Every Thug Needs A Lady (Thugs) (9 page)

Roz didn’t think about calling into work until after the exam, which lasted two and a half hours. She contacted her supervisor, Marsha, and apologized for forgetting to call in. Marsha told her that they had already found someone to fill in for her because when they called her house earlier a Mr. Macklin answered the phone saying that she had left to take her exam for the state board and wouldn’t be in for the rest of the week.

Roz worked part-time as a physical therapist assistant at the Princeton Medical Center. Once she passed her exam she’d become a full-fledged physical therapist. She’d become interested in the field after living with her grandmother and helping her out. She also had great-aunts who would take her around with them to visit their elderly neighbors in the senior’s compound where they lived.

Roz was assigned to taking them for walks, making them stretch, and getting them to use their hands. Her grandmother would say, “You’re helping us to live longer.” So that became her passion. When she enrolled in college, she majored in physical therapy, choosing respiratory therapy as a minorjust in case. If she got bored working with people, she could sell oxygen and respiratory equipment.

After her exam she stopped at the mall and picked up Sean Jean and Karl Kani outfits, pajamas, socks and boxers for Trae.

Then she swung by the car wash with the Navigator before heading out to Amefika’s Restaurant, where she bought two hot vegetarian sandwiches on wheat rolls, a fish and cheese sub, fries, and a bean pie.

Trae had just dozed off when the phone startled him out of his sleep.

“Hello,” he said, sounding all groggy.

“This is the AT&T operator. I have a collect call from Nicky.”

“Nikayah!” he screamed. “Get my shit right.”

“Nikayah,” she corrected herself. “Will you pay for the call?”

“Yeah,” Trae yawned as he sat up.

“Have a good day,” the operator said.

When Trae heard a click he said, “What up, nigga?”

“Where is Roz? And who dis?”

“This is Trae, nigga. I know you know my voice. What up?”

“Damn Trae, you couldn’t wait until I got a chance to talk to her.”

“Nigga, go ’head with that. It’s been three, four months? And you ain’t talked yet? She said you fucked up big time. It’s over, son. You can plead your case till you turn blue in the face. Accept it, man. You ain’t got no more pussy over here. You don’t even have a reason to call here. You got my cell number.”

“Fuck you, man!” Nikayah yelled into the phone.

“Nikayah!” Trae yelled back. He then lowered his voice.

“We got unfinished business. Don’t let no pussy that is no longer yours cloud your judgment, dawg. She is a queen that was holdin’ it down for you. You fucked up; it’s over. Move on, you hear me, man?” Trae listened to Nikayah’s heavy breathing for several minutes. He knew he was pissed.

“Yeah, I hear you. Is she there? Let me speak to her?”

“Nikayah you said you fuckin’ heard me. It’s over, man. Now I didn’t disrespect you. So don’t disrespect me.”

“Disrespect?! Nigga, you all up in mines!”

“But it’s over, man. It’s over and done. When you gettin’ out?”

“Should be within the next two weeks. Man, she got at least two abortions. She killed two of my babies.” Nikayah couldn’t let it go.

“It’s over, man. But as far as business is concerned I got you. Make sure you holler as soon as you hit the bricks, a’ight?” “Whatever, yo!” He slammed the phone down.

By the time Tasha got back to the house it was almost 2:00 P.M. She had to make two trips from the car to the apartment. She set the food bags in the kitchen and took the clothing bags into the bedroom.

She went back to the kitchen to put the sandwiches and fries on a platter, poured him some juice and took it into the bedroom where Trae was sitting up in the bed talking on his cell phone and channel surfing. She set the meal down on the nightstand next to him and said, “It’s still hot,” before heading to the bathroom to wash her face and hands and brush her teeth and hair.

“What up, playa!” he said when he hung up his cell phone.

“How did it go?”

“It went good. Glad it’s over.”

“Me too. Come here,” he said. She climbed on the bed and gave him a kiss. “You wear short skirts every day like this to work?” he asked, reaching up under it and pulling off her panties.

“No, I wear white pants and a white shirt to work. Your food is going to get cold.” She handed him the plate, got up and sat on the love seat to watch him eat.

“What? You heard my stomach growling across town?”

“No, I just figured you would like something to eat. Did you get some sleep?”

“What little I could in between your phone ringin’ off the hook.”

“Sorry ’bout that. I meant to turn off the ringer before I left, but I rushed out and forgot. You didn’t have to answer it.”

“That’s the only way I could get it to stop ringin’. Your job called. I told them you would be out for the rest of the week. You forgot to call them?”

“I sure did. I didn’t think about it until after I took my exam. You can’t keep me out of work all week,” she teased.

“Yes I can. Check it out. Guess who else called?”

“Who? My mom, my brother?”

“Neither. Nikayah. That nigga might be out by the end of next week.”

“I don’t care when he gets out. Why did you accept his call?” Now she was agitated.

“I told you that’s one of my partners. I needed to holla at him.”

“What did he say about you answering the phone?”

“What could he say? Y’all ain’t fuckin’ no more. That nigga know what time it is. We talked a good ten minutes.” Trae got up to go brush his teeth. She watched his naked body as he walked by on his way to the bathroom.

When he came out the bathroom he went over to where she was sitting, leaned over and kissed her, pulling and sucking on her tongue. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Then he whispered in her ear, “I don’t want no shit between you and Nikayah. If I catch you even talking to him, I’ma put a cap in the both of ya asses.”

“Don’t be checkin’ me. Nigga you need to be checkin’ your boy.”

“I already did. I also told that nigga don’t call here no more, he ain’t got no pussy up in here. Anything here belong to him?”

“Nope. I tossed all his shit out months ago.”

“What about the Beamer?”

“What about it?

“Whose is it?”

“Trae! That title is in my name. It belongs to me.”

“But you giving it back. I’ll get you another one or whatever it is you feel like driving.”

“I’m not givin’ it back Trae. That belongs to me.”

“Tash you my woman, right?”

“I like that car Trae,” she whined.

“Answer my question. Are you my woman or not?” She shook her head up and down.

“Well, then I’m givin’ the fuckin’ car back. Trae’s woman ain’t gonna be drivin’ around in some shit some other nigga bought. You know I ain’t goin’ out like that.”

He palmed her butt.

“I told Nikayah that when I’m hittin’ it and about to bust a nut I be wantin’ to call out his name.” He smiled, then yelled, “Thank you Nikayah, for fucking up!”

“That’s not funny Trae. What was y’all niggas doin’, comparing notes?”

“Nah, ma, it wasn’t like that. I told that nigga that he had a queen, somebody that was holdin’ it down for him, and he fucked up. He also told me you had two abortions.”

“That big mouth! It was one. And I only told him two because I was mad at him.”

“Was y’all still together when you got the abortion?”

“No, Trae. I found out I was pregnant after I bounced.”

“What would you do if you got pregnant by me?”

“I’m on the pill. I won’t be getting pregnant any time soon. I got too much shit to do before I decide to have babies.”

“That’s not answering my question.”

“I would discuss it with you first.”

“I would hope so. Oh, your other call was from Jeffrey. He said he’ll have his rent money next week.”

“I don’t even want his money. I want him to move out.” “How come?”

“For starters, he’s always cooking swine and the smell makes me sick. Plus he’s always late, and now he’s two months behind. I’ma just evict him.”

“How much does he owe you?”

“Now it’s up to eight hundred and fifty dollars.”

“Oh! Hell no!” He got up and grabbed his pants.

“Which floor does he live on?”

“The second. Why?” She watched him put on his Tims and stick his gat in the back of his waist. “How many niggas live down there?”

“Trae I know you are not going down there,” Tash said, jump-ing off the bed. “He might not be home.”

“I’ma find out,” he said, throwing on his shirt.

“How many?”

“Just him. His girl moved out. Trae please don’t go down there.” She followed him out of the bedroom.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, God. Trae please don’t go down there.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She slammed the front door, went back to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed. After about fifteen minutes he came back into the bedroom. He threw some money on the dresser and went in the bathroom. He came out drying his hands off and wiping off his gat.

“That’s seven hundred and ninety. I told him he got until Sunday to get the fuck out.” Tash just looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Why you lookin’ at me like that?”

“You’re crazy Trae.”

“Call me what you want. Ain’t nobody gonna punk my woman Tasha. What did you expect me to do, just lay here and not say nothin’?” He shook his head and mumbled, “Nigga got me all worked up. Turn my cell phone on for me. I’m expecting a couple of calls.” He took off his clothes.

“So where we gonna go?” he asked, laying back down on the bed and laying her head across his chest as if nothing happened.

“What do you mean ‘where we gonna go’?”

“Away. Leave tomorrow. I’m so fuckin’ stressed that if I don’t take a break, I’ma fuckin’ explode.” He ranted.

“Well, you sure are good at concealing it. I see that I got a lot to learn about you.”

“And I got a lot to learn about you. So we might as well get it started. Now let’s go away.”

“If it’s going to help you relieve some stress I’m down with it. But I still gotta get ready for my graduation.”

“We’ll be back by then. Today is Monday. I’ll have you back by Friday, no later than Sunday,” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “No cell phones, no pagers, just me and you getting to know each other. I gotta make sure I’m not in love with just the pussy. Gotta make sure you’re wife material and I gotta see if I can stand to be around you for a few days in a row,” he teased.

“Oh, it’s like that?”

“Yeah, I know you don’t want me to lie.”

“That works both ways, playa. I need to make sure I’m not mesmerized with the fact that you can make me come over and over. I gotta see if I can stand waking up next to you a few days in a row. No comment on the husband material.”

“Oh, it’s like that?”

“Pretty much. I know you don’t want me to lie.”

“A’ight, then. It’s on! Choose between let’s see St. Thomas, Aruba, LA or South Beach. That Club Amnesia is the spot. We can do some serious clubbin’.”

“Hmmm. Clubbin’ does sound good. Well, let’s cross out St. Thomas and Aruba. And South Beach just to hit Club Amnesia I don’t think so, playa. It’s Cali hands down.”

“Bet! We’ll leave first thing in the morning. I’ll leave you my platinum card so you can make all the arrangements.”

“Tomorrow morning? What about the afternoon? Trae, I would like to get my hair, nails, and feet done and then do some shopping.”

“You can do all that shit out there. Go to the salons where the celebs go and, as far as shopping, you can hit the real deal. Go straight to Gucci, Chanel, Versace, and Prada. Knock yourself out. We ain’t packin’ shit, a’ight?”

“If you say so, playa.”

“I got you a graduation present.”

“Did you? Where is it?” she squealed.

“In that duffel bag I brought in with me.”

Tash jumped up and ran to the living room to look for the duffel bag. When she handed it to him she was having a hard time concealing her excitement. He pulled out a long, wide box and handed it to her. The box, tied with a silver bow, had a picture of a graduation cap on it and the word “Congratulations” scrawled all over it. She opened it up and pulled out an iced-up tennis bracelet with her name Tash written in diamonds.

“Trae!”

“Bling, fuckin’ bling Tash,” he laughed as he saw her eyes light up.

“I wish I had a video camera so you could see your face. Is this blingin’ or what?” He took it from her. “Let me put it on you. You like it? What’s up? You can’t talk?”

“I can’t believe you did this. Thank you, baby.” She grabbed him and kissed him on the lips.

He handed her the duffel bag.

“That’s your stash for emergencies. Put it away somewhere.” She unzipped the duffel bag and ran her fingers over the neatly stacked and wrapped bills.

“Put it away,” Trae told her.

She got up and went into the closet where her safe was. Trae turned off the TV and turned up the radio. When she finally came back out, she flopped down next to him. He picked up his cellular phone and looked at it.

“Tash, I thought you turned it on for me.”

“I thought I did,” she said, sitting up.

“I was wondering why it wasn’t ringing. I’m expecting two calls,” he said, turning it on. He unbuttoned her blouse then slid it off. Then he leaned over and began teasing her nipples with his tongue as he yanked her skirt and slip off.

“C’mon, ma,” he whispered huskily. “Get back on top.”

She straddled him then grabbed a pillow and fluffed it out, placing it behind him.

“Thank you, baby,” he said to her. She was now fondling his dick, squeezing and massaging it until he moaned. Then she put the head to her opening and slid down on it.

“Move slow, ma. Let me watch you move nice and slow. Damn! This feels good,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “That’s right. Relieve some of daddy’s stress.”

“Open your eyes! You wanted to watch me so watch me,” she reminded him.

His cell phone started ringing. “Fuck!” he mumbled as he picked up.