Side Chic 3 (The Ratchetness Continues) (6 page)

             
I nodded my head. “That could very well be the case.” I agreed.

             
“Speaking of people being together for a minute, you and Kisha have been hanging in there for a good while too.”

             
“Kisha and I aren’t together anymore.” I informed her even though I had a feeling that she already knew because there were no secrets where we lived. “Yeah, we split up like two months ago.”

             
“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Her hand went up over her mouth like that was the most shocking news that she’d heard in a while.

             
“Yeah…well like you said everything happens for a reason. Right?”

             
“That’s what I said.” She laughed. “So does that mean that you’re single now?”

             
“Yes ma’am, I am very single.” I answered. “Why? Would you like to give me your number so that I can call you sometimes?”

             
“Sure.” She blushed.

I took out my phone and she called out her number to me. After programming her number in my phone I put it back in my pocket. “Alright now, I don’t want no drama if I call your phone.” I told her. I said it in a joking tone but I was serious as a heart attack. I knew her ex-boyfriend Mello pretty well. He was known for trippin’ on niggas over her. He’d fight a motherfucka for just looking her way! I didn’t need that bullshit!
I was done with the drama. I’d had my share and didn’t want anymore.

“Oh you don’t have that to worry about.” She assured me. “I am single. I don’t have to answer to anyone! I can talk to whoever I please.”

“Okay…well I’m going to get on home. I’ll hit you up later on.”

“Alright.” She went inside the s
tore and I headed home.

Mina

After getting all of the things that I needed from the store, I headed back up the street to the salon to wait for my two o'clock appointment. I took my time, leisurely strolling back up the street. A smile played on the corners of my lips as I thought to myself how good Tremaine had looked a few minutes ago when I'd bumped into him on my way inside the store. He’d always been fine as hell to me but I’d never said anything because of the fact that we were both in relationships and because of the fact that Kisha and I were supposedly related down the line. It wasn’t anything serious. Our dads were third cousins which mad us like fourth cousins but to be honest that didn’t really count. I didn’t even fuck with my daddy like that. I hadn’t seen him in over fifteen years. I was more bothered by all of the different women that I’d heard about Tremaine running through than Kisha and my relation. I’d never known her to claim me and I didn’t go around claiming her either so it was really no big deal.

I’d heard
that Tremaine had cheated on Kisha with numerous women but that wasn’t how I got down. It didn’t matter how good he looked, I wasn’t about to be one of the women he played with on the side. I was a number one type of bitch! I didn’t do the number two shit! I wanted to be the chic that he claimed and rocked on his arm not the one he kept hidden in the cut for a late night fuck.

I’d already known that
Kisha and Tremaine were no longer together before I’d asked. Their situation had been the talk of the town for several weeks now. I knew all about the other girl that he’d gotten pregnant while he was with Kisha. I'd also heard about what had gone down between him and his boy Casper a little over a month ago. I shook my head at the sad thought of Casper shooting him and Tamika. To me, it made no sense at all because Casper knew all along what type of female Tamika was. Yes, both Tremaine and Tamika were dead wrong for what they'd been doing behind his back but he could've found a better way to handle the situation besides the way that he'd chosen. Now as a result of his actions, Tamika was dead and he would be spending a very long time in prison. Time that he could never get back. I felt that none of it had to be. It was just plain stupid. I was extremely glad though that Tremaine had survived. I was looking forward to getting to know him better. I knew that there was a good chance that he still had a lot of dog in him because as the old saying goes, once a cheat always a cheat. The difference between me and all of the others was that I wasn’t going to allow the bullshit. I’d already been through a lot of shit with Mello. So I wasn’t about to allow Tremaine to take me through anything else. The shit that he’d done in the past stopped with me. The game was about to change.

I looked up the street
in the direction of the salon and saw something that gave me an instant headache. Mello’s 345lb frame was posted up in front of the salon. I took a deep breath and blew it out.
Lord what in the fuck does he want?
I wondered to myself. Seeing him immediately blew my high. I’d been feeling good as hell from the blunt that my cousin Nelle and I had smoked just before I’d walked to the store.

When I reached the salon
, I purposely continued past him, acting as if I didn’t see him. I didn’t have anything to say to him. I was done talking. I’d done too much fuckin’ talking in the five years that he and I’d been together and that shit hadn’t gotten me anywhere except countless ass whoopings! I knew that he thought that I was playing about us being over because I’d left a million and one times only to turn around and go right back as soon as he came at me with some sad ass apology. I was more than tired of forgiving him for his bullshit. For five years, I’d lived in pure hell! He would come home and beat my ass just because. Whooping my ass was like a hobby to that nigga. I’d been hospitalized a few times during our relationship as a result of the abuse. I just couldn’t do it anymore.

I won’t lie and pretend like all of the feelings that I once had for him were completely gone because they weren’t. It was impossible to just stop loving someone that you’d loved and cared for
, for five years but he needed some help for his temper. I’d begged him before I’d decided to leave for him to get some help but he refused to. He said that he didn’t want any stranger all up in his business. I kept trying to explain to him that his getting help wasn’t just about him. It was about our daughter Simya and me as well.

             
Growing up, Mello had been a victim of abuse. His daddy was an alcoholic, who used to beat him and his mama on a regular basis. Not only did his daddy beat him but so did his mother. It was like some sick ass cycle. His daddy would get upset and take his frustration out on the two of them. Then his mama would get upset and frustrated with the fact that his daddy was whooping her ass and treating her like shit and then she would beat the hell out of him. When he would tell me the stories about all of the pain that he’d suffered at the hands of his parents growing up, my heart went out to him. I’d tried my best to get him to see that he was doing the same thing to me that his daddy had done to his mama. He would apologize and promise that he wouldn’t do it again. Always saying that he’d lost control of his temper and didn’t mean to hit me but then turn right around and whoop my ass again a day later.

             
The final strike had come when he’d shaken Simya because she was crying while he was trying to go to sleep. There was no way in hell that I was going to sit back and allow him to harm my baby. The things that he did to me were worse enough but she was just an innocent two year old baby. She couldn’t defend herself. That was my job. So I’d left and gotten a restraining order against him. He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near me but yet here he was.

             
“So you don’t see me standing here?” He asked taking one last pull of the cigarette that he’d been smoking and flicking the butt on to the pavement. I put my hand on the door handle to go inside and felt him snatch me back by the back of my shirt! “I said you don’t see me standing here?” He repeated through clenched teeth.

             
“Go ahead on with all of that, Mello.” I said trying to jerk away from his grasp. “You ain’t even supposed to be here on my property or anywhere near me at all for that matter.”

             
He sucked his teeth. “Man, fuck that whack ass restraining order! I came here to try and talk to you. I miss my family…I miss my daughter. I haven’t seen my baby in over a month.”

             
“Whose fault is that Mello?” I asked looking up into his chocolate brown eyes. The expression on his face reflected anger and his high yellow complexion had turned a bright shade of red. “You would be at home with your family if you would get some help! Simya and I are not your punching bags for you to take out your frustration on every time that you get upset!”

             
He tried to speak, “Mina, I…”

             
I cut him off. “You have done a lot of shit to me and I’ve taken it. Mainly because I love you and I sympathize for all that you have been through. I understand that it had to have been hard for you but I refuse to allow you to hurt my baby.” I shook my head. “Nah, ain’t no way in hell I can sit back and allow that to happen.”
              “Yo, chill with that bullshit! I would never do anything to hurt my baby!” He held a firm grip on my shirt with one hand and pointed the other in my face. “I love my baby!”

             
“Then act like it! Get some fuckin’ help! What do you think would’ve happened if you had shaken her harder than what you did? Do you know how many babies have died like that?” I screamed at him. He was standing there trying to downplay what he’d done like it was no big deal when it really was! Every time that incident crossed my mind it scared the shit out of me, thinking of what could’ve happened.

             
The door to the salon opened and my little cousin Kamia stuck her head out. “Is everything alright out here?” She inquired looking from me to Mello.

             
“Yeah everything is good out here!” He barked. “Take your nosey ass back inside and mind your own damn business! That’s what part of our problem is now! Nosey ass motherfuckas all up in our shit trying to find out, what’s going on!”

             
“Fuck you, you fat ugly motherfucka!” Kamia shot back! “That’s my damn cousin right there and if I want to come and check on her then I will! I know how your abusive woman-beating ass get down!”

             
He turned loose the back of my shirt and took a few steps closer to Kamia. “Bitch, I will beat the brakes off of your ass out here! Don’t be talking to me sideways like you don’t know who the fuck I am!”

             
“Mello just leave.” I begged grabbing a hold of his arm trying to pull him back. I was trying to prevent what I saw about to take place. “Please leave! Please…” He snatched away from me and continued towards Kamia.

             
She opened the door up wider and stepped outside. “Like I don’t know who you are?” She threw back her head and let out a sarcastic laugh. “Nigga, who are you? A fat ass coward who beats on women…”
              Before she could say another word, Mello’s hands were wrapped around her throat. He lifted her up off the ground by her neck! She was digging her nails in his hands and trying to get him to let go but it wasn’t working. Her eyes were huge and looked as if they were going to pop right out of their sockets.

I jumped on his
back hitting him in the back of his head. I was hitting him with every ounce of strength that I had in my 4ft. 11in. frame but my blows didn’t seem to have any effect on him.

             
“Somebody help!” I screamed. “Call the cops! Do something!” A few seconds later, my cousin Nelle and Kim, the other girl who worked for me, ran outside.

“The cops are on the way!” Kim yelled as she and Nelle ran over and started helping me fight Mello
and trying to get him off of Kamia. He finally turned Kamia a loose and she fell to the ground holding her throat and gasping for air. Once I saw Kamia fall to the ground. I immediately stopped hitting Mello and went over to her. Just as I kneeled down to see if she was okay. I was pushed roughly from behind. I fell literally face first. I felt the pavement scrape the skin from my face but before I could recover from that I felt pain in my back, head and side. I could hear Nelle and Kim screaming, begging Mello to stop. It felt like two or three people were stomping me at once.

             
"Bitch, I can't stand your ass!" He yelled as he continued to stomp me. I had balled up into a fetal position trying to shield my body from some of the blows but it wasn't really helping. "All I wanted was to see my fuckin' baby! That's it!"

I hear
d sirens in the distance just before I passed out.

Mina

I woke up a few hours later at Southampton Memorial Hospital hooked to an IV and several monitors. I looked to the side of me and saw Nelle sitting in the chair next to my bed. As soon as she noticed that I was awake she got up from her seat and rushed over to the bed.

             
"Hey lady bug, how are you feeling?" She asked rubbing my arm.

             
"I feel alright." I replied my face felt swollen and it was really sore. I tried to sit up and that's when I felt the pain from the stomping that Mello had put on me. My entire body ached. I felt like I'd been hit by an eighteen wheeler. "Ahhh...damn!" I moaned in pain my words were coming out a little slurred because of the soreness in my face and it also felt like I maybe had bitten my tongue.