In Love with a Thug (12 page)

“Bryant, can I ask you something?” I said still playing with the curls on his chest.

“What's up, J.? It's your world, boo.”

“What do you really think about me?” He took another long drag on the blunt as I waited patiently for an answer.

“Hmm, what makes you ask that? You know how I feel about you.”

“I know but after last night, I have doubts now and even so, I wanna hear you say it.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“On the real, shawty. I think I'm falling in love with you.” I couldn't see the expression on his face when he said the words I was waiting to hear. But my heart melted as he spoke his words carefully.

“J.J., do you know that you're the only dude that I ever messed around with?” he said as I got up from his chest to rest my head on my elbow so I could look him in the eyes. Just looking into those big browns made my dick hard all over again.

“Well, actually we never talked about that. But since you brought it up, I didn't know that. Which brings me to another question,” I said as he placed the Dutch in between my fingers so that I could take a pull.

“And?”

“When did you join the House of Karan?” I inhaled the blunt and held it in my mouth for a second before releasing the smoke in his face.

“Well, to answer your question, I'm not in the House of Karan.”

“Okay, so why did they attack me the way they did?” I said, giving him the blunt back from my sore lips.

“Because I got paid to walk that ball last night and when you approached me, that fucked shit up for me and the person who paid me. You have to think, a lot of them faggots like me. They would kill to be in your place right now. They wanna suck this big dick.” He grabbed his big pole and held it straight in the air.

“So you're telling me that you really didn't know them like that?” I was giving him my undivided attention and looking at the veins in his penis at the same time. My mouth watered just looking at it sitting pretty on top of his pubic hairs.

“Fuck no, I was tryna make some extra ends. Look, J, I'm not into this whole gay shit like that. Check it. I'm a muthafuckin' nigga who likes bitches but happened to fall in love with another nigga. That's how I look at it,” he said, now trying to get the rest of his high out of a roach.

“So what were you high off last night?” I asked out of curiosity but I soon realized that it was curiosity that killed the cat. He turned and sat the roach in the ashtray on the nightstand by my bed. He then turned back to me.

“Look, J, the shit that happened last night I regret doing. Baby, can we put that shit behind us? Please?” I stared into his big browns.

“Okay, Bryant, I understand. But you still didn't answer my question,” I hissed.

“Look, J, if I tell you, will you put this shit behind us and move on?” I took a deep breath hoping I could stomach the shit he was about to confess to. “I was on some PCP shit.”

“What? Bryant, how much of that shit did you take?” I snapped. “And you were Xanied up too?”

“Baby, calm down. Look, you don't understand,” he stated loud and firm, getting up from the bed. He sat on the side of the bed with his head in his hands. I moved the covers from on top of me and sat directly behind him rubbing his back.

“Bryant, something's not right. Tell me what's wrong. Boo. I'm here for you.” He held his head down, looking at the floor when he started sniffling as if he were trying to hold back a few tears.

“J, that bitch killed my baby,” he blurted.

I didn't understand. Once again my heart failed at what he was trying to explain to me. “What bitch? What baby?”

“Melissa, she was pregnant with our second child. And she went and had an abortion.” He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “J, it was a boy. It would have been my first son. Little Bryant,” he explained.

“Hold up. I'm not following you. How do you know if it was a boy or a girl? I mean, how many months was she?”

“Baby, she was seven-and-a-half months' pregnant.”

“I didn't know that people could still have abortions that late in their pregnancy,” I said.

“Really you can't, but if you do decide to go that route, then it's more money. She paid close to nine hundred dollars to have that abortion to spite me.” He got up and walked over to retrieve his capris that lay on the floor. He picked up his pants and pulled out some Polaroid pictures.

“See, this is what that slimy bitch did to my son,” he said, throwing the pictures on the bed. I picked up the three pictures and carefully looked at them to see a small baby's head turned completely around from his body. The other two pictures showed the baby's neck broken in three different places.

“Bryant, what the fuck is this? Where did you get this shit?”

Totally naked, he walked back over and sat in front of me on the bed. “She sent these pictures to my grandmother's house after the procedure was done.”

“I didn't know a person could do that. How could she?”

“She did it to get back at me because one of her friends came in your shop and overheard your stylist talking about me. That's how she found out who you were and where you worked.” I threw the pictures down on the bed in disgust.
How could a person be so cruel?
I thought.

“Now, that's why I been so fucking stressed and doing crazy shit.” He took the pictures from the bed and threw them on the floor.

“Baby, I'm so sorry that you're going through all this,” I kissed the back of his neck and rested my head on his shoulder. “Wait, while we're on the subject of baby's mothers, who is Mariah and is she pregnant with your child?”

He let out a slight giggle, then looked toward the ceiling. “Look, J.J., Mariah is my girl, okay?” He now turned to face me. “Let me explain this to you.” He grabbed both of my hands and placed them in his. “I am a straight dude. I'm a straight dude that fell in love with another dude. Now I can't have the reputation of a fag or some bullshit-ass sissy dude. I can't let my family find out that I'm dealing with a dude and not only that, but as much as I love you, boo, I still like bitches.

“The bottom line is, I still want to be with you. But I am building a life with Mariah and, yes, she is having my seed.”

I looked up to the ceiling trying to hold back my emotions. I couldn't help but let the tears fall. The thought of sharing my man with someone else was dreadful.

“J, I'm not trying to hurt you. That's the last thing I wanna do. But I need you to feel me and see my point.” I brought my eyes down to face his. “Do you feel me, boo?”

I couldn't believe that I actually understood where he was coming from.

“Yeah, Bryant, I understand. But why didn't you tell me?” I said, now letting the tears fall.

“Because honestly, Baby, I wasn't gonna tell you. I wanted you all to myself without having to think that you thought about me being with someone else. But, baby, I will promise you that my straight life will never interfere with my life with you,” he said, tickling my torso, making me giggle. I leaned over and planted a kiss on his pink lips. We talked for a little while before it was time to begin round two.

 

“Hey, sweetie,” I said to Anthony as I gave him a lovable kiss on his cheek. “You're looking well,” I added.

“Thanks, why did you leave me here for a whole week alone?” he asked in a groggy tone.

“I'm sorry, Anthony. But I knew after the surgery that you needed your rest so I made sure that you got it. How did everything go anyway?”

He formed his hands as to say
whatever.

“It was so-so. I have a long scar in the middle of my chest. Wanna see?” he asked, smiling at the gesture.

“No, I think I'll pass,” I kidded.

“Oh, since
you
weren't here, I did have a visitor,” he said as his pretty face lit up.

“Oh really, who?”

“Reggie.”

“Reggie?” I asked, trying to recollect my thought as to whom he was referring to.

“Yeah, Reggie. The guy I introduced you to at your party.”

“Oh, how is he?”

“He's fine; he came a few days ago and kept me company. He calls a lot too.”

“How did he know that you were in the hospital?” I asked, getting up to get a brush from my bag.

“Chile, these are faggots. You know word gets around.”

“Well, it seemed like you haven't done shit with your hair. Let me at least brush it for you while I tell you what's been going on with
me
lately,” I said as I began brushing his hair.

“Girl, spill the tea. I have been out of the loop kinda long so please catch me up. Especially on that sexy-ass man of yours. When am I gonna meet him, anyway?”

“I don't know but I'm sure it will be soon. How long did they say that you have to stay in here?”

“Well, my doctor wants to keep me here so he can run a few tests on me. I've been feeling a little weak lately so he wants to keep me here for observation.”

I continued to brush Anthony's hair. The grain seemed softer than normal like it was thinning and getting ready to fall out.

“Damn, girl, when was the last time you combed this shit?” I teased.

“I don't know. I have a good mind to cut all this shit off. I'm getting tired of all this anyway.”

“Well, you better do something. I'm sure Reggie doesn't like seeing you this way.”

“Juan, at this point, it doesn't really matter.”

 

After spending my morning with Anthony, I made my way to work just in time to have a nice talk with Jeff. When I did my count the other day I noticed that more items were missing. I needed to make a decision and make one fast.

I sat at my desk going over the inventory count again. I didn't want to fire someone for no reason and I didn't want to make it seem that I didn't believe Rob either.

“Rob, after you finish your client's shampoo, can I see you in my office a minute,” I said, trying to over talk the sounds of the radio.

“Sure, give me about five minutes,” he responded with both hands full of shampoo. The good thing about getting rid of one employee was that I could afford to make room for Ieshia. I sat behind my desk and thought about the plans that Bryant and I had made for the evening. Tyler Perry was bringing his play
Madea Goes to Jail
back to Philly and I had gotten us tickets. After that I had planned to take him to a nice dinner at the SoHo restaurant on Broad and Walnut. Then we could take a romantic stroll along Penn's Landing.

“The queen is here,” hollered Rob from the other side of the door.

“Come in,” I yelled. He opened the door, walked over to the chair in front of my desk and sat down with his legs crossed.

“Well, aren't you just a pretty one today,” I teased as he wore a pair of denim capris for the first time.

“Yes, chile, you like?” He sported a big smile.

“I must say that I do and I'm also feeling this new curly look that you got going on,” I said, pointing to his head. He grabbed one of his curls and pulled.

“Yeah, I'm going for a new look. What's up?” He gave me his full attention.

“Well, the reason I called you in here is because I would like to shed light on a situation you brought to my attention last week and take action,” I stated firmly giving him direct eye contact. “And since you're the manager of Ché Mystic, I would like you to be present as well as testify.”

“Well, you know a girl don't have shit to hide and a bitch ain't scared. Bring it on,” he said as he snapped his finger in my direction. I got up from my seat and walked over to the door. I opened it to find Jeff sitting in his chair listening to headphones and reading the paper. I pointed at him to get his attention and asked him to come into my office.

“Shut the door behind you, please,” I said, taking a seat behind my desk. “You can have a seat,” I offered, pointing to the chair next to Rob who continued to sit with his legs crossed as he rested his folded hands on his knee.

“No, I think I'll stand for this one,” he responded.

“Well, certainly. Jeff, it has been brought to my attention that as well as working in my shop you also have your own thing going on once you leave here. Is that true”? I asked, cutting straight to the point.

He paused for a minute and looked down at Rob, then at me. “Yeah, that's true,” he said, smacking his lips.

“Okay, Jeff, are you aware that my policy states that if you are a stylist in my shop, then you cannot moonlight?”

“Yeah, I know the policy but I needed some extra money so I did what I had to do.”

“Okay, also it was brought to my attention that you're taking supplies from this shop home so that you can moonlight. Is
that
true?” My eyes were dead set on his as he switched them from me to Rob.