by MìChaune
Who the fuck is this plain Jane and what can she do? Janae thought as she followed Lysa and the fake gypsy woman inside the building. She took out the phone and tried to power it down again.
“Damn, Leigh Ann, I could have gotten a better welcome than that.” Lysa copped an attitude.
“No,” Leigh Ann turned and answered her with a big smile. “I only put on my Southern charm when the racetrack boys and dirty politicians come around. You regular bitches get treated as such until you prove yourselves otherwise.”
“Regular bitches?” Janae mouthed to herself. Before she could think, they found themselves among a group of girls and a few guys having conversations about what they were doing and what they wanted to do for the weekend. Right away, Janae did not like that there were only four black girls in the room. And both of them bitches had arms and legs as thin as rails, and weave that pulled at their scalp and fell halfway down their backs. The darker-skinned one wore dark red makeup and had small Granny Smith apple–sized breasts. The lighter one was a shade of unfinished furnish on a sand-colored desk. Janae didn’t want to stare to hard, but she had a hard time finding the girl’s breasts. As she profiled their side views, neither one had an ass.
The other ten white girls seemed to be in their early to midtwenties. Hair came in every color of the rainbow. Five of them looked like they suffered from anorexia and looked more like white boys starting puberty. The other five girls were no thicker than a swimsuit model. One had a fuller face and was very top heavy. The other four looked like they belonged on the volleyball team.
Janae could tell the wafer-thin white boy who was the height of a basketball player was gay by the way he rolled his eyes and turned his head away as she and Lysa continued into the room. The Hispanic man maybe had an inch or two on her five foot four frame. He had blond streaks in his spiked hair and wore a dog leash around his neck. The faded pink KEEP ASHEVILLE WEIRD T-shirt he wore was at least two sizes too small, revealing his navel ring. And his black spandex hugged every inch of his hippopotamus-shaped ass; it was a wonder his skinnier legs held his frame up. He smiled, and Janae smiled back.
After a few minutes, Lloyd walked in the room. Everyone got quiet and moved quickly to form a line in order of height before him. Janae checked out their routine, chose not to follow it, and took a place next to the line a few feet from the tallest person. Lloyd approached Leigh Ann and shook his head disapprovingly.
“What’s up with your hair? And why do you have on that hideous outfit?” Lloyd should have been the last one to talk, with a buttoned-up checkered shirt, crisp black jeans, and scuffed black work boots, looking more like a misplaced black cowboy than somebody’s pimp. Leigh Ann was about to fend for herself, but Lloyd cut her off. “No damn excuses.” Lloyd backed away from them as if he were the drill sergeant getting ready to shape a bunch of army recruits into shape.
Janae noticed that most of the girls looked straight ahead, scared to look their leader in his eyes. “You have to look good at all times. The first thing customers look at when you approach them is your appearance: who are you with and can they pass you off as their armpiece for the night. Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you all, all the time your looks talk before you do, so make sure you’re looking tight. Now down to business. The last time we went met up with the baseball team at the Indigo Hotel we only came out with fourteen thousand dollars for our services. What the hell is going on, Britany?”
Janae looked on as Lloyd approached the girl who was equal to him in height. “You had the star player on your arm. You should have had fourteen thousand dollars yourself. What the hell happened?” Lloyd berated her.
“These minor-league players are broke as hell. His wife makes more money than he does and they wanted to do more than eat my pussy and fuck me strange. I’m not into pissing and shitting on folks. I do have morals.” Britany looked away from Lloyd.
Janae expected Lloyd to knock the shit out of her. She was surprised when he didn’t. Lloyd stepped away and shook his head, unsatisfied with the answer he had been given. He made his way to the next girl. “Cheyenne, what is your excuse?”
Cheyenne shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, “I don’t know.”
Lloyd shook his head. He spotted Janae and Lysa at the end of the line. Truthfully, Janae was nervous because even though she was confident that she had the ability to hold her own, Janae knew she was still in the lion’s den and that anything could happen. Soon, Lloyd and Janae were face to face.
“I’m glad you could make it.” A small smile escaped his lips. “Are you ready to get paid?”
“Hell yeah. What I got to do?” Janae looked him in the eye and showed no fear, just like Leshaun had taught her.
“Just follow directions. I think you and Lysa will be joining me for a special project later tonight. Leigh Ann, get them an Uber and take them to my favorite spot in Montford.”
Uber? Janae questioned. What the hell? Strike one was meeting in a warehouse made to resemble a high-end department store, and strike two was that this muthafucker had the nerve to send them around in an Uber. Janae was waiting on strike three to be lit so she could bounce and try to figure things out on her own.
“A’ight, bitches, you come this way,” Leigh Ann instructed.
Strike three!
“Call me that again.” Janae reached up to her left ear to remove the small hoop she was wearing and did the same for the other side. “And you won’t have to worry about how come you can’t bring this nigga his money, because I’m going to make him watch me bury your ass six feet under where you’re standing.”
Leigh Ann turned her head to the side, and her eyes got big. She couldn’t believe Janae had to the gall to talk to her like that.
“Now, ladies.” Lloyd stepped between them. “Let’s play nice. I need Leigh Ann to be the white trash bitch she’s pretending to be to get my money from them rich hillbillies in Waynesville later today. I need you two to get ready for a meet and greet I want y’all to be part of.”
Janae stared Lloyd in the face while Lysa tugged her shoulder. “Come on. He gonna take care of us, I promise.”
“Roman’s Revenge” cut into her thoughts. Janae looked at Lysa and couldn’t believe she let this girl talk her into this shit.
* * *
Lysa had been pacing the small hotel room on Tunnel Road ever since the Uber dropped them off an hour ago. Janae knew her way around Asheville enough to know that they were at least five miles from where they needed to be. Montford was an old community in North Asheville that supported the Grove Park Inn and had some of the city’s historical houses and neighborhoods. She started to correct the Uber driver but chose to go with the program just in case Lloyd had something better planned.
“Yo, Lloyd, what’s up? Thanks for the new phones and all but I thought we were going to do this.” Lysa didn’t give him a chance to greet her or whatever. Lysa got straight to the point of why she was calling, and she expected him to have an acceptable answer.
“We still are.” Lloyd’s baritone could be heard smoothly over the speaker. “Some of the girls got caught slipping. I want y’all to get ready for this private house party I’m setting up for later today.”
“You gonna bail the other girls out?” Janae needed to know where Lloyd’s head was at. She worked on the new Android phone Lloyd got them from MetroPCS so she could reset her settings and add important numbers to it.
“Hell no!” Lloyd’s answer was blunt. “Their misstep could have been prevented, so they had to deal with the consequences. Lloyd is not going to bail them out. But I do have some good news for you. The money they could’ve made will be yours if you and your sister work that party right.”
Sister? Janae wondered what the hell they had gotten themselves into and if the drama was even worth it. Lloyd wasn’t moving like the pimps she was used to. For starters, Lloyd let a trick explain why she couldn’t make money. Leshaun’s mantra was get the dough by hook or by crook. Janae knew that if she and Lysa hadb
een there, Lloyd’s money would’ve been right. If they couldn’t afford to pay, a minor-league baseball player wouldn’t have seen her face. And morals. Morals. There was no such thing. If the the valet had the money, he could get what service he could afford. And if Leshaun needed to arrange for a gay escort to come up there and do the work, then all Janae had to do was watch, pretend to like it, and get the money. Simple shit any ho should be able to do.
And from the looks of things, Lloyd wasn’t just into selling pussy. So there was no excuse. Leshaun would’ve got that money. Janae hated admitting that leaving her for Lloyd might’ve been a mistake. She had no intention of her and Lysa being the only hoes pulling in money; and if she had to become a madam, she, Lysa, and Lloyd would be starting from scratch because she’d reject every last ho in Lloyd’s stable.
“Pull out that red one-piece with the spaghetti straps,” Lysa ordered as she hung up the phone.
“I don’t have the shoes to go with that.” Janae looked at the bag that was on her bed. She regretted not packing all her stuff, but they only had a few hours to send their bags ahead of them before they set the kitchen on fire. For three weeks, Janae and Lysa plotted their escape. They left Leshaun because Lloyd made it seem like he could get them more money and a steady high-end clientele. Leshaun did a good job at bringing in the D-list celebrities, the reality television stars, and the extremely wealthy people who had fame.
Janae saw Lloyd on Instagram popping bottles with his boys and making it rain on strippers in Vegas. Lloyd hung out with and featured celebrities on his Snapchats. And on Lloyd’s Tumblr and ConnectPal accounts, the freak parties looked clean and high maintenance.
Where the hell were the rich rappers and how was she getting on their dicks?
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll get some at the warehouse before we go to the house party,” Lysa suggested.
Janae could picture being able to find something on short notice at the warehouse. It did look like a mini Macy’s with some Ashley Furniture thrown in on the side. Janae showered and quickly got dressed and put on the tennis shoes she was rocking earlier.
“I think you can get away with that look.” Lysa looked her over. She didn’t look too bad herself with a low-cut pink blouse and a pink threaded jean skirt. “This is a house party, and we expect to fuck, not sit around and look pretty.”
It had been a minute since Janae had been to a sex party. Leshaun always thought those events were beneath her.
“Our Uber’s here,” Lysa interrupted her thoughts. Janae quickly looked herself over, and she and Lysa raced out the door.
* * *
“Damn, who you come to see?” Janae heard one of Lloyd’s friends ask as they entered the quaint house in West Asheville. They weren’t too far from the infamous Haywood Road, and some of the nightlife was already cramming the streets.
“Chill,” Lloyd answered the question from a distance, “they’re here for me.”
Janae could see Lloyd smiling at them. This dude was full of tricks. “Is that right?” Janae asked, slyly looking around to see if there were some other chicks waiting on Lloyd’s friend to finish talking.
“You’re here aren’t you?”
Leigh Ann rolled her eyes as she looked over Lloyd’s shoulder. Gone was her hippie gear. Her short brunette hair featured micro curls, and her white dress made her more sophisticated than she appeared earlier. “Lloyd, where is Ron Ron?”
Lloyd got agitated. “Do I look like Ron Ron’s keeper to you?”
“Did I ask you that?” Leigh Ann got smart.
“No. He went to the store. He’ll be right back,” Lloyd answered as they followed him throughout the house. Lloyd got closer to Janae and asked, “What took you so long to get back at me?”
“‘I got my mind on my money and my money on me.’” Janae quoted one of her favorite New Edition lines. She wanted guys to hit her off and not just between her pants. Lloyd letting these females talk back to him was getting on her nerves. Admittedly, Leshaun was a little informal with them. Leshaun was more like everyone’s big sister, but she made it known she was the oldest. Leigh Ann acted like Lloyd was her man, and she was wearing his ring.
“Well, get that money.” A devious grin formed on Lloyd’s face. Janae knew he was getting ready to get at her on something sly. “How can I be down?”
Janae could see the lust in his eyes, and that did nothing but piss her off. Janae needed to set ol’ boy straight because she didn’t know what he thought but this wasn’t that type of party. He must’ve had her confused with them other hoes he’d been dealing with. “What do you mean how can you be down? Nigga, do I look like the type who would ho and give a nigga my money? You got me twisted. I don’t work like that.” If his hoes talked to him like that, shouldn’t nothing have been wrong with her speaking her mind.
“Damn, I was just messing with you. Slow your roll. I ain’t here to break you. I’m here to be your friend.” Lloyd put some distance between them. He must’ve thought Janae was going to swing on him. Janae should’ve knocked him into next week coming at her like that.
Lloyd thought he was going to get easy access to Janae’s pants, but he was sadly mistaken. Janae watched as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall and smiled. Janae was about to give him a piece of her mind. She got distracted when “For Free” by DJ Khaled and Drake bumped from the car Ron Ron was driving as he parked the car.
“What’s up?” he addressed a few of the patrons as he came in. Janae was surprised that he scrunched his face upon seeing Leigh Ann. “Why didn’t you call first? You can’t just pop up and think it’s cool.”
Drake faded into the background. The thumping bass line in Bryson Tiller’s “Exchange” encouraged everyone to relax and huddle into small groups. No one danced or two-stepped. The bartender could be seen serving drinks from a mobile cart, but nothing serious was going on.
“Oh, is that right?” Leigh Ann didn’t hide the anger in her voice. Janae knew his head was spinning with some of the same thoughts she had. “I don’t have a problem with leaving.”
“That’s not the point. You ain’t trying to be with a nigga like me then you’re just wasting time.”
“What are you tripping on? You never had a problem with me coming through before.” Leigh Ann rolled her eyes before looking at him. “Look, Lloyd, I’m leaving. I will see you at the house!”
Through the open door, Janae watched as Leigh Ann walked down the street by herself. Lloyd grabbed Janae’s hand and led her past the dining room and into the kitchen. Lloyd opened a door that led to some stairs heading into a basement. Janae hadn’t been in a basement in a long time. As they descended the stairs, she could see a young lady peeping in through a window outside surrounded by potted flowers and rocks. As her face pressed against the window, Janae could see the girl may not have been out of high school. She started to call Lloyd on the situation but decided to wait until later. When they got to a room, Lloyd opened a door and guided her to the edge of a bed.
Strike four!
“Who is that at the window?” Janae was still freaked out about the young lady staring at her. The room smelled of recently burned vanilla incense. The white walls were bare, which made the king-sized bed appear to take up the entire room. The dresser with the mirror on top added to the claustrophobia. Neither side of the bed had much room to walk. Whoever’s room it was left little detail to who they were or what they were into.
“She my sister.” Lloyd didn’t bother to look at Janae as he had the audacity to lie to her face. Janae didn’t believe that girl was his sister any more than she still believed in Santa Claus.
“How old is your sister?” Janae pressed because Lloyd and Lysa failed to mention any siblings. As she recollected the scene in the living room, there were no pictures of family of any sort. No statues or flowers to liven the place up. The home looked clean and as if basic yard work was attended to on the outside, but nothing stood out to make the house pop.
“Twe
nty-five,” Lloyd responded.
“This chick doesn’t look to be twenty-five,” Janae answered as Lloyd took off the watch he was wearing and put it on the dresser. “She looks like she’s about sixteen or seventeen.”
“You asking me all these questions.” Lloyd shook his head and looked at her from the mirror.
Janae hated when dudes got on the defensive. It meant they were lying. “We can make this Snapped, so who’s the bitch in the window?”
The bluntness of her words made Lloyd smile. This was a game to him, and Janae didn’t feel like playing. She had half a mind to go back to Leshaun and apologize, but she and Lysa had already gone too far. Her only way of contact with Leshaun had been traded in at a cell phone recycling machine at Walmart for four dollars, which she used to buy dollar menu items at the McDonald’s inside. They’d heard vague news reports about Price Street Hotel being on fire, but she didn’t put too much stock into it.
Lloyd exhaled hard and glared at her through the mirror. “That’s one of my hoes. She doesn’t have a place to live, so she came to stay with us.”
“So this is your place?” Janae did an once-over of the bare room again. “This is a disappointment. No famous people. The music wack and you probably sexing that jealous bitch who thinks I want your dick.”
“I fuck all my hoes,” Lloyd answered without a break as he took his shirt off, revealing a modest frame that a few push-ups and sit-ups could whip into shape. “I’m about to fuck you.”
Janae was this close to ending it all. When she left Leshaun, she was supposed to upgrade, not witness her situation getting worse. What the hell! Janae knew that “sister” thing was a bunch of crap and Lysa was just gullible to believe anything he would spit. In the back of her mind, Janae wished she’d checked things out on her own, and she’d meant to. She knew Lloyd pimped from Philly to Atlanta to Houston. Lloyd owned strip clubs in each of these cities that had tight body dancers with pretty faces, so she was confused to why all the hoes she met in Asheville were dog faced and basic. Asheville was a hot spot destination, let some of the major tourist and family publications tell it, so Asheville should have bad bitches too. Had Janae met Leigh Ann, she would have rode it out with Leshaun a little while longer. Lloyd tried to play her for a simple girl. She knew he was used to the girls who oohed and aahed at his every move. He walked away from the dresser and unbuckled his Gucci belt. Janae studied the buckle and determined the belt to be real.