Ashley's Story: THE LAST CHAPTER (13 page)

Ashley started to feel bad about lying to Royce but
everything with her and Rio just happened. It wasn’t planned.

“We’re supposed to be cool and you lied to me. What I carved
into your car is the truth. You’re not nothing but a lying bitch. The truth
hurts, doesn’t it? By the way, I’m sorry you lost your baby. I wish they
would’ve killed you though.” 

Ashley’s eyes got big as saucers. For a few seconds she
actually felt bad for Royce, but mentioning her child had her blacking out. All
Ashley could see was Royce covered in blood laying in a body bag. She wanted to
strangle Royce with her hands until she took her last breath but not before
slicing her loose tongue out of her mouth. How dare she mention her child?
Ashley looked like a lunatic as she jumped over Rio’s shoulder and clocked
Royce in her mouth splitting her lip on impact.

“Bitch, don’t you ever in your fucking life talk about my
child. That’s something I’ll go back to jail for.”

Rio didn’t put his hands on women but this shit had to end
soon before it got worse.

“Go back inside the house,” he yelled at Royce as he pushed
her.

She looked at Ashley one last time before turning around and
limping away. Even though she had threatened Ashley about calling the police,
that was something she wasn’t going to do. Royce didn’t need them snooping
around her place. So she turned around and went inside her house.

Royce sat in Starbucks waiting patiently for Blues arrival.
Looking like the hood star she believed she was, Blue stepped out of her
boyfriend’s brand new Ferrari 458. Royce smiled from ear to ear when she
noticed her friend get out of the car and strut inside of Starbucks.

“Blue I’m over here!” she yelled.

Blue searched the crowd until she located Royce sitting in
the far back by the window.

“Girl, I heard you yelling but I didn’t see you with all of
these people,” she said with a smile. “I swear Starbucks be putting shit in
their damn drinks. Muthafuckas be fiending. Their day just don’t be right until
they get their Starbucks,” Blue said while glancing at the long line.

“Girl, you’re silly but that’s the truth,” Royce giggled. “I
need at least one cup a day. Here I ordered you a green tea.”

Royce pushed the tea towards Blue. Blue took the drink and
thanked her. It was a sweet gesture but she wasn’t going to drink it. She’d bet
money Royce didn’t do anything to the tea but she hadn’t witnessed her pay for
it, which meant she wasn’t drinking it. It wasn’t personal. She just didn’t
trust people.

It was a lesson learned from life. Royce pointed to the car
Blue pulled up in.

“Got a new car? That shit is hot.”

“Nah, that’s Finesse’s new ride. He said he would never let
me drive it. You know all I had to do was put this pussy on the nigga. He threw
me the keys then passed out,” she chuckled. Blue’s phone vibrated with a text.
“This is Profit. He and Finesse still grieving the loss of their grandmother,”
she said as she put her phone back into her purse. “Profit’s on his way here.

Royce nodded. “Girl, let me tell you what happened to me the
other day.”

“Please do,” Blue replied as she took her phone out to
respond to a text message. She quickly typed something in her phone then put it
back in her purse to give Royce her full attention.

 “You had us waiting for you to show up at the club but you
never came.”

Royce didn’t want to tell Blue the real reason for stopping
at Ashley’s house was to borrow heels for the club. She was too embarrassed so
she was going to lie.

 “There y’all go. I’ve been walking around her for a minute
looking for you two,” Profit said as he took a seat at their table. “Some shit
just popped off with them niggas me and Finesse are beefing with. I can’t wait
until this cat and mouse game we’re playing is over.”

“You’ll finish it. You started it so you have to,” Blue
stated.

Profit chuckled. “You pointed the shit out to us, Blue,
remember? What were your words again? Supreme and his boys, they’re the reason
for our downfall. They’re the niggas who killed Wise and Butter. You pointed
the finger at them niggas,” Profit said. “Not to mention Rio’s bitch. Don’t act
like you don’t remember. The bitch you shot at coming out of Saks that day.”

Blue was so pissed that she didn’t kill Ashley that day. Her
aim had been off. If given a second chance, Blue promised she wouldn’t miss.

“Deep in thought, are we?” Profit asked with a smile on his
face. “This is a web you weaved so don’t play innocent.”

Blue rolled her eyes. Everything he said was true but damn
did he have to make what she’d done sound so evil.

Blue rolled her eyes. “Whatever. What do you want, Profit?”

“Just wanted to stop by and say hi to Royce,” he answered.

“So say hi and leave,” Blue replied.

“Fuck you, sis. You’re tripping. I’m out. Bye Royce. When
you’re done fucking with lames, holla at me,” Profit said. He got up from the
table and maneuvered his way through the crowd.

Blue shook her head. “Anyway, before we were interrupted you
said you met Choice?”

“Yeah, I met her. She’s very nice. Her little boy is cute,”
Royce replied.

Blue’s lip curled in slight anger. When she thought about
Choice, she couldn’t help but to think about her brother Wise. She never
imagined their future would turn out like it did. Blue snapped out of her daze
and focused on what Royce was saying

“Why the hell were Ashley and Rio in the bedroom together?
She knows how I feel about him. Ashley knows everything about us. Anyway,
before I pulled out of that bitch’s parking deck, I scratched her fancy car the
fuck up. I thought I would feel bad but I don’t.”

Blue smiled. She knew Royce was a firecracker when she first
laid eyes on. She could also tell she was weak-minded and could be easily
persuaded. Royce just wanted to be accepted. When Blue saw these weaknesses in
Royce, she beamed with happiness. Playing on her weakness and getting her to do
anything she wanted would be easy now that Ashley and Rio had fucked Royce
over.

Blue reached across the table with a sad expression on her
face. She took Royce’s hand inside of her own. She put on this act like she was
the caring loving friend who would always be there for her, which was far from
the truth. The only thing on her mind was payback.

 Choice had betrayed her and gotten her brother killed. Not
to mention the hideous scar she had branded her with for the rest of her life.
Blue had never liked Ashley from the jump. Blue was going to make up some sad
story about Ashley and Choice and how they betrayed her. She prayed Royce would
help her. Blue smirked with devilish intent. She didn’t care about Royce or
anybody else. The only person she loved in the world was gone and the only man
she was even close to loving had abandoned her. Blue didn’t love Finesse. Most
of the time she didn’t even like him but he exuded power. With him in her
corner, her plan would be executed with perfection.

She couldn’t wait for Choice and Ashley to see she was that
bitch now. Her stripping days were far behind her. Blue had money, clothes, designer
handbags, and all the money she could imagine. She still wasn’t happy. Blue was
lonely. People around her didn’t know her. She wished she could go back to the
time when she and Choice sat on the porch over Wise’s house smoking kush. Or
the times she, Choice and Kyree would spend most of their Saturday at Dolphine
Mall shopping. That was all in the past now but they were still her favorite
memories.

 “Did I tell you that me, Ashley, and Choice used to be good
friends? Well, me and Choice were good friends. Me and Ashley...not so much.”

“You never told me that. I didn’t even know you knew them,”
Royce said. “Every time I talked to you about Ashley, you acted as if you don’t
even know her.”

“Well,” Blue said as fake tears begin to fall from her eyes.
“Remember when I first ran into you at the mall? I told you then I knew how you
felt. I feel like I can trust you enough to tell you. I’ll tell you what
happened now. It all started when…”

***

Ashley was mentally exhausted and sore from the morning’s
events. She dropped her car off at the shop then caught a cab home. Now that
she was in the comfort of her own home, she really had time to think about her
relationship with Rio and the dram that unfolded a few hours ago with Royce.

Ashley was pissed that everything had gone down like that.
She had truly liked the girl. What Royce did was done out of anger but Ashley
didn’t believe that Royce thought she’d been lying about her and Rio being
friends. At the time, that’s all they were.

Ashley sighed. She liked Rio. She didn’t feel bad about
that. He wasn’t with Royce and had never been her man so Ashley didn’t feel bad
about not feeling sorry for Royce.

Ashley had just gone into the bathroom to take a shower when
her phone began to ring back to back. It was either Royce or Rio and she didn’t
feel like talking. She ignored the call and got in the shower. As the water
beat against her neck, it relieved all of the pent up stress until her phone
started ringing again. She got frustrated and turned the shower off. There was
no way she could take a peaceful shower with her phone constantly ringing.

After wrapping a towel around her, Ashley went into the
living room to see who was stalking her. She wasn’t surprised that it was Rio.
She decided not to call him back. She was going to let him sweat a little.
Instead, she went to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. Before she could
even take a sip, there was a knock at the door that quickly turned into loud
banging.

“Ashley, open this goddamn door! I know you’re in there!”
Rio yelled from the other side of the door.

 She huffed with anger before sitting her water on the
counter. Rio was tripping. He was pounding on her door and yelling like he was
crazy which meant he was disturbing her neighbors. She didn’t like that one
bit. Ashley walked over to the door and snatched it open.

“Why the hell are you beating on my damn door like you’re
crazy? I have neighbors that I’m sure can hear you yelling.”

“Fuck your neighbors! You should have answered your phone or
answered the door the first time I knocked. But nah, your ass is standing on
the other side thinking this shit is funny when it’s far from it!”

Rio stepped around her and walked into the apartment.
Scowling, Ashley closed the door.

“Why are you even here? I thought you’d still be catering to
your girl. By the way, it’s on the next time I see that bitch?” Ashley growled
as she tightened her grip on the towel.

Rio shook his head. “You’re still on that shit? You haven’t
learned your lesson yet? You spent five years in prison...five fucking years!
When you see that girl, you’re not goin’ to do anything but leave that shit
alone.” He paused and took a deep breath. “You know what you’re problem is,
Ashley? You think you know every damn thing but you got that shit all wrong.
Ain’t nobody thinking about that girl. I only want you but you’re too busy
comparing a nigga to Petey. His faults are not mine. I’m not him.”

Rio was so passionate about what he said that tears slipped
from her eyes. She felt his emotion and he was right. Ashley often compared him
to Petey. She had been doing it a lot lately. She didn’t mean to. She did it
without even noticing that she was doing it.

 “I’m sorry, Rio. I’ll try to work on that. As much as I
want to kick Royce’s ass, I’m going to leave that shit alone. I’m not trying to
go back to prison.

Rio smiled and lowered his head to kiss her lips. He wrapped
his arms around her and held her tightly.

Rio and Ashley were tangled in the comforters as he slept
she watched him sleep. He’d been sleeping for hours so he must have been
extremely tired.

“Why are you staring at me while I sleep?” he asked with his
eyes still closed.

“I couldn’t help it,” she said. “You looked tired as hell.”

He slapped her thigh. “Well, I am extremely tired after what
we just did.”

“Stop!” Ashley cried out. “You know I’m still sore from
getting into it with ol’ girl yesterday. That bitch tackled me like I was a
damn football player.”

As Ashley stepped out of bed, Rio’s phone began to ring.

“It’s not a chick,” Rio chuckled. “I know that’s what you’re
thinking.”

Ashley walked over to her dressed and tossed Rio the phone
without looking at it.

“Here you go, baby. I’m going to take a shower. Meet me in
there when you’re finished with your conversation.”

Ashley stood under the water anxiously awaiting Rio’s
arrival in the bathroom. A few minutes passed and he still hadn’t joined her.
She started to worry. It has to be bad news. Her thoughts were interrupted when
he entered the bathroom. The look on his face interrupted Ashley’s attempt to
seduce him into the shower.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Mark got shot and Trust is in jail,” Rio said slowly as if
he couldn’t believe the words as they were coming out of his mouth. “I need to
get up to the hospital.”

Ashley turned off the water and jumped out of the shower.
Even though she was naked and soaking wet, she put her arms around Rio to calm
him.

“I’m sure he’s going to be fine,” she said softly.

“I hope you’re right. Are you rolling with me?” Rio asked.

“Hell yeah. I’ll drive,” Ashley volunteered.

Quickly, they both got dressed. Ashley caught Rio staring at
her and turned around.

“What are you looking at?”

Rio leaned against the wall and sighed. “I’m looking at
you.” He pulled her to him by her belt loop and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“You know that we’re going to talk about yesterday. Why did you pop up at that
girl’s house like that? I told you to get your car fixed. Instead, you wanna
act like you’re Rhonda Rousey or some shit. You don’t have to be rowdy and jump
to conclusions all the time. I got you, Ashley. You’re safe with me.”

Ashley looked up at him and smiled. He was catching feelings
for her and their relationship was getting stronger with every passing second.
She knew exactly what he was feeling, because she felt it too.

Ashley stood on her tiptoes to peck him on the lips. “Let’s
get up to the hospital to make sure Mark is okay.”