A Thug's Wife (Full Length Novel)

by Shan

  "Kareem, we always have good conversations. Look, can I please come in? Why do you have me standing in the fuckin’ hall like I’m a damn stranger?"

  Kareem shook his head and pushed Cherie’s bags further on the outside of the door. He went to close the door when Cherie pushed on it and tried to keep it open.

  "Kareem no! I promise I’m going to try to be better! Don’t do me like this!" Cherie cried.

  She was truly hurt by this. Not only did she see her cash cow disappearing right before her very eyes, but she also was losing someone that she cared for. It wasn’t just about the money for her. She really did like him. She wouldn’t have gotten rid of her whole lineup if she hadn’t. This was mind boggling and for the most part fucked up. What the fuck am I gonna do now?

  "Cherie get back! Move!" Kareem had to force the door shut, and he could tell that he had struck Cherie by the sound that left out of her mouth. He shook his head and quickly locked the door before she tried to come back in. He was shocked because he didn’t think she would put up that kind of fight. Was it because she cared or was she mad about losing all the money I be giving her ass? Kareem wondered with a shrug of his shoulders. As he walked away from the door, he was somewhat startled when he heard a loud bang.

  Boom!

  "Kareem open the muthafuckin’ door nigga! How the fuck you gonna put me out? I’m the best thing you ever had, you little dick bastard!" Cherie yelled on the other side of the door. She pounded her foot into the door, before scooping her bags up and shamefully walking down the hall. She halfway wanted to call up one of the niggas she gotten rid of to come over and fuck Kareem up. How dare he call her a gold digger and break up with her? She felt slighted and wanted Kareem to pay, but she knew it wasn’t worth the trouble it would cause.

  ***

  "What you coming up in here looking all broken down for? Hand me my cigarettes," Tammy said to Cherie as she flipped through the channels on the television. She had her feet propped in her recliner and was enjoying this beautiful day that she had off of work. She loved to sit around watching episodes of "Law & Order" and Lifetime movies whenever she had a chance to.

  "Kareem broke up with me," Cherie said as she dropped her bags near the door. She grabbed her mother’s cigarettes from the coffee table and handed them to her. Taking a seat on the sofa, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for her mother to say something.

  "Well damn, I thought you said you had that in the bag. What you do, Cherie?"

  "Well I thought I did too and pissed the hell off because I done dissed and ignored just about everybody that I had to fall back on. Can’t believe that nigga did me like that. He wasn’t even worthy of my time."

  "What the hell you talking about? First off why would you get rid of your back up and secondly, why the hell was he not worthy of your time? I done told your ass about thinking you too damn good! You were supposed to trap his ass the first chance you got. Had you been having his baby, then he wouldn’t have even had the chance to break things off with you! You hard headed girl!"

  "I don’t wanna have a baby right now."

  "Why the hell not? Kareem makes damn near two hundred thousand dollars a year, and you telling me you didn’t wanna have a baby just to keep him at bay. Just imagine what them child support payments would have looked like if he decided to still dump you and not marry you. At least that could’ve been income coming in for your dumb ass! Now, what the hell you gonna do? You ain’t gotta job, and you know you can’t sit around my house for free!"

  "I’ll just work on getting him back and in the meantime I’ll call up Tory or Donnie and make things up with them," Cherie shrugged.

  She was upset that she had disappointed her mama. Cherie had worked hard at the things that her mama taught her and was willing to do anything she had to in order to snag a baller, except having a baby. Being a mother was one thing she feared the most.

  "Oh, you for damn sure gonna get him back! As a matter of fact, you need to be on the phone calling him to see what you need to do. That was your damn meal ticket! How stupid can you be to mess that up?"

  Tammy grabbed one of her cigarettes from the pack and lit it up. She had worked men all of her life in order to care for her daughters when they were younger. Their father had been her main course of funds until he was murdered leaving her with nothing to show for all of the work she put in. She was glad that he hadn’t been the only one she went to though.

  She only wanted her daughters to have the best in life which is why she taught them the things that she did. She wanted them to be the same way she was, but only better than her. She didn’t have the sense back then to snatch up a rich man and marry him like she had taught them to do.

  She was too greedy back then and had her hands in several bank accounts. If she had done things right when she had a chance, she wouldn’t be working as an LVN cleaning up old people’s shit. It was a must that Cherie and Zaria got things right. She didn’t like being so hard on them, but this wasn’t the life for nobody. Her time had passed, but they still had a chance to get it right.

  "Why the hell you still sitting there? Call that nigga up and tell him whatever you gotta tell him, and I swear you better suck his dick better than you ever had before," Tammy said taking a puff off her cancer stick.

  Cherie rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone. She went to her text message conversation between her and Kareem and prayed that she said the right things to him. She needed to get him back in her life and was prepared to do whatever it took.

  Chapter 8: A Beautiful Day

  Since the wedding, things were starting to look up for everyone. Although Zaria’s marriage started off rocky, she was enjoying every minute of it and was growing fonder of Quasym every day. She didn’t even think it was possible to love that man more than she already did, but it seemed that each day she loved him more than she did the previous day.

  The night Quasym came running in the house with a gunshot wound had been the last time the two had ever spoken about it. It was as if it had never happened. Quasym had been picked up by some men of Italian descent and came back two days later looking as healthy as ever.

  Ever since then, Quasym had been gone most of the time and really only spent a good two to three hours with Zaria, but he made sure to make the best of the time they had together. Zaria didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but she knew that it involved drugs. Hustlin’ was all Quasym had ever done since the two met in high school.

  She didn’t like it, but she wouldn’t knock it either. He’d been paying all of the bills for the last two months only leaving her to pay her monthly car note. He told her in a few months that she would be able to quit her jobs, but she didn’t want to; at least not both of them. She worked hard to become a certified dental assistant and loved what she did and couldn’t see herself quitting anytime soon. On the other hand, her night job as a cashier for Wal-Mart, she would gladly let go as soon as Quasym said she could.

  "Did you hear me Zaria? Damn girl what are you thinking about?" Yessenia asked as she sewed another track into Zaria’s head.

  Zaria laughed, "I’m sorry girl, I was just sitting here thinking about how proud I was of Sym. He’s really doing good for himself-and for me."

  "I see. Your ass came in here with this good weave this time. This Brazilian ain’t cheap. So I know that the nigga must be doing good. What is he doing, by the way? He still hustlin’?"

  "He won’t say, but I believe so. You know his ass love the streets."

  "Yea I know. It’s all good though. He will get out as soon as he is ready. I know if Devon can do it, then so can he. My baby is a supervisor for UPS girl, can you believe it? Just when he wanted to give up, God came through and blessed him with that good paying job."

  "I know your ass is happy, and I know he is even happier. I know how much he hated working at McDonalds and shit."

  "Girl yes. He has been in a good mood too, been breaking your girl off with the dick damn near every morning he get
s off work, so you know my ass be coming up in here singing and shit," Yessenia laughed and so did Zaria.

  Yessenia was so proud of Devon. The weeks after being fired from his last job at McDonalds had been hell. They stayed into it because Devon was always grumpy and aggravated that he was once again jobless. He had gotten so depressed, and she feared that he would do something stupid if nothing came through for him soon. But just as it seemed like things would only get worse, Devon had gotten a job as a supervisor at UPS and was making twenty-one dollars an hour.

  He worked twelve hours every day on the night shift, and came home a few hours before Yessenia had to be at the shop. They had so much sex that Yessenia just knew that she would be pregnant soon. Not only that, Yessenia passed her test and was now a certified cosmetologist. Things were really going good for them.

  "I just bet you do heifer. Girl you are crazy. So, what’s up on the baby making situation?" Zaria asked as she examined her fingernails.

  "Well, I’ve seen the fertility specialist twice and he told me the same thing that Dr. Attaway told me. Said ain’t nothing wrong with me and to keep doing what I’ve been doing, and it will happen."

  "Yea it will. Don’t give up yet ‘cause I’m ready to be an auntie."

  "Well, well, well. Look who decided to come pay us a visit? What’s up trick? Ain’t seen you since the damn wedding, it seems," Yessenia said to Cherie as she strolled into the shop.

  Cherie rolled her eyes and took a seat in the waiting area. She crossed her arms over her chest and crossed her legs, as well. The look on her face said that she was pissed.

  "What’s wrong Cherie?" Zaria asked noticing her sister’s off demeanor.

  "Yea, what is wrong with you? It’s not like you to be so down. Your little ass stay turnt up."

  "Kareem broke up with me. Nigga had the nerve to say that I was a gold digger and that I ain’t got any get up and go about myself. Whatever the fuck that means."

  "Well your ass is a gold digger and you don’t Cherie. He ain’t lying," Zaria said having no sympathy for her sister. She’d tried too many times to tell Cherie that listening to their mama was only gonna get her so far and that she needed to really think about what she wanted to do with her life.

  Cherie refused any advice that came from Zaria though. She felt if Zaria knew better that she would definitely do better. Besides, she didn’t feel as if she was a gold digger; she just didn’t like dating men that didn’t have money. What was so wrong with that?

  Tears began to stream down Cherie’s eyes, and it stunned Yessenia and Zaria to see it. They had never seen her cry over any man; in fact she always prided herself in keeping a long list of men in case another one got away.

  Zaria jumped up from the chair she was sitting in and raced over to Cherie. She knelt down in front of her and stared up into Cherie’s face. She was concerned. She hadn’t seen Cherie cry since they were kids, and this frightened her.

  "Cherie, girl what is wrong?" Zaria asked.

  "Kareem dumped me, Z. I really did like that nigga. How could he do me like this? I got rid of everybody for him. Yes, I got with him in the beginning because his money was long, but I fell for him and now he no longer wants me," Cherie broke down.

  You could hear the pain as her emotions spilled from her mouth. When Kareem had broken up with her earlier that day, she thought about how they’d been dating for about a year and a half and over the past six months things had beautifully progressed.

  For the life of her, she couldn’t understand how he could just call it off. When he called her to come by, she was expecting to see him down at her feet with an engagement ring but instead he had all of her bags at her feet.

  "It’s gonna be okay Cherie. I mean if you really care about him, then you should tell him that. Tell him how you feel and maybe y'all can work it out."

  "Yea, Cherie just try talking to him," Yessenia agreed.

  "I did try talking to him. I’ve been calling and texting him all day long, up until he changed his number on me. I just can’t deal." Cherie didn’t even tell them about the conversation she had with her mother before coming here. She knew then they would toss away her feelings and think that she was only trying to please her mama, when, in fact, she really was upset about this break up.

  Zaria and Yessenia didn’t know what to say to Cherie. Zaria had only been with one man in her life which was Quasym and the only heartbreak he ever delivered to her was when she’d found out he’d had another child. She hadn’t quite come to terms with it being they had yet to discuss the whole cover up since Quasym had been so busy.

  Either way, her heart still ached over it every day. The kind of heartbreak Cherie was experiencing; she had never dealt with before. Yessenia, on the other hand, had never been dumped except maybe in high school and to her that wasn’t enough to give Cherie any valid advice.

  "Cherie-"

  "Zariana Ross?"

  Zaria looked up from her sister upon hearing a man call her name. She noticed that it was a guy dressed in a black suit and she immediately stood to her feet.

  "Yes, that’s me," Zaria said crossing her arms over her chest. She looked him up and down and wondered what he wanted with her. She watched as he reached into his suit jacket and came back with a set of keys. She was confused as he held the keys out for her to take. "What is this?"

  "I was just asked to deliver this to you."

  Zaria took them from him and looked down at the keys in the palm of her hand. They were keys to a BMW, and she could tell that it was brand new. Not understanding why someone would have keys delivered to her, she headed towards the door of the salon, and that’s when she noticed it. It was a cocaine white BMW sitting right out front with a red ribbon on top of the hood.

  "Oh, my God!" Zaria screamed as she rushed outside toward the car.

  "Girl, is that yours?" Yessenia asked following behind Zaria.

  Zaria pressed the unlock button on the key chain and watched as the lights blinked. She pulled the door open and screamed at the top of her lungs. There was a vase of red roses sitting in the front seat along with a letter taped to the steering wheel.

  Yessenia and Cherie came closer to get a better look. They watched as Zaria pulled the card away from the steering wheel and tore the envelope open. Silently, Zaria read to herself and tears instantly slid down her face onto the letter she was reading.

  "What does it say? Who is it from?" Cherie asked as she examined the BMW. She walked over to the passenger side’s seat and pulled the door open. The new car smell hit her dead in the nose as an unexpected feeling of jealously crossed over her.

  How the hell did Zaria get a brand new ass BMW? Cherie thought as she slammed the door shut.

  "Girl be careful! Damn!" Zaria yelled at her.

  "Well give us the info. Where the hell did this car come from? Who bought it?"

  "Yea ‘cause we all know Sym broke ass didn’t. Girl you’ve been playing around on Sym?" Cherie said nastily.

  Zaria rolled her eyes at Cherie no longer giving a fuck that the nigga Kareem had broken her heart. She was back to herself again acting just like their mama when only minutes ago she was crying her eyes out. She should’ve known that it wouldn’t have lasted long.

  "Well, Quasym did buy this thank you very much. And not only did he buy me a brand new car-" Zaria removed two plane tickets from the envelope that the letter was in. "he also got two tickets to fucking Jamaica! Oh, my God, we’re going on a damn honeymoon this weekend!"

  "How the hell did that nigga do that? Who did he rob?"

  Both Yessenia and Zaria looked at Cherie, but neither of them was shocked. Yessenia wondered how Quasym was able to afford a brand new BMW and tickets to Jamaica as well, but she wouldn’t dare say it. She knew that Zaria said that he’d been working a lot lately and had been doing better with paying the bills, but she was not expecting this. Even then, she was still happy for Zaria, unlike Cherie.

  "I’m so happy for you, Zaria. You deserve this and so mu
ch more. I must say that I am shocked but damn girl, congrats!" Yessenia placed her hands out and both Zaria and her hugged. "Now, come on and let me finish your hair so I won’t be running behind when my next client comes."

  "Okay, hold up. I gotta call and thank my boo. Yesssssss!" Zaria cheered.

  Zaria waited until Cherie and Yessenia left before she pulled out her cell phone to call Quasym. She couldn’t wait until Yessenia was done with her hair so she could put her ride on the streets. Damn, I can’t believe this shit. Quasym must be really getting money. That’s right! My boo getting that paper!

  Zaria turned around to walk over to her brand new ride when she noticed a man standing right next to it, checking it out. He was dark skinned, tall, with long neatly tamed dread locks. She had never seen him before and didn’t know why he felt so comfortable to be all up on her shit. She slid her phone back into her pocket and walked over to him.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Dis is beautiful," the man said as he rubbed his hands together. He had a thick accent and Zaria could tell that he was from the Islands. He stood back and surveyed the car while nodding his head in approval. "Had to run yuh about fifty racks, huh? Nice."

  "Thank you, but can you step back please?" Zaria slid in front of him and shut the driver side door. She didn’t want anyone to steal her ride before she even had a chance to drive it.

  "Sym, bought this for yuh? Sym, is ya’ dude right?"

  Zaria looked at him even more suspiciously than she had been before. She stared into his face trying to see if she could recognize who he was, but she couldn’t. He just didn’t look familiar.

  "Do I know you?"

  "Where can I find Sym? I really need to talk to him," the guy said ignoring Zaria’s question.

  "Look, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you really need to get the fuck away from me asking me about my man," Zaria snapped, feeling disrespected.