by Kiki Swinson
“Then what happened?”
“I ain’t really trying to talk about it over the phone.”
“Well, could you come by so we can talk about it?”
“Yeah, a’ight,” he sighed. “I’ll be by there in a few minutes.”
“Where are you now?”
“Well, I was about two blocks away from my crib, but I’m turning around now,” he replied.
Hearing him tell me he was on his way to my house put a smile on my face instantly. I wanted to jump out of my seat, but I figured it would be best if I waited until I got off the phone. Immediately after we hung up, I rushed straight into the shower. It was a must that I be fresh and smelling good when he came through the door. It had been a few days since we had last seen each other, so it was important for me to show him what he had been missing.
About twenty minutes later, I was out of the shower and smelling like a bed of fresh roses. I was getting ready to slip on something sexy but then I figured it would probably be better if I walked around with my towel on. All he had to do was snatch the towel off if he wanted some pussy, and I would happily oblige.
Not long after I lotioned my body down and sprayed on perfume, Seth was knocking on the front door. When I opened the door, he looked me up and down and said, “Why you change the locks?”
“Oh, that’s a long story,” I said as I closed the door and locked it behind him.
“I’m listening.” He took a seat on the living room sofa.
I sat down beside him and told him about everything that went on with me the day before. He sat there in awe as I reiterated every single detail of my horrifying experience back at that house. He acted as if he couldn’t believe it, so I grabbed his hand and placed it right over my right ear. “Do you feel that lump?” I asked him.
“Hell yeah, I feel that joint! And it feels like it should be still hurting you.”
“It only hurts when I try to lay on that side.”
“So, where are them motherfuckers now?”
“I don’t know, but some detectives are handling it and so is my supervisor.”
“Why is your supervisor handling it?”
“Because my gun was taken.”
“Your what?” Seth screamed.
“They stole my gun.”
“Ahh man, that’s not good.”
“I know. But that’s not it.”
“What else happened?”
“They also took my cell phone and my whole set of keys,” I said. “That’s why I had to change my locks on my door.”
“Yo, them niggas got a lot of heart fucking with you like that. As a matter-of-fact, if I ever get a chance to run into them, I am going to murder something!”
“Seth, don’t let this thing get you all upset.”
“It’s too late for that.”
“Well, just calm down.” I tried to massage his shoulder.
“Yo, I am really sick of this shit!”
“What are you talking about?”
“That job shit! Fucking with all them knucklehead-ass niggas on your caseload.”
“Look, I know you’re not happy about what I do because it is dangerous. But look at the bright side; I will not be doing it too much longer, because as soon as you’re done doing your thing out there, we can start up that business we were talking about,” I reminded him. “Oh, speaking of which, tell me what happened earlier.”
“It wasn’t nothing, really.”
“Well, it must’ve been, because I would not have gotten that phone call.”
Seth sighed heavily. “Ay yo, all I got to say is that whatever that nigga said happened to him, he had it coming. End of story.”
“So, you admit to attacking him?”
“I ain’t going to ever admit it. But I will say that he deserved whatever he got.”
“Well, were you a part of the shootout?”
“Like I said, I would never admit to doing a damned thing. I wouldn’t care if you caught me on camera, because I am going to still say it wasn’t me.”
“I understand all of that, but I am your woman. So why are you trying to keep shit from me?”
“Because at the end of the day, you’re still my probation officer.”
“So what you think I am going to have you locked up?”
“I don’t know what you would do anymore.”
“Come on now, Seth. You know that if I wanted you back in jail, I would have done it a long time ago.”
“Like I said, I don’t know what you would do anymore.”
This conversation wasn’t going anywhere, so I changed the subject. “So, how much money have you saved thus far?”
“A couple of grand. Why?”
“I was just wondering how far you had to go to get to your goal.”
“I ain’t got far.”
“Do you think you can still do it in a week’s time?”
Seth hesitated a bit. “Nah, a week ain’t gon’ be enough time.”
“So, how much time are you gonna need?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know.”
What I had gathered so far from his responses was that it wouldn’t matter what I said, because he had already made up his mind how this situation was going to play out. I didn’t say anything. The last thing I wanted was to start another argument, so he could run out on me while I was trying to make my point. Instead of giving him an extension with restrictions, I’d take a step back and let him use his own discretion on how long he needed to be out there on his hustle.
I said, “OK, take as long as you like.”
Seth looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.
“Whatchu just say?” he asked.
I smiled. “I said, take as long as you like.”
“What, is this a joke or something?”
“No,” I answered him, still smiling.
“Why are you smiling, then?”
“Because I am happy to see you.” I hugged his neck.
I leaned over and started kissing the side of his face, too. As I moved my lips toward his, he pulled back from me and said, “Nah, I ain’t in the mood for that right now.” He stood.
The feeling of rejection shot through me like an injection and it didn’t feel good, either, so I stood up as well and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with me,” he said. “I’m just tired, and I want to get some sleep.”
“Well, go in the bedroom and lay down,” I insisted as I tightened the towel around me.
“Nah, I’d rather crash out here on the sofa. That way, I could still sleep in my clothes.”
Hearing Seth tell me that he would rather sleep on a fucking sofa than lay in the bed next to me was beginning to wear me down. I wanted so badly to curse his ass out and ask him if he’d been out there fucking around on me, but what good would that do? All that would do is start an argument and give him a reason to leave. Besides, I wouldn’t get the truth out of him anyway. He would definitely deny fucking another woman, and he would take it to his grave.
I sighed heavily and said, “All right. If that’s what you want, let me go and get you some covers.” I went to the linen closet.
While I was gone, Seth took off his sneakers and set them side-by-side at the end of the sofa. He took off his New York Yankees ball cap and set it on the coffee table. By the time I got back in the living room, he was lying on his stomach with his face facing the back of the sofa. I laid a bed sheet across him first, then placed a blanket on top of that.
“Good night,” I said.
“Good night,” he replied without even looking my way.
Since I knew the night was definitely over for us, I went into my bedroom disappointed as hell because I wanted some dick so bad. Not only that but the feeling I got when he held me in his arms after he fucked me to death was the most powerful aphrodisiac of them all. Too bad I wouldn’t be experiencing that tonight.
That next morning, Seth got up before I did. I heard him messi
ng around in the kitchen so I automatically assumed that he was fixing me some breakfast. To avoid spoiling the surprise, I continued to lie in the bed and waited for him to come strolling in my room with my tray of food. But for some unknown reason, Seth had other plans and it didn’t include preparing breakfast for me. As a matter-of-fact, he showed up in my bedroom fifteen minutes later, empty-handed, talking about he had to leave. I sat up in the bed with an expression of disappointment and asked him where he was going.
“I got to take care of some business,” he replied.
“Right now?” I looked over at the alarm clock on my dresser. Eight-thirty AM.
“Yeah, I got to head out to the spot. But I got to run home first.”
“ Am I going to see you later?”
“I’ll let you know.”
Frustrated by his lack of consideration for my feelings, I asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with me.”
“Then why are you being so standoffish toward me?”
“I’m not being standoffish.”
“I can’t tell, especially when I tried to kiss you in the mouth last night and you pushed me away. And then on top of that, you wouldn’t even sleep in the same bed with me. So, my thing is this: If you didn’t want to be bothered with me, then why did you come over here?”
“Because you told me to, so we could talk about that shit with those people taking down my license plate number.”
“OK, true enough, I did. But are you going to stand here and act like you would not have come unless I called you about that incident?”
“Ay yo, Maxine, I am not trying to get into a heated debate with you.” Seth began to back out of the room. It was clear that he was trying to leave, so I got up from the bed.
“I am not trying to start a heated discussion with you, so why are you trying to leave?”
“’Cause I got shit to do, and I ain’t trying to leave out of here with a headache.”
I sighed, because by now I was consumed with frustration. Seth wasn’t trying to hear one thing I had to say. If I continued to walk behind him like I was forcing him to hear what I had to say, I knew he wouldn’t be trying to come back to see me no time soon. I toned down my approach and asked him if I would be seeing him later.
“I’m not sure. But, I’ll let you know,” he told me again and walked out the door.
Shocked by the way he handled me, I stood there in the doorway with the dumbest expression I could muster up and watched him get in his car and drive off. There was no mistake about it: I was heartbroken like a bitch when he uttered those words out of his mouth. I honestly wanted to tell him to kiss my ass and never come back. I mean, who the hell did he think he was, parading around here like he was fucking King Tut or somebody? Well, let me be the first to say he wasn’t, and if he kept that bullshit up, I was going to shut him down. And I meant that.
SETH
Another One Bites The Dust
Mike changed shit up on me this morning. At the last minute, he called me and told me that I wouldn’t be meeting up with him to get the product because he was tied up doing other shit. He did say he was sending his chick Trina with it, and that I needed to be at the spot out in Dales Homes within the next thirty minutes. After I told him that I was already in P-Town, he asked me where I was exactly.
“I’m at the 7-Eleven on the corner of Effingham and London Boulevard, getting me some gas.”
“A’ight, well go out to Dales Homes right after you leave there.”
“A’ight,” I said.
Once my tank was full, I hopped back on the road and headed out to the spot. As soon as I got to the entrance, where you saw the sign WELCOME TO DALES HOMES, fiends started coming out from everywhere. Some of them acted like they wanted to jump on the hood of my car when I started driving around the horseshoe. I had to roll down my window and threaten a few of them not to touch my motherfucking whip, or I was going to put a bullet in their asses. They backed off and let me go on about my business. When I drove up to Melody’s building and got out, some bold-ass fiend walked up to me and said, “You that nigga with the Black Label dope, huh?”
“Why, you the police or something?” I asked.
“Hell, nah, do I look like the police?”
“Well, are you a snitch?”
“Hell, nah, I ain’t no snitch! But I’ll be your personal dick sucker if you let me hold something!” she said.
I burst into laughter and said, “Ay yo, bitch, get the fuck out here witcha nasty ass! I wouldn’t let you suck my dick if my life depended on it.”
“First off, my name is Faith, not bitch!”
“I don’t give a fuck whatcho name is. Now, whatchu need to do is get the fuck out of here before I smack the hell out of you for disrespecting me!” I stood there and waited for her to leave.
“Y’all big time-ass niggas love to talk shit to women when y’all get a dope package and a little bit of money in your pocket. But believe me when I tell you that your little world is gon’ come crashing down on you when you least expect it. Every nigga who came out here and sold heroin didn’t last a month. They either got locked up, or the young boys from ’round here ran their asses out. So you better watch your back, young blood. These streets are treacherous! And the ones that’s close to you are gon’ be the ones that’s gon’ getcha!”
“Oh shut the hell up, Faith! Ain’t nobody trying to hear that shit you talking,” Melody interjected from behind the screen door. “Now carry your ass before you get hurt!” Melody unlocked her door and came out on the porch.
“Yeah, whatever,” Faith said. She turned around and left.
After the dopefiend-ass bitch walked off I looked at Melody, dressed in her famous booty shorts and wife-beater and said, “I take it that you know her.”
“Yeah, she’s been hanging out here for a while now.”
“Well, she don’t know who the hell she’s fucking with because if you would not have come outside, I would’ve smacked the shit out of her.”
Melody laughed at me. “Yeah, she’s got plenty of mouth, but she’s harmless.”
“Well, she better keep her motherfucking distance from me, because I ain’t gonna tolerate her shit like everybody else.”
“Trust me, she got the picture,” Melody assured me and then we both went into the house.
What was crazy was that as soon as she locked the door behind us, she pushed my back against the wall and started rubbing her hand all over the crotch of my jeans. Before I allowed my dick to swell up, I grabbed her hand and pushed her back.
“Nah, we ain’t got time for that right now,” I told her.
She started whining. “But, why, Seth? I’m horny as hell, and I want you to fuck me!”
“Not now,” I told her and pushed her completely away from me.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with me. Do you know that you are the second person that asked me that same question today?”
“Well, that should tell you something,” Melody commented as she threw her hand on her hip and walked off into the kitchen.
I started to respond to her comment, but I figured that wouldn’t be necessary. I let her silly ass go on about her business. A few minutes later, she strutted her ass back in the living room while I was sitting on the couch in deep thought with my eyes closed. When I heard her take her last step, I opened my eyes to see what the hell she was doing. Before I could utter a single word, she stood over me like she had an attitude.
“Are you going to open up shop or what?”
“Yeah, as soon as the dope gets here.”
“What happened to you bringing it here?”
“Mike called me and said he wasn’t going to be able to get up with me, so he’s sending a chick name Trina over here.”
“Oh, that’s a motherfucking lie! That bitch ain’t coming over here, and I mean that shit!” Melody protested.
“Well, call Mike and tell him, because
I ain’t trying to get involved with that bullshit!” Before she could get further in the conversation, someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Melody yelled.
“It’s Trina,” I heard a squeaky voice say.
I stood and waited for Melody to open the front door. When she finally did, this pretty, Amazon-looking chick walked inside. She nearly took my breath away. Her body was built just like Tyra Banks, and her facial features were identical to that actress Meagan Goode, who played opposite of Tyrese in the movie Waist Deep. Trust me, the chick was gorgeous. Trina approached me with her long, blond-streaked, copper-colored hair flowing down her shoulders, styled in a silk wrap. She was rocking a blue and white Christian Dior denim dress, C.D. high-heeled sandals, and the matching C.D. denim duffel handbag, and I knew she was about her business. She only sported one diamond ring on the right hand, but it was a canary diamond, and it was beautiful. What really set it off was the diamond bezel watch and the canary diamond earrings in her ears. All that shit together had to be at least ten carats, and if it wasn’t, then it was real close.
On some real shit, homegirl walked up in this spot like she was a model for real, and Melody couldn’t fuck with her. Granted, both of these women looked good as hell. Mike really knew how to pick them. However, if you stood Melody next to this chick, there was no comparison because you could tell that Trina was about her money. Now that I think about it, this chick right here was hotter than Mike’s wife Lacy. The fragrance from her perfume was light and sweet and it complemented the hell out of her swagger. I wished I could spend some quiet time with her, but since I knew that would be a long shot, I snapped back into reality and focused on the business at hand.
“How you doing, Ms. Trina?” I finally asked.
She smiled. “You must be Seth.”
“I sure am, if you got something for me.” I smiled back at her.
Becoming a little animated, Trina said, “You trying to make some money?”
“Oh, most definitely!”
Melody wanted her presence to be known so she interjected by saying, “Hi, Trina.”