Riding Until The End

by A'zayler

  He was standing in their bathroom brushing his teeth when she walked in with his cellphone.

  “Congo, why is Becky texting you good morning with heart emoji’s?”

  Becky was the personal assistant that Howard had hired him once business began to boom for them. She was a young, white girl who was probably no older than Honey. She was a nice little red head, but he didn’t want her. He had never even looked at her like that, so for Honey to be coming at him sideways that early, was a tad bit disturbing.

  Congo spit the toothpaste from his mouth and wiped it before standing up and looking at her. “I don’t know. When did she text it?”

  “A minute ago. I’m getting tired of her now. You need to check her before I do.”

  “I don’t need to check that bitch because I ain’t stuntin’ her ass. I don’t know why she’s always acting so thirsty over the dick for real.”

  What did he say that for? It seemed to set her off double time.

  “What you mean acting thirsty over the dick? She ain’t got no business being thirsty over nothing that doesn’t belong to her. Especially if it belongs to me.”

  Congo smiled and took his phone from her hand. “Calm down, bae, it ain’t that serious. I ain’t worried about that girl and you shouldn’t be either.”

  “I’m not. She’s just getting a little too friendly for my liking.” Honey rolled her eyes and left the bathroom.

  Congo finished handling his hygiene before joining her in their bedroom. Blaze was propped up on the pillow playing with her stuffed piglet. She was smiling and swinging it everywhere, entertaining herself. Her curly hair was pushed back with a light pink headband that matched the light pink lace tutu dress she had on. He walked to the edge of the bed and grabbed his pants to put them on.

  “Congo, you been messing around with that girl?”

  “What, Honey? Hell nah.”

  Honey spun around with a frown on her face. “Well why else would she feel comfortable enough to send you a good morning text? I looked over the fact that she brings you breakfast every morning, but she’s just taking it too far now. So clearly you’re giving her some kind of inkling that you want this kind of treatment.”

  Congo could feel himself getting angry because he didn’t like to be accused of stuff he hadn’t done, especially when it came to other women. He hadn’t cheated on Honey thus far and had no plans on starting now. She had been there when he ain’t have shit. There was no way he would ever do no shit like that to her. Aside from that, she was bad, and she treated him well. There was nothing no other woman, especially Becky’s ass, could do for him.

  “Honey, I don’t want that damn girl. I ain’t fucking her and never will be, so kill that shit. She’s out of pocket for the shit she's doing, but that ain’t got nothing to do with me.”

  “What you mean it ain’t got nothing to do with you? It has everything to do with you. Why does she even have your personal number and not your job phone?”

  “She’s my assistant, Honey. She has to have all of my numbers in case something goes wrong and she needs to get in contact with me.”

  “If something is that wrong then she needs to be calling Howard, not you.” Honey turned back around to her dresser and went back to getting dressed.

  He wanted to say something to defend himself, but in all honesty, he just wanted to leave the whole situation alone in hopes that she would let it go and they could have a peaceful morning.

  “You act like you want to defend the girl, so I guess I’ll handle it for you.”

  There goes that.

  Congo rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt over his head. “Don’t do that, Honey.”

  “Why? You scared she’s going to tell me something I need to hear?”

  “No! It ain’t shit to tell. I just don’t want you to take your ass to that damn job making a fool out of yourself and embarrassing us.”

  “Embarrassing us? Nigga you already did that when you started sleeping with the help.”

  Congo’s temper flared in that moment. “You stupid as fuck, Honey. Just shut the hell up talking to me with your dumb ass.” Congo snatched his work boots, phone, and his bag before storming out of the room.

  He hadn’t meant to yell at her like that, but she had pushed him until he couldn’t take it anymore. He had told her numerous times that he didn’t want the girl, but she insisted on telling him he did. She had yelled something at him as he was leaving, but he didn’t bother to stop and see what it was. He just left the house as fast as he could.

  He didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying anything else out of anger, so he chose to leave and just go to work. Clearly, she was really angry because he hadn’t heard from her all day. Normally they would have talked his whole drive to work and on his lunch break with a text squeezed in between.

  His phone hadn’t gone off with anything from her and it was starting to bother him. Out of all the time that he and Honey had been together, they’d never had any real serious arguments. Of course, like everybody else, they had minor arguments, but nothing that made him yell at her or made her question his loyalty to her.

  “Having a long day?” Congo opened his eyes when he heard Becky’s voice.

  She was standing at the door in her short red dress. In his opinion it was unprofessional and so was the red lipstick and fingernail polish she was wearing, but he didn’t care enough about her or little shit like that to speak on it.

  “Nah. Just thinking.”

  “Do you mind telling me about what?”

  Congo looked at her to see if she was serious. When she came further into the trailer and sat down at the table near him he knew she had to be. There was something truly wrong with her if she thought they were cool enough to be telling each other their business. He wasn’t that dude.

  “Isn’t there some work you should be doing or something?”

  “I’m getting to it. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing you needed.”

  Congo shook his head and stood to his feet. “Nope. I’m good.”

  Becky stood to her feet and touched the muscle in his arm. “You sure there’s nothing that I can get for you.”

  “I’m sure. You can go head on.”

  Becky licked her lips before walking away. She tried her best to switch the little flat ass she had. Congo laughed at her as she walked out of the trailer. There was absolutely nothing about her that turned him on. True enough, he knew there was some sort of attraction there on her part, but he didn’t give a fuck about that and neither should Honey.

  Congo checked the clock and noticed that he still had another ten minutes left on his lunch break, so he decided to go see Honey. She was mad, but he didn’t want her to stay like that.

  He left the trailer and walked toward the building. He was happy that the new project they’d been working on was still fresh and she had to be there to make sure they were putting everything where it was supposed to go. Normally she worked in the main office, but with this project she was spending more time on the site than in the office.

  He took the elevator up to the floor he knew she would be on and walked down the hall. When he reached the office that she was in, he knocked on the slightly ajar door. She, along with the other two men who were in there, looked at the door. The disapproving looks on the men’s faces let him know that they had probably been checking for Honey and hated that he’d come to interrupt.

  He could have corrected their square asses right then, but unlike Honey, he refused to have people in their business and laughing at them.

  “Honey, can I speak to you for a minute?”

  “I’m working, Congo.”

  “I know that, but that doesn’t stop me from needing a minute of your time.”

  She continued thumbing through the papers in front of her. “Can’t this wait?”

  Congo was growing irritated with her flexing on him in front of the two niggas in her face, so he walked into the room and leaned down near the table she was writing on.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her from her chair. When she was on her feet, he pulled her face to him and kissed her mouth. The fact that she didn’t pull away let he know that she had been missing him just as much as he had been missing her.

  He kissed her lips once more before whispering against her lips. “Stop cutting up before I put my foot in your ass.”

  She snickered. “You ain’t seen cutting up. Wait until I catch Becky.”

  Congo kissed her lips again. “Leave that girl alone. You know you can’t fight. I don’t want her to beat your ass.”

  Honey laughed louder that time and pushed away from him. He laughed and tried to pull her back to him, but she pulled away again.

  “I have to work, Congo. I’ll see you later.”

  “Cool, but don’t make me come looking for you no more.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Better not. Now get your sexy ass back to work.” Congo turned his attention away from her and looked at the niggas that were staring at him.

  He started to ask them what the fuck they were all in his face for, but he had to remember that he was at work. It didn’t matter anyway. They knew Honey was his. That’s all that mattered. Unlike, Honey, he knew how to conduct himself in a professional manner. Content with the fact that she was no longer mad, Congo made his way back down to his site.

  The same smile was on his face when he got back to work. What in the fuck made Honey think he wanted Becky was a mystery to him. It was cool, though. He would check that out later. For now, he needed to get back to work. Howard had placed him in charge of his own team, giving them the most difficult contracts. Congo, being who he was, had welcomed the challenge and raised the bar even higher every time him and his people completed a job.

  Howard had gotten so much business and recognition off of Congo and his team in the past few months that he had made Congo one of the lead project managers. He had first choice on all contracts that came in and was paid a hefty salary because of it. He and Honey’s savings and checking accounts were through the roof, and that was after buying their house and two new cars.

  Congo had wanted to pay cash for everything and Honey followed his lead like always. The four months that they’d been working for Howard had been some of the best months either of them had ever seen in their life. They expressed their appreciation at every turn, but they were always the ones rewarded with praises.

  They were both really good at what they did and it showed. They’d come a long way as a couple, and Congo wasn’t about to allow some suburban white girl to come and ruin it for him.

  *****

  “Dang, you got here fast.” Arizona said when she opened the door for Honey so that she could walk in.

  “I was already on my way when I called you.”

  “Well, what’s going on, girl? Spill the tea. I’ve been waiting on this all day.”

  Honey sat down on the chair. “It ain’t really tea. It’s just something I’m trying to figure out.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Girl, it’s this lil white girl that works for Congo. She wants that nigga and she ain’t trying to hide it. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but if he ain’t paying her no attention, then why else would she be being so forward?”

  “So, you think he talking to the girl?”

  “I don’t know for real, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. I mean he keeps saying he ain’t, but Congo ain’t the type of nigga that will tell on his self.”

  Arizona sat down across from Honey on her other sofa. “I don’t know, Honey. I don’t think Congo would do no mess like that. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve never known him to be a low down dude like that. He’s always straight-forward with his shit. Have you ever suspected him of cheating before?”

  “No, but things are different now. He has money. He was broke all the rest of the time. That lil spoiled heffa can probably smell money on him. If he was still broke, you probably wouldn’t be able to pay her to look at him. Now that he has a lil name for himself, she’s following him around with her tongue out.”

  “Not with her tongue out?” Arizona laughed.

  “It’s not funny, Z. I’m for real.”

  “I know you are, Honey. I just don’t think there’s anything to it. Congo don’t even seem like the type to mess around with a white girl.”

  Arizona picked up her ringing phone from the table. “Who is this?” She said out loud as she studied the number on the screen. “Hello… girl you have some nerve… yes, I’m at home… no you cannot.”

  There was a brief silence as Arizona listened to the caller.

  “I’ll meet you at Mommy’s house.” Arizona said, before ending her call.

  “Who was that?”

  “Girl, Virginia. Had the nerve to ask me could she come to my house.”

  Honey frowned. “What she want to come over here for?”

  “She was crying and stuff, so it ain’t no telling, but you know how I feel about her right now, so those tears didn’t mean not one thing to me.”

  “You going to see what she wants?”

  Arizona sat back on the seat and looked around. “I don’t know. You think I should?”

  Honey shrugged. “You could at least see what she wants.”

  “I don’t really care what she wants, but I’mma go.”

  “I would go with you, but you already know she hates me.”

  Arizona stood from the sofa. “Girl, come on. Don’t nobody care how she feels or who she likes. If she says anything to you, I’mma give her the ass whooping I’ve been holding on to for her.”

  Honey waited while Arizona threw on her shoes and grabbed her purse. When she was ready, they left. Honey rode patiently with Arizona to her mother’s house. When they pulled up, Honey rolled her eyes right along with Arizona. Virginia was sitting on the porch looking a mess.

  Her weave was all over the place, her shirt was torn, and it looked like she had a black eyes. Honey and Arizona shook their heads, but neither of them said anything. Instead, they got out and walked toward the porch. When Virginia laid eyes on Honey, she scowled, but quickly let it go. Clearly, she knew she was in no position to be acting a fool.

  “Thanks for coming, Z.”

  “Um huh. What you needed? And what the fuck is up with you?”

  Virginia pushed at her weave in an attempt to lay it down, but that wasn’t happening. “What you mean?”

  “I mean, who beat your ass? You sitting up here sporting this ugly ass black eye and that tore up shirt.”

  “That’s why I called you. I know things have been bad with us for a few months now, but I just need my sister back. I should have never crossed you for those hating hoes.”

  “Virginia, what you got going on?” Arizona was tired of hearing her foolishness and wasn’t really in favor of the way the conversation was going. The two hating hoes she spoke of had to be Kayla and Keyona.

  “I’ve been kicking it with one of Kayla’s boyfriend’s homeboys for a while now. We went out of town the other day and he was cashing out on me. Kayla apparently got jealous, because I hadn’t done anything to her, but she starts going off about me being a hoe and wanting her man. I thought about pleading my case, but there was nothing to plead. She was just acting crazy because I have never looked at her boyfriend in my life. I especially wouldn’t have done it while his friend was spending money on me. By the time we got home, she had a full-blown attitude. I don’t know what went wrong, but her and Keyona got mad and jumped me.”

  Arizona stood staring at Virginia with a straight face, waiting to see if she thought she was about to feel sorry for her or something.

  “I’m still trying to figure out what you called me for, though. None of what you just said has anything to do with me.”

  “I’m just feeling real fucked up right now because they just straight flipped on me for nothing.” Virginia’s eyes began to water, but she wiped them before any tears could fall. She sniffed again, trying to stop any future
tears. “I just know you would have never done anything like that to me.”

  “Yeah, like I would have never known your man was sleeping with another woman and not tell you either, but hell, that seems to be the going thing these days.” Arizona’s voice was full of sarcasm.

  “Z, I really am sorry, sis.”

  “Please, just don’t, Virginia. You’re probably only sorry because now that you don’t have any friends, you probably need me to do something for you.”

  Virginia shook her head and held it down in her lap. Honey and Arizona both looked at her like she was crazy. They were not there for a pity party, so whatever she was trying to prove by continuing to put her head down was not working.

  “What do you need from me, Virginia? Because I am not about to keep standing here watching you cry about some bitches that you switched up on me for.”

  “I know that’s right.” Honey chimed in.

  “You know what’s right? I don’t even know what you’re doing here anyway.” Virginia’s head raised with no problem when she heard Honey’s voice.

  “Oh no ma’am, lil bitch. You will not come at her with no kind of attitude. You don’t even have that fucking right. She’s here because I brought her here. She’s the only real sister that I have, and I’m not about to let nobody, especially not you, fuck with her. So kill that noise and try that shit again.” Arizona looked at Virginia like she dared her to say anything against what she’d just said.

  “You always taking up for this girl. You haven’t even known her that long, but you’re quick to throw her in front of me.”

  “Girl, please shut up. I don’t have time for your mess. You put her in front of you, not me. When I found out Keyona was fucking my fiancé, guess who slapped the taste out of her gotdamn mouth? Guess who called me every day, sometimes twice a day, to make sure I hadn’t killed my damn self after everybody that I loved, and thought loved me, had done me wrong? Take one final shot at guessing who has been right by my side through all of this shit, making sure I didn’t lose my mind?” Arizona took a step closer to Virginia. “You see why she’s in front of you? Not one time have you rang my phone just to make sure I was alright, but you want me to let you sit here and ridicule the only person that has? Bitch, die.”