Scarlett 2

by Tiece

  She was going to make sure he paid for making her feel like a fool. Her ex had played her far too long, and she sure wasn’t taking any shit from Jay. It was much too soon for him to start that foolishness.

  __________

  Nina stepped outside on her front porch to quietly relax in her new rocking chair, just in time to see Gwen leaving Scarlett’s house. What in the hell is she up to now? She questioned herself. Damn, Le’me go back in the house before she—

  “Aye, Nina!” She called out, making her way across the neighbor’s lawn with a brown bag in her hand.

  “Damn,” Nina uttered. She’d been spotted just that quickly. Gwen made her way over to Nina’s house, walked straight up on her porch, and sat down in the rocking chair. She turned up her beer.

  “It’s hotter than the devil’s dick out this bitch.” She stated, then took another sip of her beer.

  Nina grinned, watching Gwen wipe the pouring sweat off her shiny forehead. “Why are you out here in the heat like this anyway?”

  “I was coming to see my son, but Scarred won’t bring her black ass to the door. I know she in there because her car still home.” she fussed.

  “She’s not there, Gwen,” Nina informed her. “She went out of town for the weekend, and Anton was gone with Tommy earlier when I spoke with her.”

  “Out of town?” Gwen nosily asked.

  “Yes, Red has a man now.” She happily gloated.

  “Who in the hell wants to claim her as their woman?” She questioned. “Well whoever he is, sho’ ain’t got himself—”

  Nina cut in. “Nope, you’re not gonna do that here, not in my face.”

  Gwen frowned with a sideways look. “Well, they say birds of a feather flock together.”

  Nina shook her head, because she’d been around Gwen damn near all of her life and she knew how hateful she was. Being Scarlett’s best friend didn’t cut her any slack either.

  “Where are all them chirren of yours? It’s mighty quiet ʼround here.”

  “They’re with their daddy.” Nina stated with her arms folded, leaning against her front door. She wasn’t about to remotely act as if she wanted to entertain Gwen’s obnoxious company.

  “Who you talking ʼbout, Stephen?” she asked then drank from her beer again with a quick roll of her eyes as if somebody had shitted on her.

  “Because we all know that Rick hardly even claims his,” she added. “All he wants is a good fuck. He got everybody talking about you in the hole,” her coarse words slurred from her drunken state.

  “What you mean in the hole?” Nina quickly asked, already knowing that the hole was a place where niggas hung out at to gamble or to sell drugs to crack heads, weed heads, meth heads or pill poppers.

  “You know what hole I’m talking about. The same place where Rick ass be 24/7, gambling on a losing spree and talking shit about how good you slob on his knob.”

  “Say what now?” Nina impatiently asked.

  “Yeah, you heard me, and how he doesn’t have to pay you a damn thang for them chirren or come see’m, and you’re still gonna fuck and suck him. You and Scarred might talk about me, but giving niggas pussy for free is just as worse as being on drugs. Talk about an addiction!” She slapped her leg while laughing as hard as she could.

  Nina rolled her eyes, feeling a bit embarrassed that Rick would talk about her like that when she’d been nothing but good to his sorry, no good ass. “You’re sad, Gwen. You know that?”

  Gwen grinned. “Sad that I ain’t got no money to buy me a eye opener.” Nina shook her head because she knew that an eye opener was a hit of crack. “Le’me borrow ʼbout ten dollars off of you and I’ll be on my way.”

  “I don’t have any money to support your habits. You just need to leave and go clean yourself up.”

  Gwen stood to her feet. “You are just like that nasty ass daughter of mine. It’s okay, because she might be chilling out of town with her new boyfriend, but that shit ain’t gon’ last. Somebody gon’ bring her right down off that high horse. And you,” Nina frowned as she glared at her. “Yeah, you can’t even hold on to a man, but steady having all them damn babies.”

  “Get off of my porch, Gwen.” Nina softly demanded. Gwen wasn’t going to disrespect her like she’d done her daughter all of those years.

  “Don’t worry, I’m gone,” Gwen said as she staggered down the porch steps. “Tell Scarred her days of being happy are numbered and yours too, if you don’t get your shit together.”

  Nina didn’t say a word as she watched Gwen slither her filthy ass down the street like a poisonous snake. Her words were deadly and her bite had the tendency to linger, as the words, her days of being happy are numbered, and yours too stayed stuck in her mind. Nina hated her with a passion that only Scarlett knew about, because she felt the same way about her.

  “I guess I can’t blame Red for saying that her sick ass is dead.” She murmured, then looked over at her rocking chair as if she was going to have a seat, but thought about it for a second. Hell naw, not after her nasty ass was just sitting there. She went inside to cool off in more ways than one, because Rick certainly was going to get it as soon as she caught up with his ass.

  __________

  Anton and Tommy rode around town smoking on a fat blunt, both consumed with agitating thoughts. Tommy stared out into the evening’s dimming sky while they sat at the red light. It seemed as if was going to rain.

  They bumped Pussy, Money, Weed by Lil Wayne as Tommy slowly pulled off, driving through the green light. His thoughts were on becoming a man, his own man, and keeping lots of money in his pockets. He looked over at Anton and shook his head, because he knew that his thoughts were on working out his problems with Samantha and Breanne. All he wanted was for his boy to get focused on the money, and less concerned with the women.

  “Man, crack these windows.” Anton stated after noticing that the air in the car was beginning to fill with nothing but cloudy gray smoke.

  Tommy smugly grinned. “Shit, crack your window, boss. The smokier it is in here for me the higher I get.”

  Anton shook his head and hit the defrost button on the air condition, so the smoke would be sucked inside the vents. “Well, I ain’t going to jail on the humbug because you wanna ride around Richmond County with a car full of smoke and the fucking windows up.”

  “Get that devil off your shoulders, man. We’re good.” Tommy nonchalantly stated with an uncaring grin. “I’m taking your ass back home anyway. I think you need to get your thoughts together because these women are about to drive you crazy.”

  Anton glared at his best friend sideways. “Man, I ain’t stun them girls no more.” He stated after trying to call Samantha numerous times through the night and being ignored. Plus, Breanne had given him those unwanted three cents of her thoughts about how she hated even fucking with him, then left him hanging by turning her phone completely off.

  Tommy smirked. “So, you’re over both Bree and Samantha?”

  “That’s what I said.” Anton insisted, but deep down he wasn’t keeping it all the way one-hundred. He still had strong feelings for both women. He just needed some time to figure things out, because if they were seriously over him, then he needed to get to a point where he would be seriously over them.

  “So are you down with making this paper?” Tommy asked. He knew his boy was just putting up a front, but if he could get him to focus on the money, then he could eventually have other girls riding his dick.

  Anton sat quiet for a moment. He knew that Tommy had been trying to get his hands on somebody’s stash, but all they ever did was talk about it. Talking about it became the normal thing for the past few years, so he figured what the hell. “I’m down. Shiiiit, what you have in mind?”

  “Robbing Slim’s punk ass,” Tommy blurted out.

  Anton frowned. “Slim? What the hell you wanna rob him for? He’s just the do boy for his cousin.”

  “He’s easier access than his cousin, though. Just think about it. This ni
gga walk around with about ten grand in his pockets, not including the work he keeps.”

  Anton raised an eyebrow in agreement. “True, True,” he slowly commented. His bright round eyes were now almost shut from puffing on the potent blunt of O.G. Kush. “But wait a minute, and just think about it first before you shut it down. If we had access to getting our hands on Troy’s shit, since he’s the actual man, then we’d be able to get our lil empire started.”

  “So you’re saying fuck Slim and go after his cousin.”

  “Which one of’m can we get the most out of? You do the math.” Anton seriously stated.

  Tommy scratched his chin as he rounded a corner, driving his 1997 black Chevy Impala SS, heading toward Anton’s house. “Yup, you’re right. The only problem with that is, the nigga don’t let nobody get close to him but his cousin, Slim, and them different women he be fucking with. I think the nigga is paranoid because he already knows that somebody wants to get in his pockets.”

  “Well, one thing about it, that nigga ain’t stupid. He doesn’t walk around with shit like Slim does. If you see that man out like that, it’s because he’s with a female gettin’ his mack on. So I say that to say this. We need an inside connect to help us get his stash while he’s gone.”

  Tommy pulled up in Anton’s driveway and parked the car. He looked over at Anton. “And how do you propose we do that?”

  “I don’t know yet, but if we gone do this, then we may as go hard or go home. Ain’t no in between. Just think of how much money we could get from that nigga?”

  “Yeah, I’m thinking about it,” he said while also thinking about getting some new shoes for his Impala.

  “I know we’ve talked about this on several different occasions, but it would be so sweet if this time we could make this shit happen.” Anton stated.

  “You ain’t never lied,” he agreed then gave Anton dap. “A’ight boss, hold it down and don’t go in there crying over them girls.” Anton laughed at his comment.

  “Nigga please,” he shook his head. “I’m ‘bout to go in here and wash my ass, then lay back and watch the game. You know Miami and the Spurs are playing tonight.”

  “Oh yeah,” Tommy commented.

  “But I’m still gon’ be thinking ʼbout how we can make this thing happen. I’m tired of having to get money from my sister and shit.” He opened the car door. “Speaking of my sister, I need to call her later too, and see how her trip is.”

  “Yeah, make sho’ you do that. Oh yeah,” he called as Anton stepped out of the car. “Your sister has been looking fine as hell lately. Damn, looking at her makes a nigga wanna get his paper up.”

  Anton laughed. “My sister don’t want you, nigga.”

  “Money talks, bullshit—” Anton closed the door on him and walked off grinning. He didn’t want to hear that shit, and he knew that his boy was just playing anyway. At least he better had been.

  Chapter 8

  Scarlett and Luke had made it to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and their destination, Pigeon Forge Cabin rentals. They’d been there for at least two hours already, and had already christened the place. After also christening the shower, they got fully dressed and headed to the Riverwalk Trail. The 1.5-mile trail would take them on a romantic walk through a quiet neighborhood, a rest plaza, and would follow the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River all the way back to the city parking lot.

  They talked, holding hands as the sky had just darkened with the bright stars lighting up the night, as if they were busy city lights. The dreamy idealistic moment had Scarlett feeling tingly inside. All she could do was hold on to his arm, and proudly walk beside the man who had all of the attention.

  She smiled. “This is very sweet.”

  He smiled back. “I told you that I wanted to show you the finer things in life. I know you’ve already experienced something like this, being that when I met you, you already had men sending you nice gifts.” She smiled, but knew that those were the first gifts that she’d ever gotten in her life from a man.

  “Things don’t always look as they really are.” she commented.

  “Well, I’m looking at you,” he said, stopping and staring into her mesmerizing brown eyes. “You are the most beautiful girl in the world. I love your personality, your outlook on life, and the way you seem so surprised and giddy any time I take you some place. It really lets me know that you appreciate me being in your life.”

  She leaned in and kissed his soft lips because she did appreciate everything he’d brought to her life. He was a genuine kind of guy, and she knew without a doubt that he was falling in love with her because she was falling in love with him too.

  As soon as they started back walking, Luke stopped and plucked a white prune spring flower from its shrub and gave it to Scarlett. “You look as innocent and as beautiful as this flower.”

  Scarlett blushed. It felt good to be treated like a queen. “Hey, let’s sit down on one of these park benches and relax. I just wanna take in the view as much as possible, because we’ll be leaving before we know it.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Luke stated as they sat down on a nearby bench. Scarlett cuddled up as close to him as possible.

  They were enjoying the cool inviting breeze, just quietly sitting and embedding the memory of the moment. A lady and a man passed by them walking hand in hand. Scarlett smiled and thought it was beyond sweet, until she spotted the little girl dragging behind them looking sad. She was dressed as if she was thrown away, making Scarlett wonder if she was with the fine, well dressed couple walking ahead of the child. As soon as she attempted to reach out to the little girl to see what was wrong with her, the lady turned to address her.

  “We’ll be sitting a little further up on one of these benches until your slow ass catches up with us.” The little girl seemed like she wanted to cry as she and Scarlett’s eyes met. “I wished I had a babysitter for her ass, because she wouldn’t be following me anyway.” Scarlett was beginning to feel uncomfortable for the child as her mother continued.

  “Damn, can’t go nowhere from having to drag her ugly ass with me. Get on my damn nerves.” She huffed as the man stood there like he didn’t care how she spoke to the little girl.

  Scarlett’s heart immediately filled with sorrow and hate for the woman because it instantly brought back memories. Her eyes became glossy as Luke’s phone rang.

  “This is Mama. I’ma walk off for a second to take this call, because I know she’s gonna chew my ass out about not calling her as soon as we made it here.”

  “Okay baby,” Scarlett responded. No sooner than Luke disappeared down the trail to take his private cursing out, she immediately stepped up to the little girl before she got out of reach.

  “Hey sweetie,” she softly called out. “How old are you?”

  The little girl turned her head and stopped so Scarlett could catch up. “I’m nine years old.” She shyly spoke.

  “What’s your name?”

  “My name is Ausha.”

  “So that’s your mom up there?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Scarlett leaned down a little to get a closer look at her and smiled because she was just a cute as a button, but underneath those three week old, bushy afro puffballs, dirty worn down clothes, and dirty shoes, no one could see it. This reminded her so much of herself when she was around her age.

  “Look, I don’t know your living situation, but you seem like a scared, little lost girl that I once knew.”

  She rubbed her hand through the little girl’s bushy afro puffballs. She took the white flower, beautiful and innocent, as it was, that Luke had given her, stuck it behind the little girl’s ear, and smiled causing Ausha to smile.

  “Don’t never let anyone ever tell you that you aren’t a beautiful person, because I’m here to tell you that you are.” Her eyes glistened with water because she knew that the child would feel better about herself if her mother played a bigger role in showing her that she did care.

  Ausha smiled. It was if
an angel had swooped down in place of God himself to reassure her that everything was going to be all right.

  “Really?” she said, as the tears that she’d been holding back streamed down her face, causing Scarlett’s to do the same. Scarlett then dug inside her pockets and pulled out a hundred and fifty dollars.

  “I know this ain’t much, but if there is anyone in your family that you can trust, please give them this money to go buy you a few outfits.”

  The little girl’s face lit up. “THANK YOU,” she said, giving Scarlett a big hug. “I’ll give it to my auntie. She’ll do it for me.”

  “Good,” Scarlett said, wiping her tears, then Ausha’s tears. “Now run along and learn not to let negative words impact your life. You’re gonna be alright.” She confidently stated then kissed Ausha on the forehead. The overjoyed little girl took off running then stopped and looked back.

  “Hey, what’s your name?”

  “Scarlett,” she answered with a smile. That was the first time she’d ever said her name was Scarlett and felt good about it. She turned to sit down, but bumped right into Luke. He’d been standing there smiling.

  “Aww, you’ve been crying.” He wiped the remnants of her tears. “Now see that’s why I love you. You were so sincere about helping out that little girl. And I can’t help but smile, because I swear I wanted to say something to that woman for talking to her like that.”

  “Tell me about it,” Scarlett stated.

  “Well, we’re going back to the room now. I have us set up for full body massages, then a candle light hot bath, and room service is bringing us a very nice dinner.”

  Scarlett smiled. Nobody could take this joy away from her; especially Gwen. For once, she wasn’t caring about any threats that were made to her and she was going to enjoy this uplifting weekend as if it was her last.

  “So did you tell your mom that we’d made it here safely?” she asked.

  “I did, but she also was calling to tell me that I’d gotten a package with an unnamed CD that was sent to the house by the post office man who hand delivered it to her to sign for it.”