Moonie really wanted to go off and curse Paige out, but she had to remember that her mother was present. Clarita was a Christian woman, and Moonie would never disrespect her no matter how grown she was. Moonie never remembered ever hearing a curse word slip from her mother’s lips. She had a mouth like a sailor, but that was a habit that she picked up from the streets.
“Baby we apologize about Anthony pushing your son down. We all know how kids are. They push and fight all the time,” Clarita smiled at Paige hoping to defuse the situation.
“I don’t give a damn about him hitting somebody else’s child. He just better keep his hands off of this one,” Paige said pointing to her son.
“Well, keep his lil feminine ass with you if you don’t want nobody to touch him. He’s too damn big to be crying to you about somebody hitting him anyway. Lil Anthony is way smaller than he is,” Nina spoke up.
“Fuck you!” Paige shouted. “I don’t know you, and I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Okay guys, let’s not make a scene. We’re all adults, and we don’t need to be cursing and acting out of character like this. These babies are watching us, and we need to set an example for them,” Clarita said.
“Who the fuck are you to tell me how to act? This is my son, and I don’t want nobody putting their hands on him. I’m not trying to hear that let’s all get along shit that you’re talking about right now,” Paige fumed.
Moonie had heard enough, and she was done talking. Paige had done something that she’d never done in all of her adult life, and that was disrespect her mother. Tre saw what was about to go down before it even happened. He pulled Mia up and pushed her behind him right before Moonie’s first lick connected with Paige’s face.
“Mya stop this!” Clarita yelled when her daughter and the other woman started fighting.
She was walking over to break them up until Tre pulled her back. Moonie was like a lion and Paige was her prey. He didn’t want them to hit the older woman in the midst of all of the chaos. It didn’t take long before things went from bad to worse. Paige’s sister-in-law Michelle tried to help her, and that was all it took for Nina to start beating the breaks off of her. A crowd of people ran over in no time to watch the four of them go at it like some wild animals. Moonie and Nina were killing the other two women with their bare hands and Tre almost felt bad for them. He didn’t feel bad enough to stop it, though. He made sure he stood in front of Mia to make sure nobody even came close to her. He would be going to jail for the rest of his life if anybody even tried to play with her, especially while she was carrying his daughter. Clarita was begging for them to stop while Anika and her friends were cheering Moonie on. Two of the male employees came over and tried to break them up, but they seemed to make matters worse. They were pushing people out of the way and accidently shoved Rainey right into Brandis. No words were spoken between the two of them, but Brandis grabbed Rainey’s hair and started giving her the overdue ass whipping that she’d been wanting to deliver for months. When London pulled Brandis’s hair from behind, Mia was trying to break away from Tre to go help her friend, but he had a firm grip on her arm. She was happy when Lisa and Tiara pulled London away, but she started going off on them. Tiara was arguing back with her, but Lisa wasn’t the fussing type. She snatched London by her shirt and slammed her to the ground before she started pounding her fist into her face. The two men who tried to intervene at first gave up when they saw that it was four fights taking place instead of two. The management made an announcement over the intercom asking everyone to leave the facility when they saw that things had gotten out of control. Of course, no one listened since they were being nosey trying to see the fights.
Tre shook his head when he saw all of the phones out recording what was going on. He hated to see what was happening, but his main concern was Mia and his baby. Everybody else was on their own. Tre knew that if Mia wasn’t pregnant she would have been right there in the mix right along with the rest of them. Tootie, Anika, and their friends seemed mesmerized by all of the action, and they were standing on the tables trying to get a better view. Mia felt so bad for her grandmother who had to stand there and witness all the drama.
“Tre we have to stop them. These people are going to call the police,” Mia yelled with a worried look on her face as she tried to go over to where they were fighting.
“Girl you must be crazy,” Tre yelled while pulling her back. “You better stay your ass right here with me. I swear if somebody even makes a mistake and hit you I’m going to jail today.”
“But they’re going to go to jail Tre,” Mia cried.
“Baby, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do. I’m not letting you get in the middle of that mess,” Tre replied.
Just like Mia had predicted, they looked up right as a group of police officers rushed through the front doors. The crowd started disbursing when they got close, and people were rushing towards the exit. It took about seven officers to do it, but they were finally able to break up all four of the fights. All eight women were made to lay face down with their hands behind their backs.
“Is Moonie going to jail Mia?” Anika asked her big sister when she saw the police slap the cuffs on their mother’s wrists.
“I don’t know Anika. You and your friends just sit down until we figure out what’s going on,” Mia replied.
A few more officers came in and cleared out the building with the exception of the guests who were there for both parties. Mia listened as Moonie told them the events that took place leading up to the fight. He wrote down everything that she said and Mia though for sure he was going to let them go with a warning. When he started reading them their rights, Mia’s heart dropped because she knew what was to come after that. Her best friend and her mother were going to jail right along with everyone else. They called in two female officers to search all of them before leading all eight women outside to the waiting patrol cars. Mia, Tiara, Tre, and Clarita stayed behind and packed up the untouched cake, and the party favors that they never gave out. Mia made all of the kids call their parents to pick them up since the party was most definitely over.
“Some of the kids came here with Moonie, so we’re going to have to take them home,” Mia told Tre.
“I’ll take her truck and drop them off if you want me to. I have to take Nina’s niece and nephew home too. I’ll just have to get Jabari to come get our car from here later,” Tiara offered.
“Thanks, Tiara. I guess I need to get my sisters and brothers home and stay there with them until Moonie gets out, or Mitch gets off from work,” Mia said sadly.
“I’ll take them home and stay there for a while. Mitch is going to blow a gasket when he finds out what happened. You need to call Lamar and see if he can go with you to the police station to get your mama out.” Clarita said.
“Yeah, and his girlfriend too,” Tiara interjected.
“Which one was his girlfriend?” Clarita asked.
“The short one with the blonde and black hair,” Mia answered.
“Why am I not surprised? She’s just as crazy as he is,” Clarita said shaking her head.
Tre loaded Anika’s cake and party favors into Clarita’s car while they all sat around and waited for her party guests to leave. After another thirty minutes, all of the kids were gone with the exception Nina’s niece and nephew and the three that came with Moonie. Tiara loaded them up in the truck and left to go bring them home. She sent Jabari a text telling him where their car was, but she didn’t tell him what happened. Tiara knew that he would be at work worrying, and she didn’t want to do that to him. He only had a few more hours before he came home. She decided to wait to tell him then.
“Von said that he and Lamar are going to meet us at the police station,” Mia told Tre as they drove towards the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
“Their bonds probably won’t be that high. It’s only going to be a disturbing the peace charge. The problem is waiting for them to be booked and processed. It’s the weekend, so
it’s really going to take forever,” Tre replied.
“I can’t believe Brandis went to jail. Duke is going to kill her. We can’t even call and tell him because he’s at work,” Mia stated.
“You’re talking about Brandis. How do you think Mitch is going to feel when he finds out that your mama got locked up for fighting at his daughter’s party?” Tre questioned.
“This is fucked up on so many levels. My baby is being born into a family of crazy people and convicts,” Mia said making Tre fall over with laughter.
She couldn’t help, but to laugh with him as the reality of the situation sunk in. Anika’s party was definitely one for the books. This was a topic that was sure to be discussed for years to come. Although Tre and Mia were laughing, they knew that a lot of people wouldn’t find the situation all that funny.
Chapter 13
Mitch was dog tired when he got off of work. After working two straight doubles for two weekends in a row, he was done. He looked forward to taking a hot shower and crawling up under his woman for a good night’s rest. They were pulling out at six the following morning to enjoy their cabin at the water park for Anika’s birthday. He tried calling Moonie while he was on his way home, but she never did answer. Since it was after eleven at night, he assumed she was at home sleeping since she had to deal with Anika and her friends all day at the skating rink. That theory went out of the window when he pulled up to the apartment and saw Moonie’s mother’s car parked in the driveway instead of hers.
“Man,” Mitch drawled to himself.” I know her ass better not be in no club.”
He hopped out of the car and took the steps two at a time trying to get into the apartment. He was tired at first, but his energy level was on one hundred as he opened the front door. The living room was empty, but the lamp on the end table as well as the TV were on. Mitch heard movement in the kitchen and he was headed that way until Anika ran down the hall and straight up to him.
“Daddy my party was so much fun. Lil Antony pushed somebody and just about everybody went to jail. Some of my friends said that their parents don’t want them playing with me no more, but I don’t care. We never even cut my cake and I still have a lot of party bags to give out,” Anika rambled almost out of breath.
Mitch couldn’t really process anything that his daughter said because she was talking so fast. She seemed to be overly excited, but that was nothing new to him. Aside from hearing that his son pushed somebody, everything else was a blur.
“Little girl didn’t I tell you to go to bed?” Clarita said when she walked into the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand.
“Yes ma’am,” Anika said as she lowered her head.
Unlike Moonie, Clarita didn’t have a problem chastising her and she knew not to play with her grandmother. Clarita, Mitch and Mia were the only three that had Anika scared to even try anything.
“Go to bed and don’t get back out. If you do my purse strap will be waiting to meet with your behind. Do you understand me?” Clarita asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Anika replied while rushing back to her bedroom.
“How you doing Ms. Clarita?” Mitch chuckled while giving her a one armed hug and kiss on her cheek.
He loved how she didn’t take no mess from the kids and he wished that Moonie was more like her.
“I’m good baby,” she replied taking her seat on the sofa.
“Where is Moonie?” Mitch wanted to know.
Clarita sighed deeply before she started telling him about everything that happened at the skating rink. She started from the time she walked through the door up until the time she saw her daughter being placed in the back of the police car. She could see that Mitch was upset, but he held his composure as best as he could. She knew that he really loved Moonie, but a person could only take so much.
“I know that Mya is a grown woman, but I fault myself for so much of her behavior. She was an only child, and we had her so spoiled. Even when she started having kids, we did the same thing with them. I never made her responsible for her actions when I should have,” Clarita said sadly.
“Nah, Ms. Clarita. I’m tired of everybody making excuses for Moonie. She’s grown, and she knows exactly what she’s doing. I’m not stressing myself out with her being in jail. That’s all on her. If she’s not home by six in the morning, me and these kids are going to our cabin at the water park without her. They’ve been looking forward to this for weeks, and I’m not letting Moonie ruin it for them,” Mitch said seriously.
“Trust me, I understand exactly what you’re saying. Let me get out of here and go home. I have to meet the ladies from my church for breakfast in the morning,” Clarita said while standing to her feet.
Mitch walked her down to her car before going inside to take his shower. He was happy that Moonie had packed the kids’ clothes the night before because he meant exactly what he said. If Moonie wasn’t home when it was time for them to go he was taking the kids and leaving without her.
***
“This shit don’t make no damn sense,” Duke fussed while pacing up and down the sidewalk.
When Mia called and told him that Brandis had gone to jail he thought she was playing. It was only after Tre got on the phone and confirmed her story that he knew it was true. He’d just gotten home from work and was preparing to go to bed after his twelve-hour shift. Instead of getting some much needed rest he jumped up and went straight to the police station to get his girl. Von and Tre had already posted everybody’s bail, but they were sitting around waiting for the slow ass clerks to process their paperwork for them to be released. Tre had taken Mia home to get some sleep hours ago, but the rest of them camped out in front of the station. Tre and Mia came back early the next morning and found Von, Lamar and Duke in the same spot that they had left them in.
“They still ain’t tell y’all nothing?” Tre asked when he walked over to them.
“No man and we’ve been sitting out here since before midnight. They told us that they would be out in two hours, but it’s almost eight o’clock. I can’t believe my fucking girl spent the night in jail,” Duke complained.
Von, Tre and Lamar knew how it worked since they’d all been to jail before, but all of this was new to Duke. He was stressing hard and it showed all on his face.
“They gon’ be alright. Nina knows this jailhouse like the back of her hand,” Lamar replied calmly.
“Damn bruh, your baby mama and your girl are locked up,” Von said laughing at Lamar.
“I’m going to see what’s going on,” Mia said while walking towards the front door.
As soon as she walked up the stairs she saw Brandis and Moonie walking out followed by Lisa and Nina.
“They’re coming out right now,” Mia yelled to the men.
Duke almost broke his neck running up the steps to get to Brandis. Lamar and Von didn’t move, but Tre went in to make sure everybody was alright. Nina looked like she was right at home, but everybody else looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks.
“Are you alright baby?” Duke asked hugging Brandis tightly.
“I guess, but this was my first and last time coming here,” Brandis swore.
“You ain’t never lied. I’m starving, and I need a shower. I know Mitch is probably waiting for me so we can go to our cabin,” Moonie said. “Come on and bring me home Tank.”
“Grandma already told him what happened, so you better hurry up and get there,” Mia replied while handing Moonie her cell phone that she held for her.
“Where is my truck?” Moonie asked.
“Tiara has it. Call her and she’ll bring it to you. I can let you in your house with my key,” Mia answered.
She and Tre dropped Lisa off at the skating rink to get her car before bringing Moonie to The Court. Brandis left with Duke, and they dropped Nina and Lamar off at home. Von had posted Rainey’s bond, so he waited outside for her to be released. He didn’t care about London, Paige, or the other girl that she got arrested with. He just wanted to make sure
his Goddaughter got released and made it home safely. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse with Mia and Rainey. Von was sure that Rainey hanging with Paige was only making the situation worse. He prayed that he never had to be put in a position to choose sides because that would break his heart. It would also break Rainey’s heart because he would have to choose his granddaughter and her mother over all else.
***
As soon as Moonie walked inside she yelled for Mitch and the kids, but she didn’t get an answer. The house was clean and smelling good, but nobody was there. When Moonie looked in her bedroom, she noticed Mitch’s bag that she packed was gone, but hers was still in the same spot. She checked the kids’ rooms and their luggage was gone as well.
“I know that bastard didn’t leave and go to the water park without me,” Moonie mumbled while grabbing her phone.
She dialed Mitch’s number three times in a row and didn’t get an answer. She wanted to call Tiara to bring her truck, but she really didn’t have anywhere to go. After trying Mitch a few more times and getting no answer, Moonie gave up and went to take a shower. Once she was done, she fixed herself something to eat and took a much needed nap, or at least she tried to. Every time she dozed off she got right back up and called Mitch just to see if he would pick up. When it started getting dark outside Moonie really got worried. She hoped and prayed that nothing was wrong. Mitch always answered the phone for her even if they were mad at each other.
“This is my last time calling his ass,” Moonie said to herself as she dialed his number once again.
To her surprise and relief, he answered on the first ring, making her breathe a little easier.
“I’ve been calling you all day. Why haven’t you answered the phone?” Moonie yelled.
“I left my phone in the truck. I didn’t want it to get wet,” Mitch replied dryly.
“Really Mitch? So you left and went to the water park without me?”
“You damn right I did. These kids have been looking forward to this for weeks. Nobody told your ass to get locked up. You’ve disappointed them enough. I wasn’t about to let you do it again.”
Creepin' 3: A New Orleans Love Story Page 9