by Shan
"Yea, well I used to believe that one woman was enough for him, but now I don’t believe that shit. I’m not crazy, Z. Shit just ain’t right. I mean; I know he is working ‘cause he’s bringing home the money, but I don’t think he’s working all those hours that he claims.
He comes in at four or five o’clock in the morning, always smelling like straight weed and liquor. Where the fuck he smoking and drinking at? I know not at work. He’s chilling with some bitch before he comes home. I know it."
"But didn’t you say that y’all was having sex like every day? How he gonna have time for another bitch? Girl you are really tripping."
"No, I’m not, Z. Look don’t try to tell me that I’m tripping. I know what I’ve been seeing lately. I hope that I am not right, but I really know in my heart that he is cheating on me."
"Damn, okay. I’m just trying to tell you what I feel. I honestly don’t think that he is, but if that’s what you want to believe then who am I to tell you different."
Zaria knew too well how it felt to be insecure, always wondering if your man is cheating and she didn’t want Yessenia going through that for nothing. She shook her head wishing she could tell Yessenia the truth about Devon. It killed her knowing that Yessenia was feeling like this when in reality Devon was just in the streets getting money. Devon would never cheat on Yessenia. He just wasn’t the type.
"Quita! Quita, come back here!"
Zaria looked down when a little girl ran into her almost knocking her over. She smiled at her and then that smile instantly faded as she stared into the little girl’s face. She shook her head and blinked back the tears that were threatening to escape the corners of her eyes. She had never seen that little girl a day in her life, but familiarity stumped her. That little girl was a splitting image of the face that she woke up to every morning.
"Hey, cutie. You done got away from your mama," Yessenia said as she knelt down so that she would be level with the little girl.
"Oh, my God! I am so sorry, Qui-" Tianna fussed, but stop when she recognized Zaria’s face. "Oh shit, what up wifey?"
"Girl, don’t what up wifey me. Better be glad you got your little girl with you; otherwise I’ll fu-I’ll pop you for that mess you pulled at my wedding. I know my mama paid you to do that shit, you trifling trick."
Yessenia quickly stood to her feet. She felt the situation turning up quickly and wanted to be on her toes if something popped off. As she stared at Tianna dressed in a pink wife beater and a pair of blue jean shorts, she frowned.
She remembered this bitch from Zaria’s wedding and wanted to slap her ass. That stunt she pulled was straight up disrespectful and with the way she was feeling; she would gladly fuck Tianna up. Zaria didn’t even have to get her hands dirty if she didn’t want to.
"Girl, you ain’t gonna pop no damn body. Bitch like me would’ve fucked you up had you did me like that, so we obviously know you ain’t about that life," Tianna laughed.
"Bitch-" Yessenia jumped at Tianna knocking her down to the ground. She slapped Tianna so hard that her high yellow skin instantly turned red.
Zaria eyes popped open in shock, and she quickly grabbed Quita and pulled her out of the way before she was hurt. She watched as Yessenia pounded her fist into Tianna’s face and didn’t know whether to break it up or not. She appreciated her girl for stepping in for her, but she could’ve easily handled Tianna with no problems. This wasn’t even Yessenia’s fight and now just wasn’t the time to be fighting. They were in the middle of the damn mall, and too many people were around.
"Yessenia!" Zaria yelled. "Yessenia, stop it!"
Yessenia was a mad woman on a mission as she continued to hit Tianna over and over again. What started as her standing up for her friend quickly turned into her beating Tianna for her own reasons. In her head, Tianna was now the bitch that Devon was sleeping with. It didn't matter if it was true or not, Tianna had chosen the wrong damn day to step to them.
"Yessenia!" Zaria grabbed Yessenia and pulled her back. A crowd of people had quickly gathered around them. A few had taken out their cell phones to film the incident, while others stared on shamelessly.
"Talk that shit now bitch!" Yessenia huffed. She slowly climbed to her feet, placing her hands on her hip while aiming to catch her breath. The number she did on Tianna's face was sure to leave her scarred for life.
"Mommy!" Quita cried. She wrapped her arms around Zaria's leg as little bubble like tears fell down her face.
Instantly, Yessenia felt bad for what she had just done. She didn’t even think twice about the little girl before she started pounding on her mama. She was sick to her stomach thinking about what she might have looked like at that moment. True the disrespect that Tianna ran up on them with was enough to warrant her an ass whooping, but Yessenia now regretted what she had done.
"Bitch, I’m gonna fuck you up!" Tianna screamed. A patron from the mall helped her to her feet while another grabbed Tianna’s belongings from the floor.
"Come on Yessenia, let’s go before the police come," Zaria said prying little Quita’s arms off of her.
"Get away from my baby!" Tianna grabbed Quita up in her arms and began to walk away. "This shit ain’t over with. Please believe that. Bitch you wanna sneak me when I’m not looking. Trust, you got yours coming. And for you," she said her face filled blood and excessively swollen. "I knew you were a weak bitch. You find out your man been hiding a baby behind your back, and you still marry him. You think that the nigga still ain’t hitting this. Bitch, the baby mama always come first. Be sure to ask that nigga how my head game is. Your stupid ass had to call the other day and fuck my shit up."
"Bitch, the only reason I ain’t in your shit right now is ‘cause you got my husband’s seed with you. When I see you again though, I’m coming for that head ma’. And I will fuck you up worse than my girl did. Come on Yessenia!" Zaria yelled as she turned and walked away.
Her breathing was heavy as her feet pounded into the pavement. She was angry, and she was hurt. She knew that something had gone down the day that she called Quasym and found out he was at Tianna’s. He had sounded funny to her, and she felt in her heart that something was up. Sadly, Quasym had lied to her again, and now she knew that she would never be able to trust him.
"I am so sorry, Z. I cannot believe I did that shit, but that bitch was too disrespectful. Please forgive me," Yessenia said as they made it to Zaria’s car.
Zaria didn’t say anything. She popped the trunk and placed her bags inside before getting inside of the vehicle. Moments earlier, she was trying to convince Yessenia that Devon wasn’t cheating and now here she was fighting with her damn insecurities again.
Chapter 13: A Hard Head Makes A Soft Behind
Bam!
Yessenia jumped as the pictures that were nailed to the wall suddenly fell to the floor. She stood up from the sofa and watched as Devon marched towards her with a look of anger riddled on his face. She crossed her arms over her chest wondering what the hell was going on with him.
"What the fuck Yessenia? I tell you to go have a girl’s day out, and you start parading around the damn mall like a fuckin’ teenager and shit!" Devon yelled. He was pissed. He and Quasym were in the streets recruiting when a couple of young niggas was posted up laughing about a video that had been shared all over Facebook.
One of the youngn’s informed Quasym that his baby mama was in the video getting her ass beat and coincidentally the chick giving her the beat down was Yessenia. Devon and Quasym couldn’t believe their eyes when they’d seen it.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Yessenia asked knowing exactly what he was speaking of. She just didn’t know how he had known so quickly.
"I’m talking about you fucking beating up Tianna, in front of Sym’s little girl at that!"
"Oh, fuck that disrespectful ass bitch! She needed her ass whooped. She didn’t care about their little girl being there when she walked up on us talking that shit! I can’t believe you come up in here yelling at
me like that over that bitch!"
"What you mean you can’t believe it? I’m out here trying to work, and you fighting like you trying to make World Star!"
"What? Did that same bitch you were texting this morning call you and tell you that I was out fighting? Is that how you heard about this shit all the way at work? I mean cause let you tell it, you can barely have your phone on you, but all of a sudden you’re notified about my so-called bad behavior."
"What bitch Yessenia? I wasn’t fucking texting no bitch this morning. That’s why I didn’t say shit in response to you earlier because of how ridiculous that shit is! You sounded crazy then, and you sound even crazier now!" Devon heaved out. He placed his big hands on top of his head and frowned at his wife.
"Whatever Devon. I’ve been noticing everything that’s been going on, and I know that you’re cheating on me. I’m not stupid."
Devon let out a huge sigh, "All I’ve been doing is working. Tryna make a better life for us. I don’t have time to cheat on you Yessenia, and you should know me better than that. After what you did for me, you think I would cheat on you with another bitch?"
"Don’t try to run that line on me. Niggas fuck around on their ride or dies every damn day. It’s-"
Honk! Honk!
"We’ll talk about this later. Where is Zaria?" Devon cut Yessenia off upon hearing Quasym blowing the horn.
"She left and said she was going home."
"I thought she told Quasym that she was staying over here for a few days."
"Yea well you ain’t the only one pissed about what happened at the mall. She went home."
Devon shook his head and turned to walk out of the house. He walked down the two steps in front of his home and jogged to Quasym’s car. Quasym rolled his window down, and Devon leaned over inside of the car.
"She said Zaria got mad and went home."
"Damn, I told her not to go home," Quasym shook his head. "Then she wanna act stupid and not answer the damn phone."
"Gone and check on your ol’ lady man. I’ll shoot back out to the trap and check and make sure these niggas acting right," Devon told him. "Gotta keep a close eye on these new cats for a while."
They slapped hands, and Devon stepped away from the car while Quasym pulled away from the curb. Devon turned to go back into the house, but thought better of it. He didn’t feel like fighting with Yessenia after some imaginary bitch that she’d made up in her head. He patted his pockets for his keys and quickly walked over to his truck to leave.
***
It’s amazing I’m in this maze with you. I just can’t crack your code. One day you’re screaming you love me loud, the next day you’re so cold. One day you’re here, one day you’re there, one day you care. Zaria increased the volume on the radio, nodding her head to Jay-Z’s song featuring Justin Timberlake Holy Grail.
She pushed the end button on her phone for what seemed like the twentieth time in the past hour. She didn’t want to speak to Quasym and only wanted to climb in her bed with a glass of Moscato.
Zaria had given her everything to Quasym and wish that they could go back to the days before their wedding. Things were good then. It was before she knew that the man she loved with everything in her was a liar. Back then, she would have never expected the kind of betrayal that she had been experiencing lately.
Just last night after their lovemaking session, she was reminded of why her will and love was so strong for Quasym, but now she was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake by marrying him. Zaria wished that she would have at least pushed the wedding back to give herself more time to think.
All of this had her so confused and feeling like she didn’t know this man that she had shared the past seven years of her life with. He seemed to have changed on her without any type of warning.
As she pulled into the driveway of her home, she killed the engine and then the lights. Her phone began to ring again, and she quickly ended the call, tossed the phone in her purse, and got out of the car. She fumbled around with her keys until she found the one that would open her front door.
"Aye, lil’ mama!"
Zaria quickly whipped her body around to see who was calling her when she was met with a punch to her face. She was knocked off of her feet and into the concrete paved driveway. She brought her hands up to cover her face when the dude standing over her punched her again. He didn’t take any mercy when he took his foot and rammed it into the side of her face causing her to bounce across the pavement a few feet.
"Plee-asse stop!" Zaria moaned.
Her body tensed up as pain shot through damn near every part of her body. She wanted it to stop. Zaria didn’t know what she had done to anyone to deserve this, and immediately her mind had gone to Tianna. This had to be in retaliation for what Yessenia had done to her. This was the only thing plausible and seemed to make sense to Zaria.
When the blows stop coming at her, she got up the nerve to remove her hands from her face with hopes of being able to see the assailant’s face. When she looked up, her heart practically stopped beating as she stared down the barrel of a .40 caliber handgun. She went to let out a scream when she was silenced before she could even get it out.
POW!
The gunman reached down beside Zaria and grabbed the keys that had fallen out of her hand. He tossed them to his partner, and the two of them quickly headed toward the house.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" the gunman yelled to his partner.
"A’ight, trying to find the right key," he said as he ran through the keys trying to find the right one.
"Ahh, fuck. I think that’s her dude! Let’s go! Let's go!" the gunman yelled as he noticed a car whip into the driveway. He jumped down off the porch and fired two rounds at the car while making his way to his vehicle. "Come on! Come on!"
The gunman’s partner tripped over a dip in the grass and went crashing to the ground. He debated with himself on whether or not he wanted to help his partner up or worry about his self.
He stopped in his tracks knowing he couldn't leave him behind, it wasn't just his partner in crime; it was also his little brother. He ran back over to him, and that decision had caused him his life.
POW! POW!
Quasym pumped two bullets into the gunman’s chest and ran over to him as he hit the ground. He turned around to where the other guy had gotten stuck and immediately pounced on him. He grabbed him by his throat and slammed the butt of the gun into his face.
"What the fuck are you doing tryna go into my house? Who the fuck sent you?" he yelled. He took the gun and pointed it at the guy’s head, shoving it into his temple.
"I’m not the one that shot that bitch man!"
"What?" Quasym asked with confusion riddled in his face.
"That nigga shot your bitch man! I was only paid to be the lookout. I’m only seventeen years old bro! Let me go!" he cried gladly snitching on his brother. This wasn’t for him. His brother asked him to come along to be a look out while he robbed a bitch for her car, and he ended being an accessory to murder. He wasn’t ‘bout that life in any sense of the word.
Quasym quickly jumped off of him. Keeping his gun pointed, he took a quick look around, and that’s when he spotted her. He had only seen the two guys trying to go into his house when he first pulled up and figured he’d gotten there just in time. But now as he watched his wife lay on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, he suddenly felt ill. He turned back around towards the young boy just as he was able to pull his foot out of the hole in the ground. Rage filled him. He felt his whole body heat with fury and suddenly he-pulled the trigger, letting one loose into the young boy’s chest. Quasym watched as the youngn’s body jerked backwards and slowly fell back into the grass.
Quasym tucked his pistol in the front of his jeans and ran over to Zaria. He didn’t know what to think as he looked for any movement. He hoped to see signs that she was breathing like her chest rising and falling, just anything that told him that she was still alive, but he saw nothing.
&n
bsp; A whelm of emotions swept through his body. He quickly scooped Zaria up from the ground and carried her over to his car. He didn’t want to give up on her if there was a possibility that she could be saved.
Placing her in the backseat of his car, he hurriedly shut the door and hopped in the driver’s seat. As he pulled out of the driveway, he glanced at the two dead bodies in his yard knowing that it wasn’t some mere coincidence that they were there.
He was certain that they didn’t just randomly pick his wife to shoot in their yard and rob them. They didn’t even look familiar to him so knew they weren’t from around his way. The fact that he ignored Hova’s request to be paid for his loss, Quasym knew that it had to be him. Hova had hit him hard and didn’t waste any time doing so.
"What shooters nigga? Yuh ain’t got no muthafuckin’ shooters! Get me my muthafuckin’ bands and do dat shit immediately. I want my shit by tomorrow morning or yuh gonna feel me and my muthafuckin’ shooters young blood! Ya feel me?" Those words that Hova had threatened him with previously were suddenly loud and clear. Too bad that he hadn't listened to him and that Zaria was the one to pay.
Chapter 14 : Brick Money Boys
Quasym sat on the edge of his chair struggling with the guilt he felt for not being able to protect his wife. He was for certain Hova was behind this shit. He’d struck him twice in a short amount of time and the stress of it all was getting to him.
He felt inadequate and like maybe he just wasn’t cut out for this life. The only thing that had been on his mind when he took the proposition that was given to him was the money. He hadn’t thought about the consequences that would come along with it or at least he didn’t think niggas would be so cowardly like this. This was not supposed to be a part of the game, but he knew nothing about the game was fair.
As much as he wanted to throw the cards in and say fuck it all, he just couldn’t. Today he recruited a few block boys and a squad of niggas that he’d heard about through word of mouth, and they were all hungry.