by Ivy Symone
If You’re Willing
Ivy Symone
Copyright 2016 © Ivy Symone
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Acknowledgments
To my beautiful readers…Thank you for always rocking with me. It means so much. The love and support is something I’m forever grateful for and always appreciating. Thank you to all of the authors out there that show me love as well. Thanks for the support and encouragement.
Nasi and Victorious! You ladies rock! You two are the most awesome-est people I’ve ever encountered. Not only are you readers of my work, but ya’ll have become very good friends. Ya’ll are like my therapists in the inbox. I love you two and everything you’ve contributed to bringing this story to life. You believed in it from day one and was right there whenever I needed to run anything by you. Love you ladies!
Mona, Novia, and Alisa…ya’ll already know what ya’ll mean to me. Love you my wonderful sisters!
Delores Miles, lady I just love you. Been with me throughout my publishing journey. Knew me when I was just Ada Marie on Facebook. Thanks for being there for me as I brought this here book to life. Thank you!
K. Michelle (lmao), I just don’t know what I would do without your crazy ass. It’s so crazy when I sit back and think how our friendship started and it just blossomed to what it is now. How long has it been now? A year? Hope to have you there for many more years to come. Love you! Hugs and kisses, hugs and kisses…
My team of friends and supporters, a mix of readers and authors, whom I can depend on to make me laugh, encourage me, support me…Carmen aka Tempis J, Yolanda, Tureko, Toni, Yo Loni, Elle…thank you so much ladies! Your words keep me going. And it feels good to know I have people in my corner. Love ya’ll.
The bum bitches in MAC lol…Amanda, Geneva and Tiffany, I love you hoes!!!
To my family…Thank you for believing in me and getting on my nerves at the same time lol. Love ya!
Soundtrack
Window Seat - Erykah Seat
Text Me - R. Kelly
P.Y.T. - Wale
Work - Rhianna
Nasty - Kid Ink ft. Jeremih and Spice
Scandalous - Prince
Don’t Need It - Jamie Foxx
Gorilla - Bruno Mars
Backstabbers - O’Jays
Crush - Yuna ft. Usher
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
If Only You Knew - Keke Wyatt
Imagination/Crown Royal Suite - Jill Scott
Fistful of Tears - Maxwell
Must Be Nice - Lyfe Jennings
Love Can’t Hide - Faith Evans
Juicy - Biggie
If I Ever Fall In Love - Shai
This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
Weak - SWV
Teach Me How to Love - Musiq Soulchild
My Place - Tweet
I Get So Lonely - Janet Jackson
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Our Love - Jamie Foxx
Writings on the Wall - Sam Smith
Drown In It - Chris Brown (ft. R. Kelly)
Walk on By - Isaac Hayes
Nothing Even Matters - Lauryn Hill & D’Angelo
Chapter 1
With all that Cassie had going on, the last thing she needed was to tend to two grown women and their issues.
When she whipped her car into her sister’s driveway, she could see Nicole being restrained by her husband, Parker. At the receiving end of Nicole’s deranged state was Colette. She seemed unbothered and even had the nerves to wear a slight smirk on her face.
Cassie got out of the car and headed their way.
When Nicole saw her, she yelled, “Get her Cass! I ain’t got time for this bitch’s shit. Get her away from me before I hurt her!”
“And I love you too,” Colette taunted. She turned to Cassie, “C’mon so we can go.”
“Well…hold up,” Cassie objected. “What did you do Letty?”
“Tell her Parker,” Nicole snarled at her husband. “What did that slut bucket over there do?”
Cassie looked back at Colette who wore an expression that showed her lack of concern. Cassie took the time to study Colette’s appearance. Her black spaghetti strap mini dress seemed to be falling off of her, revealing more of her D-cup sized breasts than intended. She had one heel on and the other in her hand. Cassie wasn’t sure if that’s how Nicole threw her out of the house, or if Colette removed the shoe to attack Nicole.
The way her body swayed, and the glassy look in her eyes, Cassie assumed Colette had been drinking.
“It wasn’t even like that Nicole,” Parker tried to reason.
Colette scoffed. “I don’t want that nerdy mothafucka. I was just helping you out Cole…your husband ain’t shit…four-eyed fucka.”
That riled Nicole up even more. She was able to go around Parker and jab Colette a few times. Colette screamed and tried to run to Cassie’s car, but Nicole was able to grab a handful of Colette’s hair jerking her backwards. Cassie then felt a need to intervene and help Parker pry the women apart.
“Go get in the car!” Cassie ordered. She turned to Nicole and Parker with a glower. “What the hell is going on?”
“That bitch was in my house trying to fuck my husband!” Nicole shouted.
Cassie looked at Parker with disappointment. “Did you Parker?”
“No!” he insisted. “I gotta be interrogated by wife and now her sister too?”
“You damn right,” Cassie spat. “That’s some foul shit. And with Letty of all people?”
“She was drunk.” Parker tried to argue in Colette’s defense, but neither his wife nor Cassie was trying to hear it.
Nicole started to release angry tears. “I don’t even know why I let her in my house. I’ve tried and tried Cass. But she’s fucked up too many times for me.”
“I know,” Cassie said in a sullen voice. “You and Parker go back in the house and work this shit out. Ya’ll neighbors have been entertained enough.”
Cassie turned away and headed to her car. The cherry air freshener inside her car wasn’t enough to overpower the stench of alcohol on Colette. She sat slumped over, her head resting against the window with her eyes shut as if she hadn’t caused problems for yet another household.
“Where am I taking you?” Cassie asked as she backed out of the driveway.
Colette sat up with her eyes heavy. “Shit, I guess take me back to your place.”
Cassie shook her head. “No. You can’t come back there with me.”
“Well, Cassie, I ain’t got nowhere to go. Where the fuck am I gonna go?”
“Maybe if you wouldn’t burn so many bridges with people, you’d have somewhere to go.”
Colette fell back against her seat. “People act like they just so damn righteous as if they ain’t never did shit wrong.”
Ignoring her statement, Cassie asked, “What the people say about putting you somewhere else?”
“He said that the people said…that they said…some shit,” Colette mumbled.
Cassie groaned. Taking Colette to her place was not in her plans for the night. She didn’t know of anyone else that would readily take Colette’s drunk ass in. So back to her place she went.
“Letty, you need to get your ass up,” Cassie grumbled. She stepped over her and went to the kitchen.
Cassie didn’t have time for this shit. Colette was her least favorite person. She was a wreck, irresponsible, and a whore. And sometimes Cassie felt like she was doomed to turn into Colette. The only difference between the two of them was Cassie didn’t have any kids. Colette had three: Cassie, Nicole, and their brother Romyn.
Yes, this lady was her mother. A mother that she was embarrassed to claim. A mother that she had to watch be a whore while she had to play caretaker to her younger siblings. A mother who used to get so drunk from partying all night, then would come home and vomit everywhere for Cassie to clean up. A mother who had slept with everybody’s husband. Cassie was so ashamed of Colette.
Colette was a party girl. She was forty-five inside the body of a twenty-five year old. Genetics had blessed the woman. Cassie hoped to be so fortunate at that age, but she was almost thirty and people often mistaken her to be Colette’s older sister. Talk about aggravating. And all Colette would do was laugh and rub it in Cassie’s face.
Perhaps if she had been more of a mother, Cassie could appreciate that Colette looked amazing. But she had no positive words for her. And then she tried to sleep with her daughter’s husband? What was wrong with Colette?
Cassie called her brother Romyn.
He answered on the second ring. “If you’re calling me about Letty, my hands are tied.”
“C’mon Ro,” Cassie pleaded.
“Nicole told me what happened,” he said. “She had called me to come get her but I couldn’t leave work. I ain’t in the mood to be dealing with your mother.”
“She’s your mama too.”
“And I don’t feel a need to be responsible for her ass either,” he sneered. “I didn’t come back home to take care of Letty.”
Cassie couldn’t really blame him. He and Nicole, had less of a connection with Colette as she did. Maybe it was because she was the oldest, but she felt trapped into caring for Colette even when she didn’t want to.
“Besides,” Romyn continued. “I have a roommate, you don’t. You have a whole extra bedroom that she can stay in.”
“I just don’t wanna be bothered like that,” Cassie said. Then a thought occurred to her. Maybe this could work out for her good.
No one really knew this, but Cassie didn’t have a job. She had been unemployed for two weeks. Her former employer was a reputable cable company where she held a position as customer service representative. Things were okay; not exactly the best. It was a job and it was paying the bills; but she couldn’t stand her superiors and the bullshit she had to deal with. She was always being overworked and overlooked. And her supervisor had one last time to talk to her like she was a child. Two weeks ago was the last time. Cassie’s behavior didn’t exactly warrant her rights to unemployment benefits, therefore, she had no income at all.
Trying to keep up with her friends spending habits hadn’t given her savings much of a chance. It should have been easy being that she had no children to care for; but she had to get a nice two bedroom apartment in a lavish area with a lavish rent amount. On top of that she had to drive a late model Dodge Charger, which she loved. It was a pretty plum purple, and she couldn’t see herself parting ways with it. And since her credit sucked at one point, so did her monthly car payment.
That situation was another stressor in her life. If she didn’t get a job soon, she knew she would have to give it all up. Colette got a guaranteed check every month for her spousal survivor’s benefits. She lucked up once and got an old man to marry her three years before he died. Cassie remembered the monthly amount being somewhere around seventeen hundred a month. Maybe Colette could be her roomie for a little while and help her maintain her bills; at least for another month while she looked for employment.
_____
Rock couldn’t believe the shit he constantly found himself stuck in. The more he tried to walk the straight and narrow, it was always some force trying to knock him down. But this one…this one was his fault.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Melody answered by holding up the white wand with two pink lines in a small window display.
Another baby? That was not in Rock’s plans at all. Hell, for him, that was another eighteen years of debt added to the debt already piled high against him.
Melody leaned against the arm of her sofa and folded her arms across her chest. “What are you gonna do?”
“What the fuck you mean?” he asked. He was aggravated by the situation, but he wasn’t exactly mad. Melody was already the mother to his eight year old son. They’ve had a pretty decent relationship over the years. He still had access to the pussy even when they were dating someone new. He could even admit that sometimes he got a little jealous when she seemed to be smitten with another nigga. He finally had to admit to himself that there was still love there.
“Well, don’t you got that lil girlfriend of yours?” Melody mentioned.
Cassie wasn’t exactly what Rock would label as his girlfriend. Dealing with her was a challenge. Rock never thought it would have taken this much effort just to please her. But he knew she was hateful, moody, and a grouch before he pursued her. He knew how she was since meeting her back in their junior high school days.
Presently, he and Cassie weren’t on the best of terms. Things had started off great with them. He harassed her and wouldn’t let up until she gave in. Even after she gave in, he still had to prove to her he wasn’t on some shit. He was able to break through her wall and she gave him a chance. But he didn’t know what Cassie’s issues were; she started stacking the wall back up and shutting him out. That’s why he had been spending more time with his first baby mama, Melody.
“We ain’t really official like that,” he said. He sighed heavily. “You gon’ keep it?”
“I ain’t getting no abortion, Rock,” she said with firmness. “Now you said six years ago you weren’t ready to settle down. You asked me to give you some time to get this shit out of your system. Well, you had another child after that. And now you all lovey-dovey with this bitch Cassie.”
“So whatchu saying Mel?” he asked.
“I’m saying, you need to start making grown man choices,” she said. There was a pause. As an afterthought, she added, “But if you don’t want to, I can go ahead and file for child support for both the new baby and Lil Rock.”
The mention of child support made him cringe. He managed to convince Melody for eight years not to take child support out on him. His other baby’s mama wasn’t having it. She was a hot head like Cassie. If Jerrica knew the type of money he was making at BevyCo, she would hurry up and have his ass in court getting the order amended.
Maybe it was time to make some grown man choices. He would have to make sure Melody was straight. He had to appease her. When she wasn’t happy, she could be worse than Jerrica.
“You ain’t gotta do that,” he said soothingly. He walked over to her to give her an endearing kiss on the forehead. “I’ma be here for you and for them.”
“What does that mean?” Melody asked. With hope, she looked up into his eyes.
“We’ll talk,” he said. He kissed her on the lips. “When I get back, we’ll talk.”
Melody smiled. “Okay.”
They kissed one last time before Rock left.
He had to make a trip to see Cassie now. He didn’t know what was up with her lately. She was bipolar as hell. One day she was up and excited to see him, and the next day she was down and didn’t want him near her.
When he got to her place the sight of her mama sprawled out on the sofa was a surprise. With the way Cassie felt about Colette, he didn’t think she would let
the woman set foot in her place.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked in a whisper.
“She’s drunk,” Cassie replied. She could see Rock getting an eyeful of Colette’s exposed twat. She groaned and tapped her mother. “Letty, you need to get up and go in the room up there.”
Colette sat up letting her straps fall down her shoulders. She tried to focus on Cassie and Rock through squinted eyes. “Who is that?”
“Don’t worry about it. You need to take a shower or something,” Cassie said. She was annoyed.
Colette looked Rock up and down. “Is this your boyfriend now?”
“Letty, I swear if you pull that bullshit you did with Nicole, you won’t have nobody left that care a little about you,” Cassie threatened.
“I don’t want his lil ass,” Colette grumbled. She grabbed her purse, abandoned her shoes, and staggered down the hall to the first bedroom. “Which fuckin’ room is it?”
“On the left. You bet not take your ass in my room,” Cassie threatened.
Rock sat down on the sofa. “What’s up with her being here?”
“My sister put her out of her house,” Cassie answered as she sat beside him.
“She ain’t got nowhere to live?”
“Nope. Remember I told you that my mama place caught on fire. It was due to her negligence so the landlord dude ain’t tryna put her up in another one of his properties. She messed that up cause he was the only person willing to fuck with her like that. She can’t get an apartment in her own name cause her shit fucked up and she got a criminal record.”
“So you letting her stay here?” Rock chuckled. “So you do have a heart.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “Please. I’m only doing it cause I need her help.”
“Help? What kind of help?”
She released a frustrated blow of air. “I ain’t got no job and she’s gonna help me out while I look.”
It was just like Cassie not to go to him for help. She always wanted to take care of herself to prove a point.