Back to the Streets

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Uh-huh.” Tasha knew that Halleigh must have worked her magic on Maury, because his nose was wide open. She shook her head and watched him walk out of the room. “Oh yeah, Maury, I need to talk to you about something. It’s important, so make some time for me today!” she yelled.

  “A’ight, I hear you!” he hollered back.

  When he was out of earshot, Mimi tapped Tasha’s arm. “What the hell was that all about? He’s buying her breakfast and shit, like they fucked last night.”

  Tasha could hear the jealousy in Mimi’s voice. She’d peeped Mimi eye-fucking her brother too and knew that Mimi had her eyes set on a prize.

  “You know Hal don’t even get down like that. It’s nothing. I’m sure it’s nothing at all.”

  Good, Mimi thought, ’cause a bitch like me sure can make something out of nothing.

  Maury knocked on the bedroom door lightly. He didn’t want to wake Halleigh if she wasn’t already up, but he entered the room anyway when he didn’t receive an answer. He walked near the side of the bed and placed the food on the nightstand.

  “Yo, shorty, wake up,” he whispered, nudging her shoulder gently.

  Halleigh heard the male voice, and in her head she imagined that it was Manolo. She’d just had a nightmare that Manolo was on top of her, smothering her with his body, his hand over her mouth as she tried to scream for him to stop. In her nightmare, Manolo was raping her, and had been, every morning, to teach her obedience. Maury’s voice had managed to blend into her nightmare.

  “Your food is gon’ get cold,” Maury said, shaking her. “Wake up.”

  Halleigh slowly opened her eyes, and a feeling of unfamiliarity crept into her heart. She felt a pair of strong hands on her neck, and she immediately jumped up, thinking that it was Manolo touching her.

  “Stop it! Get off of me! Manolo, please stop! Don’t touch me!” She scrambled out of bed and peered frightfully at Maury.

  “Whoa! Calm down, Halleigh. You’re okay. It’s just me,” Maury said in a low, soothing tone.

  Halleigh looked around slowly and began to realize where she was. This was one of the first mornings she was able to wake up without worrying about Manolo’s treacherous ways. “He’s gone,” she whispered as she collapsed onto the bed and put her face in her hands. “He can’t hurt you anymore,” she told herself as her tears came unwillingly.

  Maury didn’t know who “he” was, but he knew that whoever Halleigh was referring to had terrified her to the breaking point. He walked over to the side of the bed and sat beside her. “You’re good, ma. Ain’t nobody gon’ hurt you.” He wrapped his arms around her.

  Halleigh rested in his arms for a few minutes. It felt so safe and reassuring. There was only one pair of arms that ever felt like that around her—Malek’s. Halleigh closed her eyes and envisioned Malek there rescuing her from the horrible life she’d been living. She never wanted him to let her go.

  Halleigh put her arms around Maury and pulled him closer to her. Oh, Malek, she thought as she pressed her face against him. Just then she looked up and saw Maury staring down at her. She quickly pulled away from him and walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, leaving a confused Maury on the bed.

  Tears filled Halleigh’s eyes as she began to whimper. “He can’t hurt you anymore,” she told herself. “You run your own shit now. Your life is in your hands, and you won’t allow anyone to make you feel powerless again.”

  Halleigh got a piece of tissue from the toilet paper roll and wiped the last tear from her face, promising herself that she would stay strong. She needed to take control of her life, and she decided that today was the day she would start and never look back again.

  She splashed cold water on her face, dried her hands, and then walked back out into the bedroom. Maury was still sitting on the bed. Halleigh saw that he had breakfast spread out on a small tray for her.

  “I didn’t know what you wanted,” Maury said to Halleigh as he nodded toward the spread, “so I got you a little bit of everything.”

  Halleigh gave Maury a smile that said, “Thank you.” She then lowered her head. She was sure that he would want an explanation for what he’d just witnessed from her a few minutes ago, but to her surprise, he didn’t mention it. She was grateful for that as she stood there looking down at the food, wondering why he was being so nice to her. Nobody was kind for no reason, not at first anyway. They always wanted something. Halleigh wondered just what it was Maury wanted from her.

  “Come here,” Maury stated. He got up and walked toward Halleigh and grabbed her hand. “What’s wrong? Never seen sausage and pancakes before?” Maury tried to lighten the awkward mood.

  “Yeah.” Halleigh nodded. “But what’s it for?” she asked as she followed him toward the bed.

  “What do you mean, what is it for? For you to eat.” He pulled back the plush comforter for her.

  She sat down, and he put some pillows behind her back.

  “I mean, what’s up with you bringing me breakfast in bed?”

  He placed the breakfast tray on her lap. “Just enjoy it, shorty. But don’t get used to it. I don’t do this for everybody, you know. But you deserve it for putting up with me and my gangster movies last night.”

  Halleigh looked around the room. “Well, how did I even get in this bed last night?” she asked, knowing that he had to have carried her to bed. She couldn’t help but appreciate the gesture. If she had been at another point in her life, Tasha’s brother could have easily had her open, but she could barely keep Malek off her mind, so she knew she didn’t have the energy to spark something with Maury.

  “I brought you in here after you passed out on me.”

  Her eyebrows rose inquisitively. “And where did you sleep?”

  Maury laughed out loud at her facial expression. “Chill out, shorty. I crashed on the couch.”

  “Well, thank you for the breakfast, Maury, and for sharing your bed with me.”

  “You don’t have to thank me, Halleigh.” Maury grabbed the bag with his own food and left the room.

  Mimi waited near the room she’d slept in until she saw Maury emerge from the room where Halleigh was. She was now dressed in tight jeans that showed off her apple bottom. She wore no bra, so her nipples peered at Maury through her thin halter top.

  “Hey, Maury,” she stated as he walked toward her. She grabbed his hand and stopped him from moving past her. She walked up close to him and blatantly rubbed her body against him.

  “What up, ma?” He looked her up and down.

  Mimi’s body was on point, and he felt his manhood jump in excitement, but he had to check himself. This was one of his sister’s peoples. Besides, he knew Mimi’s type. She was out for a quick-dick fix and he knew it. On top of that, he was almost certain that it would cost him some paper in the end, whether it was flat-out cash or an afternoon shopping spree. Mimi’s type came with a price.

  Now, Maury definitely felt that Mimi was worth fucking, but he could see straight through her. She could never be wifey. Like any man, he’d keep his options open, but for now, he’d have to put her on reserve.

  “You tell me what’s up,” Mimi said seductively. She could see that Maury’s eyes were focused on her breasts. “You want to touch?” she ran her tongue across her front teeth . . . slowly.

  By now, Maury’s dick was rock-hard, and her offer was tempting, but he shook his head. “Nah, ma, maybe some other time.”

  He tried to walk away, but Mimi pulled him back toward her and into the room.

  “What you doing, ma?” he asked. His breath caught in his throat as he put his hands in the air to avoid touching her.

  Mimi didn’t answer, but she grabbed his hands and put them on her breasts.

  “What, what you doing, girl?” Maury said, attempting to push her away.

  Mimi knew damn well that Maury could overpower her any day of the week. If he really wanted her to back up off of him, he’d be using much more force than he was. She put her hands on top of
Maury’s and began directing them to caress her. She let out a soft moan.

  Eventually, Maury couldn’t help himself. He began massaging Mimi’s D-cups without her assistance, circling his thumbs around her stiff nipples.

  “Ummm,” Mimi moaned in his ear. “I knew you wanted to touch them.” Mimi took one of Maury’s hands, removed it from her breast, and put it up her shirt.

  “Damn, girl,” Maury let slip out. He didn’t want Mimi to know that he was that into it, but now the cat was out of the bag. Maury closed the bedroom door, lifted her shirt, and picked her up so that he could bury his head in her chest.

  One by one, back and forth, forth and back, Maury plucked at Mimi’s nipples with his tongue. Her nipples tasted like honey as he licked all over them, sucking them aggressively.

  She reached down and felt his manhood and then pushed him against the door.

  “Damn,” he whispered.

  Mimi got down on her knees while unzipping Maury’s jeans. She released his penis from his pants and put it in her mouth. She didn’t play with it or hesitate, but deep-throated him with passion as she cupped his balls in her soft hands.

  “Oh shit,” he stated as he gripped the back of her head and ground his hips into her as if he were fucking her pussy. He didn’t want to fuck with Mimi like that, not now, but her seduction was irresistible as he looked down at his dick disappearing over and over again into her mouth.

  Fuck what you’ve read, Superhead didn’t have shit on Mimi, as far as Maury was concerned.

  Mimi moved from his dick to his balls, pleasing him with her tongue, while she massaged her hand up and down his shaft.

  Tingles shot from Maury’s toes to his upper spine, and he curled his toes in delight.

  Mimi had mastered the art of sucking dick a long time ago and was giving Maury her all.

  Maury didn’t know what it was that Mimi wanted out of all this when all was said and done, but any broad who could suck dick like a champ the way Mimi was doing deserved whatever the fuck she wanted.

  “I’m about to nut, ma,” he whispered. “Put it back in your mouth,” he instructed.

  Mimi followed his orders, and thirty seconds later, he let off.

  “Ughh!” he moaned as his body jerked. Maury had expected Mimi to let his semen drip to the floor, but to his surprise, she swallowed every ounce of him and licked his dick clean before tucking it back into his pants where it belonged.

  Mimi smiled proudly as she stood back to her feet.

  She attempted to kiss him on the lips, but he discreetly turned his head, and she caught his cheek. I don’t know where this bitch mouth been, he thought. He had to give her credit, though—she had a mean head game.

  “You gon’ get with me?” Mimi asked him.

  “Yeah, I’ll get with you,” he lied. He instantly began to regret fucking around with Mimi. He knew he had no intention of getting to know her better, and he was hoping that he hadn’t led her on. Fuck it! We both grown as hell. Bitch shouldn’t have put herself out there like that if she doesn’t want a nigga to take advantage.

  He opened the door and headed to the living room to go eat his food, but then he decided that he wanted to take a shower. He’d just have to warm his food up in the microwave afterward. Maury headed toward his room and knocked, slowly pushing it open.

  Halleigh smiled when she saw him poke his head in first and then step into the room.

  Upon seeing her pretty, innocent-like smile, Maury’s conscience immediately began to fuck with him. He was trying to get at Halleigh, yet he’d just let one of her best friends suck his dick. He decided then and there that he would keep Mimi at arm’s length and try to get close to Halleigh, hoping he hadn’t completely destroyed his chances.

  “I need to get in here,” he stated.

  “It’s your room.” Halleigh shrugged as she chewed up the forkful of pancakes she’d just stuffed in her mouth. “Go ahead and handle your business. I need to go kick Tasha’s ass anyway for not coming back for me yesterday like she said she would.” Halleigh bit a piece of sausage and then hopped out of the bed and gathered up the mess she’d made. She walked toward the door, but before leaving the room she turned and said, “Maury?”

  “What’s good, shorty?” he replied as he looked at Halleigh, who immediately put her head down.

  “Thank you for not pushing the issue this morning about how I acted and all, you know, when you came to bring me my food. I know I spazzed out on you. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not my place to push you to do or say anything that you don’t feel comfortable with. When and if you’re ready to talk, I would like to know more about you, including the reason why you spazzed out, and why you never look me in the eye when I talk to you.”

  Halleigh nodded and replied, “Maybe one day we can kick it, just not today.” She left the room in search of Tasha and found her sitting on the living room couch, channel-surfing.

  Halleigh plopped down beside Tasha. “What happened to you yesterday?”

  “Girl, you know how Mimi is. Act like she ain’t never been nowhere in her life,” Tasha said, rolling her eyes. “Mimi’s ass was dragging me all over town. We did the whole tourist thing down on Canal, buying all the knock-off shit. Then we stopped off in this little spot and had a couple drinks. By the time we made it back to the house, it was late. Sorry, girl. We wasn’t trying to leave you here by yourself.”

  “It’s nothing. I was too tired to be going out anyway. Plus, your brother hooked me up with some dinner last night.” Halleigh turned to face Tasha. “You know, your brother is real chill. I like him.”

  “What? You talking about another nigga besides that lame Malek?”

  “I didn’t mean I liked him liked him. I just meant that he’s cool people, is all.”

  Halleigh’s mood immediately turned somber, and Tasha regretted letting the words come from her mouth. “I’m sorry, Hal. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s all right. I’m good.” Halleigh leaned back against the couch and let out a deep sigh, her mind filled with thoughts of Malek. “I do miss him, though, Tasha,” she confessed. “I just can’t ever be down with him again. I mean, how could he be fucking with the niggas that raped me? Why would he do that to me?” Halleigh asked, her voice low. “Is this his way of paying me back for hooking up with Manolo? I mean, I know it hurts him that I ended up doing what I do for a living—”

  “Stop it right there,” Tasha said, sitting up on the couch and facing Halleigh. “What you used to do. You are not a Manolo Mami anymore. That shit’s in the past, do you hear me?”

  “Yeah.” Halleigh nodded as Tasha relaxed herself back on the couch. “But even so, why would Malek do that to me?”

  “I don’t know, Hal. I don’t know. But fuck him! You don’t need that type of drama in your life. You have sixty-five hundred dollars to start a new life with, and once I talk to Maury about these bricks, you gon’ have way more than that. Manolo’s gone, fuck Malek. It’s all about us.”

  “I know,” Halleigh replied. “It is about us now, ain’t it?” she said with a weak smile.

  “Now on to more important things. What did you do to my brother?” Tasha quizzed excitedly.

  Halleigh pulled back with a puzzled look on her face. “What are you talking ’bout? I ain’t do nothing. He’s just cool peoples, that’s all. We’re cool.”

  “Just cool, huh. Got my cheap-ass brother buying you dinner and breakfast and shit. The same brother who made me pay his ass back if I borrowed a nickel from him to buy penny candy, and you say, ‘Just cool’? Humpf.”

  “Girl, I’m serious. Nothing happened,” Halleigh assured her, nudging her on the arm playfully. “Unless you call me falling asleep something.”

  “Whatever. I know you lying, but that’s okay,” Tasha replied. “It’s time to handle this business anyway.” Tasha threw the remote down on the couch and got up. “Where is Maury?”

  “He’s in his room, eating or getting something,” Halleigh replied.
“I’m not sure, but he was in his room when I left out of there.”

  Tasha shot Halleigh a mischievous look. “Mm-hmm, and nothing happened.”

  Halleigh laughed. “Will you cut it out already?”

  Tasha walked toward the hallway and called out, “Mimi, bring the bag out here!” and then returned to the couch next to Halleigh.

  Mimi came waltzing in the room with a smug expression on her face as she carried the bag in her hand. She handed it off to Tasha and sat down in the chair across from her friends.

  Tasha took the kilos of cocaine out of the bag and spread it out across the table. “Look, let me do all the talking, a’ight?”

  “Okay,” Mimi responded, and Halleigh just nodded her head in agreement.

  “Hal, go grab Maury,” Tasha said.

  Halleigh got up and headed down the hallway toward the back of the house. She knocked on his bedroom door.

  “It’s open,” he yelled.

  Halleigh opened the door to find Maury standing in sweatpants with no shirt on, his upper body still wet from his shower. Her eyes admired his chiseled chest and abs for a quick second.

  He smirked. “What’s up, shorty?”

  “Um, we need to talk to you in the living room,” Halleigh said, shaking her head and diverting her eyes from his body.

  Maury grabbed his shirt from the bed and started walking toward Halleigh. As he approached her, he noticed that she began to tense up. As a matter of fact, it seemed as though every time he got near her she tensed up.

  Malek had been the only man ever to cause this type of feeling to come over her, so Halleigh didn’t know what to make of it. The closer Maury got to her, the more chills ran up her body, causing her to tremble slightly. She quickly allowed her eyes to roam from Maury’s perfect physique down to the floor.

  By that time, Maury was all up in her personal space, placing his index finger underneath her chin and lifting her head so that she was now face to face with him.

  “I can’t see this pretty face of yours if you’re looking down at your feet all the time,” he whispered.