by Tiana Grover
I was beginning to love the time I spent with Leon. His interest in me was so obvious; he wore it on his sleeve. I was always “baby” or “love” when we were together. He was affectionate; he always held my hand and rubbed him thumb over top of it; he would stand behind me and gently massage my shoulders… he did all the little things that us women loved that made us feel special. Then there was the way he stared at me. Leon had a way of looking at me like I was the only woman in the world. His stare was so deep I felt like he could see right through me. At first, I used to look away when he did it, but not anymore. I loved it.
The man was good; I had to give him that. He was very good at what he did. More than once I found myself wondering what it would be like to be with him instead of Prince.
I stopped smiling at the phone like a high school girl with a crush and texted him back.
Me: I had a good time too. I gotta go to Sunday dinner at my mom’s today… Maybe Tomorrow?
Not even a full minute went past before Leon responded.
Leesha: Okay baby. Can’t wait to see you.
In response I sent him the kissy face emoji with the heart. Then I went back to putting up decorations.
Christmas was a week away but the spirit damn sure wasn’t in my house. Prince was in a daze most of the time. He walked around barely talking to me or anyone. We had been planning on having a huge Christmas dinner at our house for our family and friends but now I was having serious second thoughts. Our relationship was not in a good place right now. Even Stevie Wonder could see that. I didn’t want everyone else picking up on it. The last time we were around our family and friends together, we had just gotten engaged. Now we barely spoke.
It bothered me to no end that wasn’t trying to fix what was wrong with us, especially since I had no idea what it was! He came home late and avoided me, yet I was the one suffering. Something had to give.
That’s why lately, I spent more and more time away from him and with Leon. He gave me all the attention that Prince did not. He always made time for me. He showed his interest in me. I never had to guess where I stood with him, which was what I was doing now with Prince. I knew the thing between me and Leon could be because it was new, or it may be because I had not had sex with him. Whatever the reason, he had me going. I thought of him more than I should have and I can honestly say if I wasn’t with Prince, I could see myself getting serious with Leon… which was probably why I should fall back from him. Catching feelings for the man on the side was a big no no, but I couldn’t help it. Everything Leon did turned me on and filed the void Prince left with his neglect.
I heard a key turn in the lock. Speak of the devil. I continued to hang Christmas stockings, prepared to deal with the awkward silence that had consumed us for the last month.
Prince walked up behind me, wrapped his arms my waist and whispered in my ear, “Let’s get married.”
As irritated as I was with him, my body still tingled from his touch. I turned to face him and for the first time in a month, his eyes were sparkling. Something had changed… But what?
“I thought we were already getting married, remember?” I flashed my engagement ring.
He smiled and kissed it, then slowly started to kiss and suck on my other fingers. I started to breathe heavily. “I mean lets move the wedding up. Why wait to plan a big wedding? I want to do it now.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?” I asked. I wanted a big wedding with my father walking me down the aisle, complete with all the trimmings.
“I don’t want to wait another day to make you my wife, Sierra. You’re perfect for me, and even though I know I been on some bullshit lately, this is my way of showing you how serious I am about us. I want you to be my wife now. You deserve it.”
I was a little hesitant to say the least. I wanted to wait until I graduated from college in the spring before I even started to plan our wedding. I was in no rush.
Still I can’t even lie, the fact that he wanted to tie the knot before I did was endearing to me. It was usually the other way around. Maybe he had finally come to his senses and realized what a good woman he had. Besides, even though I had Leon on the side, and I really cared for him, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. Yeah I enjoyed all the things me and Leon did, and all of the attention he showered on me, but at the end of the day I wished that Prince was the one doing those things like he used to. Maybe now that he was out of whatever slump he had been in, we could get back on track to being us and he would get back to being the man that I had fell in love with.
“Okay… Let’s plan it for Valentine’s Day,” I told him. I got excited thinking of how romantic a Valentine’s Day wedding would be.
He smiled and my heart melted at the sight of those dimples. It was crazy. Prince was still the only man who could make me feel mad, sad, happy and horny… all at once! I had no control over my emotions when it came to him. “That’s fine with me.” I looked down at my Movado, one of the many gifts Prince had given me. “Babe it’s time to head over to my mom’s for dinner.”
“Oh yeah? Okay but before we go…” he bit his bottom lip and smirked before puling my Bebe sweatpants down, then unbuckled his belt.
“Baby we gone be late…” I protested softly as he led me to the sofa and bent me over the arm.
“Yeah we will,” he agreed. “But I’ll make it worthwhile.” He slid inside of me and let out a low moan. I was wet from the moment he wrapped his arms around my waist. Anytime he touched me I was automatically ready to go… which probably was part of the reason why I couldn’t picture my life without him. I was what you would call dick whipped, plain and simple. And being dick whipped overrode common sense seven days out the week, three hundred and sixty five days of the year.
But as he thrust in and out me, pulling my hair, slapping my ass and kissing my neck, making promises that he couldn’t and probably wouldn’t keep, I knew it was more than just the dick. I mean yeah I loved it, don’t get me wrong but at the end of the day, I loved his ass too.
I wasn’t going anywhere and we both knew it. This was my man. For better or for worse.
Chapter Thirteen
“Ain’t a woman alive that can take my mama’s place”
Tupac “Dear Mama”
Red
I woke up Christmas morning and reached for the ashtray on my nightstand where I had half a blunt left from the night before. To my surprise, I almost knocked over a square Tiffany blue box. I smiled, knowing it had to be from my one and only son. He was the only person that had keys to my house.
I grabbed it and opened it. A heart shaped ruby was hanging on a delicate chain. I lifted it up with a smile. It was beautiful.
I had been prepared to spend Christmas Day alone, a first for me. Prince had invited me over to him and that girl’s house for dinner so that I could meet her family but I had no interest in being around her bougie ass or meeting her stuck up family. I did not approve of their relationship and since there wasn’t a fake bone in my body, I wasn’t about to pretend like I did. I planned on getting fucked up all day to fill the void of spending my first Christmas away from Prince. I hadn’t done that since he’d been born.
I stroked the ruby then placed it back in the box gently. I reached for my blunt again, but stopped once I saw the card on my nightstand. It must have been under my necklace. I opened it. A beautiful Christmas tree was on the front with the words All that’s missing is you. I shook my head and opened it. Ten crisp one hundred dollar bills spilled on my lap. Another smile spread across my face. Prince always knew how to spoil me better than any man I had ever been with, and that included his father. He went the extra mile to show me how much he appreciated the fact that I had raised him like he was my own flesh and blood. To me he was. There wasn’t a woman out there that could love a child more than I loved Prince.
I put the money in my nightstand drawer, then read the inside of the card.
Red,
I know you don’t like me being with Sierra. I know I
been wrong to
Avoid you since you’ve heard about me proposing to her. I
Get it. You don’t want me with her. But Red, I love her. She
Makes me happy. And I miss you. No one can ever take your
Place. I want you to come to my house and spend Christmas
With us. We’ve never spent a Christmas apart and I
Don’t want to start now. It would mean so much to me if you
Could put aside your differences with Sierra, whatever they may
Be and come spend this holiday with us. Please.
I love you,
Prince
To my surprise, a tear spilled down my face. I can’t tell you the last time I cried. I didn’t even cry when Prince’s father died, but this shit right here… Yeah, this had me all in my feelings.
I missed my son. It wasn’t the fact that he had a girlfriend that made me angry or upset. I actually loved his last girlfriend, Chloe. It was who he picked to be his woman that pissed me off.
From the first time I laid eyes on the little girl, that had Prince walking around like a lovesick fool, I had made up my mind that I didn’t like her. She was a very pretty girl, but I could tell right off the bat that she was one of those bougie little bitches who thought her shit didn’t stink.
I was right.
The little girl went to college, to Carnegie Mellon University at that, and came from a two parent household with three sisters. Her mom was a teacher and her dad worked at West Penn Hospital. Prince ain’t have no business fucking with a girl who came from that kind of background. Their family was one step below the fucking Huxtables!
Prince didn’t need to be involved with no spoiled little chick like that. He came from street royalty. If he was to ever get bagged, that little girl would not ride with him. I knew her type. She didn’t understand street politics or why he led the life that he did. She even talked him into going legit! She wanted him to be someone that he wasn’t, filling his head with all kinds of nonsense about how he could be doing so much more with his life. He had been the number one arms trafficker in Western Pennsylvania for the past ten years, even though he thought I didn’t know it. I don’t know why he would ever think that; my ear stayed glued to the street.
Everyone got their guns from him. From assault rifles to pistols, Prince had you covered. He was a millionaire a few times over easily by the time he decided to give it up. I didn’t understand why he would want to walk away from such a lucrative operation instead of expanding into the Eastern part of the state. He never gave me a reason, since he thought I had no idea what he was doing in the first place. Shit, he didn’t have to tell me why. I knew it was because of her.
The main reason I couldn’t stand her though was because she reminded me so much of Prince’s biological mother. Prince’s father, Big Mike, had run an escort service for high-class call girls and I was his bottom bitch for as long as I could remember. Being under his wing, I learned several other lucrative hustles besides selling pussy and started to build an empire of my own.
After years of making money together, Big Mike started dropping hints that he wanted to retire, from the escort service anyway, and start a family. I looked at him like he was blind, deaf, dumb and stupid. Wasn’t no way I was pushing a baby out my ass for him or nobody else. I don’t know where he got that crazy ass idea from but I talked him out of it at every chance I got. I was not willing to slow down and have a fucking baby. I had shit to do and a criminal enterprise to run. And so did he.
I should have caught on to the fact that some other bitch had his nose wide open when talk of having a family abruptly stopped altogether. I didn’t though… at least not at first. I did notice that he spent a lot more time with Freddie, one of the new girls but I thought nothing of it. She was new and he had to break her in. I knew how the game went and while I may not have liked it, I respected it.
I noticed the way he looked at her, like she was the only thing in the room. He would get all googly eyed and shit whenever the bitch walked past. I knew then that he had it bad for her. What I couldn’t figure out was why. There was nothing special about her at all; the bitch was boring if you asked me. Even though she was selling ass like the other girls, she wasn’t like them at all. There was an innocence about her that let you know that she shouldn’t really be in the business. I couldn’t stand that about her.
We ran a high-class operation where the girls were free to do whatever they wanted during the day, as long as they reported for their scheduled dates. Big Mike could have run a Fortune 500 company, he ran his girls and other illegal businesses so well. None of them ran or dipped out on us, because Big Mike made it clear that he wasn’t holding them. If they wanted to go, they were free to leave. The money made them stay.
Freddie was the only one who took classes down at the community college during the day. I could never understand that shit. Why would she take classes to get a degree so she could make less money than she did working for us? Yet, she was adamant. Anytime she wasn’t working, her nose was buried in a book. I couldn’t stand her stuck up ass and wanted her to go. Her head wasn’t where it needed to be to be a successful call girl. I told Big Mike that shit over and over again, but he wouldn’t listen. He kept her around, regardless of how I felt about it. After a while he became disrespectful with it, flaunting their relationship around town and not caring who knew about it. It made me look like a punk and a fool that some young bitch could come steal my man. Yet, I refused to leave. I had worked hard to earn my spot in his empire. No one was taking it from me without a fight.
When Freddie became pregnant, Big Mike immediately claimed the baby, even though there was no way of knowing that it was his for sure. She was a fucking whore, after all. He insisted that the baby was his though, and nine months later when she gave birth, I had to begrudgingly agree with him. The baby boy looked just like him.
Things began to change. Big Mike had a woman he was in love and a son; he pretty much had the family he’d always wanted. There was no room left for me in his life anymore. One day he calmly informed me that he planned on leaving me to be with his woman and their baby. He was so casual with it and announced it the same way you would tell someone you were about to run to the store.
I was not about to let that happen. Prince was three months when his mother “disappeared.” Later her body was found floating in the Monongahela River. Big Mike was devastated. I comforted him and promised to raise his son as my own. I changed his name to Prince and he had been my baby boy ever since then. I did love him like I gave birth to him.
Big Mike always suspected me of having something to do with Freddie’s disappearance but couldn’t prove it. He never fully recovered from it though. It seemed that a piece of him died when they pulled her body from that river. I could care less though. We were still together making money hand over fist, and that’s all that mattered.
I shook my head to stop my trip down memory lane. That’s what happened whenever Prince’s little stuck up girlfriend Sierra was mentioned. She reminded of Freddie too damn much. I would never accept her. Matter of fact, I had no intentions on letting Prince marry her. I thought that their relationship would have run its course by now, but it only seemed to get stronger. That meant I had work to do.
I decided I would go to Prince’s holiday dinner. I had trusted Chloe to get the girl out of the way by now so that she and my son could be together, but so far she hadn’t been doing a very good job of it. Sierra and Prince had only gotten closer. Prince always used to say that Chloe wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. I hated to admit that it, but the boy was right. Looked like I would have to come between the happy couple myself.
I put on a winter white sweater dress with a diamond Chanel brooch and some winter white suede boots that came over my knee with fringes. The boots and the brooch were a gift from Prince. I slid on the ruby necklace, made sure each one of my red curls were in place and headed out to see my son.
I pulled up the same tim
e as a black Ford Explorer. Always one to observe my surroundings, I stayed in my car to see who was getting out.
The back doors opened and two teenage girls that resembled Sierra climbed out. They walked up to the house and walked right on in without ringing the doorbell.
The driver’s side door opened and the man that I saw get out made my lips curl into a smile. Daniel Lucas was one of my faithful clients. He had been a client of mine for so long that even when I stopped turning tricks years and years ago, and moved from working girl to Madame to out of the game altogether, I continued to turn tricks with him. He couldn’t get enough of me. I kept my heart and feelings closed off to him because a woman in my position couldn’t afford to fall in love, especially with one of her Johns, but if I was a different kind of woman that walked a different path in life, I would have been able to enjoy him. I would have definitely taken him from that square wife of his.
So Daniel Lucas was Sierra’s father. The father that was supposed to have been so perfect, the man that Prince looked up to, the man that was supposed to be a modern day Cliff Huxtable was nothing more than a regular John. Ha! I couldn’t wait to get into the house and see his face.
Christmas dinner was about to become very interesting.
Chapter Fourteen
“Are you single? Are you taken?”
Omarion ft. Pusha T and Fabolous “Know You Better”
Trina
I double-checked my appearance in the full-length mirror by the front door before walking out. I blocked out the mess that had accumulated in the living room, kitchen and small dining room as I made sure I looked up to par.
Once again my mother had forced me out of the house, this time using the excuse that it was a holiday. So? I didn’t care that it was Christmas. Who did I have to wake up to? I was single with no kids. Christmas was just another day to me. I was content to sit in the house, feeling sorry for myself.