A Gangsters Melody (7 page)

“Thank you. Damn. How long are you in town for?” I asked, noticing the abundance of clothes he had hanging up in the closet.
“Just a few more days, but I change a couple of times a day.” he responded laughing.
“Yeah. I can see that.” I said, putting on one of his oversized t-shirts.
“Well I’m going to hit the couch, the bedroom is all yours.” He said, grabbing a pillow and a blanket.
“Well wait, that bath woke me up a bit. Why don’t we talk for a minute?” I asked, patting the bed.
“I don’t know ma? No disrespect, but that’s how shit got started earlier.” He said, hesitant about my offer.
“Look. I don’t know what happened earlier, but I wasn’t in my right state of mind. And I apologize for blaming you. The night is really a blank.” I said, apologetically.
“It’s all good. I didn’t mean to scream on you either, but as funny as it may sound, I’m really feeling you so far and I don’t want you to think nothing negative about me.” He said, inching closer to the bed.
“Come on, let’s call a truce.” I said, smiling and pretending to wave a white flag.
“A truce huh? Okay. So what’s up?” he said, finally sitting down.
“Nothing really. I just don’t want to hear my grandmother’s mouth that’s all.” I said.
“Let’s not talk about that right now.” He said, playing in my hair as I lay across his lap.
“Well what do you want to talk about then?” I asked, feeling relaxed.
“I don’t know. Tell me something good. Tell me what your dreams are.” He asked, inquisitively.
“Well I have a lot, but my biggest dream is to own a chain of beauty salons.” I answered, proudly.
“Really? That’s what’s up. What’s another one?”
“Nah. I’m not telling you that, because you’re going to think that I’m just saying that because of your line of work.”
“Come on, tell me. What is it?” He urged on.
“Okay. I want to be a singer.”
“Say word. Let me hear you blow something.”
“Oh hell no. You crazy Tray.”
“Come on. You know if the shit is hot I can put you on, so don’t blow your chance being shy.”
“So if I do good you’re going to hook me up?” I asked, sitting up.
“You already know.” He answered.
“Okay. Here I go.” I said, standing up and going into my best rendition of Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love”. Yes. I had stood up and sang my heart out like I was a finalist on American Idol. I had my eyes closed and I was really feeling it. I was hitting the high notes and bouncing around and shit. You couldn’t tell me nothing. When the song was done I opened up my eyes and tried to stop myself from breathing heavy.
“So what do you think?” I asked, all excited about my new record deal.
“Keeping it real ma? I think we need to start on that chain of beauty salons asap.” Travon said, bursting out with laughter.
“Fuck you Travon.” I yelled, jokingly as I grabbed a pillow and hit him over the head with it. Travon grabbed another pillow and returned the playful assault. We wrestled and played around on the bed until Travon was on top of me, and our eyes met once again. And once again I was mesmerized by the glow in his chestnut brown eyes. I leaned up to kiss him and he pulled away.
“Nah chill. We ain’t going through that again.” He said.
“No it’s Okay. I know what I’m doing this time. Just be careful please” I reassured him, before pulling him back down to continue our kiss. Travon made love to me for the next hour or so until we fell asleep. Once again, I was the first one to wake up. I looked at the clock and it was 9:17am. I woke Travon up and he got dressed and took me home. This time we didn’t ride in silence, we laughed, joked and stole sensual kisses in between red lights. It seemed like we had known each other forever. I had never had a real boyfriend before and I guess it’s because my daddy was the epitome of what a real man was, and I held every man to those standards. And although it was still very early, Travon was coming damn close to those standards so far.

When we pulled up in front of Mama Belle’s house I was smiling from ear to ear as a result of the conversation Travon and I shared on the ride home. I knew that when I got in the house I would have to deal with Mama Belle’s mouth. But I was on cloud nine and nothing she could say or do could bring me down. I already had it in my mind to be very apologetic and head to my room. I knew I would have to tune out all the ranting, raving and the preaching. She really killed me with the preaching shit. For her to be so holy and the poster child for the world’s best sanctified Christian, she sure did a lot of hypocritical shit. The yelling, the cursing, the demeaning ways that she speaks, and let’s not forget the shacking up with Mr. Rufus. But anyway, she would have to answer that whenever she met the man upstairs. As we pulled up I noticed that both the main door and the screen door were open.

“Well let me go in and face the music.” I said, taking a deep breath.
“If you need me just hit me on my cell.” Travon instructed, grabbing my hand.
“Okay. I will.” I responded. When I got out of the car and headed up the walkway Travon stopped me.
“Hey.” He yelled out, causing me to turn around and stick my head back in the car. “You know you’re too old to be going through this right?” He said.
“What other choice do I have?” I said, shrugging my shoulders and walking away. As I got closer to the house I could hear Mama Belle screaming and yelling. When I got to the screen door I just eavesdropped and listened as she continued her tirade. What I heard next would cut through me like a hot knife through warm butter.
“I don’t give a damn what her excuse is. She ain’t been here but a hot minute and she causing nothing but grief already.” Mama Belle yelled out.
“Lula Belle, you have to take into consideration all that the child has been through recently.” Mr.Rufus responded, trying to defend me.
“What she has been through? What about me? A parent shouldn’t outlive her child. Now because of that whore my son called his wife, my baby boy is dead.”
“Come on now Belle, that ain’t right. That’s your granddaughter’s mother you’re talking about. ” Mr. Rufus said, trying to calm her down.
“That’s what they say Rufus, but I ain’t never believe that bold faced lie that little Puerto Rican heffer Marisol told my son. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sorry she’s dead, both her and my son. But that little girl don’t look no more like my son Leroy than the man on the moon. I’m only taking her in because I knew Leroy would have wanted it that way.”
“Now Belle, you stop talking about your kinfolk like that and hush up all that foolishness.”
“Rufus I done told you that little bitch ain’t no kin to me. And my son was a fool to believe anything else. And besides it’s the truth. Her mother was a fucking whore and the apple don’t fall far from the tree because her daughter is a fucking whore too.” She said, slamming something down. By this time my eyes were red and flooded with tears and I had heard enough. I flung the screen door open and stormed through the house in a rampage. I headed stra’ight for the kitchen where all of the commotion was coming from. Mama Belle and Rufus froze in mid sentence as I rounded the corner into the kitchen. I made a B-Line stra’ight for Mama Belle.
“Let me tell you something you mean old bitch, you say one more thing about my mother or my father and I’m going to forget the age difference and whoop your old ass up in here.” I yelled, pointing my finger in her face.
“Tiffany calm down baby.” Mr.Rufus said, grabbing my waist. I instinctively grabbed a knife from the dish rack and turned to him.
“Get the fuck off of me you perverted motherfucker.” I said, pointing the butcher knife in his face. Mr.Rufus turned on his heels and ran out of the house. I turned my attention back to Mama Belle. I pointed the knife in her face and I was crying hysterically.
“You ain’t nothing but the devil, how dare you threaten your own grandmother?” She said, grabbing her chest and crying.
“Oh now you’re my grandmother? Bitch you trippin.” I screamed in her face. I believe I may have lost total control and pounced on her if Monica wouldn’t have come running into the kitchen and grabbed me from behind.
“Yo chill Tiffany. What are you doing? Calm down. Let’s go to my house for a little while.” Monica said, trying to calm me down.
“A little while my ass. You better pack your little funky ass bags and go over there for good.” Mama Belle screamed, now getting gangster because Monica was holding me back. I kicked and screamed trying to get away from Monica.
“Bitch I’ll kill you up in here. Say something else about my parents. I fucking dare you.” I screamed in anger. As Monica dragged me out of the house, Mama Belle followed behind us, talking shit and antagonizing me.
“Go on now Ms. Lula Belle. I’ll be back for her things.” Monica stated, still trying to hold me back.
“You better come back and get them or that shit will be in the garbage.” Mama Belle spat back.
Monica dragged me kicking and screaming to her house. The neighbors were all outside being nosy, until Monica told them to mind their business. Monica forced me into her house and up the stairs before she let me go.
“Girl what the fuck happened? I’m over here smoking and shit, and Mr. Rufus ran over here talking about you going crazy with a knife and shit.” Monica said, looking all confused.
“You don’t understand, I overheard that bitch talking real dirty about my mother. Really fucking dirty. Calling her a whore and saying that I‘m not my daddy’s baby and all that shit.” I responded, still pacing back and forth in anger.
“Okay girl calm down. You’re going to bust a fucking blood vessel. If you know it’s not the truth, then fuck what she said. You know, sticks and stones and all that other shit.” Monica said, jokingly trying to calm me down.
“Look that’s easy for you to say, I wouldn’t even be in this mess if you wouldn’t have fucking left me at that fucking hotel. So fuck you, fuck the Stiletto Divas and fuck your fake ass rules.” I screamed, pointing my finger in her face.
“Okay. First of all, stop yelling and disrespecting my crib, second of all stop yelling and disrespecting me, and third of all get your motherfucking hand out of my face before I drop you right where you stand.” She said, through clinched teeth. She waited for me to move my hand before she continued.
“Now, if you must know we tried to tell you we were leaving, but from all the moaning and screaming you were doing we figured you didn’t want to be disturbed so we bounced. I told you before we went out that I wasn’t no fucking babysitter and that’s what the fuck I meant. Now because you are all emotional right now, I’m going to forget the shit you just pulled with me. But be warned Tiffany, this is your only freebie. Next time we gonna rip it up, and it won’t be any love lost because SD’s fight all the time. Now I have to make a run real quick, you stay here, cool the fuck off, and make yourself at home. Since it looks like this will be your home for a little while.” She said, grabbing a set of car keys.
“Shit Monica. With everything I just went through, and everything that happened last night. I just want to sleep it off.” I said, now feeling bad that I snapped on her.
“Oh yeah little miss innocent. When I get back you can fill me in on exactly what happened last night with you and Mr. Outlaw. I got a call from Sincere and from what I understand Travon is really feeling you. So take a nap and relax until I get back because I want the full scoop.” She said, smiling.
“What did he say?” I asked, blushing wanting more feedback.
“Bitch I’m already late fucking with you, we’ll talk later. And stay the fuck away from your grandmother’s house.” She instructed.
“Okay. Okay. I promise.” I responded.
“Oh yeah. If the phone rings, don’t answer it. I’ll be back soon.” She said as she rushed out of the house.

After the fallout at Mama Belle’s I knew my life was about to take yet another drastic turn. Monica had told me I could stay with her as long as I wanted, and that was all fine and dandy, but this Stiletto Diva lifestyle was going to take some getting used to. Over the past few weeks I was subjected to hearing Monica’s late night sex sessions with either a man a woman or herself. The bedroom I slept in was right on the other side of hers and both of our beds lay against the wall, so there was no escaping the noise. I won’t lie. A few times it sounded so good that I pleasured myself while imagining it being me and Travon on the other side of the wall getting it in. He and I had gone out a few more times since the first night we met. Each date was more memorable and spectacular than the last. We had eaten down by the water at the Baltimore Harbor; we had gone to DC, Virginia, and Philadelphia. Travon said he didn’t like to stay local too much. And I didn’t care because I was having the time of my life. Doing things I had never done before and seeing places and things I had only seen on TV. It had been a few days since I last saw him though because he had gone back to New York, but that didn’t stop the communication. Travon had made me throw away that pre-paid phone that Ms. Gloria was so nice to get for me and he went and got me the brand new Blackberry equipped with all the features. He said that he needed me to be able to pick the phone up whenever I wanted to and not just after nine when the minutes were free. It’s like our conversation was never ending. We would stay up all night on the phone either until the sun came up or until one of us fell asleep. We also shared intimate and deep secrets with one another. Travon told me how he was in his last year of Law School when a family emergency caused him to drop out unexpectedly. He said that since then he had been going strong with the music business, and apparently it had been paying off really well. I never imagined my Baltimore experience would be like this.

“You ready girl?” Monica asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“You already know” I responded, getting up from the couch and straightening my clothes.
“Aight let’s be out.”
We left the house, got in Monica’s car for the day and headed to the mall to meet up with Lashawn and Terri. As Monica navigated the Audi 8 down the Baltimore expressway Travon and I exchanged silly little text messages back and forth. I must have really been lost in my own thoughts because apparently Monica had been talking and I hadn’t heard a word of what she said.
“So what do you think about that?” She asked.
“Yeah that’s what’s up.” I responded, pretending that I heard what she said. Just then Monica abruptly pulled the car over to the shoulder and slammed it into park.
“Okay, take ‘em off.” She said, looking at me.
“Take what off?” I responded, confused as hell.
“Your clothes, you just said that I could fuck you right now if I pulled over.”
“What? Girl stop playing.” I responded, embarrassed that it was now confirmed that I was paying her no mind as she spoke.
“Yeah exactly. You aint heard a damn word I said. You all wrapped up in that damn phone and shit.” She said, as she pulled off back into the traffic.
“Girl stop trippin, aint nothing wrong with me and Tray texting back and forth. What’s the big deal?”
“The problem is, you going soft over this nigga, I mean I have been taking you everywhere, introducing you to some real official cats. And you aint even giving them the time of day cause you all open off that next nigga.”
“Goin soft? Let’s not forget I’m still in Diva training. And besides, what’s wrong with me actually liking Travon and not just wanting him for his money?”
“Liking him? Aww shit. It’s time to de-program and then re-program. Bitch you trippin hard. You are breaking the golden rule. Whatever you do, don’t let the girls hear you say no crazy shit like that or you’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Shit. Aint no shame in my game. Besides, they already know. They both tried to call me last night but I told them that I was on the phone with him. They talked shit about it until they got the dial tone.” I said, laughing out loud.
“Girl you is out back. But don’t worry. I’mma tighten ya square ass up.” We both laughed as Monica dodged in and out of traffic. When we got to the mall Terri and Lashawn were standing out front flirting with some guys that were passing by.
“Let’s go bitches. We got work to do.” Monica instructed, as she walked right passed them without even stopping. And just as they were instructed they followed suit. Once inside the mall we congregated near the mall directory.
“Okay, so today we hit Top Fashions. It’s the new store right next to Macy’s. They got everything in there. Gucci, Louis, Prada, Coogie and mad accessories. They only got one guard on the door. He’s a baldhead fat dude. His name is Kurt. We went to school together. Ya’ll already know what that’s hitting for. And behind the counter is a chick I picked up the other night who is going to pretend not to see a thing. I will handle Kurt. Lashawn and Terri you hit the racks, and Tiffany you sit back and watch and make sure we don’t get booked.” Monica directed, and as if we were in a football huddle we listened to her quarterback the plays and then broke the huddle to go and execute.
When we got to the store everything was just as Monica said it would be. The store was full of top designer clothes. The girl was behind the counter. And there was Kurt, sitting his big ass on a stool by the door salivating at the site of us entering the cash cow he should have been guarding.
“Oh my God. Kurtis Ramsey is that you? I don’t believe it. It’s been years.” Monica said, pretending to be excited to see her old friend.
“Gotdamn Monica. You looking even better now than you did in school.” Kurt responded, getting up giving Monica a hug taking advantage of the opportunity to feel her ass.
While Monica and Kurt continued reminiscing, Terri and Lashawn made a B-Line straight for the clothes racks. I watched from afar and attempted to learn. My only question was where were they going to put the stolen items. They each only had their pocketbooks. My questions were answered as they quickly moved through the aisles stuffing item after item into their bags. I wasn’t sure how it was all fitting. They made the pocketbooks look like circus clown cars. I was amazed at how swift and precise they were as the cleaned up rack after rack. I wandered through the aisles pretending to be interested in purchasing something; I noticed a Dolce and Gabanna blouse that was hot as hell. I looked at the $800 price tag and immediately understood why they were stealing this shit. The designers were robbing us blind so why not get them back. Terri saw me eying the blouse and winked at me letting me know that it would soon be mines. And in less than 15 minutes it was all over. Lashawn came out of the Gucci section and signaled that the shopping spree was over.
“Man these prices are way too fucking high. Why they got a store like this in the hood knowing we can’t afford this shit? I’m out yo!” Lashawn ranted, pretending not to be interested in anything in the store.
“Well Kurt it’s been nice chopping it up with you but I gotta roll out.”Monica said, ending her fake conversation with Kurt.
“Well hold up Monica. Maybe we can exchange numbers and grab a bite to eat or something.” Kurt said, trying his luck.
“Well Kurt, I do have a man but I tell you what. Now that I know you work here I will stop by and see you every free chance I get okay boo?” Monica said, kissing him on his cheek as he melted like butter. And before he could respond we were gone.
Back at Monica’s house we all gathered in the living room as Terri and Lashawn began to unload the stash. I watched in amazement as they proceeded to pull thousands of dollars worth of shirts, jeans and accessories out of the tiny handbags. They then continued to make two separate piles. One was for us, and the other was to sell on the street. Even with the 50% off street value there was still well over ten grand. Now I was beginning to see how they stayed so fly and in fashion. My mouth salivated at the thought of my pretty ass being draped in all the hottest gear. I was still amazed at how quick and efficient this band of beautiful thieves were.
“Here you go newbie.” Terri said as she slid a large pile of clothes my way.
“Good lookin out girl” I said, as I held one of the many expensive blouses up to my chin.
“No problem girl, you one of us now so I gotta look out for you like all sisters look out for each other. Matter of fact I’ll tell you what. I will trade you three of these Gucci outfits for that nigga Travon’s number.” Terri responded.
“No thank you. I wouldn’t trade his number for all the hot shit in that store.”
“Shit. You might as well before he fucks one of us and you don’t get nothing out the deal.” Lashawn added.
“Nah. Trust me Travon aint like that. He would never even play me like that.” I responded, defending Travon as if I had known him forever.
“Bitch you trippin. They all like that. And the sooner you get that through your pretty yet ditzy head the better.” Monica jumped in, semi-scolding me.
“Whatever. Anyway what’s next on the agenda for today?” I asked eager to change the subject.
“Well we gonna throw that shit on and head down to the park, they got the summer league basketball tournaments starting today. That’s shit is gonna be packed.” Monica said.
“Yeah nothing but money all over the place.” Terri confirmed.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get this shit poppin. And Tiffany you better not strike out today. Make momma proud.” Monica said, patting me on my ass.
“Okay, Okay. I got you.” I agreed, reluctantly.
“Good, now you get in the shower and get dressed first, since you always take the longest to get ready. Ya’ll two meet us back here in an hour.” Monica instructed, as we all did as we were told.