by Shan
“So, you’re the one that’s been stealing from Imran?” Honey asked, causing me to jump and nearly waste my stash. “I knew it was something different about you.”
I looked over at Honey and watched as she confidently strutted in my direction. She kneeled down in front of me, dipped her index finger into the candy, and then ran her finger across her gums. My body began to tremble for fear of what Imran or his goons might do to me if they found out that I had been stealing from them. Just a couple of weeks ago, they damn near killed this young soldier from the block all because he was one hundred dollars short on money that was owed. I wasn’t sure of the amount of product that I’d stolen, but I knew that it was enough to piss somebody off.
“Please don’t say anything, Honey. I promise I won’t take anymore,” I pleaded.
“Say anything? I’m not going to say anything.” Honey tenderly pushed a strand of my hair out of my face and then brought her lips to mine. She kissed me and pushed her tongue into my mouth before rubbing her hands over my breasts. “I want some, too.”
I pulled away from Honey and watched as she pulled her torn yellow shirt over her head and then stood up to pull her skinny jeans off. She stood in a black bra with a matching black G-string. She stripped out of her undies and tossed them to the floor as well. Her perky breasts stood at attention, and, for some reason, the sight of her neatly trimmed vagina caused my clit to jump. I’d never been attracted to a woman and had never ever looked at my friend as anything more than a friend.
Honey kneeled down where the blow was, grabbed the dollar bill, and did a line. She pinched her nose a couple of times before seductively staring into my eyes. I was frozen with fear and pure admiration. She crawled closer to me, gently pushed me back onto the floor, and climbed on top of me. She went to pull my shirt over my head and then my bra. My body trembled as she lowered her head and sucked my nipples better than any man ever had, doing so with such care that it was enough to make me go wild.
“You’re so beautiful,” Honey said before placing her lips to mine.
113
15 Jahzara
15
Jahzara
“Looks like you need to be going,” Tamar said to me the moment I got off of the phone with Imran. “To your brother, right?”
I laughed nervously, “Yeah, well, that’s not my brother, as you can see. I’m sorry I lied to you, but I didn’t want to you to refuse to work with us because of it. Quin asked me for a divorce, and I gave it to him.”
“Damn, I would have never thought that, but I’m not tripping. I knew, when you first came down, that Imran wasn’t your brother. That nigga kept staring at your butt the whole time I was staring at it, too, so shit…,” he laughed, and so did I. “Imran is cooler than a muthafucka, though. I see that me and him will have one helluva a business relationship if he keeps fucking with me the way he is.”
“Well, he plans on it, and that’s part of the reason that I am here. Quin gets out in a couple of months, and Imran has a feeling that he will definitely try to get in contact with you to get back on, and he doesn’t want that happening.”
“He doesn’t want that happening, or you don’t want that happening?” Tamar asked, making me nervous once again. This dude made me feel so freaking uneasy every time I was around him that I couldn’t even focus and get my words out all the way. The fact that he was sitting in front of me with just a pair of swimming shorts on made it even harder. He was so freaking cute with his caramel skin, neatly shaved goatee, pretty brown eyes, and well defined body. Not to mention the fact that he had out of control money.
“We both don’t want it to happen. Not that we’re trying to take from anyone’s pockets, but we are aware that it could cause a war, and you know with a war going on—”
“No one eats. Yeah, I’m well aware of that. But you know I ain’t never had no problems with Quin. He’s always been cool people and the fact that he helped me out on a lil’ issue I was having back in Dallas a few years ago was the only reason I fucked with you,” he said with that sexy ass smile of his.
“Yeah, I know, and I kinda feel funny coming down here asking you to do this. I mean, honestly, Imran doesn’t know that when I asked him to let me make this trip this time that I was planning on asking you for this favor. It’s just that I see what it has been doing to him the closer we get to Quin’s release, so I figured I could do something to ease the situation.”
“Yeah—”
We were cut off when a petite female walked over to where we were sitting, carrying a phone in her hand. She had long, straight hair that flowed to the middle of her back. She looked mixed with black and, maybe, Chinese. I noticed that she walked with a small limp but was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.
“What’s up, baby?” Tamar asked as he stood up from his chair. “Jah, this is my wife Rozalyn. Rozalyn, this is Imran’s old lady Jah.”
I stood up, shook her hand, and shared a brief smile with her before she turned her attention back to Tamar. She shoved the phone she was carrying into his hand and turned around to walk away.
“Who the fuck is this?” he asked, putting his ear to the phone. “Yeah. A’ight. I’ll be on my way in about twenty minutes, Kari.” Tamar looked over at me and held his finger up, and I nodded my head. “Well, what you want me to do? You should’ve called me before your damn water broke, and why the hell are you calling Rozalyn’s phone?”
My interest suddenly peaked once I heard the words “water broke”. I didn’t know what the hell was going on up in this household, but it sounded like some straight mistress drama. I tried to pretend as if I wasn’t listening as I turned my head and looked towards the house where I spotted the wife standing in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest. The hurt and anger that she felt was obvious. It was written all over her face, and I felt really, really bad for her.
I guess good looks isn’t everything, I thought as I brought my attention back to Tamar. He quickly ended the call and looked over at me with frustration clearly written across his face.
“Let Imran know that, if he can guarantee me that he will get ten extra bricks a month, then I will keep Quin out of the loop. Other than that, I won’t be able to do it, ma. Sorry to cut the meeting short, but I gotta go take care of some unexpected business. I’ll get my bruh out here to finish you up.”
“Okay, it’s cool. Go ahead,” I said. I grabbed the glass of wine that was sitting in front of me and took a few sips. I honestly was at the point where I didn’t care if Tamar kept Quin out of the loop or not. My intentions were good when I came down here, and I’d planned to go all out to keep things good on our side, but, after what Honey called and revealed to me, I didn’t know if it was even worth my time. Then, when I called Imran to see if he was gonna fess up to anything, he had the nerve to blow me off and tell me that I better not ever call him about a bitch again.
I needed to know if what Honey said he had done to her was true, and, if so, why? What was I not doing that would make him want to go after my best friend? Had this been the first time? Would he do it again if I gave him another chance?
I had so many thoughts running through my head that it was causing me to get a headache. I couldn’t wait to get back into Dallas and was glad that I decided to fly this time instead of drive like Imran and I had done many times before. Soon as Tamar’s brother came outside to where I was at, I quickly handed him the money and let him know that we would be getting the same thing as the last time and told him to let Tamar know that we would let him know about the extras the next time we came down. I could’ve easily given the go ahead, given Tamar the money, or got them on consignment, but I wanted to get back home and see what was what first.
*****
I walked into the home that I shared with Imran, slammed the door shut behind me, and headed straight upstairs to our bedroom. Imran was seated on the edge of the bed, smoking a blunt, and playing that damn Madden game that he loved to play. He was dressed in a pair of boxers w
ith a big brown robe halfway tied around his body. I walked over and stood in front of him, waiting for him to give me his undivided attention. When it took too long for him to acknowledge me, I snatched the controller from his hand and tossed it across the room.
“I’mma take it that as you had a bad muthafuckin’ trip!” he yelled.
“You damn right I had a bad trip! The whole way here I prayed and prayed that my girl was trying to pull one over on me and that you didn’t actually try to force yourself on her! How could you, Imran?” I screamed shakily.
I did everything in my power to keep tears from falling from my eyes, but they poured down like rain drops. I was truly hurt by his actions because I was being forced to choose between two people that I really loved. Imran had treated me like a fuckin’ queen since I’d been with him, showered me with gifts, showered me with love, and now…and now this shit. Now, I saw that he was the type that felt he could do whatever he wanted because he had money to back it up.
“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me right now. I told you, don’t come to me about no fuckin’ bitch! If I wanted that trashy ass friend of yours, I would’ve had that bitch. No problem. Trust me!”
“Oh, you that muthafuckin’ cocky that you think you could have easily smashed my best friend? Fuck you, Imran! Honey would never do me like that!”
Imran shook his head as if he couldn’t believe that I was speaking to him in such a way. I walked over to the closet and snatched as many of my clothes from their hangers as possible. I looked too damn good to deal with a cheating ass nigga. I could easily walk on the street and choose from any dude that I wanted, so there was no way I was going to sit here and deal with one that couldn’t treat me right. Nah, not happening!
“Yeah. You would wait until my divorce was finalized to show your muthafuckin’ ass! Had me leave my husband to come and be with your cheating ass! My husband might didn’t leave me in a way that you approve of, but I know, for a fact, that he would’ve never tried to sleep with my best friend, Imran! How could you? I was already skeptical about signing those papers, and then you do this to me!”
I stormed out of the closet and threw all of the clothes I had grabbed into a pile in the middle of the floor. Imran continued to sit on the bed, toking on a blunt like I hadn’t said a word to him. He was so freaking cool, calm, and collected that it pissed me off to see that I was the only one angry around this bitch. He should be super pissed that he was losing a bitch like me, but he didn’t even seem to care one bit. I started for the closet again but was halted and forced to run in the other direction when a funny feeling hit me in the middle of my gut.
I rushed into the bathroom, threw the toilet seat up, and threw up everything I’d eaten in the past twenty-four hours. My stomach seemed to twist and turn as more and more of it continued to fly out of my mouth.
“Oh, my god,” I whined, finally able to catch my breath. I walked over to the sink and turned the cold water on, cupping some in my hand, and pouring it into my mouth. I swished the water around in my mouth before spitting it out into the sink. I grabbed my toothbrush, covered the bristles with paste, and brushed my teeth.
It had to be that damn food I’d eaten on the plane that had me feeling this way. I spit the toothpaste into the sink and noticed that it was mixed with red—with blood. I immediately put more water into my hand and tossed some into my mouth. I swished it around real good before spitting it back into the sink where I saw more blood.
What the hell is going on? I wondered as I placed the toothbrush back into the cup and walked out of the bathroom. I shook my head when I saw that Imran was sitting in that same damn spot and was actually trying to fix the controller that I had thrown across the room.
“So, you have nothing to say, Imran. You’re just gonna allow me to walk out of this house, out of your life, knowing that you are a no good, lying cheating bastard!” I yelled while holding my hand over my stomach.
“What do you want me to say, Jah? I was already convicted before you stepped off that plane, and, in your eyes, you’ve proven me to be guilty, so what the fuck do you want me to say? I told you from the jump that Honey was a trifling bitch, and you took it as me having some type of personal vendetta against her when, in fact, I just know a grimy bitch when I meet her.”
“I saw her, Imran. I saw the scratches on her face and neck. I saw her ripped clothing! She was crying and saying that you tried to rape her! How could you do this to me?”
“I didn’t do shit to you! I slapped the bitch but not enough to put no scratches on her face. She’s running game!”
“You slapped her? Slapped her? Why?”
“Because she tried to fuck me! She caught me while I was resting at the spot on Bonnie View. I slapped the shit out of the bitch and told her to the get the fuck out.”
“What do you mean ‘she caught you while you were resting’? What does that mean?”
“She was sucking my dick, and the bitch just caught me while I was sleeping! I handled her ass. That’s it! That’s all!”
I shook my head from side to side, knowing that Imran was lying to me. I gathered my clothes up and tossed them into the bag, no longer wanting to hear anything from him. I couldn’t believe that things were over for us so soon. I really wanted a future with Imran, to have kids with him, and to grow old with him—the things that I didn’t get to do with Quin.
I zipped my bag up, tossed it over my shoulder, and headed out of the bedroom. I wanted Imran to stop me and convince me that he didn’t do anything wrong, put more effort into making me believe that he was telling the truth, but he didn’t, and that was what let me know that he was lying, just like Honey had said he would do.
*****
“Are you sure you wanna stay up in here after what happened here?” Honey asked as she ran her fingers through my hair.
“Yeah. I’m positive. That was so long ago anyway. I just need some time to myself, just to think about everything that’s going on. I’m just so hurt right now and completely shocked that this is happening. Imran had me completely fooled into believing that he was this great guy, but now I see that it was all a front. I’m so sorry that he did this to you, Honey! I’m so sorry,” I broke down crying.
“It’s okay, girl. I’m fine. I’m just happy that you were able to finally see the truth about him. Tomeka and I have been trying to get you to see the real him for the longest. We’ve been so worried about you being with him, especially after he set you up to be robbed, so it would look like somebody was after you.”
“What?” I asked, sitting up on the couch. “What do you mean ‘he set me up’?”
“I tried to tell you, Jah, but Tomeka told me how you were saying that we were hating on you and jealous because we wanted your man, so I just kept my mouth shut. I didn’t think that you would believe me when I told you, just like I didn’t think you would believe me when I told you about this incident.”
“Tomeka told you that I said that y’all were hating? What kind of lies is she telling on me, and why? I never said no messy bullshit like that. I would never say that. I haven’t even spoken to Tomeka in damn near a month. How could she even say such a thing?”
“I don’t know. She even said she believed that you were trying to cheat us out of the money we were making out of the traps.”
“Cheat y’all? Oh, my god,” I said, letting out a laugh. “Tomeka has gone freaking mad ever since she stabbed that nigga DeMarcus. She’s making shit up, and for what? I’ve done nothing but help her. If it wasn’t for me, she would probably still be sitting in jail right now. The money the bitch has been paying me back for the bail money, I’ve been secretly giving to her lawyer. How dare she go and lie on me like that?”
“I tried telling her that you bailed her out when I couldn’t help, but she just went on and on about you 'til I just couldn’t sit and listen anymore. You’re right. Ever since she did that shit to DeMarcus, her ass has gone crazy, and I think she’s using.”
“Yeah, well….I
’ll deal with her later. How do you know Imran set me up to be robbed? What did you hear or see?” I asked, getting back to that.
“I overheard him telling one of his goons to dump your safe in the Trinity River before you moved in with him. He didn’t want you to get there and find it. The only reason he did it was because he wanted you to be too scared to stay here. He wanted you to feel like you had no choice but to accept his offer to move in with him,” Honey explained.
More tears fell down my face as I paced the floor, thinking how Honey, Imran, and Tomeka were the only ones who knew exactly where I kept my safe. No one could just come up in here and easily find it, unless they knew exactly where to go. I had thought about that so many times, over and over again, since the day it happened, but I didn’t want to believe that any of the people that were close to me had done me like that.
“Wow! Thanks for the info, Honey. Thank you so much for exposing this nigga before I up and did something crazy like marrying him.”
“Girl, no problem. That’s what friends are for.” Honey stood up and hugged me before going to the bathroom. Once she came out, we said our goodbyes and promised to hook up and do lunch or something, so we could figure out why Tomeka was spreading such vicious lies about me. Right then, I was too exhausted to think and only wanted to get some sleep.
*****
I dropped down to the floor and covered my head when the glass from my window was smashed in and slid under my bed when I heard my front door come crashing to the floor. I could see from beneath the bed that smoke was beginning to fill the room and listened as heavy footsteps treaded throughout my home.
“Clear!” I heard a deep voice yell.
“Kitchen is clear and so is the bathroom!” another voice yelled.