Gate Wide Open (12 page)

Moving on Up!
December 7
^th
, 2018, 1:32
P.M
.

I had moved most of my clothing out of my apartment and into Wallace's. Now I was on my way back to do some last-minute cleaning up, since I would still be leasing the place. I was looking into subleasing it, or just putting it on pause if me and Wallace didn't work out. Which I doubted, because he was, for lack of better words, perfect to me.

I pulled up to the parking lot and made my way to my building. I noticed someone sitting on the front steps, which was unusual. This was considered a good neighborhood, where people didn't congregate around the entrance of the building. As I walked up, I noticed the face but couldn't believe my eyes.

“Cousin!” she yelled out as she ran up to me and squeezed my neck.

My first thought was,
What the fuck is she doing here?
And the next was,
How in the hell did she find me?
I reluctantly hugged my cousin Sherry back and looked at the little boy who sat on the steps patiently waiting to be acknowledged.

“Hey, Sherry,” I said dryly, backing up and taking a good look at her. She was older and looked a little worn for her age. She had to be at least forty, but she looked around fortyfiveish. “Long time no see.”

“What in the he—I mean, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was in town, and I thought I would look you up to see how you are doing.”

I looked at her like,
Bitch, please…your ass wants something.
I let her go on with this charade, just to see where she was going with this mess.

“Can I please use your bathroom? I really have to pee?”

“Um, excuse me, Sherry,” I said, pointing to the young child sitting on the steps with their bags. “Are you going to explain to me who this is?”

“Oh, yeah, just as soon as I come out of the bathroom.” She picked up the bags as I opened the door and walked up the stairs to my apartment.

The little boy just tagged along, extremely quiet and docile. As we entered my apartment, I told him to have a seat in the living room.

“You want something to drink?”

He nodded.

I walked in the kitchen to see what I had in the refrigerator. I didn't stay there much since meeting Wallace, so all I had was a couple cans of Pepsi left in a case I'd bought when I first moved in. I walked back into the living room just as Sherry was making her way out of the bathroom. She sat down on the sofa next to the boy, who I assumed was her son.

“So, Sherry, let's cut to the chase. What do you want?” I wasn't in the mood for her shit. I knew good and well that she didn't like me for sleeping with Shawn and messing up her chances with him. She didn't have a chance when I had my claws already in him, but what did she know? She was just another dumb cunt trying to hook somebody else's man.

“What do you mean, What do I want? I can't come by to see my cousin if I want to?” She smiled, showing her missing tooth.

Before I knew it, “Bitch, please!” had escaped my mouth, shutting her down instantly. “Sherry, I don't have time for this foolishness. Just get this shit over with so I can be about my business.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, looking down at the floor. “After I left town and went down to Atlanta, a couple of weeks passed and I became sick and I went and got tested. I was afraid that I had caught something from having sex with Shawn. We used a condom, but it broke during the time we had sex. It turns out that I didn't have anything, but I found out I was pregnant. I decided to keep the baby and raise him on my own. I was doing it at first, until I lost my job and had to move back to California with my mom. Up until now, I didn't want to bother with trying to get child support for Li'l Shawn. Times are rough now, so I decided I would come back to Baltimore to see if Shawn would help raise his son.”

I looked at the little boy for a minute. He did have a strong resemblance to Shawn.

“I need a place to stay until I get in contact with Shawn so he can see his son and make arrangements for child support. Do you know if he still works at the same law firm?”

“Sherry, I have no idea where Shawn Black works. When I got out of jail, I decided not to look back and just to concentrate on my future.” I lied intentionally. This broad didn't need to know all my business.

My mind started thinking of ways I could use her to help me get back at Shawn and Keisha.
Shit, I could kill two birds with one stone.

“Sure, baby, you can stay here as long as you need to. All I ask is, whenever the time comes, to return the favor and be there for me.”

“James, I have no problem with that. We're family, and I would do anything for you. All you have to do is ask.”

I nodded my head. I had more evidence to manipulate Shawn with. Sherry didn't know it yet, but we were both about to get broke off. I was pretty sure that Shawn would pay handsomely to keep this shit hush-hush.

“Hey, Sherry, when you do find Shawn, let me know because I want to go down with you and make amends with him for the things I have done to him.”

I left my extra set of keys and some money for them, so they could eat. I walked to my car giddy and as excited as I was when I'd first met Shawn in the parking garage.

When I got home Wallace was there. I was so turned-on and horny, I gave him back-to-back blowjobs.

Payback Is a Bitch
December 7
^th
, 2018, 5:12
P.M.

“Hello,” the distorted voice said over the phone. “Did you do what I told you to do?”

“Yeah, he fell for it! That lame-ass shit I was feeding him.” I had a wicked smile on my face because my ass was gonna get some major payback for the shit Shawn and James took from me. Shawn was supposed to be my husband now, and we were supposed to have a happy-ever-after life. “I'll call you back when I get all the details in order.”

“Don't mess this shit up or try to mess me over. If you do, I will kill yo ass like I did the old man. Keep me posted.”
Click.

I hung up my phone and marveled at the plans I had before me. That faggot-ass James was going to get what was coming to him, and I was going to get broke off in the process.

Payback was a forty-year-old bitch, and I was taking no prisoners. I looked over at my son that was definitely Shawn's seed and smiled. He was my baby, and I loved him dearly. He was also my cash cow. Shawn was going to rue the day he fucked me over for James.

“Mama, I'm hungry,” Li'l Shawn moaned as he sat down next to me on the couch.

“Okay, baby, let's go get something to eat.” I had seen a 7-Eleven about a block away as the cab drive drove us down Liberty Road to the apartment complex.

As we walked up the street to the 7-Eleven, I looked at my little man and adored the miracle beside me. He was unplanned, but I never let him feel like he was a mistake.

 

I should have known going after a married man would have led me into trouble. Besides, I was the result of the same kind of relationship, but it wasn't my father who cheated. It was my mom. And I never really got to know my father. You see, he was a married man as well and already had a family, and I wasn't a part of it. I never knew the truth until I overheard my father (or who I thought was) and my mother arguing about money.

I heard him snarl through their bedroom door, “Go tell that nigga you fucked and cheated on me with to buy her some school clothes, since he's her real father!”

I heard my mother whimper and wail in pain. It was late, and I was supposed to be in bed sleeping and dreaming of sugarplums and stuff like that. Instead, I was a ten year old who just found out that my daddy wasn't really my daddy. He treated me with love and never said a word to my face about our true relationship.

I never mentioned that I knew the truth, until one day when my “daddy” had an operation to remove a brain tumor. It was just us three sitting in his hospital room days after his operation. I don't know why I picked a time such as that, but my emotions were getting the best of me, and I needed to hear it from both of them. I was seventeen and wanted to know the truth.

“Who's my real daddy?” I just blurted it out.

An immediate silence came over the room. They both looked at me with fear of this moment. I was sure they were trying to prolong it as long as possible. Shit, I was too.

“Sherry, baby, what are you talking about?” My mother looked at me with tears in both eyes threatening to fall. “This is your daddy lying right here.”

“Candice! Candice!” my father called out. “It's time to tell the girl the truth. We can't hold on to this forever. You need to forgive yourself, because I already have forgiven you.”

Tears streaked down my face as mother broke down the truth to me. With every detail she spoke, the more my heart crumbled into itty-bitty pieces. The truth is a painful thing, but I would've had it no other way, then or now.

 

That wasn't the best way to bring up a baby, because not having a relationship with both parents in your life can cause you to have an unbalanced life. I didn't want that for Li'l Shawn. I wasn't naïve in the least.

I knew I couldn't have Shawn for myself, and that I could no longer support our son on my own. I had put this off for long enough, and it was in Li'l Shawn's best interest to get to know his father. I was just benefiting in the process. I know it sounds like I was a scheming ho, but I had to look out for me as well as my son.

We walked in the 7-Eleven, and Li'l Shawn went berserk, grabbing packs of Doritos, Funyuns, Oreos, and other snacks. Plus, when we got to the counter, he ordered two big bites and a large Slurpee. He was a growing boy, and it showed.

I grabbed a couple of things to last us a couple of days and loaded them on to the counter. Our purchase came to about thirty dollars and I was not surprised. We both smiled as we walked out of the store and back toward the apartment to fill up and get some sleep.

 

I was awakened at about ten o'clock at night by a call from James. He was ready to cash in on his favor, and I wasn't happy at all with what he was asking me to do.

“Hello,” I said, groggy as hell. Me and Li'l Shawn had eaten and laid down at about nine thirty.

“I need you to do something for me.” James was vibrant, like he had just got some good loving.

“Already?” I was still half-asleep. I got up out of the bed and walked into the living room, so I wouldn't wake up Li'l Shawn.

“Yes, already, bit”—He stopped short of calling me out of my name. “So strap up yo bootstraps 'cuz you goin' in.” He laughed.

“Okay.” I huffed. “What you need me to?”

“I need you to get some info on someone of interest.”

“For what?”

“Bitch, don't ask me about my business when you and your offspring are living up in my shit for free.”

“Sorry.”

“You sure is. I'm starting to wonder if we really family, with your dumb ass, getting pregnant by a nigga you ain't have no chance in getting. You didn't know what the hell you was doing, did you?”

“Uh—”

“Of course not. You ain't got nothing to show for it but a kid. No money, nothing. And you want me to help you get some money from Shawn to take care of his kid? You owe me big time, so listen up.”

I didn't say anything, because he was right. I just listened to what he asked me to do.

“I need you to follow this chick around and see what she's up to. She's a lesbian, so you might have to do a little licking to get her close to you.”

“Do what?” I belted out, but quickly covered my mouth.

“Bitch, you not deaf. You heard me.”

“I—I—I don't know if I can do that.” I wasn't a lesbian. I liked dick very much. I couldn't see me doing a chick. Even the thought sent shivers down my back.

“Oh, you will. Or your ass is on the street.”

“What about Li'l Shawn? Who goin' to keep him while I'm doin' this…stuff?”

I was desperate. I needed help getting Shawn to pay child support illegally, because I wanted more than the state would give me if I went to court.

“I'll take him while you doing what you need to do for me and give him back when you're finished. And don't think you're going to try to get me by leaving out of town or some shit and sticking me with him, because you never know when my ass is going to be on your ass. I will drop his ass off at Child Protective Services in a heartbeat and think nothing of it.”

“James, I would never do that.”

“Yeah, okay.”

He gave me the info I needed and hung up the phone.

The only reason I was doing it was because he'd promised me he could get me and him a nice piece of change from Shawn. His ass was crazy, and I knew it, but if anybody could do it, it was James.

I knew I was going to have to do some stuff that was completely out of character, even for me, but I was doing this for Li'l Shawn.

You Never Know
December 11
^th
, 2018 11:30
A.M
.

“Oh, excuse me.” I'd accidentally bumped a lady as I pushed my cart down the cereal aisle in the crowded Shopper's Food Warehouse at Mondawmin Mall.

“Oh, no problem. This aisle is small as shit anyways,” she said with a slight chuckle, showing her chipped tooth in her mouth. “It's always like this around the first of the month. Everybody gets their government checks around this time. And the Christmas holiday doesn't help either. I don't know why I can't remember to do my shopping in the middle of the month, like a normal person who works for a living.”

“Girl, you ain't say nothing but a word,” I said, pulling off in the direction of the deli. I wasn't that talkative. I had about thirty seconds of conversation in me before getting bored and walking away.

I had to hurry up anyway and get home and feed these kids. I was so glad they were old enough to fix their own food, I could dance.

 

Li'l Kenny and Jeremy were twelve and fourteen and were spitting images of their faggot-ass father. I still got pissed off every time I thought about Kenny's dick-lovin' ass. I was so glad he took the easy way out and took his life in prison. He was a waste of good dick anyway.

That's why I let his sister lick the pussy at night when he was on the town with his boys. Antoinette's ass sure could lick a pussy just right. She had my ass climbing the walls the very first time she fucked me. The best thing about Antoinette was that she wasn't one of those butch, man-lookalikes. She was as pretty and feminine as any other woman, but she was like a straight-up dude when it came to the bedroom skills. If her ass could have made me pregnant with her tongue, I swear I would have about fifty muthafuckin' kids right about now. That was just how good she was.

We didn't live together for the sake of my kids. I didn't tell them about their father, and I wasn't going to let them see their mother sleeping in the same bed hugged up with no woman. She had her own place, and I had mine, and when we wanted to do what we did, we made sure the kids were in school or spending the night over my parents' house.

I wasn't in love with her, but I did care for her greatly. We were supposed to be in a monogamous relationship, but I had this feeling that she was cheating on me. Her patterns were changing, and I noticed that she wasn't as attentive as she used to be. Her cell phone was switched to voice mail a lot more now, and whenever I did call her, she always had some lame excuse, like she had to baby-sit her sister's kids, or she wasn't feeling well and was just going to stay in the house and rest. I was hoping she wasn't, but all the signs were there. I wasn't going to have her deceive me like Kenny did.

 

I continued to walk around the corner as I went down my grocery list. I turned down the ice cream aisle and bumped into the same lady I'd collided with earlier.

“So we meet again,” she said with a smile that went way past friendly. “It must be fate that we keep bumping into each other like this.”

“Yeah. Mm-hmm,” I said, an awkward smile on my face. I wasn't for this shit today. Nowadays I had women hitting on me just as much as men. I didn't mind, but today was just too much since I felt that Antoinette might be cheating on me.

I quickly maneuvered my cart around hers and made a beeline for the checkout lines. As I continued my route, I looked back and noticed the chick still eyeing me down like a Jell-O Pudding Pop. I quickly refocused my attention straight ahead and made my way through the maze of people, trying to find a short line and get the hell out of there.

I made my way out of the supermarket, trying to get to my car, and damn near ran an old lady over with my cart. I wasn't in the mood for another chick to be breathing down my neck. I had one I couldn't control. I definitely didn't need two.

I swiftly threw my bags in my car and got in, prepared to pull off and get home as quickly as possible. Just as I was about to pull out, the front of my car was blocked in by another vehicle. To my dismay, it was the lady that was getting fresh with me in the market. I sighed a breath of frustration. I looked at her as she got out of her car and walked over to mine.

Oh, shit! This bitch is crazy!
was my first thought. I put my hands on my keys and grabbed my Mace that was attached to it, just in case this bitch was a mental patient escapee from Spring Grove.

“I was wondering if I could get your number, so I can call you sometime?”

I was in awe at the audacity this broad had. She hadn't known me more than a couple of hot minutes, and she was already trying to get in my panties.

“Look, today ain't a good day for all that, so can you back your piece-a-shit of a car up so I can be gone?” I truly didn't care if I hurt her feelings at all.

“You's a fiesty one, ain't you?” she said with a smile.

I didn't see anything funny. I just wanted to get home and get in the bed.

“How about I give you mine, and you can decide to call me when you're ready to ride this ride?” She flickered her tongue.

I snatched the piece of paper with her number on it and watched as she jumped into her beat-up SUV and drove off. I unfolded the paper and looked at it—Sherry 589-4588. I didn't have any plans to call her, but I stuffed it in my pocketbook anyway, just in case. “You never know,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and driving off.