“What you mean what I’m into?” D’Mann asked. “You mean, how I make my money?”
Desirae nodded. “You the one who said you just usin’ McDonald’s for gas money and gotta make money out in these streets, the only way you know how,” she said. “I’m just askin’. You ain’t gotta go given’ me your social security number or nothin’.”
D’Mann nodded. There was something about Desirae’s confidence that turned him on. She was definitely a strong woman. D’Mann felt that if this had been any other chick, she’d be rolling around on the floor terrified and in tears.
“You really try’na get serious with a nigga, huh?” D’Mann asked. “I don’t share my business with just anybody, especially when I only known they ass for a couple days.”
“I don’t know what I’m try’na be,” Desirae said, realizing she was looking at a man who might really want to invest in her, “but I know I need to know what you involved in, if you wanna consider keeping me around after this shit.”
D’Mann smirked and leaned back. “You really try’na play hardball with a nigga, ain’t you?”
Desirae smiled. “Go hard or go home,” she said. “I’m involved in this shit now because I’m not callin’ the police, which makes sense. I just wanna know what kinda shit you involved in. I know my face is beat up and shit right now,” she shrugged, “but do you like what you see?”
D’Mann looked Desirae up and down. “I liked what I saw when I could only see your face, so don’t say shit like that.”
“What is it you involved in?” Desirae asked. “I mean, shit, I just heard you have to kill a nigga. At least you could tell me that much.”
D’Mann squinted at Desirae as he began to explain.
***
For much of the ride back to the library parking lot, Desirae had a bit of a headache. Hearing such a loud boom, in a relatively small space, had proven to be too much for her ears. Even though D’Mann had made arrangements, for lack of a better word, to do something with Makim’s body, Desirae still felt completely shaken up by the entire event. There were moments when the Indiana fall wind would rush into D’Mann’s SUV, causing her to think about whether this was some crazy dream or nightmare. Had she fallen asleep at the library while applying for a job and had a dream?
“You okay over there?” D’Mann asked, glancing over at Desirae. “A nigga notice how you over there not talkin’ too much. What’s on your mind?”
Desirae looked over at D’Mann. While she was still very nervous and shook up at just the thought of being in the same house as a man who’d lost his life, only two floors below her, she couldn’t deny the fact that it was a nice change of pace to have a man actually ask her how she was feeling. And D’Mann sounded as if he was genuinely interested.
“Why you into me?” Desirae asked, not realizing she was coming across as insecure. “I need to know.”
“Why am I into you?” D’Mann responded, repeating the question back. “What you mean?”
“You got money for days, D’Mann,” Desirae said. “You told me about how you was out in these streets, really movin’ shit big time and doin’ it without havin’ to be out in the light and shit. You coulda talked to any chick, but instead you actually hit me back, even after I told you that I got two newborn twins.” Desirae looked down at her twiddling fingers. “Any otha nigga woulda ran the otha way. What is it that you want outta me?”
D’Mann snickered, shaking his head. “Awe God,” he said. “Females. Y’all always think that a nigga gotta want somethin’ out of you for him to be interested. I hope you not over there thinkin’ that I really planned on killin’ that nigga downstairs like that. Cause that would be wrong. I really didn’t.”
“I believe you,” Desirae insisted. “I swear, I really do. I’m just askin’ cause, like I told you, lately I done had a lot of niggas play with my heart and treat me like I’m nothin’.”
“And that shit ain’t right,” D’Mann said. “Like I said when I first startin’ talkin’ to you in the drive-thru, I could tell that you had somethin’ a lotta chicks don’t have on their shoulders—a good head. Plus, I liked how you kept your coo with the shit that just went down back at the house. I thought you was gon’ freak out and take off runnin’.”
“I thought about it,” Desirae said. “But I ain’t know who was the one that got shot. I was so scared when you was comin’ back upstairs cause I ain’t know if it was gon’ be you or him, comin’ up there to kill me or somethin’.”
“Naw,” D’Mann said. “You the first chick I actually brought back to the spot and shit. I don’t care what you say, I wasn’t gon’ let shit happen to you. You was my first priority when he pulled that knife out if you wanna know the truth. And I ain’t perfect either,” he said, referring back to her original question. “I don’t care that you got them two babies and out here try’na do shit on your own. Shit, you lucky I don’t know the nigga who the daddy. Based on some of the stuff you was tellin’ a nigga, I’d ride up on that nigga and beat his ass my damn self.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Desirae said.
“Swear I would,” D’Mann said.
“Naw, don’t be that way,” Desirae said. She began to say that she didn’t want Tron to wind up dead, but she decided against it. Since she and D’Mann’s emotions were still running high, she didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. “I guess I just have a hard time thinkin’ that somebody would want me now. I mean, I got my ass beat and am walkin’ around with a fuckin’ scarlet letter on my face, basically showin’ it. You should see the way people look at me now.” She looked down. “I can tell what they thinkin’. I swear I can.”
“You try’na ride with a nigga?” D’Mann asked, holding the steering wheel and looking over at Desirae.
“What you mean?” Desirae asked. “You not askin’ me to be your chick or nothin’ after only two days of knowin’ each other, is you?”
D’Mann shrugged his shoulder. “You seen, or heard, a nigga kill another nigga in self-defense after only knowin’ me for two days and ain’t run out and go to the police,” he said. “I mean, is you feelin’ a nigga or what? If you need more time or whatever, I understand. I ain’t trippin’. It ain’t like I got no otha chicks or nothin’.”
“I don’t know,” Desirae answered, looking out of her window at the wooded area of the south side of Indianapolis. “I just don’t know if I’m up for try’na get involved right now. I gotta get some money comin’ in. I got two babies and no job and am stayin’ at my mama house. I can’t keep livin’ like this forever. This shit it too rough. It’s already hard enough knowin’ that I gotta take care of two babies. If it wasn’t for my cousin Tiffany right now, I don’t know what I would do. Whoever I do be with next is gon’ have to be able to take me for me and all of me. My sons mean too much to me right now. If you wanna know, that’s the real reason I ain’t go to the police. I ain’t got time to be try’na deal with the system right now and take care of two newborn baby boys. Shit, I don’t even know what Tron would do if them babies had to go into the system. I just don’t.”
“Tron?” D’Mann asked, sounding intrigued. “Tron who?”
Desirae wanted to say damn; she hadn’t meant to say Tron’s name.
Chapter 9
Tron walked through the door of his townhouse around 9 o’clock that night. He’d planned on being home much earlier, but since one of his cousins had driven in from Louisville, he spent a good portion of his day chilling with him. In fact, his cousin had wanted to stay in Indianapolis so that he could go to Tron’s club, especially since his wife wasn’t traveling with him. However, he knew that he’d better go ahead and get back to Louisville before it got too late. The last thing he needed was his wife going off on him because she thought that something could be going on. Tron walked his cousin to his car, hugged him, then headed into the house.
“Nigga, what the fuck you still doin’ here?” Tron asked when he walked into his living room and saw his boy Tyrese pulling his pa
nts up.
“Damn, nigga,” Tyrese said, smiling. “You missed it.”
“Missed what?” Tron asked, shaking his head. “What the fuck did I miss?”
“I just had this bad bitch over here, with a big ole fat ass,” Tyrese explained. “All you had to do was tell this bitch to bend that ass over, and she’d let you get up in them guts like it was nothin’.”
“Nigga, all you do is fuck big booty bitches,” Tron said, snickering. “Nigga, when I text you earlier, you said that you could be up at the club. Do the nigga at the bar up there got a key to get in or what?
“Hell, yeah he got a key,” Tyrese responded. “What the fuck you think this is? I done gave that nigga a key. I see you frustrated and shit, walkin’ through the door talkin’ shit.”
“Frustrated?” Tron said. “About what?”
“Nigga, you know,” Tyrese said. “You had a nigga prayin’ for your safety earlier when you went over to Desirae’s mama’s house to see them twins and shit. I thought she might come after you after what happened on Saturday.”
“Yeah, that shit was pretty bad,” Tron said, shaking his head. “But, naw. I smoothed shit over. Actually, now that I think about it, I wanted to ask you somethin’. You think you be seein’ Desirae’s car ridin’ through the parkin’ lot at night?”
Tyrese shrugged his shoulders and said, “Fuck if I know. I mean, I see that chick’s car and shit, but with all them cars that be out in that parkin’ lot, I don’t know that I’ve seen hers and shit. Why? Why you ask some shit like that?”
“Cause,” Tron said, about to bring up the thing that had been on his mind since he’d left Desirae earlier in the day. “When I went over there today, she was bein’ her usual self and shit, throwing the pussy at a nigga and try’na make me get back with her and shit. And she gon’ bring up some shit about how she know that I’m still fuckin’ around with her old best friend Reese.”
“Uh, oh,” Tyrese said, shaking his head. “Nigga, you gon’ make me have to move up out this place before you have that bitch comin’ over here and shootin’ it up and shit. Man, you need to control your hoes. Now you got one ridin’ around and seein’ who you be havin’ at your place. Nigga, I told you that you was foul for even fuckin’ around with her best friend and shit. It’s only a matter of time before she realize that the two of you is really over, and she start to get in her feelings and shit. You know how bitches be actin’ when they feel like some dude done did them wrong. They don’t be thinkin’ rationally and shit.”
“Nigga, fuck you,” Tron said, smiling. “I’m just sayin’.”
Tyrese got up, grabbed his car keys, and headed toward the front door. “Just sayin’ nothing,” he said. “Nigga, you know that bitch got you scarred. I wouldn’t even have them problems, if you asked me. I fuck’em, don’t get them pregnant, and don’t for one second lead them on to thinkin’ that they gon’ be more than just somethin’ to make my dick feel good.”
“Oh, I know,” Tron said, hearing his front door open and close. “I know.”
Tron got himself something to drink before going upstairs and changing his clothes. Just as he sprayed some cologne onto his neck and wrists, his phone rang. When he looked at the screen, he saw that it was Reese. He was unsure how she would react to Desirae asking if the two of them were still talking to another. Furthermore, Tron wondered how Reese might feel about him lying to Desirae, even after all of these months of him not messing around with her in a sexual way.
“Wassup?” Tron said, answering the call.
“You up at the club yet?” Reese asked. “Ain’t heard from you today and was thinkin’ that maybe I could come up to the club and see you tonight before things get too hectic and shit.”
Tron smiled. He liked that he had a chick who really thought of ways to make his day better. Aside from his ex-girlfriend Shawna, he’d never had a woman who wanted to surprise him wherever he was making money without the real intentions of starting some drama.
“Naw,” Tron answered. “I actually just got home. My cousin Brandon came up from Louisville and shit, had some sort of appointment up here or somethin’. He hit me up earlier when I left Desirae’s place and was askin’ me if I wanted to chill before he headed back. We went and got somethin’ to eat and shit. Chilled and smoked in his car and caught up. Hadn’t seen the nigga in a while, so it was nice to just see what was goin’ on with him and stuff.”
“Awe, okay,” Reese said. “So, how was it?”
“How was what?” Tron asked, confused. After all, he’d just explained what he’d been doing during the day with his cousin.
“You know what I’m talkin’ bout, Tron,” Reese said. “Desirae ain’t go actin’ all crazy and shit on you, did she? I told you how that bitch can be. All she think about is herself and got the nerve to be wonderin’ why these niggas ain’t try’na be with her in no serious kinda way.”
“Naw, everythin’ was coo,” Tron said, lying. The visual image of Desirae’s backside, in those red pajama pants, popped into his mind. Between her nasty attitude and her beat up face, there was nothing he wanted to do more than to bend her over, put her head in a pillow, and dick her down the way he did before she started acting all crazy. “You know, though. I mean, she was throwin’ it at me.”
“See,” Reese said. “Told you. I told you. I told you, I told you, I told you. All that bitch do is fuck, and that’s all she wanna do. She prolly don’t even care about you bein’ a daddy to your sons or nothin’. She gon’ do whatever she can to keep you comin’ around and in her face. She gon’ keep try’na get you back in that bed. Hell, for all you know, she could be try’na trap you again.”
Tron looked up at the ceiling. He knew that his weakness was a chick with a big ass, but there were moments he really hated the thought that he may have been trapped by one – trapped by someone that he should’ve been able to outsmart. “I just ignored her,” Tron said. “And you know that.”
“How her face look?” Reese asked, clearly sounding a little excited. “Was you able to get a picture of it like I asked you?”
“Stop,” Tron said, putting on his fatherly voice. “You ain’t gotta be that way.”
“Naw,” Reese said. “Fuck her. That bitch gon’ pull me out the car in the snow then force me to walk home in the cold and shit. I don’t give a fuck about her feelins. I wanna see how bad she got that ass beat since she always wanna think that she all tough and shit. That’s what she get.”
“Yeah, well her face is still pretty fucked up,” Tron said. “But I wanted to ask you about somethin’ else. Did you know that she been ridin’ through the parkin’ lot and shit?”
“Ridin’ through the parkin’ lot?” Reese asked. “What parkin’ lot?”
“You know,” Tron said, heading downstairs. “The parkin’ lot over here, at the house and shit. She said she know that me and you still been seein’ each other because she saw your car and some old air freshener you got hangin’ in the window.”
“Naw, I mean…I ain’t never seen her out there,” Reese asked. “I just got into the habit of parkin’ way over on the other side and shit. What, is she makin’ threats now?”
“Naw, she ain’t make no threats,” Tron said, grabbing his car keys. “She just started to talk about that shit, you know, when I was rejectin’ that ass. She kept rubbin’ up on me and shit, and goin’ in the same room I was in.”
“I bet she was bendin’ over extra hard too,” Reese said. “She was probably archin’ her back so damn hard she was walkin’ crooked for the rest of the day. I swear, she really think that her ass is the center of the universe and that any and every man she come across just wanna take her clothes off and fuck her from the back.”
Fuck her from the back? Tron thought. He shook his head, thinking, it don’t make no damn sense how much ass she got.
“Yeah,” Tron said. “She prolly was, but I wasn’t payin’ no attention to her.”
“So, why you bring up askin’ me if I know she be
en ridin’ through and shit?” Reese asked. “You really don’t think that she gon’ do nothin’, do you?”
“Shit, I don’t know,” Tron said. “That used to be your best friend. I thought that you might be the one to know.”
“Shit, I don’t put it past her,” Reese commented. “I swear, she just so jealous. She prolly will try to do somethin’ when she find out about me and you and stuff. She ain’t gon’ be able to handle the fact that some man wanted ole plain ass me over here. I already know that’s what’s gon’ be goin’ through her head.”
“Don’t say shit like that, Reese,” Tron said, knowing that he needed to say something to make Reese feel better about herself. “Desirae ain’t nothin’ but body. You, on the other hand, actually got a brain and shit. That’s somethin’ she ain’t got.”
Reese giggled, almost wanting to laugh. She knew that Tron was telling the absolute truth.
“So, what you doin’?” she asked. “You still up at the house?”
“Headed out the door right now, actually,” Tron said. “Tyrese just left and headed up to the club. I’m about to head up there myself. Gotta make this money tonight.”
“Oh, okay,” Reese said. “Well, I’mma be up. So, just text me.”
“I will,” he said. “I might even want you to come over and spend the night when I get outta there later on. You down for somethin’ like that?”
“Yeah,” Reese said. “Just text me and let me know when I need to be over there. If it’s too late and I don’t answer, then just know that I feel asleep.”
***
When D’Mann dropped Desirae off in the library parking lot, they had roughly ten minutes to kill before Desirae needed to get into her car and head up to Tiffany’s apartment. D’Mann pulled into the parking spot next to Desirae’s car – the only car in the parking lot. He looked around, feeling somewhat on edge that he was riding around while Makim was lying dead on his basement floor.
The Diary of a Side Chick 6 (SCD) Page 14