by Keisha Ervin
“Danyelle told me to call her when you got in,” Lowe said, dialing her phone.
“I ain’t fuckin’ with them tonight,” Janelle said not wanting to be bothered. “And why you all dressed up tonight? Tight jeans, tight top, new fresh whites, damn! You look cute.”
“Went out with this nigga from out Green Run. He cool, had a good time.”
“Got money, what he do, what he driving?” Janelle asked quickly, surprising Lowe.
Lowe hung up her phone. “She ain’t answering. Ooh! He was driving a new 300M, or is it M300? You know, them new Chryslers that look like a Bentley. He was all jeweled up, rocking new shit from head to toe each time I saw him. He say he fuck with Plexico. That’s his peoples.”
“Damn, that’s some different kind of dough. So you gonna see him again?”
“Know what, girl?” Lowe laughed. “You know I moved back home with my momma to save up my money right. So I’ve been out with three niggas since then. They all had nice whips and shit. But it seem like they were all trying to be Dundee. What he do so natural, these cats was trying and talking like they the shit and I can see the fakeness all up and through ’em.”
“Girl, I can say you still love Dundee, or I can say, you just the type of bitch who want and need a real nigga to handle that ass. And them niggas ain’t real, but you don’t need him beating your ass. There’s a difference between being stern and being crazy,” Janelle said.
“True!” Lowe responded.
“Look! You got this nigga who will ask for pussy nicely, ‘Please can I have some please?’ and then you got those ‘Pull that shit off, I need to fuck’ type nigga. And it’s sad, but we want that ignorant one.”
“Why that nigga just leave me, Janelle, instead of changing and showing me some respect?” Lowe asked.
“Because that’s what you wanted. You stood up and demanded respect, something you had to do, he wasn’t doing right, Lowe. You didn’t deserve the bullshit, don’t sell yourself short. Even if you run into him and you fuck him ’cause you miss him and want dick, he’ll know you still ain’t the one if you don’t put your foot down. Bitch got to demand respect. That’s what you did when you said ‘fuck him.’ Even though you moved back home, you still put your foot down and some niggas can’t handle that, so they try and go to yo’ ass to change you. If they can’t, they leave, then they realize the strength you had, and they begin to admire you. Some ex-couples become the best of friends.”
“I miss him. I need to hold him.”
“Girl, you need some dick,” Janelle said, laughing. “Just say it, you need to be fucked and you ain’t giving yourself to no lame-ass nigga, you wanna go back where you feel secure.”
Lowe laughed at the fact that Janelle saw right through her. She hadn’t been with a man since he’d left.
“I know you, Lowe, and I know you gonna end up calling him, but you got to be smart. You can’t allow him to treat you any kind of way. I keep saying this because I know you gonna give in sooner or later. I don’t want to see you in a fucked-up situation again. Do you, girl? Now, if you do call and he don’t answer, then he fuckin’, if he answer and say he’ll get back, he already got pussy. But if he say, ‘Let’s get up,’ or he hungry or you hungry shit, he want the same thing and he had too much pride to call beggin’ and crying, but if you open the door, he will bust it down.” They laughed as thoughts of calling him ran through her mind. The ringing of the phone disturbed her.
“What da deal?”
“Where you at?” Reece asked.
“At Janelle spot.”
“We at D’Frazier’s, y’all come on through. Danyelle phone about to go dead. Hit me when y’all outside.”
“All right. Yo, they up at D’Frazier’s, what you wanna do?” Lowe said, hoping Janelle was ready to hang. She had given up her place and moved back in with her mom and brother, and she needed to get out. She wasnt’ ready to go back home.
“I ain’t gotta change for D’Frazier’s, do I?”
“Hell naw, they ain’t Luxury Brown, strict-ass club,” Lowe added, laughing.
“We out,” Janelle said, grabbing her small Prada purse, while holding the door so Lowe could get out and she could set her alarm.
“I’ll drive,” Janelle said. She hit the garage door opener and happiness came over her body. She began to shake and tears formed in her eyes.
“Damn, that Choice shit. I ain’t even seen that shit yet, GS350. White, clean as shit.”
Janelle walked over to the Lexus and opened the door. There was a card on the front seat. She opened the card:
To my wifey-to-be I don’t want to shine alone Enjoy your shit, ma!
“Get the fuck in, girl, this my shit,” Janelle yelled.
“Stop lying, Choice gonna get yo’ ass,” Lowe said, closing the door and allowing the leather to surround her. Just like in Dundee’s car, she thought. Janelle hit the button to close the garage and pulled off, throwing the card in Lowe’s lap. Lowe read the card.
“That’s some shit, girl,” Lowe said in a low voice, amazed. “You doing it, Janelle. Getting everything you said. My life ain’t gonna be fucked up,” Lowe said, smiling.
“Know what, Lowe?” Janelle asked. “I was determined. My whole family fucked up: addicts, mental illnesses, faggots.” Lowe shot her eye at Janelle. “It is what it is. Love my brother, but the nigga a faggot and I’ll never understand that shit. Niecy say she understand him. She fuck with him, but they been through a lot, let them tell it, I don’t remember that shit,” Janelle said.
“Your choice not to remember,” Lowe said, turning on the radio. Janelle hit five on her speed dial.
“What up, ma?” Choice said with music in the background.
“I love you, baby, thank you,” she said, smiling.
“Don’t thank me, just act like you got some motherfuckin’ sense.”
“You know I am. Where you at?” she asked, wondering, if she wanted to know.
“DC,” he said.
“Where in DC, Choice?” Janelle asked bluntly.
“Dream, Club Dream,” he said, frustrated.
“Dream is closed, Choice, why the fuck you lying?” she yelled.
“Girl, I’m in the club all fucked up and you coming with a thousand fuckin’ questions. I’m wit’ these niggas, shit, I don’t know, where the fuck I’m at?” he asked Jus.
“Love,” Jus said, sipping his Hennessy VSOP while this fly-ass mami with body for days sat up under him, sipping Chicito.
“I thought this was Dream,” he asked Jus, Boe, and A.
“It use to be Dream, now it’s Love,” Boe said, turning the Crystal bottle up to head. Boe and A were two cats Jus knew from New York who were in DC doing their thing.
“See, girl, they changed the name. You be killing me with that dumb shit.”
“My bad! Love my Lex, baby, and I love you too,” Janelle said, trying to change the subject.
“It’s one o’clock, where the fuck you going?” he asked, concerned.
“Me and Lowe going to D’Frazier’s. Reece and Danyelle already up there.”
“What the fuck is D’Frazier’s, they closed that shit, why you lying?” he said, laughing.
“Martini Blue,” she said, pulling up. They shared a moment, and inside he felt his girl was right there. She stopped laughing. “I love you, Choice. Be careful, baby, I need you more than ever. You are my heart,” she said, letting him know she was truly feeling him.
“Me too, ma. Me too. Hit me when you get home. One.” And the phone went dead.
“Come on, girl, all that lovey-dovey shit,” Lowe said, closing the door.
“You jealous, bitch, all y’all bitches jealous of Janelle, the fly-ass diva,” she said, laughing slapping Lowe on her back.
“Well, come on up front Ms. Diva, so you can get us in the club. You know I ain’t got no money.”
Janelle walked through the door. They only wanted ten dollars, but she handed Security a hundred. Once inside, she ran to Reec
e and Danyelle with her hand in the air, showing off her diamond ring. “Congrats, girl,” Reece said, excited.
“I won’t be the only bitch who got to go home because her husband call.” They all laughed as Lowe walked up and hugged Reece and Danyelle. Janelle leaned over to her.
“That bitch gave you my change, right. I gave her a hundred.”
“Naw,” Lowe said, dumbfounded, throwing her hands up. Janelle was getting ready to take off when Lowe laughed and said, “Yeah, I got it.”
“Okay!” Janelle said, and began talking to all her friends. They ordered rounds and a bottle of champagne, and as they got into celebrating Janelle’s engagement, her phone rang.
“What up, girl?” Janelle said happy, excited, and a little tipsy.
“What you doing?” Niecy asked, dragging.
“At D’Frazier’s.”
“Sound like you having a good time. Who you wit’?”
“Lowe, Reece, and Danyelle, you know who I fuck with.”
“You ain’t even call me and let me know you was back from fuckin’ Hawaii?” Neicy said, frustrated.
“Girl, I been back. I called you when I got back to New York. And I just got back here an hour ago. We talked the other night. You need to leave that shit alone,” Janelle said as a joke.
“I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ shit. I’m just tired of everything. Sometimes I wish Naquel was here and I was gone,” Niecy said sadly.
“Here you go with that bullshit, carry yo’ ass to sleep. ’Bye,” Janelle said, closing her phone. Trying not to let her sister get to her, she filled her champagne glass with the Red Moët, they’d decided to try, and they toasted once more.
“To you, Janelle, may you and Choice be forever happy,” Danyelle said.
“And may he continue to take care of you like he doing,” Lowe added.
“Amen to that,” Reece said, and they drank up. “Where Niecy these days?”
“Taking care of them kids. Running the street is over,” Lowe said.
“Shit, she still running, still getting high, and giving Poppa hell. I don’t see how any nigga put up with her. That’s my sister and I love her ass, but she come with some shit and she seems to be getting worse,” Janelle said with a spaced-out look.
“My momma said she having those babies too damn close, she ain’t giving her body a chance to heal before she fuckin’ again. It can fuck her up physically and mentally, you need to tell her ass to slow the fuck down,” Danyelle said.
“That bitch already three months pregnant again!”
“That nigga stay riding her ass,” Reece said, laughing.
“So what’s up with you and Mansio?” Janelle asked. Reece began to laugh. They all looked at her. She couldn’t stop laughing, when she got her composure, she finally made them swear to never repeat what she was about to tell them. They agreed.
“Ok, I’m a freaky-ass girl, y’all know this, but I gets off. Now I’m fuckin’ dude and he ain’t really doing it, so when he throwing dick, I start rubbing my clit to cum. After I cum, I’m still horny, so I ask him if he want to go in my ass. He gets all excited. I get my dildo out, I put it in my pussy while he in my ass.” She had their undivided attention. “Now, he figure I’m a straight freak, so we laying there and he ask me was there any fantasy I had that I hadn’t done. I told him I wanted to find a man who was so secure in his manhood that he’ll let me fuck him.” They burst out laughing, which made her laugh.
“No, he didn’t, I know he didn’t,” Janelle said, surprised as her eyes popped open wide.
“Yeah, he did. I freaked the shit out of him. Sucked his neck, ears, chest, nipples, fingers, toes, dick, and licked his ass, he was panting like a bitch, then I threw my strap on and fucked the shit out of him. It was all that, but now I’m done. Fantasy has been fulfilled.”
“I got one question, where the fuck you get a strap-on?” Danyelle asked with no facial expressions.
“That’s always been a fantasy, and every now and then I come across a nigga who wit’ it, but this nigga want me to fuck him every time I see him. If he stay a week, he want me to freak and fuck him every night. Last time I told him no, and asked if he was gay or bisexual. Shit, this nigga stopped fucking me,” she laughed. They followed, still amazed. “We talked, but I told him I wasn’t wit’ that shit no more. I needed real nigga to put it down. Guess he took it the wrong way. Fuck him,” she said, sipping her champagne. All they could do was shake their heads.
“How the fuck you gonna pay for all that shit, house, car, damn girl,” Danyelle said.
“Girl, please, unlike some hoes, I know what my pussy worth, and I ain’t scared to fuck and get my money,” Reece said with attitude, looking at Lowe.
“Girl, I can put this pussy and phat ass on any nigga out here, have him stalking me and ready to buck on any guy that look at me. But he only gonna get that out of me if I like him. Not for his money, nigga can’t buy me. You tell a nigga, fuck him and his money, then he see he can’t run you with his money, then he wanna beat yo’ ass. Fuck these niggas, pour me some more bubbly!” Lowe said with a smile. They laughed, downed their drinks, and headed to the car. When they reached the parking lot, they fell right into the parking lot party. They hung for a bit, talking to guys chilling with nice cars and playing loud music. Then they saw Dundee coming across the parking lot in his black Rocawear jeans, black Rocawear T-shirt, and black D.C.s with his iced out chain that read LEP, with his signature black bandanna tied around his right wrist.
“What up, gangsta girl,” he said, looking at Janelle. “Yo’ shit stink, just like everybody else’s,” he added, looking at Danyelle. “Raggedy-ass Reece,” he said with his nose turned up.
“Fuck you, nigga and yo’ team. Going to my car right now,” she said, walking off. He turned to Lowe.
“You gonna let her talk to your man like that?” he said, looking at her and seeing a young woman, not a gold digger. He actually missed her. He figured if she won’t shit, that another nigga would have replaced him and she would have kept her house and anything else she had going. But she didn’t, she tried to hold it down herself and fell, and for that he felt like shit, but looked at Lowe different.
“You my man now?” she said, staring into his eyes. He just looked at her. “My man don’t fight me and my man don’t let me fall. I loved you, Dun, and you shitted on me. Why?”
“Because I was young and stupid,” he said with his head down.
“Nigga it was just six months ago.”
“I know, tell your girls you with me. Let’s go talk,” Lowe looked at Janelle with her eyebrows up.
“Hollah at me later. Love ya!” Janelle said.
“Love you too,” she said. She grabbed hold of Dundee’s hand and walked off.
“If I were her, I wouldn’t give that punk the time of day,” Danyelle said.
“She love that nigga. Give her a chance. She might learn how to handle that crazy motherfucker,” Janelle said.
“When you become his fan? What about that shit with you and him? Him snatching you out the car and Choice doing his mans and them? You act like that shit all good,” Danyelle said, looking at Janelle for explanation.
“It was all business, Danyelle. It was business and that shit with him and Lowe ain’t our business. I don’t like that nigga for her, but what can we do? She lonesome and want that nigga in her life. Hope he changed. I ain’t out there wit’ that shit no more so I ain’t got no problems with nobody. I’m a club owner, an entrepreneur,” Janelle said, smiling and getting into her new Lexus. Danyelle just walked away to her car, thinking that everybody needed to slow down.
It was the grand opening of Reign . . .
Urban Books, LLC
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Queen Pynn © Copyright 2009 Keisha Ervin
Trick, Don’t Treat © Copyright 2009 Brenda Hampton
Breaking Down A Brickhouse © Copyright 2009 Edd McNair
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ISBN: 978-1-6016-2152-8
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