Thug Lovin' (23 page)

Almost an hour and a half later they stood up and looked around the living room. Her panties were on the floor, her robe was
strewn over the sofa, the towel she had had on her head was on the floor. The wine had dried up on the coffee table and the
carpet. Trae’s shirt and boxer shorts were tossed to the side.

Tasha headed up the stairs, leaving Trae to clean up the mess. When he arrived upstairs he smiled because she was in the bed.
I knocked that ass out
, he said to himself.

He walked over to the bed and sat down. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Can I take you out tonight?”

The house phone rang. Tasha checked the caller ID: it was Kyra. She didn’t answer, but instead Trae picked up the phone and
handed it to her. “What time will you be here?” Tasha asked her.

“I’ll call you when I’m on my way over.”

Tasha passed Trae the phone to hang up.

“Where y’all going?”

“Hair appointment.”

“You already washed your hair.”

“No, I didn’t. That was a cholesterol treatment.”

“Can we go out tonight or what?”

“I’ll let you know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tasha smiled. “What part of
I’ll let you know
don’t you understand?”

“Oh, so it’s like that?”

“Sounds like your kids are home, Trae. Can I take a quick nap please?”

“You got a lot of shit with you. I’m moving back in.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Why not?”

“Because I like it the way it is. I’ve gotten used to it.”

“I don’t give a fuck. You better get unused to it. I’m moving back in.” He left out of the bedroom.

Tasha was too worn out to argue. She pulled the covers over her head and dozed off.

About two hours later, Tasha was climbing into Kyra’s truck. Kyra did a double take. Tasha had on dark shades, her hair was
up in a ponytail, and she was glowing and looking totally relaxed as she leaned back in her seat.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Tasha asked.

Kyra hit the speakerphone button and dialed Angel.

“What’s up?” Angel answered.

“Get Jaz on the three-way.”

“Hold up.” Angel clicked over.

Kyra looked over at Tasha and smirked.

“I got her,” Angel said. “So what’s up? Everything okay?” Angel was alarmed.

“Kyra, I’ve been calling you. Where have you been?” Jaz asked.

“It’s a long story that I don’t feel like sharing right now. But I had to call and let y’all bitches know that it’s time to
pay up.”

The car was quiet until Angel said, “Oh, shit, she let him back in?”

“I don’t know if she let him back in but she got some dick.”

“How do you know?” Jaz asked. They were talking about Tasha as if she weren’t nowhere around.

“This ho so worn out she can’t even talk. She’s laid back in the seat with dark shades on, hickeys all over her neck and a
bite mark on her jaw.” Kyra started laughing. “Plus she got that look that says ‘I just had some boss dick.’ ”

“Aw, Tasha. I thought you were tougher than that. I thought you would have at least held out for ninety days.” Jaz was really
disappointed.

“Y’all bitches bet on me?” Tasha snapped.

“Hell, yeah,” Kyra said. “And I won.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have taken you up on this bet. You right there with her. You probably told her to fuck him just so you
could win,” Angel snapped. “I can’t believe I got suckered.”

“Oh, stop being a sore loser. I didn’t have to tell her shit. Once the cat needs to be scratched a bitch gonna get it handled.
Now y’all can PayPal my dough by tonight.” She turned off the speakerphone and looked at Tasha. “So how was it?”

“Fuck you, Kyra.” Tasha leaned back and looked out the window.

Kyra started laughing.

When they pulled up in front of the club, Tasha said, “Don’t turn the car off, I’m not getting out, and hurry back. You’re
going to make us late.”

“Okay, this will only take a minute. Marvin didn’t bring his ass home last night so I’m getting ready to bust him in the mouth.”
She jumped out of the car.

Several minutes later, Trae came out carrying Caliph. During the daytime the kids hung out with their fathers at the club.
He knocked on the window for Tasha to roll it down.

“Mommy,” Caliph said. “We are going to the park.”

“To the park? Sounds fun. I love you,” she said to her baby.

“Give your mother a kiss,” Trae told him. Caliph hugged his mother and kissed her before Trae put him down.

“Why didn’t you come upstairs?” He leaned over and got him a juicy one on the lips.

“Because we have to get to our appointment.”

“Yo, Trae.” Stephon came out the front door. “Come get your boy Marvin. He and Kyra are up there fighting.”

S
abeerah had dragged her girlfriend Zina to Club New York. Her intentions were to show off her new mural as well as get a chance
to speak to Trae, especially since Zina didn’t believe that Sabeerah worked at the same club that she had seen on BET. Three
and a half hours later, Sabeerah had given up.

“Who is that?” Zina squealed. Her excitement obvious. “He is foine.”

Sabeerah’s heart skipped a beat as she looked to see who Zina was talking about. “Don’t even think about it.” She tried to
appear cool but couldn’t. Sabeerah hadn’t expected him to show up with the wife. “That’s the wife,” Sabeerah gasped. “Shit,
I can’t let her see me here.”

“Oh my God,” Zina drooled. “He is divine.”

“Bitch, he is also off-limits. Start packing everything up. I need to get out of here. I have to go change and meet a client
later,” Sabeerah lied and was crushed as she stood behind Zina and watched as everyone rushed up to the offices.

“Bitch, please, I know you. She is not paying you any attention. She probably doesn’t even remember you. So chill out instead
of chickening out.” Zina laughed and shoved Sabeerah in his direction. “Go say something.”

“You ladies need to pack it up.” Big Grip, the security guard, walked up on them and startled them both.

“What’s going on?” Sabeerah snapped.

“That’s none of your business. Go ahead and pack it up.”

“I need to talk to Trae. He has another job for me. Can you tell him to come here for a minute?” Sabeerah pleaded.

“You can’t talk to him now. Talk to him the next time you come.”

“But I’ve been trying to. He hasn’t been here and it’s not a sure thing he’ll be here when I come the next time.” Sabeerah
was adamant.

“Don’t know what to tell you. It’s not my problem. You got three minutes to pack up your things.” He stood there crossing
his arms across his chest, letting them know that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Zina was rushing but Sabeerah was now taking her time. Her personality had switched up that quick. She was getting that more
often since she had stopped taking her medication. Now she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to get a few minutes
with Trae. Even though she didn’t know what she was going to say to him, Mysterious was dying to come out and make her presence
known.

“Let’s go, ladies.”

“All right, all right. I’m coming.” Sabeerah packed up her remaining supplies and they headed for the door. Big Grip was right
behind them.

Trae and Tasha had barged into the office and if any fighting was going on, Marvin was the one who looked as if he was getting
his ass beat. His lip was busted and his buttons were popped off his shirt. “Yo, I need y’all to give us a minute,” he said.

“No!” Kyra yelled out. “I want them to stay. Tell them how you are getting high again, Marvin.” She put him on blast.

“Kyra, shut the fuck up. Trae and Tasha, can y’all excuse us please?”

“I said no. Y’all stay here. Tell them, Marvin. Tell them,” she was so pissed she broke down crying. “He doesn’t want me to
help him, y’all. He’s ruining our family. What am I supposed to do if he won’t let me help him? I’m trying not to leave him
because he never left me. But enough is enough.”

Tasha ran over and hugged her. “C’mon. Let’s go and talk, Kyra.” Tasha was pulling her away.

“That’s the real reason I have Aisha staying with y’all. I don’t want her to see him like this,” Kyra yelled out. “She’s not
stupid. She’s very smart, Marvin. Your daughter knows her father has changed.”

Tasha led her out of Marvin’s office.

“Dawg, you told me you had some E a couple of times. I wanted to believe you,” Trae said.

“But now you don’t?”

Trae sat down, not taking his eyes off of Marvin, who was cleaning the blood off of his lip. “Am I supposed to ignore what
Kyra just said? You are using again.” Trae had been in the streets long enough to know the signs. But he had to admit Marvin
hid his shit well. And when you didn’t want to see it, you didn’t see it. Plus, he couldn’t help but recall the times they
were supposed to go and take care of business and Marvin had been nowhere to be found.

“Yeah, man. It ain’t nothing I can’t handle. Kyra just blowing shit all out of proportion.”

“Man, she’s concerned. And you know better than anybody that ain’t no such thing as
it ain’t nothing you can’t handle
. It is what it is.”

“I told you man, I got this,” Marvin barked at Trae.

“Yo, we niggas, Marv. Talk to me, man, or else I’m gonna be very insulted.”

“Nigga, I do a little snortin’, that’s all. Damn,” Marvin confessed.

“Damn, man.” Trae shock his head in disbelief. “How the fuck you hide that shit so good?” Trae wanted to know.

“Niggas get high and tweak. My tweak is hidin’ the shit.”

“I never see you in a heroin nod.” Trae couldn’t believe this shit.

“That’s because I nod in private. I don’t do that shit in front of everybody.”

“Yo, that’s crazy, man. You moving anything out of the club?”

“Naw, man. Where you get that from? Your detective friend?”

Trae stood up when Kyra and Tasha came back in.

“Marvin, if you don’t go to a rehab, I’m leaving you. I’m taking Aisha and we are gone.”

“Where did that come from? Tasha? You left out with her for a few minutes and now you’re talking about leaving.” He was now
blaming Tasha.

“Tasha? I didn’t have to convince her of anything. You’re doing this to yourself and blaming everyone else. You forgot that
I know you, Marvin? I know y’all’s history. I was there the first time. Shit, don’t get me started,” Tasha snapped. “You know
damn well that Kyra is like my sister, and I consider you to be my big brother. But you are making her very unhappy and I
am worried about you. You got too much positivity around you and going on in your life to fuck it up on some dope.”

“You need to choose, Marvin. And I’m giving you until tonight. C’mon, Tasha, before I put my foot in this nigga’s ass again.”

The ladies left out, leaving the two men standing there.

*  *  *

“Trae, call this chick back. She has been blowin’ the phone up,” Stephon said.

“Who?”

“The girl doing the murals.”

“What girl?”

“The girl I hired to do the murals,” Stephon said, realizing that he had never told Trae about her.

“If you hired her then why is she calling me?”

“Because she said she is doing sketches for you.”

Trae though about Sabeerah. “When did you hire her?”

“Several weeks ago. She kept calling and hanging around until I got tired of her ass.”

After thinking it over Trae told himself,
I didn’t tell her where I worked
. “Why did you hire her to do a mural without checking with me first?”

“I didn’t know I had to check with you. The bitch was persistent, plus since she said she already did some work for you, I
didn’t give it a second thought. What’s up?”

“It’s just that she been calling the house, she came by the house and I didn’t even tell her where I lived or worked.”

“Well damn, you obviously got a stalker.”

“What do she want when she called?”

“She wants to talk to you. And now I see why she hasn’t been back around to finish what we hired her for. She wants you to
be here.” Stephon figured it out.

“What the fuck is the matter with this bitch?” Trae mumbled. His sixth sense told him Sabeerah needed to be dealt with and
fast.
Man, I shouldn’t have listened to Bo and did that bitch a long time ago. Fuck!
Trae thought.

“Hello. Anybody home?” Stephon called out to Trae. “Dawg, there is something that you are not telling me about this girl.
Come on now, what’s up?”

“Shit, I don’t know but I’m about to find out.”

“Here are all of her messages.” Stephon handed them over to him. “Now, let’s get to today’s top agenda. Game or no game?”

“Game, nigga. That’s a no-brainer. The nigga is LA’s next best thing since Death Row.”

“Naw, it’s not a no-brainer. All them young niggas and gangbangers. We gonna have to get extra insurance, extra security,
and we gonna have one hell of a headache. Plus I don’t want my shit fucked up. We’ll most likely have to renovate the joint
all over again,” Stephon joked.

“We’ll discuss it in detail later. Shit, we need to be worried about the fuckin’ club being shut down,” Trae reminded Stephon.

“They ain’t going to find nothing. I’ve been listening to these niggas. You got them shook.”

“It’s too late. We already on their radar, Steph. I don’t know why you don’t understand that shit. Me and Marvin got a past
and the Li’s? They on a whole different level. Trust me, it ain’t all good. You lettin’ this Hollywood bullshit go to your
head.”

“I ain’t worried about it. I’m legal. The club is legal,” Stephon told him.

Trae then went back to thinking about Sabeerah.
This bitch is starting to gnaw at me.
He tossed all of her messages in the trash except for one and called her up.

“Hello,” the groggy voice answered.

“This is Trae. I’m returning your calls. What’s up?”

“Oh.” Sabeerah perked up. “I just wanted to tell you your other painting is ready.”

“What?”

“Your other painting. The one of your wife and the kids.”

“Damn, I forgot that I even gave you that picture. It sure took you long enough.”