by Lucinda John
“What did I ever do to discover a wonderful husband like you?”
“I don’t know, I think it was the pussy,” I joked. “You ready to break your new office in?”
“You so nasty,” she giggled.
“Only for you,” I said placing her on her oversized DMI cherry wood, U-shaped office desk.
Chapter 26
Honey
Sitting in my office, I was looking over the audits and finishing up the payroll checks. I had to come to the salon and work because I knew with Rob’s extra horny ass, I would be distracted and my employees would end up without a paycheck. While I was here, I decided to do inventory, and put in orders so that my work schedule would be cleared for the rest of the week.
“Yesssss, Jamie, you snapped,” I complimented one of my hairdressers as she sat in the back working on a sew in wig for one of her clients.
“Thanks boss lady,” she smiled.
Since I opened up Sweet Licks, business had been booming. Our first month in business, I made more money than expected from a new business. I was very happy with what I’d created, and I loved having money of my own to bring to the table. Even though Rob didn’t accept any of my attempts to pay any bills, it was still good that I had legit income coming in that was able to support the lifestyle that we lived.
My assistant and I were in the supply room doing the inventory when my phone started ringing off the hook. Glancing at it, I saw it was Rob calling and decided to call him back when I was done.
Three hours later, we had everything counted, and I was now putting in the orders for the things that we needed. After I had put in all of my orders, I was beat. My body was so sore and I was dog tired. The only thing that was on my mind was going home, taking a nice long bubble bath, and going to bed.
“Honey?”
“Yes, Joy.”
“My babysitter just called and told me that Aaliyah is throwing up, and she’s really concerned; she thinks I should take her to the emergency room,” my assistant said.
I so badly wanted to scream because she was the one who usually closed down the shop for me and since I was open until midnight, it would be another three hours before it was time to lock up. I started to close down early, but I thought of my workers and all of their clients, so I decided to ride it out.
Remembering that I was about to become a mother soon, I had a soft spot and decided to let her go home early. I kicked my shoes off and decided to fall asleep until it was time to close.
“Honey, we’re done for the night,” Jamie said waking me.
“Ok, is everything cleaned up?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Ok, drive safely,” I said letting them out and locking the doors behind them.
Gathering all the tickets, I counted the money and made sure that the numbers added up. I walked back to the safe and locked up the money until the Brinks truck came and did their pick ups. Making sure the place was spotless, I restocked everything and did a final walk through. I was really considering hiring a backup assistant for reasons like these. Setting the alarm, I locked the doors and barricaded my salon with the wired bars and sheds.
Walking to my car, I realized that I locked my car keys and phone inside of the salon.
“Excuse me, can I borrow a lighter,” a bum asked me.
“Sorry, I don’t smoke,” I said turning my back and walking away.
WHAP!
A blow to my head caused me to fall to the ground. Two figures dressed in all black started beating on me. I screamed out for help, but no one was around to hear me. The only thing I could do while they assaulted me was to try my best to protect my body. The beating went on forever until headlights scared them away. The took off running with my bag in their hand.
“OH, MY GOD SOMEBODY CALL 9-11,” I could hear a voice yell out.
“Ma’am, are you ok? You’re bleeding,” a woman asked.
“My baby,” was all I kept mumbling over and over again
“It’s going to be ok, help is on the way,” she assured me. The lady sat with me and talked to me the whole time until the paramedics came. When they finally arrived, I could hear her explain to them that she found me like this.
“Ma’am, do you know who did this to you?” the paramedic asked.
“My baby.”
“Are you pregnant?”
“My baby, oh, God my baby.” At that moment I felt in my heart that I had lost my baby, I sobbed uncontrollably until I was injected with something that sedated me.
Chapter 27
Rob
I’d been trying to contact Honey for the past hour now. She was supposed to be home, and when I was unable to locate her, I decided to go to the salon and drag her ass home. I was all for women being independent and making their own money, but I didn’t want her putting too much stress on the baby.
I told her numerous of times that she needed to hire a bigger staff, having just an assistant wasn’t going to help with everything that needed to get done.
I pulled up to the front of Sweet Licks and my heart sunk seeing all of the cops and paramedics. As I was walking up to the scene, the Paramedics and the blaring sirens were in a rush. All I kept asking God was for it not to be Honey that was in the back of the truck being rushed to the hospital.
“Back up sir this is a crime scene,” the cop said as I tried to walk past the police officers standing around doing nothing. I noticed the pool of blood and then I saw Honey’s car still parked in her parking spot.
“This is my wife’s salon, is everything ok?”
“Who is your wife sir?” the fat bastard asked.
“Honey, Honey Robinson, the owner of this shop.”
“A young lady wearing a black pencil skirt and a white blouse was found here on the ground. She wasn’t wearing a purse, nor did she have a cell phone. We’re thinking it was a robbery gone wrong.”
I was still stuck on the description of the clothing. I knew it was Honey because I picked out her outfit for work this morning. Running to my car, I jumped in and rushed to Mercy Hospital, which was the closest one in this area.
“I’m here to see Honey Robinson; she was brought here earlier by an ambulance. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a white blouse,” I blurted out. The front desk nurse was punching in keys on the computer. “Have a seat sir, she is here and I’ll have the doctor come out and speak with you.”
Unable to sit, I called Chad and Denise, and briefed them on what happened, and told them to meet me at the hospital. Pacing the hallways, I waited for the doctor.
“Are you the gentlemen here for Honey?” a short, fat old man asked who I assumed was the doctor asked.
“Yes.”
“Honey is perfectly fine, but the baby did not make it.” he sighed “She was badly beaten that she lost the baby before she got here.”
I felt my heart crush as the doctor delivered the bad news.
“Can I see her?”
“Yes, whenever you’re ready. She’s in room E-13. I’m sorry for your loss,” he sympathized before walking off.
Just as I was about to walk to her room, I heard my name being yelled out. I looked back and saw a very distressed Denise and a confused Cinnamon.
“Is my baby ok?” Denise asked.
“Yes, she fine, but the baby didn’t make it.”
“Oh, no! What happened?”
“Someone robbed her then beat her,” I said feeling my anger reach an all time high. I was like a volcano waiting to erupt at any second; I was ready to unleash my inner beast.
“Oh, God, have you seen her yet?” Cinnamon asked.
“No, I’m going in now.”
Seeing her in the condition she was in broke my heart. I wished I would have come earlier when I called the first few times, and she didn’t answer. All I kept thinking was if I were there then my baby would still be here.
After everyone visited Honey, Derrick said a prayer and they all went home. The nurse was giving me grief about visiting hour
s being over. Five hundred dollars was able to have her singing another tune. Pulling up a chair next to Honey’s bedside, I sat there watching her waiting for her to wake up.
After her being in the hospital for a few days, I was finally able to bring her home. When we got home, she just went inside of one of the guest rooms and locked herself in. I couldn’t get her to eat, drink, or talk to me.
Denise suggested that I give her a little space because she was mourning the death of her child. Hell I was mourning too, but this wasn’t the time for her to push me away, this was supposed to have been a moment that brought us together as a couple.
****
It had been a full week since Honey shut me out, so I decided to head out for some drinks. I ended up at a strip club called Players. My mind was all over the place, so I used the alcohol and weed to numb the pain I was feeling.
“Hey, daddy can I give you a dance?” a big booty vixen asked.
“I don’t care.”
She sat on my lap and began working her magic on me. Throwing back a few more drinks, I was starting to feel the effects of the drink. I was now buzzed and still drinking. I wasn’t really big on drinking, but the numb feeling it was giving me was what I needed to cope with my loss. I felt like I not only lost my child, but my soul mate as well.
“Damn, daddy you seem tense you need Cookie to take care of you?”
“Take care of me how?”
“I can show you better than I can tell you, c’mon.”
I was too drunk to walk, so she practically had to push me inside of the champagne room. She sat me down on the plush red sofa and began dancing and removing all of her clothes. I tried to reach for the bottle, but it fell over spilling all over the cream colored carpet. She poured me a shot and handed it over to me; I gulped it down and clumsily handed her the glass for another shot.
I was so drunk that I didn’t notice that she had my dick out until she was sucking on it. I let out a moan as she continued to rock my mic. I grabbed her by the back of the head and fucked her mouth like it was a pussy. She started to gag and choke, but I didn’t give a fuck, I just kept ramming my dick in her mouth. My toes started to curl as I injected her mouth with my sperm. She was about to jump on my dick until someone snatched her.
“Nigga you slipping,” Chad said tossing a few bills at the stripper. “Your services are no longer needed,” he said dismissing her.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked.
“I lost my baby; I lost my wife,” I slurred.
“Get your shit together, if I didn’t follow yo’ ass here you would have been in some deep shit fucking that stripper bitch and that bitch was about to jump on your shit raw. My dude if shit would have played out like that, you would have been screwed.”
“Man, Chad, you don’t know how I’m feeling right now.”
“Oh, I don’t? Nigga, my first child died because the mother wanted to be a crackhead,” he revealed. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“My lil soulja gone, Chad,” I cried.
“Nigga I know how you feel, but you going about it all wrong. You should be home with Honey right now.”
“Man she ain’t trying to be around a nigga.”
“Not now, but you have to understand a woman’s bond with a baby is different from ours. She was the one actually carrying the baby, so it’s going to fuck her head up. It’s your job to be there no matter how hard she tries to push you away.”
“I fucked up, Chad.”
“You almost fucked up. Get your drunk ass up, so I can take your drunk ass home to your wife.”
The next morning, I woke up with the worst headache in the world. Taking two extra strength Aleve’s, I hopped in the shower and made Honey and I some breakfast. She was still in her little funk, but I took Chad’s advice and catered to her every need.
I decided to start working from home until she was one hundred percent better. I was stressed out running both her business and my traps, but I somehow managed. I hired a few more people to help Honey around at the shop. I also put out a fifty thousand hit out on the person that did this to my girl taking our child from us.
Whoever attacked her that day was able to come up eighty thousand dollars from her by clearing her accounts using her bankcards. I reported all of her debit and credit cards stolen, and replaced every dime that was touched. I didn’t want to go with no bullshit robbery story; this was planned out and I wanted to the person responsible to pay.
Chapter 28
Victoria
$859,682.77, I smiled at the amount that I had now saved up in my account. I was happy that I had enough money so that my kids and I was able to live comfortably. I still had the money Rob gave me stashed in my safe, so I was now financially ready to bring my kids down; I missed them terribly.
I tried to answer the incoming FaceTime call from my son, but my iPad died. I remembered Chastity having it last, so I went up to her room to search for it. I hate when she touches my things and never put it back; I thought as I went through her junky room looking for my charger.
“Shit!” I yelled bumping my big toe on something. Getting on my hands and knees, I looked under the bed to see what it was. I found a black lock box and was going to put it back until curiosity got the best of me. I fought with the lock on the box for a while and it wouldn’t open. Taking a bobby pin out of my hair, I was able to jimmy it open.
The first thing I saw in the box had me seeing red. I took out the coke and was going to flush it down the toilet until something else caught my attention. Placing the baggie of drugs on the ground, I reached for the photo album. Underneath it was a pile of money neatly wrapped and stacked. Opening the photo album, I went through the pictures and stopped at one particular photo.
My tears started to burn my eyes as I saw my sister hugged up with my husband while kissing him on the lips. The picture read ‘I will always love you Victor’. The room started to spin, and I felt sick to my stomach. In the back of the photo albums were pictures of Chad, Rob, Cinnamon, Coco, Honey, and me. In the back of each of our pictures, she wrote down notes on how to take us down.
Something purple and shiny also caught my eyes. Opening it, inside was her personal journal. In the journal, I learned the real relationship between Vic and Chasity. I also realized how she played me like a fool. I helped her beat that poor girl, and she had nothing to do with Chasity turning back to doing drugs. I was mad at myself for letting her manipulate me the way she did, but the joke was going to be on her.
Grabbing my suitcase, I hurriedly packed all of my things. I took all of the money, the photo album, and journal. Placing my things in my new car, I contemplated on burning the place down, but because she lived in an apartment complex with innocent people, I decided not to. I had something better in mind for her.
Driving to a nearby Wal-Mart, I bought the things that I needed to set my plan in motion. After I paid for the items, I drove to the nearest hotel and transformed myself from a woman into a man. I taped my breast down and wore baggy clothes to hide my frame. Putting my hair in a stocking cap, I put a skully over it. I pulled the boots on my feet and sprayed my body with some of the Axe for men body spray. When I was done, there was no way to tell that I was a woman.
Making my way to the pork and beans projects, I waited in my car for one of Rob’s workers to come out. I spotted him serving a crack head and was about to go back in the house until I called out to him. He stopped walking to see if I was talking to him. I fingered the gun that was in my hoodie pocket and approached him.
“Yo’ homie you know who I can talk to about that award money,” I said in my best male voice.
“What award money?” he quizzed.
“The one for the information on who attacked yo’ boss’ ol lady.”
“You know who did it?”
“Yeah.”
“How you know?”
“Because she hired me to do it, but I declined because I don’t put my hand on females.”
&n
bsp; “But you could snitch?”
“Like I said the bitch crossed me, and I don’t put my hands on females. So I figured I could collect this dough and let your boy do that work.”
“Who did it?”
“A bitch named Chasity,” I said. “I don’t know if she did it herself or hired someone else to do it, but she was behind it all.”
“What makes you think I’mma believe you.”
“I got proof.”
“Show me the proof.”
“Nigga are you on dope or dog food, show me the money.”
“Chill, I’ll be back.”
I let out a sigh of relief when he walked inside the house. I was so ready to get this money, take my kids, and disappear for good. I was outside waiting for a while before a car pulled up. My heart started beating real fast when Rob, and his worker approached me. I was happy it was dark out. I put my nerves in check and decided to go with the flow.
“I heard you got proof on who got at my girl,” Rob asked.
“Yeah,” I said handing him the envelope that had the picture of Honey and the description on what she wanted done to her. I watched as he examined the picture and read the words on the back. The silence was killing me, I felt like I was going to empty my bladder on myself.
“Good lookin out man,” he said walking away. “Ayo Sean give him the money.” I wanted to jump up and down for joy, but I calmed myself down. Sean handed me the duffle bag of money, and I thanked him before getting in my car and driving away.
I kept driving in making turns just in case he decided to have someone follow me. After two hours of driving, I went to the hotel and got my stash then headed to the airport.
I had to wait in the airport for forty-eight hours until I was able to get a flight out to my mom’s house. I made up my mind that today was the day my kids, and I disappeared from the face of the earth. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but I was going to figure it out. When I landed, I caught a cab to the hotel to stash all my belongings before heading to my mother’s.