I Choose You: Hood Love at Its Finest

by Diamond Johnson

  “You stuck up bitch, fuck you,” he yelled at me.

  “Nigga fuck you too,” I retorted once I got my breathing under control.

  My girls walked with me to the ladies room and when we got there, they locked the door.

  “Oh my god Tisha, look at your fuckin’ neck. We got to tell O,” Lani yelled.

  “No don’t tell him because he’s going to try to fuckin’ kill Mike and I can’t have my man go to jail for murder,” I cried.

  “Fuck that Tisha. Either you tell him or we will,” Tamika said.

  “Alright well hold on, shit,” I said, wiping my face.

  We walked out of the restroom and I spotted O in V.I.P. with his niggas. I walked over to him and he picked me up and spun me around in the air. When he put me down, he automatically knew something was wrong with me.

  “What’s wrong baby?” he asked.

  “Otis I have to tell you something. Come with me to your office,” I told him.

  “I’ll be back y’all. I’m bout to go to my office right quick,” Otis told his boys.

  When we got inside the office, Otis sat down on the chair and pulled me into his lap.

  “So what happened Tisha?” he asked.

  “Okay well baby I was out there dancing with the girls and I felt somebody start dancing behind me. I didn’t really react at first because I thought it was you. I turned around and it was my ex. He grabbed my ass and touched my breast and then I slapped him in the face. After that he started choking me and my girls had to pull him off of me,” I told him, talking fast as fuck in the process.

  “Where the fuck this nigga at?” Otis jumped up off the chair and I fell flat on my ass in the process. I was glued to the floor not saying anything. I didn’t want Otis to kill him and go to jail so I didn’t want to tell him.

  “Tisha where he at?” Otis growled at me.

  “Baby I don’t know. We left and went to the restroom so I don’t know if he’s still out there,” I told him.

  “Well we about to go find out,” Otis said, picking me up from the floor.

  We scanned the club and every nigga that we saw Otis kept asking me was that him. Eventually I spotted Mike’s bitch ass sitting at the bar looking stupid as hell.

  “Baby that’s him right there,” I pointed out.

  “Alright meet me out front,” Otis told me.

  I went outside the club and nobody was really out there. It was a little after two in the morning, so everybody was inside turning up. Five minutes later, my girls walked out first and then I saw Ty and his niggas and then Otis walked out with Mike following him. Otis led the way and we walked to the side of the club where it was dark and empty.

  “Baby come here,” Otis told me.

  I walked over there scared as hell because I didn’t know what to expect. Otis grabbed me and placed me in front of him, with his hands on my waist.

  “Playboy I’m hoping this isn’t true but my woman just came to me and told me that you don’t know how to keep your hands to yourself. I was told you put your hands on her ass and her breast. I was even more shocked when she said you choked her. I couldn’t help but notice the fingerprints that were left on her neck too. For your sake, you better hope that that’s my prints from when I blew her back out this morning,” Otis told Mike in a calm voice.

  “Man that bit—”

  Otis didn’t even give Mike a chance to call be a bitch because he slapped the fuck out of him with the butt of his gun.

  “Not only can you not keep your hands to yourself but you can’t control your mouth,” Otis yelled at Mike.

  “Get your ass up nigga,” Otis said, kicking him hard as hell in the side.

  Mike stood up dripping blood from his mouth. He looked terrible and scared shitless too.

  “Let me see your hand,” Otis told him.

  “Man come on, this isn’t necessary,” Mike slurred.

  “Mothafucka’, it wasn’t necessary when you touched my girl either. Now let me see your hands and I’m not gon’ ask you again,” Otis yelled.

  Mike eventually put both his hands out and Otis let off one shot in each of his hands.

  “That will teach you to keep your hands to yourself,” Otis told Mike who was crying hard as hell now.

  We left him there and we all walked back to the front of the club. I was in a state of shock. I always knew Otis ass was crazy but damn.

  “Baby I just want to go home now,” I whined to Otis.

  “Okay baby,” he told me.

  We told our friends goodbye and waited for valet to bring our car around. Once the car was in front, O picked me up and placed me on the hood of the car.

  “Tisha I love you man and I’ll kill a nigga for touching you. Only reason why I didn’t kill his ass was because you and your girls was with me but just know that I will not play about you,” Otis told me.

  “I know baby and I love you more,” I told him sincerely.

  Chapter 18: Tisha

  6 months later

  It was a Friday night and I was over Lani’s house with Tamika and Kyla. We were sitting in the den watching Bring It On. All of us used to be cheerleaders when we were in high school, so we loved that movie. Lani stood up and went over to the TV and started doing one of the routines they were doing.

  “Bitch sit down. We trying to watch the damn movie,” Kyla said, throwing a pillow at Lani.

  “Kyla stop playing. I’ma sit down right when this part finish,” Lani said, continuing to do the dance.

  This girl was fuckin’ crazy. She had all of us dying laughing at her funny ass. Any other time I would have been over there dancing with her but lately I’d been so tired. Like she said, she sat down right after that routine ended. I got up to go check on the food that we were making in the kitchen. Everything was done so I told my girls that they could come now. We cooked shrimp scampi, steamed lobster, vegetables, and garlic bread.

  We were sitting at the table eating when I caught a funny feeling in my stomach and I rushed to the bathroom at the end of the hallway to throw up. I hovered over the toilet and let everything just come out. Two minutes later, Lani came in there with me and shut the door behind her.

  “Oh my God Tisha, what happened?” Lani asked.

  “I don’t know Lani, I think it was the food,” I said, wiping my mouth.

  “Bitch no it wasn’t the food. You eat that shit all the time. Tisha your ass is pregnant,” Lani told me, laughing.

  I dismissed her with the wave of my hand. Then when I thought about it, I actually could be pregnant. I was two weeks late for my period and lately my breasts had become really sore. My moods were even changing. I could be laughing one minute and mad the next. The littlest things would make me cry. If Otis yelled at me I would cry. If a sad movie or commercial came on I would cry.

  “Here, take this test,” Lani said, going into her cabinet to pull out a home pregnancy test. I looked at this bitch like she was crazy. Who the hell keeps this shit in the house for no reason?

  “Don’t even look at me like that. I brought this last week because I thought I was pregnant but I wasn’t,” she said, defending herself.

  “Okay bitch, get out so I could pee,” I told her.

  When she left, I locked the door and took the test out the box. I peed on the stick and waited for the results. After a few moments, I saw the stick and two lines appeared. I was really pregnant! I walked out of the bathroom with the test behind my back. All of my friends were waiting on me to spill the beans.

  “I’m going to be a mommy!” I yelled.

  All my girls came running over to me telling me congrats and they couldn’t wait to become aunties.

  “Hey auntie’s princess, I can’t wait to meet you so we could go shopping and everything,” Lani said, rubbing my stomach.

  “Lani how you know it’s going to be a girl?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know. I just hope it is,” she said, laughing.

  We sat around watching more movies and eventually we
all headed upstairs and to our own guest bedrooms. I couldn’t sleep for shit. I knew I was the only one up too. I wanted to call O but he was at the club and he probably wouldn’t hear his phone ring. I tried my luck anyways.

  “Baby,” he answered the phone saying.

  “Hey baby, I miss you and I want to see you,” I told him.

  “Baby I’m at the club. You over there with Lani them anyways. I know y’all over there turning up,” he told me.

  “No baby, they went to sleep and I can’t sleep I miss you so much,” I whined.

  “Alright baby, I’ma let Ty know I’m leaving, so I’ll be there in about ten minutes.” Hmm, it worked every time.

  “Yay, I love you baby,” I cooed.

  “I love you too.

  I laid on the bed playing Candy Crush while waiting for O to come over. I was so damn bored! I didn’t want to go wake my girls up because I know I hate it for people to wake me up out of my sleep. Thirty minutes later, I got a call from Otis.

  “Baby I’m here. Come open the door,” he told me.

  I jumped out of the bed and ran down the stairs. I was so happy to see my man. I punched in the code to the alarm to turn it off then I walked over to the door to open it for my man. He was standing there holding a bag of food from Snappers. He looked so sexy in his True Religion jeans, with an orange Nike shirt and his orange and white Nike Roshe Runs.

  “Hey baby,” I cooed, giving him a hug.

  “What’s up ma?” he asked, grabbing my ass and lifting me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and started kissing him all over his face.

  “Nothing, let’s go upstairs before we wake the girls up,” I said and he carried me up the stairs.

  We entered the room and Otis put me down and I sat on the bed while Otis placed the food on the dresser and went into the bathroom inside the room to wash his hands. I sat there trying to decide whether I should tell him tonight if I’m pregnant or should I just wait in the morning.

  He walked out of the bathroom and took his shirt off and threw it on the chair. I just couldn’t help but stare and my man’s nice ripped up body. His chest was covered in tattoos and his rock hard abs were just looking too good. He caught me damn near drooling and gave me a sexy smile showing off his pearly whites and those sexy ass dimples.

  “Baby what did you get from Snappers?” I asked, getting off of the bed.

  “Some fried tilapia, shrimp, conch, and fries,” he said, opening the bag up.

  He walked over to the bed and I walked over to pull the test from out of my purse. When he wasn’t looking, I put it under the pillow. I planned on telling him once he finished eating. While he ate I climbed behind him and massaged his back for him.

  “Yeah baby, do that for your man. Daddy had a hard day today,” he said.

  “Negro please, all you do is give out orders all day at work,” I said, laughing.

  “I bet them mothafuckas listen to them orders though,” he said with a mouth full of food.

  I was just kidding with my baby though. I knew he was a hardworking man. He was only 26 years old and he already owned his owned club. I let him know how proud I was of him every day. I reached over and tried to take a shrimp from out of the container.

  “Nah continue what you was doing and then you can have some,” he said.

  “Come on baby, let me just get one,” I whined.

  “Nope, after you finish.”

  I continued to massage his back for another fifteen minutes and then I started complaining about my fingers starting to hurt. I was lying, I just wanted some of his food and I knew that his greedy ass would eat the whole thing. I climbed from behind him and took my favorite spot, on his lap. I started eating his shrimp and fries.

  “Yo li’l greedy ass said you only wanted a shrimp,” he teased.

  I ignored him and continued to eat the fries until I got full. I walked over to the dresser and drank some of his Sprite that he’d brought home with him. When I was finished, I brought it over to him so that he could drink some as well. Once we were finished eating, I took the food downstairs in the trash and came back in the room to spray it with Febreze. I didn’t want the room smelling like fried foods. Otis was laid in the bed, with his hand resting behind him. I joined him and laid my head on his chest. I guessed I should just go ahead and tell him.

  “Baby I have something that I want to tell you,” I said nervously. I didn’t know how he would react to what I was about to drop on him. He always told me that he wanted me to be the mother of his children but I don’t know if he wanted it to be so soon.

  “What’s up bae?” he asked.

  I reached behind me and pulled the test from behind the pillow. I looked at him and placed it in his hands. He saw the two lines and my smile and he knew I was pregnant.

  “Tisha, I already knew baby,” he told me bluntly.

  “What you mean you knew? I just found out earlier today,” I said confused.

  “It’s like I could just tell the difference in your body. Not to mention, I peeped your ass trying to squeeze in some jeans the other day but the shit just wasn’t working. And I can’t forget how that ass is getting fat. But most importantly, your ass is greedy as hell now,” he said, laughing.

  I just shook my head at him. His ass swore that he knew everything. “So if you knew already then why didn’t you tell me?” I quizzed.

  “I wasn’t one hundred percent sure. I just had a feeling.” He smiled.

  I couldn’t help but smile. This man swore he knew my body more than me. All the signs that he just showed me, I never paid them any attention. And then I noticed that my breasts were sore as hell last week but I thought it was just because my period was coming soon. Also last week, I tried to slip into my size three skinny jeans and it took me forever to put them on. Damn, I really was pregnant!

  “Real shit Tisha, I’m glad you’re about to be the one to have my baby. I been trying to knock your ass up and it finally happened,” he smiled.

  “Baby what do you want? A boy or a girl?” I asked, tracing my fingers over the tattoos on his chest.

  “Honestly baby, I want a li’l man. At the end of the day as long as we have a healthy baby, that’s all that matters. But Tisha I don’t know if I can handle another little you running around here,” he joked.

  “I hope it’s a girl baby. She going to be so spoiled,” I said.

  “Yep, we going to have a littler monster on our hands,” Otis said, laughing.

  “I love you baby,” I said, leaning up to kiss him.

  “I love you too,” he told me back, pulling me by my arm so that I could lay flat on his chest. He kept his hands on my ass squeezing it real hard.

  “Baby I can’t wait to see you waddling around the house barefoot—”

  “Oh my God, baby don’t say waddle,” I whined, cutting him off. He made it seem like I was going to be huge.

  Otis started laughing at me because I was dead serious. I knew I was going to gain weight but damn, I didn’t want to be a fat pig in the process!

  “Okay baby, just point blank I can’t wait,” he said.

  “I know you can’t baby and I can’t either,” I told him.

  I laid there on his chest for the rest of the night talking about the baby. We were both excited and we couldn’t wait to meet our prince or princess. I prayed to God, it was a princess though. Eventually around 3 a.m. we ended up falling asleep together. God I loved this man!

  Lani

  I woke up the next morning around 7 a.m. to the sound of a headboard constantly hitting the wall. I looked to the right of me and my husband was knocked out. I knew for a fact it wasn’t nobody but Tisha and Otis’ asses. I didn’t even know he came over last night. I got up out the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower because I knew there was no way that I could go back to sleep. After I took my shower, I went to the sink to wash my face and brush my teeth. I unwrapped my hair and put it in a high messy bun. I didn’t want to wake Ty up by turning the TV on in the room
so I went downstairs in the den to watch TV.

  I walked downstairs with my blanket wrapped around me. When I got in the den, I saw Kyla was in there watching “The Players Club.”

  “Girl what are you doing up?” I asked her.

  “I couldn’t sleep. I know you heard Tisha and Otis’ loud asses in there!” Kyla stated.

  I was cracking up because Kyla was pissed off. Half the time she don’t wake up until like 1 in the afternoon, so I knew that she was pissed to be out of her bed this early. We sat around in the den watching movies until 10 that morning.

  “Baby where you at?” Ty said, walking downstairs.

  “I’m in the den baby,” I yelled.

  “What’s up Kyla?” Ty said when he made his way in the den.

  “Hey Ty,” she said, eyes still on the screen.

  My man walked over to me and picked me up off the couch and sat me down in his lap. I laid my head on his chest and continued to watch the movie “Taken.” This was one of my favorite movies.

  “Baby why you up so early?” Ty asked, kissing my neck.

  “Because I couldn’t sleep with Tisha and Otis’ loud asses in the room. I didn’t want to wake you up by turning the TV on, so I just came downstairs,” I said.

  “Okay, so bae you going to make breakfast,” he asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Come on Tiny, I’m hungry as fuck,” he said, rubbing his stomach.

  I didn’t want to but I got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen to start breakfast. Kyla came along to help me out as well. We were making sausages, French toast, eggs, grits, and hash browns. Fifteen minutes into getting breakfast ready, Tamika came downstairs looking like she had the biggest hangover from all that drinking she did last night.

  “Good morning,” she said, taking a seat in one of the stools in the kitchen.

  “Good morning Meek,” I told her, putting the biscuits in the oven.

  Ten minutes later, Otis came down with a smile plastered on his face. He must have smelled the good breakfast and decided to join us.

  “Good morning sisters,” he said, referring to me, Kyla, and Tamika. Tamika and Kyla responded but I didn’t. I was mad at his ass for making me get out of my bed at seven in the morning.