Money-Makin' Mamas (9 page)

By now, tears were welled in my eyes and my breathing was heavy. Chyna rarely ever cried, but the mean mug on her face showed just how upset she was. Simone walked slowly over to Mama and held out her hand.

“Put the knife down, Mama,” she said softly. “All Karrine did was ask a question. Now that we have our answer, let's all just let it go.”

“It's done,” I said too. “And thank you for bein' honest with me.”

The cold look in Mama's eyes had chilled, just a little. She laid the knife on the counter and shot me a dirty glimpse before she walked away. The last thing I wanted was to have a beef with her. Something about that didn't seem right to me. I felt as though I owed her a sincere apology.

“You ain't gotta get all mad about it,” I shouted out to her, trying to joke around. Mama had a heart. She loved us to death. It hurt her more to do what she had just done to me; I already knew it.

She turned around before going upstairs. “I did have to get mad about it, Karrine. Don't try me like that again. Never again or I will slice your fucking throat.”

I didn't doubt it, and I would do my best not to go there with her again. But with the way all of us were, there wasn't no telling when we would find ourselves in another one of these situations again.

I was glad that Mama and Karrine had squashed their beef with each other. The most important thing right now was to make sure Chyna was all good, and to see what was up with this nigga Honey. My sisters and Mama thought I was the shy one, but they were so wrong about me. I knew when to keep it cool. I also knew when it was time to show my ass. That time wasn't when Mama had a knife near Karrine's throat. I wasn't sure if she was going to use it. She had never done anything to that magnitude before, but we all knew that Mama could be a motherfucker if you rubbed her the wrong way.

I didn't understand why Karrine kept pushing her, but I bet she wouldn't do that shit again. I wanted to know the truth about Ray too, but after hearing what he had done to Chyna, I was mad as hell. Had I known what he'd done to her, I would have shot that nigga myself, cut his dick off, and shoved it into his mouth. I know Mama had told us not to talk about it, but as soon as we got back to Karrine's room, we talked about it. Mama was in her bedroom, but we whispered to each other so she wouldn't hear us discussing it and trip.

“I didn't know Ray did all that shit to you,” I said to Chyna as she sat on Karrine's bed.

“It was a long time ago. I'm over it. I feel much better now that his ass is six feet under, sniffin' dirt.”

The only reason I laughed was because she did. Chyna was strong and she held all of us down. She had all of our backs, and I couldn't help but to think about a time when she almost got killed because of me.

One of the niggas was real blunt. “Bitch, ain't nobody staring at you. I was checking out that fine
-
ass white gal behind you.”

And after reflecting on the past, I couldn't even imagine what Ray had done to her. Chyna, however, cut me off as I started to talk about it again. She looked at Karrine then back to me.

“I'll repeat what Mama said. We done talkin' about this, and please don't tell nobody that that shit happened to me. When y'all bring it up, I have to relive it. That's not what I want to do. So for me, change the subject.”

“Please do,” Mama said, coming into the room. Like normal she was dressed in black. She rocked a black pantsuit with no shirt underneath. Her cleavage was showing and her high heels gave her plenty of height. She never removed the braids from being wrapped into a bun on her head and she dazzled up her pretty face with rose-colored makeup. Mama was a beautiful woman and it was because of her that we all carried good looks. She was thick, though, but her thickness was in all the right places.

“I need to check out of here and go have a drink. Maybe I'll be back later; maybe I won't. Either way don't wait up for me. I'll have my cell phone if y'all need me.”

Whenever Mama had something on her mind, she fled. It's what she did just so she didn't have to get in our shit about something. Karrine had seriously fucked up, but when she yelled out to Mama that she loved her, Mama said it back.

“You know love, but don't show love, unless it's for me and your sisters. Have fun tonight and don't y'all hurt nobody.”

Mama left Karrine's room. And for now, things seemed to be back to normal. Karrine and Chyna didn't have Internet “dates” until after ten, but I had to get prepared for my escapade with Honey.

“Bye, y'all,” I said, waving as I left Karrine's bedroom and went to mine. My room was across the hallway from hers. She chose to lay her room out with gold, but like Mama, I was more of a red, white, and black chick. Black silk sheets covered my bed and red cottony pillows were strewn on top of my bed. Black and red beads created a backdrop behind my bed because I preferred not to utilize a headboard. Fuzzy red, white, and black rugs covered my floors, but the most exciting thing about my room was my computer desk that held up a thirty-inch monitor I used to show these niggas what was up.

With the monitor being so huge, I got a clear view of who was on the other side checking me out and giving me orders. Most of the men I dealt with were fine as fuck, but there were a few who needed to get their shit together. Like my client Blair. He was a white man who made arrangements for me to hook up with him around midnight, either every day or every other day. He was married to some ol' cockeyed bitch, and when he showed me a picture of her, I laughed and understood why he was paying his hard earned money to get off while watching me. He was kind of weird, though. There was something about his dark, sneaky eyes that I didn't necessarily like.

The good thing about Internet video porn was that nobody knew shit about me or my sisters. All they had was an Internet connection and fake-ass names that were either our pseudonyms or names that those who paid us wanted us to go by. I'd been every name from Nancy to Cookie to a nasty, freaky bitch. My pseudonym was Black Satin only because of my dark skin, and because I loved black silk.

I closed the door to my bedroom and changed into my teddy. The rule was to never interrupt each other while we were at work, unless we had a joint session where all of us were included. Those sessions were cool, but we made the men aware that none of us would be touching each other, sucking on each other, kissing each other, or no shit like that. We didn't get down like that, and all we could offer them was the display of some bumping and grinding.

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and it showed 9:55 p.m. With my teddy on, I checked myself in the oval-shaped mirror that sat tall off the floor. I then reached in my jewelry box to find something sexy to drape around my neck. There was no question that women liked diamonds, but some men found pearls to be sexy. I wrapped several white pearls around my neck and let them fall between my firm, thick breasts. I then covered my body in a shimmering lotion that added glitter specks to my skin. I stepped into my seven-inch red heels that hiked my ass up to where it needed to be. My monitor was already on, so I relaxed in the chair in front of my desk and waited for my ten o'clock appointment to arrive.

Mr. Honey's e-mail came right on time. I logged into my account, entered my password, and after providing him with a code, there he was looking at me from the other side of my computer. His smile was wide, his body was fit, and always paying attention to eyes, they sure as hell were sexy. He was a charcoal dark-skinned nigga with locs that fell on his shoulders. I could see his muscular frame on the monitor, and as he started to talk to me, his voice was deep and smooth. I returned the smile and crossed my long legs.