5

Chaos and Sweet lingered in the bedroom and talked while they played a game of blackjack. They were best friends and understood each other. They had a lot in common including living in New York and having similar, troubling backgrounds. They both were also very familiar with sex at an early age and had no one to call family, except for each other and Crown.

Sweet lost her virginity to her older cousin when she was only thirteen. They shared stories of loss and pain and sometimes it felt like they were sisters.

Chaos smiled, listening to Midnight and her trick’s loud sexual groans coming from the next room. She sat Indian-style across from Sweet in a pair of coochie-cutting shorts and a yellow baby tee. The day been slow for both ladies—little money was made that morning and in the afternoon. Crown was minding his own business down in the basement, but still periodically checking up on Midnight and her trick, so Chaos and Sweet only had a few sporadic moments of peace.

“I win again!” Chaos turned over a queen, bringing her score up to twenty.

“You cheatin’ bitch,” Sweet said jokingly.

“Just deal again. Shit, we need to be playin’ for money, since it’s so slow around here today,” Chaos said.

“I know, right? But you know how Crown is. He come up in here and see us gambling and all hell might break loose,” Sweet admonished.

“Shit, we make enough money for him already. I don’t know why he be trippin’ sometimes. Shit, yesterday, I fucked like six tricks for that nigga and he still beefin’ wit’ me about it being slow and needing to get my clientele up. Yo, fo’ real, Sweet, I would like to see that nigga on his back turning a trick for once,” Chaos joked. “Turn that nigga into my bitch.”

Sweet laughed. “I know, right?”

The girls continued their game and made small talk for a few moments. Chaos shuffled the cards again. She looked up at Sweet with a serious look and asked, “Sweet, you ever thought about leaving here?”

“What you mean?”

“I mean, just one night, get your shit and get the fuck away from here.”

“And go where, Chaos? Besides here, I ain’t got no other home,” Sweet replied.

“But we continue to fuck trick after trick and get this nigga rich. What do we get out of it? A nice place to stay, protection, and comfort is what Crown tells us. I could do that myself.”

“Chaos, beside that bullshit job I had at the mall, I’ve been doin’ this all my life. I might as well get paid to fuck a nigga. I was tired of giving my pussy away for free,” Sweet proclaimed.

“But are you happy here?”

“Are you?” Sweet countered.

“I don’t know. I just want somethin’ better for me, Sweet. I left New York to get into somethin’ of my own and to be with my cousin. But the minute I met Crown he had this way over me. He had me hyped about gettin’ money and being a woman and living like a queen. But lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m a prisoner up in this bitch.”

“I understand how you feel that way, Chaos. But I know that before Crown, I didn’t have shit for myself. I shared a one-bedroom apartment with five other people and two of them couldn’t keep themselves from climbing on top of me night after night. And since it was their place, they felt my pussy was theirs for the taking, too. I got raped by my seventeen-year-old cousin when I was only thirteen, and they looked at me like I was the one that did the family wrong when I accused him of it. So if I gotta fuck and suck a few niggas to live comfortable in this crib, have Crown provide security, and ain’t gotta worry about cash in my hand, then this ain’t so bad after all. I can deal wit’ his abuse. Shit, Chaos, I’ve dealt wit’ worse.”

“It’s a hard-knock life for us, right?” Chaos said, trying to ease the situation.

Sweet laughed. “Jay-Z ain’t got shit on us.”

They continued with their game and then suddenly Sweet asked, “You got somethin’ goin’ on with YB?”

Chaos smiled. “Why you ask?”

“Crown almost went upside my head the other night, just for talkin’ to YB while I was workin’ a trick. Y’all got somethin’ goin’ on that I don’t know about?”

“Nah, we just cool peoples. I met him a few months ago.” Chaos was deliberately being sparse with the details.

“Um-hmm, right. You got somethin’ goin’ on wit’ him, Chaos, be fo’ real wit’ me. What’s up?”

“He just cool peoples, Sweet. I’m fo’ real.”

“A’ight bitch, you keep your stank business to yourself. But I tell you don’t let Crown find out that y’all got a thing for each other and got somethin’ goin’ on, ’cause you know his temper. And you know he don’t like that nigga, either.”

“Crown ain’t gonna find out shit with me and YB, ’cause there ain’t shit to tell about us,” Chaos stated.

“You my girl, Chaos, so watch your back. You know they are both dangerous men in this city and I don’t wanna hear about you ending up in the morgue because of either one of them niggas,” Sweet said sincerely.

“I know, girl. You know I stay watching my back, but there ain’t shit goin’ on with me and YB,” Chaos lied.

Sweet smiled. She looked Chaos in her eyes and felt so much love for her friend.

They continued their game once again and finally heard Smitty, Midnight’s sexual escapade come to an end. Her trick came out the room, zipping up his jeans and sweating like a slave picking cotton in a sweltering field. He looked over at Chaos and Sweet seated on the bed and smiled.

“You want next wit’ one of us?” Sweet teased.

He smiled back and said, “Nah, I’m good.”

He left, looking exhausted. Midnight walked into the room right afterward, sweating profusely as well. She was butt-naked and wiped her face with a towel, looking like she just came from working out in the gym.

“Damn, you put it on the nigga like that? Gave him his money’s worth, didn’t you, Midnight?” Chaos said.

“It took forever fa’ him to come,” Midnight drawled in her thick, country accent.

The girls laughed.

“Well, the way that nigga looked after he left here, you know he comin’ back for seconds,” Sweet stated.

Midnight smiled and sat next to the girls on the bed. “I didn’t take too long wit’ him, right? I mean, Crown won’t be mad wit’ me, will he? I kept within my time?” she asked.

“I think you had, like, five more minutes left wit’ him,” Sweet mentioned.

“Midnight, you need to chill out. You did good, girl, stop worrying so fuckin’ much,” Chaos told her.

“I know. I try not to worry, but I hate upsetting him. I’m one of the new girl’s in this house and I wanna make right. Ya know?”

“You’ll be a’ight, Midnight. The way you put it on that nigga in there, you gonna have a lot more customers comin’ for you in no time. Your money is definitely gonna be up, and Crown ain’t gonna have a reason to beef wit’ your ass,” Sweet said.

Midnight smiled. “Let me get dressed.”

She got up to return to the next room, but when Crown appeared in the doorway wearing a wife-beater, jeans, and his Timbs, the room got quiet. His muscular physique showed through the wife beater and his attitude didn’t look too agreeable.

“Y’all bitches talk too fuckin’ much,” he complained.

He eyed each one of his hoes, noting the concern on their young faces. “Y’all bitches hurry up and get dressed. I’m takin’ y’all down to the club to get this money.”

He walked away and the ladies didn’t hesitate to get dressed. They scurried around the bedroom for their things, knowing it was not good to keep Crown waiting for long.