“What’s wrong, bae? I was able to come. I thought you’d be happy to see me,” I asked, looking up at him with confused eyes, trying to figure out why he wasn’t showing signs of being happy that I was there.
He looked around the outside area that we were standing in, and about twenty people at the most were scattered around, but they weren’t paying the two of us any attention at all. I knew what went on around this part of the projects at this time of night, so I knew that the men posted up on the wall were dealing drugs, and some of the women who were standing around were there to get fucked.
There was an apartment not too far from where I was standing, and it was basically like a trap house/prostitution house. Had I never met Raheem, I probably would have never known that. This was the place where my grandma chose to live, but you couldn’t tell her nothing about moving because she loved it. As if the cops were somewhere around, Raheem continued to scan the area with his eyes until he finally pulled me by my arm into the dirty, pissy hallway of the apartment building where it was just me and him.
“Yo, why you got your phone taken away?” he finally asked me.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out that this was what he was mad about. I thought it was something deeper.
“My mom saw the hickey on my neck. The make-up that I put on it must have faded away because she saw it the moment I got in the car. I’m not sure when she’s going to give it back because—”
Wham!
He slapped the shit out of me. I didn’t even get any time to react to it because when I reached up to touch the area where he had just slapped me, his hand wrapped around the front of my shirt, and he jacked me up. Tears fell from my eyes as I looked up at him because not only was I hurt physically, but emotionally, I was hurt as well. Why would the man who claims to love me so much hit me? I was confused, and I was scared shitless. Raheem had this demonic look in his eyes that I’d never seen before. His eyes were usually a beautiful, light brown, but in seconds, they’d managed to turn black.
I was crying loud as hell, all the while pushing away at his chest, telling him to let me go. At this moment, I wished that I had stayed my ass inside the house because I didn’t know what he was capable of. This was the part of Miami where neighbors didn’t look out for each other. If they heard someone outside getting their ass beat, they would just turn the television up even louder. I knew that for a fact because I had witnessed my grandma do it on more than one occasion.
The police never got called when there were shootouts over there either, and even if they did decide to show up, it would be hours later, so whoever got shot would end up dying. That’s why I was crying. I knew at this moment, Raheem could do anything he wanted to me, and no one would be able to help.
“Don’t fuckin’ lie to me, little ass girl! You forgot my ole girl work inside the office at your school? I heard her on the phone talking to one of my aunties, going on and on about how some fast ass girl got caught in the hallway kissing some nigga! You know I could give two fucks about the shit that takes place at your school, but when she started talking about the girl that got caught was a student that none of the teachers could stand, I automatically thought of your ass.
“I know how fucked up your attitude is, and you be telling me how the teachers always calling your people. That still wasn’t enough proof, though. My mama finally fucked around and said your name, so that gave me my answer right there. I’m going to ask you one more fuckin’ time, and if you lie to me again, I swear to God I’ll lace your fuckin jaw! Why your ole girl took your phone?” he asked me again.
His mouth was so close to mine that I could smell the weed and the liquor that he’d been smoking and drinking. I had nothing to be afraid of in the beginning, but now I was scared shitless. I couldn’t lie because he would hit me again, so with tears falling from my eyes and snot coming from my nose, I told him.
“I was kissing someone in the hallway, but it’s not like that, bae, I promise… Nooooo!” I screamed when he raised his hand and slapped me again.
“Yo! Leave that girl the fuck alone, man!” I heard a deep voice say.
It sounded like it was coming our way. I thanked God for sending this man my way because I just knew that I was about to get my ass beat.
“Mind your fuckin’ business, nigga! This my bitch, not yours!” Raheem said, still with his hand on my shirt.
“I don’t give a fuck who bitch she is! I’m not about to stand here and witness you put your hand on no girl! You can do that pussy shit somewhere else!” the voice responded.
I couldn’t really see him because he was standing a few feet away, and the lights weren’t shining on him. I could see the silhouette of his frame, and he was huge. Not even in a fat way. He was muscular. As if he could pick Raheem up by his neck and toss him if he wanted to. I didn’t know if Raheem was scared of the man, but I could feel the grip that he had on my shirt loosen.
The man finally made his way over to us, and once Raheem saw who it was, he instantly let go of my shirt and threw his hands up in surrender. He was definitely scared. I wiped my face and stared at the man. He stared at me too. I knew him from somewhere; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. He looked mean as hell along with aggravated.
“My bad, Bully. I didn’t know that was you. You know if I had, I wouldn’t have been talking to you crazy like that, and—”
“Your ole girl know you out here with this nigga?” the man who Raheem had just referred to as Bully asked me.
When he opened his mouth to speak, and I took a better look at him, I realized who he was. He was the guy from the theater that my mom was arguing with a few weeks ago. I didn’t answer his question. I just looked down at the ground in embarrassment while I continued to wipe my damn face.
“I’m going to take your silence as a no. Let’s go,” he said.
“Stupid ass nigga, don’t you have a daughter? How would you feel if someone was slapping your little girl around? Don’t put your hand on no fuckin female!” Bully let Raheem know followed by a punch dead in his face.
Raheem’s body instantly hit the floor, and my hand went to my mouth in shock. I tried to go over to Raheem, just to see if he was alright, but the Bully guy pushed me out of the way.
“Yo, are you fuckin stupid or something? This nigga was just slapping your ass around a few minutes ago, and you really standing here trying to console his bitch ass? Take your ass in the fuckin’ house! Little ass shouldn’t even be out your fuckin’ bed at this time of the night!” he barked. “GO!” he yelled when I didn’t move.
I swear I could feel those cheap ass cement walls shake when he yelled. I took off running in the direction of my grandmother’s apartment, and I didn’t stop running until I made it to her front door. I took the key out of my bra and slowly made my way inside the house. I made sure that the front door was locked, and then I walked on my tippy toes to my bedroom. As soon as I was in, I slowly closed the door behind me, making sure to lock it.
My back went against the wall, and I slowly crouched down until I was on my ass. I released a cry as I rocked my body back and forth. Raheem hated me. Granted, he’d cheated on me plenty of times before in the past, but the moment I do it, I get slapped around. I could handle the slapping, it was him hating me that I wouldn’t be able to handle. I just knew that he was through with me. Not only did I cheat, but I left him there tonight. I didn’t even stay back to make sure that he was okay.
6
Jerrod Evans
“Son, is that a gray hair I see?” my beautiful mother asked, coming behind me and examining my hair.
Shit, if she did see a gray hair, I’m surprised that it was only one because I was so stressed these days. After a long day of work, I didn’t feel like going straight home tonight, so I dropped over to my mom’s house, surprising her with some flowers and my presence. Although my mom lived her best life, always traveling different places with her friends, I still made it my duty to check up on her every chance I got. A
lthough it had been years since my father’s passing, I knew that she hadn’t fully gotten over it.
The two of them shared a similar story to Shrimp and I. They’d known each other since high school. If I didn’t physically see her, I would call her up just to make sure that she was alright. Financially and physically, she was probably at her best, but I needed to make sure that emotionally she was alright too. My two oldest brothers, Raymond and Elvan, had moved away from Miami years ago, so although they didn’t physically see our mom every day either, they would call and check up on her just as much as I did.
When my father died, I think the decision to give me the business was an easy one because neither one of my brothers wanted it. They knew how successful the business was and the money that they could make with it, but they both chose different career paths. Raymond is a successful defense attorney in New Jersey, and he’s living with his wife and their two sons. The oldest brother, Elvan, owned his own car detailing spot out in Tampa, which wasn’t too far away. He was single and living the bachelor life with no damn kids. Each time I talked to him, I let him know how much I envied him. His life was so damn peaceful, which is all I wanted. He was the oldest damn brother, but I can bet my last dollar that my mom wasn’t going around finding strands of gray in his hair.
“That’s stress, ma. That’s all that is,” I said and then put a fork that was filled with white rice into my mouth.
I picked up Pollo Tropical on the way over because it was my mom’s favorite. She’d finished her meal already, and because I was thinking about what I would have to face when I made it home, I was eating slow, like I barely had an appetite. I faced war with my wife and silence. Ever since the night that we were seconds away from having sex, she’d been ignoring me. She’d pretty much moved all her shit out of our bedroom and was now full time sleeping in the guest bedroom.
Each day that went by, I wanted to do some petty shit like call the bank and have them freeze her account or even put her pre-school up for sale, just to teach her ungrateful ass a lesson. Shrimp was a prime example of biting the hand that feeds her. Here I was, taking care of her ass so that she wouldn’t have to go back to the projects, yet she finds herself ignoring me. How does that even work? I wasn’t even trying to imply that she trapped me with the twins, I was just stating how the fuck I felt.
Five years ago, she was supposed to be on the pill, then I find out that she was pregnant. All I was trying to imply was that birth control doesn’t always work. She was the one who caught a guilty mind and started screaming how I was accusing her of pinning a baby on me. I really believed that my wife enjoyed arguing with me. I think she looked for ways to sleep in the guest bedroom so that she wouldn’t have to face me because for that thought to even take up space in her mind was so fuckin’ crazy to me. Then again, her ass was fuckin’ crazy!
“That’s that little wife of yours, I don’t like her. You know what, let me rephrase that. I like Shrimp as a person, but not as a person that I would want as the wife to my youngest son. I remember when you first brought her around, I was cool with it because I honestly thought that the two of you were just going to remain good friends. I told you years ago that whenever you started dating, you needed to make sure that you dated someone who had a similar status, upbringing, and socioeconomic background as yours because it would make the relationship much smoother, but noooo, you just had to go and get you someone fresh out of the projects.
“Don’t get me wrong, your wife is a beautiful woman. She’s smart as hell and a damn good mother, but she’s not what you need. I can tell that she’s weighing you down and stressing you out. You’re losing weight, Jerrod, and you aren’t even forty yet, but I’m finding gray hairs in your head,” she fussed, standing in front of the island, as she packed the leftover food up and placed it in a Tupperware.
I heard everything that my mom was preaching, and I agreed with her to a certain extent.
“I hear you, Ma. I know sometimes I don’t always show it, but I love my wife. I’m not too fond of the person that she’s become lately, but I love her ass. Shrimp used to be the sweetest girl. She would barely curse, now she’s in competition with a sailor because cursing is all she ever does. She be tripping over things so small, and she’s always trying to argue when the kids are right in the damn house. To put the icing on the cake, she’s not even sleeping in the same room with me. She damn near moved all her clothes and shit to the closet in the guest room, which is where she’s sleeping. She goes through Journey to relay messages to me, and that shit is fuckin’ lame.
Some days I want a divorce, and some days I don’t because deep down inside, I know I’ll never find another woman like Takari. I just don’t know what to do, Ma,” I said and pushed the plate away from me because I no longer had an appetite.
I hated that we were even having this discussion right now. I came there to escape the reality of things that take place in my home, and now that we were talking about it, it felt like I was right at home dealing with this shit. My mom was getting ready to say something, but her doorbell rang.
While she went to get the door, I pulled out my phone just to check and see if I had any missed calls or text messages from my wife, but of course, I didn’t. Crazy how I would get annoyed with her texting me and calling me, asking me when I was coming home, but the minute she stopped doing it, I missed it. I guess it showed that she cared, and now that all of it had stopped, it showed that she just simply didn’t give a fuck.
“Come in. Let me introduce you to my youngest son,” I heard my mom say in that phony voice of hers.
I was in no mood to be introduced to anyone, but it was too late because they had already made their way into the kitchen. Just when I felt like I was going to snap on my mom for bringing someone around me when she knew damn well that I wasn’t in the mood, my thought process quickly changed. Damn, she’s beautiful, I thought as I looked at the woman standing before me, who looked mixed with Latina and black.
I was a man who was always working and on the move, so I never really got the time to entertain another woman. I was married, so I didn’t need to be entertaining another woman anyway. This woman right here though…. man, any man with a dick would stop and look at her. Her long, blonde hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and the black sports bra with the matching black tights and sneakers that she was wearing proved to me that she either just left the gym, or she’d just finished running or something. Even with little beads of sweat on her forehead and the little sweat that was on her breast area, it didn’t take away from her beauty.
She had a nice, toned body. Because her stomach was out, I could see the little four pack that she had, which was beyond sexy to me. I just needed her to turn around because I wanted to take a look at her ass, which I knew had to be fat because I could tell from the spread of her hips. She stood about a good 5’6,” and she had some nice, thick lips. Her and Shrimp were like night and day, although they were both beautiful. I was undressing her with my eyes right now, so I really couldn’t tell you who looked better at this point… her or my wife.
“Jerrod, this is my new neighbor. Her name is Valentina. She moved next door about a month ago. Valentina, this is my youngest son, Jerrod,” my mom said, standing between myself and who she just introduced me to as Valentina.
Valentina released a cute smile, and I was able to see that she had a small dimple on her left cheek. She even had some perfect teeth that had me questioning whether they were veneers or not. I felt wrong as hell for staring at this woman the way I was, but each time I saw a different asset of hers, I felt less guilty.
“I’ve been meaning to introduce the two of you for some time now, but Jerrod, you haven’t been as available these days. Valentina just moved here from New York because she was offered a promotion, and she’s now working as a lawyer in downtown Miami. She’s single, with no kids, and as you can see, son, she has a great career,” my mom said with a big smile on her face as she nudged my arm with her elbow.
It then dawned on me what her ass was trying to do, and all I could do was shake my head at her. Granted, I knew she wasn’t that fond of my wife, but damn, I didn’t think that she would stoop so low and try to play matchmaker like I wasn’t a married man.
“That’s good. Congrats on the promotion, Valentina. It was nice meeting you,” I said, standing up from the barstool that I was sitting on and preparing to make my exit.
“Thank you, Jerrod. It was nice meeting you as well,” Valentina responded in a voice that was so sexy it made me do a double take.
As tempting as it was to stay and at least talk with her for a little while longer, I knew that this was wrong, which is why I was on my way out. Before leaving, I made sure to kiss my mom on her cheek, and just that fast, I was out the door. For as long as I’ve been with Takari, I’ve never cheated on her. Even back in high school when we didn’t really have a title on what we were doing, I was still very faithful to her, and no other woman has ever gotten any type of romantic attention from out of me. So, tonight, to even stare at another woman in a way that was identical to the way that I’d been staring at my wife for all of these years said a lot.
I finally made it home, and like always, walking inside the house, it smelled like one of those oils that Takari liked to keep around the house. The shit was a fuckin’ headache to me, but for whatever reason, she loved it. Before I went ahead and retired to bed, I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. In there, I saw that Takari had a plate set aside for me that she had wrapped up. She may not have been fuckin’ with me like that and probably said five words to me at the most each day, but whenever she cooked dinner, she made sure that she fixed my plate and put it up for me.
Love Me Page 8