by Pinky Dior
“Me can tell ya stressed ‘bout sumtin,” the Jamaican lady’s heavy accent came out.
Mercedes turned her head. “How can you tell?” she asked.
“I can feel it in ya back,” the woman said, as she pushed down on a knot, applying pressure to it.
“Ow!” Mercedes whined. She felt pain in her back as the lady continuously pressed down her knot.
“See, me know, dat’s caused from stress, chile,” the woman said. “How old are you?”
“I’m eighteen.”
“You too young, chile,” the lady sang. “Too young to be stressed. What you stressed fa?”
“It’s a long story.” Mercedes sighed.
“Ya don’t want ta talk ‘bout it?”
“Nah, it’s too personal,” Mercedes replied, humbly. She didn’t know this woman from a hole in the wall and she didn’t want her all in her business.
“I respect dat.” The woman nodded. “Where yuh from?”
“I was born in Cuba, but I was raised in New York City,” she said proudly.
“Yuh, I can tell, you look Cubana, but you look like a gangsta girl.”
I am a gangsta. I’m a Carter, bitch.
They both chuckled and the woman smiled from ear to ear, showing off a gold tooth that sparkled every time she smiled. Mercedes and the woman chatted as she continuously oiled down and massaged her back. After the massage, Mercedes went to the spa and got a facial; she also got her nails and toes done. She sat back and noticed the woman from earlier had come into the spa and joined her.
“You again?” Mercedes smirked.
“Yuh, I had a long day massaging people’s backs,” she said, as she sat in the chair and told the lady she wanted her feet done. “So what’s yuh name? I didn’t get it?”
“Mercedes.”
“My name is Teeki,” she introduced herself.
Mercedes tried to refrain from letting out a chuckle. Her accent was nice, but it was also funny at the same time.
“What yuh doing when yuh get out of here?”
“Going back to the hotel and relax. I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”
“How ‘bout we head to da mall over dere and I cook dinner tonight if you’d like?”
Mercedes didn’t know her like that, but she gave in and said, “Yeah, I guess we can. I don’t really know my way around here.” She chuckled.
After they finished at the spa, Teeki and Mercedes strolled outside. Teeki had a nice flashy red Benz.
“Oh shit, this is nice!” Mercedes exclaimed.
“Yuh, it’s my husband’s. He goin’ to Paris for da weekend, got da house to me self.”
“Lucky you,” Mercedes cooed.
“Yes, I am lucky.” The lady smirked as she winked at Mercedes.
Mercedes thought nothing of it and turned her head. She pulled up at the mall and they walked in together. They went in and out of stores. Mercedes stopped in her tracks when she saw a gorgeous, champagne-colored, satin dress in the window.
“That dress is beautiful.”
“Yuh, it would look beautiful on you, gal.”
Mercedes looked at her with her eyebrows arched. “You think so?” she asked.
“I tink it would look good on yuh. Try it on,” she suggested as they strolled into the store.
Mercedes quickly found her size and went into the fitting room. She quickly got undressed and slipped into the dress. When she came out, Teeki stood there eying Mercedes up and down, as she bit the bottom of her lip.
“Do you like it?” Mercedes asked as she turned around, looking at her butt.
“Turn all de way ‘round,” Teeki said as she watched Mercedes turn a complete circle, eyeing her voluptuous curves and phat ass. “Look good to me.” Teeki smiled.
“How much is it?” Mercedes said aloud, searching for a price tag.
“Don’t chu worry ‘bout it,” Teeki said, as she gently grabbed the dress. “I’ll pay for it.”
“No, it’s okay, I can pay for it,” Mercedes said. “I got money.”
“Let me pay for it, chile,” she insisted as she headed up to the register.
By the time Mercedes pulled out her money, Teeki had already taken care of it and it was wrapped up. They sat in the car as Teeki drove to her house.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Mercedes smiled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Teeki said as she looked over at Mercedes. “I don’t care about di money; it’s nuttin’.”
Teeki pulled up in front of her house. Mercedes’s jaw dropped as she stepped out of the car, eyeing Teeki’s beautiful mansion. It was five times bigger than her house. The grass was bright green and healthy-looking. You had to walk up about twenty stairs to reach her front door.
“Damn, this house is bad!” Mercedes exclaimed as they walked inside.
The house was decked out in black and white furniture with black and white pictures, except for a huge, colorful painting of Bob Marley. Mercedes walked around as Teeki showed off her fabulous mansion.
“I’m about to fix dinner, so if you want, you can just turn on the TV.” Teeki handed Mercedes the remote.
Mercedes sat on the couch and flipped through the channels, trying to find something to watch. She sat there bored as she patiently waited for the food. Her stomach growled in hunger since she hadn’t eat anything that morning.
An hour later, Teeki and Mercedes sat at the table. Teeki had prepared a nice hot homemade recipe. She had cooked some curry chicken, with rice and peas, and oxtails and plantains on the side.
“This is bomb!” Mercedes exclaimed as she dug into the chicken. “I never had curry chicken before. This is actually really good.” She savored the curry taste in her mouth as she licked the sauce off her lips.
“Yes, I love curry,” Teeki admitted. “So do you have a boyfriend?”
That caught Mercedes off guard. She choked on her rice as the peas went down the wrong side of her throat. “Um, no,” Mercedes smiled as she thought about the last men she had messed with. They were all dead.
“Why not?” she sang. “You’re a beautiful girl.”
Mercedes smiled as she thanked her and batted her eyelashes. “Well, I just don’t.” Mercedes did not want to tell her what happened to Chino or Emilio.
“I respect dat. I’m glad mi man away. Can’t stand dat Rasta!” Teeki flared up her nose. “Motherfucker don’t make love to me no more.”
“Damn.” Mercedes didn’t know what to say.
They both ate in silence and finished their plates of food. Teeki got up from the table, took both of their plates, and placed them into the dishwasher.
“Come on upstairs. I’ll show you my room,” Teeki said as she walked up the spiral case leading to the second floor.
Mercedes followed her. Teeki’s room was nice and big. Her room was all white, except for the covers on her bed, which were black. It wasn’t exquisite like Mercedes’s taste. It was plain, but still nice-looking.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Mercedes looked at her with leery eyes. “I’m tired and I was going to ask if you wanted to take me back to the hotel.” Mercedes hoped she would agree.
“I won’t be that long. Me hot and sweaty.” Teeki smiled before disappearing into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.
Mercedes sucked her teeth and sat back on the bed, patiently waiting for Teeki to finish. Fifteen minutes later, Mercedes had a baffled look on her face as she watched Teeki emerge from the bathroom, wearing a red lingerie set. It actually looked good with her dark skin complexion. Her hair was short and complemented her round face. Teeki licked her lips as she seductively walked over to Mercedes.
“Whoa!” Mercedes held out her hand. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“What? I thought you would like this,” Teeki said disappointedly, turning around, showing off her outfit.
“I’m not fucking gay!” Mercedes retorted. “Do I look fucking gay to you?”
“Well, I thought you were
—”
Mercedes cut her off. “Bitch, well, you thought wrong!” Mercedes got off the bed and tried to walk past Teeki. “Take me to the hotel now!” Mercedes demanded.
Teeki walked over and stood in front of Mercedes. She pulled down her top, exposing her DD breasts. “You know you want this, baby.” She licked her lips and caressed the side of Mercedes’s face.
Mercedes couldn’t take it anymore. She smacked the shit out of Teeki, and she fell to the ground, holding her face and laughing.
“I love it rough, Mami!” Teeki smiled.
“You are a crazy bitch! You can keep that dress you bought me, because I don’t want it!”
“Come on, ma, you know that’s why you came to my house. You want me.”
Teeki got up and quickly pushed Mercedes on the bed, as she tried kissing her on her neck. Mercedes tried to shove her face away from hers, but Teeki was a little stronger than she was. Mercedes looked over and saw a razor on the table. She reached for it and grabbed it. She quickly sliced Teeki from her right eye all the way to her jawbone. Teeki held the side of her face as she looked down at her hand and started screaming.
“You fucking crazy bitch!” Teeki snapped. She ran over to her closet and pulled out a gun.
“Oh shit!” Mercedes yelled.
Mercedes quickly rushed down the steps. She heard Teeki coming after her and she fired off several shots. Mercedes grabbed Teeki’s keys and bag off the table, as she rushed out the door and dashed down the twenty stairs, almost falling. She was out of breath as she fumbled with trying to put the key in the car door. Once she got in the car and started it up, she pulled off. Teeki was already behind the car and shooting. Mercedes ducked down as one single bullet shattered the back window. She pressed down on the gas, getting away quickly from the house. Mercedes peered into the rearview mirror as she sighed in relief.
“Damn! That bitch is crazy. Bitch is lucky I didn’t have my gun! That bitch would have been dead by now.”
Mercedes didn’t know where she was driving to, so she pulled over and decided to ditch the car. Luckily, there was a cab slowly driving down the road. Mercedes held out her hand, waving for the cab to stop. Once the cab stopped, she hopped in and told the driver to take her back to the hotel. She needed to check out of there ASAP and find another hotel, so Teeki could not find her. She was still a little shaken up. Mercedes couldn’t believe she had pulled a stunt like that. Mercedes shook her head. No matter where I go, trouble always seems to finds me.
Chapter Twenty
Betrayal
While Mercedes was gone, Maria stayed in the house, bored and alone. She sat on the couch and thought about picking up the house phone and calling Carlton, but she knew for a fact he wouldn’t fuck with her after the stunt Mercedes pulled. Even if he did, Maria didn’t want to put the man’s life in danger once again. Instead, she picked up the cordless phone off the table and dialed her Aunt Maleese’s phone number.
“Hey, what’s up, Auntie Maleese?”
“Maria, is this you?” she questioned. She didn’t recognize her voice.
“Yes, it’s me, Auntie. What, you don’t know my voice?”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t really seen or heard from you for years, until the other day at the grocery store. You still look the same though, just older.”
“Yeah,” Maria agreed. “I was calling to see if you wanted to hang out today. We can go out to eat or something.”
“We can have dinner at your house,” Maleese quickly suggested.
“Sure, I was thinking about cooking dinner tonight. But since you’re in town, the cooking is all on me,” Maria insisted.
“That’s fine with me,” Maleese smirked. “What’s the address?”
Maria gave her the address and Maleese wrote it down on a piece of paper. Maleese grabbed her car keys and decided she was going to leave in what she had on. Meanwhile, Maria waited for Maleese to arrive. Thirty minutes passed, and Maria stared at the clock on the wall, wondering where she was. She hoped her aunt wouldn’t play her and leave her hanging. Maria walked over to the fridge, grabbed a Corona, and popped the top off. She took small sips as she sat back on the couch, waiting.
Maleese stood outside and looked up at the nice house her niece lived in. She was jealous. The mansion she had back in Cuba was taken away from her. Maleese lay on the doorbell and patiently waited for Maria to open the door.
Excitedly, Maria got up from the couch and opened the door. “Hey, Maleese.” Maria greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and quick hug. “You ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go.” Maria closed the door behind her and locked it.
The women hopped in the car and Maria put in a Cuban CD.
“This is my shit.” Maleese nodded her head to the music.
Maria smiled and bobbed her head as well with her hand on the volume button. She blasted the music as they both jammed all the way to the mall. They entered the mall as they talked, having a girl’s day out. In and out of stores, Maria treated her aunt, buying her some clothes and anything else she wanted. They got their nails and feet done as well. With shopping bags weighing down their arms, Maria decided it was time to go back home. They exited the mall, placed their bags in the trunk, and drove home. After they got home, Maleese grabbed her bags and placed them in her car before entering the house.
An hour later, Maria was still standing over the hot stove as she fried chicken. The Spanish yellow rice with beans and plantains were already done. Maria turned off the stove, took off her oven mitt, and placed it on the counter. Standing on her tippy toes, Maria opened up the cabinet and grabbed two plates. After preparing the plates with food, Maria returned to the table and placed a warm meal in front of Maleese.
“Thank you. This looks delicious.” Maleese licked her lips.
“You’re welcome. My cooking is good. My husband loved my cooking.” Maria smiled as she sat down at the table, pushing her chair in closer to the table. Don loved her cooking. He wouldn’t eat anybody else’s food, except for hers and her maid’s. He only ate at the restaurant Bella’s, where they used to go occasionally back in the day.
“Where is your husband?” Maleese asked out of curiosity.
“He’s dead,” Maria said bluntly, as she picked up one of the plantains off her plate and bit it. “Yeah.” Maria sighed. “He was brutally murdered by a psycho!” Maria said, with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Maleese didn’t ask any further questions about her husband. She could tell Maria was hesitant to talk about it. It was probably Vicente, since he found out you ran away from home and left to live with him in the States, Maleese thought as she ate her rice.
The room was quiet until Maria broke the silence. Maria looked up at the long gash across her aunt’s face and her deformed lip. Maria wondered what had happened. “What happened that day?”
Maleese slowly lifted her head from her plate and placed her fork down as she stared at Maria. Maleese started talking about the day Vicente had come looking for her. She didn’t tell Maria the whole story, and she switched it up a little.
***
Maleese was in the kitchen preparing a big dinner for her side of the family. Her maid, Edella, helped her set the table. She placed plates and silverware on the table. The doorbell rang. Maleese turned around and stared at Edella.
“That can’t be them; it’s too early. Answer that for me, Edella, please,” Maleese said as she turned her attention back to the stove.
Edella walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. She didn’t see anybody and she didn’t ask who it was; she just answered the door.
A loud gunshot echoed in Maleese’s ear and her heart dropped. She quickly turned around with her back pressed up against the stove. She slowly emerged from the kitchen and stepped out, where she found the barrel of the gun pointed at her face at close range.
“Don’t you fucking move, or I will blow your fucking brains out!” a strange man informed
her.
Maleese knew she was going to die, and she told herself she would rather die fighting. Maleese didn’t know what was going on, but she saw Edella’s body lying lifelessly on the floor as blood stained her white carpet. She made a dash for it, but she was hit in the back of the head with a vase that the guy picked up off her table in the hallway. Maleese passed out on the floor as blood dripped from her head.
When she woke up, she saw several men surrounding her with AK-47’s. Vicente stood in front of her, smoking a thick cigar. Maleese sniffled. Tears streamed down the side of her face and snot dripped from her nose. She was petrified and shaking with fear as she sat in the chair. She tried to move her hands, but she couldn’t. She was tied up.
“Trying to go somewhere?” Vicente smirked. “Well, you can’t!”
“What do you want?” Maleese whispered as she cried.
“I want to know where the fuck my daughter is, and word around town is that you know.” Vicente pulled up his pants as he took a seat on her couch. He placed the handgun on his lap.
“Vicente, I don’t know where she is,” she lied.
“You’re lying to me, Maleese.” Vicente clicked his tongue against his gums, making a noise, and moved his index finger back and forth.
“I swear—”
“Shut up!” Vicente barked. “Shut the fuck up!” Vicente took a deep breath, as he tried to calm himself down. “Do you know what happens when people lie to me?”
Maleese shook her head from side to side in fear. Vicente extended his hand. He gripped the bottom of her chin and squeezed it tightly. Vicente pulled something out of his pocket and within seconds, Maleese had a long, thick cut that started at her right eye and went all the way down to her lip. Maleese screamed out in pain as the blood gushed from her face. What made matters worse for her was that she couldn’t even touch her face. Vicente just sat back in euphoria.
“You motherfucker!” Maleese screamed. “Argh!”
“Yeah, I’m that motherfucker!” Vicente pointed to his chest, “I’m the motherfucker nobody wants to fuck with.”
“Crazy, sick motherfucker!” Maleese noticed her lip felt funny when she talked. She ran her tongue across her lips and felt a big indent in her lip. She knew that when he cut her with the razor, he had also cut into her lip.