A Pimp In Pumps (9 page)

              “You must’ve went to the store ‘cause it wasn’t any food in there.” I sat up groggily with a smile on my face.

              He sat down on the bed and kissed me on the forehead. “I did.”

              I demolished the scrambled eggs, toast and sausage because I was famished. The drinks and sex from the night before had me tired and hungry as hell. It was after eleven o’ clock in the morning and I never slept that late.

              “Damn, that was good.” After washing it all down with some orange juice he took my tray.

              “Thanks babe. Anything for you. I uh, gotta go to the crib though. Need to shower and shit.”

              I nodded. “Okay, but you do still have some underwear and clothes here you know.”

              “Oh, damn, you’re right. Well, no rush then. I like the privacy we have here.” He grabbed my tray and left the room.

              After checking my phone, I jumped up to brush my teeth. When I looked up Kamal was standing behind me. I noticed the extra tooth brush in the tooth brush holder.

              “I picked up one from the store. You know how I am.”

              I nodded. “Yup. That’s why I love you. I don’t fuck wit’ no nasty ass niggas.”

              “Shit, I better be the only nigga you fuckin’ wit’.”

              He slapped me on the ass playfully before turning me around for a deep, passionate kiss.

              “I love you,” he whispered before reaching in his pocket. “I didn’t get a chance to give you this last night, since I was so busy tryin’ to get something else.”

              I couldn’t help but laugh, but it stopped as soon as he passed me the black, square gift box. He’d already given me a bunch of balloons, a bouquet of beautiful white roses, and a promise to take me shopping at Phipps Plaza. He even explained how the white roses symbolized a new beginning and trust. I felt that the engagement ring had been enough.

              Without hesitating I opened it.

              “A key?” There was a confused look on my face as I looked up at him.

              Did he buy me a car or something?

              “It’s the key to my apartment in Tennessee. Part of my scholarship covers off campus housing. I’m fortunate enough not to have a roommate, so…”

              Oh, damn. I didn’t tell him about my plans to go to Spellman.

              “Baby, uh…” I cleared my throat. “I’m not going to Tennessee with you. I decided to go to Spellman instead.”

              The look of disappointment on his face really fucked with me, but I had to stick to my guns. I was willing to stay with him and try to work things out, but I couldn’t live with him or go to Tennessee State. It was just not the time. We needed to make sure that being together forever was really what the both of us wanted.

              “What? What you mean Sasha? Okay, the shit wit’ Brielle was fucked up, but I thought we were back together and…”

              “We are back together, but right now we need some space. I’ll wear your ring, but I don’t think we’re ready to live together yet. It’s not like you won’t be coming back here. Your family’s here. This isn’t the end of us baby. It’s the beginning. If it’s meant for us to get married the distance won’t matter. Being that you’re an athlete, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to build the trust back up by being faithful. Trust me. This is best for us Kamal.”

              I could see the skepticism on his face. “Okay.” He sighed. “If that’s how you feel.”

              “It is how I feel, but don’t act like I just dumped you. I love you.”

              I kissed him and when I pulled away he had a slight smile on his face.

              “That’s better.”

              He held me in his arms as if it would be the last time.

              “We got a month to spend together and then I have to go to training camp.” His voice was low as it caressed my eardrum.

              “I’ll stay with you in Tennessee until it’s time for me to go to school. How about that?”

              Then he finally looked pleased. “That’ll work beautiful.”

              So there, we had compromised. I was willing to give him a second chance, but he had to prove that he was worthy. Making the decision to not go to Tennessee State wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. It was time for me to learn some independence. I relied on Kamal too much for my happiness. He was always the one sheltering me from the rain and making sure that I was okay. Now I had to do that for myself.  All I could do was hope for brighter days to come.

Chapter 5

2014

              “Girl, another day another dollar,” I told Cherie over the phone as I pulled out of the parking deck of my job in my silver Range Rover.

              “Fuck a nine to five. I can’t believe you took the straight and narrow path.”

              “And I can believe that you didn’t.”

              We both laughed, because she’d become part of the family drug business. I was a sales executive at a marketing firm in downtown ATL, because I wanted to leave that street shit behind. After receiving my BA in Marketing from Spellman, I was thinking about going back for my Masters. My girls Bells and Nadia had both gotten married, moved away and had kids. Neither of them married their high school sweet hearts though. Bells had moved to Virginia and Nadia lived in Connecticut.  We didn’t see each other that often, but we kept in touch. Jordan and Cherie both still lived in Atlanta and the three of us were still as thick as thieves. Cherie had a four-year-old son, but was single too. Me and Jordan didn’t have kids yet. Me and Kamal had been the only two out of the crew to actually stay together.

              Jordan and Travis had broken up years ago, but remained good friends. She was living the single life and worked as a travel agent. She loved her career and met a lot of people. I just wondered why she hadn’t met Mr. Right yet.  The thing was she claimed to date occasionally, but had never seemed to be really interested in anyone. Well, I hadn’t met anybody in a long time. She’d introduced me to one guy after Travis named Donovan or something, but that didn’t last long. I’d tried to hook her up with a couple of Kamal’s work buddies, but she would always make excuses for why she didn’t want to meet any of them.

              Me and Kamal got married two years ago. Our relationship had been off and on during our college years. Once we decided to go ahead and make that leap, I was adamant about my father giving me away. Once my father was out of prison we waited two years to plan the perfect wedding. Well, I planned it with the help of a wedding planner.

Kamal had become a computer engineer for Apple and made close to five hundred thousand dollars a year. My measly salary of eighty-five thousand a year was chump change compared to what he made. It was all good though because he maintained our luxurious lifestyle and kept me spoiled. Our relationship just seemed really strained lately though. I worked a lot and tended to hold out on sex to get at him when he pissed me off; which was a lot lately. At first that used to work, but he seemed to be getting tired of it. He complained a lot about my attitude, but damn, I’d always been feisty. That was nothing new.

              “You got plans?” Cherie interrupted my thoughts.

              “No. Kamal’s in LA on business and I was just going to grab something to eat on the way home.”

              “How ‘bout we meet somewhere? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

              I perked up. It would be cool to spend some time with Cherie. Jordan seemed to be so busy lately. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t heard from her in days.

              “That’s cool. I was about to go to The Capital Grille. I want some lobster mac and cheese so bad.”

              “I’m down boo. That sounds good,” Cherie agreed. “I’ll see you there in about twenty minutes.”

              “Have you talked to Jordan? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

              Cherie cleared her throat. “Now that I think about it I haven’t talked to her either. Let me call her and see if she wants to meet us there.”

              “Okay,” I said and then ended the call.

              I got to the restaurant about thirty minutes later because traffic was thick. Cherie was already there waiting for me, but Jordan wasn’t. It was like Cherie could read my mind.

              “She didn’t answer.”

              Letting out a sigh, I sat down across from my friend.

              “She didn’t answer when I called either. I wonder what’s up with her.” Shaking my head, I was really worried about my best friend. It wasn’t like her to not be in touch with me.

              “I’m sure she’s fine. You know how Jordan is. She gets in her little phases when she gets all into some man and then a few weeks later she’s over it. Don’t worry. She’ll call. I ordered you a sour apple martini.”

              “Thanks, after my day at work I need it. Did she mention meeting somebody to you?” That made me feel some type of way, because she hadn’t told me.

              “No, I’m just guessing. It’s no telling what’s going on with her.”

              The server was right on time as he put our drinks in front of us. I was all ready to order, so I didn’t waste any time. We conversed as we waited for our food, but my mind was still on my bestie. Damn, what if something had happened to her? She was the type to date random guys and I was hoping she hadn’t run into some psycho.

              “So, you know my brother’s birthday is in a few months. I want to throw him the biggest bash of the year and I want you to help me. You know you’re good at that type of shit. You’re such a planner and you’re so fuckin’ organized. With your OCD ass.”

              “I guess I should take that as a compliment,” I laughed. “I’ll be glad to help you.”

              She looked relieved. “Thank you so much, because I’m in over my head. He’s turning dirty thirty, so you know I gotta go all out.”

              Cherie was very close to her older brother, so I understood why it was extra important for her to throw him a banging ass birthday party. They were part of one of the most notorious crime families in Atlanta, so it was only right that she showed out. When it came to going all out, I was the queen of flossing.

              “Right. I got you.” I promised her before taking a sip of my drink.

              “Have you talked to Bells and Nadia?” Cherie had finished off her Long Island Iced Tea and was signaling for the server as she asked.

              “Yeah. I talked to them both earlier today. They mentioned our ten-year class reunion, which I’m not looking forward to. If I see that bitch Brielle…”

              “Girl, fuck that trick. That’s been over.”

              I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I know, but that shit went on for years.”

              During the summer after high school graduation all had been quiet and I spent time with Kamal in Tennessee before it was time for me to enroll in school. A few weeks after classes started I ran into that bitch Brielle at Walmart of all places. She kept right on eyeing me and I tried my best not to think about when that bitch had cut me. Once I was in the parking lot she was all on my heels talking shit. When I hauled off and punched the bitch in the mouth there was actually a police officer who saw it all. He hauled me off to jail and let that bitch go. I was charged with assault, but the charges were eventually dropped. After that it seemed that that bitch always ended up popping up somewhere I was like she was stalking me. The last straw was when that bitch broke into Kamal’s car one Sunday morning when he was home for the weekend. It was his senior year at Tennessee State, which was about six years ago.

              He’d already packed his car up and that crazy hoe actually hid under some of his stuff that was in the back seat and rode all the way back to Tennessee with him. When he finally got to his apartment she revealed herself and confessed her love for him. The hoe had made a scene in front of everybody who lived in the complex. She’d even wore an adult diaper in case she had to pee or shit. That was psycho as hell and it took Kamal hours to convince her to go back to Atlanta on a bus. After that he actually got a restraining order against her. There were witnesses to corroborate his story of her crazy antics. After that she finally left us alone and moved away to Florida with some chick she claimed to be in love with. I guess when she figured out that Kamal didn’t love her back, she gave up on all men. All I knew was, a bitch was glad she was gone and I didn’t want to see her if she decided to come to the pending class reunion.