by Shay Hunter
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MONIQUE
I placed the last bit of makeup on my face in my dressing room and was getting ready to do my set when Wisdom busted inside. “Boy, what’s wrong with you? Why you coming in here all crazy?” I frowned.
“The cops, they’re outside of the club asking for you. Wouldn’t tell me what was happening but it looks serious. I’m closing the club, go see what they want.”
I jumped up and rushed to the front door. Customers were leaving, I guess none of them wanted to be questioned by the police. When I was in the front of the club I stood in front of three officers — one black and two white. “Can I help you with something?” I folded my arms over my chest. “I mean is everything okay?”
“Ma’am, do you have any clothing to put on?” The black police officer said. “This is a serious matter.”
“I don’t have anything that covers me more than this.” I looked down at my black bra and panty set. “So let’s make it quick, what’s happening.”
He exhaled. “Do you live off of Barryman Road? In Washington DC?”
“Yes,” I said eyes alternating between all of them. “What’s happening?”
“It’s been burned,” he said with heavy breath. “I’m sorry to tell you this but we need to take some information from you.”
I collapsed and unbeknownst to me Wisdom was behind me to help me up. “Is my whole house gone?” I placed my fingers over my mouth.
“I’m afraid so mam,” he said softly. “Are you alright?” He reached out to help me but I was already stable.
I nodded yes.
“Is…anything left?”
“No, everything is gone.” He paused. “Do you know who may be responsible for something like this?” He grabbed a pen and notebook from his front pocket.
I looked into the sky, although I could answer his question without needing to think. Lately my plans needed plans and I hoped this was the last one I would have to change. “The only person I can think of is my aunt Diane. Spyrella’s mother.”
“You sure about that?” Wisdom asked. I forgot he was behind me.
“I wouldn’t have said it, if I wasn’t sure.” I rolled my eyes.
The officer recorded my notes. “So Spyrella is your cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where she lives?”
“She moved from the house we shared months ago. And the last time I heard my aunt was living on the street, at the park. Not sure if she still is because of the weather and all.”
The cops stayed a little longer and recorded more information. I gave them everything I wanted them to have and when I was done they left. Relieved, I decided my work wasn’t done.
Since all of the customers were gone I called Poe and told him what happened. “I’m so sorry, Mo. I really am. I’ll catch the next flight back tomorrow.” He paused. “You can stay with me until we figure all this out. Don’t worry about a thing.”
I got him again!
Guess I’m living with him after all.
He was in LA and couldn’t be here but called repeatedly to make sure I was okay. He also told me where his keys were so that I could let myself in and I knew in that moment I would never go home.
After everybody left Wisdom and I closed out the register. He was about to head out, I guess to be with Carlita, when I stopped him. “You think you can stay for a few minutes and have a drink with me? Please. I don’t want to be alone.”
Wisdom laughed so hard I thought he would fall over. “Yeah, right.” He grabbed his book bag and car keys and walked around the counter.
“What’s funny?” I frowned.
“You know you don’t like me so let’s not play games, Mo. You may have my girl fooled but I know all about you. And what kind of person you are. The last thing I need is to be is caught up on some bullshit.”
He was about to walk out and I knew I had to kick things to the next level. So I busted out crying. Some people may find it hard to cry but for me it was easy. All of my life I felt like people hated me, or thought I was some evil monster when that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m a loving person who wants to be loved back and I’m willing to do whatever I can to make it happen.
To get my tears going I thought about Poe not wanting me. I thought about Spyrella and Carlita being selfish and leaving our home even though they knew I needed them. I thought about it all and suddenly the tears came easily.
Wisdom heard me, turned around, tossed his keys and book bag on the chair and walked up to me. I ran away, toward my dressing room. There was a reason for my madness and my show wouldn’t be over until the end. “I’m sorry, Monique. I…I just thought you were fucking with me.”
“No, go ahead, if you don’t want to have a drink I understand.” I walked inside my dressing room and he was on my heels. “I probably deserve everything I’m getting anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Monique, I just thought that you were running game. I’ll have a drink with you.”
I snatched two tissues from the gold dispenser on the counter and wiped my tears. Then I blew my nose. “No, you don’t have to.”
“Monique, I said I will.” His voice was firmer, like if I pushed it he would really leave. “What do you want me to fix us to drink?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll make it.” I sniffled, rushing back to the bar. Once there I poured him a glass of Hennessey and myself vodka. Then I pulled the pills from under the cash register and plopped them into my drink. When I was finished I walked back into the dressing room and handed him his drink, while sipping slowly on mine.
An hour later he was on his third when suddenly I looked over at him and said, “Why don’t you like me Wisdom? Why do you think I have anything but my cousin’s best interests at heart.”
“I’m her protector and if I see her upset then it’ll make me have my own opinions about the person getting her that way.”
I laughed. “You know, you a dumb nigger if you think my cousin won’t run back to me in a few months. I hope you know that.”
He placed the glass on the floor and blinked a few times. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me! Ever since we fucked, you been making it your life’s work to separate me from my family. But if Carlita knew the things we use to do she wouldn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Wait, you blame me for not telling her? If I remember right you chose to keep our relationship a secret not me. I wanted to tell her and you begged me not to.” He paused. “Now I wonder if it wasn’t just so you could have something over my head.”
“I told you not to tell her because our thing was before you and her got together. But I never knew you would pull this dumb shit either.”
He laughed. “By dumb shit do you mean wanting my woman to be with me?” He shook his head. “Now I get it. You didn’t want her to know because you’re embarrassed that I dropped you. That I didn’t want the relationship even though you did.”
“Whatever.”
“Ain’t no whatever, bitch. You’re miserable and you gonna be miserable long after I marry Carlita.” He stood up. “I knew I shouldn’t have stayed up in this bitch.”
When he got up I jumped on him and pounded his back with my fists. It was important for me to keep my hands out of his face to serve my purpose. He tried to push me off but it didn’t work and then suddenly he slapped me with his knuckles and my skin opened up like wet tissue. Blood was everywhere.
He busted my lips.
“Fuck!” he screamed. “Yo, Mo, I’m so sorry about this shit. I didn’t mean for it to go this far, I just wanted you to leave me alone.”
I looked at my face in the mirror and my white teeth were stained red. While he pleaded, I smiled. This looked way better than I could’ve imagined. He could apologize all he wanted because he gave me exactly what I needed.
Evidence.
I called the police and told them to hurry. And that Wisdom, my co-worker, tried to rape me.
And becaus
e of the drugs in my system I passed out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CARLITA
As I drove erratically down the highway I couldn’t understand what was happening in my life. One minute I was waiting for furniture movers in our new home and the next my fiancé was being arrested for raping my cousin.
I heard the “facts” from the police and I saw the picture with Monique’s bloodied lip. Still none of this made sense. Wisdom could be a little bossy but he didn’t have to rape anyone. Half of the strippers at Skeezers wanted him and at one point I thought Mo did too. But whenever I asked him, instead of him throwing her under the bus he would say, “You need to ask your cousin about that.”
I never understood what he meant but I got the impression that she may have liked him. But rape? All this is so crazy.
My world came toppling down around me two days ago when Spy got a hold of me and told me my aunt Diane was arrested for burning down her house. My aunt didn’t have a grudge against her as far as I knew so even that made limited sense. Had it not been for my aunt’s record I would not have believed a thing.
When I finally made it to Poe’s house I parked on the curb and rushed to the door. After knocking twice Poe opened it and gave me a hug. “Calm down, Carlita.” He took my face into his warm hands and looked into my eyes. “Catch your breath, she’s fine,” He whispered. “I know it’s hard but try not to be upset.” He released my face and hugged me. I took a minute to cry in his arms because it was the first compassion I was shown by anyone since getting the news.
When I was a little relaxed I walked inside and he closed the door. Wiping my eyes with rough fists I stood in the middle of the foyer. “I don’t understand, what’s happening, Poe? You know Wisdom and you know he would never do anything like this? Right?”
He rubbed his hands down his face and stuffed them into his black slacks. “I wish I could tell you what’s going on. I’m in LA helping my cousin with some business and the next thing I know I get a call that Mo’s house is burned. And that Wisdom tried to rape her after drugging her.”
“Drugging her?” I asked with widened eyes. “Wait a minute! He gave her something?”
“Yeah, the toxicology report came back this morning and she definitely had Rohypnol in her blood.”
“What’s that?”
“A rufi.” He exhaled. “And since Wisdom been selling drugs since I’ve known him I—”
The room was spinning. “Hold up, you’re saying that the man I love is a drug dealer?”
His eyes widened and I could see the guilt all over his face. Poe wasn’t a snitching type dude and I could only assume that he thought I knew. “I’m so sorry, Carlita.”
“For how long?”
“As long as I’ve known him.” He shrugged. “I mean, he ain’t moving no major weight but he does what he can to get by.”
I thought about the times he would take money from me but never use it. His thing was my money was for the bank only. In the end every dime I ever gave him was in safekeeping. But a drug dealer? Who was he really? I felt sick to my stomach. “Where is she?” I placed my hand on my belly, trying to stop the queasiness.
“Upstairs.” He moved closer. “But don’t be surprised if she snaps on you, Carlita. She’s been a handful lately and even though I care about her it’s taking everything in my power not to walk away. I’m just preparing you.”
“Please don’t leave her, Poe. If you do she’s all alone for real.”
“I know but I can’t…I don’t…”
His words trailed off and I could tell he was holding back from saying more. “All I ask is that you don’t make any crazy decisions now. Over the next few weeks she’s gonna need us.”
“The thing is, all of us still dealing with the rape at the club. Now another one happens. It’s like we can’t get out from under the dark cloud that follows her.” He kissed me on the cheek and sighed. “I won’t do anything right now, so don’t worry. She’s upstairs.”
I walked up the steps and into the open door. Monique was lying on her side, faced the open window. Her back was in my direction and I sat on the edge of the bed. It squeaked a little. “Mo, it’s me.”
She turned around and looked at me before rolling on her back. Her lip was bruised and she looked sad. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to check on you and try to—”
“You don’t believe me do you? You think I lied on your precious boyfriend.”
“I wouldn’t think anything like that.” I said, although I did.
“Even if you don’t believe me it doesn’t matter. I told you and Spy I couldn’t be alone and you left me anyway. And now look at what happened. I got raped again.” She rolled back on her side and chuckled sarcastically before stopping suddenly. “Do me a favor, get out of my house before I go off on you. I hate bitches trying to act like they give a fuck about me.”
****
I sat across on the other side of a glass wall, waiting on Wisdom to be brought out for our visit. It took everything in me to pull myself out of bed because since he was arrested my life turned into shit. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep and all of my thoughts went on my cousin, my man, my aunt. Something didn’t feel right with everything but the mountain of problems was so high it was hard to see over the top.
When he finally came out he smiled, picked up the handset and sat down. He looked as bad as me. “It’s not true, Carlita. You believe me right?”
“Then what happened?” I paused. “Because one minute I’m waiting on the movers with our furniture and the next you’re being arrested and my cousin’s face is fucked up and she’s yelling rape.”
“I know how it looks. I swear I do but the only thing I’m guilty of is trying to console her. Her house was burned down, she said by your aunt and she wanted to have a drink with me. The next thing I know she’s jumping on me crying rape, hitting me in the back with her fists. But you know how I feel about you, Carlita.” He placed his right hand over his heart. “Why would I jeopardize our relationship for that bitch?”
I frowned. “But why would she lie?”
“I don’t know. If I did I wouldn’t be in here or have gone anywhere near Monique. All I did was be there for her when she said she needed me. Do you think I would risk twenty years in prison for that bitch?”
I swallowed and wiped the sweat off of my brow. I didn’t know what to believe. “When I went to go see her, her lip was busted. Did you do that?”
“Carlita—”
“Did you do it?” I yelled.
“Yes, but it was an accident.”
Large tears began to roll down my face. If he hit her it wasn’t too hard to believe that he raped her too. After all, he’d gotten forceful with me in the past. “It took a month for me to come because I wanted to be objective. I didn’t want to assume the worst because I wanted us to work. Now it’s clear, I can’t trust you. It’s over, don’t call me anymore because I won’t come back.”
“Baby!” he yelled as he placed the palms of his hands on the glass. “Don’t do this. You can’t turn your back on a man like me and think it’s not gonna come back to you. Please.”
I looked at him once more and walked out of his life.
Forever.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
MONIQUE
FOUR MONTHS LATER
I was on the pole, spinning and twirling at the top. I tried my best to get Poe’s attention but these days he seemed frustrated. I don’t know if it’s me or his cousin in L.A, because he’s been spending a lot of time there. At least two weekends out of the month.
When I do my next set I attempt to walk toward him, like I did when we first got together but he got up and left the front of the club. Embarrassed, I grabbed the nearest man on the floor and did the dance for him instead. When I was done I bypassed my dressing room and went toward his office.
Once there I gave myself access. “Are you okay? Because you act like you have a fucking problem with me.”
&nb
sp; “What are you talking about now?”
“I was dancing for you and you got up like I was about to shit on your lap.” I walked inside and sat on the chair across from him.
“Don’t sit there, Mo. I told you I don’t like your bare ass on my leather chairs because my guests sit there too.” He paused. “And as far as the show I’m tired of you broadcasting our relationship to my customers. I don’t want no public lap dances. What we do alone is our business.” He scratched his head. “What do you want?” He scanned through paperwork on his desk, without looking at me.
“I think I asked my question already, I want to know what’s wrong with you. With us?”
He laughed. “What’s wrong is that you have run off three girls, Monique! THREE!” He threw up three fingers like I couldn’t count. “Every one of them were helping bring in customers and you got rid of them because you’re jealous.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall. “I didn’t like how they were acting. One of them stole my money even though she denied it. The other was pushing up on my clients and that white girl went to Playmates club with the other flat butt chicks so she wasn’t gonna be around here long anyway.”
“They left because you’re rude to them. You and your fucking mother. They think just because we live together that your word is mine and that’s not true. I’m trying to operate a business, Monique and I’m not about to let you run it into the ground due to jealousy.”
I could tell that nothing short of apologizing would work with him so that’s what I did. “I’m sorry, Poe.” I walked toward him and stood at his side. “Maybe I do get a little jealous when new chicks come but it doesn’t mean I’m rude or I don’t love you.”
“Get back over there.”
I walked in front of the desk.
“It’s not about love, Mo, it’s about respect. You run nothing at Skeezers. I do.” He looked up at me. “You’re an employee like the rest. And it’s high time you realize it.”
I felt like I swallowed a bowling ball and no words could exit my mouth. For some reason as I stood across from him I felt like he hated me.