Creepin' 3: A New Orleans Love Story

by Chenell Parker

  “Where you off to dressed like that?” He asked London.

  “None of your fucking business,” London snapped not knowing that her mother was right behind her.

  “London!” Cheryl yelled making her jump. “You better watch your damn mouth in my house.”

  “I can’t wait until I’m out of your damn house,” London shot back.

  “That makes two of us,” Cheryl said as she walked away.

  London walked out of the front door and slammed it shut behind her. If someone had told her that she and Cheryl would be getting along the way there were now she wouldn’t have believed it. Being an only child, London had always been close to her mother. This change in her attitude only came along when she started to deal with Nate. Cheryl claimed that she was sick of London having a problem with every man that she got with, but that was a lie. She never had anything to say about anyone other than her new man. And that was only because she saw right through him. He was a user, but her mother would have to find that out on her own. Ever since Von left her alone she seemed to become desperate for a man’s affection and she was settling for anything. It was cool though. If things worked out the way that she wanted them to, she would be out of her hair and out of her house in a matter of weeks.

  ***

  Paige was furious when Rainey pulled up to the motel with London riding with her. She was already pissed that Chase had included Rainey, but now London was being thrown into the mix too. Although Carter had a few other girls, Paige was used to making the most money every night. Now she had to share it with two other people. Rainey really didn’t pose a threat to her, but London could give her a run for her money. Both girls were cute in the face, but London had a little bit more going for her. Rainey was thin with no kind of shape or curves, but London was working with a little something. She wasn’t as stacked as Paige, but she held her own in the body department.

  “What the fuck did you bring her here for,” Paige whispered to Rainey in anger.

  “Chase said that it was cool for her to come along. She’s trying to stack her chips just like the both of us,” Rainey replied.

  “You are so stupid Rainey. You’re basically taking away from your business to help another bitch out. Where they do that at?” Paige scolded.

  “Are you worried that she’s going to take away from yours too?” Rainey smirked.

  “I’m not worried about that at all. I got me boo. And what I don’t have Carter will get it for me,” Paige maintained.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s why he’s over there undressing my girl with his eyes huh?” Rainey pointed out.

  Paige’s head snapped around so fast that Rainey thought her neck would break. She almost ran away from Rainey trying to get over to where Carter and London were standing. Rainey shook her head when Paige locked her arm around Carter’s and started kissing him right in front of London. She was trying to let London know that he was off limits, but London didn’t seem to care. She wasn’t there to make a love connection, she was there to make money. Chase was on the phone setting things up and she was ready to put in work.

  Chapter 20

  “C’mon Mia,” Tre fussed. “You trying to feed your face and you’re not helping me.”

  “It’s Thanksgiving. Why do we have to do this today?” Mia asked.

  “You have less than a month before my baby gets here. I want everything to be done by then. If you would have done it when I wanted to we wouldn’t even be having this discussion right now. You not doing nothing, but telling me where you want everything to go.”

  Mia’s baby shower was two weeks ago and they still hadn’t put away all of the baby’s gifts. They put everything in the two empty spare bedrooms and hadn’t touched it since then. It was still early and they weren’t expecting any company until later on that day. Von’s brothers along with Moonie and her family were coming over and Tre wanted to be done before they got there. The room was painted and fully furnished leaving them with nothing to do, but put everything in its place. They’d already returned all of the duplicate items, so the hardest parts were already over with.

  “Okay, what about putting the swing right here by the window,” Mia pointed out.

  Tre picked up the pink and lavender swing and moved it where she told him to. He moved everything else where she wanted it to be, while Mia busied herself with filling up the drawers with the baby’s clothes. Tre and Von had already hung up the pictures and set up the rocking chair that Mia asked for. It only took a little over two hours, but they finally finished putting everything away and cleaning up their mess. Mia smiled when she admired the finished product because it came out better than she thought it would.

  “I guess that smile means that you like it,” Tre stand coming up to stand behind her.

  “Yes, it’s so pretty,” Mia replied.

  “I told you that it wasn’t going to take long,” Tre told her.

  “I know, I’m happy that we finished everything. Go call Von so he can come see it,” Mia requested.

  Von was doing what he normally does around Thanksgiving and started putting up his Christmas decorations. He had the tree up and decorated and he was putting all of the trimmings around the house before his guests arrived. Mia pulled out her phone to take some pictures while Tre left to go call his father. She heard them talking to each other while they were walking down the hall, but all conversation ceased once Von saw that the room was complete.

  “Look at my baby’s room. It’s about time y’all put everything where it belongs. My Treasure gon’ be sleeping in style,” Von smiled.

  “Your what?” Tre asked.

  “My Treasure. I told you that’s gon’ be my prized possession,” Von repeated.

  Tre and Mia looked at each other and smiled, but Von was clueless as to what they were smiling at.

  “What are y’all smiling at?” He asked looking at the both of them.

  “Treasure, that’s the name that I told Tre I liked the most. That’s what I want to name her,” Mia said.

  “Seriously?” Von inquired.

  “Yeah, I like it. What do you think?” Tre asked.

  “I think it’s perfect. She’s been my Treasure from day one,” Von replied.

  “Well, it’s settled. Now you can leave us alone about finding a name,” Tre replied right as the doorbell rang.

  All three of them walked out of the bedroom and headed to the front of the house to greet their guests. Mia’s due date was less than a month away and they couldn’t wait for their Treasure to make her grand entrance.

  ***

  Moonie and her kids were dressed and ready to go to Von’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Mitch had been sick with the flu for the past few days, so she was all set and ready to cancel their plans. When he got up that morning and told her that he was feeling better she was happy to hear it. Mitch always did love the holidays because it gave him a chance to be off from work and spend time with his family. He was an only child just like she was, but both of his parents were deceased. He had aunts, uncles and cousins that he was close with and they planned to visit with them throughout the day as well. They hadn’t heard from Melissa in a while and that put them both in a better holiday mood. Maybe she got the picture that it was really over and finally backed off. Moonie didn’t know what it was, she was just happy that she went on her way. She never asked Von if he’d talked to her, but she really didn’t need him to now.

  “You sure you feel up to going out today baby?” Moonie asked just to be sure. “I can tell Mia and Tank to bring us some food and we can stay inside.”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Maybe I need to get out of this apartment and get me some fresh air. I’ve been in and out of the bed for three days straight. Just give me a few minutes to hop in the shower and put some clothes on,” he replied.

  “Okay, we’re ready whenever you are,” Moonie said.

  When Mitch got up and went to the bathroom, Moonie made her bed and cleaned up the medicine and used tissue paper that he had
on the night stand. As soon as she opened the closet to find Mitch something to wear her phone started ringing. She was always careful to check her caller I.D. since Dalvin had been calling her like crazy. He kept apologizing for his behavior outside of the store that day, but she wasn’t trying to hear it. If it wasn’t for the fact that a lot of important people had her phone number, she would have changed it a long time ago. Moonie had just started working at the post office a few days ago and her employer’s had that number as well. Mitch told her to just ignore it and that’s exactly what she had been doing. This time it wasn’t Dalvin calling, but it was his mother instead. Moonie contemplated sending her to voicemail, but curiosity got the best of her and she picked up.

  “Hello,” Moonie answered.

  “Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?” Dalvin’s mother, Anna, asked her.

  “I’m fine Ms. Anna. How are you?”

  “I’m good baby, just waiting for my family to get here so we can eat dinner together,” she replied.

  “Oh, okay,” Moonie said for lack of anything better to say.

  She really wanted Anna to get to the point since she obviously had something to say. She didn’t want to be on the phone with her when Mitch came back into the room. The shower water was still running, so she was safe for now.

  “I know you’re probably with your family, so I’ll get to the point of my call. Dalvin told me what he did to you outside of the store a few weeks ago and I just want you to know how sorry I am about that,” Anna said.

  “It’s fine Ms. Anna. It wasn’t your fault that he went crazy,” Moonie replied.

  Moonie held the phone up to her ear and waited for what she knew was coming next. Anna had all boys and she was known for taking their side no matter what they did. Dalvin and his brothers were known mama’s boys and they did no wrong in her eyes. As wrong as Dalvin was, Anna would turn the situation around and try to make him look like a saint. She even had to move out of her house because of the mess that he’d gotten himself into, but she never mentioned that. Her sons were always putting her in danger and she was always looking over it.

  “He’s just been under so much stress lately, but he would never do anything to hurt you baby. He really misses you and I think y’all need to have a long talk. If I don’t know nothing else, I know that my son really loves you. Dalvin loves hard and he was hurt when he thought you moved on. He hasn’t been the same since you miscarried his baby. My sons weren’t raised to hit on women, but Paige deserved what she got for what she did to you,” Anna said.

  “Ms. Anna, with all due respect, you weren’t there when your son put a gun to my head and told me that I would never see my kids again. If it wasn’t for that lady screaming and calling the police, I might not even be here right now. And he’s right, I did move on, so we have absolutely nothing to talk about,” Moonie replied.

  “I understand how you feel baby, and I told him that he was wrong for scaring you like that.”

  Moonie was ready to go off and curse Anna out, but she held her tongue. She was really trying to downplay what her son had done like it was no big deal. She was always trying to fix their mistakes, but there was no fixing what Dalvin had done. There was no mistake in Moonie’s mind that he would have killed her if someone wouldn’t have intervened. She saw a look in his eyes that she’d never seen before. She knew that he meant exactly what he was saying and he wanted her dead.

  “Ms. Anna I appreciate you calling, but my mind is made up as far as your son is concerned. I’m in a serious relationship and things in my life are looking up for once. I don’t have any hard feelings towards you, but I’m done with Dalvin,” Moonie said ready to end their call.

  “Okay baby, well you take care of yourself. You know my number if you ever want to talk. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family,” Anna said before disconnecting the call.

  She was right on time because Mitch was just turning the water off in the shower. Moonie put his clothes on the bed and went into the living room with her kids and waited until he was dressed. She put the conversation with Anna to the back of her mind and focused on what was important to her, and that was her family.

  Chapter 21

  Instead of having multiple buildings to clean Rainey and Paige, along with a few other employees, were assigned to clean one place. The New Orleans Convention Center had lots of events coming up, and they needed a lot of workers to get the place ready. Rainey was hoping that she wasn’t asked to be one of the workers to go there, but she was the first name on the list. The work was easy, and they would probably sit down for most of the day, so that wasn’t the problem. She knew that Paige would probably be there, and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with her. Paige had been acting like a bitch towards Rainey for the past few weeks, and she was even worse with poor London. She was always throwing shade at them whenever they were in each other’s presence, and Rainey was fed up with her. She hated the fact that Carter and Chase had put London on because she was making just as much as Paige was. Rainey also knew that Carter was feeling London, and Paige probably knew it too. Paige stayed up his ass whenever they were around, so he could never make a move even if he wanted to.

  “What time are you going to be ready?” Chase asked Rainey when he pulled up to her office.

  Usually, Rainey would drive her car when they had multiple jobs, but today all of the employees were all riding together in the company van. She had Chase to drop her off in her car, and he was coming back to pick her up. He had something lined up for her and London later on that night, so Rainey asked him to pick London up before he came back to get her.

  “I don’t know. I’ll call you,” Rainey said with a little attitude evident in her voice.

  “You better check that nasty ass attitude of yours. I don’t have a problem popping you in your smart ass mouth,” Chase threatened.

  “I don’t have an attitude. I just said I’ll call you when I’m ready,”

  “Give me a kiss,” Chase requested with a smirk on his face.

  “Hell no, go tell your girl back in Mississippi to kiss you,” Rainey snapped.

  She was still heated about the fact that Chase left her for an entire week to go back home and spend time with his woman. Granted, Carter still set up appointments for her and made sure that she got paid, but it wasn’t the same without Chase. Rainey had developed feelings for him, and it hurt her feelings when he up and left without saying anything. She knew that he had a girl back home, but she was his girl when he was in New Orleans. Or at least that’s how he made it seem. When Rainey wasn’t working or with clients, Chase is who she spent all of her free time with. He always said that they weren’t a couple, but that wasn’t how Rainey viewed it. She and Chase had sex just about every night, and they sometimes did things together. A few times when other men called her phone he would get jealous and not speak to her for hours at a time. If that wasn’t a relationship Rainey didn’t know what else to call it. Then, to make matters worse, he left in his car and came back on the bus. He had the audacity to leave his car with his bitch and wanted to ride around town in Rainey’s.

  “You can miss me with all that drama. I’m here in New Orleans more than I’m at home with my own damn family. I missed my girl and my kids, and I went home for a while to spend some time with them. I don’t owe you and nobody else an explanation for nothing that I do,” Chase argued.

  “You’re here in New Orleans making money for your family. Don’t act like you’re here just to be here. As much money as you put in her account, she shouldn’t have any complaints.”

  Chase really wanted to reach over and slap the shit out of Rainey’s stupid ass. She was beneficial to him and his grind and that was the only reason why he gave her a pass. He couldn’t wait until he got a few more girls on his team just like his brothers. He was kind of new to the whole escort thing so Rainey and London were his first and only two workers. London was a dream come true. She was all about making her money and she was down for whatever. While Rainey and
Paige were at work, London would sometimes take on clients who wanted to be seen earlier in the day. She was the newest member of the team, but she was proving herself to be more valuable than all of the others. Chase could see why his brother Carter started checking for her. Rainey was an entirely different story. Chase had to handle her with kid gloves and the shit was tiresome. She was so desperate for some male attention that she believed everything that he told her. All he had to do was give her a little attention and she was putty in his hands. The sex was a bonus for him, but she read more into it than it actually was.

  “Look, don’t worry about what I do for my family. I’m the man and I’m supposed to provide for them. You just call me when you get off and be ready when I come back,” Chase said.

  Rainey got out of the car and slammed the door right before Chase sped away. She was walking towards the building when Paige came out with a smirk on her face.

  “Damn Rainey, you got that nigga driving your car now? You do know that he has a girl and two kids back in Mississippi right?” Paige inquired.

  “And your point is?” Rainey snapped.

  “I guess that lil nigga really is a pimp after all,” Paige laughed as she walked away.

  “Bitch,” Rainey mumbled as she followed her into the office to clock in.

  ***

  A little over six hours later Rainey was back at the office and ready to go. The van had just dropped them off, and she went inside to freshen up and change for her second job of the night. She sent Chase a text when she was on her way, but he still hadn’t arrived. Just like she expected, they sat down for most of the day and finished much sooner than they anticipated. She wasn’t complaining, especially since they were still getting paid for the full eight hours. Aside from keeping her mother off of her back, Rainey figured that she could at least draw a few hundred dollars for tax time if she kept her a legitimate job. Working with Chase was fast money, but it didn’t come with benefits or a retirement plan. Rainey snapped back to reality when she heard the back door chime, indicating that someone was exiting the building. Just about everyone had already left with the exception of her, Paige and two supervisors. Rainey was sitting on her duffle bag waiting for Chase when Paige came walking out to her car. Carter must have had something lined up for her too because she was dressed for the nightlife with a short back halter dress on. Rainey kept it simple and put on a pair of skinny jeans with a tube top and matching blazer. It was the first week in December, but the New Orleans weather felt more like early fall.