Nobody Can Love You Like Them Roughnecks Do

by Shvonne Latrice

  “Merlin, look, I was coming up here anyway to let you know that I think it’d be best if we parted ways.”

  “Over that?” His brows furrowed. “Blaise, we were on the outs and—”

  “No, not because of that. I’m just not happy with you, and I haven’t been for a while. You try to control me… change me, and I don’t want that.”

  “I don’t try to control yo’ ass. I’m trying to better you. I told you that.”

  “Well I don’t want a man who thinks I need that much improving, so like I said, I’m done with you.”

  Moving closer to me with his lips tight as hell, he gritted out, “What new rich nigga you don’ ran into?”

  “What?” I looked him up and down. “Merlin, get out of my face.” I backed away since his big ass was coming at me like a serial killer.

  “You’re breaking up with me, so it must be because you met some nigga with a similar cash flow.”

  “I’m leaving.” I turned, but he grabbed me up and hemmed me to the wall.

  “No matter what nigga you go lay up with, just know you ain’t nothing but a slut. You’ll never be wife-able, because all you like to do is be a fucking hoe. You only twenty-three years old, and how many niggas you don’ fucked?”

  WHAM!

  My only response was to punch his ass dead in the face. He stumbled backward, cupping his nose with blood gushing through his fingers. He stared me down with bucked eyes, and I saw they were watering, so that hit must have hurt. Without another word, I left the studio room and proceeded on with my day.

  Belly had just finished a fight against this guy they nicknamed Fright. Even though he and Belly were what for what in weight and height, I was afraid while watching, that Fright would hurt him. Every time he did land a punch on Belly, I cringed, and my stomach felt queasy. I’d only known this boy for almost two months now and cared that much. I could only imagine if I started to fall in love, but I doubt that’d happen. I was in some deep ass like however.

  Anyhow, per usual, Belly came out on top, finally knocking Fright right on his big ass for the last time.

  When the fight was done, Priscilla and I were invited to the back by Carson, and when we arrived, I saw a bunch of people surrounding Belly with microphones. He looked so sexy, covered in sweat and shirtless. The sight made me simper a bit.

  “I have never been to a live boxing show, but that was interesting as hell,” Priscilla commented.

  “Told you. I felt the same way, but it’s intriguing.”

  “Especially when one of the contenders are blowing your back out.”

  She laughed heartily when I nudged her.

  Just then, Carson waved us over to come closer to where Belly was giving responses to certain questions. I guess he was almost done.

  “Just one more question and that’s it,” Carson called out to the reporters.

  “So, Belly, did you think you’d beat Fright or were you 50/50?”

  Belly jerked his neck back as to say ‘negro please’, then replied, “Fuck you on? You must have never heard of a nigga. I knew from jump I was gon’ have him on his ass. Y’all muthafuckas be easy.” He turned away, and when we made eye contact, to my surprise, he leaned down to kiss me before taking my hand.

  Carson led Priscilla to the refreshments table as camera flashes bounced around everywhere. Once Belly and I got into his dressing room, he kissed me a few more times before going to wipe the sweat off.

  “You did good, baby. I admit I was afraid because the guy is the same size as you. Actually five pounds heavier according to the announcer.”

  He chuckled softly, walking over to me.

  Placing me on the vanity attached to a mirror, he got between my legs and said, “No nigga will ever KO me in that ring, Blaise, and I need you to know that.”

  “Never?” I half smiled.

  “Never. I’m gon’ be the greatest to ever do this shit.”

  “I know.” I nodded, cupping his face. I believed him. His moves in the ring seemed so calculated yet so smooth.

  Pulling away, he walked over to his bag and pulled out a burgundy one with Cartier written on it. He handed it to me, and for a minute, I just stared, making him laugh.

  “You gon’ stare at me or open the shit?”

  Placing it next to me, I reached inside and opened the box to see a gold Cartier bracelet. Engraved on the inner part was Belly.

  “Cortez, I know this was like $3,000.”

  “More like $6,000, but don’t trip. My pay per fight got increased to $55,000, and I knew I’d have a bonus coming in for this win.” He took it from me and slid it onto my wrist. “I know you’re used to more expensive shit, but I don’t give a fuck.”

  I’d gotten plenty of nice things from Five-Star, Merlin, hell, all of my rich exes, but for some reason, this bracelet made me feel a certain way; like it meant a lot to me. The fact that he wasn’t rich but he still wanted to get me something nice. And also, he didn’t attempt to front like he was so wealthy and try to live beyond his means to impress me. Plus, the engraving was a nice touch; very personal, and something no one had ever done.

  “How many girls have you done this for?”

  “None. You’re the first one a nigga wanted to spend his money on. I’d already planned to get you something when I got a re-up on money.”

  I nodded as I looked it over.

  “Cortez, you buy me roses, cook for me, get me this bracelet, say certain things… I could go on, but then you turn around and say stuff like you’re single and can smash whomever you want.” He gave me a look that was asking me to clarify my point. “What I mean is, you do all this stuff, and I start liking you more and more, and then you hurt my feelings by playing me.”

  “I hurt ya feelings?” He wedged himself further between my legs and kissed on my neck while hugging me. “I do shit for you because I like you, baby, that’s it. But as far as being in a relationship and shit, and being faithful, I don’t know if I can do that. I know I can’t; at least not right now. But I’ll always make you feel special as fuck, no matter what I’m doing.”`

  “Okay, well then, I think I should leave now. We probably shouldn’t communicate anymore.” I nudged him and hopped down. I didn’t know why I was so hurt, but I definitely was.

  Before I could get to the door, he grabbed my hand and yanked me back to him. Snaking his strong arms around my body, he started pecking me nice and slowly.

  “Don’t leave me, Blaise. Work with me,” he whispered in between kisses. My knees were weakening, so I wanted to get out. “I don’t wanna be forced to fuck up any nigga you call yourself dealing with.” His lips trailed to my neck, forcing my eyes to close. “I’ve only been fucking with you these past couple of weeks.”

  “Just try your best,” I replied, surprising myself.

  We kissed for a little longer before he went to the bathroom in here for a shower. We were going to dinner with his people and Priscilla at Catch LA; this was the restaurant all celebrities went to pretty much.

  As I waited for him, I looked over my bracelet with a smile just as my phone started going crazy. When I saw they were tags on Instagram, and under a gossip blog’s photo, I already knew what was up. Tapping one of the many notifications, I saw they already had the footage of Belly leaning down to kiss me. Luckily, a reporter was in the way, so the caption just said he and I appeared to have kissed. Thank God.

  Priscilla Dimitri

  Outside the dressing room…

  Just as I stuffed my third cookie into my mouth, Blaise and Belly had come walking out of his room. They were so cute together, and I hadn’t seen Blaise smile like that since when she was with Five-Star. I just hoped this one turned out differently, because Five had done her extremely dirty.

  “I didn’t even get a chance to introduce you two.” Blaise grinned. “Cortez, this is my friend, Priscilla.”

  “Nice to meet you.” I stuck my hand out to him.

  “You not a hoe like that other bitch, are you?” h
e quizzed me boldly, prompting me to glance at Blaise whose jaw was on the floor.

  “Cortez, really? No, she’s Rafi’s girlfriend; you know, the rapper,” Blaise explained.

  Belly gave me a weird look before replying, “Oh, that’s yo’ nigga? Cool. You ain’t answer my question though.”

  “No, nigga, I am not a damn hoe.”

  “Aight.” He threw his arm around Blaise, making her cheese. “I can’t have my girl around no females with giving tree ass pussies.”

  “Okay.” I laughed along with Blaise who elbowed him lightly.

  “I’m your girl now?” she asked lowly, and he just tilted her head back to kiss her a few times.

  “Let’s go eat!” Belly called out, and a group of men that I recognized as part of his little crew started over.

  We followed them out, and I hooked my arm with Blaise’s, giving her a look that made her roll her eyes.

  “What?” she inquired.

  “I don’t even think I’ve seen Five-Star make you smile this much. Are you sure he’s done with that girl that stepped to you?”

  She shrugged and responded, “I’m not sure, but he’s mine.”

  Nodding, I held her arm tighter as we continued to the car. It was a stretch Escalade in all black, and Belly held the door open for us before coming in after with his boys following. The ride there was pretty fun, especially because somehow we finished off three bottles of champagne. I loved hanging out with Blaise because she was always doing something, and meeting new people, yet she wasn’t some groupie type like Nichole.

  We arrived to Catch LA, and I was so caught off guard by the people taking video and pictures with their phones. Yes, I was dating a famous rapper, but we didn’t go places together for me to experience this; we’d usually just meet up, so I’d already be inside waiting for him or vice versa.

  We were finally able to make it inside, and we took up this big area by the window since it was a nice amount of us. Only a few minutes later did two guys I saw at the match earlier show up.

  “That is Will, Belly’s photographer and friend. That one is Manny, his half-brother,” Blaise whispered to me as the two men sat down. Some dude named Cole was next to me and eyeing me like a dessert plate.

  “Anybody ever tell you how fine you are? You know my favorite sauce to get at Baskin Robbins is chocolate,” he whispered to me and licked his lips when we made eye contact.

  “I have a boyfriend, but thank you for the compliment, I guess.”

  “Anytime. And I don’t mind you having a man.”

  “That’s good to know.” I turned to my other side to give Blaise a look, which made her laugh. Just as she was about to talk though, Belly turned her to kiss her lips. If they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, then I didn’t know what the fuck a relationship was.

  The waitress finally came, and after fan-girling over Belly like a little child, she took our drink and appetizer orders. That didn’t take too long to come, at least it didn’t seem like it since everyone was talking and laughing.

  “So can I get your number?” Cole inquired. He was an okay looking guy, but a bit too short and stout for my liking. Plus, I wasn’t available.

  “Man, leave her alone. None of y’all niggas have respect for relationships,” the one Blaise told me was named Will said irritably. He’d been making faces all night, so I got the impression that he stayed annoyed 24/7. I was sure his blood pressure was high.

  He was a light caramel with short curly hair and a tiny mustache going over his top lip. He was at least six two from what I saw when he walked in, and he was pretty lean but not skinny.

  “Here this nigga go with the fucking speeches.” Belly sighed as everyone groaned.

  “It’s not a speech. It’s about the fact that we need to carry ourselves differently and stop glorifying taking other niggas’ women. What is the glory in that?” Will frowned, scanning the table for an answer.

  “I’m gon’ need about four more drinks to get through this shit,” Manny said, turning his head repeatedly, looking for the waiter as everyone chuckled. Will of course sucked his teeth.

  “The glory is gettin’ pussy, don’t matter if she got a nigga or not.” Belly shrugged, and Blaise gripped his jaw angrily, making him grin.

  “Exactly. But knowing she another nigga’s bitch is an ego booster.” The one named Ozzy cheesed as everyone except Will and Blaise laughed.

  “Baby, I was joking,” I heard Belly say lowly before kissing Blaise’s cheek a couple times as she looked over the menu.

  “You agree with this?” Will looked dead at me for some reason. What the hell did I have to do with any of this?

  “Well, I’m not a man, but it’s obvious that men take pride in being able to say they’ve smashed a taken woman. Women aren’t really the same, at least not respectable ones.”

  Will nodded as he took a sip of his water.

  The rest of the dinner was nice, because you could tell everyone was relaxing and having a good time, even irritable Will. It seemed like not even a minute had gone by, but it was 1:30 a.m. by the time we were getting up from the table. Usually, Catch LA had table time limits, but they gave us no issues because of Belly.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” Will came out of the restaurant after me, along with everyone else.

  “Priscilla.”

  “You dance?” He cocked his head with his eyes squinted.

  “Yeah… how’d you know?”

  “I think I saw you doing background at an award show; it was televised.” He nodded, looking me over. The dress I was in was very tight, so it made me slightly uncomfortable to have him eyeing me.

  “You saw me?” I chuckled. “Out of everybody on stage?”

  “Wasn’t that many people, just a few of you ladies, and you did well.”

  “Thanks.” I gave him a half smile, just as my phone started ringing. I saw it was my boyfriend, Rafi, so I quickly answered. “Hey, baby.”

  “It’s almost 2 a.m. Where the fuck you at? You were going to a damn boxing match and to get some food. How the fuck does that run until two in the morning?” Rafi hissed.

  “I told you I’d possibly be out late because this was an outing with Blaise.”

  “And this is why I don’t like you hanging with her. She still be on the prowl and shit.”

  Rafi and I had been together for six years, and the relationship moved fast. We were never super public with our business, but most had an inkling that we were together. Rafi was a private man, so he didn’t like his life out there, and I respected that, so I did what I needed to do to make sure our union wasn’t super public.

  It was fine, but I’d be lying if I said some days I didn’t envy those people who could shout from the rooftops about their love. At least I was allowed to post our babies on Instagram and stuff, but Rafi never did, which was fine; I didn’t expect him to. But I just wondered how much longer would we have to be so secretive. Hell, Nipsey and Lauren London were private, but even they showed some public affection here and there occasionally.

  “She is not on the prowl, Rafi. I will talk to you when I get home.” I quickly hung up, frowning hard until I realized Will was still watching me. “Men act so crazy when they have to play mom for the night.” I giggled.

  “You got kids?”

  “Yes, two of them; ages five and three.”

  “I see. Well, the next match that Belly has, you should come out again. I mean, if you want to.”

  “I probably will. It was fun.”

  Will smirked just as the car came around, so we all got in. I didn’t expect him and Manny to since they didn’t come with us, but whatever. The car dropped Belly’s friends, brother, and Will off first, then I was last.

  “I’ll text you,” Blaise let me know as Belly stood outside of the car, holding the door open for me.

  “Okay, don’t forget!” I giggled.

  “Have a good night,” Belly said to me, and I waved in response.

  I rushed up to
the front door of the huge home I resided in, in Beverly Hills, and slipped my key in. As soon as the door sounded off, Rafi came to the top of the stairs looking pissed. Ignoring him, I put the alarm on then started up the stairs.

  “If you think you’re about to be doing whatever the fuck Blaise does, you got me fucked up, Priscilla.” He followed me into the bedroom.

  “It was one night, Rafi, damn!”

  “So what! The kids were hyper as fuck all night, and I had to deal with the shit by myself for hours while you did God knows what!”

  “Okay, and I do the shit every day, while you jet set, travel, and do whatever the hell else you need to, Mr. Rapper. I even bring them to dance rehearsals and have them backstage at performances, but now since you had them one night, at home, it’s a big deal! Boy, bye!” I threw my YSL pumps to the side and stood up off the bed to go to the bathroom, but he blocked me.

  “From now on, you and Blaise can only hang in the day time, and with the kids. You’re a mother, so going out, staying late, and shit ain’t on the agenda for you no more.”

  “You’re a father, so does the same apply to you?”

  “Nah, it doesn’t. I’m a man. Plus, part of my job is being out late at night. Your little dancing gigs can’t pay the bills for this mansion and all this other shit you got. That’s me, my songs, my tours, and my appearances. So like I said, that shit doesn’t apply to me.”

  “Rafi, I am not going to only go out in the daytime like some wife from centuries ago.”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “You will. And I’m done talking about the shit.”

  Without another word, he climbed into the bed, so I just headed to the bathroom. As I removed my makeup with my cleansing balm, I began to ponder.

  I loved Rafi and would do almost anything to keep our lives together, but at times he could be so controlling and condescending that it made me dislike him.

  Finishing the removal of my makeup, I undressed then hopped into the shower. Once I was clean, I brushed my teeth and went to check on my kids to make sure they looked okay, because the way Rafi was talking, I expected them to have bullet wounds. After kissing them goodnight, I went back to the bedroom where Rafi had the lights off. Getting into bed, I turned my back to him.