WHAM!
Tony had hit his forehead with the butt of the gun, knocking Dime’s ass clean out as the music still played over the venue.
“Camarih, let’s go.” He spoke sternly, so I didn’t do anything but what he said, walking behind him. “Partying with muthafuckas I got to slap up like a hoe,” he fussed.
On the way, he grabbed an unopened bottle of Patrón that belonged to another table and got the top off to sip. As Rubie and I trailed him through, the people on the dance floor split like he was a king, I guess scared as hell.
Just then, “Last Time That I Checc’d” by Nipsey Hussle and YG came on, so Tony began doing that usual hood nigga two-step on his way out as he sipped on someone’s Patrón. He was unbelievably ghetto, but I was happy to see Rubie found it funny, because I was shamed, even walking with my head down as he pulled my hand with his free one while dancing coolly toward the exit. His cologne permeated the air, and even in the midst of all this bullshit, I basked in the scent of it.
Funny enough, people got right back to partying like nothing happened, but when I looked over my shoulder at Dime, he was still passed out. The people in his section had left him there and merged into another, since his had glass everywhere and a big disco ball had crushed the alcohol. Even his homies, or who I thought were his homies, had migrated.
So much for my flirtatious City Girl plan.
2
Brielle Baldwin
My phone chimed while I was in the bathroom washing my makeup off, so I darted to my bedroom to answer it, in case it was Tony. He never messaged me really, ever since I’d started hearing rumors about him fucking some chick with golden hair, aka Camarih. I brushed it off, until I ran into them outside of the studio that one night, and them holding hands hadn’t left my mind since.
Like I said, ever since around that time, Tony never hit me up, excluding that one time he asked me for a ride from the club and let me lick his dick knowing it’d been inside of her. I still had nightmares to this day about that shit. Nasty ass nigga.
But that was Tony, never giving a fuck about anything or anyone unless their names were Jilly, Jilly, and Jilly. Even before Camarih, the only time he’d message me would be when he needed a ride because he didn’t drive to wherever he was, if he was drunk, and wanted some head, or to bring food to him and his friends at the studio that he wouldn’t reimburse me for.
This was all our parents’ fault though, because before they got together and ruined my life, Tony used to fuck me all the time. But about nine months into our parents’ marriage, he demoted me to his main dick sucker and nothing else. Joy and a few other bitches were doing my job as well but also getting some dick to go with it.
“Fuck.” I rolled my eyes down at my phone when I saw it was just a text from this nigga named Patrick.
Patrick was cool and fine as hell, with some good sex, but he wasn’t Tony. He didn’t have his swag, his dick wasn’t even close, and he just… wasn’t him. It was hard for me to pinpoint every aspect exactly, but he just didn’t make me feel the same.
On several occasions, I’d tried to rid Tony from my mind and life and only fuck with Patrick, but it never worked. As soon as I got that 3 a.m. text for some head, my ass was right in my car, speeding to Tony. Lately, I hadn’t even been getting those calls or texts though, so I was forced to put my focus on Patrick.
Ignoring his message because I wasn’t in a good mood after seeing Tony damn near beg to be with Camarih, I got dressed since it was after 3 p.m., but then felt too down to leave, so I hopped on Instagram.
Scrolling my explore page, I saw a photo of Camarih and tapped it. The first comment I spotted was from Jilly, since I followed her, and it was saying how pretty she looked. That shit infuriated me, because Jilly was like my baby sister too. I didn’t like her being close with this hoe, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because Jilly didn’t socialize with Tony’s past hoes, so seeing her do so made me feel like this relationship Camarih had with Tony was more than I wanted it to be.
Slipping my feet into my YSL sneakers, I left out, headed over to my mama’s house. I knew Jilly was most likely home, and I wanted to have a little talk with her ass.
I arrived about twenty minutes later because I didn’t live in South Central any longer. After I got my good ass job as a manager at Robenz Insurance Company, I purchased a decked-out condo in Torrance. However, I frequented my mama’s place to hopefully catch Tony… and to visit her too.
“Hey, girl.” Jilly answered the door in some tiny shorts and a bra top. I sighed out of disappointment because I knew based off her outfit, her brother wasn’t here.
“How are you?” I closed the door behind myself before joining her on the couch.
“I’m okay, I guess.”
“What’s wrong?” I rubbed her back. I actually did love Jilly, so for a moment, I was concerned as to why she was upset.
“Stupid Tony beat up Vernon, but inside of Ruth’s Chris, and now Vernon is acting funny.”
“Hell, I would too if I got beat up in public.” I chuckled, but Jilly stayed serious. “Jilly, why don’t you date someone else or—”
“What kind of advice is that?”
“I’m just—”
“Forget it, Brielle.” She stopped me, shaking her head and leaning back on the couch before sipping her coffee drink from Starbucks.
Jilly was a beautiful girl, with clear caramel skin, long brown hair, and a cute shape. The girl could literally have any man she wanted, but she was for some reason stuck on Vernon. The boy wasn’t ugly and seemed to be respectful, but if Tony hated him, I was sure there was a reason.
Tony wasn’t really the type to just hate on another man, whether he was dating his baby sister or not, so there had to be valid reason behind it. Hell, Jilly was the only reason Tony probably hadn’t just killed the boy.
After a few minutes of silence, I asked, “So you know this new girl Tony is fucking?”
“Camarih? That’s his girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend? Now Jilly, you know how our brother is.” I gave her a look. And before you wonder, no, Jilly had no idea that Tony used to fuck me and still let me suck his dick here and there.
“Yeah, I do know how he is, but I also witnessed them together, and he invited me out to Ruth’s Chris to meet her.”
“Tony?” I bucked my eyes, hoping there was some brother I’d never met that she was referring to.
“Exactly, which is how you know it ain’t the same old thang. Plus, he told me straight up that he wanted me to meet his girlfriend.”
As Jilly typed away on her iPhone, texting whomever, I just stared at the side of her face, trying to hold myself together. Every word she’d spoken moments ago had made my stomach drop and drop until it hit the pit. Jilly’s information, plus what I witnessed back at the studio with Tony showing a side of himself I didn’t know existed, made me sick.
For the longest, I’d always felt like Tony would be mine in the end. However, hearing about and seeing him with Camarih had me more than worried.
“So you like her?” I cleared my throat.
“Yeah. She’s really nice, and so bomb.”
“Girl, any bitch can be bomb with a face full of make up and a trip to the surgeon.” I laughed, getting up to fetch some water from the kitchen, which was only a few feet away.
“No, Bri. She is legit beautiful, and her body is natural. She’s not into that type of stuff, like material things and looking a certain way. She’s just naturally fire.”
I rolled my eyes since my back was to Jilly.
Coming out as I sipped my water, I replied, “I met her, and she was aight.” I sat back down. “What?” I frowned when Jilly dropped her phone into her lap and glanced my way with her mouth agape.
“Are you jealous of her?”
“No. What the fuck?” My heart began beating fast.
“Yes you are. Everything I say about her, you have a negative reply, Brielle.”
“I’m not doing it on
purpose. I’m just calling it like I see it, Jilly. She’s alright looking, and I’ve heard things about her, like that she was a hoe,” I lied.
“Camarih Marlon? A hoe?”
“Yep. Heard she fucked her way to Prince and was so happy to get him.”
“She was his girl before he blew up.”
Damn.
“Well he was popping around LA, and she knew that. I gotta give it to her, the girl is smart. And now she’s sank her teeth into our brother.” I polished off my water as Jilly’s phone rang. She hit ignore. “Who was that?”
“Our brother.”
I was sometimes envious of the love Tony had for Jilly. It was a catch-22 with me. I wanted the privileges that came with being Tony’s sister, aka special treatment from him and attention. But I also wanted him to forget that I was his stepsister for a short time so that he would fuck me and be with me.
“Oh. Well let me go say hi to my mama. You good?” I rose up, and Jilly nodded. “You know you have to forgive him sometime.”
“I will, but he’s gonna have to buy me a Chanel bag first.”
We chuckled as she turned the TV on, and I walked off. Shit, if I told Tony some shit like that, he’d be happy to never buy my ass a bag and get rid of me.
“Hey, Mama.” I entered her room to see her putting on makeup.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
“Where are you going?” I sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Just to the grocery store.”
“Then why the makeup? It’s just the damn store.” I chuckled.
“I know, but I rarely go out, so when I do, I like to look nice. You know I am only forty-nine, Brielle. There is still time for me to find love again.”
“I know.” I sighed.
“You okay?” She looked over her shoulder at me. She was seated at her vanity.
“Not really. I’m in love with a man and he just… he doesn’t love me back.”
“Then what’s the problem? Get rid of his ass. You’re beautiful, you’re educated, you have a great job; what the hell are you doing with a man who doesn’t love you back?”
“I know how it sounds, but he’s one of a kind. I’ve dated others, and they’re just not him.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
We laughed in unison.
“Probably should be, but it’s not to me. I just love him so much.” I looked off.
“Well, Brielle.” She stood up to slip on her sandals. “I can only hope that you don’t waste much more of your time with someone like him.” She kissed my forehead before picking her purse up and leaving.
I laid back on her bed as I listened to her chat with Jilly, but my phone started ringing. When I saw the blue heart emoji next to the letter T, I shot up so fast that my neck got tight. Having no time to scream out in pain, I answered the phone.
“Tony?”
“Who else? Fuck you doing?”
My mood had drastically risen at the sight of his name on my phone and the sound of his voice in my ears. It pissed me off how easily Tony controlled my mood. Just those five words he’d spoken had me wanting to run through a field of flowers and donate money to the poor.
“Of course, babe.” I got up to look into the living room. Jilly was gone, so she must’ve been with my mama. “I’m not doing anything at all.” A bitch needed to be as free as possible.
“Oh, aight. I’m at the studio. Pick up some food, like some tacos, you know these muthafuckas love tacos, and bring it. I gotta talk to you about some shit too.”
“Okay, baby—”
“Kill all the nicknames and shit. Hit me, by text, when you outside.”
He hung up before I could agree, so I grabbed my purse and then left to get the food, but not before stopping at home to put on a full face of makeup.
I figured the studio was packed, so I got twenty-five of the mini tacos and then a drink for Tony to make it extra special. When I got there, I texted him and then climbed out of my Mercedes to meet him at the door.
He took too long, so I just pulled the door to go in and followed the sound of the music.
Walking inside of the studio room, I saw about five niggas and seven women on the couch, some lapped up while smoking. Every dude in here had a woman by his side, including Tony. She was some light-skinned girl with braids, massaging his shoulders while laughing about something he, Eitan, and Rahim were saying. I was fuming on the inside, seeing her touch him, because I could tell by how attached she was that he’d fucked her. On the bright side though, seeing him back to his old ways made me feel good about his relationship with Camarih; it wasn’t serious.
“Hello.” I made my presence known.
Tony spotted me and squeezed the girl next to him’s ass as he bit his lip, nodding for her to get the food from me. She did as she was told, and I begrudgingly let the big brown bag go.
“Come on.” Tony walked out of the room, and I followed him to one across the way that was empty. “Fuck off me.” He swatted my hand when I went for his belt buckle.
“I thought—”
“I called you here to fuck?”
“Yes!”
“I called yo’ ass for the food and to holla at you.”
“Okay, about what?” I folded my arms.
It couldn’t have been anything good because he wouldn’t let me suck his dick. But maybe he just wanted to talk first, then fuck. Maybe this was the moment he was gonna tell me he lov—
“I need you to talk to my girl.”
“Your girl? Who is your girl?”
“You know who the fuck she is. You gon’ go down to her job, book a facial, and tell her the shit we was doing was old as fuck. Let her know there ain’t no muthafuckin feelings there, and there never were. We fucked for a little bit, peoples got married, you sucked me off occasionally, but now it’s done.”
“Houston.” My voice trembled.
“Just do what the fuck I said. I need my bitch back, and you gon’ do whatever the fuck I need you to, to make sure the shit happens, since you fucked our shit up.”
“You want me to lie? I do love you and have feelings for you.”
“Well I ain’t got feelings for you. So take yo’ long head ass down there, tonight, and do what the fuck I said to do.” The anger in his eyes let me know that he was desperate. He really wanted this girl. Why?
“Tony, you love her or something? What the fuck?”
“Brielle, get the fuck up out and do the shit.” He opened the door for me to leave.
I was sobbing by this time.
“Tony, I just don’t get why—”
“Because I love her. That’s what you wanna hear? I love her ass, and I need her. Now the shit closes in an hour, Angel Skin, so go.”
I was paralyzed after hearing him admit he loved her. I’d only kept asking so he could confirm that he in fact didn’t. I left the studio, feeling sick as hell. I didn’t say a word or listen to one song as I drove to Hollywood where Angel Skin was located. It was dark by this time, so I knew they’d be closing soon.
I fixed my makeup and then headed inside.
“Welcome to Angel Skin. How may I help you?”
“Hi. I was hoping to get a facial.” I stopped at the counter. The young Asian girl looked on the computer for a moment.
“Sure. When would you like to come in?”
“I want it right now. I prefer Camarih.”
“Okay. Well we only have Jasmine right now. Camarih is usually always booked. It’s best to schedule with her two weeks in advance.”
“Look, Charlene.” I glanced at her badge. “Here is one hundred dollars. Go let Camarih know that I’m ready to come to the back.”
Charlene took my money happily and ran her short skinny ass to handle her business. She returned a couple minutes later.
“Okay. Just fill this out, and I can take you back.”
I went through the few questions on the iPad and then followed Charlene to the room.
I removed the clothing f
rom the upper part of my body and then lied down under the covers as she’d instructed. Moments later, the bitch Camarih entered, smiling until she recognized me.
“As you know, I’m Camarih, so I’m gonna be doing your facial. Just let me look at the questionnaire you filled out.” She sat down.
“Camarih, I know you probably don’t like me and are upset with Tony, but you must understand that he and I were nothing. We met before our parents did, had a little affair, and when they got married, it pretty much stopped. We had oral sex occasionally, but when he met you, it slowed up drastically.” It took so much not to twist the truth, but I knew Tony wasn’t playing around.
“Thank you. Please close your eyes for a moment.” She put some goggles over me before I felt some steam hit my face.
We said nothing for the rest of the facial, and it felt so good that a few times I’d forgotten who was working on me. Shit, I needed this. I did notice she kept pausing, taking deep breaths every now and again, like she was running out. She was in good shape, so that was odd to me.
“Wow, that was great. Thank you.” I smiled to myself once she removed the goggles and everything.
“You’re welcome. I would recommend you drink more water. Your skin is very dehydrated.” Camarih half smiled at me as I sat up, holding the blanket against my half naked body. I didn’t know if that was shade or actual advice.
“Will do.” I watched her stand up, pause, and breath deeply like she’d been doing. She then reached up into the cabinet, and her shirt lifted some. She had on black high-waisted tights, but I spotted a small rounded bulge in her stomach, almost making my eyes fall out my head. “A—are you pre—gnant?” I stammered, feeling like I was going to cry.
“I will leave some product recommendations with Charlene.” She walked to the door. “Oh, and don’t ever come back to my job and request me, or I will beat your ass.”
I watched her leave and then did my best to get dressed without crying. I didn’t want to be sobbing in the damn lobby while paying for my services.
I quickly rushed out, paid while declining the recommendations, and then damn near ran to my car. I dialed up Tony, and after five rings, he answered with a sense of urgency, pissing me off. Why was this girl so damn important to him!
She Gave Her All to the Hood’s Finest 2 Page 4