When Loyalty Dies, So Does Love

by Dorothy Brown-Newton

  “Should’ve known better than to hear your lies. Should’ve known you would only make me cry. Should’ve known you were too good to be true. Should’ve known I was too good for you.” My voice started cracking; I couldn’t believe I was standing there, pouring my heart out through a song. What had started off as cute had led to me crying my eyes out. The lyrics to the song were the truth.

  And you know what they say, I thought. The truth hurts. I really did feel like a fool for loving him.

  “Tash, don’t cry. I love you. Please, give me one more chance. Please.” He got down on one knee and finished off the lyrics. “I don’t really wanna say bye bye. There’s so many reasons why. I don’t ever wanna lose ya love, baby.”

  He made me smile through my tears, because he sounded horrible. Yes, he was corny, but I loved him, so through my tears and all, I told my man I was riding with him. We made love right there on the kitchen floor. That was sort of our pinkie promise to each other.

  Turk

  I had been trying to reach Tasha to see if we could link up before I left to go out of town, but she still had yet to answer. Against my better judgment, I texted her. She responded and said she would meet me at the Starbucks over on Columbus Avenue. Meeting at the Starbucks wasn’t what I had in mind. I wanted some pussy before I left to see my cousin and get rid of these bricks, but since I hadn’t seen Tasha in a minute, I agreed.

  Tasha got there, looking good enough to eat. Her body demanded attention, and that was exactly what she was receiving from all the lunch goers, who all looked to be lawyer-type dudes with their thugged-out clients, whose pants hung off their asses. If they knew what I knew, they would know they didn’t have a chance with a woman like her. Tasha sashayed over to the table I had chosen. I was sure she was used to this type of attention; she took it all in stride. She reached over and kissed me on the cheek. The cheek? Really?

  “Hey, Turk. What is your urgent need to see me all about?”

  “You haven’t reached out, and you weren’t responding to any of my calls, so I wanted to make sure you were all right. You are under the same roof as a murderer.”

  “I’m fine. Rellz wouldn’t hurt me, and I decided to work on my relationship with him.”

  Did she really just come out and say this shit like it was okay? No, she didn’t just have me commit the ultimate betrayal by robbing my brother for her ass, and now she was jumping ship to be with him and not me, like she had promised. Bitches.

  “Are you fucking serious? This nigga cheats on your ass every chance he gets, and then you rob the nigga. Do you think that he will still want to be with you once he finds out the truth?”

  “And who’s going to tell him? You’re the only man he trusts with his life, so tell me, how are you going to explain your part in all of this?”

  “Trust that Rellz would never believe I did some bullshit like this to him. What would I gain? We are equal partners in this game. You have until I get back to leave my man, or he will know the truth.”

  With that said, I got up and left her ass there to think about what I had said. The nerve of her ass. I was pissed and wanted to snap her fucking neck. I was already behind schedule from trying to see her ass, and then she hit me with this bullshit. I jumped on I-95, headed south. Just as I lit my much-needed stress reliever, I was being pulled over. “Shit.” I put the blunt out and sprayed some of the air freshener I kept in the car.

  These motherfuckers didn’t even ask me for my license and registration; they just ordered me out of the car, handcuffed me, and placed me in the back of the police car. They began searching my car, but I was cool, because they would never find what I was hiding. My being cool was short lived, as a few minutes later, another vehicle pulled up and out came two drug dogs. This shit had setup all over it, and I knew exactly who the culprit was.

  I was fucked. My only chance of getting out of this was to call Rellz, but what would he think once he found out what I had been arrested for and what they had found? Fuck it. I needed him to get our lawyer, Perkins, on this job. I would just have to face Rellz once I got released. These white fucking officers had no right searching my car, let alone bringing in drug dogs. Tasha had better hope like hell I didn’t get out of here.

  Tasha

  As soon as Turk left, I got on my phone and called 911. I sounded like a concerned citizen when I reported that I had just seen a drug deal go down in the parking lot of the Starbucks over on Columbus. I told them that the car was leaving and was heading toward I-95. I gave a description of the car and a description of Turk from top to bottom. He had some fucking nerve threatening me. Even if he decided to tell Rellz everything from behind bars about my role, he was still going to rot, because once Rellz found out Turk had betrayed him, Turk could forget about all connections. So either way, it was a no-win situation for his ass. And what proof did he have inside the walls to implicate me? I drove back to the house. As soon as I walked through the foyer, I could see Rellz pacing back and forth, talking to himself.

  “Babe, what’s wrong?” I asked with concern in my voice.

  “This nigga Turk got locked up, so I sent Perkins down there just to find out his ass had got locked up with fifteen bricks on him.”

  “Babe, are you serious? Why the fuck would he be carrying all that weight?”

  “Shit. The question is, where did he get fifteen fucking bricks from? Pickup isn’t until next week, and that’s a cash pickup, so I’m smelling bullshit right now.”

  “Oh, my God, Rellz. You don’t think he had something to do with the robbery, do you?”

  “Shit just don’t add up. I get sixteen bricks taken from my stash house. According to Turk, one shows up at your girl’s hotel room, and now his ass gets knocked with fifteen bricks in his possession. Fuck.” Rellz slammed his hand down on the glass bar, shattering the glass. I jumped. I was shaken right now, so I put some distance between us before I asked my next question.

  “Do you think he set my friends up, or were they all in this together? I just can’t believe this shit. Not Turk, who I love like a brother.”

  I was laying it on thick. He was now fixing himself a drink and yelling that if he found out that Turk had crossed him, Turk was getting bodied, brother or no brother. I could tell he was hurt, so I went upstairs to give him some time to himself.

  Mom called to say that my dad wasn’t feeling well, and that she needed me to take him to the hospital—just the distraction I needed. I really didn’t want to leave Rellz, in case Turk called and tried to tell him some bullshit, but I didn’t want to be around to watch him stress. I had to go, anyway, because my sister, Tressa, couldn’t take my dad to the hospital, because she had no one to watch her children. For my mother to call her, it had to be an emergency, so without second-guessing the situation, I knew I had to take my dad. I went looking for Rellz; he was sitting on the balcony, having a drink and smoking.

  “Babe, are you going to be okay? Mom called and said Dad’s not feeling well. She needs me to come take him to the hospital.”

  “Yeah, I’m cool. Go take care of Pops, and give me a call and let me know if you need me.”

  I kissed him on the lips, grabbed his keys, and left.

  Rellz

  I couldn’t for the life of me stop thinking about Turk. If it was true that my brother had robbed me, I really would not accept any excuses from him, because we were equals. I had no more than he had, so none of this shit was making sense to me right now. I had yet to speak to him, and every time I thought about it, I got mad all over again. I called Perkins to see if he had seen my brother yet and to see what was going on. He said he was just about to call me. Turk had been granted no bail and no visitation right now because he was in the custody of the feds, and they basically did what they wanted.

  He advised me to have no contact with Turk, because the Feds would look into my doings, and those of anyone else who was associated with Turk, for that type of bust. He also told me that he had advised Turk to refrain from contacting
me and had insisted that any messages would have to go through him. I got off the phone and sat down on the couch, lost in my thoughts. A minute later my phone alerted me that I had a text message. I knew it was Rena, but I had told her ass I wasn’t fucking with her anymore. If she needed anything for my daughter, she was to let me know, and I would have someone drop it off to her. I was finally going to try to do right by Tasha. She was my ride or die, and I loved her and missed what we had had. I was going to spend the rest of my days making it up to her.

  Tasha

  Dad’s blood pressure was up and he was experiencing shortness of breath due to an upper respiratory infection. Because of his medical history and age, they decided to admit him to the hospital. Once he was given a room and was comfortable, Mom and I left the hospital. During the ride to Mom’s house, she was really quiet. I knew she was worried about him, so I told her to try not to worry and assured her that he would be fine, that he was a strong man. I really had to start visiting them more. Mom had told me that lately she had been having trouble getting him to take his medication. I made sure Mom got in the house safely before I pulled off and headed home.

  Rellz was laid out on the sofa with his eyes closed when I walked inside the house. I knew he wasn’t sleeping, because of his breathing rhythm. I sat on the edge of the sofa and kissed his lips. He opened his eyes, and I could see the stress in them. I felt really bad.

  “Babe, how you feeling?” I said.

  “I’m cool. How’s your dad doing?”

  “He’s doing okay. They’re keeping him overnight because his blood pressure was up and he has an upper respiratory infection. Mom also said she has been having trouble getting him to take his medication. I feel bad that I’m not involved more.”

  “Maybe we could get him a visiting nurse or a private caretaker to help your mom when you’re not there.”

  “That sounds like a good idea, but you know I have to run it by Mom first. You know how she is about having strangers in her house,” I replied.

  “Well, I don’t know about all that, but I do know how she is about having me in her house. Anyway, when your dad gets better, I want you and me to take a mini vacation. Just me and you.”

  He pulled me into him, kissed me while holding me tight. I decided to help him release some of his stress, being that I was the cause of it. As I tugged at his jeans, he lifted up to assist me with removing them. His manhood was standing at attention as my mouth watered. I looked at his thick, chocolate, smooth, and silky-to-the-touch dick. I licked around the head a few times, teasing him, as he let out soft moans. I made sure my mouth was nice and wet. As I took all of him in, he grabbed my head, pumped all his frustrations out with his dick. I played with his balls as I felt him getting to the point of release, but I wasn’t ready for him to bust just yet. I removed his dick from my mouth and began caressing it with my hand. I played musical balls with my mouth as I sucked from one ball to the other. I was driving him crazy as I jerked him off.

  We both stood naked as the day we were born as I leaned over the sofa and he went into beast mode, beating up my pussy. I was no slouch as I matched him stroke for stroke, throwing it back. I tightened my pussy muscles on his ass. I had his ass in here making screeching sounds. It sounded like a car screeching to a stop after the driver stomped on the brakes. I laughed to myself. Yeah, I got that ass good. He must have felt some kind of way and needed to get control back, as he flipped me on my back and placed both legs on his shoulders, then punished my pussy with no remorse.

  “I don’t see that smirk you had before. Talk shit now,” he said, smiling.

  I couldn’t say anything as I tried not to let him see he had made his point. I wasn’t going to be able to sit for days. Just when I thought he was going to let up, he put my ass in the scissor position and killed the pussy. I was taking it even though my head was starting to hurt, because as he was banging my pussy, my head was hitting the sofa with each stroke. I wasn’t going to tell him that his fuck game was hurting, because it was feeling so good.

  * * *

  My sister called me a few days later to tell me that she was giving my brother a welcome home party. He was being released from prison next month, and she wanted to do it up big, which meant she wanted me to fund the party, because her ass sure didn’t have any money. I wanted to tell her to kiss my ass, and I was itching to ask the bitch why hadn’t she been to the hospital to visit Daddy, but I didn’t feel like being fed the bullshit. I told her we could start making plans next week sometime, once I made sure everything was good with Daddy. All she had to say was, “Okay. Let me know when you’re ready.” Not once did she ask if Dad was going to be okay.

  Sometimes I didn’t know about my sister. Granted, she was my half sister. We had different mothers, but that shouldn’t matter. He was still her father. Our brother who was coming home was actually my half brother, Jason, but he and my sister both had the same mom. Yeah, my dad was a rolling stone. Just like in the song “Papa was Rolling Stone,” “wherever he laid his hat was his home.”

  My mom, being the woman she was, accepted my dad as her man, so she accepted his children as well. She treated them like her own. Jason and my blood brother, Kane, received care packages from my mom every month. Jason was being released next month, and Kane, the following month. They were codefendants in a robbery. They had both been found guilty and had been sentenced to four years. Jason was twenty and Kane was twenty-two, so that said a lot about my dad. Not to mention that Tressa and I were ten months apart. We had all been raised under the same roof because the mother of Jason, my other half brother, Tron, and Tressa was killed when her children were only five, three, and one year old. So all that half-brother and half-sister stuff really meant nothing to us. We considered ourselves brothers and sisters.

  Tron’s ass would never see the streets again; he was doing a life sentence with no parole for the murder of his son’s mom’s new boyfriend, who had molested his son, Jahlil, at the age of two. Even though in a lot of people’s eyes, justice was served and Tron’s actions were justified, the law stated that the murder was premeditated because Tron had set out to do bodily harm and had murdered him in his home. So, as you see, my family had been through a lot, but since I’d been with Rellz, I felt like some type of normalcy had been added to my life again.

  Rellz was out handling some business, so I headed out to pick up my mom so that we could go visit my dad. I couldn’t stay long, because Rellz was finally taking me to get a new ride. We had donated the old one to a program that social services had for working moms in need of transportation.

  Tressa

  I was cleaning up while the kids were at school. It was just me and my li’l man, RJ, at home. Tasha was coming by later to help me with the planning of Jason’s “welcome home from the big house” party. I already knew she was going to want to keep it family oriented, but it wouldn’t be a party without his friends. Yes, his friends were criminal minded, but they knew to keep it funky at my baby brother’s party. Tasha got to my house around 1:30 p.m., pushing a brand-new powder-blue Benz. That shit was hot. I felt a little envious but brushed that shit off real fast.

  Tasha

  “Hey, baby sis. I haven’t seen you in, like, forever,” Tressa said when I walked inside her place.

  “What you mean, baby sis? You’re only ten months older than me. Now, get out my way and let me see my nephew. I can’t believe none of us has seen your newest addition.”

  I walked upstairs to the nursery. Li’l RJ was sleeping, so I peeked in and went back downstairs.

  “Okay, sis. Let’s get this planning started, because I need to take my baby blue to the mall and do some shopping,” I told Tressa.

  “Yeah, I can’t front. That ride is the shit. I got me a Range in my favorite color, bloodred, and I’m loving it.”

  “That’s because you’re the devil with your crazy ass. And how did you get money for a Range?”

  “RJ’s dad copped it for me to get around and shit. I was th
ankful, because pushing a stroller with me every morning, taking the kids to school, was weighing my ass down.”

  I nodded. “I know that’s right. When do we get to meet Mr. Man? I still can’t believe this is my first time meeting RJ. Shit has to change. We’re family.”

  “I know, sis. I shouldn’t have stayed away for so long, and as far as you seeing RJ’s dad, I hardly see him. He takes care of his son, and that’s the relationship. He has a girlfriend. We messed around, and I got pregnant. So when I told him, he hit me with the don’t call him until the baby was born, so he can get a DNA test done. So that’s what I did, and it was proven that he was the dad. He takes care of him. Nothing more.”

  “Niggas ain’t shit nowadays,” I noted.

  “You ain’t never lied. Okay, I was thinking that we could have the party at Onyx Red or Pleasures.”

  “Tres, those places are expensive.”

  “I got it, Tasha. My brother is going to get a banging party. Shit, he’s been down for four years. I’m about to show him what it do.”

  I didn’t know who the hell her baby daddy was, but I was glad that she had her own funds and that it was not going to fall all on me, especially with all this fly shit she was talking.

  “Well, Tres, we will go half on everything.”

  “Cool. I sent off his coming home gear, so when he touches down, he will be dressed in that fly shit he’s used to.”

  We finished with all the details, and then I spent some time with her and the kids, because I swear, I hadn’t seen them in, like, forever. Afterward, I got Baby Blue started, and we were on our way home. Tressa lived, like, an hour away from me, but we both promised to start making an effort to see each other more, because my nieces didn’t even remember my ass. They were acting stink when I tried to interact with them.