As Imani climbed into Jasmine’s car, leaning her head back and closing her eyes from the pain, all she could think about was the humiliation of being beat up like that. The fact that it was broad daylight with children standing around only made it worse. As they headed toward the hospital, with the kids in the backseat, Imani looked out of the window when she felt like opening her eyes. She’d never been this enraged before. “I can’t believe this nigga had his sister come for me,” she muttered.
***
That night, once everyone in Jasmine’s house had gone to sleep, Imani sat in the living room. The visit to the hospital had been humiliating, as so many people looked dead into her eyes as Jasmine walked her through the door. Imani knew the eyes were wondering—trying to figure out—what the hell happened to this chick.
Now, as midnight approached and she tended to her wounds, Imani thought more and more about Race. Since she didn’t have a brother she could send after Race for what he’d had his sister do, Imani felt helpless. The clock in the kitchen ticked. Imani eventually turned the television off, as it was only aggravating her.
“Fuck this,” Imani said, rising up off of the couch. Earlier in the evening, when she was leaving the hospital, Imani had made it her life mission to go and see Race as soon as she felt she was presentable. However, as the sky darkened, she realized that Race needed to see what he did and how he just didn’t have to do it. “This shit is fucked up.” She knew that she’d cheated, and lied by saying that Race didn’t live in the apartment, but that was no reason for Race to send Maya after her like that, especially with kids watching.
Imani got dressed, grabbed her purse and keys, and headed out the door. With a foot made of lead, Imani headed across town and pulled into the parking lot in front of the apartment building. She’d planned on coming back to officially move out and whatnot once things had calmed down, but her urge to look into Race’s eyes had gotten too strong. She looked up, toward the top of the building. There was a light on in the apartment. She looked up and down the parking lot. As luck would have it, Race was there. At that moment, Imani was content with not having called him. She wanted to look into his eyes as she said what she felt she needed to say.
Imani, with her face bruised and scratched, marched into the front of the building. Just as the elevator doors opened, a couple of young guys were getting off. Imani felt their eyes looking at her face, but she pushed past them and headed up to the apartment. She pulled her keys out then noticed that she heard moaning coming from inside the apartment—moaning that seemed to be coming from Race.
Imani rolled her eyes and let herself into the apartment. There, as the door swung open, she saw that the only light on was a lamp next to a couch on the other side of the room. Her eyes landed on Race, who’d been sitting back on a couch. His pants were bunched down around his ankles, his legs spread wide, as a white chick’s head bobbed up and down in his lap. Her bright blonde hair swayed back and forth on her back as she sucked on Race’s manhood as if it would be her last meal on earth.
“What the fuck!” the white chick said, pulling her head up.
Race looked up, having zoned out because of the light music playing on the stereo. He looked into Imani’s eyes then looked over her face. He shook his head. “Damn!” he said, smiling. “You got that ass beat bad today. I mean, goddamn. I ain’t seen nobody get they ass beat that bad in years prolly, since I lived in the hood over by them railroad tracks.”
“Who is she?” the white chick asked, wiping her mouth with her forearm. “Huh, Race? Who is this chick?”
“Don’t worry about all that,” Race said, gripping the dome of the white chick’s head with the palm of his hand. “Just keep suckin’ on that black dick while I talk to her and shit. She ain’t nobody. You just do what we talked about. Okay?” He watched as the white girl’s head reluctantly lowered back down toward his manhood. “Okay? Just worry about suckin’ on that dick while I talk to this chick.”
Race did not hesitate the least bit to moan loudly when the white girl went all the way down on his shaft. She even went as far as sticking her tongue out at the bottom and licking the top of his balls. Race looked up and smiled, looking into Imani’s eyes as if he didn’t feel a morsel of shame for getting head from a white girl in front of Imani, in a place where she technically lived.
“What the fuck you want, Imani?” Race asked. “Huh? I know you see I’m gettin’ my dick sucked by this white chick. Don’t you? What the fuck you want? You mad you got that ass beat?”
Imani looked at the white girl and rolled her eyes. The chick sucked on Race’s dick as if nobody was standing behind her. Imani truly wondered how a woman could do such a thing in front of another woman as if it was nothing. She stepped further into the living room, noticing how the white chick never stopped sucking. Imani simply shook her head and said, “What the fuck was that about, Race? Huh? Don’t act like you don’t know what the fuck I’m talkin’ about, nigga. You lucky I don’t fuckin’ kill you ‘cause I don’t wanna go to jail for murder.”
“What the fuck is you talkin’ about, Imani?” Race asked. “I just told my sister what was goin’ on and how I’m over here hurtin’ and shit from findin’ you in bed with that nigga, John. Well,” he looked down at the white girl’s head and snickered, “I was hurtin’. I went and found this white chick that like to suck on black dick and now she over here actually makin’ me feel better and shit. Did you enjoy Maya’s visit?”
“Nigga, I fuckin’ hate you!” Imani said. Without thinking, she rushed forward. The white chick, who was still naked, backed away, screaming, as Imani lunged at Race and started slapping him across the face.
“Naw, naw,” Race said. He grabbed Imani by her wrists and held her in place. He looked at the white chick and told her, “Go wait for this dick back in the bedroom. Okay? I’mma let you finish suckin’ on this dick.”
“Are you sure you don’t wanna just hookup later, Race?” the white chick asked. “I mean, we can just do this later.”
Race, who was still holding Imani by her wrists as he stood there with his pants down around his ankles, looked at the white chick. “Trust me,” he said. “This shit is only gonna take a couple minutes. Go back to the bedroom and wait on the dick there.”
The white girl looked at Imani, wondered what in the world she’d gone through to have her face so fucked up. With her arm over her chest, she rushed back to the bedroom and closed the door to wait. Race finally let go of Imani and pulled his pants up.
“What you come here for, Imani?” Race asked. “You come here to get dicked down by that nigga John again or what?”
“Race, nigga,” Imani said. “Your fuckin’ sister came and fuckin’ attacked me at my sister’s house, in front of her kids. In front of my fuckin’ niece and nephew.”
“Damn,” Race said, shaking his head. “That’s too bad.”
“Fuck you, nigga!” Imani yelled. “That was some foul shit to send that bitch to my sister’s house like that.”
“Imani, I couldn’t give two shits,” Race said. “Call that nigga John you was fuckin’ around with. I’m busy as shit right now, so go on back over to your sister’s house and shit. I don’t even know why the fuck you came here anyway.”
“What you mean why I came here?” Imani asked. “I technically fuckin’ live here.”
“Yeah, well,” Race said, shrugging his shoulders. “You might as well go on and bounce ‘cause I got company. A nigga was just about to bust when you came walkin’ through the door and shit.”
Imani had never felt so insulted in her life. She glanced back at the bedroom. “That white chick is lucky I don’t go jump on her.”
“And do what?” Race asked, chuckling. “Huh? What the fuck you gon’ do, Imani? You already got that ass beat today. Why don’t you just go back to your sister’s place and get your face together?”
Imani, almost hating that she’d come to begin with, walked back over to the door. “That’s right,” Race said. �
��Go on and get the fuck on before you get that ass beat again. You know Maya be up in the middle of the night and shit. Let me get my phone and call her to come over here and handle you again.”
Imani yanked the front door open and walked out into the hallway. She looked back at Race’s grinning face as he came over to the door. “I hope you don’t think I’m done with this shit,” Imani let Race know.
Race snickered as he closed the door, deciding that he was going to put the chain on it. “Yeah, well,” he said. “I’m done with you, bitch. Now, let a nigga go get his dick sucked by this white chick so I can go to sleep. I got a big day tomorrow. Come at a nigga again and see what happen. I heard about what happened with you and Maya. But, trust me, that ain’t shit compared to what my sister can really do. You lucky you not sittin’ up in the hospital for a couple weeks like this one chick whose ass she beat real bad a couple years ago.”
Imani felt so humiliated and degraded that all she could do was turn away and head back downstairs.
CHAPTER 3
Sparkle, dressed in tight white pants and a white shirt that made sure the world could see her d-sized chest, walked into her parents’ house around midnight. The 23-year-old had been out at the club all night, enjoying the company and attention of the thugs that hung out at the hood club. Luckily tonight, there weren’t any fights or shooting at the club. Because of this, for the first time in a while, the single mother could really turn up. She’d been so faded that driving home had been a risk, but her walking into the front door of her mother’s house had really been a struggle.
No sooner than Sparkle had pushed the front door closed did she hear her mother from the kitchen. “Sparkle?” she asked, her voice high and sweet.
“Yeah, Mama,” Sparkle said, plopping down on the couch. “It’s me, Mama. It’s me.”
Sparkle’s mother, Regina, came rushing around the corner and into the living room. At barely forty years old, she’d had her daughter Sparkle when she was rather young. However, Regina had tried her best to give her daughter the best life she could. Seeing her have a child then have to move back into her mother’s house because of whatever happened with the father, John, just didn’t sit well with Regina to begin with. To see Sparkle walking through the door during the early hours of the morning only made her feelings toward her daughter worse.
“Sparkle, where you been?” Regina asked, her hands planted on her wide hips. A white scarf covered Regina’s recently-done hair. The woman stood in the doorway, dressed in her red pajamas. “It’s like three o’clock in the morning.”
“I know what time it is, Mama,” Sparkle said, rubbing her forehead and rolling her eyes. “I’m grown, you know.”
“I know you grown,” Regina said. She could already tell that her daughter was going to have a little bit of an attitude. Nonetheless, she wanted to make some things clear if Sparkle was going to live in her house. “But you can’t just come walking in my house at any time you feel like it in the middle of the night.”
“Dang, Mama,” Sparkle said. “It’s only like three o’clock, you know. The club don’t even close until five or somethin’ like that.”
“I don’t care when the club close,” Regina said. “I’m talkin’ about you and how you livin’.”
“How I’m livin’?” Sparkle asked, genuinely surprised. “I know you not about to make a big deal out of me goin’ to the club and stuff for a little while, Mama. I know you not about to do this right now. I mean, really. I know you ain’t about to do this right now.”
“Yes I am,” Regina said. “Sparkle, what’re you going to do with yourself? Every time I look up, you’re going to the club or out with some guy you barely know.”
“Barely know?” Sparkle asked. “Damn, Mama. What are you try’na say? You try’na call me a slut or somethin’ or what?”
“Sparkle, girl,” Regina said, walking out into the middle of the room. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. Don’t get brand new with me, Sparkle. I’ve known you since the day you were born.”
“I know, Mama,” Sparkle said, rising up off of the couch. “I know, Mama.” She giggled. “I know.”
Sparkle rushed past her mother and helped herself to a big glass of water. It felt so good to drink some cold water that all Sparkle could do was smile. She could feel her mother’s eyes barreling down on her from behind. “Dang, Mama,” Sparkle said, turning around and looking into her mother’s cold eyes. “What you want me to do?
“I want you to get your life together,” Regina said. “I mean, look at you, Sparkle. You come through the door with your clothes practically hanging off of you. And I can tell that you been drinkin’ too much because you’re sweatin’ all over your forehead and stuff. When you moved in with me some months back, it was because you needed to get your life together. I know you lost that good job and stuff. But are you even looking for another job or just out spending money like you got it, Sparkle? Huh? Are you out there blowin’ whatever money you got?”
Sparkle rolled her eyes and shook her head. Never in her life had she felt so irritated. Now, at this time of the morning—and afterhaving had a crazy-fun night—was certainly not the time to be having a mother-daughter talk. She turned and looked at her mother. “Mama, you know how these men are out in them clubs,” she said. “Then again, maybe you don’t…since you always been the church chick. But I ain’t payin’ for nothin’. Them men be sendin’ drinks my way and wanting to come holla at me.” She smiled. “I mean, it is what it is. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with it if I ain’t the one that’s payin’ and stuff.”
“Okay, maybe you not payin’,” Regina said, just wishing that she could talk some sense into her daughter. “But, still, Sparkle. Listen to me. If you don’t hear nothin’ else that I say to you right now, right here in this kitchen, then please here this. You may not be spendin’ no money or none of your own money, but you wastin’ your time and you’re openin’ yourself up to have another bad situation.”
“Another bad situation?” Sparkle asked, no sure if she’d heard right. “Another bad situation, Mama? What are you try’na say? What you mean by another bad situation?”
Regina slammed her hands into her thighs, frustration racing through her veins. “Sparkle,” she said, “I ain’t try’na put you down or nothin’ like that, but you know I gotta keep it real. You live with your mama when you really don’t have to with all these jobs out here and you got a child by some nigga I’ve only met a couple times in Isaac’s life.”
“Damn, Mama,” Sparkle said. She pushed passed her mother and went back out to the living room. “I mean, geesh. You ain’t have to totally go in on me. You act like I’m not try’na better my situation or nothin’ like that.”
“Oh, you are?” Regina asked. “Sparkle, don’t walk away from me while I’m talkin’ to you. And how are you try’na better your situation? I go to work…you’re sittin’ in the living room when I leave, if you’re even up and out of the bed. Then, when I come home, I be damned if I see you sittin’ around not doin’ nothing again. And, since we on the topic, I really wasn’t gonna say nothin’ about all this, but I coulda swore I came home one night and smelled some weed or somethin’ comin’ out of your bedroom. I know I specifically told you to not be sittin’ up and smokin’ in my house. If you must do that stuff, please do on somewhere else and don’t do it here. And you know you betta not be havin’ your dealer come here. I don’t need these white people up and down the street findin’ some reason to get on my case, Sparkle. Swear to God, don’t start causin’ no problems for me. You know they already don’t like my ass.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Sparkle said. She hated how her mother took so many things in this world so seriously. “And I wasn’t smokin’ no weed in your house. I would never do that.”
Regina nodded her head. “Mmhmm,” she said. She paused, looking at her young daughter and wondering what would be her best tactic to get through to her that she needed to change her life. “You know what, Sparkle? I can’t ke
ep seein’ you goin’ downhill like this. I mean, I just can’t.”
“Goin’ downhill like this?” Sparkle asked, planting her right hand on her hip. “What the hell do that mean, Mama? Huh? What do that mean?”
“I think it’s obvious,” Regina said. “You got a baby by some nigga who don’t come around and don’t do nothin’ for you, no matter how much you and his child need. I mean, damn, Sparkle. Does that nigga John ever come to see his child?”
“Mama, let us handle all that,” Sparkle said. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated?” Regina asked. “What’s complicated about it, Sparkle? I know you told me you were seein’ that guy, but I’m really startin’ to think that you might have been tellin’ lies or something ‘cause it seem to me like he was just one of them one night stands and now you’re the one stuck with the baby.”
“So now you say that I’m lyin’, Mama?” Sparkle asked. She was used to her mother having “talks” with her, but this was starting to get a little too offensive for her. “Is that what you sayin’? Dang, Mama. I went out and had a nice life and come home to my mama shittin’ on me like it’s nothin’.”
“Stop all that cussin’, Sparkle,” Regina said. “I don’t care how grown you get, you not just gon’ go talkin’ to me any ole kinda way, especially in my house.”
“I’m sick of hearin’ that this is your house and you think this and that and that everyone in your house should do this and that because you like it,” Sparkle explained.
“Sparkle,” Regina said, “that’s how it works. If you actually decided to get up off of your ass and stop chasin’ some man, then you can have somethin’ one day as well…like a house and stuff. At the rate you’re going, you’ll never have any of that.”
Sparkle sighed, turning to go and walking toward the steps that led upstairs to her bedroom. She didn’t know what else she could say to get her mother to see that her efforts were going just a little too hard to get her point across. Regina, shaking her head, looked at her daughter walk toward the steps. This was the moment that would change everything. Regina knew that it was her job as a mother to make sure she kept her daughter on track, no matter what she had to do to see it happen.
The Bed You Make: An Urban Hood Drama Page 4