Payback Is a Mutha (18 page)

When Brianna opened the door and saw it was him, she gave him a big hug. She immediately began to vent. Telling him how Peanut knocked her in the mouth and how scared she was of him and how she thinks he put a hit out on Nick, destroying her plans of relocating and starting her life over. She told him about Shan still not speaking to her, nor were her mother or her sister. She cried telling him how she was all alone and now she knew the meaning of a cold, cold world.

He listened intently as she poured her heart out. He assured her everything would be all right and that he was there for her like always. He assured her that nothing had changed between them.

After that and for the next few days, before he would come see Brianna he would first fuck a nigga in the ass, wouldn’t wash his dick and would come over and fuck Brianna in every hole on her body. Unprotected.

“D
amn man!” Zeke buried his head up under his pillow.

Forever kept kicking on his cell bars. “Get up, man. I need to holla at you.”

Zeke raised up to snatch his alarm clock off the chair. “Man, it’s only quarter to twelve, my bunkie ain’t here, so let me enjoy this moment. Why ain’t your ass on the visit instead of trying to stop me from getting my beauty rest?”

“Man, Nyla is trippin’. I got the feeling she creepin’! And I did get a visit…from my brother.”

That got Zeke’s full attention. “What! Big bad Briggen graced the prison house visiting room! Awwww shieeiit! Sumthin’ goin’ down!” Zeke got outta the bed, took a piss, washed his face and brushed his teeth. He could see that Forever was truly pissed off.

When Forever caught Zeke staring at him he
yelled, “What the fuck you lookin’ at? Come on, nigga!”

“Man, get your panties out your ass! I ain’t do shit to ya! And if you want to vent on me, yo ass gonna have to wait until I’m damn good and ready!”

“Whatever, yo. Meet me outside! Slow motherfucker!” Forever hissed as he stormed away.
Beauty rest?
He had to laugh at that one.

Zeke shook his head at his boy. After he threw on some sweats he rushed out to see what was up with Forever. When he got outside Forever was standing there waiting on him. “’Bout time!” Forever said as they hit the track with Forever wasting no time filling Zeke in. “Man.” Forever started laughing. “You ain’t gonna believe this shit!” He started laughing again. “Brig and Shan use to fuck!” He looked at Zeke, anticipating his response. When he didn’t get the response he was expecting he yelled, “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah nigga, I heard you. I’m just waitin’ to hear the rest. I know y’all ain’t gonna let some pussy halt the business. Pimp, I told you; them hoes come a dime a dozen.”

“Well you need to tell Brig that because that nigga all in his feelings over one bitch, when you and me both know that the nigga got a dozen.”

“You should have punched that nigga in the nose! Big brother and all!”

Zeke was clearly pissed off. He wasn’t tryna see his dollars fly out the window, especially over some pussy.

“Well the nigga told me to find somebody else because he ain’t giving that bitch nothing else.”

“Man that’s fucked up! Tell him I said so too. I can’t believe this shit! He willin’ to stick you and
himself for the paper? And over a hoe! What part of the game is this shit?” Zeke said, goin’ off.

“Shan ain’t come to work Thursday or Friday. I don’t know what he said to her. She might come in today or tomorrow. So playa, our backs are up against the wall right now. We either, (a) wait till we find somebody else and keep using Brig. Or (b) keep using Shan but use the competition, Skinny Pimp, and piss Brig the fuck off.”

“What the fuck he want us to do Ever? We both got families to feed. And I know that nigga know firsthand that it cost money to live in prison.” Frustrated, Zeke said, “Whatever man! It’s on you. I ain’t gonna come between you and your brother. However you wanna do it, let’s do it. I ain’t got shit else to say.”

“Man you already said what you had to say. So let me see where Shan’s head is at and then I’ll let you know.”

“Whatever, man.” Zeke was still pissed.

“Now peep this shit. I called Nyla last night all the way until they cut the phones off. Then this morning at 6:30, I finally catch her. I said ‘Damn, you had me worried as fuck!’ Come to find out her ass was out running the streets. I went the fuck off!”

“Man how many times I told you, you can’t have complete control. You up in here nigga! When you gonna accept that? So what she went out? It ain’t like she goes out all the time. Hell, she don’t hardly go out at all!”

“That ain’t the point man.”

“Then what is the point?”

Forever was quiet. Not knowing what his point was other than the fact that he was selfish, didn’t want to lose Nyla and scared that if she started to
run the streets some other nigga would snatch her up. Especially since she had been talking about how tired she was of this jail shit. The devil was playing tricks with his mind. He was now getting paranoid. So they ended up arguing back and forth over the phone. She hung up on him and didn’t even show up on the visit. This was the first time she ever pulled a stunt like this. His gut was telling him that she had someone else. So Forever was really fucked up about the whole situation.

“Forever,” Zeke broke his train of thought. “Chill out, man. She went out last night. It’s over. If I was you and Nyla was my woman, I’d call her up to apologize and beg her to come on the visit tomorrow. She works hard man. She’s a good woman. You better not let your insecurities push her away. You can’t control shit in here. You listening to me?”

“I hear you.”

“A’ight man. I gotta check on our shit.” Zeke gave him dap and left Forever outside. An hour and a half later Forever went to the phone and called Nyla.

Shan didn’t come to work Saturday or Sunday. When she finally showed up on Monday, Forever was pissed to the nth degree, as he hung around the Education Department waiting on her. He looked at his watch; she was almost an hour late and in twenty more minutes he had an appointment to get his knee x-rayed.

“Damn girl, I thought you went into hiding or some shit like that.” Forever smirked as she unlocked her door.

“I’m off on weekends. I thought you knew that.”

“How you gonna take off knowing that I’m here?”

“Please. That’s why I’m in the predicament I’m in now. Coming to see you.”

“I got an appointment to get my knee x-rayed but I’ll be back. We got a lotta shit to discuss.”

“Yeah, we sure do. I’m anxious to see how you respond to what I got to talk about.”

“I already know what you got to talk about.”

“Oh no. I don’t think so playa.” And she slammed the door in Forever’s face, hoping that he wasn’t gonna respond to her the way her intuition was telling her he would.

Forever plopped in his usual seat in front of her desk. He looked Shan over. She looked tired and stressed.

“You a’ight? Why you haven’t been to see me? You had me worried about you.”

Shan leaned forward onto her desk looking Forever straight in the eyes. “Where do you want me to start? Oh I forgot, it’s all about your paper, so I might as well let you say what you gotta say first.”

Forever leaned back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just say what you gotta say Forever. You wanna know if I was fuckin’ your brother? To answer the question, yeah, I did once. And now, since he thinks that me and you are fucking he’s pissed off. The other night he wouldn’t give me the package or the four thousand dollars that you know I need. He told me I needed to talk to you. And on top of that”—she grabbed her purse, pulled out a plastic bag and threw it at him.

“What’s this?” He examined it as if it was lethal.

“A pregnancy test Forever! Pink means positive. Blue means negative.” She glared at him, anticipating a response.

Forever caught a lump in his throat and threw the plastic bag back at her. “I know you ain’t telling me what I’m thinking you are?”

“Telling you Forever? I’m showing you! What? You want me to say it? I’m pregnant! You want me to spell it out? I’m P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T!”

Forever just stared at her, waiting for her to say she’s joking or something. When she didn’t he leaned forward, smothering his face in his hands. “Shit! How the fuck?”

“I’m keepin’ it Forever,” she interrupted him.

He looked up with the quickness. “You what?”

“I’m keeping it.”

Forever sighed. “Shan. What the fuck you talking about? Do you hear yourself? You remember who I am? A nigga in prison with a wife. I don’t think you want to do that. You can’t do that!”

“What? Oh so now you want to all of a sudden be this responsible and logical family man? What are you saying Forever? Go ahead; I want to hear you say it! Tell me to get an abortion!” she was screaming.

“Lower your voice man.”

“Fuck my voice! Go ahead and say it! Tell me to get an abortion! You say it and I swear I will fuck you up!” she threatened.

“What’s that suppose to mean? Do you hear yourself? You know we was just fucking. Mixing business with pleasure.”

“Nigga, no, you didn’t just say that!”

“Come on Shan. You was fucking to get what you
wanted and I was fucking you to get what I wanted. But you gotta get rid of it. Let’s keep it real now.”

The tears were rolling down her cheeks.
I’m glad he didn’t disrespect by asking me how do I know if the baby was mine.
That was the only relief she felt. Shan’s voice trembled as she said, “Well nigga, we now got us a baby on the way, and that’s keeping it real!”

The next day Forever went to sick call and got an idle for the rest of the week. He didn’t want to deal with Shan at all until he figured out what he was going to do. This pregnancy shit had him stressing like a mutha. Zeke was on him because all of the dope was gone and the customers were feinin’. Forever calmly told him, “Zeke man, we ain’t starvin’. So business will have to be put on hold for a minute.”

Forever had finally smoothed everything over with Nyla. He apologized and the whole nine yards. As they were sitting in the visiting hall, Forever looked up and in comes Shan. When she finally made eye contact with Forever, he gave her a look that said, “Bitch don’t even think about it.” And just to be sure he looked at Nyla and said, “Excuse me baby, let me go take a leak.” He went over to the desk where the officer’s station was.

“What’s up Thompson?” Officer Mendez was one of the cool visiting room officers.

“Let me out. I need to go to the restroom.” He then turned to Shan and said, “What’s up boss? I see you decided to come back to work.”

Shan came over to where he was. “Make sure you’re in my office before I leave today.” And walked away.

When Forever came back from the restroom Nyla shot at him, “What was that all about?”

“What?”

“Forever don’t play dumb. Who is the broad?”

“She works in education.”

“And?” Her left eyebrow raised up.

“And what Nyla?”

She stared at him, and it felt like forever to Forever. Her eyes felt as if they were piercing through his soul. She finally spoke. “Okay Forever. Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to come clean,” she snapped.

“Come clean? What is you talkin’ about?”

“I gave you a chance Forever. And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Damn.
Forever said to himself.
Shit seems to be crumbling all around me.

By the time the visit was over Forever was all tensed up. Then, on top of that, Shan came back into the visiting room, throwing daggers at him, which only made Nyla that much more suspicious. Then when he walked past the TV room both TVs were showing a video of Usher revealing his “Confessions.” When he grabbed his Walkman to run off some of the tension he was feeling, there was Usher again revealing his “Confessions.”

He remembered that Shan wanted to see him but he was not in the mood for any conversation from her, even though getting between her thighs would surely ease all of the tension he was feeling. But he
didn’t have together what his next move was gonna be. “Fuck it,” he said out loud. “I’ll see her when I see her.” And he went outside to run. He needed to clear his head.

Monday afternoon Forever made it into work. Shan cut into his ass as soon as he stepped foot into her office.

“I waited for you Forever. I told you I needed to talk to you.”

“No you didn’t, you just told me to be in your office.”

Shan sucked her teeth. “I—”

He cut her off. “Shan I’m here now. I had to get my head together. So talk.”

“You had to get your head together? What about me? I’m the one pregnant! I’m the one needing money! You said you got your head together, so what’s up Forever? If you gonna leave me hanging let me know now.” Her voice was trembling but she refused to cry.

“A’ight, look. We can keep getting money together. My brother ain’t gonna fuck with you so I gotta set you up with some new folks.”

“How soon?”

“By the end of the week. A’ight?”

She sucked her teeth. “And that’s it? That’s all you got to say?” Shan jumped up and smacked him dead across the face.

Forever, on instinct, grabbed her by her throat. “What the fu—”

Tap. Tap.
Forever turned to look at the door, then he pushed Shan back down into her chair. She gagged a little, rubbed her neck and said, “Come
in.” When the inmate came in Forever walked out. “Mr. Thompson, I am not through with you.” She then looked at the young man and said, “Come back in about an hour please and go tell Thompson I said to come in here now. His work is not finished.”

“Yes ma’am.” The inmate turned back around and left out.
What the fuck?

When Forever came back in he calmly said, “What?” But she could tell that he was pissed off.

“What? I’m pregnant that’s what!” She was pacing back and forth pulling on her locks. “Bear with me for a minute Forever. I guess I’m having a hard time accepting that what we’ve been doing don’t mean shit to you. Close my fuckin’ door Forever! I’m usually a good judge of character,” she continued, “but I’m having a hard time accepting that you don’t feel shit for me. I can’t believe my judgment about you was all wrong Forever.”

“Look. I need you to consider an abortion. I told you before, you know I got a family. But me and you, from this point on, can only do business. In a couple of days let me know what you want to do about the baby.”

Shan snapped. “Get out Forever!” she screamed. “Get the fuck out!” She picked up her coffee mug and threw it at him.

On her way home she pulled over at a CK’s and ordered a cup of tea. Finding a booth in the corner she slumped down in the seat.
Damn, I need to talk to Peanut.
She swiftly wiped the tears off her face.
I’m transporting drugs, putting my freedom on the line. I’m pregnant by a married man who’s in prison. What the fuck? That bitch Brianna! All this shit is her fault. I hate her!