CHAPTER TWELVE
Mia
I honestly didn’t have any bad intentions when I went to see Keyon in the hospital. I actually wanted us to get along, even though I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I guessed I’d have to settle for the next best thing. That was our kids getting to know each other. They were innocent in this whole thing, and them knowing each other was very important. I kind of thought that she was going to shut my ass all the way down, but she didn’t. As much as I hated to admit it, she was a much better woman than I thought she was. She wasn’t on some bullshit, and she let it be known that she wasn’t going to take any behind her daughter, and I applauded her for that. I would’ve acted the same way had I been in her shoes.
“What are you over there thinking about?” my cousin Brittney asked me. We were sitting in the kitchen at my house chopping it up. I didn’t know I had zoned out until she spoke.
“Nothing, I’m just thinking about life and where I want it to take me in the next few years,” I lied. She had no idea that I even went to see Keyon yesterday. If she did, she would’ve asked me a million and one questions, and I didn’t have time to answer her.
“Oh, well, what’s going on between you and Cash? Does he still come over here and shit?” she asked, and just like that, it all had begun.
“Nothing is going on between me and Cash. He comes over every now and again, but that’s only so he can spend a little time with CJ. Most of the time, he’s out there running the streets and shit, so it’s like he’s never here,” I said, telling her half the truth. She didn’t really need to know what went on in my household. One thing was for sure—there was nothing going on between Cash and me. That I made sure of. I wasn’t trying to feed into or be bothered with all the drama and headaches that came along with him. After that shit that I pulled on Keyon, and Cash whooping my ass after, I learned a lot of things about him. One was that he wasn’t the man I thought he was, and another was that no matter how hard I tried, how many kids I had for him, or how much good sex we had, Cash would never let go of Keyon.
“Well, at least he spends time with his son. I can’t say the same thing about my no-good-ass baby daddy,” she said, singing a tune I was all too familiar with. I was about to open my mouth to tell her that when someone rang the doorbell. Saved by the fucking bell, I thought as I quickly got up to go and answer the door.
“What are you doing here?” I asked the minute I noticed Bundy standing on my doorstep.
“Why haven’t you been answering the phone?” he asked, walking in without me telling him to.
“I’ve been busy trying to get myself together, Bundy. That’s why I haven’t been answering the phone,” I said, instantly catching an attitude. Bundy had been calling my phone for the past few days, and I hadn’t been answering because either Cash was around me at the time, or I just didn’t want to be bothered.
After everything went down, and the shit with Cash looking for the ones who robbed him, I’d been trying to keep some distance between us. Not that I would turn on him, because turning on him meant that I’d be turning on myself. But I wasn’t trying to draw attention to us. I didn’t want Cash or anyone on his team getting suspicious about Bundy and me or about what really happened. I’d been trying to tell his ass this, but it was obvious that he wasn’t trying to hear me. I wondered if he bothered the niggas who helped him as much as he’d been bothering me.
“Come on, Mia, right now is not the time to get an attitude and shit,” he said, rolling his eyes at me. I didn’t care what the fuck he said. All I wanted him to do was get his ass up out of here before Cash pulled one of his surprise visits.
“What do you want, Bundy?” I asked him finally.
“You didn’t read any of the messages that I sent to you?” he asked, confused.
“Nah, I told you that I’ve been busy. Plus, Cash has been here, and I don’t want him catching on to anything. So I barely even cut my phone on when he’s around,” I responded. The minute I said that, the nigga started getting agitated. When he started looking around, I knew that something wasn’t right. “What’s up? Why you shaking like a stripper on a stripper pole?”
“Yeah, yeah, funny. That nigga knows about us,” he replied in a low tone.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to comprehend what he was talking about.
“You know what I mean. The other night when I was out handling business, I noticed this car following me. I thought I was tripping and that I was just being paranoid, but everywhere I went, that car followed. I mean, they tried to be incognito, but I picked up on that shit after a while. Then I thought it was just the police, but I know the po-po, and that car wasn’t one of them. I’m telling you the man knows, and it’s only a matter of time before he comes for us.”
“Man, get the fuck out of here. You a trap nigga. That could’ve been anybody following you, trying to come up on some shit. I’ve been out a couple of times and not once did I notice anyone following me,” I told him straight up. I knew from the beginning that I should’ve never trusted that nigga to handle some shit like that, and now I wished that I had listened to myself. He was one of them wannabe gangstas. You know, the kind who acts hard and talks all that gangsta shit, but once things start to get tight, they start singing a different tune. “Looks to me like you need to start carrying more heat and being aware of your surroundings, Bundy.”
“Bitch, you think this shit is a game?” he asked, suddenly grabbing me, which instantly pissed me off.
“Nigga, get your fucking hands off of me,” I yelled at him.
“Bitch, if I go down, then we all go down. I didn’t plan this shit. You did. Therefore, I’m not about to take the blame by my damn self,” he screamed in my face. Right then and there I started to worry. Now I knew the nigga wasn’t at all gangsta, but I never expected the nigga to be a fucking snitch, too.
“Is there a problem?” my cousin asked, walking up on us. He instantly released me before looking at her, then back at me.
“Bundy, you need to leave and stop calling me. I don’t have any more to say to you. You got everything you wanted and needed. Therefore, I don’t owe you a damn thing,” I told him. He gave me a “Bitch, what did you just say?” look but didn’t move. I didn’t have time to play with him, so I decided to help him. Walking over to the door, I swung it open. I almost fainted when I saw Cash standing there.
“Fuck you doing over here, nigga?” he immediately walked in and asked Bundy. It was so quiet you could’ve heard a pin drop on the muthafucking floor in this bitch. Thinking quickly, I did the only thing that I could’ve done in a situation like this. I lied.
“He’s over here with Brittney. You know they been seeing each other for a while now,” I said, looking at Brittney, who had this confused look on her face. I begged with my eyes for her to go along with the plan, because if she didn’t, I would be in for a rude awakening. I was not up for feeling Cash’s belt or hand against my skin. I almost pissed on myself thinking about it.
“Yes, we’re about to go out to eat. We were actually stopping by to see if you and Mia would like to join us,” Brittney added. If I could’ve, I would’ve kissed that bitch’s feet right now.
“Yeah,” Bundy said, looking at me.
“Nah, I’m tired. I’m ’bouta take a bath and head to bed,” Cash said, heading for the stairs. “Mia, where’s CJ?”
“He’s in his room asleep,” I told him.
“All right, I’m about to head to the shower. Fix a nigga something to eat.”
“All right,” I replied. I waited until he was all the way up the stairs and I heard the bathroom door close before I turned to Brittney and Bundy.
“You owe me, bitch,” she said as she walked back into the kitchen. She returned with her phone, her keys, and her purse.
“I gotcha, bitch. Thanks for saving me, baby,” I told her.
“Call me when you can,” she said before she left.
“Remember what I said. If I go down, we’re all going down,” Bundy whispered before he left right behind her. I didn’t waste a second closing the door behind his back. I almost closed his ass in the door, but I really didn’t care about that shit.
Turning away from the door, I made my way into the kitchen. Since I had cooked mashed potatoes, meatloaf, and green beans early, I decided to heat Cash up a plate. I then grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and headed upstairs. As I was entering the room, I heard the shower cut off. I placed Cash’s plate along with his beer on the dresser and went to sit on the bed. A few seconds later, he was walking in the room with a dry towel on. I didn’t mean to, but I watched as he walked over to the dresser and grabbed his underclothes. He looked so good, and I was so horny, but I really didn’t want to go there with him. So instead, I tried focusing on the TV. Again, I found myself looking at Cash as he began dressing. I bit my lips when he dropped the towel from around his waist and his dick was exposed. I found myself thinking about the last time we actually had sex, and boy, was it amazing. I licked my lips as I thought about how his dick felt in my mouth. I missed the shit out of that. Before I could think more about how I felt, Cash’s hands were around my throat.
“Don’t say a damn thing. I’m the one who’s going to be doing all the talking, you got that?” he asked, looking me in my eyes. I nodded my head as I tried desperately to hold on to the little air that I could breathe in.
“What the fuck was that nigga Bundy doing over here today?” he asked through gritted teeth. He squeezed my throat a bit tighter before he let me go. I spent the first few seconds sucking in air before I could speak.
“I already told you what he was doing here. He was here for Brittney,” I said, sticking to the lie that I had already formed. He lunged for my throat again, but I managed to back up.
“What are you doing?”
“Bitch, I know you’re lying. That’s all your ho ass does,” he said, grabbing me by my shoulders. “Now tell me what the fuck that nigga was doing over here, and don’t fucking lie to me.”
“Cash, stop it. I already told you what he was doing here,” I said as tears fell down my face. He stopped shaking me and stood up straight. He looked me in my eyes before he pointed his finger at me.
“Bitch, you can act like you’re crazy, but you haven’t met crazy yet. Let me find out that you’re lying, and I’ll fuck clean over your stupid ass,” he said. He walked over to his plate on the dresser and grabbed it. “My food’s cold. Go warm it before I fuck you up.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I’d seen what this nigga looked like when he was mad, and I wasn’t trying to make him mad right now. I got my ass up from the floor, grabbed his plate, and hauled ass straight to the kitchen. I popped his food in the microwave and stood there waiting for it to finish. Once the microwave dinged, I grabbed another beer out of the refrigerator, grabbed the food, and headed back up the stairs. The only thing I could think about as I walked up those stairs was how I put myself into this fucked-up predicament. If I hadn’t approached Keyon—hell, if I hadn’t fucked with Cash at all—then I wouldn’t be in this bullshit right now. I wasn’t about to become a woman who got beat on all the time. If nothing else, I was going to end this. One way or another, I was getting the fuck away from Cash’s woman-beating ass.