by Miss KP
I just ignored them and kept it moving. I had no time for ignorant-ass niggas. I was ready to work on my Plan B to get Rich’s money and pay him back for all the hurt he’d caused me.
As soon as I made it out of the court building, I bumped into that bitch Trixie who Rich cheated on me with. She even had her daughter with her. I was ready for her ass to jump out there and say something slick to me, and with the day I was having so far, she was liable to get her ass whooped in front of her daughter. I didn’t care if she was Rich’s child or not.
“Hello, Lisa.”
That tramp had the audacity to try and speak to me, but I rolled my eyes and kept it moving.
“Wow Lisa, you still not speaking. Damn you still mad that I fucked your man,” she added.
I stopped and turned around. “Bitch, fuck you!”
“You’re not my type, and if I did fuck you, you would’ve been over Rich years ago,” she shot back.
“If I did roll like that, I wouldn’t fuck a whore like you. Oh, and by the way you’re wearing that scar well!” I said sarcastically with a smile.
I needed to remind that bitch of the beating I’d put on her at her salon. That for sure hit a nerve because she started fussing and cursing like the hood rat she was. Just when I started to walk off again, Rich came out the court room.
Instantly, her daughter Juanita ran up to Rich. “Daddy, daddy!”
“Hey, baby girl,” he said, picking her up and twirling her around. “Trixie, why do you have her down here?”
“Why? Are you concerned that I’m gonna take your ass to court?” she asked.
“I could care less if you did or not,” Rich countered.
“Well, if you must know, a friend of mine goes to trial today, so I came down here to make sure he was good.”
I already knew that was going to set Rich off.
“You triflin’ bitch, you better get my daughter away from”
“Triflin’, are you serious? You just started being a father to your daughter in a matter of what…a week, and now you want to judge my parenting?” Trixie asked.
“Keep talking shit. You gonna get fucked up, Trixie!”
Damn I wish Judge Bower could come outside and watch this. Then she can see how much of a fucked up person Rich really is, I thought.
“Is that how you act in front of your three year old daughter? I don’t know how you and Lisa get down in your household, and no matter how triflin’ you might think I am, my daughter ain’t use to this ignorant shit you trying to pull.”
“Like I said, get my daughter from down here. She needs to be at home looking at cartoons or some shit, not at a courthouse with some dude you probably fucking,” Rich replied.
“You better be lucky I ain’t down here taking your ass to court! Come on Nita,” Trixie said as she walked off switching from side to side. She probably thought Rich was looking at her ass, but he’d already walked off and wasn’t paying her any attention.
Letting out a loud laugh, I walked off and made my way to the garage. As soon as I got to the parking attendant, I was furious because I’d given him an extra $20.00 to park my car on the main level so I didn’t have to walk that far. Looking around, I knew he’d gotten over on me.
“Where’s my shit?” I asked.
“On level three,” he said, pointing up.
“You should give me my damn money back,” I said, snatching my keys out of his hand. “Are you even allowed to work in this country?” I asked the Ethiopian attendant before storming off.
I didn’t think my day could get any worse. Before I made it to the stairwell, I could hear Rich’s voice yelling at the parking attendant as well. He’d obviously been bamboozled, too. Putting some pep in my step to avoid any contact with Rich, I could hear his footsteps getting closer. As my luck would have it, he ended up catching me as I hit the car alarm on Juan’s new Benz. What was the likelihood of the dumb-ass attendant parking our cars side by side?
Out of all these damn parking spaces he couldn’t have found a different one, I thought to myself. I knew the drama was on the way.
“How’d you like court, you coke sniffin’, whore? Oh…wait you do heroin, right? You thought you was gonna get my bread without a fight. You got me fucked up!”
“Rich, fuck you! You’re over there taking care of Marisol and her kids, and now I see you even taking care of Trixie’s so you’re gonna take care of mine, one way or the other. Trust me.”
< size="3">“Marisol is a strong woman who handles her business and takes care of her kids. You on the other hand are always sittin’ around waitin’ for me to take care of your dumb-ass. Those days are over!” he yelled as he got in his truck and rolled his window down letting out a huge glob of spit that landed right on my arm. “And tell your son, he’s never gonna learn. He’s drawin’ way too much heat wit’ that hot-ass car. Look at those rims and shit!”
“You think you got one up over me! We’ll see how big your balls are when I tell Uncle Renzo what you did!”
I was so pissed when he pulled off that I quickly took off one of my Louboutins and hurled it at his back window as hard as I could. Seconds later, his truck stopped. Rich jumped out and looked at his back window. There was a small crack right in the middle.
“Bitch, you cracked my fuckin’ window, now I’ma crack your head open!”
Without a seconds notice, Rich lunged at me, catching me by my hair. I knew that someone might hear me, so instantly I screamed to the top of my lungs. The first smack to my face stung like hell. At that point, I knew I had an instant black eye when my nose hit the hood of Juan’s car.
“Stop, Rich!”
“Hell no! You’ve dodged a couple of ass whoopins and a death sentence. For what you did to my daughter, I should’ve been killed your ass!” he yelled as he gave me another blow that knocked me this time to the ground.
My Gucci bag fell right along with me and all my belongings, including my cell phone to the ground. I had a choice to cover my face or fight back and run the risk of him doing more damage. Balling up in a fetal position, I took my beating like a man as he kicked me in my ribs.
I screamed again, but the last blow knocked all of the wind out of me. Moments later, I could hear a group of people coming down the stairwell and that’s what saved me. Rich caught wind that someone was coming and jumped in his truck.
“This shit ain’t over!” he said, pulling off unnoticed.
Chapter Eight
JUAN
There was always some shit when it came to my mother. With the constant drama between her and my father, or her drug habits, all of her issues were wearing me thin. She asked me the night before to go to divorce court with her, but I knew how she rolled. I would’ve definitely been up on the stand testifying and I didn’t have the time or energy for all that shit. My plans when she came home, were to show her all the Ralph Lauren and Juicy Couture clothes that I’d bought my baby sister from the mall. I thought that would make up for me not being there for her at court. However, all that family shit went out the window when she called and told me to come get her from some parking garage near the court building. Her voice was very faint and she sounded as if she’d been crying, so I knew it had to be serious.
Luckily, I was on my way from Pentagon City, so I was able to make it downtown in no time. She told me she was on the P3 level which was at the top of the garage, so I parked my truck on the street and walked so I could drive my Benz back to the house.
When I got to my mother, I couldn’t believe the state she was in. There were a couple of young dudes who’d stayed with her until I got there, so I gave them a few dollars for looking out and not calling the police. Her face was bruised, nose a little swollen, and her eye had a mark under it. I knew we had to hurry and get home to start working on her eye before it got any worse. By her just giving birth over a month ago, her body was still fragile. I knew the pain that she described wasn’t her just being dramatic.
“Let me take a wild guess on wh
o did this. Rich, right?” I asked.
She slowly nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Why did you let him do this to you? What happened?” I yelled.
“He’s crazy. He beat me because I threw my shoe at his truck,” she said, holding her side.
“Why did you throw the shoe? Why didn’t you just leave him alone?” It sounded like I was the parent.
“Can we please just go?” she begged as I helped her in the passenger seat.
Pulling out of the garage, I was in a rage. I couldn’t even think straight as I envisioned Rich pounding on her. The days of him putting his hands on my mother were going to come to an end. Rich needed to know that I was a grown-ass man, not a little boy anymore so if he wanted to beat on somebody, he should come my way.
Looking over at my mother laying back in the seat, her bruises gave me flashbacks of the days when I was a child and couldn’t help her. The more I thought about all she had to put up with, the more pissed off I became. Picking up my I-Phone, I called that nigga Rich; ready for war. As soon as he answered the phone, there was no hello, he instantly started talking shit.
“If you callin’ my phone about that bitch, Lisa, I don’t wanna hear that shit.”
“Look I’ma say this for the last time. The next time you feel the urge to put your fucking hands on my mother, come fuck with me. Go beat up them other bitches in the street you deal with.”
“Juan, you can jump yo’ self out there if you want to, cuz you can get it, too. That bitch ain’t gonna send me death threats talkin’ about she’s gonna tell Unc wassup, then crack my windshield and think it’s all good. Wife or not. She lucky she still breathin’.”
“Man, I said what I had to say.”
CLICK.
I hung up on his ass. Never was I the type of dude who argued. My maturity level was too much for that type of shit. I wasn’t the one for drama. I left that gay shit for the ladies and bitch ass niggas. It was just a matter of time before I put Rich in jail where he belonged. I knew how to get to him and he would soon pay for hurting my mother.
My mother of course had left out some major details of what sparked the fight between them as usual. She didn’t tell me that she’d threatened to tell my Uncle Renzo about Rich’s involvement in Carlos’ death. That was a major no, no and I’d told her on many occasions that she needed to chill with that whole situation. At some point, she had to listen. If not, someone was bound to get hurt.
When we pulled up to the house, I helped her inside, then up to her room. I thought I would give her some time to get herself together before we had the Uncle Renzo lecture. While she rested, I went downstairs to the movie room to watch some of the highlights of the Lakers game since I didn’t get a chance to watch it. Kobe ended up giving the people forty-five points allowing the Lakers to win, which meant my man Cornell owed me $500 from our bet. I thought I’d call him to give him a hard time.
“Wassup my nigga, you got my dinero?”
“Man, go ahead with that, we ain’t shake on that bet.”
“Don’t start that shit. You seen my man Kobe kill them folks last night,” I replied.
“I got you man. You know we play New York tomorrow. We going out after the game too, you rollin’?”
“You know what man, I got a better idea. Hook me up with some courtside tickets for me and my mother. Instead of hitting a club, maybe we can go out to the W rooftop downtown for drinks afterwards. She’s going through some shit and I think she might need to get out.”
“Isn’t that cute, the mama’s boy takin’ his mother out for drinks.” Cornell let out a huge laugh. “Man, I got both of y’all. You bringin’ anybody else, don’t you got a sister? What’s up with her, how old is she?”
“Cornell, stop playing man. My sister is actually taken, plus she’s eighteen which means she’s too young for you.”
“Alright man, I’ll see you tomorrow. Since you ain’t trying to hook me up, I guess I’ll go let off some steam in the gym.”
“Shut up man!” I laughed before getting off the phone.
When I heard dishes rattling in the kitchen, I knew my mother was up. No matter how much she probably wasn’t in the mood for a lecture, it was important for me to let her know she was playing with fire when she threatened to tell Uncle Renzo about Carlos. I placed the T.V. on mute.font>
“Hey Ma, can you bring me a Red Bull in here?”
“Yeah, I’m fixing me a bowl of fruit salad, you want some?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Up until this day, my mother had never failed me. She always took care of me, and that’s why no matter what, I would always be by her side. Moments later, she walked in the movie room with a colorful bowl filled with all of my favorite fruit.
“Thanks.”
“Anything for my baby boy.”
“Man, I ain’t no baby, I’ma grown man.”
“Well, you’ll always be my baby no matter how old you are.”
“Look, Ma, it’s some things I want to talk to you about.”
“Shoot, what’s up?”
“Wait…how are you feeling? You didn’t lay down long.”
She sighed. “I’ll live. I took some pain medicine, which helped a little bit. As long as my ribs aren’t broke, I’m fine,” she replied before placing a pineapple in her mouth. “What do you wanna talk about?”
“Well, the first thing I’ve wanted to ask you for a while is; what made you lie for Rich and raise Denie as your own?”
She sighed again. “I didn’t do it for Rich. I did it for Denie. When I first laid eyes on Denie, I instantly fell in love with her. It wasn’t about Rich cheating, he always did. It was about me having the daughter that I always wanted. Back then, before all of the buildup of hurt and pain, I had more of an innocence about me. I cared, I had a heart. I couldn’t believe someone would leave a newborn baby on a doorstep. I decided to keep the secret and take care of her. Not for Rich, but for Denie.”
“So, what happened to you, Ma? Why did you torture Denie the way you did?”
“Juan, I knew this question was coming. Since the warehouse incident, I’ve been trying to put my breakdown in the back of my mind. I’m a strong believer that your experience makes you into the person you are. Come on Juan, along with all the verbal, mental, and physical abuse, I’d been raped and abducted because of your father’s mistakes. I was tired. I really do feel bad for what I did to Denie and I want to reach out to her and apologize one day. I still love her. It wasn’t me. Sometimes I don’t know who I am.”
She started to break down and cry. I hated to see my mother upset.
“Okay, Ma, no more questions. Let’s make this a good night. I have a great evening planned for you tomorrow. After I handle my business during the day and you visit with Carlie, we’re going to the Wizards game. Courtside seats, baby!”
“Really?” she said all spoiled. “As long as I can put on enough make-up to cover these bruises then I’ll go.”
“You’ll be fine.”
Then I remembered I hadn’t given her the gifts I bought Carlie, so I went to go get them. She instantly lit up.
“Oh my goodness. Juan, that was so sweet of you. To finally have a daughter of my own, and for you to accept her even with how she got here, means a lot to me. I know you don’t approve of the relationship I shared with Carlos, but I loved him. He was there for me when I was low, and Carlie gives me that piece of Carlos that I need to move on, and get my life back on track.”
Once she said that, I remembered that the purpose of me wanting to talk to her was to address the Uncle Renzo topic. Even though it might’ve set her off again, I had to address this issue with her no matter what.
“Speaking of you and Carlos, Ma, Rich told me that you threatened to tell Uncle Renzo about what happened. Do you realize that if Renzo knew that, he would not only kill Rich, it would put me and your life at risk? Uncle Renzo would kill all of us without a blink of an eye.”
“I just want Rich out of my life!”
“Uncle Renzo is not the way. Do you trust me?”
“Of course I trust you.”
“Well, if you never listened to me before, know that I have a plan for Rich that we both will benefit from. Just trust me. When you go back to court and you don’t get your child support, or if the judge says we have to move out of this house, don’t put up a fight. Know that I got your back and the plan I have for Rich, he ain’t gonna be ready for. Ma, just be easy. Trust your son, I got this.”
*****
The next morning I got up and went to several important meetings in order to make sure my plan for Rich was going in the right direction. My day was long but productive and I got a lot accomplished. When I made it back home, it was six o’ clock and I couldn’t believe my mother was ready to go. She looked like she was really trying to make a statement. She had on some tight Seven jeans with a long Alice & Olivia silk shirt. When I looked down at her feet, I had to object.
“Ma, who wears four inch heels to a basketball game?”
“Well, I’m single now and you never know who I might meet,” she said sarcastically to get under my skin.
“Whatever, let’s go.”
We made it downtown in forty-five minutes due to all the traffic on 16th street. Once we finally arrived, we got our tickets from the will-call box and made it to our seats right before the game started. My mother was so excited which made me happy to see her in such great spirits. When Cornell was introduced in the starting five, I let my mother know that’s who my friend was.
“Damn, he’s fine. How old is he?” she asked, placing her new bob-styled hair behind her ear.
“Too young for you,” I answered in an annoyed tone.
Cornell got his man and led the team in scoring with thirty-two points. Basket after basket my mother cheered for him as if she was his mother. She was so into the game that it was actually funny. You would’ve never guessed her life was in such disarray the way she carried on. However, despite his efforts the Wizards fell short of two points and lost. After the game, Cornell left us two family passes so we could wait for him. When he finally came out, my mother tried to play it cool, but I could tell she was a little star struck.