Fictitious Love

by Charmanie Saquea

  “Omega, be careful, you already know I got the bail money if it leads to that,” she told me.

  “Hopefully it won’t, but stay by the phone just in case,” I told her before I jumped off the porch.

  See, I was trying to be nice to the little nigga, but he had crossed the line now. I may not have committed that murder seven years ago, but I damn sure might be killing me a nigga tonight.

  ___

  Tahani might have thought that I didn’t know where she lived, but that wasn’t the case. Of course I was going to know where my son was laying his head. When I pulled up to the house, I jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. I banged on it as if I were the damn police.

  BANG BANG BANG!

  I stood there for about two minutes before this bitch nigga opened the door with a smirk on his face like he just knew it was me. Before he could open the door all the way, my fist was connecting to his face. With that one little punch, his bitch ass fell back on the floor. Weak ass.

  As soon as he fell, I pounced on his ass. I kept punching him in his face as he tried to swing, but it was to no avail. I heard Tahani yelling in the background but I couldn’t hear shit she was saying because I had tuned everything out.

  Someway, somehow, Tahani managed to pull me off of him. When I stood up, I was met with a slap to my face. I had to snap out of it because I was about to fuck her little ass up.

  “Look what the fuck you did, DeJuan!” she yelled as she pointed at the nigga lying on the floor with his face covered in blood.

  There was another knock on the door and she rushed to open it, and what do you know. It was the damn police. I glared at her as she ran to his side while I was being thrown into cuffs. This was a low that I never thought Tahani would stoop to. She knew good and damn well that I didn’t deal with the police, especially after what I had to go through with her crooked ass daddy.

  The booking process and everything else was a blur to me. The only thing I could think about was the fact that Tahani actually had called the police on me. As soon as I was allowed a phone call, I called up Tahtiana. I knew she would come through for me. I thought about calling my mama, but she would have cussed my black ass out so I wasn’t going to tell her until I got out.

  Two hours later, I made bail and was given a day to appear in court. This was some bullshit. I just gotten out of prison over some bullshit just a month ago, now this. It seemed like every time I got locked up, it had something to do with Tahani.

  When I got out there, I was surprised to see Jerry instead of Tahtiana.

  “Tahtiana sent me, she told me everything.” He shook his head.

  On the ride back to my crib, Jerry told me how Tahti and Tahani were his stepdaughters and he’d been married to their mother for five years. I was trying to pick my jaw off the floor after that one. I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything. He informed me that he would be there with me in court and he doubted that Tristan would press charges.

  I didn’t know what to think. I knew one thing for sure though, I was going to stay my ass away from Tahani. If she wanted that nigga to beat her ass then that was on her, but she wasn’t going to have my son around that shit, though. If I had to take her ass to court for custody, then that was what I was going to do.

  14: Tahtiana

  I could not wait to see my sister so I could give her a piece of my mind. I loved my sister and that’s without a doubt, but she was acting like a dumb bitch right about now. She never thought before she did stuff and that irritated me. How do you get mad at your son’s father for trying to look out for you? She should have known Omega was going to go off when she popped up on his doorstep looking the way she looked.

  If she didn’t want him to know, she never should have showed up. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he was putting his hands on her, he did it when Juanie is around. Omega might have thought that Juanie was sleep when he left but he wasn’t. When I went into his room to check on him, he was woke and told me that he was worried about his mom.

  He told me that hours before she dropped him off at his dad’s, he heard her yelling and screaming for Tristan to stop. He begged me no to tell Omega because he didn’t want his dad to be mad at him for not calling to tell him.

  To hear a seven-year-old describe his mother’s screams while she was getting abused was horrible, especially when it was my nephew. I sent Omega a text telling him that I needed to talk to him and gave him the address to my job.

  “Michelle, can I get a little piece of that strawberry cake, please?” I begged.

  Michelle was probably the only female I could see myself hanging with on a daily. She was cool, laid back and down for whatever, like me. I met her when I started college back in the day. We had one class together and instantly clicked. She started her own business, a bakery at that.

  I couldn’t lie; the girl was good at what she does. I was shocked when she asked me to come work in her bakery with her. I told her I didn’t know how to bake to save my life, but she said I could be like her personal assistant.

  “See, this is why I can’t deal with pregnant females. They want to eat everything they see,” she laughed as she handed me a slice.

  “Oh girl, you just don’t know how much I love you,” I laughed as I dug in. “Oh gosh, this is delicious. When I have my baby shower, you are definitely making the cake,” I told her.

  “Fat ass,” I heard after the bell chimed, letting us know we had a customer.

  “I am not fat. I’m eating for two, remember? You do want me to feed your niece or nephew, don’t you?” I asked.

  “Don’t use him as an excuse for you to be greedy,” Omega joked.

  “Whatever, dude. Let’s go outside so we can talk,” I said.

  “Cool.”

  When we got outside, I led him to the tables we had outside.

  “First of all, Omega, I would like to apologize on behalf of my stupid ass sister. What she did the other night really wasn’t necessary and I really don’t know what’s wrong with her,” I told him.

  He waved me off. “Tahti, you don’t have to apologize for your sister’s actions. I can tell you right now what has gotten into her. She allowed that nigga to get into her head. He has mind control over her and that’s the worst because he can manipulate her into doing anything he wants her to do.”

  “I’ve been trying to tell her for two years that something about him wasn’t right. When I told DeMoni that I thought he was putting his hands on her, I was praying that I was wrong. I can’t even imagine why she would stay with him after he put his hands on her. When you left that night, Juanie told me that he heard her screaming and begging Tristan to stop. Now that’s the part that pisses me off, the fact that she’s letting my nephew see this happen.”

  “That’s exactly why I’m not letting Juanie to go home. If Tahani likes to get her ass beat then that’s her. That night she called the police on me is when I washed my hands with her. I’m going to let her do her, but I won’t allow my son to be around all that bullshit. I’m going to file for full custody of him, even if I have to get a temporary job somewhere,” he sighed.

  “Actually, Michelle is the owner here and she’s cool as hell. I can talk to her and see if she’ll allow you to work here. I’m sure I can even get her to tweak the books a little to make it seem as if you’ve been working here since you got out. I know it’s not your ideal job, but it’s a start.”

  I really hated to do this to my sister, but she needed to open her eyes and realize how serious this situation was. She must not understand that if word was to get around that Tristan was abusing her and she was allowing it to happen, she could possibly lose Juanie. They would look at it like she couldn’t even protect herself so how can she protect him.

  “That’s what’s up. Do that for me, sis. But enough about me and my problems, what’s up with you and Moni?” he asked.

  The only thing I could do was roll my eyes.

  “That bad, huh?” he laughed.

  “Om
ega, you know how your brother is,” I told him.

  “True, but I also know how you are. I’m not saying that he was right to deny the baby, but you are sneaky as shit, Tahti,” he stated.

  “Oh, so he told you what happened? I may be sneaky, Omega, but you know being a hoe has never been my thing. Even when me and Moni broke up, I didn’t sleep with anyone but him. The week I broke up with him, he had another bitch in his bed.” I shook my head.

  “You’re right, Tahtiana. My brother is a dog and I know for a fact because I learned everything I know from him. But at this point in the game, it’s not about you two anymore. You have a little shorty on the way that you two have to think about,” he said.

  “And you are absolutely right. After all the miscarriages I’ve had, I just wanted to eliminate as much stress as possible to make sure that I would be able to keep this baby and have a full term pregnancy. My life has been stress free since I cut Moni off completely. He doesn’t need me, he has Shantell,” I informed him.

  “Shantell is alright, but she ain’t you. My brother needs his wife, Tahti.”

  I shook my head in disagreement. “I just think our relationship has run its course. I’m twenty-six, it’s time that I experience different things. I honestly don’t think we were meant to be together anyway. Look how things turned out after ten years. I think we just got comfortable with the idea of being around each other,” I told him.

  “Maybe you’re right. Who knows? We’ll just have to see what happens later on down the road. No matter what you’ll always be my knucklehead ass sister,” he laughed as he ruffled my hair.

  “I feel the love,” I said sarcastically with a laugh.

  I just realized how much I missed Omega when he was gone. He was always someone I would go to and talk about my issues with his brother. He never tried to stick up for Moni just for the fact that they were brothers. He would listen to what I had to say, give his opinion, and that was that. Talking to him was always a breath of fresh air.

  ___

  Just as I was pulling into my driveway, Jazz was calling me. I smiled when his name popped up on my phone.

  “Please tell me you’re calling me to save me,” I said as I answered.

  He let out a little chuckle before speaking. “Possibly, what do you need?” he asked.

  “A foot rub followed by a back rub, dinner and some cuddling.” I smiled.

  “I might be able to help you with that. You home?”

  “Just pulled up,” I answered.

  “I’ll be there in twenty,” he said.

  “I’ll be waiting,” I told him before hanging up.

  As I walked in the house I couldn’t help but to think about my relationship with Jazz. He was a cool guy but there was something about him that just seemed off to me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I had a funny feeling. I always chalked it up to me being so used to being around DeMoni that I was too nervous to get close to anyone else.

  I was usually a good judge of character, but for some reason, I just couldn’t figure Jazz out. Maybe I’m tripping. I took a quick shower and found the shortest pajama shorts I could find. It had been a while since I’d had some action in my life and even though I wasn’t expecting to go there with Jazz tonight or any other night until I had my baby, it wouldn’t hurt to be sexy. As soon as I reached the bottom step, I heard a knock at the door.

  I bounced my happy go lucky self to the door and opened it.

  “Hey you,” I said as I stood to the side and let him in.

  “What’s up, little mama?” he said as he hugged me. “You sure you’re pregnant? You don’t even look it,” he said.

  “I know,” I whined. “I’ll be four months next week and I want a baby bump, but he or she isn’t cooperating.”

  “Alright, you go get comfortable while I take care of everything in the kitchen. What do you want to eat?” he asked.

  “Surprise me,” I told him as I went back up the stairs until dinner was ready.

  I got on Netflix and got caught up on my Revenge episodes. I hadn’t even realized I had dozed off until I smelled food and felt the other side of the bed moving. Jazz shook me lightly and I sat up.

  “You and the baby need to eat,” he said as he gave me a plateful of chicken alfredo that had my mouth watering just from the sight of it.

  “Thank you,” I told him. “I hope I can keep this down.”

  “You’re still throwing up?” he asked.

  “Not all the time, it’s certain things that I eat that I guess my baby doesn’t like because I won’t hold it down,” I told him before sticking a forkful in mouth.

  “I guess you like it,” he laughed.

  “I definitely do. I didn’t know you could cook this good. I might have to get you in the kitchen more often,” I half-joked.

  “Thank you.”

  I heard my phone ringing and could tell by the ringtone it was Tahani. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her drama right now.

  “You can go ahead and answer,” he said as he tried to get up.

  “No, it’s just my sister. I’ll deal with her later,” I said dryly.

  “I’m not even going to ask what that change of tone was all about.”

  I shook my head. “It’s a very long story anyways.”

  After I finished eating, Jazz went downstairs to wash the dishes while I tried to find something for us to watch on TV. Once again, my lazy ass ended up falling asleep just that quick, only this time I had a sex dream about me and Jazz.

  I heard myself let out a moan because the dream felt so real, but I couldn’t wake up. I could literally feel myself about to cum.

  “Cum for me,” he said.

  Wait, I’m not dreaming, I thought as I felt myself cum.

  I peeked my eyes open and that’s when I noticed Jazz was between my legs. I was shocked and pleased at the same time. He wiped his mouth as he came up and hit me with a smirk.

  “That was to make up for the foot and back rub you didn’t get a chance to get. I gotta make a run, so come lock the door,” he said.

  I lazily got out of the bed and followed him down the stairs. When we reached the doors, he bent down and gave me a knee buckling kiss. Lord have mercy. I stood there with a goofy smile on my face as I watched him get in his car and leave.

  15: Tahani

  As soon as I walked through my parents’ house, I was ready to go off. Omega must have fallen and bumped that big ass head of his.

  “Dad!” I yelled as I walked through the house like a mad woman.

  “Tahani, why are you doing all that yelling?” my mom asked as she and my dad came down the stairs.

  “That son of a bitch is taking me to court,” I told them.

  “Oh Lord, I told you this was going to happen,” my mom told my dad.

  “Let me talk to Tahani alone for a minute, Shanice,” my dad said.

  “Dad, how could he do this to me? After everything I’ve done for him, he wants to take my son away from me? If it weren’t for me, his black ass would still be in jail!” I yelled as I paced back and forth.

  “Tahani, calm down. I told you to get this shit in order the first time Tristan put his hands on you. You said you had it under control, so I didn’t press the issue. I thought it was taken care of, but obviously I was wrong.”

  “Dad, it wasn’t even that serious. All this is Omega’s fault anyways. I should have let his ass rot in there.”

  “No, Tahani. It is that serious; do you not realize what you’re putting your son through? Both DeJuan and Tahtiana have told me what Juanie said to them about hearing you scream and begging. Do you not realize you could lose your son over this shit? Omega filing for custody should be the least of your worries right now!” he yelled.

  That was the first time I had ever seen Jerry get angry with me, or anyone else for that matter.

  “So now all of a sudden I’m a bad parent?” I asked, truly hurt.

  “Tahani, I—”

  “No, everybody is goin
g by what they assumed happened. Me nor my son’s lives have never been in danger. Despite what it may seem like, Tristan is not abusive. We get into one little fight and everybody is acting like we’re Ike and Tina Turner.”

  “This nigga had you begging and pleading for him to stop, and what makes it so bad is Juanie was in the house hearing everything, scared and wanting to call his dad to come save you. But yet you stand here defending him as if he’s not abusive?” I heard from behind me.

  “Mind your own business, Tahtiana. This has nothing to do with you,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “As long as it has something to do with my nephew, it has something to do with me. Personally, I hope Omega does get custody of him. Maybe that will teach your stupid, oh-so-in-love ass a lesson,” she said.

  I had to laugh at her ass. “And this is coming from the bitch who can’t even have a baby? Alright.” I laughed some more.

  I didn’t see it coming, but I damn sure felt it. Tahtiana had just slapped fire from my ass. Before I could even react, my dad stepped in the middle of us.

  “Tahtiana, calm down. That’s your sister,” he said as he held her back.

  “I’m calm. Shit, her ass likes getting hit on anyways,” she yelled.

  I was standing there in complete shock. Never in my twenty-three years on this earth had my sister and I ever gotten into an argument, let alone a fight. We’d always had each other’s back, no matter what. I realized I had taken it too far when I said she couldn’t have babies.

  “Tahti, I—“

  “Save that shit, Tahani!” she cut me off. “I’ve always been by your side and had your back. I was the one who told you to confront dad when you found out what he did to Omega. I’m the one who talked you out of having an abortion when you found out about Juanie. I was the one who encouraged you to continue to send Omega letters when he was locked up. I let you cry on my shoulder for a month straight when he got locked up. That shit that you just said to me hurt and was a definite low blow. From here on out, you’re dead to me. Have a nice life, bitch,” she said before walking back out the door with our mom hot on her heels.