A Project Chick (9 page)

Tressa ran into one of her old neighbors, a little old nosey lady, who lived in the building next door. She informed Tressa of some shocking information, "I liked you so much better than that other girl that moved into your apartment."

"What girl?" Tressa asked surprisingly. The old lady pointed her finger, moving up and down, as she continued to give the gossip of the hour.

"That other girl is a pure damn winch, wearing those super tight clothes. The heifer don't even speak to me.

And, her and that fella that used to come see you in the big fancy car, all they do is fight. I can't stand the little winch." Tressa could feel the heat come all over her. She literally began to sweat. She thanked the lady and walked away, leaving her basket in the middle of the dairy aisle before the old lady could finish.
No, he didn't move some
bitch into my fucking apartment and they over there fucking
on my God damn bed. Oh hell no! This nigga really think I
am some weak bitch, don't he? That's good, cuz I got
something for him and his bitch. Trust me when I tell you.

In a trance, to this very day, she believed she was having an out of body experience with the episode that was about to play out. Tressa went straight to the apartment, and when she put her key into the lock, it didn't work. She went over to the rental office to get the right key. They never questioned her because the apartment was still leased in her name. The only car in the parking lot was the neighbor who lived in the next building over, whom worked 55

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at night. Everyone else was at work. She thought that maybe the girl was at work too. Tressa returned to her apartment, put the key in, but there was a dead bolt lock on the door stopping her from entering the apartment. This only pissed her off more. So, she knocked on the door. She noticed a pair of eyes peak out through the blinds to see who it was. Shortly after, she heard a female voice scream,

"Ah, shit!!!" No one ever came to the door. Tressa's knocks just got louder and louder. Her knocking turned into banging then she yelled. "Open up the door, bitch!!!! Be a woman! I know you're in there! Oh, you bold enough to live in my apartment, but you ain't woman enough to face me eye to eye?"

Tressa continued to scream, but the girl on the other side of the door still didn't respond. "Oh, that's OK bitch, cuz I am going to teach ya punk ass a lesson, believe that!" Tressa went to her car and called "Pop A Lock" to come out and unlock the bolt lock. They told her it would be forty minutes before they could get there. She sat in Lucky's rental car with her eyes glued to the window, and for the next ten minutes, she watched the blinds open up just enough for the eyes behind them to see she was still sitting outside.

Forty minutes seemed like it would take forty years.

Anticipating when the locksmith would get there was driving her crazy. So, she took matters into her own hands.

She ran up the street to the gas station and returned.

Tressa decided to give the girl one last chance. She decided to go at it with a little more calm approach. Instead of banging, she knocked on the door. "Oh, you still in there playing possum huh? Lying up in my shit! I don't think so.

Baby, oh you coming out, one way or another. Dead or alive!" At that moment, Tressa poured gasoline under the door.

Tressa listened for a minute and counted to thirty before she lit the match. She could hear the girl running around the house. As she counted and reached twenty, her cell phone rang. It was Lucky. Of course, the girl had called Lucky in a hysterical panic. Lucky spoke calmly into the phone. "Baby, get out of there because that bitch done called the police on you. Get out of there before you end up in jail."

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Tressa hung up the phone because she could care less about what Lucky had to say. He called right back again, Tressa would not respond. "Listen baby, I know you're hurt, but you're not in your right frame of mind.

Please snap out of this. I apologize, now please just leave." Tressa heard him, trying to calm the other girl down who had called him on his cell phone. He told her. "Just calm down, I am talking to her now."

"Tell that bitch to just come to the door, and then I'll leave. You got the nerve to be talking to that BITCH and she done called the police on me?"

"Baby, listen just leave before the police get there." Lucky pleaded with her.

Tressa hung up again, and at that moment, she lit the match and calmly walked down to the steps and then to the window as she sang, "
Burn Baby Burn
". She knew there was no back door, so there was only one way out if she was planning on getting out alive. She could hear the girl screaming, but for some odd reason, Tressa was still in a trance. She couldn't make out any of the words that the girl was saying, it sounded like another language.

Tressa's phone rang again, it was Lucky. She answered and immediately said. "Stop blowing up my damn phone and call your bitch, tell her to just jump out the window, I'll catch her." She said laughing.

"Fuck her. I ain't thinking bout her. The bitch could burn as far as I care. I just need you to get up outta there before you go to jail." At that moment, she heard one of her babies in the background cry and that's when she snapped out of her trance.

She ran to the rental car and pulled off as she heard the sirens getting closer and closer by the second. Once she got to the corner, she looked in her rear view mirror and Tressa saw the girl in the window about to jump. She didn't go back, it wasn't worth it. Lucky or the girl wasn't worth her losing everything, her children, her sanity, her freedom, her self-respect and self-esteem were more important at that moment. Her heart dropped when she passed the speeding police cars, ambulances and roaring fire engines. She could have been caught red handed with the gas can in the car, but she was spared, this time.

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As she continued to drive home, her cell phone rang and rang. It was Lucky calling each time, but she never answered. She drove around for a while and when she finally returned home, the twins had the house tore up.

Lucky greeted her with an argument, fussing about her not answering the phone, in an attempt to try to side track the argument she had in store for him. "Yo, why didn't you answer the phone? You didn't know if something was wrong with the boys or not?"

"What? Why you didn't find some place other than my apartment for your bitch to live in?"

"Look, now which is more important, your kids or that apartment? Now, why couldn't you answer the damn phone! Were you on the phone with your nigga or something?" Lucky falsely accused her even though he knew better, anything to deflect his cheating ass.

"Don't even come at me like that, with the bull! I am not the one who's unfaithful here. You are!"

"Well, you ain't answer your phone."

"And sometimes you don't answer yours either!" She screamed back at him. "I ain't got to put up with this shit!"

"Oh, yeah?" Lucky asked. "Well, where you going to go with two babies? Who gonna want you? Who is going to treat you like me?" He was enraged. He charged towards her. She thought he was going to hit her for the first time, but he didn't. He just grabbed her cell phone and smashed it into a thousand pieces. She was scared and so were the boys. Her sons just crawled over to their mommy crying.

She picked them both up and went into the nursery.

Lucky came to the door. "Tressa, I am sorry all of this turned out this way. That was a girl named Dee that brings work for me from out of town. She liked me, but I promise you, it ain't like that." Tressa didn't respond, she only rocked her twins in the rocking chair back and forth.

Before he walked away from the door, he stated in a firm voice. "And Tressa, don't you dare think about taking my children away from this house."

Later she started beating herself up.
What in the hell
was I thinking? Am I loosing my mind or what? I just
committed arson for this simple ass nigga. I should have set
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his ass on fire instead of setting her on fire. I really feel bad.

I've got to get out of this relationship and that's for real.

All of these things were warning signs for Tressa, but she was suffering from something other than being addicted to the lavish lifestyle that she had become accustomed to living. See, Lucky never even raised one hand to Tressa, but the type of abuse he inflicted upon her was more detrimental than any bruise, scrape or scar that could heal. Lucky continuously abused her mentally. He slowly tore down Tressa's self-esteem, made her lose focus of her goals, her morals, her capabilities and her strengths.

He controlled her with money, because she went from struggling and working three jobs, to an extravagant lifestyle. She had settled so long for Lucky's unacceptable, controlling and psychotic behavior.

From the ham episode, to cheating with females who were never the cream of the crop, only the bottom of the barrel, to the apartment episode. And now this murderous evening, where two innocent people lost their lives because of his unjustified jealous rage which could have ultimately caused her two sons their life.

What kind of father would kill in front of his children? What kind of father would kill somebody in the driver's seat, while his kids are in the backseat? Lucky was just that much of a lunatic that he didn't have enough self-control over himself. Or maybe, he just didn't care about or have enough respect for his two sons or Tressa sitting in the car. He didn't once stop to think that he could have missed, or the stray bullet could have hit one of the boys.

The thought just never crossed his mind.

Up to this point, Tressa had overlooked a lot of Lucky's psychotic episodes, but now he had had gone too far. There was no doubt about it, something had to give!

After this ultimate stunt, it was apparent that Lucky's performances were only going to get worse. So, Tressa had to draw the line and this had to be it.

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-7-

Hot Sex on a Platter

M

eanwhile, back to Tressa locked in the
house...

She began to ask herself
when I am going to draw the
line. Every week it seems like it is something different. When
is enough really enough? It's not just about me anymore. I've
got two other people I've got to think about. They count on me
and I can't let them down. This is it, I've got to go. I don't
care where? I don't care if I gotta go live in the projects, but at
least I'll have peace of mind. That is worth any amount of
money.

Tressa decided to get into bed and get a good night sleep. But, before she pulled the covers back to get into the bed, she kneeled to say her prayers.

"
Lord, in Jesus name. Lord, I know I haven't always
been the obedient child that you'd like for me to be, and I
would like to ask for forgiveness. God, I ask you for peace of
mind. I ask you to look into my heart, and if there, is
anything wrong there I beg you to remove it from me. I ask
you God, to give me the strength to leave this man. This man
doesn't deserve me. I know I have had some shortcomings
due to my own selfishness and greed, but God, my children
shouldn't have to suffer for my mistakes. God, you said
you'd protect fools and babies and my sons are babies and I
am a fool. Now, I ask you to replace my spirit of greed with
strength, and give me the wisdom to walk away from this
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mean, jealous, envious and crazy man. In Jesus name I
pray. Amen."

Tressa stepped onto the stairs to get into the high Victorian style bed, and pulled the satin sheets over her shoulders. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the instant replay of Peako's brains soaring onto the windshield. She rolled over to Khalil's side of the bed and looked inside of his nightstand drawer where she knew he always kept prescription drugs that he bought off the street.