The House that Hustle Built, Part 3

by Nisa Santiago

  Hassan asked, “You busy?”

  “No.”

  “Then why didn’t you answer my first call?”

  “I didn’t hear the phone ring, baby. I’m sorry.”

  Hassan didn’t push the issue. “What you doin’, baby? You know I’m thinkin’ about you.”

  “I’m just home alone, doing my hair and relaxing. I’m thinking about you too.”

  “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too.”

  “What you got on for me?”

  “I’m naked, lying on my bed.”

  “Why you naked?”

  “I was getting in the shower before bed.”

  Cash stood naked in the room with a hard dick. He couldn’t swallow Pearla, his bitch, having a loving and sexual conversation on the phone with Hassan while he was horny and wanted to fuck. He decided to have some fun. He walked behind her and placed his arms around her waist. He then started to kiss the side of her neck.

  Pearla pulled herself away from his hold, spun around, and mouthed, “Are you crazy?”

  Cash nodded. He was. He was crazy for her and some pussy.

  When Cash reached for her again, she tried to step away from his grasp, but she didn’t move fast enough. He grabbed her waist and pushed her down on the bed, and she fell on her back, the phone to her ear.

  “I wanna finish what I started,” he whispered to her.

  Pearla couldn’t believe it. Cash was a lunatic. He couldn’t wait until she was off the phone. In a strange way, she was turned on by it. It was a pleasure being wanted by two men.

  As she continued talking, she felt Cash spreading her legs. She made a feeble attempt to keep them closed, but Cash was relentless, leaving her with no choice but to plant her feet on either side of his shoulders and go with the flow.

  “I know, baby. I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired,” Pearla said to Hassan. “I wish you were here lying next to me too. I want you so bad. Yes.”

  Cash ignored their conversation and dove in headfirst, his mouth buried in her pussy.

  Pearla squirmed and accidentally moaned. She had to quickly cover her tracks. “That’s me moaning for you, baby. You know how you make me feel.”

  Cash wanted to keep up the fun, proud that he was having sex with Pearla while Hassan was on the phone with her. He started to finger her too, multi-tasking on her pussy.

  It was driving Pearla crazy. She moaned again through the phone. She was ready to end her conversation with Hassan, but if she did, that would raise suspicion, if he already wasn’t suspicious.

  She gyrated her hips against his face, running her hand against his head and ready to dig her nails into his skull. She needed to hold on to something. Cash ate, and ate, and ate, until Pearla was about to come.

  Hassan didn’t want to hang up, which bothered Pearla. How long could she keep up the charade? All of Cash’s attention was focused on her highly sensitive groin area, and every bit of sensation came pouring out of her.

  “Did Bimmy come by today?” Hassan asked her.

  Pearla had to bite down on her bottom lip abruptly to keep from screaming out in ecstasy. She quickly composed herself and answered, “No, I haven’t seen him.”

  “He gonna come by tomorrow then and drop something off for you.”

  “Is it cash?” she asked.

  “You’ll find out.”

  “What time is he coming by?”

  “Just be there when he shows up.”

  Pearla tried not to concern herself, but it was hard reading Hassan. Sometimes he was just too stoic for her.

  She felt another pleasing moan coming on as Cash didn’t come up for air, but she managed to stifle it, pressing a pillow against her face.

  Hassan said, “I love you, Pearla, and you love me, right?”

  Cash swirled his tongue around inside of Pearla, toying with her clit. She closed her eyes, while her man on the other end of the phone waited for a response.

  “I love you!” she exclaimed.

  She was about to come, and for her not to expose herself, she had to put the phone on mute, so Hassan couldn’t hear her. She came so hard and loud, she was squirming all over the bed, and her pussy was squirting like a fountain.

  Cash, carrying a look of conceit, removed himself from between her legs and wiped his mouth.

  Pearla couldn’t keep her phone on mute too long; she quickly composed herself and continued her conversation with Hassan.

  Cash wasn’t done with her yet, his throbbing dick ready for penetration. Pearla knew the look in his eyes—he was ready to beat her pussy up. She was ready for him. First, she needed to end her conversation with Hassan. She had to be smooth curtailing their talk.

  She didn’t know how she was going to keep up the act, trying to disguise her pleasurable moment in the bedroom, especially with Cash ready to slide his big dick inside of her. Luckily for her, his phone time ran out, and the phone went completely dead. Pearla was relieved.

  Cash grabbed Pearla’s legs and pulled her closer his way. With Hassan off the phone, now she could relax and enjoy the dick.

  Four

  It was five o’clock in the morning and Pearla lay naked in Cash’s arms. The time had gotten away from them. After three rounds of deep fucking, they had fallen asleep like babies. Cash was snoring, out cold.

  Pearla woke up and immediately removed herself from Cash’s arms. She jumped out of bed, panic on her face. What time was it? How long had she been asleep? She was still naked as she ran toward the window and stared outside. It was still dark out. She had no idea what time Bimmy was stopping by. He was unpredictable, and she couldn’t risk Cash being there when he came. Sometimes he liked to come inside for unexplained reasons, but Pearla wasn’t a fool. She knew he was only checking up on her, spying on her for Hassan. Whatever he saw, he would relay it back to Hassan via phone or during one of his visits to Rikers Island.

  “Cash, wake up!” she said, trying to stir him from his sleep. “You gotta go! You need to leave.”

  Once Cash was asleep, it was hard to wake him up. Pearla nudged him harder and harder. He groaned and slightly moved around on the bed.

  She continued to nudge him. “Nigga, you need to wake your ass up! It’s almost dawn.”

  Cash finally opened his eyes, but he didn’t rush to get out of bed. In fact, he grabbed Pearla by her arms and tried to pull her back into bed. “C’mon, let’s go at it again. Let’s go half on a baby.”

  Pearla pulled away from him. “No more sex! You need to leave!”

  “You kickin’ me out?”

  “Yes!”

  “Damn! That’s cold. You got what you wanted, so I’m not relevant.”

  “You already know the deal. You know Hassan always has his peoples coming by to check up on me. I can’t risk anyone seeing you here. This isn’t just my place.”

  “What time is it anyway?” He glanced at the clock on the dresser and frowned. “Yo, it’s five in the fuckin’ morning. You is trippin’? Who gonna come by this damn early?”

  “You don’t know Hassan.”

  “Fuck him!”

  “I just wanna chill wit’ you and enjoy myself.”

  “We already did enough enjoying ourselves.”

  “You know you loved it. Don’t act like you don’t want this dick in you again,” Cash said, grabbing his crotch.

  Pearla sighed. “Cash, I don’t want any drama. I love my life, and I don’t want you fuckin’ it up for me.”

  “But you like this dick, though. You wasn’t saying that when I was eating you out while you were on the phone wit’ that nigga. Most times you the one callin’ me to come over. You know what, Pearla? You’re a fuckin’ hypocrite. I guess now I’m just a booty call, and then you discard me like trash when you’re done wit’ me.”

  “You left me and then got wit�
�� some stupid whore!” Pearla countered. “What I’m supposed to do? Keep waiting around for you until you finally get your act together…your fuckin’ life right? No, Cash! I’m a bitch that’s always gonna do me and look out for me. I’ve been doin’ it before I met you, and I’m gonna continue to do it after you leave.”

  Cash shouted, “You know what? Fuck it then! I’m out!” He jumped off the bed and quickly reached for his clothes.

  “That’s what you do best anyway—leave!”

  “You told me to fuckin’ go!”

  “But you don’t have to leave here on sour terms,” Pearla said.

  “I leave the way I wanna fuckin’ leave!” Cash scurried around her bedroom collecting his things and getting dressed.

  Pearla didn’t understand him. He knew the situation—the rules. If he didn’t want her to be with anybody else, then he should have stayed with her when it got rough. He chose not to, leaving her vulnerable to Hassan’s charm. But there was that child inside of Cash again. He couldn’t have his way, so he fussed about it and caught an attitude. Sometimes Pearla wondered what she had seen in him in the first place.

  “I’m just telling you we have to be careful,” she said politely.

  “We are being careful.”

  “We’re getting sloppy.”

  “Whatever!” he spat back.

  Completely dressed now, Cash marched out of the bedroom. Pearla followed him. She didn’t want him to leave upset.

  “Cash,” she called out.

  “Forget this! Your wish is my command,” he mocked.

  “You’re being fuckin’ childish!”

  “And you’re being ignorant and a stupid bitch!”

  “Fuck you, Cash! Get the fuck out my house then!”

  “I was already leaving.”

  “I don’t need you!”

  “And I don’t need you!” He finally turned around to face her. “Go be wit’ your prison bitch and catch AIDS when he comes back home.”

  She slapped him and shouted, “Fuck you!” Look who’s talking, she thought. Cash was the biggest whore in the city. It was a shock that she hadn’t caught anything from him. She got tested regularly, and it always came back negative.

  Pearla’s eyes were glossy as she stared at Cash. Why couldn’t he be better? Why couldn’t he change? She was giving him something special even though he didn’t deserve it. Her body had always been her temple, but Cash had sometimes treated her like she was a truck stop—a place to rest, wash up and chill, and then head back on the road.

  “Yo, I’m fuckin’ out,” he said. “Don’t call me again.”

  She sighed. “Just leave.”

  Cash pivoted and walked out the front door. The sun was about to rise. Pearla stared at him walking to his car. She had nothing else to say to him. He was being a fool. He was a risk, but she still loved him.

  Cash climbed into his car without looking back at her, and that offended her. He didn’t turn around to look at her not once. He started his car and simply drove away.

  Pearla slammed the door. She didn’t want to think about him, or worry about him. He was never going to change.

  Five

  Pearla turned on the shower, exhaled and stepped into the steamy, soothing water. For a moment, she let the cascading water beat over her head in steamy rivulets and let the running water massage her muscles. She lowered her head and let her skin become drenched, feeling like she was standing under an everlasting waterfall, her mind swirling with thought after thought.

  She had fought all her life to attain the finer things in life. People were always against her. She always had a sheer will to succeed, with or without a man. There was no way she was going back to being poor. The life of luxury she lived now was fabulous. This time she had to be smart and not make the same mistakes she’d made before. The only thing from her past that she allowed into her present was Cash. She had completely abandoned and forgotten about everything and everyone else.

  Sometimes, she did feel like a prisoner. Hassan, who was completely crazy about her, had people watching her. She knew it. He was in love with her, but he wasn’t a fool. She always had to be careful with the steps she was taking. Sometimes she had to sneak around. He expected her to be faithful to him, but her lust for Cash and her survival was supreme over all.

  Whenever she spoke to Hassan, she tried to keep his spirits up by being optimistic about their future together. Despite his battery of high-end lawyers, the gun he was caught with had bodies on it, and there was a possibility that he might not see the light of day. But she continued to support him and be there for him.

  With Cash, she was a prisoner of love. No matter what he did, she always allowed him back into her life. Each time he would prove that he was incapable of maintaining stability in a relationship. Sometimes Cash was a lost fool. He was immature and a womanizer; a smart woman would have left the trouble long ago. She had deep-rooted feelings for the nigga. There was that je ne sais quoi about him, that inexplicable factor that made him irresistible to her.

  Pearla closed her eyes as the hot water soaked into her skin. She leaned against the tiled wall and started to bathe her skin delicately. She enjoyed her showers. They gave her solitude and perseverance, and she came out refreshed and relaxed. She spent a half hour in her steamy bliss, enjoying the water and the Rancé Jasmine Crème Grasse Soap that supposedly had many healing properties. She made sure to cleanse every area of her body. She had Cash all over her skin and needed to get rid of his scent.

  Pearla turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She toweled off, wiped the mist from the mirrors, and stared at her reflection. Such a beauty she was. She did her duties in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, douching and whatnot, and walked out. She had to keep her body and everything else on point. She couldn’t slip up. It all mattered, from head to toe. Cash had done some work on her pussy; now it needed to breathe. It was still early in the morning with the sun fresh in the sky, and she had a busy day ahead.

  She knotted the towel around her body, walked into her bedroom, and damn near jumped out of her skin with terror when she saw Bimmy sitting on her bed nonchalantly, smoking a cigarette.

  “What the fuck, Bimmy!” Pearla shouted. “How the fuck did you get inside my house? You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “I knocked and rang the bell a few times, but you didn’t answer.”

  “I was in the shower.”

  “Well, I made it my business to come inside and make sure you weren’t hemmed up in here,” he said casually. “Hassan told you I was coming by to drop a package off, didn’t he?”

  “It’s six-thirty in the fuckin’ morning.”

  “And?”

  “I’m not even dressed yet.” Pearla knotted the towel around her even tighter, making sure none of her goodies were exposed to him.

  Bimmy took a drag on his cigarette. “Well, get dressed then.” he said.

  “Get the fuck out my bedroom!” It was too early for this bullshit.

  Bimmy stood up and looked at Pearla. He looked her up and down. He made her very uncomfortable. She couldn’t help but wonder what April would think of this. She didn’t want any trouble with his baby mama or with Hassan. She thanked God that Cash had left when he did. If not, it would have been hell in her place.

  Bimmy slowly walked by her, saying, “I’ll be downstairs. Hurry up and get dressed.”

  “I’m gonna tell Hassan about this.”

  “He the one that told me if I knock and you don’t answer, I got the right to go inside.”

  “Not to sit in our bedroom and see me in a fuckin’ towel.”

  “Just hurry up and get dressed. I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.” Bimmy casually walked out of the bedroom, leaving Pearla standing in the middle of the room frustrated and angry.

  The audacity of him. She slammed her bedroom
door shut. She wanted to punch something. She made sure her door was locked before removing the towel. She put on a long T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Bimmy was raiding her fridge, making himself at home, and getting a little too comfortable.

  “I hope you plan on making breakfast,” she said sarcastically.

  He turned around and gave Pearla a chilling look. Before, everything used to be cool with him. He used to treat her like a little sister. She was family. But now Pearla felt some tension with him. He was acting different with her. He was colder. Why? Did he know about Cash? Did he see him come and go? She had no idea what he saw and knew. She kept her cool though. She wasn’t about to let this man intimidate her.

  “What did Hassan want to leave me?”

  Bimmy didn’t answer her question right away. He walked by her and went into the living room. On the couch there was a dark plastic bag. It looked heavy. She had no idea what was inside the bag.

  Bimmy picked it up and said, “I’m gonna put this inside the safe.”

  “What safe?” Pearla said. She was confused.

  Bimmy walked by her like his name was on the mortgage. He went down into the basement, and Pearla followed him. He turned on the lights and proceeded toward the back of the basement. The area was mostly a storage place for boxes and other junk. Pearla rarely went down there. She was an upstairs girl.

  Pearla was still confused. What safe was Bimmy talking about? She’d lived in the house for months and had never come across any safe.

  Bimmy went into the laundry room, set the bag on the floor, and removed a few cinder blocks from the wall. The blocks looked heavy, but he was strong. To Pearla’s amazement, there was a secret compartment behind the cinder blocks and a safe. How long had it been there? What was inside the safe? The large heavy-duty Sentry safe was fireproof and had a sophisticated dual electronic lock and tubular key.

  Bimmy punched in the code, and the safe opened. From where Pearla stood, she couldn’t get a good look at the contents, since his frame was blocking her view. He picked up the bag without moving what was inside of it and placed it into the safe, and then he shut it and secured it. He then placed the cinder blocks back where they were, without even breaking a sweat. He turned around and walked Pearla’s way.