My Thug Got A Rider

by Onyxx Black

  My Thug Got A Rider

  A Novel by:

  Onyxx Black

  My Thug Got a Rider

  Copyright © 2016 by Onyxx Black

  Published by Kindred Soul Publication

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  Acknowledgements

  First thanking God for the vision. Shout out to Cole for reading what I had and saying yes and for linking me up with the beautiful ladies of Kindred Soul Publications. Y'all are officially the best. Steph and Dru thanks for listening to me whine all night about everything. Sol, you know I can’t forget you. And my night-shift crew at CSL. Y’all keep me going. Last but certainly not least, thank you to my family for putting up with my bad attitude and laughing me right through that writer’s block. One more and I’m done, Thank you Daddy! You gave me the courage to go ahead and write the “bad words” and sex scenes. I appreciate it.

  Chapter One

  Ashanti

  March 7, 2003

  I lay across my Powerpuff Girls' bed, staring up and the glow-in-the-dark stickers that illuminated my entire bedroom ceiling, thinking about usual six-year-old things until I heard a thud. I assumed it was my mama and daddy doing what grown folks did, as my daddy told me. I heard it again, a little louder this time so I got up and walked to their bedroom door. I peeked in and saw Mama loading a bag with her clothes and daddy digging up something from a lifted plank of the hardwood. Big white packages wrapped up in silver tape were taken from the floor and put into my overnight bag. I had seen those same bags when we took a family vacation to Mexico and Mama told me she had to carry mine with the Disney Princesses on it because it was too heavy. Daddy noticed me first and came to the door. He picked me up and turned my chin to face him.

  “Ashanti? Punkin’. What’s wrong?” I was scared to tell him that I had been peeking again.

  “I can’t sleep.” I wanted him to tuck me into bed and tell me the story about the little princess who looked just like me. The one with the kinky hair, bright eyes and who had the softest spot in the King’s heart. I wanted him to smile at me with his white teeth that were the only thing I could see in the darkness of my bedroom. I held on to one of the long dreadlocks that hung down to his back as he walked me to my door and stopped.

  He heard the noise at the same time that I did and I was certain there wasn’t going to be any bedtime stories for a long time. I had heard that same noise before they took Daddy away from me the fitime. I time had to go talk to him on the phone and look at him through the glass. Holding on tighter to his big arm, I prayed he wouldn’t leave me again. Mama came running out of her room in her pajamas. They shared a look and both of them glanced at me. Usually my Daddy looked so strong and tall like a black giant with big arms and a big chest. He usually kept a permanent frown on his face like he was mad, but this time he looked different. He looked sad.

  The noise came again and I whimpered. Mama started to talk but Daddy shushed us, handed me over to her and pushed us into my bedroom closet. I started to run to my daddy but Mama pulled me back.

  “Come here, baby.” She explained how important it was for me to stay in the closet and be quiet. “Do you understand?” She asked. I touched her soft face and wiped a tear that I couldn’t see in the darkness of the closet. Her grey eyes caught a glimpse of light and I saw the same look of sadness in her eyes as my daddy’s. “We love you, Ti-ti. Your daddy and I love you sooooo much.” I touched her face again and ran my small hand through her short brown hair. I knew in my six year old soul that it would be the last time seeing her beautiful face. I kissed her on the beauty mark right next to her eye.

  “I love you too, Mommy.” Wiping her eyes, she stood up and grabbed the box from the top shelf. Opening a bottle, she handed me a pill and told me to swallow. I put the pill under my tongue and when she asked if I swallowed, I nodded.

  “Good. Now lay down right here and be quiet.” She put something else in the waistband of her pajama pants and tiptoed out of my room and down the stairs. I heard quiet shuffling for what seemed like hours until a loud BOOM erupted through the house. Hearing a bunch of what sounded like gibberish, I spit the nasty pill out, opened my closet door and walked down the stairs. Making it to the kitchen, I saw my Daddy in his underwear, tied to a chair. His eyes were swollen shut and blood was running down his face.

  The giant man I had admired my entire life looked like one of the imaginary monsters I made him check for every night. A tall figure dressed in all black walked into the kitchen from the back door and I ducked around the corner of the counter. He took two steps before another loud noise rang out. BOOM. His blood splashed all over me and on the floor before he fell on his face. My mama appeared in the doorway crying with her hand over mouth, the same way I held mine. She dropped the shiny pistol on the floor and ran over to where my daddy sat. She laid her head on his bloody lap. "Asaana, where is my baby? Are you okay? We have to go. Go get my baby, please.” Mama kissed my daddy on his bloody face and just as she was about to stand, another man walked into the kitchen and BOOM. My mama’s head fell forward into my daddy’s lap as blood pooled at his feet. I stifled a scream. “ASAANA!" My daddy cried out. "Nooooo, no, no, no, no. Asaana, I’m so sorry. Ashanti, if you can hear me, daddy loves you, Punkin. Never forget that. I’m sorry. I am so so--”

  Before he could finish his sentence, the man pulled out his gun and shot my daddy in his heart. The bullet ripped through the tattoo of my name across his left chest. I got up on my wobbly legs and stood there, crying but silent. The man looked at me and put the same gun he’d shot my parents with, to my head.

  “Estoy hecho.” I didn’t know what he was talking about but it sounded like gibberish. I just knew that was the last thing I was going to hear. I didn’t even care if he did to me what he’d done to them. Part of me wanted to go. The other part of me wanted to live. Both parts of me wanted to fight.

  March 7, 2015

  I woke up in a cold sweat. Twelve years later and that same nightmare never got easier to deal with. I rolled over in bed and glanced at the alarm clock on the dresser I shared with Kennedi, one of the many girls in the group home.

  “Ashanti, are you alright?” I saw her rubbing her eyes with her small fists. I nodded and rolled over, chewing my lip to keep from crying. I hoped the rest of the day would go a lot smoother.

  I managed to get at least two more hours of sleep before I woke up again to get ready for school. Hopping out of the shower I heard my phone ringing.

  “What?” I never answered with a simple hello, but this time I was a bit more hostile than necessary.

  “Okay, first, what’s wrong with you? You on your period or something?” I took a deep breath.

  “My bad, just not feeling it this morning. What’s up though?”

  Shauna, my best friend since elementary school, screamed into the phone, “BITCH! You will not believe what Drea just told me. Hold on real quick.”

  She always had the tea and I was always ready for some early morning gossip. I finished brushing my teeth, while on hold and stood there analyzing my face in the mirror. My lips and eyes are big and dark brown like my skin. My eyelashes and eyebrows are really dark so I don't have to use make-up. A lot of people have called me beauti
ful and I even heard somebody call me stunning. I wasn't no stuck up bitch like half these girls in here, but I didn't need anybody telling me that I was cute over and over again either. My jet-black hair flowed down my back and stopped midway to my ass, which stood out nicely on my shapely legs. My breasts were a size 34D, my stomach wasn’t rock solid, but it wasn’t flabby either. I was thick in all the right places. I had an exotic look about me, but let my birth certificate tell it, I was fully black.

  “What’s up?” I applied a light coat of gloss to my lips, waiting on her to stop being so dramatic. “Are you going to tell me or are you going to drag it out until I get there?” Filling my purse with personal items and my graduation paper, I was ready to go. Mother Nature was a bitch and she was dragging me down with her.

  “Lexi told everybody that you fucked Rashaad and that she checked you, but you didn’t do anything.” I thought back to the week before when Lexi, another girl who stayed in my group home, who thought she was all that, had walked up to me before math class, talking some shit about her boyfriend. I checked her ass at the door and let her off the hook because nobody was fucking with my education if I could control it.

  “Ha! She ain’t check shit. Any and everybody at that school knows Rashaad’s dusty ass can’t do anything for me. I’ll ask her today. Don’t worry about it.” I hung up with Shauna and grabbed two more things out of the medicine cabinet. On my way out the door, and on the bus ride to school, I didn’t see Lexi. She must’ve already known what she’d gotten herself into.

  ***

  “Ms. Woods? On the early graduate list, huh? Congratulations. I’ll sign it now, so you can go around and collect signatures from the rest of your teachers. Just make sure you turn this in to your academic dean.” Mr. Schaffer said as he handed me back the form he signed, as the bell rang. My last final was completed and I was more than ready to follow through with checking Lexi’s ass and grab some lunch afterwards.

  I stopped at my locker to grab my purse and use the restroom. I had to go from the third floor of the Stuart Hall to the third floor of the Treadwell before I could find who I was looking for. In the bathroom, I noticed a bunch of females were congregating at the sink staring hard at me.

  “Can I help you bitches with something or are y'all ready to get beat up?” After a moment of silence on their part, I brushed past the girl with the long Senegalese twists in a bun on top of her head, who I assumed was the ring leader. Once I locked the stall door, I heard one of her flunkies whisper something about me burning some nigga. I listened harder and sure enough I heard Lexi’s name. First, all I wanted to do was talk. Now, I knew there were some things you just didn’t talk about.

  “Ashanti! Wait for me!” I heard Shauna running up behind me. How she found me, I had no clue. I knew she was about to try to keep me from slapping fire from Lexi’s lying ass, but there was no saving her this time.

  “Can't you wait until the last bell? We still got two more classes and you need to get your paper signed. I knew not to tell your ass anything until the end of the day.” I stopped dead in my tracks.

  “Not anymore, I’m done with school.” I pulled out the folded piece of paper and handed it to her. “I let that hoe slide for too long. Either step back and hold my shit like a real bitch or get hit too.” Shauna knew I wouldn't hit her ass, but she was always trying my patience with her goody-two-shoes bullshit when she was the one who told me in the first place. All week she had evidently been spreading this lame rumor around school. My name was in everybody’s mouth. No matter where I went, I heard whispers of my name all around campus and it all came down to one person, Lexi.

  She told everybody, I was fucking her dirty ass nigga Rashaad and his punk ass told her I burned him. Now that I think about it, she had the nerve to approach me about him. I let that bitch slide for the sake of my education these past four days because of a math final. I wasn’t about to let anybody keep me from graduating and getting the hell out of dodge but today was Friday. I was more upset at who they claimed I fucked than I was at the lie itself. Everybody knows I wouldn’t let that nigga touch me for a million dollars. Rashaad was a dusty ass around the way nigga that had ran through all her friends and used her money. Instead of checking those hoes, or even him, she was checking me. No. Scratch that. She thought she was checking me. I found her standing at her locker, talking to the devil himself.

  “What’s all that shit you been talking, bitch?” I grabbed her by her $1.99 weave and flung her to the ground. She landed one solid punch and clawed at my smooth chocolate face before I could hold her down. I felt the sting and tasted blood. Never in my life had anyone touched my face. I was serious about that shit and the thought of a scar had me out for blood. I tried to pound her face in. The more I felt the sting, the worse I wanted to hurt her. I had always been a hot head, but this shit right here had me on one. Rashaad watched her until she screamed at him.

  “Really Shaad? Are you just going to stand there and not do anything?” He rushed over to pull her from under me, but I wasn’t moving an inch. He tried pulling me off of her, so I took the blade from my jaw and slit his hand then her face open.

  “Now run that loose ass mouth.” I laughed at the look of horror on her face. All the kids standing around knew how I got down. I didn't play that shit.

  “Aah! Stupid bitch!” He screamed at me so I stabbed him again.

  “You better be lucky I didn't cut that little ass dirty dick off!” The security guards came and pulled me off the floor. The school nurse had come running to us and was checking out Lexi since her dramatic ass had passed out.

  I sat in Mr. Jensen’s office, waiting on him to come in and yell at me like he usually did. He was a tall, white haired man with a Colonel Sanders’ mustache and beard. For an old dude he wasn’t too bad looking.

  “Ms. Woods, I don’t have any words for this unspeakable act. Do you understand the severity of your actions?"

  I was over this meeting and Shauna was waiting on me outside the lunchroom.

  “So, what you’re saying is, I’m suspended?” Usually he’d look at me and shake his head, handing me a slip for five days. This time he just held his forehead like I was stressing him out.

  “Unfortunately it’s worse than that. Against my wishes and recommendations, the school board suggested that you be expelled.” This time I was the one with nothing to say. Damn. Expelled?

  “What about my classes?" Mr. Jensen shook his head again like how people do when they’re so disappointed in you.

  “Your GPA is at 4.0 for this last semester so you’ll be walking early in the spring as promised. Now, I hope that you can see why I’m so confused and disappointed. You’re an honors student: never had an attendance issue that I can remember and you have the raving support from your teachers. I don’t see why you’re so temperamental. Is everything okay at home?"

  That was the question that made me grow to hate people of authority. I was done with this meeting. I jumped up and snatched my papers from his desk.

  “Thank you for all of your help, Jensen. I appreciate it, but I have to go.” I opened the door and two rent-a-cops were standing there waiting on me. I put my hands behind my back ready for them to handcuff me but they didn’t. I looked up at the lady when I heard her laughing.

  “What’s so funny Robo-dyke?” I said and cut that laugh right off.

  “You’re not getting arrested this time because Ms. Suarez didn’t press charges. I do have to walk you off the premises, however.” I took my phone out and sent a text to Shauna telling her I was out. I was going to miss the hell out of Tech High School; the campus and the teachers. I was even going to miss Dean Kelly’s loud ass on that bullhorn every morning telling us to be on time for class, but like my patience, all shit eventually comes to an end.

  ***

  Ms. Bamidele was standing on the porch when I got home. I hadn’t seen her in a while.

  “Hey Ms. B.”

  She frowned her nose up at me. “I heard you an
d Lexi got into a fight at school today. What happened?” I was not ready to talk about that, not even with her and she was my favorite. I knew I had no choice though.

  “She lied on me and had the whole school talking about me. Trying to say I had sex with her dusty ass boyfr-” Ms. B. frowned at my vocabulary, cutting me off. She didn’t believe kids were supposed to cuss.

  “What you need to know, Ashanti, is that you don’t need to be so defensive all of the time. You don't need to fight every battle thrown your way." I wanted to believe her, but who was going to fight for me if I couldn't do it myself?

  "Do you know what your name means, chile?" I knew when she sat down and hit the seat next to her, that she was about to tell me one of her stories from the Motherland. I didn't know what my name had to do with anything, but Ms. B. was like my mama. I couldn't tell her no, so I sat my ass down, ready to learn something. "Your name comes from West Africa. Ashanti was a fierce tribe of fighters. Your name in Yoruba means warrior." I thought about what she was saying.

  "What does that have to do with me?" My mama chose that name for me and I thought she got it from that light skinned chick that sings.

  "I wish mothers would choose your names more carefully. They are a direct reflection of what we want our children to be. A name can be poisonous." How so much wisdom could come from someone who didn’t look a bit over 30, I didn’t understand. Ms. B. was beautiful; she reminded me a lot of a darker version of Naomi Campbell. I touched the scratch under my eye. It had swelled up a little. "Did Lexi do that?" Ms. B hated scratches, bumps and bruises, but I knew she had something that could get rid of it. "Come. I'll give you something for that." I got up and followed her to the door just as Lexi pulled up with Ms. Greene. I hated both of their stuck up asses. Ms. Greene was like an older, bitchier Lexi. They both acted like they were the finest Naptown had to offer. Lexi was Puerto Rican and black, tall and light skinned with curly dark hair that she kept up under all of that cheap ass weave, hazel eyes and a small mouth. She had a real tiny waist; probably a C-cup on a good day and her Puerto Rican side had definitely given her the thick hips. The black side didn't quite pull through with the ass though. They could've been mistaken for sisters, or mother and daughter, but I had my own suspicions.