Chapter Thirteen
Hazel walked with both hands in front of her, trying not to bump into anything. Seven's tie was wrapped around her face, covering her eyes. Seven had pulled into the Benz dealership and was about to give Hazel the surprise that he was referring to earlier that day. Seven guided her as the approached the ocean blue, drop-top convertible that had Hazel's name engraved in the headrest.
“You ready?” Seven asked as they stood right in front of the bumper of the car.
“Yeah, I'm ready,” Hazel said while smiling, feeling her heart beat rapidly inside of her chest. Seven untied the tie from her face and Hazel opened her eyes. When she saw the luxury, shiny car her mouth dropped. She quickly turned to Seven.
“Stop bullshitting! This is mine?” she asked as she slightly bounced up and down.
“No bullshit, ma. This yours,” Seven said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the keyless key with the big Mercedes sign on it. Hazel quickly hugged Seven wildly and stood on her tippy toes to peck him on the cheek.
“Thanks, Daâ” Hazel quickly stopped herself just before she accidently called Seven “Daddy” because of the familiarity of the feeling that Apple once had given her. “I mean . . . thanks, Seven,” Hazel said, correcting herself. Seven smiled, knowing what she almost called him. He quickly wiped the smile off of his face, not wanting her to know he liked the idea.
“You're welcome. You deserve it,” he answered. “Let's test this bad boy out. After you,” he said as he handed her the keys. Hazel quickly grabbed them and jumped into the car without opening a door. Seven followed suit and got in right after her. He didn't have to worry about paying the dealer because earlier that morning he hit the chief dealer with $50,000 cash for the car. Without hesitation Hazel started up the car, and the engine purred silently but with power and torque. Seven never even bothered to ask if Hazel had a driver's license, but he soon would find out how she drove. She hit the gas and the sound of tires screeching was the only thing to be heard in the parking lot on the Friday afternoon. “Whoooo!” Hazel yelled as she sped off, feeling free as a bird as her hair blew in the wind.
After thirty minutes of tearing up the highway, Hazel was pulling into Seven's apartment complex.
“Seven, I really appreciate what you do for me,” Hazel said as she put her car in park and positioned herself where she was facing him directly. “You made me get clean. I can finally look myself in the mirror and see a soul. For so many years there was nothing there. I look at life so much differently now. That shit doesn't have a hold on me and I owe it all to you. Thank you, Seven. I know I haven't told you this but . . . I love you,” Hazel said as a tear flowed down her cheek and dripped off her chin.
Seven paused and let Hazel's words soak in. He wanted to tell her he loved her back, but there was something that stopped him. He had never told anyone that he loved them besides Apple and his own grandmother, so he took those strong words very seriously. He placed his hand on Hazel's inner thigh and rubbed gently. He didn't tell Hazel he loved her back, but his eyes did it for him. Hazel spoke again.
“I promise, when I get a job, I will find a place of my own,” Hazel said, knowing that Seven had helped her enough by providing a roof over her head throughout her recovery.
“You know . . . I was thinking maybe you can stick around for a while. I like the way you keep the spot clean for me,” he said, giving her a lame excuse to make her stay a little bit longer. Seven didn't want to admit it, but he liked Hazel being around.
Hazel smiled, knowing that Seven didn't want her to leave, and played along. “Okay, I will keep that pigsty clean for you,” she said playfully as she placed her hand on top of his.
“Listen, I'm going on a boat trip this summer. Have you ever been on a boat?” Seven asked as he tried to change the mood, not wanting to have a romantic moment with Hazel, out of respect for Apple.
“No, never been. Daddy said he was going to take me on one when I was little . . . but it never happened,” Hazel replied.
“Well, a friend of mines takes trips every year and he invited me. I want to go. You game?” Seven asked.
“Yes, I would love that, Seven,” Hazel answered, feeling honored that he asked her. Hazel was determined to make Seven her man. She didn't realize, but Seven was her first crush. Her life had been filled with so much strife and drug abuse, she never had the experience of having a crush on a boy nor man. Subsequently, her first love was heroin.
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Millie swayed back and forth while smoking a cigarette, waiting in line at the Plasma Center on Pierson Road. It was a center that bought blood for medical use, which was a way to get quick cash. The line was long, filled with heroin users looking to get quick money so they could cop their fix. Millie peeked to the front of the line and smacked her lips, seeing that she was the twentieth person in line.
“They need to hurry the fuck up,” Millie whispered to herself as she began to grow impatient, feeling her stomach beginning to rumble. It was the end of the month, so she was strapped for cash. She was on her menstrual cycle, so she couldn't turn a trick to support her habit. Giving blood was her only other option to get a quick buck to cop her dope. Her time was running out and she knew that within the next hour, if she didn't get her dope, she would be balled up in agonizing pain craving it. “Come on,” she said as she puffed her cigarette and grew more edgy by the moment. She was jittery and irritated to the max. Millie looked to the front of the line and saw Thelma, a known junkie from the neighborhood. Millie, being an opportunist, quickly got a good idea to get herself to the front of the line. Millie stepped out of the line and went toward Thelma, who had on a wig and shades.
“Thelma,” Millie whispered as she tugged the woman's coat. Thelma quickly turned around and looked back at Millie.
“You got the wrong person, honey,” Thelma answered, and looked away when she saw who it was. Millie stepped closer to Thelma, invading her personal space.
“Bitch, don't play with me. You betta let me cut or I'ma bust your ass out,” Millie whispered as she leaned into Thelma's ear. Millie knew that Thelma had HIV, as well as the whole neighborhood. That was a red flag at the Plasma Center and a sure way to get rejected from the nurses inside. Once you were on record for having infected blood, you were banned from the center and your name placed on a blacklist. Millie knew that Thelma must have had a fake ID and was trying to slip in between the cracks. Thelma had put a faulty disguise, trying to swindle her twenty dollars from the Plasma Center. She couldn't fool Millie though. Millie was about to take full advantage of the situation.
“Look, bitch, you know your name is on that list in there. If they find out who you really are, you ain't getting any money” Millie whispered.
“They ain't going to find out. I got my sister's ID,” Thelma muttered, finally looking at Millie, obviously aggravated.
“If I tell them, they would know,” Millie said, smiling but meaning every word.
“You wouldn't,” Thelma said in a harsh whisper, calling Millie out on her bluff.
“Bitch, try me,” Millie said as she stepped back and crossed her arms. “Excuse me!” Millie yelled as she raised her hand while looking toward the front door where the nurse was standing with a clipboard.
“Okay, chill,” Thelma said in a harsh whisper as she grabbed Millie's arm. “What do you want from me? Why you hating?'
“Just let me cut. If I don't get my medicine soon, I'ma be fucked up,” Millie said as she gripped her stomach, feeling a sharp pain shoot through it as soon as she mentioned it. “And if you let me cut, I'll even share my pack with you,” Millie negotiated.
Thelma didn't want to let Millie cut because if they got caught, they both would get kicked out of the line and no one would be getting anything.
“Hurry up,” Thelma said as she looked at the nurse about three people ahead of her. Thelma stepped back, giving Millie room to squeeze in.
“Bet,” Millie said as she slid in swiftly.
“Hey, you can't cut!” a male fiend said from the back of the line as he thought about how Millie was making his wait longer.
“Shut up, nigga! She was holding my spot for me!” Millie said as she quickly snapped back at him. Millie smiled as she noticed she only had two more people in front of her. Her slick move had just cut her wait time by at least thirty minutes.
“You a dirty bitch,” Thelma mumbled as she stood behind Millie and shook her head.
“No, get it right, boo-boo. I'm a bad bitch. I'm ahead of you, ain't I?” Millie said arrogantly as she smiled from ear to ear and took a pull of her cigarette.
Twenty minutes later, Millie was walking out of the center with a crisp twenty-dollar bill. She saw Thelma outside, obviously waiting on her.
“Yo, Millie. They knew who I was and kicked me out. You said you would share your pack with me if I let you cut,” Thelma reminded her.
“Well, I changed my mind. Peace!” Millie said as she walked right past her and held two fingers up, leaving Thelma standing there looking dumbfounded. Millie chuckled as she headed to the hood to cop her first shot of the day.
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Millie sat inside of her home as she slumped on her sofa with a needle in her arm. She had just used the money from the Plasma Center to get right and Lady Luck had her feeling lovely. Just before she drifted off, she saw Hazel's gorgeous smile and visualized how pretty Hazel was at the Insight ceremony. She then thought about how she once had a man that cared for her, like Seven did for Hazel. She thought back to time where she had a chance to kick her habit and take advantage of having a good man to guide her. However, like most fiends . . . she fucked it up.
Sixteen Years Earlier
“Yeah, you black bitch. Squeeze my ass,” the white trucker crooned as he furiously pounded the young girl's womb, who lay on this cot in the back of his truck. His 280-pound body continuously landed on the young girl as he continued to call her racial slurs. Millie closed her eyes and moaned, faking she was enjoying the small red penis that went in and out of her.
He needs to hurry up,
Millie thought as she momentarily opened her eyes and saw the man's mouth wide open as drool threatened to fall. She closed her eyes and gripped his sweaty butt as he felt his orgasm approaching. He began to pump faster and faster, until he finally exploded into the condom. He grunted and gave her one last deep thrust before he rolled over and off of Millie. Millie quickly sat up and began to put on her clothes that were on the side of the cot. She wanted to get out of the awful smelling truck, so she could get back to her post and make more money. Once she got fully clothed she looked at the man who panted heavily and stared into space as if he was in a dream.
“Run it, big daddy,” Millie demanded as she held out her hand and began moving her fingers, signaling for him to pay up. He reached into his boot and pulled out a wad of money. He peeled off a fifty-dollar bill and tossed it to Millie.
“There you go, sunshine,” he said as he stuffed his money back into his boot.
“Thanks, honey,” Millie said with a big smile. She rubbed the man's limp penis and stood up. She straightened up her clothes and licked her lips sexily. She put the fifty-dollar bill into her purse and closed it.
“So when am I going to see you again, baby? You got some good dick,” she lied as she tried to stroke his ego. The man, still on his back and naked, stared at her and smiled as she gave him self-assurance about his subpar performance.
“Well, I have to drop off a shipment to North Carolina and I should be heading back this way in a week or so,” he said as he sat up and slipped on his grungy white briefs.
“Well, I'll be right here waiting for you, big boy,” Millie said, egging him on.
“You're always at this truck stop?” he asked, thinking about how he would stop on his way back, so that he could get another shot of the sweet thing he just pounded. The truck stop was in a huge parking that also had a diner that had frequent traffic from truckers from all around the country.
“Yep, just about every day! I will be waiting for you, too. It's hard to find a good fuck in this business, ya know?” she said as she watched him eat up every word she said. She had him, putty in her hands. “Well, I'm about to get out of here. You have a safe trip and make sure you stop and see me on your way back.” Millie said as she began to walk backward, sexily heading to the front cab of the truck. She tripped over his big boots that sat in the middle of the floor and fell onto the floor. Millie quickly grew an embarrassed look on her face and she scrambled to pick up her purse that she dropped.
“Are you okay?” the John asked as a look of concern washed over his face.