk to you. Didn’t even feel comfortable around that lame you went and married, but tried to come ‘round every couple of days to check on you. And, bitch you live almost two hours away!”
“I know, E. I fucked up. Tee Tee was a good man,” I pat her shoulder.
“Man that shit don’t cut it,” she replies with tears in her eyes. “You was there at the hospital and shit, acting like you gave a fuck right after the drive by, then you just stopped caring!”
“You wanna know why I didn’t come to the funeral.” Hitting this shit got me wide the fuck open even though I can’t feel my face. “Elisha, I had my face bashed in, swollen as fuck. That’s why I didn’t come around. True story. Is that reason enough, E?”
“Rockwell! Who the hell hit you?” She looks me straight in the eye. “Your husband did that to you? That bitch ass cracker never wanted me to come around! Raphael hit you?”
Shit, I can barely speak. “Nah, that muthafucka didn’t just hit me. I couldn’t come to a funeral, sunglasses wouldn’t have did shit to cover it, at least I don’t think so. He was mad, saying I had wasted my potential and blew all those contracts in Italy, when we moved back to Illinois. I was depressed about my daddy, didn’t give Raphael any attention back then. We had come home and his mom, Tamms, had given me a puppy. She knew I was depressed about my dad just dying. One day, I came home and Raphael asked if I loved my golden retriever more than him,” I stop speaking as my voice breaks. No matter how scared I’ve ever been of Lorenzo, it’s because I know my nigga murders people. Even though I’ve always known, Renz wouldn’t put a fucking hand on me.
I sniffle back tears. “Raphael had my puppy in his hands. Raph’ was holding him by the neck, asking who I loved more. Him or the pup as he started choking him out. I told that muthafucka about himself. I told Raph’ that he was my rebound dude, and I only married him because the nigga I loved was… man, I loved that dog,” I pause, throat so heavy. “After Raphael snapped my pups neck, he came after me. He just snapped.” I shrug.
“Aw, hell nah! I was tryna be there for you. Why you ain’t tell me?”
“And have you go busting on Raphael? And have his family go busting on you?”
“Shiddd, think I give a fuck about them Sica’s. Nah, we go back too far.” Tears stream down her cheeks, “You was all alone. No dad. Marcel dead. Shit, that’s why you were depressed. Everybody on the set didn’t fuck witchu no more because we thought you got married and became bougie. And I hated you. Thinking this bitch too good for us now! Shit I believed the bullshit. Why you didn’t tell me? Let’s go.”
“Where,” I stand as she snatches up my hand.
“We gon’ tell Lorenzo. We gon’ kill that muthafucka.”
“Un-uhn Elisha. It’s the past. All my dudes are dead. Your nigga, Tee Tee gone. My uncle, Big Bo… All my Marcel’s crew is ghost. Besides, Raphael has never hit me since. Shit, you know my mouth. I’m surprised Renz never been upside my head–and I’ve told this nigga worse shit when angry. So don’t worry about me.”
“That’s your problem. Now days you just wanna handle shit yaself. But we family.”
“Me and you are family. We ain’t fixin’ to run up on my husband.” I look down at myself. Shit Elisha a beast, but I’m far from it.
Elisha’s chest his heaving like she’s ready to get down. She continues with, “Lorenzo–”
“E! That ain’t my Renz. We ain’t the fam no mo’.” We sink back onto the floor and puff puff pass. When all there is as roach left, I let Elisha handle that. I’m good as long as my girl got my back again.
Chapter 13
TRINIDAD
“…Handle that. And I mean as soon as the mark touches down in the Illi,” Lorenzo orders. The party music is barely audible down here in the basement. I think it’s Yeezy maybe 2 Chainz. And if Lorenzo didn’t look so fine heated, I’d pull out my gun and blast his ass for caring so much about that bitch. He continues, “Don’t give a fuck if the cracker is in Chi Town, I know that bitch ass simp ain’t coming to Hoover.”
I’m fuckin’ pissed as I stand here with my goons, listening to Lorenzo talk about digging in on Raphael. That shit ain’t what we’re about. If it ain’t about pushing Santiago’s muthafuckin’ rock, then why do we gotta do something? If he doesn't care about Rockwell–like he acts half the time– what the fuck does he care when her husband gets active on her ass?
I glare through Octavia as she sits on Chuey’s lap, she
said she overheard Elisha and Rocky’s convo after fighting. This bitch just unconsciously told me whose side she was on. As Lorenzo pops off at the mouth, I’m stone cold pissed. I have done too much to get us where we are and now as he paces back and forth, giving orders like his bitch is the reason why the crew is together, like she that fucking special, hell! Did I say I’m pissed?
I slip out the room, thinking about how Octavia got hours left to live. And go to clean up all the mess Rockwell made in the kitchen. I ain’t no house bitch but cleaning up something will keep me from taking my gun and bustin’ that bitch straight in the mouth.
Like I’ve said, I’ve played my role too damn well when it comes to Lorenzo. I strung out this nigga’s sister, Blu, all because I loved him. Man, I wanted the best for Lorenzo. Always had, always will.
But with Lorenzo taking over all the big cities in New York and snatching up Miami for Santiago, I wanted my baby next to me.
So what did I do? Like I said, tragedy brings people together. It brought my momma around to me after daddy died and I got tired of the niggas she would bring home, who would conveniently end up in my bed when she was asleep. And it brought Lorenzo to Hoover when my request sent a drive-by on my nigga’s bestie, Popeye. Really didn’t mean to kill Tee Tee, he was cool. Ain’t my problem he always hung out with Popeye after Lorenzo left. Anyway, niggas get bodied out here on a daily so what can I say?
Lorenzo was supposed to come back from Colombia and help Blu get set up at home, with her new baby and all of that. The Medina’s put family first. He came home, but the muthafucka didn’t take me with him when he left again.
But, back to Blu and turning her out. The thing is when chicks are all super sad, they are easy to manipulate. So here I was a good friend to Blu and had her gullible ass falling for that rock. I had come by with a fat ass blunt laced real nicely, just for her.
Now Lorenzo comes back every time this crackheaded ass hoe runs off somewhere. He takes me with him, sometimes when he leaves tho, which is good.
Loving a Colombian Cartel Thug Page 7
