“There you go trying to make me feel guilty. You really need to go sit yo' ass down somewhere because I treat all of my kids the same and you know it. Monica may have more because she holding things down for me, Keysha. She makes it where everything ain't on me. How many times do I have to tell you that, before you get it through that thick-ass head of yours?”
I threw my hand back at him and rolled my eyes. “You can say whatever you want to, but I know the real deal. Keith is treated like your stepchild, and it's very unfair to him.”
I knew how to get underneath Tremaine's skin. I also knew how to get him to give me some extra moneyâmoney that he definitely had to give, and his full-time job was truly enough to support us all.
His father, Papa James, was one of the biggest drug dealers around. Tremaine was reaping the benefits of his father's empire and money was not hard to come by. He proved that to me when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash that he could barely grip with his hand. He flipped backed four hundred-dollar bills and gave them to me. I refused to take them.
“See how you do,” I said. “You got all that money in yo' hand and all you can dish out is four hundred dollars. That's a shame, Tremaine, and real, real low. Don't you feel bad?”
“Not hardly. You'd better take this shit or else I'm gon' put it back in my pocket and pretend that an offer was never made. One, two . . .”
Before he reached three, I snatched the money from his hand. I wasn't no fool, and anything he offered, I for damn sure was taking it.
“Yeah, that's what I thought,” he said. “Now, are you done griping for the day?”
“Only for the next four minutes. After that, I'm sure I can think of something else you failed to do.”
We got out of the car on a good note, but after we went back inside and Tremaine started conversing with that hoochie who was getting her hair done, I was pissed. He had the nerve to give the bitch his phone number right in front of me. Like always when he dished out his disrespect, I pretended that it didn't bother me. I never said one word when he got his ho on, but deep down I was fuming. Fuming so badly that when his cell phone rang and he walked off to use the bathroom, I paid Big Mike for cutting Keith's hair and we left. I expected to hear from Tremaine real soon, and when he called my cell phone, I pretended as if everything was all good.
“Where the fuck did you go?” he yelled into the phone.
“Keith was ready to leave. I looked for you, but I wasn't sure where you went. I thought you left with that hooker you gave your phone number to.”
“You know damn well that I didn't go anywhere, Keysha. Stop playing games and bring my son back here.”
“No can do. He's on his way to my mama's house for the weekend. He asked me if he could stay with her, instead of with you.”
I could hear how upset Tremaine was getting over the phone. His voice went up several notches. “Don't fucking lie like that. If he told you that shit, let me speak to him so he can tell me.”
“No can do. If you wanted to speak to him, you should have done so while he was at the barbershop. Instead, you were too busy chasing ass.”
“Listen, I ain't got time for your jealous-ass games, Keysha. Let me speak to my son right now.”
“No can do. We'll holla later, and don't bother to call back because I'm blocking your number.”
Tremaine knew I wasn't playing with him. I was so sure that he would call back, I blocked his number. I took Keith over to my mama's house, and I was so glad that she had just moved and Tremaine didn't know how to get here. Keith fussed a little, but two of his best friends lived two houses down from my mother. When he saw them outside playing, Keith was fine. My mama invited the boys to come inside, and before I left, they were in Keith's room playing video games.
“I'll bring Keith back on Friday,” my mama said, standing behind the screen door with her nightgown on. Her hair was in rollers and she had a joint squeezed in between her fingers. “Tremaine needs to be ashamed of himself for not showing up. I'm really starting not to like him. He hasn't been much good to Keith since the day he was born.”
“I know it and you know it too. But it is what it is. If you need to reach me, I'll have my cell phone on. Going shopping and I'll get you those tennis shoes you wanted for keeping Keith. Size ten, right?”
“Ten or ten and a half. My ankles have been swelling up on me from walking so much, and I want my shoes to be comfortable.”
“Okay, Mama. See you Friday. And if Keith starts talking back to you like he did the last time, be sure to let me know.”
“I will. Have a good time, and keep Tremaine's number blocked so he doesn't interrupt your time with your friends. He reminds me so much of that foolish father of yours, and in the long run, he's only hurting himself. Tell Porsha and Angel I said hi too.”
“I will,” I said, getting into my car and pulling out of the driveway.
I couldn't agree more with my mama. While Tremaine had stepped up way more than my father had, he was still slacking. My father and I barely got along. I hadn't spoken to or seen him in years. When my mother told me how he played her and left us behind, I didn't want to have nothing to do with him for real. The times I did see him, all I did was cope. Deep down, I despised the man. The only thing I appreciated was the hundred bucks he gave me, and the two hundred dollars he gave me for Keith. To me, he didn't exist and I got tired of fronting to please him.
The four hundred dollars Tremaine gave me wasn't enough for me to get my shop on, but every now and then I'd put money aside that he kicked out to me. Today, it was enough to get me the handbag I wanted from Nordstrom, and I also bought two pair of shoes. I got Keith some more tennis shoes, and I went to GameStop to pick up him a few more video games. After that, Angel, Porsha, and me went to the nail shop to get the works. Like always, Porsha tried to convince me that I was wrong for not letting Keith spend time with Tremaine.
“Girl, you better have your fighting gloves on tonight, because Tremaine is going to be pissed about what you did. I know you be messing with his head a lot, but don't you think you went too far this time? I don't think you should have taken him over to your mama's house, and how does Keith feel about all of this?”
“First of all, Tremaine was late, and I'm the mother here. Keith has no say about anything, I do. Second of all, Tremaine insulted me by only giving me four hundred dollars and telling me to shop at the flea market and Walmart. Lastly, he shouldn't have disrespected me by hoochie searching around me, and that was the last straw.”
“I know how you feel, but you do be kind of hard on him, Keysha,” Angel said. “Either way, Porsha don't know what she talking about because she doesn't have any kids. You have to take what she says with a grain of salt.”
I didn't bother to comment on Angel saying I was too hard on Tremaine. Everything I dished out, he deserved it.
“Trust me when I say I don't pay Porsha no mind. I don't care how anybody feels about how I conduct myself. Everything I do is for a reason, and my son will be better off if he knows the truth about his father.”
“I don't have to have any kids to know that y'all be playing too many games, especially you Keysha. Y'all kids are going to be the ones hurt, and I don't get why y'all don't seem to understand that.”
Porsha was pissing me off. I hated for a bitch who didn't have the same worries as me to comment on something she had no experience with. She was on the outside looking in and didn't know the half of it. All she knew was what I had told her. That in itself should have been enough for her to realize that while Tremaine claimed he was doing the best he could, he really wasn't.
“Can we please change the subject?” I asked. “Until you have kids and have to deal with these messy niggas out here, anything you say will fall on deaf ears. You're wasting your time with me. Maybe Angel is listening, but I'm not.”
“I don't care if you're listening or not. I'm just telling you how I feel. You're the one who is messy, and anytime a bitch does what you did today, I consider that reckless.”
I cocked my head back, and as I nearly jumped out of my chair to get at Porsha, I almost kicked the Asian lady who was working on my feet in her face. She said something to the other Asian lady that I didn't understand.
“Come again?” I said, standing next to Porsha who had jumped up from her seat as well. “So now I'm a bitch because I don't listen to you? Really?”
The Asian ladies kept talking to each other. Their voices were loud, so I assumed they were going off on us. I didn't care because Porsha's ass was out of line.
“Maybe I did go too far with the bitch thing, but since you jumped out of your chair like you gon' do something, then I may let what I said about you being a bitch stick.”
It took everything that I had not to hurt Porsha. She already looked like she'd been beat in the face already, so I didn't think that my punches would do much more harm. What I did was politely put my shoes back on, and I paid the Asian lady for the half job she'd done. After that, I headed toward the door.
“Girl, call me later,” Angel said. “Y'all need to quit tripping and make up.”
I rolled my eyes and didn't think twice about making up with Porsha. She was running out of friend passes. She had already used up two of them. She had one more left, before I cut that bitch out of my life for good. The same thing went for my baby's daddy.
Chapter Two
Keysha
I was glad to be home and away from who was starting to become one of my hatersâPorsha. I parked my car and opened the trunk to remove my shopping bags. As I was getting ready to close it, I felt something sharp against the side of my neck, pricking my skin. A hand slipped over my mouth, and I was so afraid that I dropped my bags on the ground.
“One question. Where is my son?”
I sighed from relief, but I could tell in his voice that he wasn't in the best mood. He released his hand from my mouth, but held me around my neck. The sharp object remained there as well.
“I told you he was at my mama's house, didn't I? Now, let me go and move that blade away from my neck.”
Tremaine added more pressure to the blade and threatened to cut me. “Game over. Go inside, call your mama and tell her I'm coming to get my son. If you don't, I swear the police gon' find this sexy-ass body of yours in a bag somewhere stankin'.”
I'd be the first to admit that there were plenty of times when Tremaine and me went to blows with each other. He didn't hesitate to put his hands on me, and I never hesitated to fight back.
“I'll call her in the morning. I promise. It's late and I don't want you dragging him out of her house. Now would you please get that blade away from my damn neck?”
Tremaine removed the blade, but his chokehold got tighter. I was getting angrier by the minute. I didn't appreciate him out here tripping like this. As he started to speak again, I used my elbow to punch him in the gut. I hit him hard enough for him to loosen his grip and back away. My next move was to kick him between his legs. I knew how to bring him down, and when I karate kicked him in the nuts, he fell to his knees. I made my escape by sprinting to the door. I was hoping to unlock the door and get inside before he regrouped, but that didn't happen. The moment I tried to close the door, he pushed it open and rushed inside with my bags. After he dropped them on the floor, he picked me up and body slammed me on the couch. As he held me down, I swung wildly at him.
“Get off me, punk! And if you put your hands on me, I'ma burn yo' shit up like I did the last time!”
Tremaine pressed his knee into my stomach and pulled my hair so tight that my head felt like it was bleeding and I could barely move it. “I'm not here to fight you, you stupid bitch! All I want to do is spend some fucking time with my son! Why do yo' ass keep denying me? What the hell is going on with you, where you think it's okay for you to keep my son from me? I don't know what else you want, Keysha. All you're going to do is push me away for good!”
I squeezed my watered down eyes, hoping that he would have some sympathy for me and loosen his grip. “I want you to do right by me and do right by our son. I'm sick of your disrespect, and I hate that you spend more time with Monica and your other three kids, than you spend with us. I don't even care about Bree as much, but you gotta know that this shit hurts, Tremaine. It hurts that we don't get any of your time!”
Okay, I said it and I meant it. Maybe some of this anger inside of me was because Tremaine and me didn't have the kind of relationship I wanted. I wanted more, but I knew that he couldn't give me more. He was too caught up and occupied with the other chicks, and his kids, that he couldn't give me the time I wanted. All we did was fuck every now and then, but to me, having his dick on occasion wasn't enough.
Tremaine removed himself from on top and sat next to me. He cracked his knuckles then removed the cap on his head.
“We've been over this too many times before.” His voice was much calmer. “I told you this ain't about me and you, and I wish you would stop putting Keith in the middle of this. I'm not trying to hurt you, but you already know I don't do right when it comes to relationships. It ain't no disrespect to you when I tell you what's up. As far as Monica is concerned, again, Keysha, we tight like that because she understands me better than you do.”
“You mean y'all tight because that bitch let you run her ass over, and I won't allow you to do it. While she sits back quiet as a mouse, you hear about my concerns and issues that I have with you. I get that you don't like confrontation, but what else do you want me to do? I have feelings, you know, and I wish that I could throw yo' ass away and be done with you for real.”
“Nah, you don't want to do that. And the reason that you don't want to do that is because you know damn well that I'm good to you. I'm also good to my son. You were the one who set the rules about him spending one week of the month with me, but if it were left up to me, he'd spend more time with me. But you don't want him at me and Monica's house, so I'm going with your flow. Or should I say I was going with your flow. Since you've been tripping with me lately, I may have to change some things, just to make sure I'm allowed to see my son when I want to.”
I rolled my eyes at Tremaine. He was so right. I hated for my son to be at his house with Monica. I didn't trust that bitch with my son. If she ever said anything out of line to him, I was going to have to hurt her.
“Tomorrow. You can go get Keith tomorrow. I'll call my mama and she'll meet you somewhere. She doesn't want you to know where she lives, because she doesn't like you like that.”
“She don't like me because you've been telling lies and spilling ill shit about me. Through the eyes of many, I'm a deadbeat, a no good muthafucka who don't do shit. That couldn't be further from the truth and you know it. And then you be putting my business and your lies out there on Facebook and Twitter. I get tired of people telling me about what you be saying, but I chalk it up as attention. You seeking attention, but you're going about it the wrong way.”
“I do it to vent. And whoever telling you what I write shouldn't be stalking my page to see what I be saying. I know Bree be the one telling you what I say, but she doesn't tell you that she be liking my comments too. As soon as I get a chance, I'ma delete that heifer from my page.”
“Do whatever you gotta do, but please stop putting me on blast to the whole world. That shit ain't cool at all.”
“I'll think about it, but you need to get your tricks in check. Why do Bree be up in my business like that? I know you're still fucking around with her, but she doesn't need to be worried about what I'm over here doing.”
“I'm not doing nothing with Bree. She got a man in her life, so we don't get down like that anymore. Who I want to get down with a little more often be tripping. She be sweating me and making things real difficult for me.”
I pointed to my chest. “Uh, would that person just happen to be me?”
Tremaine stood in front of me and unbuckled his belt. “Yeah, that would be you. But I'ma do my best to fix your problems and help you take care of mine. You don't mind taking care of this little problem with my dick being hard, do you?”
By now, Tremaine had his hard dick hanging out of his zipper and swinging his steel from left to right near my face. I wanted to reject him, but it had been at least a month since we'd last had sex. The truth was, I missed him. I missed his touch and I loved the way he handled me during sex. I reached out to touch his muscle that had grown over ten inches. It was thick and smooth just like he was. He held it in his hand and I inched forward to take him all in. I got a thrill out of sucking his dick, and as it rubbed against the back of my throat, I closed my eyes.
“See, I knew we could get along,” Tremaine said in a whisper. “All it takes is a little of your cooperation.”
I couldn't respond because my mouth was full. Tremaine held my head steady and tightened his ass every time he went in. I gripped his buttâready for him to spark a fire between my legs.
Minutes later, Tremaine released his fluids in my mouth. I stood, and he helped me remove my clothes. A small pile formed on the floor next to us, and as we both stood naked, we searched into each other's eyes.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked.
“If you don't know, maybe I need to fall back on the couch and let you decide.”
I sat back on the couch, opened my legs, and invited him to come inside of my hairless slit that was already dripping wet. Tremaine dropped to his knees, but before he could dip his tongue into me, I stopped him.
“Not now,” I said eager for his dick instead. “I want that. That with a condom on it. Please.”
Tremaine always tried to go there without condoms. That's why he found himself with so many damn kids. Claimed he didn't like the way condoms felt, but that was too bad. We had to roll with it.
After putting on a condom, Tremaine kneeled on the couch and poured both of my legs over his broad shoulders. He beat his dick against my pussy then used his thick head to part my slit. As he pushed inside of me, all we could hear was the sounds of my gushy juices. There was no doubt that I was overly excited, and so was Tremaine as I started to move with him. My breasts wobbled around, but not so much that he couldn't suck them. I held on to his ass, and every time he pushed, I pushed harder. When he rotated his hips, I grinded mine. My heavy cream was all over him, and as I felt my first orgasm coming, I tightened my fist and beat it on the couch.
“Damn, nigga, you just don't know how I feel about you. I love this shit, Tremaine. Why you always gotta make this feel so good?”
Tremaine responded by sucking my lips into his. He whispered for me to turn on my stomach, just so he could tackle my pussy from the back. I turned around, hiked my pretty ass in the air and let him have at it. I knew how to make him cum too, so I threw myself back and listened to the loud sound of his thighs slapping against my ass.
We worked so hard together that by the time we were finished the condom was off. I accused Tremaine of purposely removing it because he kept changing positions.
“Don't blame me,” he said, laughing and making his way to the bathroom to wash up. “That was your wild ass.”
He had a point, but I still blamed it on him.
Minutes later, Tremaine and I were in the shower fucking again. I could never get enough of him, and since I didn't know when we'd be able to indulge ourselves again, I tried to get all that I could from him. Once we were done, I thought he was going to leave. I was surprised when he said he was spending the night. I called and told my mama to meet Tremaine in the morning at a gas station down the street from her house so he could spend the rest of the week with Keith. She wasn't happy about it, and I was shocked that she didn't put up a fuss.
After I ended the call with her, I went back into my bedroom and saw Tremaine lying across my bed. He hadn't spent the night over here in months. Maybe things weren't going well with him and Monica. I was so sure she would be ringing his phone tonight, and around one in the morning, somebody kept calling. Tremaine was sound asleep. I removed his cell phone from the nightstand and tiptoed into the living room to see who it was. Monica had called twice, but the one o'clock caller was Bree. I sat on the couch, reading her text messages. One after the other, she cursed him for not coming over like he said he would, she told him she was lying in bed naked waiting for him, and she threatened to call someone else if he didn't show. She kept referring to their “relationship” as whack, but then said she loved him.
I figured Tremaine had lied about his involvement with Bree, but he really had me convinced that she had another man. It didn't appear that way, especially when I looked through his pictures and saw trifling pictures of Bree with a little of nothing on. She was such a tramp, and as a so-called professional stripper, I guess she assumed the way to Tremaine's heart was through her pussy.
After looking at her pictures, I was sick to my stomach and had seen enough of them. Or at least that's what I thought, until I saw a text message from Tremaine telling her that he loved her. That really had my blood boiling, especially when I thought about our conversation from earlier when he hesitated to say the love word to me. I mean, I couldn't make his ass fall in love with me, but after all that I'd done for him, how could he not?
My initial thought was to go back there and wake his ass up to confront him. But I quickly changed my mind. I wanted him to rest well. By morning I had something for his ass.
I was so upset that I didn't dare go back into the bedroom to where he was. I remained on the couch, but as I started to fade, his phone rang again. This time it was Monica. I didn't hesitate to answer. She recognized my voice and paused before she said anything.
“Hello,” I repeated.
“Keysha, where is Tremaine?”
“Busy.”
“Busy doing what?”
“It's after one o'clock in the morning. What do you think he's been busy doing, or are you too stupid to figure it out?”
“It sounds like you're implying that y'all are having sex. If that's the case, why are you answering his phone?”
“I don't answer your questions, little girl. You called here, so you can answer mine.”
“Keysha, I'm not doing this with you again. Wherever Tremaine is, tell him to call me back soon. It's very important.”
“Don't expect to hear from him soon, because he'll be busy for the rest of the night. You can deal with him in the morning, which may turn out to be late morning or early afternoon because me, him, and Keith have things to do. You and your crumb snatchers over there can manage without him for a few hours, can't y'all.”
“Watch yourself, trick. I didn't say anything about Keith, so don't go throwing my kids up in this. When you get done talking, you need to go sit down somewhere because Tremaine knows where home is. It's definitely not there in that shack with you.”