by C. J. Hudson
“But don’t you worry about your reputation?” Butter asked.
“Fuck no. It ain’t like I’m messing around with a bunch of different dudes. There’s only two, and one of them don’t even go to this school.”
“What school does he go to?” Melissa asked.
“He doesn’t. He’s out of school.”
“Damn, girl, you messing around with a nigga that old?”
“Rule number two,” Joan said, laughing. “If you gonna try to get some coins out of a nigga, make sure that he’s older than you. Most of these muthafuckas our own age are just as broke as we are. Now, let’s roll up to the food court and get something to eat. Don’t worry about it. I got it,” Joan said, flashing two fifty-dollar bills.
From that moment on, the seeds of manipulation were planted inside of Butter. Five years later, at the tender age of 20, her sexual skill level was at an all-time high. She caught Marvin at just the right time. His wife had just passed away from breast cancer, and he was lonely and vulnerable. What he thought would be a simple release of tension and sexual frustrations one night turned into Butter pussy-whipping the hell out of him. After putting it on him again the following morning, Butter had Marvin eating out of the palm of her hand. He fell hard for her. He practically begged her to move in with him, and she’d been there ever since. But tonight, all she wanted was for Marvin to hurry up and come so that she could hop in the shower and be ready by the time Jazmine got there to pick her up.
Trying to hurry the process along, she started talking dirty and moaning loudly. She knew that Marvin loved it when her mouth went to the gutter in the bedroom. It actually turned him on more than the act of having sex. Her plan worked to perfection. Less than ten seconds later, Marvin was coating her insides with his semen. Breathing heavily, he rolled off her and collapsed onto his back.
“Okay. I gave you what you wanted. I’m about to take a shower and go out with my girls.”
“Okay, baby. You need some money?” he asked as Butter knew he would.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, go get it, baby. You know where it is.”
Butter got out of bed and walked over to the closet. After opening the door to it, she kneeled on the floor and entered the combination to the floor safe. There was another larger safe in the basement, but she was only going out with her friends, so she didn’t need that much. Had she been going shopping, she would’ve gone downstairs and taken out some real bread. For some reason, Marvin didn’t like to put his money in banks, at least not all of it. The majority of his cash, he kept in his home. Butter had tried to get him to put most of his money in the bank, citing that it was dangerous, but he didn’t budge. Unbeknownst to Marvin, however, Butter’s pleas were just a front. She loved the fact that so much cash was at her disposal. She knew Marvin well enough to know that he wouldn’t change his mind about putting it in a bank, and she was very happy about that.
Butter took out three one-hundred-dollar bills and closed the safe. When she turned around, she saw that Marvin had fallen asleep. That had been expected. He always did that after busting a nut.
* * *
Jazmine pulled up to the curb of the small apartment building and cut the engine. For the third time since it was brought up to her, she said a silent prayer and wondered how in the world she ever let Dani talk her into such a time bomb waiting to happen. The way Sunny spoke about her after she left was wicked, and there wasn’t a doubt in Jazmine’s mind that the two of them were never going to be friends. That put her in a bad spot. She and Jazmine had gotten extremely tight over the last few weeks. Add that to the fact that their fathers were business partners, and the whole thing made for a sticky situation. Jazmine had to admit, though, that she was supremely shocked when Dani called her and asked if she thought she and Sunny could ever be friends. That in itself was strange.
Dani wasn’t the type of person to kiss someone’s ass if they didn’t want to be bothered with her. She would simply tell them to go fuck themselves. Jazmine had already accepted the fact that her two friends would never see eye to eye, so she would just have to find a way to divide her time and friendship between them. When Dani called, she was expecting her to go off because neither of her friends had defended her. Jazmine wanted to say something, but it was Sunny’s party, so she decided to remain neutral. When Dani didn’t bring it up, Jazmine was stunned.
Jazmine knew that she was taking a big chance with what she’d schemed up. The four girls were going to a club to hang out, but Jazmine was the only one who knew that both Sunny and Dani were going.
When Jazmine looked at her watch, she realized that she had been sitting in front of Butter’s house for nearly fifteen minutes. She was just about to lay on the horn when Butter came out dressed to kill. She wore a pair of tight-fitting light blue Capri pants that fit her like a second skin. The V-neck white blouse she wore revealed just enough cleavage to get men interested but covered her boobs enough for her not to look like a ho. Her toenails were freshly painted, and her hair was no longer in a ponytail. It was now lying on her shoulders.
“Damn, hurry up, bitch. We don’t have all night. I’ve been out here waiting for damn near an hour for your ass,” Jazmine lied.
“Bitch, stop lying. I looked out the window twenty minutes ago, and your ass was nowhere in sight,” Butter said, catching her friend in a lie.
“Damn, bitch, you trying to catch a man tonight or something?” Butter asked Jazmine as she got in the car and closed the door.
“Shit, girl, you never know. I just might.” Jazmine had on a pair of form-fitting jeans that showed off her ass and legs. Her shirt was cut off at her belly button so that any and all could see her flat stomach.
“You mean to tell me that Turiq let your ass come out of the house like that?” Butter asked.
“Hell no. I changed clothes in a Walmart bathroom,” Jazmine said, laughing.
“My dad doesn’t normally police what I’m wearing, but he does give me a hard time when he thinks I have on something that I shouldn’t. I didn’t feel like hearing that shit tonight, though, so I just threw on some bullshit clothes that I knew he wouldn’t object to and changed at Walmart.”
Butter sniffed the air twice and wrinkled up her nose.
“The fuck wrong with you, bitch?”
“You don’t smell that?” Butter asked.
“Smell what, bitch? I don’t smell shit,” Jazmine said.
“Me either. That’s the fucking problem. I don’t smell no fucking weed burning in this bitch. Fire that shit up. I know you got some on deck.”
“Nah, to be honest with you, I’m out, but I was going to pick up some on the way.”
“That’s what’s up. A bitch gotta get right before she goes up in the club.”
Butter reached into her back pocket and pulled out a miniature bottle of vodka. After unscrewing the top, she tossed it back, taking the entire small bottle of alcohol to the head. Her face twisted as the liquor burned going down her throat. She took another one out of her back pocket and handed it to Jazmine.
“Screw the cap off for me, bitch. You see I’m driving?”
Butter obliged her friend by taking the top off and handing her the small bottle. The two of them shot the shit for about five minutes when Butter realized they were going in the wrong direction.
“The fuck are you going? I thought we were going to your house to pick up Sunny.”
“We are,” Jazmine told her. Butter looked around at the scenery, then slowly turned her head to Jazmine. Even though Jazmine didn’t return the look, she already knew that the jig was up.
“Jazmine, I know damn well we’re not about to go where I think we’re about to go.”
“Yes, Butter, we’re going to pick up Dani.”
Butter looked at Jazmine like she rode the short yellow bus.
“Bitch, are you fucking high? Sunny is going to blow her fucking top when she sees Dani. You know as well as I do that those two broads don’t get along. Now,
your silly ass is going to pick her up and pour gas on that fire? The fuck type of shit are you on?”
“Calm the fuck down, Butter. Dani asked me if she could go with us because she wanted to apologize to Sunny. Believe it or not, Dani actually wants to be friends with Sunny.”
“Oh, is that right? Well, that ain’t the fuckin’ question. The question is, does Sunny want to be friends with Dani?”
Jazmine remained tight-lipped. That was a question she couldn’t answer, so she decided to change the subject.
“Anyway, that old man still treating you right, girl?”
“You know it. And as long as he keeps breaking off that bread, I’ll stay there with his ass. The minute he starts getting stingy, I’m outta that bitch.”
“Girl, it’s like that?”
“Straight like that. This sunshine between my legs don’t come for free.”
Jazmine laughed so hard at Butter’s comment that she damn near ran a red light.
“Stop, bitch, damn. You trying to get us in an accident before we even get to the damn club?”
“No, girl, I was just laughing at yo’ crazy ass.”
“Crazy, my ass. I’m serious. If a muthafucka wants to lay up between my legs, he’s going to have to bring something to the table besides dick.”
“I heard that shit,” Jazmine said, giving her friend a high five. As they approached Dani’s apartment building, a worried expression formed on Butter’s face.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jazmine asked.
Butter took a deep breath. “Jazmine, I’m trying to have a good time tonight, and if Sunny is in one of her moods, there’s going to be fireworks, and that’ll fuck up the whole evening for all of us.”
“Well, let’s just pray that that doesn’t happen,” Jazmine said sincerely. She pulled into the parking lot of Dani’s building and killed the engine. Then she took out her cell phone to dial Dani’s number, but before she could, it buzzed in her hand.
“Yeah, we’re outside,” she said when she looked at the screen and saw that it was Dani calling her.
“Yeah, I know, bitch. That’s why I called to tell you that I was on my way.”
“She’s on her way down,” Jazmine said after the call ended.
“Yeah, whateva,” Butter responded. Jazmine cut her eyes at her
“Look, Butter, it’s already going to be a hard sell to get Sunny to go along with this shit. Please don’t make it any harder, okay? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had something against Dani too.”
“Jazmine, now, you know that’s bullshit. Me, you, and Dani have hung out on a bunch of different occasions. I just don’t wanna be bothered with bullshit tonight. I want to have a nice time.”
“Well, who says you can’t? Just because these two hoes have to find a way to get along doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. Plus, we’re going to have a buzz and high on, so we’re gonna be good anyway. And remember, Dani wants to get along with Sunny, so she’s going to try everything in her power to make that happen.”
“And how do you know that?”
“Well, that’s what the bitch said she was going to do,” Jazmine said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Let’s hope so,” Butter said as Dani walked out of the building.
“What’s good, ladies?” she asked as she opened the door and climbed in the backseat.
“Shit, hopefully, this night,” Butter said. As soon as Dani was comfortably in the car, Jazmine turned around and looked at her.
“Dani, are you sure about this? I mean, you and Sunny did have words the other day at her party.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I want to talk to her. I want to apologize for storming off like that. I really want me and Sunny to be friends. As a matter of fact, I want all of us to be friends. We could have so much fun hanging out together. I’ll do my part. Hopefully, Sunny does hers.”
Butter raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Sunny can be a hard bitch sometimes. I was shocked as hell when Jazmine told me that she and Sunny had become friends.”
“Bitch, you act like that was a stretch. I told y’all awhile ago that our fathers were trying to push us to be friends,” Jazmine reminded Butter.
“Yeah, but from the way you used to talk about her, I didn’t think y’all would ever be friends.”
“Well, things happen that causes shit to change,” Jazmine said, remembering the night Sunny stopped Jamal from raping her. What happened that night brought the two girls together and created a bond that was pretty much unbreakable. Both Dani and Butter saw how close the two of them were getting, but as long as Jazmine wasn’t neglecting their friendship, neither had a problem with it.
“So, what happened to bring you two hoes together like this?” Butter asked.
“That’s our secret,” Jazmine said. Butter was taken aback. For the first time since Sunny and Jazmine had become close friends, she felt a twinge of jealousy.
“Oh, excuse the fuck outta me,” she said with an attitude. Butter turned her head toward the window and stared out of it. Jazmine knew that Butter was in her feelings and thought briefly about letting her stay there. But the two of them had been cool too long to let her friendship with someone else come between theirs.
“Come on, Butter, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying it’s not all of my secret to tell. If you really wanna know, just ask Sunny.”
“I’m not asking Sunny. I’m asking you.”
“Butter, chill out with that shit now. You’re gonna sit up here and tell me that you’ve told me about every single thing in your life?”
Butter thought on it long and hard and had to admit that there were a few things in her life that she was going to take to the grave. In her opinion, though, this was different. Things she was holding were personal. This wasn’t. But even though she didn’t like it, she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it.
“Yeah, a’ight, bitch. Let’s just forget about it,” Butter said, still not liking it. Jazmine pulled into Sunny’s driveway and parked. She pulled out her cell phone, called Sunny, and told her that they would meet her at her car.
“Damn, that muthafucka nice!” Butter yelled when she laid eyes on Sunny’s silver drop-top Mercedes-Benz. Sunny came out of the house looking every bit the diva she was. The miniskirt she had on wrapped around her thighs and hugged them tightly. The white cami she wore accentuated her breasts perfectly. A twenty-four-inch diamond necklace hung around her neck, shining brightly in the night. An iced-out diamond and platinum bracelet dangled from her wrist. Her friend Kim followed behind her. She wasn’t poorly dressed but compared to Sunny, she looked rather average.
“What’s up, bitches?” she said, smiling. The smile disappeared from her face, however, when she spotted Dani standing next to her whip. With an evil scowl on her face, Sunny slowly walked over to the three ladies and glared at Dani.
“The fuck is this bitch doing here?”
“She has something she wants to say to you,” Jazmine informed her. Sunny walked up to Dani and got in her space.
“You got something to say to me, ho?” Dani swallowed hard. She hated taking shit off Sunny, but she kept reminding herself that she was doing this for the greater good.
“I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the way I acted at your party, and I would like it if we could be friends.” Sunny’s mouth opened wide as she looked from Jazmine to Butter.
“Is this bitch serious? Am I just supposed to forget about what happened at my party?”
“Sunny, to be fair about it, you did get mad at her for something she didn’t even say,” Jazmine told her. Sunny looked at Jazmine like she wanted to slap the shit out of her. “Stop looking at me like that. The truth is the light.”
“Come on, Sunny. Just let me roll with y’all tonight. If I get on your nerves, I won’t bother you again. I just want to be friends.”
Sunny once again looked from Butter to Jazmine.
“Fine, bitch. You can roll with us. Get yo�
�� ass in the back and don’t get my leather seats dirty with that tacky-ass outfit.”
Sunny brushed past her as she walked around to the driver’s side. Dani looked at Jazmine, who just shrugged. Jazmine quickly jumped into the front seat, leaving the rest of them to settle into the back. Five minutes of silence went by before anyone said anything. The tension in the car was ultra-thick. It was clear that Sunny didn’t want Dani tagging along, and Dani was trying her best not to rub Sunny the wrong way.
“Fuck, I forgot to stop and get some weed,” Jazmine said. Sunny gave her the side eye.
“This fuckin’ night just gets better and better,” she said. “First, you got me going out with this bitch in the back, who I do not like, let’s be clear on that. Now, we have to go up in the fuckin’ club without a buzz.”
“I have a couple of blunts on me,” Dani said, ignoring Sunny’s insults.
“Bitch, don’t nobody want yo’ dirt-ass weed,” Sunny spat.
“You know what?” Butter said. “You can be on that bullshit if you want to, but I’m about to blaze up. Pass me that stick, Dani.”
Dani reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of thick blunts. She gave one to Butter and passed the second one to Jazmine. Within seconds, smoke filled the entire car. Sunny felt herself getting a contact high from the fumes.
“Bitch, so you wanna hit this or what?” Jazmine asked her.
“A’ight, I’ll try the shit,” Sunny said, taking the blunt from Jazmine. Jazmine watched as her friend took a long pull, held, and exhaled.
“Well? How is it?” Jazmine asked.
“It’s a’ight,” Sunny said, although it was clear that the weed hit was hitting her harder than she was letting on.
“A’ight? Bitch, stop frontin’. You know damn well that’s some potent-ass piff.”
Sunny took another puff. This time, she held it in longer than the first time before expelling it into the air. A goofy smile appeared on her face as she looked in the rearview mirror and nodded.
“Okay, okay, bitch, I’m gonna give you ya’ props. This is some good shit.”
“Thank you, but could you please stop calling me bitch? My name is Dani. Please call me that.”