by Nikisha Mock
Chapter 22
Ayanna
I like my job on most nights. It gets draining at times too though. All these thirsty men lusting over girls that would never even give them the time of day outside of this club. All these girls come here, night after night, taking it all off and shaking it for some dusty bills while a bunch of grimy hands smack their asses and rub all up on them. I often wondered if they got tired too. I’m sure they did. But it’s the nature of the beast, though. In this world, we’re all trying to make it. Sometimes you have to do what you have to in order to survive.
I glanced over by the DJ booth. I saw a girl I had grown fond of named Frenchie. Frenchie was a real pretty girl that had moved here from New Orleans. She wasn’t paper thin like a lot of the other girls. She wore her curves well. She had naturally long and curly hair with the ends dipped a real pretty color of auburn that matched her skin tone perfectly.
With a huge tattoo twisting from her right shoulder around to the front on her chest, above her breasts, she had a look about her that made it no mystery why all the men loved it when she hit the stage. She somehow managed to have one leg up on a table beside the DJ booth. She was making one side of her ass shake but none of the rest of her body was moving.
I swear I wish I knew how these girls did some of the things they do with their bodies. Shoot, maybe one night I’ll jump up on the stage and give it a try. Man, yeah right! Who am I fooling? I might be bold but I ain’t that bold.
“Hey girl, what are you over here staring at?” Star walked up, breaking me out of my daydream.
“I was watching Frenchie do her thing over there, wondering if I could do that,” I said laughing.
“You? Quit playing. You hop that big ol’ booty on that stage and I might throw some dollars your way!”
“Ouch! Quit playing!” I laughed because Star had popped me on the butt with a towel.
“Oww! That thang shook when you jumped. I see ya boo!”
“You are crazy girl. So what’s been up? You been quiet since the other night.”
“Ain’t shit, you know how I do. I did meet a shorty when y’all fled the crime scene though.”
I was immediately intrigued. “A shorty, huh? Do tell.”
“Ah man, Yanna this chick is bad! I went to a bar to have a few drinks. I was gonna take my ass home then out of nowhere, this fine chick sat down beside me. We got to talking. Next thing I know, I’m following her back to her crib. Man, she had me wide open! I shot her a text earlier and asked her to come through here tonight. She said she might so we’ll see.”
Star was smiling. She had this look in her eyes like she was reminiscing. I wanted to meet this chick because I have never seen Star looking like this.
“Ah shoot! Let me find out you love struck already!” I joked.
“Cut it out. Star, don’t get love struck. But she bad now. Ain’t no denying that shit,” she said then she looked up real quick and did a double take. I looked in the direction she was looking. I got instantly pissed off. I was looking towards the door. In walked none other than Fallon herself.
“Oh I know this bitch got a lot of nerve coming up in here,” I said while reaching around me to untie my apron.
“Aye, chill out ma! Don’t lose it in here. Chill. If she tries to start it, I’ll finish it now be cool,” Star said a she held out her arm across me, trying to block me from moving from behind the bar. I blew out a long breath. Tried to calm down, never once taking my eyes off Fallon. Sure enough, she began walking towards the bar. My anger was building by the minute but I knew that I would see her again one day. Lord, please don’t let me kill this girl tonight.
“I don’t know what stupid truck you fell off of but do not start any shit in here tonight, alright?” Star told Fallon straight up as she approached the bar and sat down on a stool.
“I didn’t come here to start anything. I wanna talk to Yanna. Hey,” she said to me then looked down.
“Fuck. You,” I said slowly. I crossed my arms across my chest. She shook her head. For once, she looked humble, even a little sad. Who gave a fuck though?
“Okay. I knew this would not be easy. Look Yanna, I owe you a real big apology. I don’t know what happened to me. It’s that all I have in this world is Cam. Every time he gets with some new chick, it always seems like he ends up distancing himself from me. It pisses me off. I love Cam. He might not be my blood brother but he’s all the family I have. When you came along, I was scared that our bond would change. Nobody was supposed to get hurt! Tracey was supposed to shoot at you and scare you. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect her to shoot anybody, damn sure not my baby, Cam! I’m sorry Yanna! I really am. Can you tell Cam to please talk to me?”
Is this bitch serious? She was crying real tears now, begging me to have Cam talk to her. I wasn’t buying her crocodile tears. I didn’t have shit to offer her.
“You are truly pathetic. At first, I thought that when I saw you again I would stomp a mud hole in your ass but now. I see you are a simple bitch too stupid to realize that you will never be the woman in Cam’s life. I am not telling him shit! You wanna talk to him? Well here’s your chance bitch,” I said, noticing that Cam had entered the club.
I knew he didn’t notice Fallon at first because he was heading towards us. Her back was to him. Fallon jerked around so fast she almost fell off the stool she was sitting on. Cam’s smile immediately faded. He stopped walking. It seemed like everything stood still while they stared each other down. Fallon was still crying. She grabbed her chest when she locked eyes with her brother. Chris was with Cam. He had put his hand on his arm and said something in his ear. Then Cam started walking again. I had no idea what was about to happen.
“Aww shit,” Star said under her breath as we both stood there, waiting. When Cam got close enough he went straight in.
“The fuck you doing here, yo? If you came to start some shit with Yanna I will fuck you up,” Cam said in his usual, calm fashion but he was everything but I could tell. He looked pissed off.
“Cam! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Please don’t be like that to me. I came here to apologize to Yanna. Tell him Yanna, please!” she begged sounding as pathetic as she looked. I didn’t open my mouth. She wanted to talk to Cam. Now was her chance.
“You’re sorry? Bitch, I could have died! You wanna shoot me, huh? I loved you like my own little sister. My mama took your ass in when nobody else would. This is how you repay me? The fuck, Fallon? Even if you didn’t mean for me to get shot, why would you send somebody to shoot at anybody that had to do with me?”
“I don’t know! I was scared, Cam. She was taking you away from me. Baby, please don’t be like this. I love you!” she cried.
“Baby? Aye, this shit crazy, yo. You’re sounding like his bitch or something. What the fuck kinda shit you on anyway?” Chris blurted out. He was as shocked as the rest of us. None of this made sense.
“Yeah, I said it! Baby! I love you, Cam. These other bitches can’t do for you what I can. You ain’t my blood brother anyway. Ever since I was fourteen, I have never looked at you as my brother. I watched you sneaking girls into your room at night. I even watched you put it down many times. I used to run back to my room and touch myself, envisioning you doing all those things to me that you did to those other girls. All I ever wanted you to do was love me! Can’t you see that? I never meant for you to get hurt. I apologize for everything. Please, don’t shut me out, Cam. I can’t take it!” she said. This fool was actually on the floor now, hugging his leg and crying like a baby.
Star and I looked at each other but neither one of us said anything. This was some crazy shit. Like, this is the type of stuff you see in movies or something but this was real life. A few of the customers were laughing at Fallon. I wasn’t laughing at all though. This was some real life fatal attraction type stuff but in a twisted way because she was supposed to be his sister. Who falls in love with their own brother? Blood or not they were raised as siblings so this was wrong.
&
nbsp; “Get your stupid ass up before I kick you! We ain’t family. Family would never do the shit you did. I’m not with all this sick shit you talking about. As far as I’m concerned, you are dead in these streets. Don’t say shit to me. Don’t come to my crib, and don’t come to my girl’s job starting shit. You are dead to me. If you don’t believe that I’m serious, try me. Now get the fuck up and get out of here,” Cam said as he kicked his leg.
She fell over on the floor, screaming and crying. She had come undone. Remo, one of the bouncers picked her up like she didn’t weigh but a pound. He dragged her out of the club, kicking and screaming. I looked at Star. She was shaking her head. She looked like she was ready to laugh. I was floored. Nothing was funny to me about that moment. Things around us never stopped. The music was still blasting. Chicks were still shaking their asses for dollars. I noticed Ice staring our way. When she saw me looking, she smirked and sashayed off to another end of the club. I made a mental note to check that bitch later.
Cam shook his head. He sat down on the same stool Fallon had fell off of.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m good! Gimme a shot of Cuervo,” he said, still breathing hard. Chris asked Star to get him a Corona. He was shaking his head, probably trying to erase that crazy scene from his mind like I was. I didn’t know what to say. For once, I was speechless.
“Aye, my bad about all that but you ain’t gotta worry about her ass no more. If she comes back up here, it’s over for her,” Cam said as he reached his hand out for mine. I put my hand in his and tried to smile at him.
“Shhhh. don’t talk like that, baby. It’s cool. I’m fine. She’s gone. Wow. That was crazy. But I don’t want you doing anything else stupid, okay?” I said as I raised his chin to make him look at me.
“I know, ma. I got you. Listen, me and Chris need to head over here to talk about a few things. Everything is good, I promise.”
“Okay baby. I’ll see you later,” I said as I leaned in for a kiss. He leaned in to kiss me. When I opened my eyes after the kiss, I noticed Ice staring again.
“What is that bitch staring at?” Star said, noticing her looking our way too. Cam turned around to see what we were looking at and actually managed to chuckle.
“Who her? Ahh shit. You know all these girls in here are the same. They see money when they see niggas like me. You ain’t gotta worry ‘bout not one girl in here, you hear me, Yanna?”
“I hear you baby,” I said. Then he and Chris walked off.
“Yo, that shit right there? Craziness! I knew it was something off about Fallon but to be in love with her own brother? Now that’s a whole new level of craziness. Damn,” Star shook her head.
“You stood there looking all shocked, like you wanted to laugh at the same time. Something is seriously wrong with you, Star,” I said, managing a quick laugh myself.
“Aye, it ain’t every day you get to see a real life soap opera. That shit was crazy,” she laughed.
“It was,” I agreed.
The rest of the night went okay. Chicks did their sets, men spent their rent and child support money, and Star and I kept them drunk enough to keep throwing money. When Fire and Ice hit the stage, I looked over at where Cam and Chris were sitting. I could have sworn I saw Cam wink at Ice when she looked over at him .she did a split and bounced on the stage floor. If Cam wanted a stripper, he could have one. I was starting to feel like it was time for the old Ayanna to come back. You can’t trust anybody these days.
Chapter 23
Eva
“Oh my God! Oh baby, don’t stop! Please don’t stop! I’m about to come, baby. Shit!”
I was in mid-orgasm. Bryce was giving me the business. As bad as I felt about lying to Tyler, something happened to me that first night that I slept with Bryce. It was like I couldn’t help myself. We talked to each other every day, even sometimes at night when I could sneak text with him. He understood me. He never judged me, and the sex was off the charts.
“Damn Eva. This shit is good, baby. Ohhhh shit!” Bryce yelled.
We came together. We laid there for a few minutes catching our breath. I put my head on his chest. I listened to his heartbeat as his chest rose and fell. I heard my phone ringing a few times while we were still at it but at the moment, I wasn’t worried about it. All I wanted to do was stay right there in Bryce’s arms, enjoying the moment.
Guilt immediately hit after the smoke had cleared. What was I doing? I loved Tyler. Didn’t I? I always took my ring off before I went inside Bryce’s house but this time I forgot. I don’t think Bryce even noticed. When he got up to go to the bathroom, I rubbed my hand across my face. The ring caught my eye. I stared at it for a long time. The next thing I knew, I was crying buckets. When Bryce came back into the room, he sat down and began rubbing my back.
“Eva? What’s wrong baby? What happened?” he asked sounding genuinely concerned.
“I-I’m sorry, Bryce. I don’t know what came over me. This is so wrong. This isn’t me! I’m so sorry for dragging you into my mess,” I said as I cried into his chest as he held me.
“Shhhh. Stop that. Listen, I knew about him before ever pursuing you. I believe that we had a mutual attraction to each other; otherwise, you would not be here right now. Don’t apologize for not being able to fight the inevitable, Eva.”
I didn’t say anything else. I cried for a little bit more then I got myself together. I really enjoyed every minute I spent with Bryce so what was I crying about? This was all so new to me. After All those years of dealing with Damien cheating on me with all those women, I had become him. The nightmares were finally over because now I was living foul too. I couldn’t even look at Ty the same way because I knew what I was doing was so wrong. It had been a minute since we had sex. When he tried, I always had some excuse as to why I wasn’t feeling it. I was ashamed. I was scared that he would be able to tell that another man had been where no other man should be but him.
Ever since the incident, Tyler had been keeping a low profile. He had been coming home at a decent hour. His phone rarely rang. Under normal circumstances, this would have made me very happy but now that I had my own reasons to want to be out and about, it made it that much harder for me to leave. So I got clever with it. Instead of booking actual doctor’s appointments, I told Ty that’s where I was but all the while I was either sneaking off to be with Bryce at his house or we got in a quickie in his office. One day, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror in his room. It stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t even recognize the woman staring back at me. Now I was, back in Bryce’s arms again, feeling guilty as hell. Something has to give.
“Bryce, I really enjoy spending time with you. Nobody forced me to be here. I don’t want you to feel like I am using you because that is far from the truth. But I can’t do this. I owe so much more to Ty. I’m not even feeling like myself anymore because cheating has never been me. I’m real sorry, Bryce. Please believe me when I say that.”
He was quiet for a minute. I could tell he didn’t like what I was saying.
“What is that supposed to mean? You can’t do this? You can’t do what? Give me this good pussy? You weren’t worried about him and what you owe him five minutes ago when you were telling me not to stop. What is it with women like you? You think you can play with people’s emotions, huh?”
“Women like me? What the hell does that mean? Clearly, I am making the right decision to cut this short because you are really showing me a side of you that I didn’t even know you had. Let me put my clothes on so I can get up out of this house,” I said. As I tried to stand up, he pushed me back down. I looked at him like he was crazy. Before I could say anything, he slapped me.
“Bitch! You ain’t going anywhere until I say you can leave!” he yelled and raised his hand as if he was going to hit me again. I held my face and looked at him in shock. I could not believe that he hit me. Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into?
“You think you can play games with people, huh, Eva? You will soon
find out that you have crossed the wrong man! Come here!” he yelled. He stood up then jerked me by the legs to the edge of the bed.
“Bryce! What the hell is wrong with you? You have lost your mind hitting me!” I screamed but he didn’t stop what he was doing. This man was about to rape me.
“No! Bryce, please no. Listen, I’m sorry. I was thinking out loud baby please. What are you doing?” I begged as I swung at him with all my strength.
“Shut up! Eva. If you hit me again, I will kill you,” he said, as he stopped and stared at me, daring me to move again. I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do.
“Don’t fight me, baby. You know this is where you want to be.”
He started kissing and biting my neck so hard I knew there would be marks. I cried, praying he wouldn’t rape me. My prayers were answered. As quickly as he started, he stopped and looked at me. He had a shocked look on his face as if he couldn’t believe what he had been about to do to me.
“Oh Eva, baby I am so sorry. I’m sorry I had to get rough with you, but I had to remind you why you’re here. I know you enjoyed that so don’t even try to deny it. I expect to see you again real soon. If I don’t, you and your man will be seeing me. Now go get yourself cleaned up. I know you gotta get home to your kids,” he said as he tossed me a warm washcloth to wash up with.
I was in a daze. The man had nearly raped me then threatened me. How does he expect to continue to see me? I wasn’t going to willingly come over here to be violated by him. I wanted to kill him. I was seeing red!
I got dressed in record time and ran to the door. Before I went out, I turned around. I looked at Bryce. He was standing real close to me. I had no idea that he had even followed me to the door. I turned back around, snatched the door open, and ran to my car. I had really fucked up this time. Damn.