by Midnite Love
Table of Contents
Started From The Top Now I'm Here 3
Started from the Top- Now I’m here 3 | An Urban Tale Of Riches To Rags | Chapter 1 - Scratching And Surviving
Chapter 2 - Heartbroken Hotel
Chapter 3 - Touch And Go
Chapter 4 - Settling In
Chapter 5 - Cheron Gets Her groove back
Chapter 6 - Old Acquaintances
Chapter 7 - Who Is Sonnet?
Chapter 8 - Turn Down For What?
Chapter 9 - It Takes A Fool
Chapter 10 - Starting Over
Chapter 11 - Captain Save A Hoe
Chapter 12 - Two Can Play That Game
Chapter 13 - A Night To Remember
Chapter 14 - Hard Lessons
Chapter 15 - Always By Your Side
Chapter 16 - Second Chance
Chapter 17 – Unwanted Surprise
Chapter 18 - Forgive And Forget
Chapter 19 - Old Habits Die Hard
Chapter 20 - Cash Me Out
Chapter 21 - True Colors
Chapter 22 -Tough Decisions
Chapter 23 - Happily Ever After
Chapter 24 - Steady Scheming
Chapter 25 - The Final Showdown
Epilogue
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Copyright © 2015 Midnite Love and Love Den Media Publishing
All rights are reserved. No parts of this book may be copied, transmitted, used or sold without the written permission of the author Midnite Love or Love Den Media Publishing.
The only exceptions to this clause are E-Book Samples which are provided at various online retailers and from the Author and Love Den Media Publishing. Brief quotes may be used in reviews
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Started from the Top- Now I’m here 3
An Urban Tale Of Riches To Rags
Chapter 1 - Scratching And Surviving
“That’s right suck it bitch!”
Sonnet’s eyes watered as her head was forced down further and further onto her John’s massive erection. It had been three months since she walked away from Sista Bessie’s place wearing only the clothes on her back with Gucci in tow.
When she said that she would sell pussy if she needed to survive, she never actually thought that statement would come to pass.
Since losing everything and everyone she was forced to take refuge at the local shelter whenever she could manage to get in. However at the end of the day that wasn't all it was cracked up to be and it proved to have its own set of challenges. When she couldn’t get in, she would resort to riding the red line train for hours. This was the only place she felt remotely safe since living on the streets. Plus it gave her somewhere to sleep until someone reported her and she got put off.
She took showers at the local YMCA and food was whatever she could get her hands on that day. If she couldn’t manage to turn any tricks she had to resort to asking for had outs or trash picking behind the local restaurants. If she was lucky that day she could get in the soup kitchen before it was at capacity.
Her current life was a far cry from the lavish surrounding that she was once accustomed to. You could not have told her in a million years that she would go from living like a pampered princess one day, to a gutter rat sucking a stranger’s dick for food the next. Her life had truly taken a turn for the worst and she had nobody to blame but herself.
“Suck it harder!” Dice, her John demanded as he pushed her face into his crotch.
Sonnet almost vomited from the stench of musty balls and the taste of the dried up secretions from the last trick that rode his dick. It smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days. Her stomach reeled as she took him further into her mouth but she had no choice. She had eaten a full meal in almost three days and she was starving. She attempted to get him to clean himself first with a few of the wet towelettes she carried in her bag but her request was met with an open hand to the back of her head.
When she was finally done with the dirty deed she wiped her mouth and asked him about the $20.00 bill he’d promised her.
“Git yo’ skinny ass out this car, you ain’t got shit coming!” Dice barked.
“Come on Dice you promised, I’m starving,” Sonnet pleaded. If he didn’t pay her she didn’t know how she would eat that day.
“You lucky I’m having pity on yo’ ass, here, take this damn sandwich,” he hissed as he grabbed the half eaten Subway foot long from his back seat and tossed it in her lap.
No this asshole didn’t, Sonnet thought. It was clear that she was going to have to show him she meant business.
“You know I don’t play that shit! Gimme my damn money now!” Sonnet demanded.
The other tricks tried to warn her about Dice, they had problems getting their money out of him in the past. But seeing as she was starving and he was the only one to take the bait she had no other choice but to give him a chance.
“Bitch you betta’ git yo’ ass outta my car!” Diced spat before reaching over Sonnet and opening her door.
“I ain’t going nowhere till I get my money!” she yelled.
“Oh yeah? We gon’ see about that.”
Dice sprang out of the vehicle, came around to Sonnet’s side of the car and snatched her out onto the ground.
She quickly regained her composure and snapped back on her feet. After slamming the passenger door shut he headed back to the driver’s side of the car, only to be met with blows to his back from Sonnet’s fists.
“Pay me what you owe me you son of a bitch!”
Dice threw his elbow back connecting with Sonnet’s face, knocking out her front tooth. “Git da fuck off of me!”
She covered her mouth as the pain radiated through her face. She stood silently weeping as she watched him peel off, leaving her face bloodied and bruised and not a penny richer.
After her failed attempt at finding her tooth, she picked up the Subway bag from off the ground and sought refuge behind a nearby dumpster to eat in peace. She used the napkins to apply pressure to her bleeding gums before giving in to the loud grumbles coming from her belly.
Once the wrapper was opened the twang of the fluorescent lunch meat hit her nostrils. The sandwich had been in Dice’s backseat for two days. The lettuce was soggy and the mayo had turned to a rubberlike consistency.
Sonnet braced her stomach and took a huge bite. She winced in pain and she tried to avoid hitting the open wound in her mouth. Needless to say the sandwich tasted as bad as it smelled. After a few bites she began to vomit. She threw the remainder of it to the ground and wept. She’s just sucked a stranger’s dick for nothing. She was still starving and not a penny richer. This was possibly one of the worst days of her life.
Chapter 2 - Heartbroken Hotel
Cheron wept as the hot water sprayed over her body. It seemed like the shower was her favorite place these days. It allowed her not only to cleanse her body, but her soul as well. She could scream to the top of her lungs and no one could hear her. No one would hear her as she sobbed like a new born over Kenterris.
After the betrayal he bestowed upon her she expected to be heartbroken. What she didn’t expect was for her heart to feel like it was being ripped from her chest.
Since their breakup a few months back she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep, hell she couldn’t even turn on the television without thinking about what shows he used to like. Every waking moment was sheer torture. Things t
hat seemingly should make her happy brought sadness due to the fact, everything reminded her of Kenterris and the fun times they shared.
She didn’t know what made her angrier; the fact that he fucked her so called best friend behind her back, or the fact that she still loved him. She was beside herself with disgust over the fact that she couldn’t bring herself to hate him no matter how hard she tried.
Her heart ached for him. He was supposed to be her soul mate, the one she was to spend the rest of her life with but he had to go and fuck everything up.
As the months progress so did Cheron’s depression. She was finally to the point to where she wasn’t crying everyday but she was hardly eating anything and she refused the numerous offers by her family members to try and coax her out of the house. What they failed to realize was she was not only hurting over Kenterris; she had lost two of her closest friends in the process. Sonnet, Kenterris and Lexi had all hurt her. This made the blow sting extra hard. In the end, she had no one she could count on but herself.
Chapter 3 - Touch And Go
Three months earlier
“You sound like a damn fool! I’m not going anywhere with you!” Aintee Maven yelled.
“Listen Ma’am, I don’t want no trouble with you,” Ace replied. “I’m just trying to offer you a ride to the hospital. We need to get there quick to check on Aviare.”
Ace knew that he wasn’t giving her much to go on but he was doing everything in his power to avoid telling her that Aviare had been shot.
“Oh my God! Hospital? What have you done to my baby?” Aintee Maven barked. She knew in her heart that nothing good would come from Aviare hanging with Ace and here was the proof.
“I haven’t done anything except tried to help him, we really need to get going....”
Aintee Maven’s heart raced. She dreaded asking what happened to Aviare. All she knew was this character they called Ace was at her door banging like he was the damn police. She had a half a mind not to answer it. The only reason she did was because he mentioned Aviare’s name and she was already worried sick because he hadn’t come home and it was almost 2 AM.
Against her better judgment she grabbed her coat and purse and got in the car with him. Lord knows if she would have had any other way to get to Aviare besides riding with this thug she would be using it, but seeing as this seemed to be a repeat situation of what went down with granny, when no one else was around with a ride, she had no choice but to take him up on his offer.
“Tell me the truth,” Aintee Maven announced with a blank stare as they weaved through traffic and raced through yellow lights. “What happen to my boy?”
Not wanting to upset her any more than she already was, Ace decided that he would let the doctors give her the news about Aviare being shot.
“Look ma’am, I think we need to just wait till we get to the hospital and they can explain everything,” he replied.
“Tell me what the hell happened!” she screamed.
Her reaction caught Ace off guard. It was apparent that she wasn’t going to let up until she heard the truth. He let out a heavy sigh as he chewed on the end of his toothpick before responding.
“He was shot.”
“Oh Lawd Jesus! My baby!” Aintee Maven wailed. Her worst fear had been confirmed. Her body trembled as she prepared herself for the worst. The tears flowed like a waterfall from her ducts. Ever since she had taken in Aviare she had tried her best to protect him from the pull of the streets and from men like Ace. But her attempts had failed. In a flash her attention soon turned back to him.
“It’s all your fault! I knew you were bad news when you first started coming around. Lawd knows I tried to keep that chile away from you and the rest of them thug ass niggas!”
Before she could continue she was cut off by Ace.
“I don’t know how many times I gotta keep telling you I didn’t do anything but try to help Aviare!” He yelled. He didn’t mean to raise his voice at her but he had now become frustrated with the whole situation.
“You need to watch your tone with me! You can run that gangsta shit on them niggas in the street but you don’t intimidate me.”
Aintee Maven knew who she was dealing with, and the fact that he was most likely packing heat, but that didn’t stop her from getting her point across. As far as she was concerned he was somehow involved in her nephew being shot and she didn’t have shit to lose. If he thought she was going to be running scared like the rest of the older people on the block when it came to drug dealers, he had another thing coming. She waited with baited breath for his response; however, instead, he remained silent as they pulled into the trauma center at Mercy Grace Hospital. Ace let Aintee Maven out at the door and he went to park.
After briefly chatting with the intake receptionist at the front desk Aintee Maven was informed that Aviare was in fact still alive and in surgery to remove several bullets that lacerated his abdomen and chest. No further information could be given until the operation was over. That’s when the Dr. would speak to her personally. There wasn’t anything that could be done at this point except pray that he pulled through.
“How is he?” Ace asked after racing into the waiting area and taking a seat beside Aintee Maven.
“He’s been shot several times. They have him in surgery to remove the bullets. We won’t know anything till the Dr. comes out.”
“Thank God he’s still alive,” Ace replied, taking his snapback off and rubbing his bald head.
At this point Aintee Maven was totally ignoring him and dialing her family to let them know what was going on. Her brother Joe and sister Rita were about to drop everything and head her way, but seeing as it was almost a three hour drive she insisted that they stay put until she got word from the Dr.
“Really Joe I’m fine. We can’t do anything for him now anyway. I just wanted to let y’all know what was going on, but y’all don’t have to drive all this way this late. I promise I will call as soon as he gets out of surgery.”
“Nonsense!” Joe replied. “There no way we are gon’ let you go through by yourself. I don’t know about Rita but I’m leaving as soon as I get dressed.”
“Joe listen...”
“I don’t want to hear another word, I’m on the way.”
For as much as Aintee Maven insisted on Joe not rush to get there, quite as it was kept she was happy that her brother was on the way. Despite his quick temper Joe was a caring and compassionate man, who would give the shirt off of his back for his family. And it felt good to have someone to lean on.
Once she’d hung up from speaking with Joe and a few other family members who were on the way to the hospital, she tried to call Sonnet. Just as she suspected her number was disconnected. This came as no surprise. As far as Maven knew Sonnet most likely changed her number and didn’t give it to her or Aviare, which was a shame. Because despite the fact that they ended on bad terms she still needed to stay in contact with her brother, if nothing else but for an emergency such as this. Her gut told her that Sonnet hadn’t changed her ways, which is probably why she subconsciously dialed everyone except her first. After spreading the word about Aviare, Maven collapsed in a chair in a corner of the waiting room and broke down in tears.
“Is there anything I can do ma’am?” Ace asked in an attempt to comfort her.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough already?” she spat. “He wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for you!” she yelled.
Her words came from a place of anger and pain. Ace sensed that she was lashing out at anyone that could take the blame, and for that reason he didn’t take it personally. Instead he opted to once again try and explain his role in Aviare’s life.
“With all due respect, I know you mad and hurt, but like I said I had nothing to do with your nephew getting shot. All I ever did was tried to help him. I knew he was running with some bad folks and I tried to warn him, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”
“Bullshit! How did you even find out he was shot if you
had nothing to do with it?” she asked through a veil of tears.
“Like I said, I tried to talk him out of running for that shady cat he was working for but he wasn’t trying to hear it. I still tried to look out for him so I sent two of my peeps to trail him. It was a drop off that went sideways. They saw everything. Once your nephew got popped they jumped out their ride and started blasting at the fool who shot him but he got away. Luckily they was there because they drove him to the hospital and dropped him off, then called me. Ain’t no telling how long he would have laid there waiting for an ambulance, that is if anyone would have even called one at all. And if they did, who knows if one would have shown up.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked. You get no pass from me because you sent your little “crew” to watch out for him. How do I know he wasn’t running for you?”
Ace shook his head in frustration. It was obvious that this woman wasn’t believing anything that came out of his mouth.
“I’m telling you he wasn’t working for me...”
Before he could say another word Maven stood from her seat.
“I don’t want to hear another damn word! Just stop talking to me! They already said once his surgery is over only the immediate family will be able to visit. I think that leaves you out.”
“I can dig that, but I at least want to stick around and see if my man pulls through,” Ace replied.
“Look here Ace, or whatever they call you. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear the first time. You are not welcome here! I appreciate the ride but imma need you to leave before my family shows up. If you don’t go I’ll ask security to have you removed!”
Despite her small stature Maven spoke with boldness and authority. The only thing her mind told her was that she wasn’t going to have her family disrespected by the presence of the punk ass nigga who most likely put Aviare in harm’s way. He could save his sob story because she wasn’t trying to hear shit he had to say.
“You ain’t gotta do all that, fuck it, I’m out,” Ace responded before waiving his hands to the situation and walking off.
