by K. C. Mills
“My girl is trying to do her thing and make it to New York, so that she can be all on TV styling celebrities,” Lisa said.
“I feel you Tay, do your thing ma. I’m not mad at you,” Talen said, and this time when he said my name it caught Hakeem’s attention, because he turned around and distanced himself for the chick that was wrapped around his body.
He leaned down and whispered something to her that she evidently didn’t like, because she looked up at him mad as fire before she rolled her eyes, and then left VIP.
“I saw you out there doing your thing, Tay. Your ass was all good girl gone bad on that dance floor,” Jodie said as he walked up next to us. He had some random chick clinging to him and she frowned when he mentioned my dancing. I smiled at her, making it worse. Females killed me getting jealous over a man that clearly didn't belong to them.
“Lisa, where’s Trey? He know your ass out here dirty dancing and shit?” Lisa looked at Jodie and rolled her eyes.
“I’m grown boo. I don’t need Trey’s permission to make moves, and he’s in Philly right now.”
“Ah shit, that’s why your ass is in attendance tonight. Your man’s out of town. Do I need to hit Trey up and let him know where your ass is?” Jodie said with a smirk.
We all knew that Trey kept tight reigns on Lisa, but it was cool though. They were good together, and Trey wasn’t stupid. He knew that his girl was tight as hell, so he kept her close. In fact, he would have likely lost his mind if he knew she was in here tonight dressed like she was and shaking her ass, but Lisa was faithful so it was all good. She only had eyes for her man, and I had to respect that.
“Forget you Jodie,” Lisa said, and then laughed. Our hostess was back with our drinks, so I grabbed mine while Lisa grabbed hers, and we found an empty spot at one of the tall tables. I climbed onto the stool, after which I adjusted my dress, lifted my drink, and took a sip. Right after, I felt a body behind me and Lisa had a silly ass grin on her face, so I knew it was Hakeem.
“You sure you can handle that?” His deep voice sent chills trough my body, along with the fact that I could feel him behind me as he looked over my shoulder. He smelled so damn good; I couldn't hardly stand it.
“I’m grown Hakeem, and it’s one drink.” I held my head back just a little so that I could look up at him, and his eyes went from my face straight to my chest before he focused on my face again.
“Aight, you’re grown Tay, do you thing,” he chuckled, and then walked away. I could see him out the corner of my eye talking to Talen and Jodie. His arms were folded and he would occasionally check me out, but not enough for anyone else to notice.
“So since you’re not going home with Ty tonight, are you going home with Keem?” Lisa joked.
“I’m going home with who I came with, and that’s you boo,” I said confidently as I looked around the club. It had been hours since I laid eyes on my sister, and I needed to make sure she was straight. Since this was a private party and they weren’t checking ID, it was likely that her fast ass was drunk and laid up with some dude somewhere.
Lisa must have noticed the concern on my face because she looked at me strange.
“What’s up Tay, you good?”
“Just checking for Britten, I haven’t seen her in a minute and you know how she rolls.”
Lisa followed my lead and started looking around also and we spotted Brit at the same time, across the club hugged up with Nell.
“I’ll be back,” I said.
“You want me to go with you?” Tay asked, still watching Brit.
“Nah I’m good.” I slid down off the stool and moved towards the entrance of VIP.
“Where you going Tay?” Hakeem caught my arm and pulled me into his body.
“To check on Brit,” I said, not wanting him to see her with Nell. If he warned Nell to stay away from Brit, then Hakeem was going to check Nell and I didn’t want Jodie’s night to get ruined.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“You don’t have to, I’m good.”
He chuckled a little. “I know you’re good Tay, but I’m going.” Hakeem had a way of controlling situations, so I knew that he was going no matter what I said.
“Yo, I’ll be right back. I’m going with Tay to find Brit,” Hakeem said to Jodie, who nodded at him and continued his conversation.
Hakeem and I made our way through the crowd and as we got closer to Brit, she looked up and saw that Hakeem was with me and pulled away from Nell. Nell noticed the same thing and then began walking away from Brit, who was now moving towards us looking nervous as hell. I glanced at Hakeem and could see his jaw tighten as his body got tense.
“Hey, I was just looking for you,” Brit said fidgeting. She was clearly drunk, but not enough not to know that Hakeem was pissed.
“I’ll be right back,” Hakeem said, and I knew he was about to go check Nell so I caught his arm.
“Not tonight please,” I said as I looked up at him.
He paused for a minute, but then looked at Brit.
“It’s time for you to go.”
He pulled out his phone and called someone, and a few minutes later Dee was walking up to us.
“Yo Dee, take Brit home, wait and make sure she gets inside.”
“Aight boss, got you.”
“But I’m not ready to go,” Brit whined.
“Brit, go home. It’s almost 1:00. I’ll be leaving soon too, just go home please.”
Brit knew that she didn’t have a choice, so she stormed away with Dee right behind her, and Hakeem and I made our way back to VIP. I knew that he was pissed, and it was likely that Nell wasn’t going to survive the night.
Hakeem
“Yo, you good Keem? You looked stressed as hell over there,” Jodie said just before he finished off the last of his drink.
“I think I’m about to get rid of Nell. I warned him once about fucking with Brit but I see he’s not taking me serious.” I had my eyes on Nell, who was standing just outside of VIP grinning and shit, like he didn’t have a care in the world. I already had my eyes on him because he was fucking up money, and now that he felt the need to disrespect me by ignoring my warning about dealing with Brit, I was going to have to handle him.
“Just say the word and we can make that shit happen. You know I never liked him anyway. He’s got some shit with him, I just could never figure out what it was.”
“I’m gonna just sit on it for now,” I said just as Nell looked up at me, but then quickly looked away.
“Jodie, Hakeem. Let me holla at you for a minute,” Simuel said as he waved for us to join him outside of VIP. We both stood and followed Simuel to the bar.
Happy birthday Jodie. I hope you had a good time tonight,” Simuel looked around his club with a smile, exposing his bottom row of platinum teeth.
“Hell yeah. You know I did,” Jodie said as he leaned back against the bar. “I appreciate you making this shit happen.”
“You deserve it. The two of you are making me a lot of money. It’s the least I can do. So, I’ve got a few things set up for us next week. I’ll be in touch with some times and locations. I think it’s best that we go ahead and make the announcement to the organization so that they know what’s coming. That way you guys can start working your way into your positions so that there’s a smooth transition.”
“Aight cool that works, just let us know when and where.”
“Will do. Go, enjoy the rest of your night. I’m about to head home but I just wanted to holla at you for a minute. Stay as long as you want. You’ve got the club all night,” Simuel said, looking around.
“Preciate it,” Jodie said.
We dapped Simuel up and he headed towards his office, leaving me and Jodie at the bar.
“You ready for this shit man?” Jodie asked.
“Hell yeah.”
“We’re about to be running shit.”
“Fuck that bruh, we already run shit. All this means is that we’re about to get the paper to match t
he respect,” I said with a grin.
“You’re right,” Jodie said.
“Keem, have you seen Tay?” Lisa asked as she rushed me, looking worried.
“Nah, last time I saw her she was with you.” I immediately started looking around the club.
“We both went to the bathroom, and she stopped to talk to a few people but I kept going, and I haven’t seen her since. I’ve been around the whole club and she’s nowhere to be found. Help me find her,” Lisa said.
I looked at Jodie, who read my mind. “I’m on it.” I saw him take off towards VIP, knowing that he was about to have our team looking for Tay while Lisa and I started doing rounds.
“Did you call her phone?” I asked with my eyes focused on the crowd.
“It’s in the car. She didn’t want to carry it around all night.
“Fuck, did you check the bathrooms?”
“Yeah I went through all of them but she wasn’t in there. She wouldn't leave without me Keem, something’s not right,” Lisa said, sounding panicked.
After we both literally walked around the club twice, I noticed Jodie watching me and when I caught his eye, his shook his head telling me no, which meant that he didn’t have any luck finding her either.
“Go up there with Jodie. I’m about to check outside.”
“I’m going with you,” Lisa said, but I stopped her.
“Lisa, stay here,” I said firmly. If anything was going on outside, I didn’t need her there as a distraction.
I could see the uncertainty in her face, but she reluctantly agreed and turned to head towards Jodie while I moved towards the entrance.
“What’s up Keem you good?” Bo asked as soon as I made it to the front.
“Yeah, just looking for Tay. She didn’t leave did she?”
Light skin shorty with the black dress. She came in with Jodie?” Bo asked.
“Yeah what’s up, did you see her?”
“Nah, she didn't leave. Not through this door,” Bo said.
“Aight preciate it.”
I walked outside and a chill immediately went through me. It was December, so the night was dark and cold as hell. I looked around the front of the club and noticed a few people posted up on cars, but it was cold as fuck so the street was pretty much empty. I walked around the side of the building to check the alley near the rear parking lot and didn’t see anything, but just before I was about to head back inside I heard a what sounded like a muffled cry coming from the side of the building. I pulled out my piece and started moving fast as hell towards the sound until I saw a figure balled up on the steps.
It was dark as hell, so I didn’t realize it was Tay until I walked right up on her. She was sitting on the steps that led to the back entrance of the club with her knees pulled into her chest, and her arms wrapped around her.
I went to pick her up, and she jerked away from me until she heard my voice.
“Tay, what happened what are you doing out here?” I placed my piece back in the waistband of my jeans, reached in my pocket to get my keys, then picked her up and carried her towards my truck. Tay didn’t say a word; she just wrapped her arms around my neck so tightly that I knew something wasn’t right. When I reached my truck, I unlocked the doors and lowered Tay into the passenger side, and shut the door. I climbed in the driver side, and she turned to face the window.
“Tay what happened?” I already knew based on her appearance, but I needed her to tell me what happened. Somebody was about to die; I just needed her to tell me who.
Tay didn’t say a word; she just stared out the window so I asked her again, but this time with a little more aggression
“Tay, what the fuck happened. I need you to tell me what happened.”
She finally turned to look at me, and I could see a bruise under her right eye and others around her neck.
“Can we just go?”
“Not until you tell me what happened.” I was trying my best to stay calm.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, so can we just go?”
“Go where Tay, do you want me to take you to the hospital?”
“No,” she answered so quickly that I knew that was out of the question.
“Do you want me to take you home?”
“I don’t want to go to the hospital and I don’t want to go home, can we just go!” she yelled.
I exhaled and opened my door. I unbuttoned the first four buttons of the shirt that I was wearing before I pulled it over my head, leaving me in just my t-shirt, walked to the passenger side, and opened the door.
“Put this on,” I said, handing it to her. Tay took it out my hands, and then pulled it over her head and down around her body before I shut the door. I walked back around to the driver side and pulled my phone out to call Jodie.
“Yo, did you find her?” he asked as soon as he heard my voice.
“Yeah, but some shit went down. Where’s Lisa?”
She’s right here.”
“Let me talk to her.”
The second Lisa was on the phone, she started going in.
“Where are you, where is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s good. Who drove?”
“She did, why?”
“Do you have her keys?”
“We locked them in the car because she didn’t want to carry them all night, but I know the code to her car, so I can get into it.”
“Okay, I need you to take her car. She’s going with me. Go to her house and pack her a bag, and Jodie will come and get it.”
“Keem, what’s going on? Let me talk to Tay.”
“Not right now. Just do what I asked, please.”
“Nah, forget that. I need to see my girl. Where are you?”
“Lisa, chill the fuck out and just do what I asked. Tay is going home with me, now let me talk to Jodie.”
Lisa obviously handed Jodie the phone, but I could still hear her going off in the background. I didn’t have time to worry about her right now, so she would just have to be upset.
“Yo bruh, what the hell did you say to Lisa, she is going off.”
“She’ll be alright. Look, she’s going by Tay’s house to get some stuff for her. Follow her and then bring it to my house.”
“The fuck is going on Keem, you good?”
“Yeah I’m good. I’ll fill you in when you get to my house.”
“Aight, let me go so I can deal with Lisa, she is mad as hell.”
I could tell that Jodie was irritated, but I knew he could handle it and right now my focus was Tay, so everything else would have to wait. I got back in my truck and looked at Tay. She had her arms folded and her head was leaning against the window. She didn’t move or say a word. I got pissed all over again just seeing her like that. Just as soon as I found out what was going on, I was bodying a muthafucker and I put that on everything.
I drove to my place in silence–no radio, no conversation, just silence. I did everything I could to control my anger, but every time I glanced at Tay I could feel my body tense as my grip tightened on the steering wheel. She looked so broken, and there wasn’t a damn thing that I could do about it.
When we finally made it to my place, I parked and sat there for a minute. Tay had fallen asleep and I hated to wake her, because she looked so peaceful and I didn’t want to take that away from her. Instead, I just sat there watching her until I felt the cold air creeping in. I opened my door, got out, and walked around to the passenger side to open the door. I pulled it opened and Tay didn’t move, so I picked her up and carried her up the stairs to my front door. I struggled a bit getting the door opened but once we were inside, I took Tay to my room and laid her on the bed. She was awake now so she sat up and scooted to the headboard, pulling her knees into her chest before she lowered her chin onto her knees.
“Is this your place?” she asked without looking up at me.
“Yeah why?” I shut my door and sat down on the side of the bed so that my back was to Tay.
“Just asking.”
“You wanna tell me what happened?” I looked back over my shoulder, and Tay still had her head down.
“Can I just take a shower? I just need to take a shower.” Her voice was shaky and I could tell she was on the verge of tears, so I stood up and walked over to my dresser. I grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of my boxers, and took them in the bathroom. I turned on the shower, opened the linen closet, and took out a towel and washcloth, laying them both on the counter before I walked back in my room.
“You need to tell me what happened Tay.”
She just looked at me, climbed off the bed, walked into the bathroom, and shut the door.
I left my room, shutting the door behind me and sat down on the sofa. My head was spinning out of control. I wanted to fix this for her but I knew that I couldn’t, and that shit was fucking with me something terrible.
I laid my head back and closed my eyes, but that only lasted for a minute because my phone started going off.
“Yeah?”
“Keem, where is Tay and what happened to her?” Brit almost yelled.
“She’s here with me. She doesn’t have her phone so I’ll tell her to call you when Jodie gets here with it, but that’s up to her if she wants to talk to you.”
“What do you mean if she wants to talk to me. Let me talk to my sister, Keem. Lisa just left here flipping out and said that you wouldn’t tell her anything, so put Tay on the phone right now.”
“Brit, you need to calm your little ass down. I’m not in the mood to deal with your tantrum. Tay is with me and she’s fine. I will tell her to call you, but that’s on her so don’t call my phone again with that bullshit. Are we clear?”
“Yeah whatever.”
“Good.” I hung up and my phone immediately started ringing again, but this time it was Jodie.
“Yo, I’m on my way up, open the door.”
I pulled myself off the couch, walked to the door, and unlocked it before I went back to the same spot I was in. A few minutes later, Jodie came walking through the door carrying a hot pink bag, which he handed to me along with Tay’s phone before he sat down in on the edge of the coffee table so that he was facing me.