CHAPTER THREE
Keys
It was almost three o’clock in the morning when I pulled up to my apartment. I was tired and worn out both mentally and physically. All I wanted to do was crawl in my bed and forget this day had ever happened. I knew I couldn’t, but that wasn’t going to stop me from trying.
I was happy that my apartment was on the first floor, because when I looked in the back seat, Moni was still knocked out. My poor baby was tired, so I didn’t even try to wake her. I wasn’t going to be able to get more of our things from Cash’s, so I would just have to wait until later that evening. I grabbed my purse and keys before I got out, opened the back door, and grabbed Emoni. Damn, I didn’t know my baby was this heavy, I thought as I struggled to place her on my shoulder. When I had her somewhat situated, I closed the door using my legs and made my way toward the building.
I was almost to the entrance when I almost fell. Thank God I didn’t, because both Emoni and I would’ve been on the ground together. Instead, my purse and keys ended up on the ground. “Fuck!” I cursed as my eyes began to get misty. I absolutely hated feeling helpless, and right now I was as helpless as a baby who was left in the house all alone. I stood there, bouncing my daughter from shoulder to shoulder, as I wondered how I was going to get my things off the ground without waking her, when a voice behind me scared the shit out of me.
“Let me help you out there, little lady,” he said, bending down and picking up my things and then handing them to me. It was in that time when our fingers touched for a moment that I felt an electric shock jolt through my body. “Here you go.”
“Oh, my God,” I said, jerking my hand from his. “Umm. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled, revealing a pair of pearly white teeth. “My name is Kane.”
“Keys,” I said, reaching my hand out for him to shake. I wasn’t trying to give his ass my government name. Hell, I didn’t know who the fuck this nigga was.
“Kane and Keys—that sounds good together,” he said, shaking my hand.
“I bet,” I said sarcastically. I know this nigga is not trying to flirt with me, I thought as I stood there.
“So what’s a pretty lady like yourself doing out here this time of the night and with your daughter?” he asked.
“I was trying to go inside, but that was proving to be a task in itself,” I answered with a slight attitude. Right now was really not the time for this nigga to even be trying to flirt with me. If he were a real man, he’d be trying to get me inside instead of flirting with me out here in the streets.
“Right, I’m sorry, ma,” he said. “Let me walk you inside.”
“Nah, I’m good,” I said, declining his offer. I didn’t know this nigga well enough to be letting him walk me inside. For all I knew, he could be trying to kill us or something.
“Look, ma, I know you don’t know me, but all I want to do is make sure that you and li’l mama get inside safely,” he said as if he could read my thoughts.
I stood there for a minute contemplating whether I should let him walk me inside. As I said, I didn’t trust him like that, but if he wanted to harm us, he could’ve done that already.
“Okay,” I said, shifting Emoni yet again before I began walking toward the front entrance. For my baby only being 4, she was beaucoup heavy. Crazy thing was she barely wanted to eat. Sometimes I had to force her to eat, so I didn’t know where all her weight was coming from.
“So! How come this is my first time ever seeing you? Like, I’ve been living here for years, and I haven’t seen you around here once before this,” he said, trying to spark up a conversation.
“Because I just moved here, and that’s none of your business,” I told him matter-of-factly.
“Oh, shorty, my bad. You don’t have to bite my head off. I was just asking,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender.
I immediately regretted that shit. “I’m sorry,” I said, apologizing to him. I was still mad with Cash, and I was taking it out on him.
“It’s cool, ma,” he said before he became quiet. He was probably cursing my ass out in his mind, and I didn’t blame him one bit. I couldn’t believe I really caught an attitude with him when he’d been nothing but nice and helpful to me. Hell, if the situations were reversed, I would’ve left my ass right fucking there with my child and everything.
It wasn’t long before we made it to the door. Like the gentleman he was, he opened the door and allowed me to walk in. “Well, I’m going to get going. Have a great night,” he said, trying to leave, but I stopped him.
“Hold up. Wait a minute,” I said, grabbing his arm. “I’m really sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I promise you that I don’t normally act like that. It’s just that I just found out that my boyfriend was cheating on me yet again. We’ve broken up for good, and I’m still feeling kind of blue.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to explain myself, but I did. Besides, I didn’t want this man to think I was stuck-up after he’d helped me out.
“I was wondering why a pretty lady like yourself had an attitude like that, but it’s cool, ma,” he said, causing me to blush.
For the first time, I took a good look at him, and I had to admit that homie was fine with a capital F. Baby boy stood at about six foot two, had a caramel complexion, sported a curly Mohawk, and he was muscular with a set of bedroom eyes that could make a bitch nut by just looking in them. Oh, and his smile. When he smiled, he showed off a great set of deep dimples. I couldn’t help but check him out. My God! I thought, squeezing my thighs together.
“I’m sorry. I swear I’m a good person. I’ve just been in a bad mood lately,” I said, apologizing yet again.
“You can stop apologizing, ma. I already told you that you were good. I ain’t tripping off that,” he said, showing off those dimples again.
For a minute, I stood there lost. I watched as his mouth continued to move, but I didn’t hear a thing that was coming out of his mouth. His lips were so juicy and looked so soft. I could only imagine how good they’d feel kissing up my thighs or pressed against my lower set of lips. I was so busy thinking about all the things I’d do to him if given the chance that I didn’t hear him.
“Yo, ma, you still there?” he asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
“Oh, yeah. My bad,” I said, embarrassed. I couldn’t believe I was caught slipping like that. You gotta get it together, Keyon.
“Oh, it’s cool. I have that type of effect on women these days,” he replied, laughing.
Cocky nigga, I thought, rolling my eyes.
“Uh-huh. Well, I think it’s time for me to head inside,” I said, changing the subject. I definitely was feeling him, but I didn’t want him to know that. Like I said before, I was not going to look for no nigga. I was going to wait for him to find me.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry for holding you up,” he apologized. “Let me walk you to your door,” he offered.
“Nah, I’m good. Besides, my apartment is right down the hall,” I said, pointing toward my apartment door. “I’ve already taken up enough of your time.”
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of your company, ma,” he said, just as Moni began to move. “But, ummm, go ahead and get li’l mama to bed. I’ll see y’all around.”
“Okay, Kane. It was nice meeting you, and thank you for the help.”
“Likewise, Keys, and you’re welcome,” he said before he winked and left.
I stood there for a few seconds thinking about him. Then my shoulder began hurting, bringing me back to reality. Shaking Kane from my thoughts, I hurried down the hall to my apartment, opened the door, and laid Emoni down on the sofa before shutting and locking the door. Once I was done, I picked Moni up and brought her to my bedroom. Thank God I followed my first mind and furnished this place when I first got it. Otherwise, we would’ve been sleeping on the floor tonight.
Placing Moni on the bed, I removed her sweater along with her shoes and placed her underneath the covers. I clicked on the TV in case she woke up and I wasn’t there, and then I headed back into the living room to get my purse. Just as I made it there, my phone began to ring. Grabbing my purse from the sofa, I fished my phone out and answered it.
“Hello?”
“You good, boo?” Tay asked me.
“Honestly, I have no choice but to be,” I said. “I’m hurt, yeah, but I shouldn’t have expected anything more from Cash than what I got. After all the things he’s put my ass through these last couple of years, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Hell, he might have more kids waiting out in the cut somewhere. Don’t be surprised!”
“You ain’t never lied,” she said, cracking a joke. “I don’t know how you can be so strong. If that had been me, my nigga would’ve been in the city morgue, and I would’ve been in someone’s holding cell waiting to be processed. You way better than me, honey!”
“Now that I do know, I can’t keep making an ass out of myself behind Cash anymore. I’ve been doing that for too damn long, and quite frankly, I’m so damn tired,” I said, feeling the tears well up in my eyes, but I just refused to let them fall. I was done wasting my good tears on a good-for-nothing man.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked. That was a good question, one I didn’t even have a good answer to.
“Honestly, I don’t know, but what I do know is that I don’t want Cash. I’m through with that heartache and pain. It’s time for me to start being happy with my life,” I said, meaning it.
“Girl, I feel ya. There comes a time in life when playing the fool gets old and played out,” she said just as my phone beeped.
I pulled the phone from my ear and noticed that it was Cash calling. I knew he wouldn’t be too far behind, but I was not about to fall for that shit, nor was I going to answer the phone.
“You over at the apartment?”
“Girl, yes, and I’m glad, too, because Cash is blowing my phone up as we speak. I know he’s probably on his way to my old house, but his ass is going to be shocked when he realizes that I don’t live there anymore.” I laughed just as my phone began beeping again. Knowing that it wasn’t anybody but Cash, I hit the button to ignore the call. I wasn’t trying to hear him beg and plead just to go back and do the same thing a few months later.
“Yeah, I already know his game. It was a good thing you played him before he could play you,” she concurred.
“I know, right? His ass is going to be mad when he gets over to the house and notices that I don’t live there anymore,” I laughed.
“Yes, indeed, and it was a good thing we decided to furnish the apartment when ya first got it, or else ya would’ve been shit out of luck.” She laughed with me.
“I thought the same thing when I walked up in here earlier.”
“Where’s Emoni?”
“She’s in bed.”
“Is she all packed to go to her Momo Charmaine’s day after tomorrow?” she asked.
“Oh, shit!” I screamed. With everything that had gone down, I totally forgot that Moni was supposed to be going to Louisiana to stay with my mother. “Girl, I done forgot that Moni was leaving this weekend with everything that’s been going on. I ain’t packed a damn thing!”
“Shit, just go get her things from home then,” she suggested.
“No. I don’t wanna be nowhere near Cash. I’ll just go to the mall and get her a few things when she wakes up in the morning.”
“Well, call me when you girls get through, and I’ll come over to the apartment and help you pack her things.”
“Okay, girl. Good night,” I said, yawning.
“Good night, Keys. I love you, girl.”
“Love you too,” I said before we hung up.
After getting off the phone with Tay, I went and took a ten-minute shower. When I was finished, I brushed my teeth, threw my hair into a ponytail, and got into bed next to Moni. Before I could get comfortable, my phone began ringing. I already had a feeling that it was Cash calling again. Sure enough, when I turned over to check my phone, his name was there. I guessed his ass wasn’t getting the message that I didn’t want to be bothered with him, and I knew he wasn’t going to stop calling me. I decided that I was going to turn my phone off. Right now, all I wanted to do was get some sleep and not think about Cash and his drama at all. Sleep was the only thing on my mind, and that was where I was going.
Cash
Only the Lord and I knew how mad I was when I pulled up to the house that Keys and I had first lived in and spotted that big-ass FOR SALE sign in the front yard. At first glance, I thought I was tripping, but once I looked at the address a few times, I knew that I wasn’t. I had no idea that Keys was even selling the house. I pulled out my phone and attempted to call her, but she didn’t answer. That pissed me off, because now I didn’t know where either she or my daughter was. This bitch is really going to make me put my hands on her, I thought as I sat in the truck. I was both confused and outdone. I always thought that she was going to keep it as a backup for when things like this happened, but again, I’d underestimated her. I guessed shorty was really trying to prove to me that she was done, but like I said, I wasn’t giving up, nor was I going to let the next man come slide his way in and get what I’d invested years in. Keyon was mine whether she believed it or not, and we were going to get married soon.
Trying my luck, I called her again, but she continued to ignore me. I wanted so badly to leave a message, but I didn’t. I was going to give her the space that she needed. A week or two, I thought as I thought about where she could possibly be. That was all I was hoping to give her to get over this little situation and bring her ass back home where both she and Emoni belonged.
Taking a chance, I dialed Tay’s number. Keys didn’t have any family down here, so that was the only place she could be.
“Hello. Who’s this?” Tay answered with an attitude. She sounded like she was sleeping. I knew she didn’t know that it was me calling, because she wouldn’t have answered the phone.
“Tay, it’s me, Cash,” I said, ignoring the attitude that she had.
“What do you want, Cash?” she asked, smacking her lips. It was no secret that Tay, otherwise known as Sha’ Taylor, didn’t like me. She was one of the many people who thought that I was no good for Keyon. To be honest, I kind of thought that too. “Do you see what time it is? What the hell are you calling me for?”
“Ma, don’t play dumb. I saw you at the club earlier. Are Keys and Emoni over there?” I asked, cutting right to the chase since she was trying to play stupid.
“Look, Cash, I don’t know where Keys and Emoni are, and if I knew, I wouldn’t be telling you a damn thing,” she replied. “I’m happy that she left your good-for-nothing ass, because my girl was way too good for a nigga like you!”
“Look, ma, honestly, what goes on between me and my lady has nothing to do with you.”
“Lies! Who the fuck told you that bullshit?” she barked. “Keyon is my best friend, and Emoni is my godchild. Therefore, whatever they go through is my business.”
“No, it’s not. Keys ain’t fucking you, nor am I. Therefore, it’s none of your fucking business.”
“Nigga, please! You’re not the one who’s there when she cries. You’re not the one sitting on the phone with her for hours at a time, trying to calm her down because some bitch done called and told her about your dirty-dick ass. You weren’t the one there when that crazy bitch Lele tried to run her over. I was. I was always there. You know why? Because I genuinely love her, and I don’t wanna see her hurt!”
“I love her t—” I began to say, but she cut me off.
“The fuck you do. How the fuck can you love someone when you’re constantly cheating on them? How the fuck can you love her when you’re forever hurting her? What kind of bullshit love you think you spitting? Because that ain’t no kind of love. When you love someone, you go above and beyond the call of duty to keep them happy. You don’t bring her no type of happiness. For the past few years, all you’ve brought her was pain, heartache, and disease,” she spazzed. “Talking ’bout love. Nigga, you don’t know the first thing about love. You had a whole baby on her and hid that shit for a year. Now you talking about some love. That ain’t love!”
“Look, bitch, like I said before, whatever me and my lady go through ain’t none of ya fucking business. It’s no-man-having hoes like y’all who make me sick. How the fuck is you going to judge someone when you ain’t got a man first? Bitch, you don’t know what love is, because don’t nobody want ya slutty ass. Ain’t got a fucking man, yet you all up in our business, filling her head up with all that bullshit. You pro’ly was the one who convinced her to leave me. I always knew you was a jealous bitch. You just want what we got. What ya ass don’t know is that our love is forever. She’s gone today, but a few days from now, watch where she’ll be.”
“Aww, shit, it sounds like you’re mad. Tell me, though, are you big mad or little mad?” she asked, laughing. “I could never be jealous of my muthafucking friend, dumbass, because unlike you, I have love for her. I’ve never once filled her head up with anything. She left you because she was tired of your fucking bullshit, and I’ll say it’s about goddamn time. You ain’t nothing but a pussy-ass nigga. How you fuck over someone who’s been there for you for years, over some ho pussy? You made your bed multiple times. It’s time for you to lie in it. As for me having a man, I don’t want one, especially if he got to be a flea-and-tick thing like you. Now like I said earlier, I don’t know where she’s at, and if I did know, I wasn’t going to tell your dog ass a damn thing. It’s your turn to be out here looking like a damn fool. But umm, look at the time. I have to go. Good night! Oh, and don’t you ever attempt to dial my fucking number again, fuck boy!”
“Bitch, look—” I started to scream at her when I heard a click sound in my ear. Pulling the phone from my ear, I saw that she had hung up on me. It was best that she did, because I was about to bless her fucking soul. I didn’t know why Keys rocked with a ho like that anyway. The bitch was always in her ear about me. She never liked me, and I tried to let that shit slide since she was my girl’s best friend, but fuck all that. If she wasn’t going to respect me, I damn sure wasn’t going to respect her ass.
Getting myself together, I was about to pull off when my phone began to ring. Rushing to grab my phone, thinking that it was Keyon calling back, I knocked it out of my hand. The pain that shot through my hand almost made me shit on myself. I made up my mind right then and there that since I wasn’t going to get to talk to Keys tonight, I was at least going to go to the hospital for my damn hand.
“Hello,” I said, answering the phone.
“Where are you, Cash?” said Mia.
“The question is, where are you?” I asked her. “I hope you’re on your way back to Chicago, because if ya ain’t, I’m going to fuck you up big time, Mia. You can ignore me if you want to.”
“Cash, go on ahead with that shit. You know damn well you ain’t going to do a muthafucking thing to me. So please, by all means, shut the fuck up.”
“I’on know why y’all bitches insist on fucking with me, but I swear on the life of my kids that if you hoes don’t fall back in line, I’m going to make y’all . . .” I said. Fuck it. I don’t care if she heard me. I’m tired of these bitches playing me as if I weren’t that nigga. They must have forgotten that my name is Cash and I don’t play that shit. It was time for me to stop playing games and start showing them. Baby mamas or not, no hoes were going to run over or play with me.
“Who you calling a bitch?” she asked.
“Yo’ dumb ass. Mia, I promise you, on the life of my son, that if I catch you down here, I’m going to beat some sense into you,” I said, meaning every word I was telling her.
“Cash, I’m not scared of you. You must have forgotten who I am. I’m not Keys. If you put your hands on me, you’re going to regret the day your mother gave birth to you,” she had the audacity to say.
I pulled the phone from my ear in disbelief, because I knew for sure this bitch didn’t just threaten me.
“Since you want to be big and bad all of a sudden, stay your stupid ass down here and watch what the fuck yo’ ass is going to get!” I said, hanging the phone up on her. I didn’t know if she thought I was playing, but let me catch her, and let her watch what would happen.
After hanging up the phone on Mia, I tried calling Keyon one more time. This time, her phone went straight to voicemail. “Fuck!” I yelled, throwing the phone on the passenger seat. I needed my woman like an hour ago. She was the only one who could calm me down when I was going through shit like this. I’d fucked up too many times to count, but I couldn’t believe that this was the end of us. I just couldn’t.