by Nicety
“Boy, pay attention. This shit may look like it’s fun and games but make no mistake, this shit is real and this is how we get our money. You understand?” He asked placing his hand on top of my shoulder gripping firmly.
“Yes, sir.”
“Now these females are for sale. They’ve completed their five year tenure with the company and now they are about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. These are niggas that done been customers with the company for a long ass time so they all cool. But, you get to know them first before you invite them to an auction. Not everyone is allowed in. This some exclusive shit and this business is strictly word of mouth. You got that?” He schooled.
“Service? What service, Pop?”
“Yolo, when the time is right you won’t have to ask me that question.” He replied avoiding the question.
“Yes, sir. So what happens to them when the men get tired of them?” I asked.
“Hey after they’re sold, the rest ain’t our problem. Ya heard me?” My pops chuckled scratching the gray hair growing from underneath his chin. “But for the most part, cause the women are so young, the customers usually marry them…even though they still come back for some pay to play action.”
“How young are they?”
“I don’t go no younger than 17 if they are a runaway; 18 if they are looking for a daddy. You know what I’m talking about, son.” He laughed.
“Yeah pop.” I lied.
I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about. All I knew was that when the lights went out and the spotlight shined down on the middle of the floor where the ladies were standing, all the niggas in the room went buck wild. The ladies stood there as stiff as some of the Johnsons in the room, ordered by my pops not to move unless told. It was then that my pops became my hero. He was the one man in my life that not only never let me down but also always kept it real with me. Until this, I had not known what the family business was. I only knew that we had a ton of money and whenever I wanted something I got it every time.
My dad, who most called Sole, was a determined man, never letting anything or anyone stand in the way of the things he wanted. He was about 5’9” and always wore his hair low like mine. But he was more muscular than me, coming in at about 200 solid pounds. Mostly everything about him I favored except for that. He worked out about two hours a day every day; wanting to be one of those bodybuilding type of dudes. He was dark skinned with dark eyes and a temper that could only be seen if he got ticked off enough, which in my opinion wasn’t often. It was crazy to me to have all that muscle and never really use it. I didn’t need all that shit, though. My anger alone was enough to bust heads; I didn’t need big dumb ass muscles to prove a point.
“Sole! Sole! Start this shit man!” A guy yelled from across the room.
“Man, sit yo horny ass down!” My dad demanded. “Alright, the bidding will start with the Asian persuasion, Lin Mei. We will start at $50,000.”
Damn that was a lot of money for a nigga to purchase a woman. If my dad was getting these chicks for free that means that he was making nothing but profit in return. As the Asian chick was sold for $450,000, I started to think about all of the things I could do with that kind of money. My hands were itching much like my mom’s when she feels she’s in the presence of money. She was weird that way. It was then that I wondered what she would think if she knew that this was how Pops made his money; that was until I saw her walk in covering the prize girl with a red silk robe. It shocked me to know that she was in on the family business too, especially since she was a female.
My dad started this business before I was born but decided to expand upon it and move to the States when I was five. We lived in a three flat building in the middle of Chinatown just outside of the downtown area where no one would ever suspect that this kind of shit was going on in here, despite us being the only Mexicans around. During the day it was as quiet as a mouse and at night my Pops ran the most expensive brothel in the city. As I walked through the crowd of overactive men, I paid close attention to their demeanor and the way they were dressed. They looked like captains of the industry, presidents and CEOs of high-powered companies. They ranged in all different age brackets from hair club for men to the ones with milk still dripping from behind their ears. Most of them were drinking but for the most part they all smoked really long thick cigars. All of this went on in the basement of our building.
I looked over to see a small group of women in the crowd too; it was crazy to me. Women were there to buy women and do things with them too. I saw one in a skin tight business type of suit come up behind my Pops and run her fake fingernails along the back of his tailored made suit jacket. She looked like she was leaning in, trying to get a whiff of his cologne or something but whatever it was she had to go.
“Pops, you need me to do anything?” I asked running up to him at the podium.
“Naw, Yolo. Why don’t you walk around and see if you can find your mother. She might need some help.” Sole spoke shooing me away.
It annoyed the shit out of me that he let that woman continue to rub on him like that and my mom was somewhere nearby. Nonetheless, I walked off in the last direction I saw my mother headed with the third girl my Pops had sold. She was in the room with the white door preparing and packing the girl’s belongings for her departure with her buyer. The girl was sitting in front of a dressing room mirror balling, crying her eyes out. She couldn’t have been any older than eighteen years old.
“What’s wrong mom? Is she okay?” I asked walking up to the girl staring her in the face.
My mom whisked her hand through her low-slicked back hair cut to relieve stress as she rushed to make sure the girls had all of their belongings before coming over to me.
“Leave her alone honey. Hey why don’t you go play? I don’t know why your damn daddy chose today to show you all this shit.” Mom spoke with a bit of rage in her voice.
She was usually a very well kept together lady. My mom, Liv, was a short little thing coming in at about 5’3” and she couldn’t have weighed more than a buck five, soaking wet. She was of Venezuelan decent with very beautiful angelic like features. Her parents disowned her when she married my black dad. When she talked to her friends about her parents, she always brought up the fact that they fucked up cause now she’s richer beyond her wildest dreams and they could’ve been a part of that. There were never any regrets that I could tell though and she made sure every chick that approached my dad knew that. What she lacked in size definitely was made up for in her punch.
“It’s okay Liv. He’s not bothering me.” The girl cried wiping the tears from her eyes. “I’m just sad because I have to leave my baby behind. I can’t take her because my handler doesn’t want kids.”
“Oh. Well you ain’t got no momma that can take your baby?” I asked rubbing her arm to console her.
“Naw. I’m all she has. If she was a baby, he would’ve let me keep her but because she’s ten years old he says if I bring her, she will have to fuck too.” The girl cried even harder.
“Damn.” It was all I could think to say.
“Momma. Momma what’s wrong?” The woman’s daughter, Bonnie, walked in from out of the bathroom asking.
“Nothing, Bonnie. Everything’s gonna be just fine.” She lied.
“Are we moving again?” Bonnie asked.
“No honey. Momma’s just gotta go out of town this time. I’ll be back for you though. I promise I’ll be back.” She lied again.
“This don’t feel right momma. Yolo? Yolo, what’s happening?” Bonnie turned towards me.
“Don’t worry about it. Your mom’s is gonna be good. You like it here with us right? We treat you good right?” I asked forcing her to focus her eyes on me and not her mother.
“Yeah, but—“
“But nothing. So let’s go find you something to do. You can play dress up or something with my sister.” I wiped the large tears flowing from her bronzed cheeks. “It’ll be fun.”
My mo
ther looked up at me with a wink and a smile. She knew I would be a natural at this job, holding my own and stepping up to be the man of the situation. Out of all the years we’ve been rich, this is the only time that we’ve ever had a kid that came along for the ride. Bonnie had been with us since she was five years old and I’ve always found her to be a nuisance. But now I felt like I was her protector and confidant. She would need one when she realizes that her momma ain’t comin’ back at all.
We made our way up towards my sister, Dahlia’s room, where everything was red and all kinds of girlish dolls and toys ruled the room. She and my mom had a thing for red. Inside, the room was empty. I looked around the room for her but she was nowhere to be found. Bonnie looked around as well then gave up; plopping down on the guest bed to continue her crying session. It wasn’t like Dahlia to be missing in action like that, especially at 2am in the morning. There were noises on her balcony but I choked it up as random night animals fooling around until the noises grew louder.
“Dahlia what the fuck are you doing out here?” I bellowed looking down at her sucking some bitch ass nigga off in the beach chair.
“Yolo, what the fuck are you doing in my room?” She retorted angry only due the fact that I was embarrassing her.
“You wanna be a fucking hoe, then be a hoe when you grow up but right now you gon’ keep them fucking legs together.” I snapped almost blacking out as I pulled her back in the room by her hair. “You hear what the fuck I say?”
“I don’t have to listen to you! You ain’t my fucking daddy!”
Something inside of me lost it. I started punching her in her chest and stomach hard but not hard enough that I forgot she was a girl. I just needed her to get the message that I wasn’t fucking playing with her ass. A few more punches then I was done with her as she curled over crying and clenching her midsection. I looked up, watching as that stupid ass nigga she was suckin’ off climbed over the balcony trying to get the fuck out of dodge. I ran up to him before he was able to take his hands off the ledge and pounded his fingers until he abruptly let go.
“Ahh shit!” The dude bellowed as his ass hit the ground.
“Bring your ass back to this house and next time it’ll be a bullet in yo ass nigga!” I barked as I shut the balcony doors locking them behind me.
“You have no right to tell me who I can and cannot fuck, Yolo. This is my fucking body.” Dahlia pushed and punched me but her fists didn’t phase me.
“I bet Pops has a right though. Maybe we should go tell him then.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Go tell daddy. Go on, go tell him.” She said as I walked towards the door. “He’s down the hall in the second bathroom with that ugly big booty bitch he’s always smilin’ at. I’m sure right about now he’s really gonna give a fuck about what I’m stickin’ in my mouth.”
I turned to look her in her eyes for signs of a lie; usually I was a good judge of character about that kind of shit, especially when I’m heated. But I found no sense of deception. I looked over at Bonnie still crying her eyes out silently but watching the entire argument. My mind was going forty miles per hour and so were my feet as I raced down the hall to see if she was telling the truth. Before I could get to the bathroom I could hear the moaning and groaning coming from the room. At the door all that could be heard were the sounds of a woman, getting her back banged out. It was much like the sounds that my mother used to make back when they used to have sex; only muffled.
“Ay, Pops.” I banged on the door. “Pops.”
“Yolo?” He asked out of breath. “Boy get away from the door. Go to your room.”
“Com’ on Pops. Mom wants you. She says it’s important.” I shook my head listening to his body slap against hers. This nigga couldn’t even stop fucking to speak to me.
“Boy get your ass on now!” He roared nearly shaking my soul.
As I walked away from the door headed back to Dahlia’s room, my head was hung down low. I couldn’t help but feel beyond disappointed in him and the way he was disrespecting my mom. It was then that I lost all respect for him. He was no longer the great man that I looked up to; he was no longer my dad. He was simply just that nigga Sole. **
“Damn that shit’s deep man.” I said as we boarded the plane.
“Yeah. My parents were murdered a few years later when I was sixteen. Been running the spot ever since, just expanded it cause I didn’t want it in the same city where I sleep, you know. Now you know, where we’re about to go.” Yolo responded as he took his seat and straightened his suit jacket. “I got girls being sold every year now. They all get a maximum of 5 years and then they’re out to the highest bidder before they get too old. I don’t trip cause my livestock stays full. You feel me?”
“No shit, I feel you. So you took on your dad’s business?”
“Aye…somebody had to keep the Delgado legacy alive.”
“So what happened to your sister and the little girl?” I asked seeing as though I’ve never heard him talk about them.
“I sold them. They chose that life, spreading their legs and shit so they needed to get paid for it. Now they’re living richer than me. Good riddance.” He said as his facial expression grew cold.
His words were fucked up but they didn’t surprise me one bit. Females were out here giving the shit away for free or little to nothing, so there was no difference. All I could think about as I sat back in my plush First Class seat and took the glass of white wine that the stewardess handed me, was how much money he said he got per sale. I could retire and never have to do this shit again. Then again, this shit just seemed too easy. A nigga could get used to this.
“Please turn off your phones…” The flight attendant began speaking as I pulled my phone out realizing I had almost fifty missed calls.
I gladly powered it off. Anything not to have to see Mink’s thirsty ass in my call log.
Chapter 10- Mink
If this man thinks he can ignore me and get away with it, he was sadly mistaken. He knows good and damn well that I need money and for the past few weeks he’s been trying to act like he doesn’t know. Now it’s the first of the month and the bills and rent are due all over again and he hasn’t even contacted me to at least tell me if he will pay them or not. I didn’t know if he figured that I knew about him hooking up under Yolo’s business and was trying to hide the money from me or what but I had the one thing that would break his back. I had the one thing that he couldn’t ignore even if he tried.
“CJ, have you called to speak to your daddy today?” I asked walking into my mother’s house as she rolled her eyes at me.
“No. Dad said he would call when he made it back into town.” My son responded with his face stuck in the new Need For Speed game my mom brought him for his PS3.
“Back into town? Where did your daddy go baby?”
“I dunno mom. He told me he was out of town when I talked to him yesterday. Why don’t you ask him?” CJ said.
“Because…boy don’t be questioning me. You ain’t old enough to be questioning me. Just call your damn daddy boy.”
“Mom, just call him.” Cesar Jr. sounded so much older and wiser before his time.
We often went back and forth like this in playful banter before we actually got serious about our conversation. The only thing was, because he was a kid he didn’t know that there was a time to play and there was a time not to. So he didn’t realize that his words were actually pissing me off. My son was my best friend no matter how old he got. I loved him, in my eyes, he could do no wrong. I snatched that boy’s cell and toggled through his contacts before pushing send on Cesar’s cell number then tossed it on the bed. To catch him off guard, CJ needed to speak to his daddy first, warming the conversation up a bit before gracing him with my voice. I grabbed the wireless controller from his hands forcing him to focus on what I needed him to do while shooting him a serious look.
"Hey dad." CJ said snarling at me.
His attitude didn't phase me. I was getting what I wanted
and that was all that mattered. I tossed the controller down on the bed at the same time CJ flopped back, listening on the phone and waiting for his chance to speak.
“Yeah dad, I know. I’m being good though. I’m listening and behaving grandma.” He replied to whatever Cesar was drilling him about. “Dad. Dad. Hold on dad, mom wants to talk to you.”
“Hey, Cesar.” It wasn’t the subtle approach I was hoping for as I irritably snatched the phone away from my annoyed son, who eagerly grabbed his controller and got right back in the game. “Where have you been?”
“Why would you include CJ in all this? He don’t need to be in the middle of our shit.” Cesar replied angrily.
“He’s not in the middle. I just needed to talk to you but you wouldn’t answer my calls. Why the fuck are you avoiding me?”
“Because your ass is toxic, Mink. I need some fucking air.”
“Okay and while you’re getting air, did you think about the fact that I have to still live in that apartment and soon so will your son? Did you think about the fact that the bills and the rent are now?” I snapped walking out of the room headed towards the bathroom so CJ couldn’t hear me.
“Get a fucking job, Mink.” His words barked through the phone as if they would bite my ear right off. “I’ve always got my son so you ain’t even gotta bring his name into this but you…you need to get off your ass and your back.”
“Cesar—”
“Mink, you don’t do shit but take and take from people and never give. When are you gonna wake the fuck up?”
“But Cesar you don’t understand. Give me a chance to talk. Let me explain—“
“You’re done explaining, lying, and weaseling your way in and out of shit. I ain’t got time for this, Mink. I’m out.”
“Cesar! Cesar!” I screamed through the phone squeezing it tightly as if it would mush and ooze like putty through my finger.