Pitbulls In a Skirt 4 Page 6

  “And the only thing on your mind not your son?” Carissa asks her. “You act like Chante ain’t even in the building anymore. You threw her in private school and pretty much washed your hands of her when Cameron died. I bet you that nigga rolling over in his grave right now for the way you treating his daughter. One day Chante gonna come at you hard too. Get ready.”

  Mercedes jumped up and accidently stepped on Derrick’s stiff hand. “Bitch, don’t tell me shit about my daughter. If anything you the one who has abandoned Treasure. Far as I can see you don’t get the mother of the year award neither, so sit your flat ass down somewhere.”

  I can’t believe it. Although I should I can’t believe that these two are still fighting each other. After everything we’ve been through, you’d think they’d understand that in this world, all we got is each other.

  They’re yelling at the top of their lungs, so I pull my gun out, and fire another bullet into Derrick’s corpse. They’re quiet now.

  “Listen, if you ask me both of you bitches are tripping,” I say to them. “You’re letting your kids control everything you do, and they don’t give a fuck about how either of you feel about it neither. Now I need you to pull yourselves together, and lets chop down this body. Because I don’t know if ya’ll remember or not, but the Vanishers have been missing in action for a minute, and dumping this body is our priority alone.”

  They stop arguing and we all stand in the middle of the floor, observing Derrick’s body. Damn, Derrick. He was the last nigga of the original Emerald City squad, and now he’s gone.

  “Mercedes, I don’t know why you did this shit,” I say to her. “To be honest, I don’t even care. You could walk up to a catholic priest, and shoot him in the head, and I’ll still have your back. Because I love you, and you’re my friend. But if you killed this nigga to get at C, this gonna come back on you again. This some bad karma type shit. This nigga was loved. Be prepared for that.”

  “I’m so confused right now,” Mercedes says to herself.

  “I hate you lately, Mercedes,” Carissa says, “but I feel the same way Yvette does. No matter what you do, I’ll have your back. Always. Just don’t make no moves like this again without putting us on. Killing should be our last priority, not the first.”

  Mercedes’ eyes widen. “Damn, bitch,” she says looking at Carissa. “I didn’t think you had any love for me left in your heart.”

  “Then I guess you don’t know me no more. Maybe that’s my fault. Maybe it’s both of our faults. I guess its true what they say, you can’t pick your family members. We stuck together for life.” Carissa grabs a hacksaw, drops to her knees and begins sawing off Derrick’s arm. “But I do have a question for you, did you really do this thinking C would come back into your life?”

  Mercedes grabs another hacksaw and says, “You would’ve done the same thing. Wouldn’t you?”

  CHAPTER 7

  MERCEDES

  Derrick had to die. I know it’s messed up the way I did it, but I had my reasons. The fucked up part was that I didn’t get what I wanted, a relationship with my son. So now I’m at his condominium at Tyland Towers, planning to make him speak to me.

  Before knocking on his door, I take two deep breaths. When I’m strong enough, I knock firmly.

  “Just a minute,” someone says inside.

  When the door opens I see Monie. She’s way chunkier than the girls I’ve seen C with, so I wonder how she roped him. What makes her so special?

  She’s wearing grey sweatpants, and a plain white t-shirt. I don’t know how to take this girl now that she and C are together. When she use to come over my house with C, I thought she was loud-mouthed and rude. I wonder what happened to bring them together.

  A smile spreads across her face as she looks at me. “Oh my, god,” she says smoothing her ponytail backwards. “Had I known you were coming I would’ve freshened up. I’m so sorry.”

  She’s pretty. I never noticed it before but she’s an attractive girl and there is something genuine about her. I like her already, although I want to know a little more about her, especially if she’s with my son.

  “Don’t worry about freshening up, unless you don’t intend on letting me in,” I tell her.

  She laughs heavily, opens the door wider and backs up. “I’m tripping now, Ms. Mercedes. Please forgive me. Come inside. C isn’t home though.”

  I’m disappointed at his absence.

  When I walk into their apartment I’m impressed. The living room is very spacious and the furnishings are bright and welcoming. The kitchen cabinets and counters are white lacquer and shine brightly. I smell Pine-sol. Looks like the young girl knows how to keep house, another check in her direction. If she keeps this up I might be Team Monie.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” she asks me.

  I sit on the sofa. “What do you have?”

  “Wine…beer…liquor,” she says.

  “Bring me a little of all three.”

  She smiles. “It’s been one of those days huh?”

  “No doubt.”

  She goes to fulfill my order and brings back my drinks. I notice a box of Argo Starch on the able with a spoon inside. She must be eating that shit. She sits them on the glass table, and I start with the red wine. “You’re too fat,” I say to her sipping my drink. “And if you want to keep C, you’ll have to lose a lot of weight. Now you might not be willing to do that, and that’s okay if you’re comfortable with your size. But, I know C, and he’s vain. He’ll never put you on his arm in public, unless you change.”

  Her shoulders slump forward, and she plops down next to me on the couch. “I know.” She sighs. “I don’t want to be like this. And if I thought it would keep him, I wouldn’t eat another thing in my life just to lose the weight.”

  “See that’s where you fuck up,” I say finishing my wine, and sitting the glass on the table. “You need to lose weight to get what you want, not to get C. I raised him and I know what he desires. He likes a woman with confidence. You gotta act like you want to change, to better yourself, not to rope him. And stop eating that shit, it fattens you up quicker than a ton of ice cream.”

  “It’s done. But what I do want is C,” she says. “He ain’t trying to hear it though. He thinks just because he moved me in, and I get to answer his phone, that that’s enough to appease me. But I want more, Ms. Mercedes. I want a relationship. Am I wrong for wanting him in my life?”

  “C is a wonderful young man,” I say. “I have loved him all of his life too. So much so, that I fear I might have neglected my daughter in the process. I gotta work on that. But it’s like without C in my life, I feel like I’m not complete. He reminds me of his father so much. So to answer your question….no. No you aren’t crazy for wanting him in your life. But how far are you willing to go to get him is the question.”

  I think about how I killed Derrick to win his love back, and sigh.

  Monie looks me in my eyes and says, “For C’s love, I’ll go as far as I need too.”

  “Then I’ll help you out,” I say. “But you gotta help me too.”

  “Anything.”

  “I need you to help me repair the relationship with C on your end. You’re here with him everyday. You’re around him all of the time. Whenever you can, plant a seed in my name. I need your help because nothing I do on the outside works.”

  “Can we keep things real with each other?”

  “Of course, Monie,” I respond. “I wouldn’t come at you like this if I wasn’t going to keep it real.”

  “It’s like this, C resents you for killing his father. If you come at him the right way, and tell him that you really are sorry for what you did, I think he’ll welcome the relationship over time. He misses you, I know he does. The other day when I was making him pancakes, I walked into the room to tell him they were almost done. I saw him looking at your picture. And another time I overheard him telling somebody in Emerald City to always watch your back, because he was concerned about the Black Wa
ter people. He loves you, he just ain’t ready to show it right now that’s all.”

  I feel like I want to cry, but I won’t. It feels so good to know that he loves me, even if it’s from a far.

  “I took the blame for his father’s death already,” I admit. “But it’s like he not listening to me. He doesn’t care that I’m sorry for what I did. All he wants me to do is disappear, and to never reach out again.”

  “I talk to C about you all of the time, Ms. Mercedes. But, he real proud about his father, and if I’m being honest, he’s messed up about Derrick too. He was fucked up when he found out he was killed. Even if I could get through to him right now, the Derrick thing sent him further over the edge. I think he needs a little more time.”

  “Well if he would’ve came to my house he would’ve found out why I had to kill him.”

  “The way he was acting I don’t know if any reason would’ve worked for him,” Monie says.

  “That nigga raped me,” I lie. “You telling me that don’t count for nothing? I had to kill him.”

  The moment I let such a heinous lie fly out of my mouth, I want to suck it back. But how could I? I said it already. I would’ve never thrown a rape on Derrick’s name if he was a real nigga, but he’s dirt to me. And it hurt my feelings that when I needed C the most, he didn’t show up. But now I’m not ready to nurture that lie.

  “Oh my, god,” Monie says covering her mouth. “What…I…mean, are you okay?” She examines me.

  I feel ashamed. “I’m fine.”

  “We gotta tell C.”

  I want the relationship with my son, but I don’t want it like that. “I’ll be fine,” I tell her. “Don’t say nothing to C about this, please. I’m trusting you.” I smile and tap her knee. “Right now I want to get you where you need to be so you can get what you want, my son.”

  “Anyway you could help me would be appreciated, Ms. Mercedes.”

  “I got you.” When the phone rings she frowns. “Ain’t you gonna get that?” I ask.

  “No, it’s probably Persia’s bitch ass again.” She covers her mouth. “Excuse my language, Ms. Mercedes. It’s just that I can’t stand that worrisome bitch. She’s been torturing me ever since she found out we were living together. Today alone she’s called fifty times.”

  “Well get the phone,” I frown. “This your house.”

  “C told me I couldn’t go at her,” she glares at the phone. “Said if she pregnant, and that’s his baby, I’ll have to learn to get along with her. I don’t see how that’s gonna happen because I’m still feeling some kind of way about what she did to you and C’s relationship. She ain’t have no business telling him about his father, and how he met his demise. That was family business.”

  I stand up and walk toward the phone. “You might not be able to say anything to the bitch, but I can.” I pick up the handset. “Hello.”

  “Fuck you, you fat ass bitch. While you over there cooking, C just left from eating my pussy. Think about that.”

  “Persia, this is Mercedes.”

  Silence.

  I guess she wasn’t expecting me to answer.

  “What are you doing over there?” Persia says in a low voice. “He don’t love you no more. I saw to it when I told him what you did to his father.”

  Her mouth spills venom, so I’ll do the same. “Don’t worry about all that, just let me say this, C will never want you. Ever,” I say. “You’re nothing but a washed up little girl who he told me has a funky box, and an even worst dick sucking game. Now my son is going to marry Monie, and they are going to have a wonderful life.”

  I hear her suck in air, and I realize I just snatched her heart out with my statement.

  “Oh yes, it’s true, baby doll. Monie is five minutes from royalty, and there ain’t nothing you can do about it. So do yourself a favor, go somewhere and hang yourself. It’s over for you around here anyway.” I end the call.

  “I can’t believe you just did that,” Monie says to me. “C is going to go off if she tells him.”

  “It’s clear that he doesn’t want to have anything else to do with me anyway, Monie. I might as well help you out. Fuck Persia’s raunchy ass.” I feel like a teenager again, but fuck it.

  Monie smiles brightly. “Thank you, Ms. Mercedes. I really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I did a favor for you, and maybe one day you can pay it forward.”

  CHAPTER 8

  PERSIA

  “Die, die, die,” Persia screamed as she punched herself in the belly with both fists. “I want you to die, baby! Come out of me and die!”

  When her stomach aches so much her back hurts, she threw herself on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

  “C, please don’t do this to me,” Persia cried to herself. “Please don’t marry that fat toad. She not as cute as me. She don’t love you like me. She never will. Nobody will.”

  When her cell phone rings and she sees it’s her mother, she answered it with an attitude. Normally she ignores the phone, but now she wanted to talk to someone who loved her more than she loved them back.

  “Mommy, please help me,” Persia performed. “Please, mommy.”

  “What’s wrong, baby?” Carissa yelled in fear. “Are you hurt? Are they fucking with you? I’ll kill everybody over that mothafucka. Just say the word and my soldiers are there in a heartbeat.”

  “No, mommy,” she sobbed. “It’s Aunt Mercedes. She was mean to me. I was in my room, and she called out of nowhere and said that my baby wasn’t C’s. But, it is C’s baby. I ain’t never fucked no boy or sucked no boy’s dick before I did C’s.”

  “Persia…”

  “I’m sorry, mommy but I’m so mad right now. I hate her. I hate her so much. She the reason C don’t want to talk to me. She’s ruining me!”

  “Stop crying, Persia,” Carissa said softly. “I’ll handle Mercedes. Nobody is gonna disrespect my daughter, not even her own aunt.”

  “Do you promise, mommy? Because if you promise I’ll try harder to have a better relationship with you. I won’t curse at you no more or nothing like that. I just want you to go in on aunt Mercedes first. Please.”

  “Baby, there is nothing more in the world that I want then to have a better relationship with you.”

  “Then call her and cuss her out,” Persia persisted. “Do it now too.”

  “Okay, let me go find out what’s going on, and I’ll call you right back.”

  “That’s good, mommy. I love you.”

  After she finished with her mother, Persia hung up and lied on her bed. She felt good knowing that Carissa was going to give Mercedes what she deserved. Now she had to call C to give him a piece of her mind.

  “What?” Lil C said when he answered his cell phone.

  “C, I know you don’t love me no more.”

  “Never loved you.”

  “Whatever, but you need to know your mother cursed me out and I almost had a miscarriage. They had to take me to the hospital and everything. Your baby almost died in my belly.”

  “When was this?” he asked plainly.

  “Earlier today. I’m just getting home now.”

  C laughed. “I don’t know what went down between you and my moms, but I can promise you that you didn’t go to no hospital today.”

  “What…why you say that?”

  “Persia, I had somebody watching that building from the day I found out that you were pregnant with my kid, and living there. I keep a set of eyes on you at all times. So believe me when I say you ain’t been to no hospital. You haven’t even been out of the building. Now if you lying about that shit, you probably lying about my moms calling you out too. So do me a favor, don’t call unless you squeezing out my kid.

  “And while I’m at it, stop fucking with Monie too. She’s being a real sport by not going off on you. But make no mistake, Monie’s a gangster, so I advise you to fall back. I’m out.”

  When C hung up she threw her phone across the room. She was determined to come
up with a plan to have them all dealt with. Whatever she decided, she knew it would have to be final.

  CHAPTER 9

  KAREN

  “Ma, I know you have this situation with Carissa and them under control, but I’m still worried that this may cause us problems in the future. We should not be working with them in any way.”

  Karen leaned back in her black leather chair and looked at her son. He was standing at the other side of her black lacquer desk. His navy blue eyeglasses rested against his face.

  “If you say you realize I have things under control, then why are you worried?”

  “The Emerald City crew has been harming this family since thy God Black Water was alive. Now we have one of their members in our home, and I don’t think it’s okay to allow the Emerald City Squad inside, to roam within our walls. They’re angry. And when people are angry, they are dangerous.”

  “Have you forgotten the reason that Persia is here?” Karen asked him. “You wanted Persia as your wife, when I wanted to kill her when Tamir died and left her here, you begged me not to, saying that we could always use another woman to bare children. So my son, you need to be thanking me for my hospitality, instead of arguing with me.”

  “And I do thank you, mother. But I never thought you would allow them into our home. Persia is different; in the end she will be one of us. But Carissa and her people will never be good for us.”

  “Things are going to be fine, son. We have what they want. The girl.” Karen paused. “And let’s not forget that making this agreement with the Emerald City squad allows us the money we need to keep things going. Until we can find another hustle.”

  “But me and the boys are already working on a few things,” Oscar said.

  “And those things might pay off later, but they aren’t doing shit for us now,” Karen responded. “We don’t have Tamir anymore to supply our needs. We need their money.”