Trife Life To Lavish (A King Production Presents...) (17 page)

"Maybe you should take whatever you want to
keep, and then sell the rest. Put the money you make
away and move back in with your mom until you decide
what you wanna do. It's a suggestion. I mean it would
be hard for anybody to walk away from a crib this fly,
but the cost to maintain it has to be ridiculously high.
You don't need that type of stress."

"You're right about that."

"You don't have to make any decisions right
away, but at least you have an option."

Knock... knock... knock

"Who could that be?" Nichelle wondered out
loud when she heard the knocking at the front door.

"The only way you gon' find out is to open
the door, because I definitely don't have a clue."

Nichelle looked through the peephole, but
whoever was out there wasn't standing within her
view. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Carmelo's people," a man replied.

Nichelle reluctantly opened the door, yet
interested to see who his so-called people were.
Tierra walked up behind Nichelle, carrying her
purse. There was a knife inside, and Tierra was
ready to use it if anything jumped off.

When Nichelle opened the door, there was a
man and woman standing next to each other.

"How can I help you?"

"You're Nichelle, correct?" the woman asked
with anger in her voice.

"Yes, and who are you?"

"I'm Carmelo's wife, and this is my brother."

Nichelle's heart dropped, and she tipped
back as if about to fall, but Tierra held her up so
she wouldn't lose her balance.

After Nichelle regained her composure, Tierra
stepped forward, wanting to be seen. She didn't
want the man and woman to think Nichelle was
alone and they could bum rush her. "You must be
mistaken, because Carmelo wasn't married. He's
my boyfriend-I mean was my boyfriend-before
he got killed."

"No, sweetie, you were his mistress, because
I'm his wife!" she said, flinging her hand with the
wedding ring on it. Nichelle covered her mouth,
trying to stop the quivering of her lips.

"I don't give a damn if you was or wasn't
Carmelo's wife, because he ain't wit' us no more
anyway. So what in the hell do you want?" Tierra
yelled, not giving a damn who she was, but pissed
that she was upsetting Nichelle so much.

While Tierra and the woman bickered back and
forth, Nichelle stared at her intently. She remembered
the woman from the funeral. She was still wearing
the black sable fur coat. "Was that Carmelo's daughter
who was singing at the funeral?"

Everybody went silent, and all eyes were on Nichelle. Tierra could see the tears building up in
Nichelle's eyes, and her heart broke for her.

"Yes, it was. We have two kids together; a
son and a daughter."

"I had no idea," Nichelle disclosed, turning
her head away.

"Yeah, but obviously married or not, you
knew about Nichelle, because you came looking
for her. She damn sure wasn't looking for you!"
Tierra spit.

"Listen-"

"No, you listen!" Tierra jumped in, cutting
her off. "Clearly you wanted Nichelle to know you
were married to Carmelo, so mission accomplished.
Now, you can leave."

"I ain't done accomplishing all my shit. I want
you out my crib," the woman turned to Nichelle
and said.

"Excuse me! This is the home I shared with
Carmelo. It isn't your crib."

"When are you young, silly girls gon' learn.
Whose name do you think this place was in? He
was a drug dealer, for heavens sake! You think he
can put an expensive ass condo in his name? No,
this shit is in any name. Look at the papers." The
woman practically shoved them down Nichelle's
throat. "It says `Lynette Clayton', that's me. So I
need you to get your shit and get out!"

"She ain't leaving tonight. She needs time to get her stuff together. I mean this has been her home
with your husband for how many months now? You
wanna throw around words like `young' and `silly',
but who's really the clown in this situation? You know
that your husband is laying up with a teenager every
fuckin' night, taking care of her while you stuck at
home taking care of his kids. This crib might be in
your name, but the same shit he was buying you,
trust, he was lacing her wit' too.

And see, I had a daddy that was married to
my mother, but unlike you he lived in the house
wit' us. He was also a drug dealer, hustling dope
making serious paper. But when he got killed, my
mother couldn't afford to maintain that lifestyle
that he had given us, so we ended up back in
the projects. And I guarantee you, so will you and
your kids. So don't come around here actin' like
you better than somebody `cause you got a ring on
your finger."

"That's enough!" her brother barked, seeing
that his sister was visibly shaking with the lashing
Tierra was giving her.

"You have forty-eight hours to get out my
home, or next time, I'll bring the police and they'll
put you out."

"Mrs. Clayton, you must not be from New
York. If you were, you would know the housing
laws. See, Nichelle gets mail here and has been a
resident for over thirty days. You can't just throw her out of shit. There's a legal procedure you have
to go through. . .you feel me?"

You could see the fire steaming from the
woman's head, and it made Tierra's smile get wider
and wider.

"I'll be out by tomorrow."

"Nichelle, fuck this bitch! You don't have to
rush and leave."

"I want to leave. Now excuse me, I need
for you to go ... now!" Nichelle didn't wait for a
response, she just slammed the door in Lynette and
her brother's face.

"You better than me. I would stay up in this
motherfucker until I was dragged out just to spite
that bitch."

"It ain't even worth it. He was married and
had kids with another woman. I mean, did I even
know this man?" Nichelle sat down on the couch,
shaking her head out of frustration and heartache.

"You know that he loved you."

"Did he really? Can someone really love you
and deceive you like that?"

"You know I was neva a fan of Carmelo's,
but I will say this. That nigga loved you. And don't
you let his bitter wife or anybody else convince
you otherwise. I have been around the block a few
times, and ain't no nigga ever treated me half as
good as Carmelo treated you. He wasn't doing it
either, because you were some trick. He did it out of love."

"But why didn't he tell me he was married
with kids?"

"You ain't gon' ever understand why men
do some of the shit they do. And trust, I'm not
condoning what Carmelo did, but a nigga has
always, and will always continue to do fucked up
shit and break a woman's heart. That's why I ain't
got one. But, baby girl, you one of the lucky ones.
You found real love. It may have ended up being
somewhat tainted, but it don't change the fact that
the shit was real."

"In my heart I feel the same way, but finding
out about his wife and kids makes some things
confusing."

"What things?"

"When I was at the hospital, the doctor told me
I was eight weeks pregnant. I had no idea. But when
I first found out, I wanted to keep our baby."

"What about now?"

"I still do. I can't imagine killing the child
growing inside of me. It's Carmelo's baby. I would
be able to forever have a part of him, even though
he's no longer with me."

"Nichelle, the thought of that is beautiful,
but with a baby comes a lot of responsibility. You
haven't even graduated from high school yet. Then
you have to find a way to financially take care of
the baby. Do you really want your son or daughter to grow up in the projects like we did?"

"I'll find a way to make it work. This baby is my
attachment to Carmelo. I won't let that go...I can't."

There is no escaping karma when you do dirt.
Payback will surly find you. Unfortunately, you
never know when, where or from whom that
retaliation will come from. At the very moment you
believe you have escaped from having to answer
for the misfortune you've caused another, that is
when you meet your demise.

Nichelle took one last look at the place she
had called home for what now seemed like a
lifetime. She had left everything, from the furniture
to the paintings on the walls. The only thing she
was leaving with was her personal belongings and
a few pictures of her and Carmelo.

"Girl, you crazy for leaving all this shit instead
of selling it. You know that bitter ass Lynette gon' turn
around and do exactly that, then pocket all the money.
I wouldn't let that bitch get shit, especially for how she came at you on some real disrespectful shit."

"She can have it. They are only material things.
The stuff that really matters, I'm taking with me."

"You need to stop with all that being saintly
shit. You got a child to think about now, and how
you gon' feed him or her."

"Tierra, I'm far from a saint, and I'm not tryna'
be one. All I want to do is move on with my life.
Selling shit and battling with Carmelo's wife isn't
gonna bring him back or make my situation any
less painful."

"Whatever!" Tierra rolled her eyes. "But when
that belly start poking out and reality kick in, don't
say I didn't tell you that you should've unloaded
this shit like you a booster."

What Tierra was saying did make a lot of
sense to Nichelle. She would need money to
take care of her child, and a lot of it. But what
Tierra didn't understand was that Nichelle was too
emotionally drained and depressed to go to combat
with anyone. The only reason she forced herself to
get out of bed, eat and take minimal care of herself
was because she knew that the seed growing inside
her needed that to survive.

"Come on, let's go. I'm done here." Before
Nichelle walked out, she glanced around the condo
before placing her key on the kitchen counter. But
this time, there would be no tearful goodbye or
regrets. She was closing the door on that part of her life she shared with Carmelo, and focusing on
the future life that they created.

Lynette was on her third shot of Patron,
impatiently waiting for the person she was supposed
to be meeting. She eyed her watch, becoming
heated, realizing he was more than an hour late.
"Fuck that!" she hissed, slamming the glass down
after gulping down her fourth shot. "This nigga ain't
showing up. I can't believe he wasted my time."
She left some money to cover her bill and decided
to break out.

"Leaving so soon?"

"I've been waiting here for over an hour!
What the fuck took you so long?"

"Have a seat and calm down. You're embarrassing
yourself and me."

Lynette did what he said, mainly because the
effect of the alcohol was taking its toll on her. If she
didn't sit down, there was a very good chance she
would fall and bust her ass. "I'm calm. Now, did
you bring me my money?" Lynette cut to the chase,
because it was all about the dollar for her.