Still Wifey Material (8 page)

“He must’ve given you a tour of it.”

Nikki smiled a naughty smile. “He sure did.”

“What else did he give you? Because I know you stayed with him the entire night,” Rachael said and smirked.

“You ain’t got to go into all that,” Carmen blurted out. “Just tell us if he was good or not.”

Nikki hesitated for a second and then smiled and said, “He wasn’t all that big, but he definitely knows what to do with it.”

Rachael’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God! You did it with him for real?”

“Yep, I sure did. I rocked his world too.”

Rachael shook her head in disapproval. “I sure hope you didn’t give that nigga any head.”

“Are you crazy? I just met the man the night before,” she said with her mouth twitching, so I knew she was lying. And at that very moment I started to call her ass out and tell her that I knew she was lying. But then I figured, what would be the fucking use? She wanted to play like she was on top of the world, so I just let her live in her fantasy world and remained quiet.

“Did he grab you around the neck or make any subtle movements like he wanted you to do it?” Carmen inquired.

“No.”

“Well, did he give some head?” Carmen continued.

Nikki burst into laughter. “No!”

“Well, did you even try to position your body to see if he would do it?” Rachael jumped in.

Nikki laughed harder. “No, I didn’t. All we did was kiss each other and make love.”

“So, what did y’all do this morning? Did he cook you breakfast?” Rachael continued.

“No, he didn’t cook me breakfast, but we drove out to University Boulevard and had brunch in the Village.”

“So, do you like him?” Carmen asked.

“Yeah, he’s cool.”

“Do you see y’all getting serious?” she pressed.

“I’m not sure, but if the timing is right, I’d take a shot at it.”

“When are you going to see him again?” Rachael asked.

“He didn’t say, but I’m sure it’ll be sometime this week.”

Nikki continued to run her mouth about her relationship predictions with Bintu. I had a few predictions of my own, especially now that I knew she fucked him on their first date. As far as I was concerned, she could hang it up. He was not going to want to settle down with her. Now she could try and fool herself to believe otherwise, but the truth would be revealed, and it was going to be sooner than she thought. I just hoped that the stunt she pulled last night with Bintu didn’t have an effect on how Fatu saw me. I would hate for him to judge me based on the dumb shit Nikki did. But if he did, and tried to play me, then I’d personally rip his fucking head off and tell him where the fuck to go.

After forty minutes of detailed information about how Bintu gave her a wet ass, Nikki finally shut the hell up and started working. Over the next two hours we only said about five words to each other, which was fine with me. Nikki had a chip on her shoulder, and until she got it off, our relationship would remain strained.

I took a break around one pm after I put my last client for the day under the hair dryer. I called Fatu to tell him that I would be available to meet him for a late lunch around three.

“Why so late?” he asked.

“Because I have to wait for my client’s hair to dry, so Nikki can braid it, and then I can sew in the weave.”

“And that takes two whole hours?”

“Almost.”

“OK. Well when you’re done, would you meet me at this restaurant called the Aquarium?”

“Where is that?”

“It’s downtown on Bagby Street.”

“I’m not sure where that is, but don’t worry because all I have to do is punch it into my GPS system, and my car will take me straight there.”

“Sounds good. I guess I’ll see you there.”

“Hey, Fatu, wait!” I yelled before he hung up.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just wanted to know if I had to wear anything formal.”

“Oh, no! It’s just a seafood restaurant. Come as you are.”

“OK,” I said and hung up.

After I finished my last client, I told everyone that I’d see them later. Rachael’s nosey ass wanted to know where I was going, so I told her that I was meeting Fatu for lunch at the Aquarium. She and Carmen both started harping on about how nice that place was, and how much I would love it. Nikki didn’t say a word and I was glad. Knowing her, she would’ve said something negative, and I was truly not in the mood for that. Carmen and Rachael wished me well and told me to enjoy myself.

“I will,” I assured them, and then left to meet my date.

K
ira always found a way to rub shit in my face, but I refused to let her get to me. She knew she didn’t have to broadcast where Fatu was taking her, and I would bet every dime in my pocket that she called him to set up the date after she heard me tell Carmen and Rachael that me and Bintu had brunch together this morning. She was such a fucking hater! Why did she always have to be in the spotlight? Wasn’t it enough that Fatu sent his personal shopper to the salon for her to pick out something to wear to his party? I mean, damn! Let me shine sometimes. It was bad enough that I was younger than her, so give me a fucking break already. Her time was up!

During the course of the day I helped Carmen and Rachael prep their clients, and on my downtime, I did some paperwork. By five pm I hadn’t heard from Bintu, so I tried to get him on the phone while I was in the back office, but I got his voice mail. I left him a brief message saying that I called to hear his voice, so when he got a moment, I wanted him to call me back. As soon as I hung up my cell phone, it started ringing. My heart pounded because I knew it was Bintu calling me right back.

“Hello,” I said without looking at the CallerID.

“What’s good, shawty?”

When I heard the country accent, I automatically knew that it wasn’t Bintu. This was Neeko, the cat I’d just met yesterday. I forced a smile and said, “I’m good! What’s up with you?”

“I’m chilling.”

“So what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?”

“I was calling you to see if you wanted to hang out later.”

“Where are you trying to go?”

“I was hoping you’d go out to dinner with me.”

“Sure. What time are you talking?”

“What about nine?”

“Nine is cool, but where are you taking me?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure we could ride around and find something.”

“OK, that’s fine. What are you doing now?”

“Well I’m driving down the beltway so I can make a quick stop at my homeboy’s spot.”

“Where’s your girlfriend?”

“Probably hanging out with her girlfriends.”

“So she’s letting you hang out tonight?”

“She ain’t letting me do a damn thang! I’m doing this because I want to.”

Blown away by his arrogance, I said, “OK. You stated your case! How long are you going to be at your homeboy’s spot?”

“Not long. Why?”

“No reason. I just asked.”

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m down at the salon, sitting in my office, trying to organize a few things.”

“Make a lot of money today?”

“What kind of question is that? We’ve got the best stylists around town, so of course we did,” I replied in a cocky manner, dishing out the same amount of egotism he had just dished out to me.

“Who’s there with you now?” he asked, obviously not feeding into my haughtiness.

“Both of the stylists we have, but all of us are getting ready to leave.”

“And where are you going after you leave there?”

“Home to take a shower so I can see you later.”

“Whatcha gon’ wear?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you have any cute little skirts or dresses?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of them.”

“Well, wear one of them.”

“OK, I will.”

Just as I was getting ready to speak again, Neeko cut me off. “Hey, listen, Nikki, I’ma call you back after I holla at my peoples, OK?”

“OK.”

After I hung up with Neeko, I was happy to no end. I was going out on a date tonight and I knew I was going to have a good time. He looked like he had money, so I knew he was going to take me somewhere really nice. Now I wasn’t gonna fuck him, because I had just fucked Bintu last night and that would be trifling of me to let another man dig up in me the very next night. What I planned to do was eat, talk, and bullshit around until I got tired.

Several minutes later I heard Rachael scream at the top of her lungs. I jumped to my feet and snatched the office door open to see what was going on. I was met by a very tall, masked man pointing a big-ass gun in my face.

“If you scream or make any noise, I’m gon’ kill you right on the spot,” he warned me.

“What’s going on?” I managed to utter, my voice quivering.

“Shut the fuck up! I’m the one that’s gonna ask the questions.”

I tried desperately to swallow the knot caught in the center of my throat. Instead of breaking down, I stood there and waited for him to tell me why he was there.

“Get back in the office and stand up against the wall,” he instructed. I did as he told me. Moments later, Carmen and Rachael appeared around the corner with tears rolling down their faces. I wanted so badly to say something to them, but I knew I would be putting my life in jeopardy, so I only gave them eye contact.

“Get over there by the wall and stand next to her,” another masked man told Carmen and Rachael.

I couldn’t tell you who these two men were, and I wouldn’t be able to make out their voices if I ever heard them again, because it seemed like everybody in Houston sounded just alike. The only difference between the two of them was that the guy who stuck the gun in my face was taller than the one who had Carmen and Rachael at gunpoint. I just wanted to give them what they wanted and let them leave without any problems. I just hoped Carmen and Rachael felt the same way.

“Where’s the money?” the taller guy asked. His voice was intimidating and sadistic, and I knew he meant business.

I spoke up first. “What money are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about all the money y’all made today. I want y’all to empty your pockets and put everything on the table.”

All three of us dug deep into our pockets and our handbags and pulled out every dollar we had, and laid the money on my desk. I couldn’t be too sure, but I knew Carmen and Rachael had to put down every bit of two grand a piece, considering they both had a couple of sew-ins to do, along with three lace-front wigs. Thank God I only added about $123 to the stack because if I would’ve had one penny more, I probably would have freaked out by now.

“Take off your jewelry too,” he demanded.

I almost shit on myself. I had a seven-thousand-dollar diamond necklace around my neck, twenty-six-hundred-dollar diamond stud earrings in my ears, and a four-thousand-dollar Rolex on my wrist. I’d just copped these three pieces with the dough I took from Quincy’s crib right before I left Virginia, and I wasn’t trying to part with them. However, I knew that if I didn’t, they’d take my jewelry and try to make me pay for trying to keep it. I wasn’t willing to go through all of that so I carefully took off my jewelry and laid the pieces across the desk, beside the money.

Rachael had on a one-and-a-half-carat diamond wedding set that looked like it probably cost about two-thousand-dollars, and a pair of gold hoop earrings. She removed everything and set it beside my things. Carmen had on a ton of some expensive shit. She had on a five-carat diamond engagement ring, a platinum-and-diamond bracelet, a pair of white gold-and-diamond hoop earrings, and a platinum chain flooded with black diamonds that happened to belong to her fiancé, Xavier. Carmen had told us that chain cost forty-thousand-dollars. From what I’d heard, Xavier was a big-time dealer out here in these streets, and he was known not to be fucked with, so I knew he was going to be furious when he found out that these motherfuckers took his shit. Carmen knew this too, so before she made a move to take off any of her jewelry, she got up the nerve to give these cats a choice.

“Before I take off all my jewelry, I just wanted to let you know that my fiancé’s name is X, and if he finds out that I was robbed and his chain was taken, he ain’t gonna be happy.”

The leader stepped in Carmen’s face and stood toe to toe with her. “Do you think I give a fuck about that nigga you fuck with?”

Her voice was barely audible. “Well, please don’t take my ring! We’re about to get married in a couple of months.”

“I don’t give a damn! Now take that shit off before I go upside your motherfucking head with this pistol,” he threatened.

Carmen knew that the nigga was serious, so she didn’t want to take any more chances with him. Carmen took off all her things and set them on top of the desk, but that wasn’t good enough for the nigga who was doing all of the demanding. He wanted her to stuff everything on the desk into a black bag he retrieved from his back pants pocket. After that was done, he picked up the loaded bag, looked at his partner, and said, “Take those two into the bathroom and lock them up in there while I have a few moments with this one.” He gestured at Carmen.

“Whatcha about to do?” the other guy asked.

“I got to take care of some business with big mouth right here.”

I got an uneasy feeling. I knew that the “business” couldn’t mean nothing else but rape, so I got up the nerve to speak up. “Is that n-necessary?” I stuttered. “I mean, the owner of this place has been out all day, so he should be on his way back to lock up the place, and I would hate for this to get any uglier.”

“Yeah, man, she’s right,” the second guy agreed. “We got what we came here for, so let’s get the hell out of here!”

The leader hesitated. “Yeah, a’ight,” he finally said. I let out a silent sigh of relief. Then the leader fondled Carmen’s breasts. “Damn, shawty, these joints are soft as hell!” he laughed. “Count your blessings, because if me and my homeboy here wasn’t in a rush, I would’ve had some fun with you.”

Carmen stood frozen with a humiliated expression on her face. I knew she was mortified and wanted so badly to spit in his face, but the fear of losing her life behind it probably crossed her mind, because she looked the other way. All Rachael and I did was stand there in shock.