Epilogue
LaMeka
Six Months Later
“And that’s it,” I said as I removed the loosened band from the patient’s arm and gently removed the needle.
“Nobody has ever been able to find a vein. You are good,” Mr. Santiago said to me.
“Yeah, she is getting pretty good at this,” Gavin, my instructor, complimented me.
“Thanks, Mr. Santiago and Gavin. I try.”
“You’re going to make one hell of a nurse, young lady. Best stick I’ve ever had,” he laughed.
“Well, all right! You just wait right here. I’m going to get this blood work to the lab for you, and the doctor should be back in after that, okay?” I said, patting Mr. Santiago on his shoulder.
“All right, sweetheart. You can come back too, you know.”
I laughed. “Are you getting fresh with me?”
“Is it working?”
“Absolutely,” I joked. “You have a good one, Mr. Santiago, and I don’t want to see you anytime soon. Stay out of the ER.”
“Only if I can come back and visit you sometime.”
“As long as we don’t have to triage you, you’re more than welcome to come,” I giggled.
He laughed. “Have a good one, sweetie, and thanks for bearing with this old man.”
Gavin and I walked out. “You really have a way with the patients, and your handiwork is fantastic. This is truly a gift for you,” Gavin praised me.
“Thanks. I’ve always liked science and wanted to be a nurse. I finally feel like I’m in my mode, you know?”
“Yeah, you are definitely in your mode, but I wish you’d try to get in your mode with me.”
My cheeks reddened from his blatant flirting. “Gavin, I told you. I don’t know about all of that.”
“It’s just a dinner date.”
“But I don’t think I’m ready to start dating anyone just yet.”
“Well, then drop the date, and let’s just have dinner. That’s not asking anything extreme. We all have to eat. It’s for your nutrition and health,” he coaxed, causing me to giggle.
Eyeing him skeptically, I pursed my lips. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about you, Mr. Randall,” I joked.
I’d only been there a little while, but already I knew more than most about Mr. Gavin Randall. He was my instructor in the ER where I did my clinical rotation as I worked on my degree. He’d been attracted to me from the start, though at first, he tried to keep it professional. His theory was that life was too short not to go after what you wanted, and what he wanted was LaMeka Roberts, hands down. I guessed he had a thing for girls with thick thighs and booty. I’d managed to lose my baby bulge, so I was thin up top with a flat stomach and skinny waist, but my thighs were still a little thick, and this Georgia-peach ass wasn’t going nowhere. I had a permanent donk from LaMichael, but I didn’t mind that. That was a Southern girl’s thang.
Gavin was a cool man, though. Everybody loved him, and he was the best of the best when it came to nurses. He could’ve been a doctor he was so smart, but he said he liked being a nurse because he liked interacting with the patients and being hands-on.
He was single, had never been married, and didn’t have children. His last relationship lasted two years but ended a year ago. They broke up because he wanted marriage and kids, and while she was for the marriage part, she didn’t want any children. He was God-fearing and went to church faithfully. He had come from a single-parent household, but his mom passed away a few years back. What she couldn’t provide for him while she was alive, she more than made up for in her death. Rumor had it that she left him and his brother a grip of money from her insurance policies. I believed it, being that he was pushing a Corvette, and ain’t no nurses I knew balling around in Corvettes. His gear was fresh, and he stayed in the newest pairs of Nikes and Jordans, although that could just be from being single with no kids at 30 years old.
I ain’t gon’ lie. He was fine as hell. Six feet tall, muscular build with the prettiest light brown eyes I’d seen in my life. And Lawd did he smell good hella good. The kinda good that when you entered a room, you could still smell his scent even if he wasn’t in there. We did have a lot in common. We liked the same gospel music. He was a big fan of Tye Tribbett, Da Truth, and J Moss just like me, and he also had a passion for dirty South rap just like me. It wasn’t nothing to hear him pulling up bumping a little old school Goodie Mob or even some Scarface.
And honestly, a lot of females wanted him. A lot. Nurses and doctors alike. He was just so fucking swaggeristic like that. Yeah, I said swaggeristic. It’s my word meaning that you’ve got so much swag it’s a part of your characteristic: swaggeristic. That was definitely Gavin Randall. It was also definitely why I didn’t trust him. It was as if he had no flaws. Let him tell it, he had plenty of flaws, but your guess is as good as mine as to what they were. He was perfect. He seemed perfect for me, but was I ready to date again? More importantly, could I handle dating Gavin Randall?
“Is it because I’m white?” he asked me, breaking my thoughts.
“No. You know I don’t even care about that,” I said.
Okay, so I lied a little bit. Big deal. It wasn’t the reason, but it was a concern, even if he was David Beckham fine with Snoop Dogg charm. Yeah, he was just like that.
“So, Miss Lady, if you don’t care about that and we gel so well together, then why won’t you give me a chance?” he asked me.
“I’m your student for one—”
“I can get you a new instructor,” he cut me off.
“You better not even try it,” I laughed.
“What’s for two?” he probed, licking his lips like he was LL Cool J.
Those scrumptious-ass lips. I coughed to clear my thoughts. “Umm, two was, uh, yeah: we are good friends, and I don’t want to mess that up.”
“What friends do you know who don’t hang out and go out to eat sometimes? I ain’t never heard of dinner breaking up friendships unless somebody skipped out on the bill,” he joked. “If it makes you feel better, we can split the tab. You pay for the drinks, and I’ll pay for the food.”
“Gavin!” another nurse hollered down the hall. “We need your help! We have a gunshot victim!”
“We’ll finish this later. Let’s rock and roll,” he said as we took off down the hallway and entered the room.
The nurse gave us the details as we walked in. “Patient is a black male, twenty-three years old, shot twice—once in the leg and once in the back. He was carried in by two men in the waiting area.”
“Are the police out there?” Gavin asked.
“No, I think they’ve been notified, though,” another nurse said.
“Okay, we’re going to lift him on three,” Gavin called out. “One, two, three, lift,” he called out as all of us moved the patient. Then the doctors rushed in.
It was my first gunshot victim, and I was nervous as hell. The sight was gruesome. Blood was everywhere, and his flesh smelled like it was burning from where he’d been shot.
“Anybody know the story? Any known allergies?” one of the doctors called out.
“No. The guys in the hall refuse to talk, and the victim was unconscious,” the first nurse said as she prepared the saline and I helped Gavin gather the instruments.
When I turned to walk to the other side, I saw the man’s face. It was Tony! “Oh God! You all be careful. I know this man. He’s possibly HIV positive.”
Gavin walked me off to the side. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said nervously. Gavin looked at me suspiciously. “Just trust me. I know him.”
He nodded. “All right. Do you know anything else about him that’d be helpful?”
“He was a drug addict—cocaine and alcohol. He had surgery for his knee and has pins in the right leg. He’s allergic to codeine.”
“Okay, thanks. Since you seem to know him, go and see if you can find out any information from the two outside. Besides, you may be too closely related to this to work on him,” Gavin instructed me.
I couldn’t believe Tony had been shot, but I knew it was only a matter of time before his deeds caught up with him. It was the first time I’d seen him since he tried to kill me. It was ironic to me that the next time I saw him, he was fighting for his life after he’d tried to take mine. Part of me wanted to be happy, but the Christian in me was genuinely concerned for him. I’d always loved Tony and honestly wanted him to get his life together, and now his time to do that may have been up. As I began to approach the men who were pacing back in forth in bloodstained T-shirts, I heard Tony flatline, and instantly tears slid down my face.
Charice
“Make sure you boys are bundled up tight. I can’t afford you all getting sick on me right now. Do you hear me, Ryan and Ray?” I commanded my boys as they put on their parkas and snow boots.
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.
“Shut the back door so snow won’t get in the house,” I added as I walked back into the kitchen.
“Something smells good,” Ryan said after he walked into the kitchen.
“Yes, I put my foot into this lasagna, baby. It’s almost done,” I said, tossing the salad.
“I was referring to my lovely wife,” he corrected. He walked up behind me and kissed me on my neck as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Why, thank you, baby.” We kissed and I felt the impression of the rings on his hands. “You’re really going to wear both Super Bowl rings?”
“At least for a little while,” he laughed. “Are the boys getting ready so we can go outside and catch the last of this good New York snow and play some flag football?”
“Yes, they’re putting on their parkas,” I said and turned to face him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You know, I say we should’ve made them take a nap and found something else to do to keep warm in this snow.”
“Is that right?” he asked, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and leaning in for another kiss.
“Mm-hmm,” I said as my mouth found his. We kissed passionately.
“D-scuh-ting,” Ryan Jr. said, entering the kitchen.
Ryan and I laughed, and Ryan turned to his Mini-Me and started play boxing. “Shut up, boy. Just wait until you get a girlfriend.”
“Yuck, Ryan has a girlfriend?” Ray came in and asked.
“No, your dad was just saying wait until he does,” I corrected.
Ryan Jr. shook his head. “No way. Girls are crazy!”
“Yep, they are. Keep it that way,” I agreed. “Now, all of you get out and do your thing before dinner is ready.”
“All right. Who’s ready for some football?” Ryan asked. The boys yelped in excitement, so Ryan grabbed his parka, and they all bounded out the back door.
I rushed to the oven to pull out the lasagna so it could cool down, and I was just about to put my breadsticks in the oven when I heard crying on the baby monitor. “It figures I wouldn’t get a break for too long.”
I washed my hands and rushed to the nursery. “Hey, Mama’s baby,” I cooed as I picked up my month-old little girl, Lexi McKenzie Westmore. Her middle name was dedicated to the memory of her older sister, Charity.
“Oh, you’ve made a stinky in your diaper,” I said in my baby-talk voice. I cleaned her up, brought her in the kitchen, and sat her in the bouncer. Then I put one of her bottles in the warmer and put the breadsticks in the oven. I peered out the window and laughed as the boys ran and jumped on their daddy.
The pride I felt for my family made my heart swell. Ryan made a huge effort to keep us together after Charity’s death, and with a lot of prayer, our marriage, and the love for our children, we’d done it. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of Charity, but I made my peace with it more and more every day.
A month after the funeral, Ryan and I got married in a small private ceremony with only our parents and closest friends in attendance, and two weeks later, we were living in our new multimillion-dollar home on Murray Hill in Scarsdale, New York. I thought the move helped us out with the grieving process. It gave us a sense of normalcy when we didn’t have to be met with all the tragedy we left behind.
Now that the season was over, Ryan vowed to devote every waking moment to the kids and me, and once school was out, we were going to take our honeymoon: a two-week vacation to the south of France, and I couldn’t wait. Ryan and I had come full circle. It may have taken us years to find each other, but we had, and oh, how sweet it had been. The way that man loved me down was beyond any of my wildest dreams. I could’ve never imagined that after all I’d endured at his hands, he’d end up being the caretaker of my heart. And take care of my heart, he did. My heart, my mind, my soul—and my hot box was damn sure not hurting either. Indeed, everything I’d ever wanted and needed from Ryan he provided for me on a daily basis. Yes, I loved Ryan with my whole heart, and my life was blissful.
Just as I’d finished burping Lexi, I heard the doorbell. I laid her in her bassinette and ran to pull out my bread before I bounded to the front door.
“Note to self: extend the maid service through the weekends,” I joked with myself on the way to the door.
“Who is it?” I asked when I didn’t see anyone through the peephole.
“Lincoln.”
My palms began sweating, and my heart plunged to my toes. I hadn’t seen or heard from Lincoln since Charity’s funeral. What the hell was he doing here in New York? How did he find out where we lived? And why would he be here even if he had a good reason to be in New York? My life was good. My marriage of five months was good. Why was he invading our lives again with his bullshit?
“Charice, I know that’s you,” Lincoln said, breaking my thoughts. “Please open the door.”
Reluctantly, I pulled the door open. “What do you want?” I asked with my arms crossed.
“Hello to you too. It’s nice to see you,” Lincoln greeted.
“Lincoln, I do not have time for this. I have to finish dinner for my husband and my boys. Now how did you find us, and what do you want?”
“Nice,” he said sarcastically. “How is your husband anyway?”
“He’s great. You want me to get him so he can tell you for himself?” I asked with an attitude.
“There’s no need.” I heard Ryan say behind me. His footsteps quickened. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked angrily. I stepped aside, and he stood face-to-face with Lincoln.
“You people sure don’t believe in inviting people inside,” he said, brushing off the snow that had collected on his trench coat. “Now is that any way to treat a former best friend and fiancé?”
“Cut the crap, Lincoln. What the fuck do you want?”
“Such hostility to an old friend.” Lincoln smirked. “Oh well, since it seems I’m not going to get an invite inside, I’ll be brief. I just thought I’d drop by to check on you all.”
“Thanks. We’re great. Now you can leave,” Ryan huffed.
“You know, you should really be nicer to me if you expect me to block for you on the field, bruh,” Lincoln said. He lifted a toothpick and put it in his mouth. His black leather gloves and black leather hat glistened with drops from the melting snow.
Ryan furrowed his brow. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Free agency is a wonderful thing, baby, and it looks like the Giants are willing to make a killer trade for me. Didn’t you check my stats? My blocks and tackles were the highest in the league this year. Our QB was the least sacked the entire season. Had it not been for the injuries, I’m certain we would’ve made it that last game to beat you fellas to the Super Bowl. That’s neither here nor there now. Why try to beat the best when you can just join them?” Lincoln gloated with a sneaky smirk on his face.
“Bullshit. They won’t trade Parker—” Ryan was saying.
“It’s a done deal. My salary just went up, my contracts are signed, and I’m house hunting. There’s a for-sale sign about three houses down, and I’m meeting my real estate agent there in a few. We could be neighbors,” Lincoln gloated.
“Get the fuck away from my house,” Ryan yelled angrily. “If I catch you near here again, I swear to God—”
“Is that any way to talk to your teammate and neighbor, neighbor?” Lincoln laughed, cutting him off.
“What do you want?” Ryan asked through clenched jaws. I could see the anger welling up in him.
Lincoln’s sarcasm faded, and his expression turned serious. “To let you know that I’ll be in touch.” He looked at me then. “Charice, it was really good to see you again. I look forward to catching up in the near future.”
“I’m gonna whip your ass.” Ryan moved toward Lincoln, but I grabbed his arm.
“I would not do that if I were you. If you hit me in my jaw, it might just come unhinged right now,” Lincoln said with a wink.
I looked at Ryan. “What is going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” Ryan said quickly.
“Have a nice Sunday, and enjoy your dinner. Oh, and you looking real good, ma,” he said. He had a lustful look in his eyes as he shook his head and winked at me. Then he turned, got in his SUV, and drove away.
When Ryan closed the door and turned around, my hands were on my hips. “Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” I asked him angrily.
“No, because I don’t know. He’s just being stupid,” Ryan said plainly and walked off.
“Ryan, something is going on, and I deserve to know what it is,” I pouted as I followed him into the family room.
He ignored me and picked up his cell phone. “I can’t deal with this now. I have to make a call.”
Stomping in a fit, I demanded, “I want answers.”
“Charice, please go and check on the baby,” he said with aggravation. “You want answers, but we all have things we need to talk about when it comes to Lincoln, right?” he challenged.
Shame and hurt filled me as I bowed my head, too ashamed to speak.
“Shit, baby. Listen, I’m sorry—”
“Go to hell,” I said angrily and turned to go get the baby, who had begun crying. I picked her up and rocked her. “It’s okay,” I soothed her.
I didn’t know what the hell was going on between Lincoln and Ryan, but having Lincoln close by was not a good thing. He needed to be as far away from us as possible.
I placed Lexi back in her bassinette. “I swear you look just like your daddy. Let’s just hope he doesn’t ever come back to this house to find that out. It’s bad enough he just got traded to the Giants,” I said to myself, and I shook my head.
Lucinda
You Are Cordially Invited to Attend
The Union of
Ms. Lucinda Bree Rojas to
Mr. Aldris Raymond Sharper
on Saturday, June eighth at 5:00 pm
Bethel AME Church
Atlanta, GA
The corners of my mouth turned upward, and I couldn’t hide the blush that was radiating off me as I looked over my wedding invitations, which I’d just received in the mail. I simply could not believe that I was marrying Aldris. For the most part, everything in my life was perfect. I had my associate’s degree and was going back for my bachelor’s. Nadia loved Aldris, and more importantly, Aldris loved Nadia as his own daughter. To her, he was her daddy, and to him, she was his little niña. I was still doing well at my job, and Aldris had received a promotion. Between our two salaries, we were definitely straight in the finance department. I was best friends with my future sisters-in-law, and Ms. Lily and I were as close as ever, especially after I showed her a couple of little cute dance moves to put on her new beau, Mr. Franklin.
Aldris and his brothers weren’t too thrilled about their mother having a boyfriend, but like I told Aldris, his mom needed a companion, especially now that all of her sons had their own lives. She was in her fifties, for Christ’s sake, not her nineties, and she had plenty of life left to live and share with someone. My wish was that I could get somebody for my own mama. She was lonely, and she wanted to be back on the dating scene again. She needed someone in her life to offset the drama from my daddy. In fact, Raul and my daddy were still taking us through turmoil about child support payments, so even though I was happy, I still had drama.
Besides that, life as I knew it was great. I was on a euphoric high as I sat down on the sofa, holding my box of invitations with a big smile on my face, and I swore I was never coming down.
“Hey, gorgeous, what are you cheesing about?” Aldris said as he walked into our new house for his lunch break.
Once he made his way over to the sofa, I looked up and kissed him. “Hey, handsome. Our invitations came today. See?” I answered, giving him the box.
“Oh, these are nice. I like that,” he said, admiring the invites as I opened up the rest of the mail. “What else do we have?”
“Can you pay my bills?” I paraphrased the hook from the Destiny’s Child song. “My telephone bill, my light bill, and then maybe we can chill,” I finished as I handed them to Aldris.
“Shit, I pay all of your bills and my bills anyway. I can handle it,” he joked.
“I know you can, papi, and you always do,” I said seductively.
“Oh, is that right?” he said, bending down and kissing me on my neck. “I’m thinking food ain’t what I want for my lunch break.” He brushed his lips against mine and sucked me into a breathtaking kiss.
Our intimate kiss was abruptly ended when my eyes caught some of the wording from the letter in my hand. Three words to be exact: “child support reduction.” “What?” I said angrily.
“Huh?” Aldris pulled back, trying to figure out what the issue was.
“Not you, baby.” I patted him to get up so I could read. “Wait. This letter.” I stood and paced the floor as I examined the paper in my hand.
What I read next nearly knocked me off my feet. Raul applied for child support reduction because of two more kids. The first child listed as a dependent of his was Rosemary Rojas, and the second child was Emilio Rojas, Jr. My damn stepsister and my new infant half brother. This bastard claimed he was the father of two of my dad’s wife’s kids. Now the irony in this was that as far as my dad was concerned, I felt he deserved it, if it was true, but I was pissed as hell for Nadia.
“This MF has some king-sized balls to make those kinds of allegations. He’s lying to get a reduction. That’s it!” I yelled, handing Aldris the notice.
Aldris peered up in shock after reading the letter. “Actually, he may not be. Remember when you were living in the apartment and he made that threat about a reduction? Then he made that comment about your dad. Do you think this is what he meant?”
Suddenly, I remembered when he claimed to have two more kids but not by Shanaya or Boop. This fool had been slippin’ and slidin’ with Maria. Now how is that for my dad not wanting to get tangled up with Raul? Ha! They say karma is a bitch, and she is bitch slapping the hell out of Emilio Rojas right now.
“I wonder if my dad knows about this,” I thought aloud.
“More than likely,” Aldris said. “That’s some shit, man. Nadia’s step-aunt and half uncle could really be her half sister and half brother. Daaaaamn.”
Suddenly, a big ball of laughter welled up inside of me, and I cracked up until I cried. My dad—and I use that term loosely—didn’t want to provide for us and didn’t want to protect me against Raul because Maria claimed to be looking out for his benefit when she was throwing Raul her pussy to the left and right. I never liked her. All of this glamorous life that he provided for Maria, and she wasn’t nothing but a $2 ho just like I tried to tell his ass. That’s exactly what he gets. I hoped Raul was the daddy.
After we finished chuckling about that situation, Aldris got up to make a plate of the spaghetti I’d cooked, while I finished opening the remaining mail. With the next letter, the grin fell straight from my face. Just because I was high on life, here it came trying to kick me down again. Slowly, I got up and made my way into the kitchen.
“What’s that?” Aldris asked, grabbing a soda from the fridge.
“It’s another letter from the State.”
“Oh yeah? What about?” he asked, sitting at the breakfast table with his food.
“It’s for you. You’re being sued for a paternity test and pending child support from Jennifer Brooks for a six-year-old named Jessica Lily Brooks,” I told him as I set the paper down in front of him.
If Aldris had been of light complexion, all of the color would’ve drained from his face. His mouth dropped open, and the soda that he was holding slipped from his hand, spilling its contents all over the kitchen floor. Yep, that woman named karma was a bitch, and she was bitch slapping everyone in her path.
Pooch
Ain’t this a bitch? Here I was in federal lockup, looking at 101 years of prison time with no possibility of parole. My nice-ass six-bedroom, six-bath crib with my plush-ass king-sized bed and plasma TV had been traded in for a one-cell, bottom-bunk cot, with a nerd-ass cellmate, one shitting toilet, sink, and a gray-ass brick wall for entertainment. My fly-ass gear was traded for this orange-ass DOC jumpsuit, and my five-star meals were traded for two hot plates of certified slop. And where was my bottom bitch in all of this? Missing in muthafuckin’ action. Now you’d think I’d be worried about getting out this muthafucka, but I was so fuckin’ mad that I didn’t have time to concentrate on my appeals. My one mission in life was to find that bitch.
Word was when them muthafuckin’ Feds raided my shit and froze my accounts, her ass was already ghost. Ain’t nobody seen this bitch in Atlanta since, and she done disconnected her fuckin’ cell phone. Even her moms and them done got missing, and her girls claim they ain’t heard from her. Shit, they probably hadn’t. I’ll tell you who else ain’t been seen from what my girl Chocolate Flava told me. Terrence. Now, what are the fuckin’ odds that as soon as I went down for some federal bullshit, my girl, our kids, her siblings, her mama, and her baby daddy all disappear? Them muthafuckas ain’t air or water, so they didn’t evaporate. If I were a betting man, I’d have said that my girl lied to me when she said wasn’t shit going on between her and that fuck nigga. Yeah, while she was acting like we were working on us and shit, she was really being his . . . li’l mama.
I couldn’t believe my nose was so fuckin’ wide open for this broad that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me from the jump. She’d been creepin’ with that nigga the whole time and biding her time until she could leave me. I swore to God as soon as I could find this bitch, she was as good as got. Got my fuckin’ babies and gone with this nigga. I was murkin’ for both of them niggas for real yo.
“Five minutes,” my bullshit CO said to me as I sat down in the chair behind the glass. I wanted to roll my eyes at this broad sitting in front of me, but right now, she was my only connection to the outside world. So I had to put on my pimp hat and make it do what it do.
“What’s up, baby?” I said sexily into the phone.
“Hey, baby. How you holding up?” Chocolate Flava asked.
“I’m fuckin’ locked up,” I shot back at her. “Whatchu think?”
“Attorney Stein and I are working on your appeal. I’m doing the best I can,” she said sweetly.
Noticing the hurt flash in her eyes, I exhaled and tried to calm my aggression down. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated in here, man. I don’t mean to take it out on you.” Switching gears to make my apology genuine, I decided to bring a little smile to her face. “I got your letter last week. That shit was real sweet, and I got off real good on that fuckin’ picture.”
She grinned devilishly, and all was well. “I thought you would. Was you gon’ write me back?”
“Yeah,” I lied. “I missed mail call yesterday, but you know I appreciate everything you been doing for me.”
“Well, you said I was your lady, right?”
“Yeah, my number one,” I lied. “Speaking of, have you heard anything on Trinity?”
She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “No, Pooch. I keep telling you. Ain’t nobody seen or heard from that bitch. Why you keep worrying about her if I’m your lady?”
“I got my fuckin’ reasons,” I said, seething, but quickly eased up. “Look, you are my girl, but I really need you to put some effort into tryin’ to find out where this bitch went or something. I need to get at her on some real personal shit. Can you please do that for me?”
She huffed. “Yeah.”
“What’s going on with my cousins’ cases?”
“Both of them waiting on appeals approval.”
“Damn,” I mumbled. “Tell Stein that I’ll consider his offer.”
“You gon’ snitch on Tot?”
“Shut your fuckin’ mouth, Flava. Let the world know. Damn,” I said angrily as I looked around to make sure nobody heard. “Look, it’s every nigga for himself at this point, and I gotta get out of here. I ain’t spending no hundred one years in lockup, and I got some unfinished business I need handled.”
She shrugged. “A’ight. I’ll tell him.”
“Tell him don’t come at me with no bullshit either. It better be right,” I ordered. “Look, I need you to do me a favor, so can you come up here this weekend for a face-to-face visit?”
“I’m supposed to be doing this gig with Black Pearl in Tallahassee.”
“Man, fuck that gig. I’m talkin’ up on some real shit.”
Crossing her arms, she leaned back with her attitude on go. “Pooch, I gotta live too. I’m paying your attorney fees and putting money on your books and shit. I need the extra money.”
Bitch had a point there. “A’ight. Come next weekend then, and I mean that shit.”
I caved ’cause I needed the money. She was already frustrating me, and I was locked up. I was gonna have to dump this bitch as soon as I got out of this hell hole because I couldn’t tolerate no hardheaded-ass woman. At least Trinity listened. Man, look at this shit. This bitch done left me to rot, and I’m still tryin’ to remember the good shit about her. That fuckin’ bitch always has been my Achilles heel. She gon’ be the fuckin’ death of me.
“Time,” my CO called out to me.
This punk muthafucka. “Listen, I gotta go.”
“All right. Call me on Thursday to see if I came up with anything,” Flava replied.
“A’ight. Bet,” I said and gave her one of my million-dollar smiles.
“I love you, Pooch.”
I rubbed my face to keep my laughter inside. “I love you too. Remember that shit,” I lied. We hung up, and my CO got me.
I ain’t gonna lie. Flava had been down for me. Throughout my whole case, she had my back. She was the only one of them fucking strippers who didn’t snitch, and she testified on my behalf. She stood by a nigga like a true down-ass bitch was supposed to. A part of me wished I did love her instead of that fuckin’ Trinity, because she proved she was the type of woman I needed by my side. But my heart was in shambles over Trinity. I would never love another woman again. Even if I did find myself caring for Flava, it would never be like how it was for Trinity. I was ashamed to admit it, but I truly loved that bitch, and in a lot of ways, I still did. The more I thought about her bending that ass over and letting Terrence tap that shit, the madder I got. I had to release some pressure.
I coughed. “Hey, CO Billings. I’m feelin’ a little sick in my chest. Can you take me to the infirmary?”
“It’s always something with your ass, Smalls. Damn, come on,” he said as he escorted me to the infirmary. “Wait here,” he said as he went to get the nurse. Soon, he escorted me into the room.
“I got him, Billings,” Nurse Lisa said to him.
“You need me to wait in here?” he asked her.
“No, you can wait in the waiting area. He’ll be fine. I’m used to Mr. Smalls coming here by now,” she joked with him as he walked out.
“I don’t like you flirting with him,” I said once my CO was gone.
“I’m not flirting, Pooch. I just don’t want him to get suspicious. I hid your money and food in your usual spot,” Lisa said.
I winked at her. “Good. That’s my girl.”
“What’s your issue today?” she asked, straddling my lap.
“I got built-up pressure I need to release.”
“Stand up,” she ordered as she helped me to my feet and removed my jumpsuit. She was about to slide down her panties when I stopped her. “Nah, babe. I just need a quick release.”
“Oh, okay.” She dropped to her knees and pulled out my dick.
“That’s right, babe. Stroke him up real good,” I moaned quietly as she stuck it in her mouth.
I swear this bitch’s mouth was like resting my shit in a volcano. It stayed hot, and she made me cum so fuckin’ fast. Within a few minutes, my shit was oozing all down her throat like hot lava as I gripped the back of her head and pumped in and out, making her take it all to the last drop.
“Feel better?” she asked as she cleaned her mouth.
“Hell yeah,” I said as I sat down after she’d helped me pull my jumpsuit up. “You ain’t nothing but the truth, I swear.”
“Good,” she said, giving me some cough drops. “I think you’ll live,” she said and got the CO.
“Time to go, inmate,” CO Billings said in an authoritative tone to impress Lisa.
Really, my nigga? Fuckin’ clown. I had to stifle a laugh. That nigga had been trying to push up on that bitch probably since before I got here, and within two weeks of my being here, I had her dropping her drawers, opening her mouth, and providing me shit, and I didn’t have a fuckin’ thing to offer her. Now you tell me whose game was tighter? At least this dumb muthafucka could give her money and some benefits, but she didn’t want that shit. A chance to be with a certified bad boy and some good pipe was all she wanted. And they say men are shallow. It just proves ghetto birds and educated dimes all liked bad boys, baby. There was just something about us that turned them the fuck on, and hell yeah, I was gon’ reap every benefit I could from it.
Right now, a bitch on the inside and a bitch on the outside was all I had, and I needed both them broads. It was time to get my pill game up on the inside so I could get some money in my pockets and make sure I could start giving back to Lisa and Flava. That was sure to keep them on my team and make them bend to what I needed done. And I needed them to keep handlin’ my urges. I refused to be one of these shit-packin’ muthafuckas, and if a nigga thought he was gon’ pack my shit, he had another think coming. He’d better kill me if he tried it, because I damn sure would kill him. I was already serving 101 years. What the fuck else I had to lose?
“What took you so long to get back?” Wolf, my cellmate, asked once I was back inside the cell.
“I had to make a pit stop to the infirmary,” I said, putting a cough drop in my mouth.
He laughed. “Boy, you ain’t been here but four months, and you already pimpin’ ’em.”
“Got to, Wolf. How the hell you been in here seven years without hittin’ somethin’ I do not know.”
“From time to time, I’ve had some female COs who’ve helped me out. But shit, I’m used to my right hand,” Wolf said.
“Man, fuck all that. I’m gettin’ me,” I said. “You sure you ain’t switched teams?”
He laughed. “Hell no, young buck, never that. But I got tried once in my first facility in Florida. That shit was bananas.”
“Yo, so what happened?” I asked, not really believing his “tried” theory. This nerd muthafucka looked like he’d be anybody’s bitch.
“I shanked that muthafucka in the neck and made him suck on it. Then I nutted and pissed in his face, bitch,” he said seriously.
“Man, get the fuck outta here! You didn’t do that.”
Out of nowhere, this bitch pulled a blade from his mouth. “Yes, I did. I stay strapped, young buck. Always.”
Nerd-ass Wolf was the truth. I was shocked. “Damn, man. A’ight. I hear you.”
He released a slight chuckle. “It’s best you learn real quick in here never to underestimate anybody. Once you learn that, you good to go.”
We fist bumped. “Cool, thanks, Wolf,” I said, taking in what he had to say.
“No problem,” he said as I lay back on my bunk.
He bent down real quick, and the next thing I knew, the blade was at my neck. “As a matter of fact, I need a little suck now.”
“You sure you want to do that? I think you might need to look again.” My eyes darted to the side, where I had my shank pointed at his side.
“Fast learner,” he said and stood up.
“Yeah, I am, and please believe I stay strapped too,” I laughed as we fist bumped again.
“You gon’ be all right in here,” Wolf said, jumping on his top bunk.
“Nah, Wolf man. I’m springin’ this bitch real soon.”
“You caught up with your baby’s mother?”
“Nope, but it’s only a matter of time. If I don’t catch her before I spring this camp, I’ll definitely catch her when I’m out. You can bet that,” I said, thinking back over all the things I did for her and how she just left me for Terrence. “Yeah, man, you can bet that.”
I was gon’ think of all the ways to get back at this bitch when I did, too. What else I had to do? I had nothing but time.