Raegan walked into the rehab center, her attitude at an all-time high. She couldn’t believe Micah had taken their son from her.
Now I have to go in here and deal with these people,
she thought as she snatched the door open. She was so pissed off that she didn’t realize that someone was coming out at the exact same time and she collided into him with full force. She lost her footing on the ice beneath her and went flying to the ground. Her head smashed against the pavement, sending a blinding pain shooting through her.
She sat up as she winced in pain, instinctively reaching for the back of her head.
“Are you okay?” Nahvid asked as he knelt down beside her.
“Umm yeah ... I’m sorry I didn’t see ... oww,” she moaned as she stopped midsentence to touch her tender head.
“Let me help you up,” he offered as he scooped her legs and lifted her from the ground before setting her on her feet.
Raegan cleared her hair from her face and he was taken by surprise at how beautiful she was.
Damn, what is she doing sucking on a pipe?
he asked himself, instantly assuming that she was an addict. He shook his head in disgrace. “You a’ight?” he checked once more.
She nodded as she brushed herself off. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”
She walked inside of the building and he made his way to his car, each dismissing the other without a second thought.
Raegan sighed as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. Chanel was late and Raegan was more than ready to go. Her first day of community service had left a bad taste in her mouth and she wanted nothing more than to get home and scrub the smell of crack off of her. The door opened and a chocolate girl exited the building. Her grey eyes mesmerized Raegan ... she was taken aback by how pretty the girl was. She caught herself staring and turned her head.
“I wish this bitch would hurry up ... it’s cold as hell out here,” Raegan uttered to herself.
“You ain’t lying,” the girl whispered back. “You’re the new girl right?”
“Oh no, I’m not a patient here. I’m just volunteering,” she said.
“Do I look like a crackhead to you?” the girl asked with a laugh. “Damn that’s fucked up. I need to put myself together a little better if I’m coming off like that.”
Raegan laughed and replied, “My fault, girl. I’m bugging. You just kinda assume that everybody in this place have problems bigger than your own, you know?”
“Problems I’ve got ... an addiction, not hardly,” the girl replied. “I’m Gucci.”
“Raegan,” she introduced.
A car horn honked and Raegan looked up hoping it was Chanel.
“That’s me ... I’ll see you tomorrow though, Raegan,” Gucci said.
Raegan nodded as she watched the girl step into the black Mercedes that was waiting curbside. It was sitting right with all-black everything and she shook her head as she thought,
damn wish it were me.
HONK HONK!
Chanel pulled up just as Gucci rolled off.
“Hurry up, bitch ... We’re going out tonight. It’s time to cheer you up!”
Raegan rolled her eyes and lowered her body to get into the car. “I’m not feeling it, Chanel. I just want to go home and wash the smell of cigarettes out of my hair. I feel so dirty. The people in that place are a mess,” Raegan said as she silently wondered how some of the rehab participants had even let themselves get to such a dark place.
“No, not trying to hear it. You’re coming out tonight! We’re leaving at nine o’clock. You’ve been depressed, walking around like a zombie for months. I know it’s hard being away from your son, but tonight we are going to go out and you’re going to get your mind off of it for a while,” Chanel insisted.
“How the hell you get tickets at this concert? K. West has been sold out for weeks!” Lisa yelled as she made her way to the center of the front row.
“One of my niggas got ’em for me,” Chanel replied.
“You don’t need to rob this nigga then, he’s a keeper,” Raegan said with laughter. The girls were laced thanks to Chanel’s latest sponsor. He was so friendly with the paper that she didn’t have to rob him. He kept her pockets full of money. He had plenty of it and didn’t mind sharing. Raegan’s black Prada dress looked as if it were painted on and red-bottom Louboutins made her shine like a star in a crowd full of duds. Fashion was not an issue for the girls. Chanel’s boosting skills were A-1 and she never stepped out of the house unless she was proper from head to toe. Any chick associated with her had to be up to par. There was no bad apple in their bunch. Her circle of friends was official. Bad bitches for sure. Raegan’s hair was pulled high off of her face in a genie ponytail. Everything from her eyebrows to her manicure was on point and the attention she was getting let her know she had put herself together right.
The entire front row was full of D.C.’s finest and the crowd went crazy when the soulful rapper hit the stage. The concert was nice but it was the intermission that was the real show. Everybody was dressed in their best as they walked around the Verizon Center trying to be seen.
“It’s so much potential in here,” Chanel said, eyeing potential victims for her latest scam.
“Damn, girl, take a night off. Ain’t your pussy tired?” Lisa asked seriously as her face twisted in contempt.
“Ain’t your third of the rent late, bitch?” Chanel shot back. “You need to let me put you up on game so you can get your paper up.”
Lisa stuck up her middle finger as Raegan shook her head. A crowd of girls crowded around a group of guys standing against the wall and as Raegan walked by she noticed the guy who had knocked her off her feet earlier that day. Their eyes locked and she slyly looked away and turned up her sexy as she walked subtly, precisely ... knowing that he was looking at her ass. She glanced back and to her dismay the guy wasn’t watching. She peered at him curiously and smiled as she kept walking. Raegan had never been one to play her cards too closely. She wasn’t obvious or desperate and there were plenty niggas in the building showing her mad love.
His loss
, she thought as she kept it moving with her girls.
Nahvid smirked as he sipped his Remy and stood among his circle, shutting down the event as usual. It never mattered who came to town. In D.C. Nahvid was the celebrity. This was his city.
“Shorty bad as hell. That’s you?” Reason asked as he leaned into his man curiously.
“Nah,” Nahvid replied. “I saw her earlier at the rehab center when I was fucking with my moms.”
“Bitch a piper?” Reason asked in disbelief. “They making ’em like that now?”
“I don’t know. I ain’t never seen none like her,” Nahvid stated. “She probably works there or something.”
“You don’t mind if I get on that?” Reason asked.
Nahvid wanted to tell him to fall back because Raegan definitely had him curious but he didn’t want to rain on his man’s parade. Pussy was on a regular rotation for Nahvid so he wasn’t sweating over one chick. There were enough women at the event to go around so he nodded toward her. “Go ahead, fam ... do you.”
Nahvid watched as his man approached Raegan. He silently hoped that she turned Reason down. Nahvid didn’t want a chick who was easy to get so this was the perfect test to see what type of lady she actually was. Reason had women standing in line to deal with him so he was a catch around the city. If she turned him down it wouldn’t be for his looks, and Nahvid was eager to see how she handled herself against a hood legend. He played the cut as his man went fishing.
“Yo, can I talk to you ladies for a minute?” Reason asked as he approached them, while looking Raegan up and down. “What’s your name, ma?” he asked.
“Raegan, we’re going to keep walking; we’ll be at the little girl’s room,” Chanel shouted.
“Okay, I’m coming right behind you,” Raegan responded. She looked at the guy in front of her. “My name’s Raegan,” she responded.
“Raegan and Reason goes well together,” he said with a charming smile.
“It’s corny,” she shot back with a smirk.
He laughed at her blunt nature, his ego slightly bruised as he rubbed his goatee. “You hard on a nigga huh? I’m just trying to get to know you, beautiful,” he said as he put a hand to his heart as if she were breaking it.
Raegan rolled her eyes and shook her head. She could tell that Reason’s lines were well rehearsed. “How many chicks have you come at like that tonight?” she asked.
Her question caught him off guard because he suddenly became dumbfounded. The look on his face gave him away.
“That many?” she asked. “Listen, brother, let me give you some game. Women don’t like being a part of a herd. It’s not good to hear when it’s not meant exclusively for you.”
She walked away leaving him staring at her backside as she entered the bathroom.
Nahvid chuckled as he watched his man throw up the white flag in surrender. “Was it that bad?” he asked, still laughing when Reason approached.
“Bitch was cold,” he replied as he shook his head. “She’s a crackhead.”
“Why she got to be on crack, fam?” Nahvid asked playfully.
“Cuz the ho got to be high to turn me down,” Reason replied. His feelings seemed genuinely hurt for all of ten seconds until his trained eye sought out another lady from the crowd.
Nahvid’s interest in Raegan doubled just from the way she had handled herself.
I’ll see her around,
he thought.
The after party was jumping. The parking lot of the Park Hyatt Hotel looked like a foreign dealership as the East Coast’s biggest players came out for a night on the town. D.C. wasn’t the only city in the building. New Yitty, Baltimore, Richmond, even Norfolk had come out to play. The girls parked their cars a block away from the hotel, along with the other ordinary folks with ordinary cars and made their way to the party. The entire hotel had been reserved for the after partiers with the famous rapper promising to make an appearance.
As Raegan walked through the parking lot she noticed Gucci standing near the black Benz she had gotten picked up in earlier that day. She was stunning from head to toe, dipped in gold. Gold dress, gold doorknocker earrings with the matching thick rope chain, gold stiletto pumps with the beautiful red bottoms ... The bitch was gold everything, reminding Raegan of a hot girl from the ’80s. Raegan had to admit that Gucci’s man kept her fly. She was the epitome of a dopeman’s wife. The girls waved to each other as Raegan passed by and made her way inside.
As soon as they entered the building Chanel found her victim for the night. “I’ll probably meet you guys at home. Here are my keys. I see something I like over there,” she said before making her way across the room.
“Want to get a drink?” Lisa asked.
Raegan was about to say yes until she saw Micah walk into the hotel. Her stomach instantly went hollow and her heart fell as she turned to Lisa. “No, I’m not feeling that well,” she lied. “I think I’m going to just catch a cab home.”
“You sure?” Lisa asked, unaware of why Raegan’s mood had suddenly run cold.
“Yeah, I’m sure. It stinks in here all of a sudden. Too many grimy niggas,” Raegan responded. She felt sick as she tried to remain inconspicuous while heading toward the door, but it was inevitable for Micah to see her. When he laid eyes on Raegan she could see the idea of revenge in his stare. He blocked her path.
“Fuck you going?” he asked harshly as he gripped the top of her arm. “What you rushing off for?” His tone was taunting as if he dared her to pop off.
“Let me go, Micah!” she said between clenched teeth as she pulled her arm away from him. “Where is my son?”
“I should fuck you up for that little stunt you pulled,” he threatened as he backed he into a corner. His hostility was evident. He stood so close to her that it appeared as though they were an intimate couple, but behind the visage his hand was wrapped tightly around her small neck. She struggled against him. “Stop,” she whispered as he put one hand up her dress. She pulled at his hand, desperately. “Stop, Micah!”
Her voice was loud but the music was louder and her protests were swallowed up in the sea of chatter.
No one would have even noticed how he was handling her if Nahvid hadn’t been watching. He had spotted her from across the room and as he made his way over, his temperature rose in anger. He could see the look of concern on Raegan’s face and although he did not know her, he wanted to.
“Is there a problem, my man?” he asked.
Micah turned and looked at Nahvid, but didn’t loosen his grip.
“Nothing that concerns you,” he shot.
“Yo, you don’t know me and I think you want to keep it that way. I’m not on no rah rah shit, fam. I don’t do that. So I’m gon’ say this one time and how the rest of your night plays out is up to you. Walk away,” he said with malice in his tone.