A BROKEN GIRL’S JOURNEY 2 (A BROKEN GIRL'S JOURNEY)
Page 5
When she saw Lakea's tears and heard the song she was playing, which was now on repeat, she knew that everything was beginning to be too much for her cousin. Mesha grabbed Lakea around the neck and hugged her tight. She loved her big cousin so much. She was her inspiration of strength even though she had been through so much. However, Mesha was tired of her cousin being sad all the time. She wanted her to smile, have fun, and be free. After a few minutes of hugging and consoling her cousin Mesha abruptly stopped and stood up.
“Okay enough of this mushy, sadness shit! Come on! Cut this shit off first”, Mesha said turning of the engine so that the song would stop.
“You have to stop listening to that song you know it always makes you feel so depressed. Now, let's go get ready for tonight”,Mesha said grabbing J-J out of Lakea's arms and opening the back seat door to get Rahiem out.
“You about to have some fun tonight and make some money, then Monday we gone really kill em, you gone be super bank and then you will be kissing my ass for hooking this up!” Mesha said rolling her eyes at Lakea.
“Ha, bitch you got some nerves. But what am I gone be kissing yo ass for, what are we doing?” Lakea asked wiping the tears from her eyes, grabbing Ray-Jay and her purse as she got out of the truck.
“You gone see skank just bring ya ass and get ready, you know me, so you know we fina be straight”, Mesha said going into the house with Lakea following her inside.
Once inside the girls bathed and fed the boys then put them in the play area in the living room where Quan, MJ, Anterrius, and Anthony were playing the Xbox.
“Hey lil bruh”, Mesha said mushing Quan as she sat next to him on the couch.
“When do you have to leave for college Mr. Professional?” Lakea asked jokingly.
“I got one month, two weeks, and 3 days!” Quan said laughing.
“Damn fool, you sound like you getting out of jail”, Anthony said laughing.
“Shiddd, Memphis is jail or more like hell. And a muthafucka struggle erday trying to stay out that fire”, MJ said as everyone laughed and agreed.
“Well, we having you a party before you leave”, Lakea said getting up and leaving the room.
When Lakea made it into Mesha's room she had already taken her shower and was sitting at her mirror doing her hair and makeup in a silk robe.
“Hooch, you better hurry up. I got some clothes for you. Just go take your shower and hurry the fuck up!” Mesha yelled waving her curl wand in the air.
“Can you tell me where we are going first so that I can mentally prepare?” Lakea asked as she gathered Mesha's robe and slippers to go take her shower.
“Okay, I guess I can go ahead and tell you. Monday we gone do boxing at Purple Passion, but TONIGHT, we going to Satin and Sapphire to dance. Its amateur night, but I know for a fact that the Pilot Gang niggas and that Peer Pressure nigga gone be in the building, so you know they gone make it rain all night long”, Mehsa said snapping her fingers and grinding her hips in her seat.
Lakea tried her best to smile, but her apprehension was on her face. Mesha could see it too as she stared at Lakea through the mirror as she brushed her long auburn hair.
“Bitch don't be scared, just be seductive and do this a lot”, Mesha said swinging her long her from side-to-side while dipping down low and twerking her as cheeks up and down.
“You know how to do this, do like you did when we were in the room and you straight. Hell you already fine and thick so there's nothing to worry about. Okay?” Mesha asked.
“Okay. We gotta do what we gotta do right?” Lakea said faking a smile at her cousin and leaving the room.
As the hot water from the shower began to relax Lakea it also sent her back to a not so happy memory. Suddenly she was back locked up, behind the walls of Wolverine and Klemmings and his crew was having their way with her. She could still feel the sting of his riding whip on her back, and hear the sound it made when it cut through the air. That was the same sound that had awakened her many nights, and now she would use that sound, that hate, that pain as her driving force to get her through her hard times. Lakea knew anger always pushed her and made her go harder so when she felt her anger start to rise at the memory of Wolverine and Klemmings she welcomed it. She remembered everything; all of the beatings she had to endure, being left naked and cold for days, being abused and humiliated by Klemmings and his crew as they forced her to have sex with them all in any way they wanted. She remembered it all.
By the time Lakea stepped out of the shower she was close to her old self again, well at least her anger and determination to manipulate and use as many men as she could had returned. She had been so wrapped up in her grief and pain from losing Jeremy; it had dulled that anger and pain of a broken little girl. However, now that anger was back and she was ready to let it use her in any way it chose. As she wiped the steam off the mirror, Lakea took a good look at herself. She still saw a broken girl staring back at her through the mirror. However, the only difference was that now she didn't want to be broken. She knew she wanted to be whole again and she knew that her future did not include dancing. She just had to figure how to pick up the pieces and mend her broken spirit.
Once Lakea and Mesha got dressed, Lakea looked in the mirror and felt more confident, ready to do what she had to. Mesha had straightened her long, thick black hair so that it was silky, and she did the prettiest, most seductive makeup on her with fake lashes and all. Lakea stared at herself in the mirror on Mesha's dresser and she couldn't believe what she saw. She looked just like one of those video girls. She had on a black corset top, black G-strings with black booty shorts on top, a black lace hi- low skirt, and her black, eight inch red bottoms with the spikes. She was flawless in every way.
“Damn bitch you bad”, Mesha said walking back into the room to get her purse.
“Bitch you ain't too shabby your damn self”, Lakea said looking at Mesha up and down.
She was flawless too in her black cat suit with diamond accents and diamond studded red bottom heels.
“We finna break these tricks”, Mesha said looking in the mirror too as she put on more lip gloss and practiced puckering her lips.
“Let's go pick up Nika and go get this money, you know she always down. Candius lame ass ain't going; you know she got a man now. She boo'd up!” Mesha said in a ghetto voice while rolling her neck.
“Must be nice”, Lakea said as they left the room.
She wished that she could be boo'd up with Jeremy at that very minute and not have to go to the club and take her clothes off just to make rent. However, that wasn't her reality this was, so she had to try to make the best of it.
Lakea could feel the butterflies in her stomach rise up to her throat as they drove down Brooks Road, getting closer to Satin & Sapphire. Kush smoke filled the air as Lakea took a big hit of the blunt she had just lit. She hadn't smoked in a while, but she was trying to numb those guilty feelings that lingered, so she hit the blunt again extra hard. She knew that she had to detach herself from herself to pull off what she was about to do. The Kush and jug of lime Peer Pressure she was consuming was certainly doing the trick as she felt her feelings slowly fading. By the time they pulled into the club's parking lot; which was packed, Lakea felt warm, tingly, and very relaxed.
“Okay, I know y'all know how to do this”, Mesha said looking at Lakea and Nika after parking and turning off the car.
“Hell yea bitch, I'm straight. I been striping in New Orleans the past month. I got this”, Nika said as she puffed her Newport.
“Well that's wasup bitch, we bout to bank. Lakea you ready?” Mesha asked looking at Lakea who now had a faraway look in her eyes.
“Ready as I'll ever be!” Lakea said turning to face her cousin and continuing.
“Bitch let's get this money, fuck some feelings. I'm back on my break a trick shit. I got bills to pay”, Lakea said taking one last deep hit of the Kush trying to numb that bad feeling that still lingered within her.
“Now that's the s
hit I like. Let's go ladies!” Mesha said as they all got out of the car and made their way through the parking lot to the club.
The moon shone brightly as the girls walked to the side entrance of the club. Dudes were standing around staring at them looking like walking bags of money.
“Aye bitch, how much to fuck?” One of the guys standing by the front door yelled as the girls passed them.
“If you have to ask you probably can't afford it”, Lakea said flipping her hair in his face like Mesha had told her to.
“Shidd, you can't put a price on perfection baby, and it don't get no better than this”, Lakea said running her hands all over herself and she continued to go off on the dude.
“So why don't you go get your lil baby bank up, then come holla at me!” Lakea said rolling her eyes.
All of the guys standing around erupted in a tirade of “Oohhh's” and checks. Even the dude's friends laughed, and that did not make him happy. Lakea could see it in his face.
“Damn, that's the boss bitch shit I'm talking about”, Mesha said grabbing Lakea by one arm and Nika by the other, pulling them to the side door away from the dudes.
“Ima do just that bitch, and you gone give me that pussy when I do...whether you want to or not!” The dude yelled staring at Lakea intently as he and his friends entered the club.
As the girls were standing at the door waiting on security to let them in Lakea looked up at the sky and all of the beautiful stars. She couldn't believe how beautiful the sky was, yet how ugly her life had become. She couldn’t understand how her life always went from one extreme to the next, and she couldn't understand how she had gotten to where she now was, but she knew one thing. She would do whatever it took to ensure her son and nephews had what they needed and if that meant stripping, so be it. Hell, she had already been through worse by no desire of her own. How bad could it be? If she only knew....
Chapter 9
When the side door to the club opened, Lakea swallowed that lump in her throat and went back into gangsta mode. She was the old Lakea again and it was time to break a trick, no time for feelings and she planned on getting all that she could. The inside of the club was smokey and dark as the girls entered. “Whistle while you Twerk”, by the Ying Yang Twins blast through the clubs huge speakers making Lakea cringe it was so loud. Strobe lights flashed different colors and guys were everywhere, in every seat yelling, smoking weed, and drinking. Girls walked around damn near naked and some of them were giving lap dances at tables. A tall, dark skinned, 400-lb man with a mean expression on his face met them at the door and ushered them to an office in the back of the club. Inside the office the girls sat down on one side of the huge oak desk and waited on the man to sit down.
“Okay, Mesha knows me, but y'all don't”, the man said looking at Lakea and Nika as he sat down.
“I'm Gator and I am the manager of this club. Now I want y'all to know that I don't play no games, I expect you to work hard, and I will protect you. All y'all gotta do is do yo job, break these tricks and that's it!” Gator said in a serious tone.
“Now since y'all just wanna work from time to time Ima need a $65 pay out from each of you, either now or at the end of the night. Other than that that it’s just like every other strip club; $20 and up for table dances, $65 and up for a VIP, $20 of which comes to me. You gotta tip the DJ and security at the end of the night too. There is no fucking in the club and no leaving the club with niggas to fuck or do parties. Y'all understand that?” Gator asked sitting behind the desk puffing his Cuban cigar with the same mean, expression on his face.
“Yea”, All of the girls said in unison as Lakea pulled $200 out of her bra while looking at Mesha.
“Take money to make money right?” She said handing Gator two $100 bills.
He stared lustfully into her face then down to her neck and her titties, drinking her in with his eyes.
“You a beautiful lil bitch, I swear”, he said handing her the $5 change.
“You gone make all the damn money and make all the hoes mad in the process. Shit all y'all is wit y'all fine asses,”
Lakea smirked.
“Well we ain't worried about these hoes, just these tricks and they money. Right?” Lakea asked looking back at Mesha and Nika.
“Damn right!” They both yelled then laughed.
“That's what I'm talking about, true money makers. That's what I need in this muthafucka. Gone get that money then”, Gator said standing.
“Oh, here go a roll for all y'all. This will put ya right in the mood, forreal”, Gator said as he handed each girl a little blue pill and a Smirnoff Ice from his mini fridge.
Lakea stared at the pill in her hand. She was kind of sacred because she had never taken ecstasy before, but she also had never stripped in a club before so she figured it was a first time for everything. What better time than now. Besides she did have to be someone else for the moment and that pill would definitely help her to morph into Kandi again. Each of the girls looked at each other as they stood in the doorway of the office.
“What you looking at me for, I pop X all the time!” Mesha said scrunching her nose up at Lakea as she stared at her with disbelief on her face.
Lakea didn't know her cousin had done X before. Mesha shrugged and popped her pill in her mouth.
“Hell, I have done it before too. It ain't shit”, Nika said as she swallowed her pill down.
“Fuck it!” Lakea said as she swallowed her pill down and they all entered the dressing room.
Lakea was totally surprised when she entered the dressing room with Mesha and Nika. It was nothing like she had imagined, there was no glitz or glamor. The left wall was filled with ugly off-gray lockers, the same colors as the walls, and most of them had broken doors with words written all over them. The floor was dirty and littered with empty condom wrappers, cigarette butts, baby wipes, and cigar tobacco. On the other wall was four large dirty mirrors hung above a long counter. There was a huge empty space where one of the mirrors was missing and girls had taped all kinds of pictures in that spot. Girls of all shapes and shades sat at the counter doing their hair, make-up, drugs, drinking, or simply talking shit. In the back there were three dirty bathroom stalls and a small, filthy shower in the corner. There was also a table and several chairs setup in the back, which a lady named Cutie, the house mama, had set up like a store. She had food, liquor, dance clothes, cigarettes, condoms, baby wipes, and any other thing a dancer might need including make-up application.
Mesha knew several girls in the club from doing parties the past couple of years, so many of them spoke as the girls took a seat at the counter on the far end of the dressing room. The girls began to touch up their makeup and hair as Lakea stared at each girl who passed in the mirror. She didn't trust females, at all. Besides it was so noisy in the dressing room she had to watch everything. All of the girls that were still in the dressing room were high and loud. An older stripper everyone called Red, stood in the middle of the floor with a gallon jug of Vodka, butt naked telling stories and peeling other girls in between swigs of her alcohol.
“And look at these pretty bitches that just walked in!” Red yelled.
“Y'all some siddity Beverly Hills 90210 bitches ain't it? Where you hoes from Harbor Town?” She asked laughing and wasting some of her liquor on the floor.
Some of the other girls laughed too and waved Red off.
“Aw that pretty, prissy bitch at the end look scared. That bitch ain't gone last”, Red said pointing at Lakea while laughing.
Lakea scooted back in her chair. The old her was back and she was ready to fuck that drunk bitch up. Mesha knew what was about to happen so she grabbed her cousin's chair and pulled her back up to the counter, while whispering in her ear.
“Maine fuck that drunk, old bitch. Let that hoe talk while we run circles around her old antique ass”, Mesha said.
Lakea laughed out loud because Mesha had caught her off guard with that comment, but it did put her back in a good mood.
Just then a tall, dark skinned girl with blonde hair approached them.
“Hey”, The girl said touching Lakea on the shoulder.
“Wassup?” Lakea asked standing and taking a defensive posture.
She wasn't about to play with nobody in that damn club. She already had a familiar feeling of hostility like she felt when she got to Wolverine. It was too many females, so she knew trouble was lurking and she was ready. It was like her mama always told her. “Stay ready to keep from having to get ready.” Mesha and Nika were ready too because they stood up as soon as Lakea did. They were her real ride or die's, always ready for whatever.
“Damnnn, it ain't like that y'all”, the girl said laughing.
“That prissy bitch gone sprinkle fairy dust all over your ass Fantasy”, Red said as her and the other girls continued laughing.