Side Chick Turned Wife: A Hood Romance

by Tamicka Higgins

  “Sooooooooo? Is he great or is he great?”

  “Oh, Mel. He was great but not great for me. He talked a lot about himself and I feel like his success is too much for me, girl. If you can find a lesser successful man who can meet me eye to eye on life, then we would be great.”

  I heard Mel let out a sigh of defeat and disappointment before she spoke.

  “But don’t you want a really successful man who is goin’ to give you the world? That is exactly what Travis is all about.”

  I honestly wanted to blurt out, “I don’t want that! I want a nigga like Tyrek, or Tyrek himself!” But I knew better than to do that.

  “Yeah, I feel you, but he just isn’t the one, okay? I think he got the vibe that we ain’t gone be anythin’ more than just this date. I may have made the night awkward enough for this to end here.”

  “Aight then, looks like we have some work to do in order to find you the right one, right?”

  “Yeah…”

  Chapter Ten:

  Danessa

  It was my next day off and I found myself spending it in my bed, yet again. I was all snuggled up under the covers, just thinking about nothin’ really. I wasn’t depressed or anythin’, I was just tired and it felt really good to lay there. While I was there, I thought about what I wanted to do with the rest of the day. I really had nothin planned so there were so many options. I could go out and go shoppin’ or somethin’ or I could run some household chores. None of that sounded appealing though. Oh! I could go out and buy myself some nice bottles of wine or some liquor. Yeah, that sounded ideal, I just might do that.

  Buzzz, Buzz… Buzzz, Buzzzz.

  I looked all confused, wonderin’ who the fuck was callin’ me right now. I knew it wasn’t Mel’s crazy ass, she was out runnin’ shit for the shop and well, there really wasn’t anyone else who would call me unless it was that nigga from the other night.

  “Uh, hello?”

  “Hey Mami.”

  My eyebrow raised as the voice sounded extremely familiar. I looked at my phone and saw that it was Tyrek. It would have helped if I would have just looked at the caller ID before I answered. I instantly sprang up from where I was lying and I sat up, clenching the phone close to my face.

  “Hey, uh. I know I ain’t seen you in some time, but uh, you wanna kick it or somethin’?”

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll meet you at your place?”

  “You know it.”

  Click.

  Ugh. I pursed my lips and rolled my eyes. What have I done? I should have said no ‘cause this nigga was out here requesting I come see him at his own time, not at my convenience. I guess I just really want us to somehow work out. What if I didn’t give up on him? Hm, let’s go ahead and try this shit out and see what this nigga really wants.

  I rolled out of bed and threw on some leggings, a white t-shirt, converse, and a jean jacket. My hair still looked good from the night before so I just spritzed some water into it and applied some product so it stayed nice. I did basic makeup with just eyeliner and mascara, no lipstick this time.

  I grabbed my keys and headed to my car to get to Tyrek’s place. I cranked the ignition and pulled out of the driveway to head down to his house. This drive wasn’t too bad, but his place was a little distance away from mine so I blasted some Rihanna and cruised down the road. My mind was racing and wanderin’, wantin’ to know what this nigga wanted. It had been quite some time since I had seen him last so I didn’t know if he just wanted me to come over for sex or to go to a party or whatever. Is it sad that even if he called me over for sex, I would be totally cool with it? I just really miss his touch and his company. Shit, I need to be stronger than this and I really need to figure out what the fuck it is that I want from him.

  I made it over to his house and pulled into the driveway. I hopped out of the car and made my way inside. I looked around and didn’t see him. I lurked a little more and saw that he was in the kitchen blendin’ up somethin’.

  “Hey, Tyrek.”

  He stopped what he was doin’ for a moment to look over and acknowledge me. He then continued to mix some liquid before he turned off the blender and poured the mixture evenly into two cups. He walked over to me with these glasses in his hand and gave me one of them. Without sayin’ a word, he took a sip from the glass and led me outside to his patio where we sat at his table. It was a gorgeous day outside, the perfect setting to be outside and look over at the people walking along the beach.

  “It’s good to see you. How you been, girl?”

  I smiled as I sipped more of this margarita-type drink. It was really strong but I wasn’t complainin’; it was really good.

  “I’ve been aight, just busy with helpin’ at the salon and shit. What about you?”

  “Same here, hella busy as fuck workin’ with my boss and shit too.”

  We both sat there quietly as we drank more of the drink. I so badly wanted to jump his bones and fuck the shit out of him, but I knew better than to do that so I kept still in my seat. His cologne was waftin’ in my direction as the wind blew. It was such a tease; the smell was so seductive and it didn’t help that he was literally right next to me. I just wanted to caress his legs and initiate shit, but no. Not going to do it.

  “Yo, Danessa. Can I ask you a question, like for real?”

  I looked over at him and made eye contact with him as I nodded my head. I turned away from him and stared off into the distance as I waited for him to tell me what he wanted to ask.

  “Have you ever considered marrying someone? Like, what is your take on marriage?”

  “Well, marriage is cool and all, but I ain’t lookin’ for that right now. I feel like that should happen when it’s right? When you found your best friend and you found someone who you know you wanna spend forever with. It shouldn’t be something forced at all, it should come naturally. Why?”

  I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. I was never expecting him to ask me that type of question and I wondered why this nigga was even talkin’ about this type of shit.

  “It’s nothin, mami. I just wondered what your thoughts were on that type of shit ‘cause it has been brought up to me by my niggas. They out here cuffin’ women and I stay out here with my main chick but I ain’t wanna cuff her or anythin’. I just wanna stay on my grind and do me, you feel?”

  I wasn’t too sure how to feel about what he just said ‘cause if he ain’t cuffin’ her or anythin’, does that mean there isn’t a chance that he will cuff me? I know that is thinkin’ too far ahead ‘cause I’m just the bitch on the side, but he ain’t ever had a conversation like this with me before. I mean we talked before, but lately it had just been us goin’ out and shit, nothing serious like this though. I looked over at him and tilted my head.

  “Oh, so you wanna cuff but not right now?”

  He looked at me and smiled before lookin’ away.

  “Yeah, I mean maybe in time. I just don’t wanna be forced into that shit. I just wanna live my life and get some shit done.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and refused to let myself think more about it. That was hard, though, because I so badly wanted to know more. Like was he gone cuff her in time? Was she the one naggin’ him about gettin' married and it’s startin’ to scare off the nigga? Is there a chance that he may cuff me or is this nigga just thinkin’ out loud? I wish I knew, but I wasn’t gonna ask him what he meant and I wasn’t gonna pry anymore. That was up to him to deal with and figure out and I was just someone on the side who he was venting to. I had to always remember my place.

  We finished up our drinks and just sat there in our own thoughts. I was pretty tipsy by the end of this cup of whatever and all I wanted to do was sit there and think. I’d normally be hella horny and I’d want to put my hands all over Tyrek, but meh, I just wasn’t feelin’ it. I looked over at him and saw that he was in the same state that I was, just dazed and shit. He wasn’t making any moves towards me so it looked like the liquor didn’t hit him in that way either. This was the first
time in awhile that we ain’t initiated sex with one another and I kind of liked that. We just sat there and thought about shit without sayin’ anything. I placed my hand on the table and leaned back in my chair, crossing my left leg over my right as I continued to stare out over the patio. I didn’t put my hand on the table for him to grab my hand and hold it, but he did. I looked over at him and smiled. He didn’t make any eye contact with me at all, he just squeezed my hand and kept looking forward. I was far too tipsy to get in my car and drive home, so I just decided I would stay there for a while and enjoy this little moment that we were havin’. I didn’t know how long this was going to last, but I wanted to take in every moment of it while I could. I wish I could read minds though. I wondered what this nigga was thinkin’ with all this.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Tyrek

  It was time for me to make my first drop with this new shit that the boss man was sellin’. It was good as fuck and I knew that this shit was gone for sure be a winner. I checked my black duffle bag to make sure that the good good was all safe and ready to be sold. I had them wrapped up in lil Ziploc bags so they could be distributed evenly and sold accordingly. Everything looked good to go, so it was time to see how well this shit was gonna do. I was excited to see how well it was going to sell.

  I took the duffle bag and tossed it into my car on the passenger seat. I got in the driver’s side and cranked the ignition. I took a couple of deep breaths before I put the car in drive and headed down to some club that he wanted me to go to. I ain’t ever been to this place before but apparently it was a good spot to do business. It was just starting to get dark when I was headin down to this club so I was able to watch the city change. It always amazed me to see the life of this city. It changed overnight. It always went from teenagers and families playin’ in the sand and gettin coffee to prostitutes and drug dealers comin’ out when the sun set. It was the definition of a day and night difference. I saw all the addicts emerge from what looked like out of nowhere and I watched the girls hop out of they pimp’s SUVs.

  I was pulling close to the club and I saw they had parking in the back so I parked back there and picked up my duffle bag to head in. I walked around to the front and was confronted by the security guard.

  “Hey, what’s with the bag?” He said as he tried to put his hands on my goods.

  I quickly took a step back and looked up at him like he had no right to be all up on my bag like that. I didn’t move too fast though, so dude wouldn’t get all suspicious and try to take the bag from me. Just as I was about to answer, a nigga from my squad came out the door wearin’ the same security outfit. It was Zach, I knew this nigga. Zach looked me up and down before he tapped the other security nigga on his shoulder.

  “Aye, he’s aight. I know exactly why he here. Let ‘em in, bro. Let him take his bag with him too.”

  With those magical words, the other tall ass security nigga moved out of the way and they both let me into the club. It was hot as fuck and smelled like sweat and alcohol. I walked back to the VIP section where my nigga Zach was leading me to and set down my bag with all these unknown people. They looked all curious as to what I had goin’ on in my bag so they scooted over closer to me. One of the niggas walked straight up to me and introduced himself.

  “Aye, you Tyrek, right? My name is Brian, and I know why you here. I’m cool as fuck with yo nigga Donte and he was tellin’ me that you got some of that good shit. So let’s see it.”

  I nodded and opened up the bag. Donte forgot to tell me that I was gone meet some nigga, but it looked like he already informed everyone else that I was comin’ so this was aight. This Brian nigga looked inside the bag and asked me to pick it up to show him instead of him divin’ his lil grimy hands inside the bag. I picked up a sack and tossed it over to him. He looked at it and opened it up to smell the weed and his face was priceless.

  “Holy shit, this smells fuckin’ good. Here.”

  He slid me $50 for the little sack and wasted no time in whippin’ out a grinder to grind up the weed. I watched him as he broke down a swisher and stuffed it with the weed. I continued to observe the nigga—watchin’ him watch me watch as he wrapped up the blunt and lit it up. He took a couple of hits and coughed hard as fuck like I did when I first took some of that shit. I raised an eyebrow as I waited for his reaction. He took like five more hits before he finally said somethin’.

  “Nigga, this shit is definitely some next level type of shit. Lemme get the entire bag so my crew can enjoy this shit too. Come on, how much do I owe you?”

  That’s so funny—I also said that shit was next level. I looked inside the bag and had to figure out how much he owed me. The entire thing was just a little over one thousand.

  “That will be about 1k nigga. This shit premium as fuck.”

  He obviously didn’t care about how much it cost because nigga was easy to cough up a grand. He took out his bands and slid me the money before he took the bag away and threw it at his crew. I was curious to see what they would say about it and how they would react to it so I waited. I sat down on one of the couches and watched them all break down swishers. A few of them had pipes and bongs and shit so they all took their lil portion and put it in whatever they were usin’. Almost at once, they all started coughin’ and then they went into a state of just starin’ at one another. They all took some more hits before they all were completely in their zone. I heard a couple of them commenting on how good that shit was and how they felt like they was gone depend on this source for this shit because it was premium as fuck. I didn’t blame them; that shit was dank as fuck. Now they knew who to get it from. Good shit, Donte.

  I put the money in my pocket and made my way outside to my car. I cranked the ignition and sat in park for a second before I called up the boss.

  Ring, rin—

  “You aight, Tyrek?”

  “Damn you answered fast, nigga. Yeah, I’m cool.”

  “Yeah I answered all fast. I just wanted to make sure yo ass was good. I wasn’t expectin’ you to call me right now. So what’s up, my nigga?”

  “I sold it all already.”

  Donte was quiet for a good minute or so before he spoke again.

  “You sold it all? What the fuck you mean?”

  I just chuckled hella loud. He sounded like he was in such disbelief. I would never lie like that to this nigga.

  “I mean exactly what I said. It’s all gone my nigga. Just hold up, I’m about to head down to your place.”

  Click

  That shit was so funny to me. He really thought that I was lyin’ to him. Nah, that type of lyin’ shit would have cost me my job and I kind of need my job. I put the car in drive and headed down to his place. As I drove down there, I checked my pockets just to make sure the money was in my pocket, I wasn’t about to head down to his place empty handed and shit. Then he would really think that I was lyin’ or trying to steal from him. It was in there so we were good to go.

  I pulled up to his driveway and hopped out of my car to head up to his door. It was left cracked for me and I did my usual courtesy knock before I headed in. I saw him sitting behind his desk in his office and I took my seat before his desk. I reached into my pocket and tossed the money onto the desk. He looked up at me and looked back down at the money. He inspected every bill and looked like he was in disbelief.

  “Holy shit, my nigga, you really did it. That was fast as fuck. Tell me how you did that shit!”

  I laughed out loud and shrugged. I wasn’t going to sit there and boast about my sellin’ skills ‘cause I really didn’t do shit.

  “Nigga, all I did was follow the leader. I didn’t know Zach was out there and then some nigga named Brian came through and told me that he knew that you was sendin’ me.”

  He looked all confused but then it looked like it clicked.

  “Ahh, that’s right, I told Brian about that shit. Good shit, I’m glad he liked it. I just wasn’t expectin’ him to go on and buy the whole bag.”

&nbs
p; I nodded and continued to watch as he counted the money and threw it in an envelope and then into his desk. He reached into his desk and grabbed a sack of that good weed and tossed it to me. I picked it up and looked at him all confused. Did he want me to go out and sell this shit or something?

  “Why you look hella confused? That is my gift to you, Tyrek! I am so proud of you. Now I know my shit is good and it will do well, thanks to you.”

  I smiled up at him and started to get up to head to the door.

  “Thank you, Donte. I’m gone head home now though. I catch you later. If you need me, you know what to do.”