Street Chronicles Girls in the Game (2 page)

I dialed Li'l Man's cell phone for the hundredth time.
Ring, ring … ring, ring … ring, ring.

I couldn't understand why the hell he wasn't picking up. I knew damn well he got all the messages I left him on my way to the damn hospital. He was probably with one of his bitches.

Cheating had been a regular routine of his since the first time we officially got together. This shit was getting ridiculous. That nigga knew I was in my ninth month and could be having this goddamn baby of his at any time. Just then a sharp pain jolted me. It felt as though it was electrocuting my body. It felt like my insides were ripping in two as I returned to the bed. I knew I
couldn’t keep this baby from coming, so I decided to give in. Id just have to deal with Li'l Man's sorry ass later.

“Please, Ms. Carter. We really need you to cooperate. Your baby is in danger,” the nurse begged.

“Fine. Just do whatever the hell you have to do,” I said, lying back on the bed and spreading my legs. “Get this thing out of me.” Just then another sharp pain ripped through me. “Damn it, Li'l Man, where the fuck are you?” The contractions were hitting my ass like lightning bolts.

The thought of having our baby without him present caused tears to roll down my face. I knew Li'l Man was seeing other women, but when it came to me, I was always top priority. After all, I am his baby mama.

The nurse examined the consistency of my contractions once more before nodding to the doctor. I knew exactly what that meant: It was time. No more fucking around; I had to push this baby out.

“Okay, Ms. Carter—” the doctor began to say as a loud ghetto voice ricocheted off the walls of the hospital hallway.

“Tee, where you at, baby girl?” The doctor's sentence was interrupted by Li'l Man's call.

“I'm in here, baby,” I yelled. “Room three!” A smile managed to slip in between the pains. He'd arrived just in time.

Although I was still pissed that I'd been in labor for nearly nine hours before he'd gotten to the hospital, I was happy that he was finally here. When he came through the door, I looked at his perfect appearance.

As he walked over and kissed me on the cheek and grabbed my hand, I could smell the fresh scent of his Issey Miyake cologne. Damn, did he look good or what?

“What up, Doc? We ready. Let's have this baby, big boy,” Li'l Man said, rubbing his hands together.

Both the nurse and the doctor stood speechless at Li'l Man's ghetto etiquette. He came in there as if the doctor was not going to deliver the baby until he had instructed him to do so.

“Sir, we are going to need to get you into scrubs,” the nurse said.

“Scrub? Who you callin’ a scrub?” Li'l Man snapped with a hard-core look on his face.

The nurse looked as though she was going to shit in her pants, and the doctor was five seconds away from calling hospital security.

“I'm just fuckin’ wit'cha,” Li'l Man joked. “Lace me with them hospital threads.”

“Baby, you so stupid.” I tried to laugh at his humor before another labor pain hit my ass.

The nurse quickly got Li'l Man into his scrubs while another nurse joined the party to assist. Twenty more torturous minutes of pushing, and the baby was out.

“It's a boy!” the doctor said as he pulled the bundle of flesh from my womb. The nurse then swept the baby off and cleaned him up.

Li'l Man followed right behind them, excited as a kid on Christmas Eve staring at the biggest box under the tree with his name on it. I was glad at least somebody was happy to have the baby here. Although I was proud to wear the title of Li'l Man's baby mama, I was not ready to be nobody's mommy. The last thing a trick like me wanted to be was all tied down and shit. The only reason that baby was here was for Li'l Man's happiness and for my security. There was no other way I would put up with his lying, cheating ass.

Although he had a nice home where he brought only me and where we spent most of our time together, I knew Li'l Man lived
in the streets with chicks in each of the seven cities of VA. Still, he's the best thing that a young project chick like me could have in her life. It wasn't every day that a big drug dealer like Li'l Man wanted someone like me as his wifey No, I didn't hit the lottery, but my long-term winnings as his baby mama were the closest thing to it. Believe you me, if it wasn't for that, my ass would have been at the first abortion clinic that would have me, knocking the doors in and climbing through windows to take my spot in the meat-chop line. But don't get it twisted. Unlike most of these broads flooding the local abortion clinics, using abortion as a form of birth control, my shit was planned … planned down to the muthafuckin’ line that crosses the T and the muthafuckin’ circle that dots the I.

Tyrone Simmons Junior is Li'l Man's firstborn, and I, Tiara Carter, am the mother. No bitch would ever have anything on me. My baby would be a guaranteed lifelong meal ticket. As long as my child is alive, I have permanent ties to Li'l Man, no matter if I am his girl or not. And so what the fuck if some other broad managed to get herself knocked up by Li'l Man as well? No bitch would ever be able to say that they mothered his firstborn. And if it were up to me, no chick would ever hold the title of his baby mama other than me. And in case a bitch did get one by on him, it still wouldn't matter, ‘cause the first baby mama will always be the shit! Any other is just an unwanted burden.

Once the nurses had TJ. all cleaned up, they brought him right over to me. I guess the average mother would have been thrilled to hold her new baby, but not me. No, sirree!

“Oh, no,” I said, putting my hand up and stopping the cheerful-ass nurse dead in her tracks. “Give him to his daddy. Hell, that's where he'll be spending most of his time anyway.”

The nurse gave me a questioning look before handing TJ. over
to Li'l Man. I must say, they looked so cute together. Maybe if Li'l Man moved me and TJ. into his home then we could raise the baby together, but just me doing it alone, I couldn't see it. Hell, no!

As Li'l Man played with our son, the nurses helped me get cleaned up and changed into my new Victoria's Secret pajamas and slippers that Li'l Man had bought especially for this occasion. I was exhausted from the long, tiring delivery and wanted to take a nap, but not before I dug into Li'l Man's ass for arriving so late. I hated to ruin the beautiful moment he was having with his child, but I had to get this shit off my heavy, overweight, milk-filled chest.

“Man, what the hell took you so long to get here?” I started. “Didn't you get my calls and my gazillion messages?”

“Damn, Tee, do you have to start this shit now?” Li'l Man said after sucking his teeth, annoyed by my questions. “We just had a baby. Can we at least enjoy this moment without you bitchin'?”

“Sure, enjoy
your
baby,” I stated, pointing my finger in Li'l Man's face, then rolling my eyes before I continued my tongue-lashing. “But that's not going to stop me from saying what I have to say. Now, where were you? I was here nearly nine hours before you arrived, and you barely made it. What if TJ. would have come without you being here?”

“Look, Tee, you called me at three in the morning. I was sleeping. As soon as I got up I checked my messages, got dressed, and headed right over. Come on, you know once my head hits the pillow I'm out. You know how hard I sleep. I ain't hear that damn phone.”

I looked at Li'l Man's attire as he spoke. Damn, was he fine! His New York fitted cap sat neatly over his fresh cornrows. His new white tee glowed against his chocolate skin and broad shoulders. And his sparkling diamonds added just the right touch to give his plain attire some glamour. The longer I examined him,
the more shit registered. It sure didn't look like he just jumped out of bed and shot right over to me. I had to throw that shit in his face.

“Man, come on now. Do I look stupid to you? You all dressed up and shit, clothes all pressed. Hell, you even got every piece of jewelry you own on. You didn't just hop the fuck up, Man.” I then sniffed the air like a K-9. “And you wasted all those squirts of Issey Miyake just to come up here to the hospital? Shit, I don't think so!”

“You know I hate the hospital smell,” was Li'l Man's quick comeback. Then, just like the typical nigga, he tried to turn the tables. “See, this the shit I'm talking ‘bout. Here you go with this young-ass shit again!” Li'l Man said as he stood up and handed me the baby.

Every chance Li'l Man got he would throw my age in my face. Sure, I was only nineteen and he was eight years my senior, but that's what he loved; that's what attracted him to me in the first place. He loved how tight my li'l young pussy was. He loved the fact that niggas he fucked with couldn't tell him the scent of my pussy. He loved the fact that I wasn't out in the clubs and shit, checking for the next bailer. I knew this because these were the things he told me every day. These were the things he whispered in my ear right before he was about to cum. But somehow, eventually, I always ended up hearing how I was so young-acting and how it turned him off. Funny how when a nigga all up inside a broad he got all kinds of shit to say, but the minute he pull that dick out it's a whole ‘notha story.

“I wasn't too young to have your damn baby, though. Now, was I?” I said sarcastically as he grabbed his keys and headed for the door.

“I'm not even gonna entertain this shit, Tee. I'm out. Kiss my baby for me,” he said, opening the door.

“Fuck you! You ain't got no damn baby. This is my baby You better hope we're still here when you return!” I yelled as he was closing the door behind him.

I knew exactly what to say to get his attention. Not even a split second later the door flew open and Li'l Man was back in the room. He ran right up to my face like a madman. I knew he had a temper, but I had never seen this look on him before, especially directed at me. He looked as though he was going to put his hands around my throat and squeeze the life out of me. I jumped and pulled my baby close to me, hoping this would prevent Li'l Man from putting his hands on me.

“What the fuck did you say?” he asked with a look of murder in his eyes.

There was no backing down. I couldn't punk out now, so I grabbed my balls and let ‘em roll. “I said you better hope we are still here when you return!”

Li'l Man knew exactly what I was insinuating. Throughout my pregnancy I would threaten to leave him and tell him that he would never see the baby. Although I would never really do that, it was the one thing that I could use to keep Li'l Man in line. To my surprise, though, this time Li'l Man reacted very differently.

“Bitch!” he yelled, grabbing me by the throat. “If you ever try to take my fuckin’ son away from me, or go anywhere without me knowing, I will kill your stupid ass.” Li'l Man then released my neck with a hard push.

I gasped for air and the next thing I knew, Li'l Man was out the door, slamming it behind him. As I continued gasping for air, tears slowly rolled down my face, burning my cheeks as they flowed. I was in shock. Li'l Man had never reacted like that before. Before I got pregnant, sure, there were a few times here and there when he hit me. But that was always during a drunken argument, when he really didn't know what he was doing. And he
would always apologize once he sobered up, and buy me something nice to make up for it. But once he found out I was pregnant, he vowed never to put his hands on me like that again. And he hadn't—that is, until now. I guess he didn't want to harm his baby, but now that TJ. was born, maybe he felt it was safe to start using me as his personal punching bag.

T
he next day Li'l Man hadn't returned to the hospital to check on me or the baby; nor had he called. I was tired of being laid up in the hospital. My friends and family had come and gone. I was ready to go, too. The nurse advised me that since there were no complications and both me and the baby were doing fine, she would discuss a possible afternoon discharge with the doctor.

Damn what the doctor said—I was going home regardless. I packed everything up, anxious to get back home. Fortunately the doctor signed my discharge papers, so I didn't have any drama about checking out of the hospital. Once I had everything all together, I called Li'l Man, and, of course, he didn't answer. Still pissed at his ass from the day before, I left him a nasty message.

“This is your punching-bag baby mama. If you are interested, the doctor is releasing me and your son this afternoon. It would be nice if you were here to pick us up,” I said, hanging up without saying good-bye. To my surprise, Li'l Man arrived at the hospital thirty minutes after I left the message. This time he brought a friend. Well, he said she was just a friend, but everybody knows how that song goes.

“Hi, Tee. Where's the baby?” Stacey said as she looked around the room.

“Oh, they took him for a final checkup before we leave,” I responded. I then looked at Li'l Man and rolled my eyes.

What the fuck did he bring her prissy ass here for?
I thought as
Stacey sat down in the chair beside me and made herself comfortable.

Li'l Man didn't say a word to me. He just sat down in the chair next to Stacey.

Stacey was Li'l Man's so-called sister, the female he had been “just friends” with since Pampers. His mom and her mom were best friends. One day Stacey's mom was coming home from a day of shopping and was hit by a drunk driver. The drunk driver hit her car so fast and hard it sent her car airborne. When it landed upside down, Stacey's mother's car burst into flames, killing her instantly.

Stacey never knew her father and was an only child. Li'l Man's mom felt it was only right to take Stacey in as her own and raise her. Although Stacey and Li'l Man both swore they were like brother and sister, I always suspected they were fucking. Hell, Stacey was beautiful and had everything a man could dream of: She was tall, slim, with a fat ass, flat stomach, perfect teeth, and skin to match. It would have been hard for a blood brother not to want to fuck her, let alone a play brother. On top of that, Stacey looked like money. Li'l Man made sure she had everything. That bitch didn't work, yet she wore every designer label known, drove only the hottest shit, and had a condo on the oceanfront. All she had to do was get up and go to school each morning and make the grade.