by Erica Hilton
“Nico, what’s good? You wanna head to the crib or to Queens or what?”
“Take me to the crib.”
As we drove out of the Bronx and headed toward Long Island, I quickly had to take stock of things in my head and figure out exactly how I was going to deal with this situation. Mia may have been out of line but she had enough information about me to have my black ass sent away for double life. So, yeah, I had some thinking to do and some decisions to make.
CHAPTER 24
Jasmine
As we drove toward Nico’s crib, I kept replaying the fight in my head. I was thinking about what I did good, and what I could have done better. All the while I was replaying the fight in my head, I could feel Nico’s cell phone vibrating on my thigh. I had my legs stretched across him as we sat in the backseat of the truck, so I felt every vibration.
Nico didn’t even look at his phone. I knew it had to be Mia. She was texting and calling him like she had lost her damn mind. That’s how I knew it had to be her. No one else would call anybody like that.
After seeing Nico put the smack-down on his chick, I knew there was likely never going to come another time like the present one for me to lock him in. I had to make my move to secure my position.
When we reached Nico’s sprawling mansion, BJ and LaQuan made some quick small talk, and LaQuan told me that it was nice to meet me in spite of the drama that had unfolded. I told him likewise and told them both that we had to hang out again real soon.
Even though I had been to Nico’s crib before, I was still blown away by the spiral staircase, the granite floors, the stainless steel appliances, the flat-screen TV and the whole nine. He tried to get me to make myself comfortable, but I thought it would be a smarter move to leave the crib, just in case Mia showed up. Not that I was afraid of her, because I wasn’t. But I wanted to get Nico alone, so that I could enact my plan and let him know about the video of Mia and Kelvin.
“Baby, I love your crib,” I said to Nico. “But, listen, please don’t take offense, but I really gotta get back to Queens.”
“For what?” Nico asked. “Don’t worry about Mia. She ain’t coming in this house tonight.”
I knew Nico was probably in the mood for some pussy, and I had no problem giving him any, but I had to put my priorities above his penis. I walked up to him and gave him a hug and a kiss.
“Can we just leave? I’ll talk to you when we get in the car.”
Nico looked at me, and then he kissed me and told me that it was no problem, that we could head back out.
He set the house alarm, and we made our way to his four-car garage, where we hopped into a grey BMW. I think it was a 750 BMW, but I wasn’t sure. The automatic garage door lifted up, and we made our way out and headed to the Long Island Expressway.
“You gotta wake up in the morning or something?” Nico asked.
I was quiet as I looked at Nico. Then I reached forward and turned down the volume on the mix tape CD.
“I don’t have to wake up early. I just wanted to leave because I know you live with Mia and I didn’t want her coming to the crib and me having to deal with no drama,” I explained, trying my hardest to come across like I was mature and taking the high road.
“Jasmine, let me tell you something. That shit that went down in the club, that wouldn’t go down in my crib. I got too much nice shit up in there, for one thing, I don’t play that shit anyway, and Mia knows that. She would never go there like that in my crib.”
I remained quiet and just listened, waiting for the precise moment to say what I had to say.
“Something else is on your mind,” Nico stated. “Speak to me.”
I slowly shook my head, and my eyes began to well up. I wanted to come across as convincing as possible.
“What you saw tonight, that is so not me at all. Baby, I just wanna be with you. No drama, just me and you.”
“You with me right now, right?”
“Yeah, I know, but that’s not what I mean.”
“So speak to me.”
At that moment Nico looked down at his phone. I looked and saw Mia’s name on the caller ID of his cell phone. Nico didn’t answer the phone, and I could see agitation in his face.
I knew that was my moment to strike. “Call her back and tell her you wanna be with me,” I said with all seriousness.
“I ain’t gonna answer the phone. She’ll get the message.”
I shook my head and looked at Nico.“Call her and tell her the wedding is off.”
“What you saying?”
I sat up and wiped the tears from my eyes. I spoke directly to Nico, so he would know I was serious.
“Don’t duck Mia. Just call her back and tell her you wanna be with me and that you’re calling the wedding off. I need to hear you say that.”
“Jasmine, it’s not that serious.”
“Baby, to me it is. I’m out here fighting and shit over you, pulling triggers for you, so I need to know how you really feel.”
“How I really feel? You didn’t see what the fuck I just did to that bitch for you?”
We were getting close to Queens, and I wanted to hurry up and close the deal, before I showed Nico the video I had. “Baby?” I said with a whining tone.
“I’ll call her right now.”
“Put the phone on speaker,” I replied, knowing Nico could read between the lines.
Nico reached for his phone, scrolled to the call screen, and called Mia.
“How you gonna just ignore my calls after some shit like that?”
Mia didn’t even say hello when she picked up the phone. I could tell she was on the verge of crying.
Nico was quiet.
“And now you just gonna call me and be quiet on the phone. No apology or nothing, right?”
Nico still was quiet.
Mia sucked her teeth. “Baby, where are you?”
“I’m driving.”
“Nico, where are you? We really need to talk.”
“Mia, listen, I could tell things was going this route over the past few months—”
“‘Going this route’? What are you talking about?”
“Mia, the wedding is off. I’m with Jasmine now. The shit might sound cold or hurtful or whatever, but shit been fucked up between us for a minute. You know that, and I know that.”
“Nico, what are you talking about?”
Nico didn’t respond, and now Mia clearly could be heard crying.
“Ain’t no need for all the tears and shit. It is what it is.”
“It is what it is, huh?” Mia asked through her tears.
“Yeah, no wedding, no more us, it’s a wrap.”
Both Mia and Nico were silent.
“Nico, let’s just talk when you get home, because I’m confused and I’m missing something.”
“You ain’t confused, and you ain’t missing shit. And I don’t want you in my crib when I get there!”
Mia continued to cry. “No. I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
“Mia, I’m not gonna play fuckin’ games with you over this!”
“I ain’t playing games either! I just want you to talk to me, Nico!”
Nico was about to say something, but then Mia cut him off.
“I know what this is,” she said. “You ain’t serious. You just with that chickenhead bitch right now, and she told you to call me and say this shit.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Mia shouted into the phone, “Nico, I know she listening. Bitch, if you listening, I ain’t going anywhere, and I’ll keep beating your ass until you get the point.”
Nico reached over and put his hand on my thigh, for me to just chill and remain quiet. “Mia, I’m alone, so shut the fuck up ’cause you really sound stupid r
ight now.”
“Oh, now I’m stupid? You know what?” Mia sniffled. “I NEVER thought you would go out like this and do this to me, not in my wildest dreams.”
Nico was quiet.
“And you going to stay on that silent bitch-ass shit, right?”
Nico kept his mouth closed as I continued to listen in. On the inside, I was beaming and doing back-flips from happiness.
“Fuck you, Nico! And you can have your young, dumb-ass ho! All that shows is how dumb your black ass is. You going to pick that bitch over me? And yet you going to call me stupid? Sweetie, let me tell you something. When you lay down with dogs, you get fleas, but when you lay down with whores, there ain’t no telling what you might get. So thank you, Nico, for doing me a favor, ’cause I can tell you one thing—That bitch that’s sitting right next to you now listening to this phone call, she ain’t who you think she is. What’s her name, Jasmine? That’s what you think her name is, Nico. But ask her right now what her other name is. Jasmine, I know you can hear me, so why don’t you tell your new man what your other name is?”
Nico gave me a confused look.
My heart started pounding. I knew she would go there when I asked Nico to call her but it was a chance I had to take. Although, I didn’t want shit going here until I showed Nico what I had to show him. But I played things off and looked at Nico and shook my head and held both of my hands out to indicate I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
“Oh, now she going to sit there all quiet and shit like a church mouse, but up in Sofa Lounge she had all the mouth in the world. Talk that Sofa Lounge shit now, Jasmine. Or should I say Chyna? Chyna, talk that shit now, china doll.”
I panicked, and I think it was evident to Nico, who silently mouthed words to me asking, what she was talking about.
Once again I shook my head and silently mouthed back to him that I didn’t know.
“Quiet as a fucking church mouse! Speak up, Jasmine—I mean, Chyna—and tell Nico how you be all over Craigslist and the Internet selling your ass! Talk that shit now and tell him!”
I took my right hand and waved it from side to side in front of my neck and whispered to Nico that she was lying.
“Nico, that video-ho pussy you fuckin’, it’s pussy that everybody done had. So if you want to go out like that and rock with that chick, then OK cool, go ahead and do you, and I’m going to do me.” Mia laughed.
“Mia, what the fuck are you talkin’ ’bout?” Nico asked.
“Oh, now you want to speak? What am I talking about? I’m talking about how you need to do your homework, baby. But then again, I could be wrong. I mean, I know you been shelling out that dough to that preacher dude for that casino shit, so maybe your chips are low right now and you want some of that bargain-basement pussy. Jasmine . . . oh, I mean, Chyna, what is it that you charge again, one hundred for a half an hour and one hundred and eighty for a whole hour? Yeah, Nico, if that’s what you on, then sorry. This pussy right here ain’t no Wal-Mart pussy. This is high-end, exclusive, passport pussy right here, and you got to come correct, and ain’t no two ways about that shit.”
I sat there and shook my head. I was trying to send a signal to Nico that it was sad that Mia would lie on me like that.
Nico just looked at me, his jawbone tensing up.
“What you got to say now, Nico?” Mia asked.
“I ain’t got shit to say. You sound like a bitter bitch.”
Mia laughed. “And you sound like a nigga in denial. But you know what? You can lie to yourself and create your own reality, that’s cool, but pictures don’t lie, and the truth don’t need no defense. If you want proof, I’ll get you your proof!”
I couldn’t take it anymore, and at that point I had to speak up. “Mia, sweetheart, this is Jasmine, and, yes, I been sittin’ here the whole time listening to everything.”
Mia chuckled. “So then tell him, Chyna, how you be selling your ass on the Internet!”
Nico was looking at me, and I could tell that he was mad as shit because I had spoken up, but I didn’t care.
“No, what you need to do is tell Nico about the nigga that was banging your back out when you flew down to Miami. That’s what you need to do, instead of lying on me. And if you say pictures don’t lie, then videos definitely don’t lie!”
Nico looked at me, and then he spoke right behind me. “Mia, what the fuck is she talkin’ ’bout?” he yelled.
Mia paused before she spoke, and right then and there, I knew I had her.
“She ain’t talking about shit. She just don’t want me to show you these pictures I got of her ass, so now she making up shit. Nico, I want to show you these pictures. That’s all. I want to see the look on your face when you see how much of an ass you are. Who the fuck in their right mind trades in Maybach pussy for a used, beat-up rent-a-car that everybody done literally rode in and drove into the ground?”
Nico didn’t respond.
“Back on that quiet shit?” Mia asked Nico. “Fuck you! You clown!” Then she abruptly hung up the phone.
By this time we had reached Queens and were sitting in front of my crib. Things hadn’t exactly played out the way I’d wanted them to with Mia mentioning pictures, so I knew I had to do some serious damage control. And the best way to do damage control was to back up what I had been saying.
“I don’t know what the fuck she is talkin’ about, but I ain’t never sold my ass to anybody. That’s just some delusional, desperate shit she is spewing right there,” I said to Nico.
Nico took both of his hands and ran them down his face, sort of like he was stressed. “Look at me,” he said.
I sat up and looked him right in the eyes.
“There’s not an ounce of truth to what she was saying, right?”
“Baby, no! Urggghhh! My God! How could you even ask me that, Nico? You know what? Bye. I’m going in the crib to sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I reached for the door handle to let myself out of the car, but I knew Nico wouldn’t let me leave.
Nico grabbed me by the arm to prevent me from leaving the car. “Jasmine, I’m about to wife you, so I’m asking because I need to know what’s good. I know how Mia thinks and how she moves. She’ll pay private investigators to find out who you are and all that, and when these dudes start digging, they start finding shit. So I’m just saying, come clean with me and don’t have me wifing you and I later find out some shit. Because word up, take this how you wanna take it, but I swear on everything, if you on some double-life, double-person shit, and you break my heart, I’ll have your ass murdered! That’s straight the fuck real talk right there.”
My heart was pounding, I was repeatedly tapping my right foot, and my head felt like it was going to explode. On one hand, if I told the truth, I would spare myself any drama down the road, but if I told the truth, there wasn’t a chance in hell that Nico would even call me again. If I lied, I would have a great chance at being with him because as he had just said, he was going to wife me.
The only wildcard was Mia and the information she had on me. She knew about my secret life as a prostitute, but I had no idea how the hell she knew. And if there was one thing I had learned in my short years, it was that it wasn’t so much what you knew that could hurt you, it was what you didn’t know that could later come and bite you in the ass.
I decided to roll the dice and hide the truth. “Baby, you can trust me. She’s lying,” I said to Nico, tears coming to my eyes.
“That’s all I need to hear.” Nico let go of my arm. “Now what the fuck is this Miami shit you was just talking about?”
I sighed and I sucked my teeth. “See, I wasn’t gonna say nothing because I didn’t know if it was my place to say something.”
“What are talkin’ ’bout?”
I could tell Nico was on edge. I pulled out my phone, went to the video
, and played it. I fast-forwarded it, so I could get to the part with Mia actually fucking. Then I handed the phone to Nico.
Just sitting there watching Nico was like literally seeing somebody transform. Nico had a look on his face that scared the shit out of me. I really thought he was going to put the car in drive and go find Mia and choke the life out of her.
“Where the fuck did you get this?” Nico screamed at me.
“Kelvin sent it to me.”
Nico handed me the phone and asked me how long the video was, and I told him that it was about an hour long. Then he asked me to forward it to his phone. I told him I would have to e-mail it to him, since it was a big file. Then he gave me his Blackberry e-mail address, and I sent it right to him.
“Yo, I gotta go,” Nico said to me.
I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips.
“Nico, I did want to tell you about the video but I felt it wasn’t my place . . . and I didn’t want to hurt you. I know how you feel about her.”
Nico nodded his head, but he didn’t say anything to me.
I exited his car and went straight to my bedroom, where I pulled out my laptop and got right on the Internet. I had one goal for that night, and it didn’t matter how long it took me. I was going to make sure that anything and everything related to my prostitution activities was deleted from the Internet.
My heart pounded insanely as I covered my Internet tracks. I was thankful that I had never shown my face in any of the online ads I had posted. But my tattoos were visible in many of the online photos that I’d posted. If Mia had printouts of any of the ads that showed my tattoos, my ass would literally be toast in Nico’s eyes.
The anxiety I was feeling was ridiculously overwhelming. I wanted to smoke some weed to calm me down, but I didn’t have time for that as I feverishly logged on to different web sites and deleted anything and everything related to Chyna.
After I deleted everything, I had calmed down a little. I sat and thought that, no matter what Mia produced, I was going to continue to lie my ass off and never admit to shit. If Nico were to question me about any pictures with tattoos, I would say that it was just a coincidence, that it wasn’t me in those pictures.