Chapter 9

Accepting Evil, 1999

Chaka had taken Eve from the only place she’d ever lived—her momma’s house. He gave her money and other material things while he ran the streets and did his dirt. Gone were the days of spending time with her or caring about her day. If he paid her any attention, it was to criticize or chastise her about something she hadn’t done right. Although she didn’t like the way Chaka treated her, Eve lived with it, believing it was all worth the drama, if she could live like a queen. Leaving wasn’t an option because being with him had gotten her many of the things she didn’t want to live without—her home, with furnishings supplied by every expensive company she could find, clothes that cluttered two walk-in closets, shoes, and all the accessories any woman could ever want.

Immediately after sharing his bed, Chaka began playing another game Eve wasn’t prepared for. If she showed any resistance to his behavior, he wouldn’t come home, staying away for days at a time, until he knew she was damn near stir-crazy.

Eve learned the game and found a way to cope. She began provoking him when she wanted to run the streets. He’d set up rules and she’d break them, because he would always come looking for her.

After one particularly bad argument, Eve came up with a plan. He could call her any name in the book, but she’d hold her corner until someone better came along. She could handle a few insults, while she continued to rape his pockets and save her love for another.

Eve’s plan involved her living life like a single woman. If Chaka wanted to go around acting like he wasn’t her man, then she saw no reason to act like she was his woman. She figured Earl would be a good candidate to start off her single woman life again.

Although Chaka was the only lover she had who could whisper from across a room and make her cream, she hated him, but she just didn’t have the courage to leave. She wanted to smear shit all over his face when she found someone more deserving of her love and affection, but no man seemed suitable, so an affair with Earl seemed like the best revenge.

It didn’t take long for the affair with Earl to get out of hand. Since Earl didn’t have to take care of her financially, he was very attentive. He wasn’t the man she dreamed about at night, but he was affectionate and always catered to her every whim. If she wanted to spend three days on the beach, he provided the relaxation. When she wanted to see a play, he made it possible. They just had to see it outside the city limits. If she just wanted to lie around, he was right there to hold her hand.

The night of Earl’s Christmas party, Eve, pregnant and unsure of the father, was forced to recognize that all her game-playing had landed her in the middle of a deadly triangle. Earl seemed like the right person to blame, because Chaka certainly wasn’t going to let her have an abortion.

But Earl didn’t give a shit about Eve’s feelings either. Despite his attentiveness, his real motive for getting involved with Eve was to have bragging rights over Chaka, the man she’d left him for.

Eve fucked Earl at the Christmas party that night, hoping to relax him before she revealed her pregnancy, but apparently nothing she could do or say would have made a difference to him.

“Bitch, please! You come in here talking about being pregnant. Fuck that shit! Tell your man he about to be a daddy.”

When Eve wouldn’t leave and demanded that Earl speak with her, he threw his drink directly in her face. As an afterthought, he said, “Come see me when you handle your little problem.”

Dumbfounded, a few people openly gawked, while others just did not care.

With a broken spirit, Eve left the party. She got home and thanked God that Anissa was asleep and Chaka wasn’t home.

In the shower Eve scrubbed her body as though she would never be clean again. Exhausted, she went to bed, only to dream about the mess she had created. In her dream, Chaka was choking her senseless, and Earl lay inches from her body, breathless. Common sense prevailed. She knew if she even attempted to tell Chaka about Earl’s disrespect, then he would have a hundred and one questions, and she might get an ass-kicking. She promised herself that this secret would ride with her to her grave, along with all the others.

Eve certainly hadn’t thought the situation out completely. It hadn’t occurred to her that Earl might betray her and tell Chaka himself.

***

The next morning Eve opened her eyes and feared that her worst nightmare was about to come true. Chaka’s face was beet-red, and his eyes matched his face. Somehow he had found out about her actions from the night before.

“Tell me your dumb ass didn’t go to that party last night.”

Eve couldn’t trust anything that came from her mouth, so she just breathed deeply, preparing for the drama.

“I know you’re the most self-centered bitch in the world, but to go to Earl’s party and think for one minute it was going to be a secret was the second dumbest thing you ever done.”

The puzzled look on her face confirmed that she needed to know her first dumb move, but Chaka ignored her pained expression.

“You want that nigga, right? So, guess what—I am gonna send you to him. Get up!” he shouted, pulling her by her hair. He tossed her a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

Eve hurried into the items, thinking he would kill her right then if he knew for sure how far things had gone between her and Earl last night.

Chaka held her at the base of her neck, pushing her about until they worked themselves to the front door. In the heat of the moment, he didn’t bother giving her a winter coat or shoes. He pushed her through the door and calmly told her, “Go see Earl!”

Eve stood there horrified by Chaka’s cruelty. They’d been down this road before, but not once did it occur to her she could find herself without a place to call home. The winter wind whipped through her thin clothes, and she really began to understand the severity of her situation.

“I’m standing here barefoot and pregnant, in the cold, with no place to go,” she whispered, as if hearing the words would make them less true. She turned to knock on the door, but saw Chaka through the glass pane standing there, his 9 pointed at her face.

She lowered her head, not in shame, but in arrogant anger. Nope, she wasn’t about to be scared by Chaka’s theatrics. She twisted the knob and found herself locked out. The smirk that filled his eyes was evil as all day.

Eve’s angry smile struck a chord in Chaka. He had learned that she was medieval if pushed too far.

She banged on the door and begged him for a pair of shoes and at least a jacket, so she could get off his property.

Chaka tossed the ratty sneakers a spring jacket on the carport.

Grateful she wouldn’t die of pneumonia, Eve gathered the things and left. She walked around the neighborhood for a while, finally retracing her steps and entering the house through the basement.

Chaka was on the third floor and didn’t have a clue that Eve would have the balls to come back after he’d tossed her on the sidewalk.

On her way upstairs, she stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. His actions had forced her to a place she did not dream existed in her. Slowly she crept to her bedroom and watched Chaka as he lay with his back to the doorway. She stepped lightly to the edge of the bed.

Just as she found the courage to pounce, Chaka leaped from the bed in a battle stance and slapped her.

As the tears stained Eve’s face, her head went slamming into the wall. She found her bearings and raised the knife above her head. The force behind the blow she intended would have killed him if she’d hit her mark. The deranged look in her eyes and her sinister grin were enough to prove she intended to kill her benefactor that day, if he didn’t kill her first.

Anissa and Quinton came into the house as the screaming erupted from Eve’s mouth. Neither Quinton nor Anissa raced toward the mayhem. They’d both become accustomed to the wars waged on the third floor. They carried their grocery bags to the kitchen, but Chaka’s raised voice alerted them that it was more serious than usual.

“Bitch, you want to cut me?”

Eve swung the knife in an arc and nicked his shoulder.

The punch Chaka delivered sent Eve sailing across the room and smack into the walk-in closet before she slumped to the floor. He then grabbed her shirt, lifted her to her feet, and took her to the door, where he planted his foot in her ass, sending her past the threshold and into the hall.

Quinton reached the landing first, and Anissa was huffing and puffing as she followed as quickly as her feet would carry her.

Chaka stopped them both. “There is no need for a family conference. This bitch has finally worn out her welcome here.”

The defiant look on both Eve’s and Chaka’s faces left them bewildered. In a short time, something had gone terribly wrong. The sight of Chaka’s blood caught Anissa’s attention. She raced about to gather materials to clean his wound and bandage him.

“You’ll get yours, muthafucka!” Eve yelled hysterically. “I promise, one day you’re going to get yours!”

Chaka laughed. “That lame bastard Earl, he’s too weak to come up against me. If it will make you feel better, tell him to come see me.”

Eve’s sobbing stopped at the mere mention of Earl’s name. He was no longer an option after he had insulted her beyond repair. “Earl ain’t the only muthafucka that can’t stand your bitch ass! I’m sure of that.” She wobbled down the steps.

“Well, stupid, when you find the muthafucka dumb enough to go up against me, tell ’im to come see me.”

Anissa completed the task of repairing her man’s best friend as quickly as possible, and then raced down the steps. Eve had disappeared. She prayed that wherever Eve went, she would be OK.

Eve’s face stung as the wind blew around her. She felt like an idiot, with no place to go. Everything she’d owned was sitting in that house with Chaka.

Not long after she’d started dating Chaka, her mother had warned her. “That boy doesn’t care anything about you. Open your eyes, mi hija, because Breito was your winner,” she‘d said, referring to Earl, “and you leave him for money. That’s not right, but you will see.”

Eve knew she couldn’t go back to her mother’s. She didn’t want to deal with her sister looking at her in disgust and her mother gave her the I-told-you-so attitude. She decided the only person that might give her a hand was Earl, and she didn’t hesitate to call him.

Of course he’d rescue her, if it meant another opportunity to rub Chaka’s face in the drama. He’d surely find an apartment and even pay for the abortion. In fact, he’d do everything to make her life easy, especially since she’d given him a victory over Chaka.

Eve immediately recognized that Earl had stipulations for helping her, which made her angry. She really thought they had something more than just a fly-by-night relationship. Eve decided, no matter what, since she’d been a pawn in everyone‘s game, she’d go to the person who could afford her the thing she wanted. And that wasn’t Earl. He was still struggling, trying to get to where Chaka had just left.

As the days crept forward she decided she had to get back home to Chaka and his money. It didn’t matter if she had to grovel for a while.

It didn’t take long before the streets started murmuring about the breakup, but before it could get out of control, Eve was back riding in his car. “You can be angry with me, but the truth is, none of the women you chose will be able to live down my presence in your life.”

Chaka laughed, but he’d been thinking the same thing lately.

“Even you taught me that your money isn’t always represented by the car you drive, but the bitch sitting in the passenger seat. What other bitch you know make you look as good as I do?”

Chaka sat quietly and listened. He knew she was a brazen bitch to begin with, but surprisingly she’d been showing him she was listening to him too. He flipped the script before she could continue. “So I guess I get you out of this, but what do you want?”

“I get what I want—a chance to make everything right between us,” she answered with a straight face.”

Chaka nodded. He recognized the game but didn’t bother to bust her.

After that, things slowly went back to their usual love-hate dependency. That was the last breakup that truly threatened their relationship, all the others being petty squabbles of control that didn’t do much to change their tumultuous affair.