What My Eyes Can't See (11 page)

“How are you, Teec?”

“Better now that you’re here. So how’s everything going at that uh, what the fuck you call that bullshit hole in the wall? Uh...”

“Mark The Spot, Tico,” I said sarcastically.

“Yeah, that fucking Mark. I’m ready to close that shit down. There’s nothing but trash in that place. That change you making in that garbage can ain’t shit. Need some better looking bitches in that shit too. I hope you’re having fun clapping your ass for those broke muthafuckas.”

“Tico, the guys down there have money and yes, I like dancing, Tico; you know that.”

“Yes, but you should be on a fucking stage on Broadway, not a fucking pole. I thought I raised you much better than this, Erica. You know you’re much better than that shit. You have way too much fucking money to be carrying yourself that way. People will think that you are one of those, um… thots or something.”

“Teec, what do you know about thots? Do you even know what that means?”

“I know everything, baby girl. I created thots, just so my men could have something to fuck, while I'm fucking dimes.”

“You never cease to amaze me, Teec,” I said with a smile on my face, because it was true.

Tico owns the Mark and one of his crew runs it for him. I run the Mark too, in my own way. I make sure the girls dance when they want to dance. I am not the house mom, because I don’t have time, but when I’m there, what I say goes. If I say I’m done with it, Tico would shut it down in a heartbeat. Every coin I make at the Mark comes home with me, but when I entertain for Tico, the private parties or drug deals get split.

“So baby girl, are you taking care of my house? I heard the big blast went very well. Although, I’m interested in knowing why you brought that muthafucka in, but he wasn't spending any money. You know you can’t slip nothing past me baby girl. Drinking my private stock and mingling with my clients.” Tico made some tsk tsk sounds with his mouth, and shook his head with disapproval. “That can be very dangerous for him,” Tico said, while lifting my chin to look me in the eyes.

“Don’t worry about him, Teec. He’s a friend and he has money and plenty of it. He has no interest in your clients or your money. He’s not like that. Besides, I took care of him well. He hardly even remembers being there, and he thinks it was my rich uncle’s house. He’s not thinking about it past that.”

“Is that right? Well, I certainly hope what you say is true. In the meantime, I will have my boys check him out. I need to know who’s on deck at all times.”

“But Teec—”

“I don’t want you to say another word about it,” Tico said, and kissed me on lips.

I bet everybody is wondering where I am right now. None of those bitches deserve to know. Shay’s ass is acting funny, Sacaria is irrelevant, and Taniyah is just stupid as hell. Good thing I got my condo key from Taniyah before things got too bad. I have officially decided that I’m not going back around any of those people anytime soon. Although I still have the bad taste in my mouth from Todd stopping by, which is not cool at all. He ain’t nothing but a hood rich thug. I don’t even like his type, but usually his type is all over me and never turns me down. Oh well, he will be dreaming about me, just like every other nigga that I run across. Too bad so sad. He should never have passed up this once in a lifetime chance to hit this platinum pussy. Second chances are not my style.

Shay thinks it’s all good to turn on me for his first taste of love. Well I remember my first taste of love and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. There is only one way to rid myself of that bitter aftertaste. Whenever I have a flashback or a bad dream about that moment, it just drives me closer towards my goal. Nobody will ever forget my redemption. I know I won’t. I don’t forgive and I damn sure don’t forget!

The yacht cruise was exactly what I needed. I feel like a new woman. My bae treated me like a queen. A real queen though. He’s always treating me the best, but this trip was different. It was as if we were the only two people on earth. I guess it took him being distracted for the last couple of months to really miss me.

Maybe we both needed that getaway, but whatever the case, it was wonderful; the best food, the best liquor and the best conversation. We didn’t have much sex during the trip. Shay said that our relationship is not just about the sex. He just wanted to enjoy my company. I think we made love once on the trip and the rest of the time, we bonded. I’m the luckiest woman alive! How many women wish to have a faithful man with good dick and money that will just sit back and enjoy them for them? I never thought I would. Even Erica with all of that weave and ass can’t even find a man like mine.

I must admit that for a minute, I thought I lost his attention. I wasn’t horribly worried because I knew I still had his heart, but I was worried enough to make me straighten up for a minute. Taniyah and I had been hanging real tough, but I never lost sight of my bae. When I would look at him, it felt as if he wasn’t looking back at me. It was as if he was looking past me. I don’t know where his mind was, still don't. It wasn’t until this trip that Shayvon started looking at me again like he used to. His look pierced my soul and when we did make love, it was heaven on earth.

My bae wined and dined me like some real life TV shit. I’m just starting to adapt to having money, and being able to buy whatever I want, when I want. Even with the house and the cars, the yacht getaway was still on some next level shit. Every time I laid out in the sun, wearing my bikini, it felt like cameras and flashing lights would come out of nowhere. I couldn't help but take as many selfies as I could. I wanted to post those pictures to show Vallika and Sylvia that there was more to life than what they had going on. I’m sure they could appreciate a different perspective on life.

Although it was a little corny, yet romantic, we had a scavenger hunt, where I found a four-karat tennis bracelet, and then an anklet. I can’t even describe the feelings that came over me. Feelings that I never felt before, but I definitely want to feel again. I wish the next bitch
would
push up on Shayvon; they’d catch hell. If I thought he was a good man before, now he’s my king.

Back at home, I was loading the dishwasher when I saw Shay drag his feet past the kitchen. “Hey bae; how was your night? Did you sleep well?” I asked.

“Yes, and it was great, once I realized that I wasn’t dreaming and that I was actually sleeping next to a queen.”

I gave Shay a big kiss and said, “I love your lips, you sexy sweet talker you.”

“That’s not sweet talk bae, that’s real talk. Ya’ dig?”

“Yes baby,” I said giggling... I love you so much.”

“I love you too. Now get dressed, I want to do something we haven’t done in while together.”

“Like what?” I asked, feeling nosy and intrigued. “What could top everything we've done so far?”

“I want to ride out and check out my neighborhood, and then maybe stop by Moms. She’s been asking about you.”

“Oh okay, cool,” I said, with not as much enthusiasm. “Maybe we can stop by and check on Davona too. We had been texting a lot, but I want to see for myself that she’s still holding down Granny Amanda’s.”

“A’ight cool and bae, don’t take all day to get ready.”

“I don’t take all day,” I shouted.

Shit, who was I fooling? I take long, but it’s worth it. I have to look good when I go out. I’m not an old hag and I’m not about to go out looking like one. While I’m at it, I’d better pack my piece. Haters run too rampant for me. I have to stay ready.

We stopped by Moms and shot the shit with her for a minute. She was all in Sacaria’s ear about going to church. My mind was really on chilling with my boys, so I had to cut their visit short. Once I made sure that things were good, I was ready to go anyway. Mom knows that I only go to church on the holidays. I guess she thought that she could get to me through Sacaria, but it wasn’t going to work. Just as long as she’s at church every day of the week, I know God will still have my back when I need him. I say my prayers, so he hasn’t forgotten about me yet. Truth be told, the Lord knew it was time for us to cut. I could only take so much of Mom’s preaching.

Sacaria decided to visit Davona some other time. Mom had drained us of our last bit of parental patience for the day. I knew it always took a lot out of Sacaria when she dealt with Davona, so I agreed that waiting would be best. I would hate for Sacaria or me to catch a case over there, fucking around with Davona. Sacaria felt that Davona was doing well, but I never have and will never trust a knock, period. I never bring it up to her, because I thought it best for her to think positive about it. The alternative might not be pretty and I didn’t want to see her go through any unnecessary hardships.

After we left Mom’s, I hit up Todd and Q’Mari to let them know that we was on our way to the block to see what’s up. I wanted to take Sacaria around my fam. I wanted to chill the way I used to do it before I met her.
Well kind of
. I never want to take her away from the good life, but I don’t want either of us to forget where we came from either. My boys need to get to know her, so they can stop listening to rumors and decide for themselves. Sacaria is a good woman. Her friends might be suspect, but today I know my baby will set herself apart from them. Once they see how good my baby’s heart is, we can all get back to our harmonious lives.

We pull up to the spot and Q’Mari is getting out of his car, with what appeared to be one of the trap bitches. What the fuck is this dude doing in the car with her? I told this fool that I was bringing Sacaria with me.

“Yo’, what up, Q’Mari?” I said to him, with a frown on my face.

“What up, nigga?”

“I told you I was on my way,” I grumbled, giving him the
look
.

“Yeah, but that lil bitch wanted to give your boy some head real fast.”

“Outside in the daylight? You are a fool,” I said, and shook my head.

“And you know it. Ha-ha! My bad, I forgot you had wifey with you.”

“That kind of looked like Tiffany.”

“That was Tiffany, nigga! She grew the fuck up, ya heard me. She wanted to come work for me, so I put her on. She’s damn good at what she does too. I got her trapping and tricking. She’s a busy lady nowadays,” Q’Mari said, with a big grin on his face as he started to laugh.

Q’Mari had the craziest laugh. All of these years and his laugh still made me laugh. His laugh was like a short half of a laugh. Right when it starts it stops. I never did understand it, but it’s funny as shit.

After Todd greeted Sacaria with much love, we all sat and chilled at this little spot, where I could find him from time. His baby momma use to live here with her relatives; she moved out, but Todd still chills over there. I don’t understand how that works, being as though he cheated on her and they are not together anymore. Somehow, it works for him.

We smoked two blunts and Sacaria sipped some Earl Stevens Mangoscato. That ‘scato had her feeling real good. It started getting kind of hot in the house and their little swamp cooler wasn’t kicking in. We decided to go sit outside in the front porch. It was cool to chill out there, as long as you knew when to duck. Bullets don’t have no name on them, but nobody was tripping on each other right now, and it was all good. Sacaria fit right in and everybody was loving her. She was talking and laughing as if she knew my peeps for years.

Q’Mari showed up with hella barbecue from the new rib shack around the way. The munchies was kicking my ass, so I grabbed the first dinner that was closest to me. Even Sacaria’s pretty ass started racking on some ribs, messy barbecue sauce and all. I was waiting to see if she would complain about her nails getting messy, but she never did.

Right when I lifted the first rib to my mouth, I heard some movement coming close to us fast. Gum popping, keys giggling, and flip-flops flopping. Then the next thing you know, some bitch came yelling and walking up fast to the porch where we were sitting. I damn near dropped my dinner, trying to see who was coming up on us so fast.

“Oh so you not gon’ take of your baby, asshole? You are out here balling out of control and wifing up these bougie bitches and shit. I bet you didn’t tell that bitch you got a baby momma, huh? How you gone change your motherfucking number on me like that, Shay?”

Todd and Q’Mari started going in on her, as soon as she started yelling. She had to be determined if she sat there arguing with those two crazy niggas. I saw Todd put his hand behind his back.

Then Sacaria looked right at me. “Shayvon, who is this bitch talking to?” Sacaria shouted. “I know damn well she better not be talking to you.” I froze like an ice statue for a second. Everybody was yelling and cussing, and I couldn’t think. It wasn’t that I didn't know how to react in a sudden event, but I have never been in a situation like this with Sacaria.

“Yeah, I went by ya momma house. She was nice enough to buy diapers and clothes. Now what the fuck are you gon’ do for him? Ole deadbeat ass. What does that say about you when ya momma gotta do your job for you?” Jasmine stood there, ignoring Q’ and Todd while waiting for me to respond. “He looks just like you, Shayvon!”

“Who are you talking to? I know that you're not talking to Shayvon or any man over here for that matter. Bitch!” Words of anger and hostility spewed from Sacaria’s lips. Her eyes were big as saucers and her mouth was skewed to the side when she spoke.

“Bitch, who is you?” Jasmine hollered and pushed her way in closer to Sacaria.

Todd shoved Jasmine back. “Bitch, look out!”

“Bitch, I’m talking to your dumb ugly ass!” Sacaria screamed

“You need to step off. This don't have nothing to do with you!” Jasmine looked Sacaria up and down with hate in her eyes. “This is between me and Shay!”

“How it don’t? That is my muthafuckin’ man. Anything he got going is my business,” Sacaria screamed. “Shay who is this bitch?”

Q’Mari yelled. “Shay!” I still stood there. Fists started flying and my head was spinning. Sacaria was digging into Jasmine’s ass. I didn't bring her out here for this. Todd picked Sacaria up and put her into the passenger seat of the truck. In a daze, I walked around to the driver’s side and drove off. In the distance, I saw Todd holding Jasmine from behind by both arms.