Love, Lies and Scandal (20 page)

"I taste rather bitter right now, Smoky. And I know that a smart pussy connoisseur like yourself doesn't want bitter pussy. But I do have a little something for you." Angela reached into the bag and held out a bag of marijuana.

"Girl, where did you get that from?" Smoky was blown away by the fact that Angela had marijuana on her.

"It's the good Jamaican shit. It's got something special in it. Do you want it?" she asked.

"You know damn well I want it. Stop playing with me. But that's not enough to get you that type of information."

"How about these, as well?" Angela emptied out the bag and an assortment of pornographic films and male sex toys designed to heighten the masturbation experience fell out.

Smokey exhaled. "Oh, that's not nice. You're not playing fair, Angela. You got me some Jamaican weed, a shitload of porno and some sex toys. You're a straight-up freak, girl."

"Do we have a deal, Smoky?" Angela asked.

"She lives in the projects about a mile away. Building 363, door number 3."

"Thank you, love. Enjoy yourself," Angela said.

As she turned to leave, Smoky asked, "Hey. You want join me? You don't have to do anything, you can just watch me."

"Maybe next time," Angela lied and then left Smoky to entertain himself until he fell into an orgasmic coma.

Angela pulled up in front of DaNikka's home and sat in the car for a long moment. It was the first time since she'd left Chicago that she'd stopped to think about what exactly she hoped to get from DaNikka. The one thing she didn't want was to get into a confrontation with her. She just wanted her to publicly verify that Will was lying and that at no point had Angela, Will and DaNikka ever had a sexual relationship. Angela hoped that DaNikka had matured at least a little over the past two years. Angela grabbed her purse and then popped the trunk to remove the digital video recorder she'd brought with her. She walked up to the door and knocked. Angela heard the sound of slow-moving house shoes sweeping against the floor. A moment later, the door was opened.

"Yes?" An old woman who could barely stand erect opened the door. Angela looked into the woman's face. Her mouth and neck were twisted and fixed into one position. The woman had to turn her body completely in order to look at Angela. "Sumpin' I can do for you?" the old woman asked.

"Is DaNikka here?" Angela asked.

"Yup. She stays here. Come on in. Have a seat." The old woman, who was clearly a kind and trusting soul, didn't ask Angela for any additional information, she only welcomed her into her home. Angela sat down on a worn-out sofa. The room was brightly lit and filled with eclectic furniture which seemed to have been collected during various decades.

"Nikka!" the old woman hollered out.

"Yeah, Momma?" DaNikka answered from another room toward the back.

"Somebody here to see you," the old woman said, as she methodically moved toward the kitchen. Angela felt bad. She got up from her seat and helped the woman to sit down.

"Thank you, sweetie. Go on in there and talk to Nikka. I won't bother y'all none."

"Okay," Angela said. As she turned, she came face-to-face with DaNikka. DaNikka exhaled.

"Momma, I keep telling you to stop opening the door and letting strange people in here."

"Isn't that your sister?" her mother answered back. It became clear at that moment that the woman was also suffering from memory problems.

"Look, I didn't come here to cause any trouble," Angela explained. Just as she was about to give the reason for her visit, a naked, wet child about two years old came running into the room, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind him, and attached himself to DaNikka's leg. There was a long moment of silence between DaNikka and Angela.

"Let me go put him in some clothes. Have a seat. I'll be right back."

Angela sat down, completely thunderstruck as she attempted to puzzle out DaNikka's situation. DaNikka and the young boy rejoined her a few minutes later.

"So, what's this about?" DaNikka asked as she sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the room.

"He's beautiful," Angela said.

"I know you didn't come all the way over here to look at my son," DaNikka said defensively.

"I didn't know that you had a son," Angela said. DaNikka didn't respond. She just nervously shook her leg.

"Is Will the father?" Angela asked.

"Yeah," DaNikka answered.

"Jesus. Does he know?" Angela asked.

"I told him that I was pregnant, but he said that it wasn't his."

"Will can't deny this child. He looks just like him." Angela hoped that her words could offer DaNikka some comfort.

"Well, he ain't helping me none with this baby, and it's not easy trying to take care of my momma, my baby and keep my grown-ass brothers and sisters from coming in here and stealing what little my mother has."

"How long have you been taking care of your mother?" Angela asked.

"A long time. Since I was about sixteen," DaNikka answered.

"I know what I'm about to say is going to sound really weird, but can you explain to me why you dated Will?" Angela asked. DaNikka's son tried to crawl onto her lap but DaNikka made him sit next to her.

"That
is
a strange question," DaNikka said and was silent for a moment. "Fuck it. If you want to know, I'll tell you.

"Will and his brother, Smoky, used to come around the neighborhood flashing money and talking to young girls. They were just looking for girls to have sex with. But I wasn't going out like that. They both tried to convince me to do it with them. But I said no. I guess the fact that I said no pissed Will off because he wasn't used to being turned down.

"So, he comes around here one day and catches me as I'm coming home from school. Actually, the day he saw me I'd just dropped out of school because of my mother's condition. There was no one to take care of her and there was no one willing to help, so I had to do what I had to do. So, Will starts asking me questions about my family. And I told him that I was the baby of the family and about how my other brothers and sisters drove my mother crazy to the point she had a stroke, which left her like that. Once my mother got sick they stopped coming around and left me to take care of her.

"I didn't have money for her medicine and the public aid people kept giving me the runaround. I didn't know what to do. So Will tells me that if I agree to be his mistress, he'll arrange for an apartment in the new public houses the city was building. He said he'd make sure our name was pulled from the waiting list, and we'd be assigned a unit. He even said he'd provide me with money for clothes, medicine and stuff.

"I wanted to get out of this area so bad. I wanted my momma to be safe and I didn't want her kids coming around messing everything up for her because they fight, they do drugs, they steal, you name it. So I said okay.

"I told myself that I could do it. I told myself that I was doing it for my momma. I did it because I needed to survive. He told me that he wanted to train me on how to fuck him. He said that he wasn't getting fucked right at home." DaNikka paused.

"You cry, Mommy. Why you cry?" asked her son, as he wiped away her tears.

"I'm okay, Eric," she said to the little boy. "So, anyway, I did my best to give him whatever he wanted. I did my best to keep him happy, but it wasn't enough. Then he wanted to have a threesome with my girlfriend Shantel. I didn't want to do it so he threatened me. He said that if I didn't do it, I wouldn't get the new public housing apartment and I believed him. This was around the time that the city had just finished construction on the new houses. I was so close to getting my mother out of here that I said okay.

"Shantel would fuck anything and anyone for money, so she was down for it. We made a videotape of it. Partly because I knew that he'd want to brag about the experience to his brother, but something told me to take the memory chip out of the digital video recorder. So I did. Then I found out I was pregnant. And I told Shantel, but she turned on me and stole Will away from me. Said that I didn't know how to please a man like him.

"I was so mad and angry. I had been used. I couldn't reach Will or Shantel so I sent the video recording to the media and the police. Then I came to your show and attacked you because I was hurt so bad and I wanted to show Will that he couldn't treat me like that. I was upset when he went to jail. I didn't want that to happen. I just wanted him to treat me right."

DaNikka wiped away more of her tears. "I'm sorry for all of the trouble I caused you. I really am. And I'm sorry for messing up your career and getting your show cancelled because I really liked it. I even admired you because I wanted to be a journalist. But every time I talked about going back to school, Will didn't want me to. I'm back in now but it is so hard. Especially with trying to take care of my baby and my mother." Angela looked at DaNikka's mother who was laughing to herself, and her heart sank.

"What happened to Shantel?" Angela asked. DaNikka released a painful laugh. She drew back the curtain behind her chair and pointed out the window.

"There she is right there. She's a crackhead now." Angela glanced out of the window and saw a thin, frail-looking woman standing on the corner, begging from people as they walked by. "I feel sorry for her. All the media attention she got drove her crazy. I give her food sometimes because she'll tell me that she hasn't eaten in days."

"I had no idea that Will was that twisted," Angela confessed. "I'm so sorry that he put you through all of that."

"So, is that the real reason why you came here? To find out why he did this?"

"Partly," Angela admitted. "I also came for my own selfish reasons. I came to get even with Will for trying to fuck up my new life back in Chicago. He's going around saying that the three of us were involved in a love triangle and that I should also go to jail for having sex with you."

"That's a lie," DaNikka said. "You can't let him get away with that shit!" DaNikka was angry once again.

"Tell you what. If you'll help me shut this bastard's mouth once and for all, I'll make some phone calls and cash in on a few favors to help you get out of here. I'll also help you make sure that Will financially supports his son."

"How do I know you're not just bullshitting me? I'm so tired of lame motherfuckers coming around me with bullshit," DaNikka said.

"Because I didn't travel all the way from Chicago just to come and bullshit you," Angela answered.