Money-Makin' Mamas (4 page)

“It feels good, doesn't it?” he boasted. “And just for the record, this shit you got feels good too.”

All I did was nod. My back was against the wall, and with my legs straddled wide, while Miles held me up, I enjoyed every bit of it. I had been faking orgasms with Ray, but I could feel the one that was about to come. It started at the very tips of my curled toes. My legs trembled and my body got weak. Miles sped up his pace, and before I knew it, we both did an exchange of fluids. We were out of breath and couldn't stop gazing into each other's eyes.

“I hope to give you much more of that,” Miles said. “For now, go chill in the car and wait for Ray. We'll talk tomorrow. I think you may be pleased about what I offer you and your girls.”

I couldn't lie. Hearing that shit pleased my heart. It made me smile. Maybe there was a way out of this, and if all Miles wanted was some good pussy, hell, I was all for it. He reached in his wallet and put several bills in my hand. I wasn't sure how much it was yet, but whatever it was, I was grateful. Especially since I figured that Ray wouldn't give me one single dime for my hard work tonight.

“Take that,” Miles said. “You earned it, so go do something nice for yourself and the girls. Y'all deserve it.”

I hurried to say, “Thanks.” Maybe I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of involving Honey in my mess. The other day, I'd talked to him about how he could help me. Since he'd had access to Ray's apartment, I asked Honey to do some things that could get him in serious trouble. While he was reluctant to do it, he still agreed to help me. Maybe now, I wouldn't have to go that route and come between him and Ray's relationship.

Miles kissed my cheek and told me to go. With a dripping wet pussy, I rushed to the car and shut the door when I got inside. I opened my hand to see how much money Miles had given to me. It was five one hundred dollar bills. That made me smile again. It made me have just a little hope for me and my girls. Hope that I hadn't had in a very long time.

Nearly an hour later, I saw Ray coming to the car. I had dozed off a few times, and I couldn't stop thinking about what my girls had been up to. Chyna was always looking out for her sisters. She was the oldest and she kept good care of them while I was away. But the truth was, she was just a kid herself. This was a lot on her, and I regretted that my problems had been pushed off on her.

I saw Ray give Shirley a kiss and then he walked away. He opened the car door and hopped in with a smirk on his face. As he looked over at me, he touched my chin.

“You did good,” he said with a glassy film covering his eyes. “Better than I thought you would do, so from now on, this gon' be yo' new gig. I figured you had that shit in you. Those niggas in there loved it. If they paid like this, ain't no tellin' how much more money others niggas will pay.”

Ray showed me the roll of money that he could barely grip his hand around. He shook it near my face then brought it up to his nose and sniffed it.

“This is what a bad bitch can do. I know you're upset with me, but as you know, I don't give a fuck about yo' feelings. My only complaint is I saw some of those bruises on your thighs. I'ma stop kickin' that ass for a while and let those bruises heal. Ain't no need for me to mess up my moneymaker; and who knows? I may even get some other bitches to join us. I'll let you organize the shit for me and find bitches who you think can turn up the heat like you. What you got to say about that?”

This nigga was crazy. All I could do was shake my head and try my best not to say the wrong thing. “I'm not sure, Ray, but my only question is where is my money? You talked about ‘us' making money and you haven't dropped one single dime in my lap yet.”

Ray snapped his finger and turned up the music. “Forgive me for bein' so goddamn selfish,” he said. “Here you go, baby. Go buy yo'self somethin' nice.”

I'll be damned if Ray didn't drop a fucking dollar in my lap. He laughed and rolled the steering wheel in circles to do a U-turn. After he blew the horn at a few niggas standing outside, he sped down the street, high as ever and drunk as hell. I wasn't sure if we'd make it home, but I can honestly say that I had never been so happy to see my raggedy-ass apartment. As soon as Ray parked, I shot inside to go see about my babies. It was almost two o'clock in the morning. Thankfully, when I got inside, they were sound asleep.

I sighed from relief and went into the bedroom. The first thing I wanted to do was shower, so I gathered my pajamas and a few towels. Ray came into the bedroom and plopped face down on the bed. He was on his way to sleep, until the phone rang. I was never allowed to answer the phone, so I watched as he crawled on the bed and reached for the phone on the nightstand.

“Speak,” he said.

I figured that it was one of his partners calling about a late-night drug run, or possibly that bitch Shirley who was eager to get some dick in her tonight. I surely hoped that was the case, because I'd had my taste of something good tonight, and I was in no mood for Ray.

I closed the closet and was on my way out the door to go take a shower. That's when I felt something solid as a rock slam into the side of my face. Immediately, all I saw was darkness with flashes of white lights. My skull felt like it had been crushed and all I could feel was throbbing in my head. Tears seeped from the corner of my eyes and I hit the floor so hard that I was sure I had broken something. My eyes fluttered, and all I could see was a blurred vision of Ray standing over me, pointing his finger at me.

“You ain't nothin' but a goddamn slut,” he yelled. “I know for a fact what that nigga Miles told me wasn't true, but he ain't the kind of nigga who would lie to me.” Ray squatted to my level and looked me in the eyes. “Did you give that fool my pussy tonight? Even after I told you that that shit belonged to me, tell me you didn't go there, did you? In addition to that, is it true that you want yo' freedom and that you wished me dead? Did you give that nigga some pussy to kill me?”

The whole left side of my face was numb. When I tried to open my mouth, it hurt so badly. I couldn't believe this shit, and as I sat on the floor thinking about it, all I could think about was my new rule: trust no nigga! All of them muthafuckas had an agenda. I should've known better than to think Miles would help me. I suspected that the only thing I'd get out of it was a good fuck, and the fact that I was back to my original plan with Honey didn't make me feel good.

I held the side of my face and was unable to feel my hand. I thought Ray had hit me with something, but the only thing he'd hit me with was his fist. I still hadn't said one word. That angered him even more.

“I need some answers, damn it! Speak the fuck up and let me hear what you got to say about this shit! Yo' ass is out of control, and what's up with that nigga giving you some money?”

For now, I remained silent. Just glared at him with hatred trapped in my eyes, and that angered him even more. He continued to rant.

“You don't have to say shit because I already know what's up. And what I need to do is throw you out on yo' ass tonight. You don't deserve to be here, and no bitch should be allowed to get away with what you've done to me.”

Ray was so good at threatening me, but this time, I knew he was serious. Still, I didn't respond. I allowed him to get whatever he wanted to off his chest, and I remained crouched down on the floor, trying to soothe my pain.

“If I die,” he said, spraying my face with his spit, “bitch, what you gon' do? You know damn well that you ain't shit without me. I can't believe that this is the kind of appreciation I get from you!”

He lifted his foot and punted my midsection. I curled up in a knot and did my best to shield my face and the rest of my body from his brutal attack.

“I will never touch yo' nasty ass again,” he yelled. “Never again, but if you think I'm gon' allow you to be free, you'd better think again. Yo' ass stayin' right here with me. You gon' continue to make me all the money I need, and if or when I get tired of you, I will let you know.”

Ray stood and unzipped his pants. He pulled out his stubby dick and shook it with his hand. I thought he was going to order me to give him a blowjob, but instead, he dropped his head back in relief and started pissing. His piss flowed all over me, especially on top of my head. My hair fell flat and his liquids ran down my face. The smell of his urine was awful, and as some of it flowed into my eyes, it burned.

Needless to say, pissing on somebody was one damn way to get them fired up. Catching Ray off guard, I rushed off the floor and started wildly swinging on his ass. Like a raging madwoman, I pounded his back and head. This time, he was the one crouched down. He tried to grab my waist, but I was too fast for him. I realized that my hands alone weren't enough, so I started picking up shit and throwing it at him. I started with shoes and then wound up with the lamp in my hand. He ducked but the base of the lamp still hit him. It was a good thing that he was drunk, because as he charged at me, he stumbled. I whacked him with one of the speakers from the stereo and then swung out a chair like it was a baseball bat. The chair cracked across his back and sent him flying into the wall.

“Goddamn it!” he shouted as he grabbed the curtain to break his fall. The rod broke and sent him crashing down to the floor. He sat there, eyeing me with a heaving chest. I too was out of breath, and I held the chair up high, ready to throw it at him again.

“Pu . . . put that damn chair down,” Ray said, panting and waving his hand. “We . . . we'll talk about this shit tomorrow.”

My arms were so weak that I dropped the chair on the floor. I could barely catch my breath as I stared at Ray in a lot of pain.

“I don't want to talk about it anymore. What's done is done. If you don't want to touch me ever again, I'm perfectly fine with that. But, nigga, don't you ever do that mess to me again. Piss belongs in a toilet, not on me.”

I turned to leave the room. Ray's comment stopped me dead in my tracks. “Damn, bitch. It was only pee. You act like I sprayed yo' dumb ass with poison.”

I cut my eyes at Ray and left the room. I wasn't sure what else was going to happen to me that night, but I was damn proud of myself for fighting back again.

By morning, Ray was still slumped over on the floor, next to the window. He'd used the curtain as a sheet to cover up and was knocked out. I was in the kitchen making toast for Karrine and Chyna to eat with their cereal. Simone was in my arms, but she was irritable and crying.

“What's wrong with her?” I asked Chyna. “Was she like this last night?”

Chyna moved her head from side to side. “No. She went to sleep early while Karrine and me watched TV.”

I looked at Karrine. She was always the quiet one who didn't have much to say. She and Chyna were very close. It was obvious that they loved each other a lot. When Chyna went to the bathroom, I turned to Karrine for answers.

“If something was going on with Chyna,” I said to Karrine, “would you tell me?”

She nodded and continued to look down at her cereal bowl.

“Has she ever mentioned anything to you about Ray touching her?”

Like Chyna, Karrine said no. Maybe I had been barking up the wrong tree, and even I had to admit that I had never seen Ray do anything to her. Still, there was something about the way he looked at her that bothered me.

Before Chyna came back into the kitchen, Ray walked in. He stood in the doorway with a pair of boxers on. His dick poked through the hole and was clearly visible. His shirt was off, and I couldn't believe when I saw that he'd had a black eye, compliments of me.

“I don't smell shit in here cookin', so what am I supposed to eat?” he said as if something was clogged in his throat.

The second Chyna walked back into the kitchen, the direction of Ray's eyes traveled to her ass. She sat at the table and didn't dare to look his way. His eyes shifted back to me.

“What would you like for me to cook you?” I asked.

“Yet again, I've been yo' man for almost ten fuckin' years. If you don't know what I like to eat by now, figure it the fuck out.”

Ray left the kitchen, and for the next hour or so, he was at the other apartment. That gave me time to cook his breakfast and lay Simone down for a nap. I also watched TV with Chyna and Karrine for a little while. When Ray returned, he ate breakfast and then told me he had to go make some runs.

“My son won't be here until four or five o'clock. When he gets here, take yo' ass over there and check on him a few times. I asked him to package up some shit for me. I need to make sure he do what I told him to do. As for you,” Ray said, and pointed to his black eye, “the money you will make me tonight will squash this. Be ready to go by seven, not a minute later.”

Ray left. For the next few hours there was peace and quiet. I cleaned up as best as I could, and then made my way over to the other apartment to check on Honey. After I knocked on the door, he opened it. I walked inside and saw that he was doing exactly what Ray had asked him to do. He was packaging dope with plastic gloves on. There was a table filled with narcotics. Pills, weed, crack, small bottles of a clear substance: you name it, it was there. I always knew Ray was into some heavy shit, but this was ridiculous.

“Did Ray say when he was coming back?” Honey asked me. “I forgot what he told me to do with this.”

Honey held in his hand one of the bottles filled with white liquid. I damn sure didn't have a clue what to do with it, if anything.

“Just leave it. I'm sure he'll let you know what to do with it later.”

Honey nodded and got back to work. As I sat there watching him, I could tell he was perfecting the drug game. He focused real hard on cooking and packaging the drugs the right way. The seriousness in his eyes said that he didn't want to make any mistakes. I couldn't help but to think that, one day, he could be very beneficial to me. I had already spoken to him about stealing money from Ray, but now I had some other ideas as well.

I lit a cigarette and took several puffs from it. Honey looked at me from across the table and smiled.

“I got that for you,” he said. “But you gotta promise me that you won't ever tell Ray. If you do, he gon' beat my ass, like he do yours. I don't ever want to catch a beat down like that, you know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean. I wouldn't want him to ever hurt you like that either, but I hope you understand that I have to do what I must do to get myself out of this fucked-up situation. I hate putting you in the middle of my mess, but you're the only person I can trust right now, Honey. And trust me when I say that I owe you a lot for helping me.”

“Naw, you don't owe me nothing. I just feel bad for you, that's all. I don't like how Ray treats you, and as my grandmother says, you deserve better.”

“Your grandmother said that about me? Really?”

“Yep. She likes you a lot, and all she's ever said about you is that you are one dumb bitch for staying with Ray. She told me that if she were you, she'd set him on fire. I told her that I don't think you would do anything like that because you love him too much. Besides, I wouldn't let you do anything like that either. After all, he is my dad and he does take care of me.”

It angered me that Honey's grandmother said that about me, and even though she was right, she just didn't understand my situation. Motherfuckers could always sit back and judge your situation, without walking one damn day in your shoes. Honey was so wrong about me loving Ray, though. There wasn't an ounce of love left for him in my body. I hated that nigga's guts. But I didn't want Honey to ever know how much I truly despised his father.