Love Me or Leave Me Alone 3

by Nikisha Mock

  “Well, you have your answer, honey. You love Ty. The doctor is fine as hell but so what? Ty is too and he’s already yours. I know you’re not about to mess that up are you?” I needed Eva to be reasonable. These men treat us like shit all the time. Unless she had been withholding information, Ty had been the exact opposite for their entire relationship.

  “I know that’s why I feel so bad about even entertaining the thought. Ty has been acting a little strange lately but nothing too bad that I really think something is up. Outside of that mess that happened at the club, I’ve really never had a reason to think Ty was cheating on me.”

  “Okay then, there you go. Tear that number up and scatter the pieces, girl. Maybe it’s time to find a new doctor before you do something you know you’re not ready for. You ain’t about that life anyway,” I laughed.

  “I damn sure ain’t. You should have seen me looking around like somebody could see me reading that note. It was a mess girl,” she laughed and I joined in. “So how’s Cam? I’m surprised you didn’t drive him straight to your house.”

  “Oh trust me, I wanted too. But he said he needed to grab a few things and would have his homeboy bring him to my house. I know he really wanted to see how much the streets have been talking. I really hope he doesn’t do anything stupid, Eva but I can’t control it.”

  “Yeah me too but you know how these dudes are. Time will tell honey. Fallon being his sister really works in her favor, I believe, but you never know.”

  “Right. Well I’m pulling up at this grocery store so let me head on in. You tear up that number yet?”

  She laughed. “Yes and threw the pieces out the window. I’m not stupid. I got a good thing with Ty. We set the wedding date for August 8th so save the date, bridesmaid!”

  “I can’t wait! I’m beyond happy for you. Bye girl. Love you,” I said as we ended our call.

  Chapter 10

  Ayanna

  “Girl, you look good. That thang back there lookin' even better.” I heard the voice before I turned around but I knew exactly who it was.

  “Mario? Man, are you following me? How do we keep bumping into each other?” I laughed as he held his arms out for a hug.

  “Why would I follow you? You like a moth to my flame baby, you’ll always be drawn to me,” he said as he grabbed his crotch for emphasis.

  “Boy, whatever. You are really trippin',” I laughed.

  “So how you doing, baby? I see that ass getting fat so I know somebody hittin' it right,” Mario was still the same. He hadn’t changed a bit.

  “That is none of your business, Kermit,” I joked.

  “Oh okay, you got jokes. Well let me introduce you to somebody,” he said as he called for a woman down the aisle from us to come to him.

  “Karen, baby this is Ayanna, the girl I was telling you about the other day. Yanna, this is my wife, Karen,” he said as he held on to her waist.

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” I said and prayed that my voice didn’t match the discomfort that I was feeling. Not that I wanted Mario or anything but damn, me and him did some shit that I’m sure is illegal in several states so meeting his wife wasn’t exactly on my list of priorities.

  “Hey, girl. Mario has told me so much about you. It’s good to finally meet you,” she smiled as if we were good old friends. I wonder exactly how much her hubby told her about me.

  “Don’t believe the lies, girl. Mario don’t know me like that,” I joked.

  “Well, it’s nice meeting you, Karen. Good seeing you again, Mario,” I said quickly excusing myself.

  I needed to be away from the two swingers as soon as possible before they attempted to recruit me. As I turned the corner, I took a peek back. They were both standing there staring at me. I got my stuff and got out of there as quickly as possible. Apparently, I wasn’t as fast as Mario and his wife. When I got to my car, I had a note on the windshield. It was from Mario, an open invitation to join him and his wife for a night of fun.

  In another life, I would have been all for it, but too much had happened between me, Mario, and his crazy ass cousin, Dre. Not to mention the fact that I was completely satisfied with Cam. For a hot second, I did consider it. I’ve never been with another woman and couldn’t really see myself going that route. The adventurous part of me kept that note with his number on it, just in case.

  ****

  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my next moves. I was finally ready to get back to work. These bills weren’t going to pay themselves. Cam was getting back to himself and still as sexy as ever. Having him in the same house with me was heaven. He was a totally different person at home than I had seen before. He was so clean and made sure things stayed spotless. He can even cook a mean breakfast. Who knew? I was sure that he was still hurting over what had happened but he rarely brought it up so I didn’t either. I figured it was best to let him talk about it when he felt ready.

  Things at Downtown Al’s hadn’t changed a bit. The same old strippers were dancing on the same old stage and taking the same old perverted men into the back rooms to give them the same old worn out, potentially disease infested coochie. I was over that scene but the tips were great and I had freedom to do what I wanted in the daytime. Speaking of diseases, I was happy as hell when Star told me the good news. I was relieved for Indigo also because there was no telling what Star would have done to her if the results had been any different.

  “Damn Yanna, now that you’re playing housewife you done messed around and got a fatty back there. That nigga must be laying it down proper like,” Star joked as she playfully slapped my ass.

  “Hey, hey watch it now, I might like that,” I joked and stuck my tongue out at her.

  “Nah, you watch it, sticking your tongue out and shit. I might like that,” she shot back and laughed.

  It was good to be back and even better to see my friend happy-go-lucky again. Star was scary when she was that mad. I reminded myself to stay on her good side. I saw Rommell walk into the club with a pretty Asian chick. He walked over to the bar.

  “What’s up, Yanna? Hey, Star. Let me get a Hennessy and Coke and uh, what you want, baby girl?” he asked his pretty friend.

  “Let me get a Patron shot and a Patron and Sprite,” she said sounding more like Jenny from the block than the little Asian lady at the nail salon.

  “Okay folks, you got it,” I said and commenced to making drinks.

  I peeped how Rommell interacted with the girl. I never saw him really let his guard down but he seemed really into this one. That was good. Maybe if he was getting some ass on the regular he wouldn’t walk around with that permanent mean mug anymore and would actually learn how to relax.

  “Aye, when Cam gets here, tell him I’m in the regular spot in the back,” Rommell told me as I handed him the drinks and he dropped a fifty spot in my tip jar.

  “Okay, I will and thanks,” I said and smiled. I should have known Cam wasn’t too far behind if his boy was already there. He better not show up with no Asian persuasion, I know that much. I laughed at the thought. I wish he would.

  “Ladies and gents, players and playettes, get ready, get ready. We got some fresh meat in the house tonight. Give it up one time, for Fire and Ice!”

  The DJ hyped up the crowd. The names weren’t familiar so I paused for a minute to see this new act. I wasn’t ready for what I saw next. The beat dropped and the curtains flew open then out walked two identical beauties. One had hair that was fire engine red and the other had platinum blonde hair down to her ass. These girls were bad. They worked the stage like pros, dropping down into full splits and making their ass cheeks bounce one at a time. The one that was obviously named Fire stood up against the pole and had her hands behind her, holding onto it. Then Ice walked up behind her on the opposite side of the pole and began to climb it.

  Once she was above her sister’s head, she held on to the pole and raised her legs into a split in midair. Her sister then put her head back and Ice slid down the pole slowly in that
position until she was sitting on her sister’s face. Fire simulated masturbation with one hand while licking her sister’s panties. She wasn’t actually eating her sister out but hell, she might as well have been. The fellas went ballistic. Money started flying all across the stage. The twins demanded full control.

  As I took a survey of the rest of the club, I noticed Indigo in a dark corner giving an old white guy a reverse cowgirl lap dance. She was staring hard at the show on stage. I could see the jealousy in her eyes. Indigo didn’t even look the same. Her hair was a mess and it looked like she had lost some weight as if she had any spare weight to get rid of. I used to think she was so pretty but now, knowing what I know about her corrupted coochie and her drug habit, Indigo wasn’t that pretty to me anymore. It was sad because she was young and could have been doing anything else other than shaking and selling ass. However, who was I to judge? I left a corporate job and now here I am, slinging drinks to already too drunk to care, desperate, and horny ass men and women. But ah well, such is life, I suppose.

  Star came over to stand beside me and watch the show.

  “Yo, those two right there? Whew. I would fuck the shit out of both of them. Damn!”

  “Yeah, they’re bad. I will give them that. Where the hell did Al find them?”

  “They showed up one day. I talked to Fire a few times. She seems mad cool. Said they moved here from Cali. She didn’t tell me too much more than that. I didn’t ask because I was too busy staring at that fat ass! You see that shit?” Star said, sounding like these horny ass men.

  “Oh I see it, trust me. They will be making a killing in no time. I can already see it. Men love fresh meat and those twoOh yeah, they about to shut things down,” I said and watched as the girls finished their act.

  They exited the stage with so much money that one of the bouncers had to help them pick it all up. The girls were very pretty. They were the color of rich dark chocolate and they weren’t paper thin like most people think strippers are. These twins had bodacious bodies and not an ounce of flab or any stretch marks of any kind that I could see. The one named Fire had a huge tattoo that started at her shoulder, went down her side, and then wrapped around to the middle of her back. That shit was sexy and had me considering getting my first tattoo. I had always wanted one but figured it must be crazy painful and that isn’t the kind of pain I enjoy.

  After the twins set the stage on fire, the strippers came out from the back and flooded the club. There were strippers everywhere and any guy with a wad of cash was getting undivided attention from the stripper of their choice. I saw asses being smacked and girls standing face down, ass up making it clap for the money. One chick put her left leg up on the damn bar and somehow managed to make her ass clap and she was barely moving at all. I heard Star say, ’Well damn!’ I had to shake my head and laugh at her. These girls were going all out tonight and I was sure that Al was in the back watching and counting his money.

  The club doors opened and in walked my baby. Even with his arm in a sling, Cam was still the finest thing in the club to me. I got wet by watching him walk. His swagga was crazy and he knew it. He had on a black tee and black baggy jeans. The only bling he had on were his favorite chain and his watch that I bought him. He had his locks pulled back and twisted, hanging down across his back perfectly. I had visions of pulling them loose so I could run my fingers through them. He walked up to the bar and motioned for me to come to him.

  “Hey baby,” I said as I blushed and smiled at my man.

  “What’s up, ma? Can you make your man a drink, please?” he said and winked at me.

  “It’s already done,” I said as I handed him his favorite glass of Twenty Grand.

  “That’s my girl,” he said and took a long swig of the drink.

  “Hey, Rommell is here. He told me to tell you he was in the back.”

  “Okay cool. I’m going back there to holla at him. You straight?”

  “I’m straight,” I said and watched as he made his way through the club.

  The strippers all knew he was my man but that didn’t stop them from trying to get at Cam. I noticed Ice was really trying hard to get his attention. It pissed me off when I saw Cam pause for a minute as Ice went to reach up to touch his dreads. I saw Cam smile then he looked over his shoulder at me. I was chill but watching. Then Ice looked over at me too and laughed. She must have said something to make Cam laugh too because I saw him smirk and then he walked off. Ice watched him walk away for a minute and then she flipped her hair and walked up to her next potential victim. I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a problem but I would be watching her ass. I could tell she was bold but so was I.

  Chapter 11

  Ciara

  I woke up in a daze. The dream I had had was too real. I was asleep, wrapped up in Darren’s arms. I woke up feeling like someone was watching me. As my eyes began to focus, I saw Darren’s wife standing over us holding a knife. I woke him up screaming. When she raised the knife above her head, I woke up for real. I was breathing hard and sweating. Then something happened.

  My stomach did a flip-flop. I jumped up, barely making it to the bathroom before the previous night’s contents came rushing back up. I felt horrible. That’s when I remembered that I still hadn’t checked my day planner. When I could breathe again, I got up from praying to the porcelain God and went to my nightstand drawer. I opened my planner.

  After flipping backwards for two months, my heart skipped a beat. The first day of my last period was two freaking months ago! Had I really been that consumed with Darren that I didn’t realize my period was this late? Who does that? I must have really been losing it, I was thinking. I quickly threw on some sweatpants and a tank so I could go down to Walgreens to get a pregnancy test. The drive there and back was all a blur.

  As I peed on the little white stick, I said a silent prayer that I was not pregnant. My prayers fell on deaf ears because I immediately saw two pink lines appear. I’d bought two tests so I took the other one out and repeated the process. Much to my dismay, the same freaking results appeared. I was pregnant! The sad thing was, two months ago I was dealing with some issues that I’m not exactly proud of so now I was a prime candidate for the Maury show.

  I can’t believe that this is now my life. All those years me and Jay tried to have kids and it never happened but now that I had someone who I might be falling in love with, I’m going to have to tell him that I’m pregnant and he might not be the father. Of all the crazy fucked up luck.

  So now I had to figure out how to deal with Darren. He had been calling and texting my phone nonstop. I really didn’t have anything to say to him at the moment. He may not have lied to me but he damn sure left some crucial information out about his marriage and I was not buying it. What bugged me out the most was the fact that I had told him everything about me and Jay, until now.

  Once I took that pregnancy test and saw that it was positive, all kinds of thoughts ran through my mind. I started remembering all the plans me and Jay used to make about having kids and raising a family. Whenever my period would be even a few days late, we were always crazy excited only to be let down time and time again when the tests would come back negative.

  I was starting to think that I couldn’t have kids since Jay already had one but he wasn’t getting me pregnant. Now look at me, finally pregnant and I can’t even be excited about it because I don’t know who the daddy is. Talk about some jacked up luck.

  I shook my head at the thought. On the one hand, I wanted Jay to be the daddy but then I remembered that not only were we not together but he was with that ghetto superstar, Asia, and I wanted no parts of all that. I still had yet to determine if that was her riding by my house but I hadn’t forgotten about it at all.

  On the other hand, there was Darren. Smooth, sophisticated, and had his shit together. No matter what happened between us, I had a feeling that if this baby was Darren’s I wouldn’t have to worry about him being an absent father. That’s what every woman wants. Only,
I didn’t know where we stood so as good as the idea may have sounded, I still wasn’t thrilled about it.

  For a second, I considered abortion. I had always heard the stories about how girls felt after having abortions and I wasn’t sure if I was mentally prepared for something so major. I had never had to deal with anything this heavy in my life and I wasn’t sure what I should do about it. I picked up the phone and called the one person that I knew would give me some decent advice.

  “Hey ma,” I said while smiling.

  “Baby girl! Oh, I’m so glad to hear from you. How you doing, Cici?” my mama said, calling me by my childhood nickname.

  “I’m doing okay. Working and trying to stay a step ahead of the game. How you doing, ma? How’s Charlie?”

  “Charlie’s fine. He’s been real busy at the shop lately so I managed to pick up a new hobby. Girl, I am knitting up a storm. I was actually thinking about making a blanket for you for Christmas.”

  My mama was always creative. She would always manage to find the beauty in any and everything. Being an only child and biracial, I really got teased a lot growing up. The fact that I was an only child made dealing with the teasing and bullying that much harder. My mama was always there for me though.

  One time, a group of girls in my third grade class thought it would be funny to cut one of my ponytails off because they said that I thought I was better than everyone else because my hair was long and straight. Little did they know, I hated everything about my hair and my skin tone because I looked different from most of the other kids in my class. The teacher called my mama and she came to the school in full mama bear mode.

  All of a sudden, I heard a loud commotion in the hallway. I could hear the principal yelling, trying to tell my mama that she couldn’t disrupt the classroom like that. Judy, my mama, was not having it though. She burst into my classroom and everybody got as quiet as a mouse. She walked up to me and touched my hair. Then she looked around the room.