Secrets of a Side Bitch (17 page)

             
It would only be a matter of time before his heart was mine too.

S
eventeen

Monday, October 29, 2013

Omari

Aeysha looked at me like I was crazy when she woke up and I was staring at her.

             
“What are you looking at?”

             
“You’re beautiful.”

             
She was. No matter the weight she gained, no matter the women I slept with, I loved this woman to death. Nobody or no new pussy could ever change that.

             
And what made her the most beautiful woman in the world was that fat round belly that lay between us.

             
“You think so, Omari?”

             
“Hell yea. Even with stank ass breath and crud in your eye.”

             
“Whatever, nigga.”

             
Then, like two teenagers, we lay there staring at each other with goofy grins on our faces that told on how much we loved each other.

             
I might be a hypocrite. I know I was in some other pussy just the night before. But there was a big difference in liking or having love for somebody and being in love. I was in love with this girl that was lying next to me. That was why no matter how much love I had for Simone, I would never ever leave this woman. I would always tough it out. I would always take her shit talking. I would always be there.

             
“I prayed for this.”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
“I prayed for this right here,” Aeysha explained with a soft smile. “The three of us being together. I prayed over and over again and asked God to show me a sign that this was meant to be. When He gave me this baby, I knew it was His sign that we would be okay. God answered my prayers.”

             
That right there;
that
was why I loved her so much.

Aeysha

“Hey, Mama Sutton.”

              “Hey, Aeysha. How are you feeling, sweetie?”

             
At the moment, I was miserable.

             
“Tired of being in this bed. Can’t do anything but watch TV,” I explained before letting out a frustrated moan.

             
“Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. We don’t want anything to happen to that beautiful baby. Where is Omari? He isn’t answering his cell phone.”

             
“He went to buy some boxes from Home Depot so that he can finish packing the apartment. Then he is picking us up some lunch.”

             
“When are you all moving?”

             
“In two weeks.”

             
“Oh okay. Well, I was calling you all because the banquet hall needs a credit card number in order to reserve the room. It’s the only room left, and a wedding party is trying to get it. I know you really wanted to have your baby shower there, so we need to give them a credit card like ASAP.”

             
“Okay, Mama. Let me try to get a hold of Omari. You know he doesn’t have any plastic, but mine is in the car. I’ll call you right back.”

             
When Omari didn’t answer, I figured that he had his hands full with boxes at Home Depot. I cursed him because I told him to get my wallet out of the car before he left. He left it in there after getting us dinner last night with my card and using my car.

I tried Eboni’s cell. She didn’t answer either. I peeked outside of the blinds and didn’t see her car.

              Nervous that that beautiful room that I wanted my baby shower to be in would be booked by that wedding before Omari got back, I slid out of the bed. I knew that I shouldn’t have been on my feet or climbing the stairs. But the doctor assured me that minor walking was okay. That was my first, and I planned for it to be my only, time on my feet that day, so I figured it would be okay.

Omari

It took forever for them to get the boxes from the back that I ordered at Home Depot. By the time I was able to buy them and pack them into the back of my car, it had been a good forty
–five minutes.

             
I’d left my phone in the car, so as I climbed into the passenger seat, I started my car and checked my phone for any missed calls or text messages.

             
My mama had blown me up a few times, but I knew she probably only wanted to talk about the baby shower. Aeysha had only rung me once and then sent a text saying that she needed her wallet out of the car when I got back home.

             
What blew me was that Eboni had blown my phone the fuck up within the last ten or fifteen minutes. That bitch was losing it. She was becoming more and more controlling and spastic.

             
I couldn’t wait to move.

             
I took the few minutes alone in my car to think for a minute. Everything was happening so fast; moving, the baby, and Ching’s trial. I was still waiting to see if I would ever be picked up again by the dics, but the closer I got to moving across town, the more relieved I felt. True in all, the dics could get me from anywhere, but I just felt less like of a target in another location.

             
As I pulled up on the corner of my block, I was ambushed by mass chaos. Police officers were everywhere. The block was taped off by yellow crime scene tape and a squad car was blocking the intersection. It had to be about twenty people surrounding the barricade; trying their damnest to see what was going on. I parked my whip, left the boxes in the car, grabbed Aeysha’s food, and went to see what was going on.

             
Some people had the weirdest looks on their faces as they watched me walk up. I knew everybody, since I lived on the block for some time.

             
“Omari!” Someone shouted my name. The sound of her voice was curdling with tears and sadness.

             
It was Eboni.

             
Before I could spot her, she was behind me, pulling me by the arm towards an officer. “I’ve been calling you! Oh my God!”

             
“What’s wrong?”

             
She only continued to cry hysterically. That brought me to a panic. As I followed Eboni unconscious of where she was taking me, I tried to look down the block, trying to see what was going on, but I couldn’t. I could only make out a group of officers and detectives, standing in the middle of the street.

             
As we walked up on an officer, Eboni told the officer, “This is her boyfriend.” Then her cries got worse as she cover her face with her hands. She was even shaking.

             
“What’s your name, son?” This officer was being so nice and careful with me that the shit was scary.

             
“Omari,” I told her. “What’s going on?”

             
“You need to come with me to the hospital. Get in the car, son.”

             
“Why?! What the fuck is going on?!”

             
I looked at Eboni for a sign, but only got more tears as she shook her head in disbelief.

             
“Yo’! What the fuck happened, Eboni?!”

             
I was getting scared and frustrated at the same time. My head was starting to spin. I noticed my neighbors; some who lived on either side of me or across the street. Their composure was lost as tears streamed down their faces. I tried looking down the block again. When I couldn’t see my house, my instincts moved my feet.

             
“No, son! You can’t go in there!”

             
The officer tried to hold me back, but I pushed her arms. Still crying hysterically, Eboni assisted her in keeping me away from the crime scene tape.

             
“Omari, its Aeysha!” When I heard her name, I stopped dead in my tracks. I stared into Eboni’s eyes hoping that I saw a lie. “She got shot.”

             
“WHAT?!”

             
I didn’t even wait for an answer. I charged towards the barricade, ready to force my way past everybody and every cop.

             
Noticing the disturbance, three more officers came, but I didn’t give a fuck. I fought them too as they tried to contain me. My head was spinning and my heart was hurting. I was having an outer body experience as I tried to wrap my head around what the fuck was going on.

             
“Son, you gone have to calm down before we have to restrain you. Don’t make us restrain you.
Please
.”

The
sympathy of these officers is what really scared me.

It could only mean one thing.

              I finally stopped fighting and just stood trying with all my heart to see a glimpse of my girl on that block somewhere. I didn’t even look at any of their faces as I asked, “Is she okay?”

             
And all they could tell me was, “Get in the car, son. Let us take you to the hospital.”

E
ighteen

Tuesday, October 30, 2013

Omari

Aeysha died the next morning from a gunshot wounds to the head and chest. After surgery, she fought all night to stay alive. I held her hand and talked to her, hoping that she could hear me.

             
At two o’clock n the morning, she was gone.

             
“Son, do you have any idea who would do something like this?”
              I was still at the hospital. I couldn’t even bring myself to leave. I felt like if I left that hospital, it would make it so real that my baby was gone. It felt like I was in a real fucked up dream and at any moment I would wake up staring at my baby’s sleeping face again.

             
I wanted to hold onto that hope as much as I could.

             
But as I looked at the sorrow and tears in my mother’s eyes as she sat beside me in the family room of the critical care unit, holding my hand and rubbing my back, I knew this shit was real.

             
“If you know anything, I need you to tell me, son.”

             
I couldn’t tell this cop that Ching had done this. I couldn’t tell him because, though I knew it, I couldn’t wrap my head around this nigga taking it so far that he would kill Aeysha in cold blood. He’d had somebody execute my baby all because he was spooked that I would trick and fuck up his case.

             
My mind was spinning. The room was spinning. Voices sounded like scrambled words in the distance. I just leaned over into my mother’s lap. I cried, screamed, and asked God why. I had never heard myself make such grueling noises in my life. This pain was so bad that I thought if I screamed loud enough, it would go away.

B
ut it didn’t.

I thought if I asked God enough times, Aeysha would wake up.

But she didn’t.

             
I heard my mother telling the officer to give me some time. But no time would be long enough to heal from this.

Simone

“Simone, I can not believe you sold this beautiful house.”

             
Looking around the living room, I couldn’t believe it. African-American art that my mother purchased years and years ago still hung on the wall. I even kept her favorite umbrella in the corner, where she left it. There was a time that I thought that I would never part with this house.

But as I signed the contract and handed it back to Sara, it was official.
My mother’s house was no longer mine. It now belonged to a married couple with a set of twin girls.

             
“I can’t believe it either. But I didn’t need all of this space. Plus, this house reminds me of my mother. It’s too painful. And the mortgage was kicking my ass.”

             
“Well, at the price you got for the house, you have a pretty nice cushion to rest on.”

             
That indeed. I sold the house at twenty thousand dollars more than it was appraised for. After paying off the mortgage, I was walking away with seventy-five thousand dollars.

             
“Where are you going to live now?”             

             
“I’ll be closing on a condo downtown in a few days.”

             
Sara smiled and nodded in approval. Most white folks approved of living as far north in the city as possible.

             
A few minutes later, Sara and I said goodbye. After letting her out, I walked through the door touching everything that I could get my hands on. I immersed myself in the feel of everything so that I would never forget the comfort and joy that this house had given me.