by Wahida Clark
Just as she got a few feet away from Faheem, her ex, Sabu, grabbed her. Sabu was a tall, dark and very handsome baller.
“Come here, Jaz!” He hugged her and kissed her neck. “What’s up, baby?”
“How you doing, Sabu?” she asked him, looking to Faheem out the corner of her eye. He was staring at them.
“Damn, you smell good, baby.” Sabu inhaled her perfume. “Why’d you leave me for that nigga Faheem?”
“Sabu, don’t even try it.”
“I’m serious, Jaz. You never said shit.” He kissed her on the cheek, then slid his hand down on her ass. “Didn’t I used to make you climb the walls?” He kissed her cheek again. “Damn. I miss that shit!”
“Yeah, you used to. But Faheem makes me climb the walls, the ceiling and the roof.”
“Jaz, you know I’m still crazy about you. Let me take you out tonight.”
“Sabu, I got a man to take me out.”
“I can’t tell, baby. I ain’t no hater, but your man didn’t come here alone tonight. He left you to come here all by yourself? I would never leave your fine ass by yourself.”
“I know my memory is right, and I remember that you had no problems leaving me by myself. You used to leave your garden unattended. That’s why Faheem came home and took over.”
“Yeah. I have to admit I was wrong for that shit. Like I said, though, the nigga ain’t over here.”
“If you don’t get your hand off my ass and your lips off my neck, he will be over here.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what. If he don’t come over here in the next three minutes, you going home with me. If he do, well, I’ll give the nigga his space.”
That shit sounded good to Jaz. She was thinking about how she hadn’t been fucked in almost two months. At least she knew Sabu. He wasn’t shit, and he definitely couldn’t lay it down like Faheem. But he’d do for one night. Then she remembered how he could never get it right when he was giving head and decided not to waste her time. Besides, Sabu was a lying ho. That’s why she left him in the first place. Just as she was about to tell him forget it and slap his hand off her ass, Faheem yelled.
“Sabu!”
“Oh, shit!” Jaz mumbled.
Sabu looked up and started backing away from Jaz.
“What up, Faheem?” he asked as he crossed his hands in front of himself to hide his already hard dick.
“What’s the matter with you, man? Why the fuck you all up on mines, son?” Faheem was talking loud.
Sabu raised his hands up in the air. “No disrespect, man. I thought wasn’t nothing up, man.”
They both stood there, staring each other down. Faheem grabbed Jaz’s hand and pulled her to him.
“So what’s up?” he asked her.
“That depends on you, Faheem.” She looked him in the eye. He leaned over and kissed her. His tongue roamed around her mouth and his hands wandered all over her ass. Jaz could hardly breathe, but it felt so good. She knew this was where she wanted to be forever.
Faheem went to kiss her neck, but stopped to glare at Sabu.
“You smell like this nigga. Go wash that shit off and meet me in that office back there, next to the kitchen. We gotta straighten some shit out.”
When she came into the office, he was leaning up against one of the desks with his arms folded.
“Close the door,” he told her. She closed it and sat down in a recliner. “Tell me about this shit that you got locked up for.”
Jaz told him everything. From the first day two years ago when she hooked up with Brett to how much she was getting paid. From her lying to him that Mondays and Thursdays she had late classes, to the raid, to her incident in jail. When she finished, she was crying.
“Those are some big-ass skeletons, Jaz. You didn’t trust me enough to tell me this? You been sneaking around for two fucking years.”
“I’m sorry, Faheem. I figured it would be better that way.” She kept crying.
“Better for who, Jaz?” She didn’t answer. “Damn!” He handed her some tissue. “I can’t get over this shit. You sure had me fuckin’ fooled. So, tell me this. Did you fuck that nigga you had up in my crib?”
“Fuck you, Faheem! You know I didn’t.” She stared at him as she wiped her tears. “You’ve been treating me like I’m guilty of fuckin’ somebody, and I’m not. I’m tired of you treating me like this. I made a mistake. It was a big fuckin’ mistake, Faheem. So fuck you. I’m tired. You’ve been fuckin’ draining my energy. I love you, Faheem, and I would never dog you like that, but I’m tired. I can’t put up with this bullshit no more.”
Somebody knocked on the door. Neither of them moved. They knocked again. Jaz got up and opened it.
“Is Faheem in here?” It was the female who Faheem brought to the party.
“What the fuck do you want?” Jaz screamed.
“’Scuze me?”
Jaz turned to Faheem. “Faheem, tell this bitch that you got a woman, that she’s pregnant, and she’s living in your house. Then tell this bitch she’s only been a fuck for the past, however long you been fuckin’ her.”
“You just told her, loud and clear.” Faheem laughed. Jaz slammed the door in her face and locked it.
“Faheem, you got me so fuckin’ riled up I could kill you.”
“So, you’re pregnant?”
Jaz stopped ranting and nodded her head slowly.
“Come here.” He held out his arms. She went to him, and he wrapped them around her. She started crying. “I’m sorry, baby,” he kept whispering as he rocked her back and forth.
“I’ve been so stressed, and you’ve been the main cause of it.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know. You keep shit from me, Jaz. That ain’t right. You know I got your back, regardless. We can’t keep shit from each other.”
“How long you been fuckin’ that girl?”
“I didn’t.”
“You lie.”
“I swear on my grandfather. I was thinking about it, though.”
“You full of it, Faheem.”
“Can’t I have a kiss?”
“Nope.”
“How come?”
“Now I’m mad.”
“You let that nigga Sabu kiss you.”
“He kissed me on my neck. I didn’t kiss him.”
“How far are we?”
“We?”
“Yeah, we.”
“Six weeks.”
“That’s why your ass feel rounder. And look at your tits. They’re rounder, too.” He started massaging them. “Can we start over?”
“If you want to.”
“Forgive each other, no lying and hidin’ shit?”
She wiped her tears and nodded.
“Can I have a kiss now?” he asked.
She kissed him softly on his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’ve missed you a lot,” he whispered in her ear.
“I bet I’ve missed you more,” she told him. They kissed passionately and didn’t let go for almost ten minutes. She kept her arms around his neck and he slid his hands up under her dress, grabbed her ass and started grinding nice and slow. She could feel him getting a hard-on.
“Faheem, baby, let’s go home.”
He ignored her and slid her halter top to the side. He licked and sucked her nipples.
“Come on, Faheem. Let’s go.”
“Okay, we’ll go in a minute.” He lifted her up, set her on top of the desk and slid his hand between her legs. He maneuvered her thong off and put two fingers deep inside her. He massaged her clit with his thumb.
“Faheem, baby, that feels so good,” she moaned, “but not here.” He started flicking his fingers over her clit faster and faster, until she started shaking and trembling and came all over his hand. He grabbed the box of tissue and wiped off his hand. He kissed her, then pulled out his dick.
“Faheem, not here. This is disrespectful.”
“This ain’t no church, baby. The door is locked. Ten more minute
s, Jaz. Look how hard my dick is. What am I supposed to do?”
“If you would have stopped when I told you to, it wouldn’t be hard.”
“Ten minutes, baby.” He didn’t wait for an answer. He put one of her legs around his waist and the other in the crook of his arm then slid his dick inside her. She let out a loud moan.
“Damn, baby. Your pussy is hot and juicy.”
“See what you’ve been missing,” she whispered. “Now apologize and promise me you’ll never leave me again,” she said as she gripped his dick with her muscles.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I love you, baby. I’ll never leave you.” He quickened up his pace. “Go ahead, baby,” he told her. “Get your shit off. I can’t hold out much longer.”
Jaz held on tighter, positioned herself to get just the right amount of friction on her clit, and after about a few more strokes she was having an orgasm that came in bigger and bigger waves. Faheem emptied himself inside her.
“That felt so good, baby.” He ran his tongue over her neck. “Now we can go home.”
When they got to the house, Faheem made sweet, sweet love to Jaz all night. He kept kissing and rubbing her stomach, telling her not to worry about anything. He would always take care of his.
Chapter 28
Faheem’s pager kept going off. Jaz looked at the digital clock. It was 5:49. The pager vibrated again, making noise on the nightstand.
“Faheem, answer that pager or turn it off, baby.” It buzzed again. “Faheem!” She shook him. “Get your pager.”
Faheem felt on the nightstand, knocking over a glass and a picture frame. He picked it up, hit the light and checked the number. He threw the pager back on the nightstand. It buzzed again.
“Faheem, who is that blowing up your pager this early in the morning? Why didn’t you turn it off?”
“Don’t know, baby. Call ’em for me.” He pulled the sheet over his head.
Jaz climbed over him and snatched the pager up. She went through the numbers and saw that same number was in there about ten times. She picked up the phone and dialed the number.
“Hello,” the female voice said.
“Who is paging Faheem?”
“This is Trina. Who is this?”
“This is his woman. Why the fuck you blowin’ up my man’s pager at six in the morning?”
“Let me speak to Faheem.”
“Like I said, ho, Faheem got a woman, so find somebody else to page. Faheem! Tell this ho to stop paging you,” she yelled and threw the phone at him.
“Baby, what’s the matter with you?” He pulled the sheet off his head.
“Tell that bitch that you got a woman and to stop blowin’ up your fuckin’ pager!”
“Why you wake me up for this shit?” Faheem snatched the phone up. “Who the fuck is this? Trina. How the fuck you get my pager number? Naw, baby, it ain’t that kind of party no more and don’t tell me you ain’t know that shit either.” He threw the phone back at Jaz. “Why you wake me up for that bullshit?”
Jaz hung up the phone. “Don’t start no shit, Faheem.” She turned her back to him.
“Oh, so you jealous now?” He smirked, wrapping his arms and legs around her, and then biting her cheek.
“Stop playing, Faheem.”
“Baby, you know it’s all about you and my baby, so don’t even trip.” He kissed her on the neck and they went back to sleep.
Later on that morning the phone started ringing.
“Jaz, get the phone,” Faheem said, half asleep.
“What?”
“Answer the phone, baby.”
Jaz checked the clock. 8:12. “Hello?”
It was Micki, and she was crying. Jaz turned over on her back and stared up at the ceiling.
“Jaz, I can’t take it here with Grandma. She’s driving me crazy. I gotta get my own place. Can you help me out?”
“I can help you out, but Micki, you only working part-time. What’s gonna happen when the first month’s rent is due? What about Brian? Didn’t he want you to move in with him?”
“I’m grown, Jaz. I can handle paying rent. I gotta get the fuck outta here. Fuck Brian! I’m not feeling him.”
“Put Grandma on the phone, Micki. Let me speak to her.”
Their grandmother got on the phone, yelling. “Is this Jasmine?”
“Yes, ma’am, it’s me.”
“Micki is back using that shit again. She’s gonna get me put out, and she gonna end up back behind bars. I keep try’na tell her, but she won’t listen. She needs to go, but them children need to stay here.”
“Grandma, she ain’t using drugs. I wish y’all would stop fightin’. I’m gonna help her get her own place. Can you get along for a week or two more?”
“She can’t handle her own place if she using them drugs. Don’t waste your money.” Jaz heard Micki arguing at her Grandma in the background.
“All right, Grandma. I’ll come and see y’all later on.”
“Bye, baby.”
“Shit!” Jaz slammed down the phone.
Faheem rolled over, lifted her negligee and began kissing her stomach. He raised his head up and looked at her. “What’s the matter?”
“I gotta help Micki get a place. She and my grandma is about to kill each other.”
“I don’t want you stressing about shit. I’ll get somebody to find her a place.” Jaz didn’t say anything. “Did you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“I’m here for you, baby.” He wrapped her in his arms and held her until she fell back to sleep.
Chapter 29
Jaz had another appointment with her lawyer. He told her that there were seventeen other people arrested in connection with the case. They were distributing the meth that she and Brett had been cooking up. Luckily for her, none of those people knew about her. But Brett knew, and he was ready to make a deal with the government. They were planning on pinning kingpin charges on Jaz. Brett’s testimony, along with $12,000.00 cash and the supplies that were found at the house, were the evidence that they had against her. Jaz would be fighting a fifty-year-to-life sentence. She didn’t hold out much hope for her freedom by the time she was through at the lawyer’s office. At least until she found out about Brett’s fate.
A week after Jaz met with the lawyer, Brett Dumont was found dead at the steering wheel of his car. They removed twenty-seven bullets from his body before his family could bury him.
With the government’s star witness gone, Jaz’s charges were downgraded to “conspiracy to manufacture with intent to distribute a controlled substance.” They offered her a plea bargain of eleven years. She declined. Leaving the government no choice but to go to trial.
“Faheem, did you smoke Brett?” Jaz asked when they were alone one day.
“What?”
“Did you smoke Brett?”
“What kind of question is that?” He twisted the cap off the bottled water and took a long gulp. “You know them white boys be into all types of shit.”
“Faheem, baby,” Jaz asked with tears rolling down her face. “I won’t be able to handle it if we’re both sitting in prison.”
“Jaz.” He massaged her shoulders. “I told you I don’t want you stressing, baby. Why can’t you do like I’m telling you? Stop sweating the little shit.” He hugged her. “Let me do all the sweatin’. Worry about your finals. You got two more exams and the semester will be over, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, worry about acing those, okay?” He kissed her on the lips, grabbed his keys and left.
Jaz couldn’t help but stress these days. Not only was she worried about her case, but her grandmother and Micki were still arguing all the time. Grandma Rachel kept accusing Micki of selling crack out of her house. Jaz knew that Micki wasn’t using again and she was glad of that. Micki was taking good care of the children and was able to get a job full time at the DMV. The only drugs she was taking were prescription pills for her depression. Still, she had to get out of Grandma’s h
ouse, so Faheem found her and the kids a place in his building. It wouldn’t be vacant for another couple of weeks, so Jaz was dealing with the arguments from both sides until then.
A few days later, Jaz was still stressed. She hadn’t seen Faheem since he’d grabbed his keys and left the other day, though he did manage to stop by her lawyer’s office and give him another thirty grand. That got the lawyer up off his fat ass, and he got the plea bargain down to five years. They said all she had to do was plead guilty to “conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in order to possess with intent to distribute, a Schedule II controlled substance.” Jaz considered the offer, but told the lawyer she didn’t want to do no time since she had a baby on the way. He told her that he was working on it.
Jaz was thinking about the possibility of prison as she removed two bags of groceries from the back of her Escalade. She trucked them up the stairs to Faheem’s apartment. Even though he spent most of his nights at the house, he spent his days here when he wasn’t at one of his liquor stores. Since she hadn’t seen him for a few days, Jaz had decided to come by and fix a dinner at his place, hoping he’d come home soon.
She got ready to put her key in the door when it opened up. Three dudes came out, each one carrying two suitcases. One of them she recognized as Buju, from the club. None of them spoke to Jaz. They went briskly past her. As Jaz went inside and carried the grocery bags to the kitchen, they came back in to get the last of the suitcases. Buju stayed behind to talk to Faheem, who also hadn’t said anything to Jaz yet. She could tell it was all business up in here. She kept herself busy in the kitchen, putting away the food and loading the dishwasher until she heard Faheem walk Buju to the door and tell him good-bye. Jaz went into the living room.
“Hey, baby,” he said as he picked up two briefcases and headed to the spare bedroom where the safe was.
“Faheem,” she called after him. “Is that why I haven’t seen you in three days? You been hustling?”
“Wait a minute, baby. I’ll be right there.”
She didn’t wait. She went right back to the bedroom where he was hunched over the safe.
“Faheem, you have four liquor stores and four check cashing places, you got a stash and I have a stash. Why are you still hustling?”