Sugar Walls

by Brittani Williams

  The next morning when I woke up I was a little unsure of where I was, but I soon remembered the previous night’s events. I could smell the aroma of breakfast, which made my stomach growl even harder than it had as I tossed and turned in bed. I got up and found the bathroom before making my way to the kitchen. I was shocked at how bad I looked and was almost afraid to go outside. Jenna had prepared a feast for breakfast and set the table for two. She smiled when she noticed me and made her way over to hug and kiss me. I felt a little awkward as she wrapped her arms around my waist. Though I had enjoyed our sexual endeavor, I didn’t want her to assume that we would be in a relationship. I wasn’t even completely done with Dyna, and I had learned that it wasn’t wise to jump from one bed to another.

  “So, did you enjoy yourself last night?” she asked with a grin.

  “Yeah, it was good.”

  “Shit, it was great. It’s been a while since I was with a woman. My man would flip if he knew I was going down that road again.”

  Glad that she was still in a relationship, but curious about the comment I asked, “What do you mean down that road again?”

  “Girl, me and him used to do threesomes all the time, but once I started fucking women on my own time he didn’t like that shit. He can’t eat my pussy the way a woman can. Shit, they know how to lick it and make you feel good. Don’t get me wrong, I do love dick, but I love women too. You feel me?” she asked, grabbing a plate from the cabinet.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

  “Well, I want us to still remain friends, and I don’t want you to think that I’m going to be all up on you to be with you. So don’t even worry. Dyna will never find out, OK?”

  “OK,” I said, relieved as I began to put food on my plate.

  “So are you going home when you leave here?”

  “Yeah, I’m prepared for an argument, though, since I didn’t come home last night.”

  “That’s crazy, Sugar. When are you going to leave her ass alone so her and that crazy bitch can be together?”

  “I know, it’s just a little hard to just walk away when I work for her. I need the money, and I don’t have enough saved to quit. I’m sure she’d fire me if I did that.”

  “Probably not. That’s too easy for her. She’s the type of person that will make your life miserable.”

  “Well, she’s already succeeded at that!”

  After we finished breakfast, I decided to be on my way home, and I wasn’t surprised when I pulled up and found Dyna’s car in the driveway. I knew that instead of going to work that she would wait until I came in just to argue. I unlocked the door to find her sitting in the living room on the sofa. I braced myself for what I knew was coming next.

  “Where the fuck were you all night?” she yelled, rising from the sofa and walking in my direction.

  “Out!”

  “Don’t be smart. I know you were out! Did you fuck somebody?”

  “No, I didn’t, Dyna. I stayed at Jenna’s because I was too tired to drive home.”

  “Bullshit, Sugar! You fucked her didn’t you?” she yelled.

  “I already told you where I was, and I said no the first time you asked me that.”

  “Who the fuck are you talking to? Don’t forget that I made your ass. You wouldn’t have shit if it weren’t for me. You’d still be living there in that dirty-ass apartment with your crackhead mother!”

  “Dyna, I really don’t feel like arguing with you right now.”

  “Well, you don’t have a choice, because I’m not finished talking. I want to know what’s going on with you lately.”

  “What’s going on with me? What’s going on with you? You are the one that’s been acting funny. I should be asking you if you fucked somebody. Somebody like Meeka perhaps!”

  “What? I think that you’ve forgotten who pays the bills,” she said pointing her index finger in my face.

  “No, I haven’t. You’ve made sure of that,” I said, sarcastically.

  “If I didn’t love you, I’d put your ass out on the street right now. I’ve put too much money out for you to let my investment go to waste.”

  “Investment? What the hell do you mean by that?”

  “What do you think I mean? Do you think I’d kick out all of my money for nothing?” she laughed. “I guess you really are naive! But you’ll see,” she said before walking to the door. “I hope you’re not too drunk to bring your ass to work! I’ll see you in an hour and don’t be late,” she spoke sternly as she exited the house.

  I stood there trying to figure out what she meant when she said that I would see. Obviously it was meant as a threat, but of what? I guessed Jenna was right when she said that Dyna would make me miserable. Things had definitely gone from bad to worse. I just had to watch her closely for her next move.

  Chapter 7

  New Intentions

  Regaining my close relationship with Mya was something that I set out to do. I knew it wasn’t truly her fault that my mother abused me. I could no longer blame her for something that probably wouldn’t have been different even if Mya walked the straight line. I began picking her up on days when I was free just to hang out and talk. I learned a lot about her, and I also learned why she behaved the way she did when we were growing up. She said that she was always jealous of me because I was smart and she knew I would be successful. Her over-the-top actions were to get attention, but instead I received it. Though it was negative attention my mother gave me, Mya never got any—good or bad.

  Mya had recently dropped out of school, and I tried my best to encourage her to return. Unfortunately, she had already made up her mind, and since Marlo was cool with her decision to quit school to raise their child, she was happy. The only option I had was to accept it.

  My relationship with Dyna was becoming even more strained as my relationship with Mya grew close again. Throughout our relationship, Dyna had been encouraging me to patch up things with my sister, but now she appeared to be jealous. I believed that she only encouraged it because she never thought it would happen anyway. I think that’s why Dyna encouraged me to do a lot of things. Dyna was definitely getting more controlling and jealous. My plan to move away from her wasn’t really working since she still wasn’t trying to let me go. The arguments never stopped, and now that I was hanging out with Mya, they intensified.

  One particular outing with Mya led to a huge argument, and it was one that I didn’t see coming. Mya asked me to accompany her to an ultrasound, and I took off for the day to go since Marlo wasn’t able to go with her. I left Dyna a message with the details of my destination, and after getting dressed I went to pick Mya up. I returned home around seven o’clock, after Mya and I went out Chili’s for dinner. Dyna was home sitting in the living room watching TV when I arrived.

  “It takes that long for an ultrasound?” she asked, looking down at her watch, noting the time.

  “No it doesn’t,” I replied, annoyed.

  “Well, where were you?”

  “We went out to eat after the doctor’s appointment.”

  “Out to eat? After you skipped out on work? I hope you know your not getting paid for today.”

  “I didn’t expect to.”

  “Well good, tell that bitch to pay you!”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Dyna?” I yelled.

  “I’m tired of fucking around with you, Sugar, and I’ve decided that your job in promotion isn’t good enough. You need to start going on dates, or I’m going to reduce your pay. You need to start paying rent too, because this shit with me and you is over.”

  “Is that right?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yeah, so effective immediately, I’ll start arranging your dates.”

  “I thought you loved me, Dyna. You promised that I would never have to escort.” I pleaded. I was happy that she wanted to end the relationship, but devastated that she wanted me to sell my body.

  “Well, you promised to be loyal to me too.”

  “I have been.”
<
br />   “No, you’ve been far from loyal, and this conversation is over. I’ve already moved your stuff back into the spare room, and just so you know, Meeka’s moving back in.”

  “What?” I asked, as I began to cry. Though I was tired of Dyna and ready to move on, I wasn’t ready to live on my own and I knew that I couldn’t stay there with Meeka. I did care about Dyna and at this point didn’t even know why. I was angry that she would force me to degrade myself. But what was I supposed to do? I had been spending my money just as quick as I got it and I didn’t have enough saved to do anything else.

  “Don’t cry now, it’s too late for tears.”

  I decided not to say anything else to make the situation any worse. I turned my back and made my way up to the spare room. I opened the door to find my things scattered all over the bed and floor. I cried as I began to pick up my things and fold them. Though I was glad that my relationship with Dyna was over I never expected it to end with Dyna forcing me to be a prostitute. I agreed to work for her under the condition that I would never have to prostitute myself. I knew that I didn’t have enough money saved to move out, but I refused to live under the same roof as Meeka. I called Jenna and explained the situation, and, of course, she wasn’t at all surprised. I planned to stay at Jenna’s until I could get enough money together to move into my own place. I slept lightly that night, afraid of what would happen next.

  The following morning when I woke up there was an itinerary laid out on my nightstand. It started out with a salon appointment for hair and nails, followed by a boutique appointment for an outfit and lingerie. I had assisted Dyna with planning these itineraries for the other girls for their dates. Basically she sent you to be dressed to the customer’s specifications. It’s like when you order a meal at a restaurant, you tell the waiter how you want you steak—rare, medium, or well done. These customers would explain the way they wanted the girl to look, dress, and even smell, and Dyna would make sure that she fulfilled their wishes to keep them coming back. It gave me chills looking at the five o’clock meeting at the Doubletree hotel, but I sucked it up and decided that I couldn’t let Dyna know she was getting the best of me.

  I showered and made the drive to the salon. When I entered all eyes were on me, and I assumed they were all surprised to see me. I waved hello to everyone and held my head up high, not letting on that I was ashamed of what I was about to do. Lisa was the stylist who would be working with me, and I walked to her station in the back of the salon.

  “What’s up, girl? I never expected to see you in here,” Lisa said as she hugged me.

  “Yeah, me either. But I’m here, girl, so, hook me up!”

  “I know that’s right,” she said, smiling.

  “So what are you going to do with me today?”

  “Girl, not much, you know you’re the shit anyway! The customer just wants you to look natural. I’m going to do a wet and wavy look in your hair with some highlights to accentuate your skin.”

  “Oh, OK. Do you know if the customer is male or female?”

  “I think it’s male.”

  “OK.”

  It had been a so long since I was with a man I was kind of looking forward to it now. About two hours later, I left the salon with a new look, and I actually loved it. I went to the boutique next and was greeted by the owner. She pulled out a strapless black dress that hugged my curves perfectly and some black strappy sandals. I was dressed to impress and now on my way up Roosevelt Boulevard to meet the man who was definitely going to get his money’s worth.

  I was nervous as I approached Room 214. I stood there for a second, contemplating knocking. I knew this would open a whole new world of sin. I put my hand to the door and lightly knocked. About five seconds later I heard footsteps moving toward the door and the butterflies in my stomach were driving me crazy. As the door opened, I took a deep breath.

  “Sugar!”

  “Marlo! What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, embarrassed that he was the one behind the door.

  “I’m ready to ask you the same question?”

  “I know that you are not who I am supposed to meet here? I knew that bitch would find a way to degrade me even more.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked confused.

  “Dyna is forcing me to do this shit and her setting me up with you is just another way to get back at me,” I said as tears began to flow.

  “Come in, Sugar, so we can talk,” he instructed.

  “I can’t believe her,” I made my way to the chair to sit.

  “What’s going on? I didn’t even know you worked for her.”

  “I never escorted before. I was just doing the promotion until she got tired of me and decided to make me do this. This is the first date she sent me on.”

  “Damn, that’s messed up. So did you want to do it?”

  “Hell no! I’ve only had sex with four people in my life, and now she wants me to have sex with different people every day. I’m going to try to make the best of it, because I’m not going to let her break me down.”

  “Well that’s a good attitude, but that still means that you have to escort every night.”

  “I know. Well I’m glad that it was you today so I can skip tonight at least. I’ll pay you back what she paid you if you want me to.”

  “No, that’s cool. We can just chill here and talk.”

  “Come to think of it, what’s up with you getting an escort? What’s going on with you and Mya?”

  “We’re not together anymore.”

  “What? She didn’t tell me that.” Mya told me things were rocky but she didn’t say that they were broken up.

  “That’s because she keeps trying to get back with me.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Well you know your sister. You can’t tame her, and she’s all over the place.”

  “What do you mean all over the place?”

  “I can’t really get into all the details because it pisses me off when I think about it, but I tell you one thing, though I did my dirt, she did the ultimate, and it ain’t no going back after that.”

  “So why can’t you tell me what she did?”

  “Because she should tell you. I’m not trying to bash her or make her look bad at all. I’ll always care about her, and I’ll always be there for my child.”

  “She’ll probably never tell me the truth, Marlo. She hasn’t even told me that y’all broke up.”

  “Well, hopefully one day she will. So what happened with you and that nigga JT?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.

  “He was a nut. He tried to set me up. You can’t trust slimy dudes like him.”

  “I could have told you that if you would have asked me. That dude is known for that type of shit.”

  “Well, I wish I would have asked for your advice, because you’re really cool. I never would have guessed that we could sit and chat like this.”

  “Me either,” he laughed.

  “And just think, you came here to get some head and got stuck with me and all of my drama.”

  “It’s cool. She only charged me $100 for tonight. I thought it was kind of strange, but if you want I can keep paying her so you won’t have to go out on those dates. We could just meet here and chill.”

  “You would do that for me? How can you afford that?” I asked

  “You know I’m a boss in this city. I got money coming out of my ears!” he laughed. “That’s the least I can do for you.”

  “Well, I appreciate it. I still can’t believe that you are out here about to pay for sex. Why? You should have women falling all over you.”

  “I’m busy watching my blocks. I don’t have time to be chasing no females. Then you gotta wine them and dine them just to get some. Shit, I can just call Dyna up and have a chick meet me here. No strings attached. It’s just easier that way.”

  “But what about Mya? You really don’t plan to get back with her?”

  “No, I don’t. She’s not the one for me. I’ve lear
ned that, and it was definitely the hard way. Love is a bitch, you know. It will knock you right on the ass if you let it.”

  “I definitely know what you mean. I’m going to have to pay you back for this, Marlo. I don’t even feel comfortable taking your money like that.”

  “I told you it’s no big deal, but if it will make you feel better, you can pay me back whenever you can afford to. Deal?” He put out his hand for me to shake it.

  “Deal,” I agreed.

  We sat and talked all night, and I learned a lot about Marlo. I was surprised that Mya could let a man like him slip away. I couldn’t imagine what she did that was as bad as he described. I wished it had been me that Marlo wanted that day at the bus stop. My life would be a lot different right now. It meant a lot to me that Marlo would protect me by paying for me each night until I was able to walk away from Dyna completely. I left the hotel that night with a smile, and I also looked forward to coming back each night to learn more about Marlo.

  Once I reached Dyna’s house I noticed Meeka’s car in the driveway. I entered the house with caution and noticed the two of them in the kitchen. I decided to go say hello with a big-ass smile on my face to let her know that she didn’t get the effect that she wanted.