by King, Deja
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Justina had the audacity to say in a little mousey voice.
“Keep playing dumb but you and your mother picked the wrong bitch to fuck with. Both of you are going down and ain’t nobody gonna be able to save the two of you.”
“Aaliyah, I didn’t come over here to get you upset.”
“What the fuck did you think was gonna happen bringing that deadly disease over here. It’s amazing how you don’t have shit to say while you’re standing in front of me but had diarrhea of the mouth when yo’ lying ass was on the stand. Both of you get the fuck away from my table,” I said turning away.
“I’m not giving up on you. I’ll keep reaching out to you until we sit down and talk things out.” Amir stood there for a few minutes and when he saw that I was finished talking he walked off with Justina.
“Girl, what in the hell was that about?” Peaches questioned after they were gone.
“That conniving hussy is the reason I was locked up for all those months.”
“Oh, that’s the chick that said you shot her and Sway Stone?”
“Yes, when she knew the whole time it was her crazy ass mother that pulled the trigger.”
“What! Her own mother shot her?”
“Yes, but I believe she thought it was me and didn’t realize that shit until after the fact. But none of that matters because Justina knew I didn’t shoot her but she lied because she wanted to keep me and Amir apart . . . well the shit worked.”
“It seems like dude definitely doesn’t want you all to be apart.”
“It’s too late. I don’t understand how he can have any sort of relationship with her after what she did to me,” I said, shaking my head.
“Sometimes people don’t understand how badly their actions can hurt you.”
“Or maybe they just don’t care,” I sulked. “But fuck them, we have bigger and better things to scheme on like when you want to start this partnership.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me. When do you want to start this partnership or have you already changed your mind?”
“Hell no! But I guess you have and I’m glad you did. I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Then let’s do it!” I knew that I shouldn’t go into business with Peaches but I didn’t care. I was tired of my mind being suffocated with thoughts of Justina her mother and especially Amir. The pain in my heart from the day he walked out on me when I was in jail was still fresh. I felt that if I didn’t create new memories I would be haunted by the old ones for the rest of my life. If going into business with Peaches, even if it was illegal could get my mind off that bullshit then so be it, I was in.
Precious
“What are you doing here?” When I opened the front door I knew that probably wasn’t the greeting Lorenzo was expecting but I was surprised to see him.
“Talking to you on the phone wasn’t enough for me anymore. I had to see you.”
“You shouldn’t have come. I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t see each other for a while.”
“It’s been three months. I would call that awhile. Can we talk or are your kids here?”
“No, Xavier is spending the night with his dad and Aaliyah is out with a friend.”
“Then can I come in?” I hesitated for a moment but then stepped to the side so Lorenzo could come inside. “You know how much I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” I admitted after closing the door.
“I can’t take being away from you. I know I said I could but I was wrong.”
“Lorenzo, don’t”
“Don’t what, tell you the truth. You mean a lot more to me then I wanted to admit.”
“Why is that?”
“Why do you mean a lot to me?”
“No, why didn’t you want to admit it?”
“Precious, you know both of us came into this with a lot of baggage. You turned to me because you weren’t happy in your marriage and I figured you were safe for me because I wouldn’t allow myself to catch real feelings for a married woman but I was wrong. After Dior I didn’t believe I could ever love another woman again but . . . ” Lorenzo’s voice trailed off.
“But what?”
“With you getting a divorce I want us to give this a go.”
“I don’t know. The complications that come with us being together run so deep.”
“Are you saying that what we have for each other isn’t strong enough to get us through it?” Before I could answer, Lorenzo was standing over me looking down. The man’s eyes always had a way of hypnotizing me, the same way Supreme’s used to do. I don’t want to be without you,” he stated in a low tone before kissing my forehead, then the tip of my nose and finally my lips. I welcomed the warmth of his tongue as I missed it. I missed everything about him from his scent to the embrace of his muscular arms to the way he felt when he was inside of me.
“Don’t stop,” I sighed when his mouth left mine.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” I said, taking Lorenzo’s hand and leading him upstairs to my bedroom. By the time we got behind closed doors we were practically out of our clothes. Lorenzo lifted me up and wrapped my legs around his back while his tongue made a trail up the center of my stomach until reaching my breast. The moistness of his mouth licked and bit my nipples causing my pussy to drip in anticipation of feeling his dick deep inside of me.
“Damn, I missed this body,” Lorenzo moaned as he laid me down on the bed. He then put my legs over his shoulders as his tongue continued to fuck my body. He still remembered the exact spot to lick my clit sending me into an immediate orgasm. He held my arms down so I couldn’t fight against the sexual ecstasy that had taken over me. My cries of pleasure echoed throughout the room as Lorenzo gave me exactly what my body craved. Once he slid his dick inside of me my mind was gone. My juices flooded his thick tool which seemed to make his strokes go deeper and deeper.
“You feel so fuckin’ good,” I purred, wishing I could bottle this sensation and carry it around with me on a daily basis.
“Baby, so do you. I don’t ever want to be without this pussy. I want it to belong to me.”
“It does,” I found myself saying without any uncertainty. As my nails sunk into Lorenzo’s skin I couldn’t determine if I was in love with him or sprung on the dick, but at this moment it didn’t even matter because the shit felt too good for me to care.
“Mom, open the door!”
Knock . . . knock . . . knock . . . I heard Aaliyah’s voice but I was still halfway sleep. It was like part of my brain was alert but my body was immobile.
“Mom, I have to talk to you!” By the time my brain and my body finally clicked in unison Aaliyah was standing in my bedroom with her mouth wide open in shock. At first I didn’t understand why she was looking at me like that until I turned to see Lorenzo sleeping beside me. Fuck! I forgot to lock the door. How can I explain this away? I wondered to myself.
“Aaliyah, let me explain . . . ”
“There is nothing that can explain why you have another man in the bed you shared with my father. How dare you!”
“Aaliyah, calm down.”
“What’s going on?” hearing Lorenzo’s groggy voice made me look away from Aaliyah and turn in his direction. His eyes were closed and you could tell he was struggling to fully wake up.
“You wanna know what the hell is going on? You just fucked my mother in my father’s bed! If I had a gun I would shoot you!” That surely woke Lorenzo up quick, fast and in a hurry. He rose up in the bed and witnessed the fucked up predicament we had put ourselves in.
“That’s enough! You have every right to be upset but you’re totally out of line. I’m your mother, don’t forget that!” I was trying my hardest to keep my composure because I wished with everything inside me that Aaliyah had never walked in on us but it was hard because she was such a firecracker just like her fath
er and me.
“You know what, I’m done with you. You’ve destroyed this family and then you slap us in the face again by bringing that into our house,” Aaliyah scolded, flipping her hand up towards Lorenzo. “That motherfucker means that much to you, you all can have each other but I’m outta here!” She screamed, before storming off.
“Aaliyah, comeback here.” I jumped out of bed to go after her and realized I was naked. I grabbed Lorenzo’s shirt since it was the closest thing within my grasp, chasing after Aaliyah while covering myself up. “Aaliyah, what are you doing?” I wanted to know once I reached her bedroom.
“I’m leaving.”
“No you’re not,” I said taking her clothes out of her suitcase as soon as she put them in.
“I don’t need your permission to leave this house, I’m over eighteen. I don’t want to be here with you. You disgust me.”
“I know you’re angry but don’t speak to me like that.”
“Or what? You’re going to put me on punishment . . . please. I’ve spent months in prison, there is nothing you can do to me that’s worse than that but kill me.” It wasn’t until that very moment that I fully comprehended the warning from Genesis that day in the restaurant about Aaliyah’s time in jail. The daughter I once knew didn’t exist she had changed. I no longer knew how to reach her and it was breaking my heart.
“Aaliyah, I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” I pleaded sitting down on her bed. I had lost Supreme I didn’t want to lose my daughter too.
“I can’t stay here. I get out of jail and all I’ve been dealing with is drama. My grandfather is in a coma that it doesn’t look like he’s coming out of and my dad hasn’t lived in this house not one day since I’ve been back home. Then Chantal and Justina are still not in jail and I have to run into her with Amir.”
“You saw Justina?”
“Yes, last night when I was out to dinner. That’s what I came to your room to tell you. But I don’t want to talk about them right now. I’m just dealing with so much and catching you in bed with
Lorenzo was it for me.”
“Aaliyah, I promise if you stay that will never happen again. Lorenzo will never be allowed back in this house. I don’t want you to leave.”
“It’s too late. I don’t want to be here but I love you and I’m sorry for what I said to you. I’m in a bad place right now and I need time to myself.”
“Where will you go?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll call you. I have to go.”
“Aaliyah,” I called out when she was midway down the hallway. At first she kept walking but then she stopped and turned towards me but remained silent. “I love you too.”
The tears trickled down my face but I couldn’t blame anybody for the fucked up situation I had gotten myself into but me. I stayed in Aaliyah’s room for a few more minutes staring at the pink bedspread she loved so much and all her favorite stuffed animals from when she was a little girl that she kept on a bookshelf. She was still my baby and now she was gone.
When I got back to my bedroom, Lorenzo was sitting on the chaise dressed in everything besides the shirt of his I was wearing. “I didn’t want to come out and further upset Aaliyah. I felt it was best I stay in here until you told me it was time to leave,” Lorenzo explained. I thought he would be a little agitated after the harsh words Aaliyah spit at him but he was surprisingly calm.
“Aaliyah left.”
“She’ll be back.”
“I hope so but I’ve never seen her this upset before. I really messed up.”
“It’s my fault. I should’ve never showed up here. You told me to stay away but I didn’t listen. I came anyway and I feel terrible. With all that Aaliyah has been through these last few months she didn’t need this,” Lorenzo said, putting his head down. He seemed to be taking it hard and I wasn’t expecting that.
“Aaliyah is my daughter and I’ve failed her. I don’t know exactly when it started but it did and I have to find a way to fix it and make it right.”
“I agree you do but also give her some space. She seems to have a lot of bottled up anger inside and it’s coming to a head. But who can blame her, she spent time in jail for a crime she didn’t commit and that’s just for starters. It was wrong of me not to take Aaliyah’s feelings into consideration. But I missed you and wanted to be with you. In the process I used poor judgment. It won’t happen again.”
“I wanted you here,” I said stroking the side of Lorenzo’s face. “I don’t regret being with you but it can’t happen in this house again. My children think of this as their father’s home and I have to respect that.”
“You’re right. I recently bought a place and you’re always welcomed there.” I kissed Lorenzo and even after the bullshit I went through with Aaliyah I was ready to slip out of his shirt and have him inside of me again but I refused to give into my lust and temptation.
“Thank you and I will. I do want to see if we can make this work . . . you know a relationship.”
“I know what you mean and I want the same thing but I won’t rush you. Your focus right now has to be making sure that your children are good. I’ll be here, I’m not going anywhere.” Lorenzo unbuttoned his shirt that I was wearing, took it off and then put it on. I hated myself for not wanting to see him go. Everything inside of me wanted to remove his shirt and let us get back in the bed together but I had to have some self-control.
“Thank you for being so understanding. I’ll call you later on.”
“You do that,” he said, giving me a goodbye kiss. “And, Precious, don’t be so hard on yourself. You are a good mother but you’re also human. I’ll talk to you later,” he smiled.
I stood in the middle of my bedroom naked and alone. I knew I needed to give Aaliyah some space but I decided to call her cell phone. She didn’t answer so I sent her a text message. No matter how much she hated me right now I needed Aaliyah to know that she could always come back home.
Aaliyah
WHEN I LEFT HOME the only person I could think of calling was Peaches. I didn’t want to speak to either of my dads because as pissed as I was with my mother I didn’t want them to know what happened. All of our lives was so full of drama there was no reason to bring even more. I was glad that Peaches answered because my first instinct when I got in the car was to call Amir. With all the anger I had towards him I was baffled that he was immediately the person I thought could make it all better. I pushed Amir to the back of my mind when I pulled up to the gated townhouse community Peaches lived at. I pressed in the code she gave me, and the gates opened. I had never been to this part of Teaneck but it was another beautiful area in Bergen County.
“That must be her spot right there,” I said out loud noticing her red drop top Benz in the driveway. There was also a white Escalade but I wasn’t sure if that was her car too or if she had company, but I would soon find out. When I got to the door I could hear loud talking and tapping of heels coming near. I rang the bell in within a few seconds Peaches had opened it.
“Hey girl!” She beamed, giving me a hug. “Collette, this is Aaliyah, my friend I was telling you about.”
“Oh yeah, it’s good to finally meet you,” she said extending her hand. “Peaches has told me so much about you and what you did for her while you all were locked up.”
“Yeah, but I know Peaches would’ve done the same thing for me.”
“True, I would’ve but you a pit-bull. Looking at you, you would never think. I guess that’s how you caught them broads off guard.”
“I guess you right,” we all laughed.
“Well, it was good meeting you, Aaliyah, and I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
“It was good meeting you too.” Peaches and I stood outside for a few seconds, watching Collette get in her Escalade before going inside.
“Ummm, you are staying aren’t you?”
“Yeah, why you ask that?”
“Where are all your bags?”
“I left them in the car, we can
get them later.”
“No problem, can I get you something, I mean a drink?”
“No I’m good. I’m loving your crib . . . it’s sick.”
“I love it too although it ain’t on that estate level you used too.”
Maybe not, but at least this is yours. Those cribs I live in don’t belong to me.”
“I feel you but all that is about to change.”
“I hope you’re right. Regardless I appreciate you letting me stay with you, especially under the circumstances.”
“No doubt. Girl, put that bullshit behind you. We about to be some rich bitches.”
“You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself,” I stated while my eyes scanned her residence.”
“For a young bitch in the game I’m doing pretty well for myself but fuck that we ‘bout to do a takeover.”
“Peaches, you are so damn crazy,” I laughed.
“I’m so damn serious. These two brothers I get my shit from are so deep in the game. They on some top tier shit. They had the Midwest and South on lockdown, now they trying to get the East Coast. They were having some difficulties but things seem to be starting to work in their favor.”
“Cool. Well I’m ready to jump in and get my hands dirty and I’m not scared a lick. Hustling is all in my DNA and it goes way back from generations.”
“I can tell. You one of those bitches don’t nobody ever see coming until it’s too late.”
“So when do I get started?”
“Those brothers who are technically my boss and now yours since we’re partners are having an exclusive, intimate party at their house tomorrow. We’re invited.”
“Really, sounds interesting.”
“It should be. I’ve never been invited to their crib before so clearly I’m moving up on the totem pole of importance.”
“Must be.”