The Hustler's Daughter {DC Bookdiva Publications} (27 page)

Hidden Secrets

The
next morning, Mercedes rolled over and noticed Emilio wasn’t in the bed. She
looked over at the clock on the nightstand and decided to get up and do a
little cleaning around the house. She threw on some casual clothes to begin her
day.

   As
she was cleaning, she heard her cell phone ringing. She ran down the steps and
turned down the volume on the stereo. She loved to clean and listen to music;
she thought it made the time go by faster. She answered the call and it was
Emilio.

 “Hello...Hey
Babe…where is it? Alright well call me when you get here.”

She
hung up her cell phone and kept the music low so she would be able to hear him
when he came in. He asked her to get his wallet because he left it at home. She
ran up the steps to retrieve it. She checked his jacket and found it, but
dropped it as she was hanging it back up.

As
she picked up the jacket, the wallet fell out causing documents and his ID to
fall out onto the floor. 

   Mercedes
quickly picked up the cards and came across an ID. It was Emilio’s picture and
the name read Francisco Sanchez along with his birthday and it said he was from
California. She remembered him telling her he grew up in Cuba. Mercedes was
immediately pissed off and realized that the man she’s grown to love is a liar.
She realized that he’s been lying to her about his name and upbringing from the
beginning. Mercedes slid his ID back into the wallet and closed it. As she
walked downstairs her phone rang and it was Emilio letting her know he was
there. She opened the door and stood there looking at him awkwardly, like the
stranger he’d quickly become.

   “Hey,
Babe.” He kissed her on the lips and noticed she didn’t kiss him back,

“What’s
wrong Baby?”

   “Nothing.”
Mercedes lied.

   “Alright
Babe, I’ll be back later.” Emilio kissed her on the cheek.  He knew something
was weird with how she was acting, but paid it no mind. Angry with what she
just discovered, Mercedes slammed the door and walked up the steps. She decided
to call her mother for answers.

   “Hey,
how you doing Ma?” Mercedes smiled, it was good to hear her mother’s voice.

   “Hey
Baby, I’m doing alright and you?”

   “I’m
just chilling. How is it living in Queens?”

   “It’s
alright. I’m not use to living like this. They have roaches and shit running
around.” They both chuckled.

   “See
Ma, that’s why I told you that you can stay with me. You’ll have a new place to
live soon.”

“Yeah,
I gotta get up out of here. She tries to borrow everything I own.” Maria
laughed. “But what’s going on with you, how’s everything, what’s new?”

   “Nothing
really, I mean Emilio and I started to get serious.”

   “Emilio?
I thought you weren’t into him like that?”

   “Yes
Ma, Emilio. We’ve been dating for a while now; I guess you could call it that.
The thing is he’s really feeling me Ma and I’m feeling him but he’s….”

   “That’s
good Honey; I can’t wait till you get married. That will be a day that makes me
proud.”

   “Oh
please Ma, he ain’t gonna pop the question-it’s too soon for that.”

   “Please
Mercedes. I know Emilio likes you. In due time he will be on his knees with a
big ass diamond asking you to marry him, trust me.”

   “Yeah,
I just don’t know Ma…”

   “Just
don’t know what?” Maria cut her off.

   “If
he’s the one. There’s just something about him that my heart doesn’t agree
with.”

   “Babe,
I know you’re still in love with Chino and all. Of course you’re going to be
iffy about Emilio, just take your time Babe.”

   “Ma
it’s not that…” Maria cut her daughter off.

   “Baby
I’m sorry, I gotta go. Your auntie needs to use my phone, hers got disconnected
today. I’ll talk to you later. I love you.” The phone call ended while Mercedes
still held the phone against her ear.

   “Love
you too Ma.” She threw the phone on the bed and took a nap. Hours into her nap,
her phone rang and woke her from her. She sluggishly answered it.      “Hello?”

   “Hey
girl it’s Candy.”

   “Hey
Candy, girl what’s up?”

   “Ain’t
shit, at home chilling bored as hell, what you doing?”

   “I
was sleep!” 

   “Well
you need to wake your ass up!” Candy yelled.

“What
time is it?” Mercedes wondered.

“It’s
around eight-thirty and the girls and I were wondering if you wanted to come
out and celebrate tonight. We are going to a club in Harlem to celebrate
Chino’s homeboy’s birthday. He invited us.”

“Oh,
I don’t know.” Mercedes wasn’t sure about going out tonight.

“Come
on Mercedes, we all want you to come. It’s been a minute since we all went out.
It’ll be just like old times.” 

“Alright,
I guess I’ll go. What time are ya’ll trying to dip out?”

“Well
ladies are free before eleven. We wanna get there early so we don’t have to
wait in line.” Candy told her.

“Ya’ll
got a ride, or ya’ll want me to scoop you up?”

“That
would be a good idea! You can get us from my crib. ”

“Alright
I’m ‘bout to get up and get ready.” Mercedes got up to get dressed for a night
to remember.                                    

xxxxxxxxxx

Mercedes
pulled up in her two toned pink and black Mercedes Benz E350 coupe. She opened
her lambo doors and they gently flew in the air allowing her to make her exit.
All of her girls were with her, but Mercedes stood out amongst them.

As
they bypassed the line, bitches rolled their eyes and gossiped with their
girls. They were mad because they had to stand in the line and wait to enter
the club. Mercedes just smirked and noticed the tension and hatred that the
girls were showing. They knew they couldn’t be down with her, so they hated on
her. They didn’t even get searched and walked up into the club.

They
made their way in and the bass from the speakers was pumping. One guy felt on
Mercedes’ ass while she was dancing; she smacked him in the face. She wasn’t
going to tolerate any disrespect tonight. She wanted to enjoy herself.

She
stood at the bar sipping on her Long Island Ice tea. Her wrist glistened from
across the room. She nodded her head to the beat as the music filled the club.
Chino’s friend Lamar walked over to her as she was at the bar. He was happy to
see her smiling and looking beautiful, as usual.

“Happy
Birthday, Lamar” Candy cooed.

“Thanks
Ma.” Lamar said giving her a quick hug. “Hey Mercedes, how you been?” He asked
as he looked over at Mercedes and hugged her. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah
I know; it’s been like two years.” Mercedes nodded her head.

“I
know Ma, I’m sorry for your loss. I heard about your pops and I just want you
to know I’m here for you.” Lamar consoled her.

“It’s
cool, thank you. I’m just living, you know shit happens.”

   “Chino
really loved you Ma and I know he’s smiling down on us right now.” Mercedes got
teary-eyed as Jim Jones song came on, “In Love with a Thug.” She held back her
tears as Lamar continued talking to her. That was a song that she often heard
when she was driving with Chino in the car.

   “Yeah
I know; we’ll meet again one day.” Mercedes smiled.

   “True,
well I’ll let you go and enjoy yourself Ma.”

   “Alright,
I will Lamar.” Mercedes kissed him on the cheek and he disappeared into the
crowd.    

   “He
is so fuckin sexy.” Candy said while eyeballing Lamar as he walked away.

“Mhmmm,
I think I’m going to have to push up on him.” Candy and Mercedes laughed
together.

   “You’re
so crazy girl.” Mercedes sipped on her drink and jammed to the music. She had a
few cups of liquor so she was feeling real nice. Mercedes and the girls were
having a great time posted up by the bar dancing. She squinted as she looked
across the club and noticed India with her girls.

“Is
that India over there?” Mercedes asked.

“Yeah,
that’s her.” Candy eyed India and her crew down. “She’s eight months pregnant.”
Candy sucked her teeth, “Nasty hoe.”

“She
doesn’t even know who the baby’s daddy is.” Hazel added.

“She
already has another baby who’s two years old and she’s claiming it’s Chino’s.”
Shateeya said.

“Yeah
right, that baby ain’t his! And how the fuck is she pregnant and in the club?”
Mercedes screamed.

 “Fuck
all that, India and I got some business to handle.” Mercedes sipped the last of
her drink and followed India into the restroom to talk to her.

“Mercedes
don’t do anything stupid.” Mercedes heard her friend Candy say as she grabbed
her arm.

“I
gotta do this!”  She snatched her arm away and headed to the bathroom. Mercedes
words were slurred from the drinks. When she got into the ladies bathroom, she
noticed India standing there with her protruded belly poking out of her closely
fit dress. She stood in front of the mirror smacking her lips together after
putting on her lip gloss. Mercedes didn’t say anything but began fixing her
hair waiting for an opportunity. It came sooner than she hoped.

“Well,
well, well! Look who showed up tonight.” India sarcastically said.

“Bitch
I know you ain’t talking to me.” Mercedes rolled her eyes.

“Where
have you been hiding?” India laughed.

 “Bitch
please, ain’t nobody hiding. Ain’t nobody scared of your ass. At least I don’t
have to jump nobody.” Mercedes turned around and stood face to face with India.

“Whatever
Mercedes, at least I didn’t get Chino killed.”

“Bitch
what the fuck are you talking about? Him getting killed had nothing to do with
me.” Mercedes yelled.

“You
know what; you’re one fucked up bitch. You’re probably the one who set his ass
up, because you were jealous that I was pregnant with Chino’s baby. You wished
he had your ugly ass knocked up. That shit that you and your girls did was
fucked up. You will pay, trust and believe that shit!” Mercedes retorted. She
was drunk and angry after seeing India and she wanted some revenge.

“Whatever,
you ain’t ‘bout shit. That baby ain’t deserve to live any damn way. My baby
Chelsey is his.” India was clearly pushing Mercedes’ buttons and wanted her to
react. It worked; Mercedes didn’t allow India to say anything else. That was
her last straw; she turned around charging at her. Mercedes didn’t care if she
was pregnant or not. She hit her with such force that India fell to the ground.

 Mercedes
started punching India in the face as hard as she could.  India couldn’t even
keep her eyes straight. She tried to scratch Mercedes in the face, but she was
unsuccessful. She was able to scratch Mercedes on her neck.

“You
fucking stupid bitch! You killed my baby.” Mercedes yelled.

 Tears
were streaming down her face as she continuously punched India in the face.
Mercedes’ girls ran in the bathroom and tried to break it up. It took all of
them to pull Mercedes off of India.

“Yo
Mercedes, she’s pregnant chill out.” Candy warned her as she pulled her back
and stood between them. India held her bloody face.

“I
don’t give a fuck about her being pregnant.” Mercedes pulled out the gun that
was in her purse and pointed it at India’s stomach. “She didn’t give a fuck
about me, when I was pregnant with Chino’s baby. Her and her little fucking
crew jumped me knowing that I was pregnant. They killed my baby! They killed my
fucking baby!” Mercedes yelled as she cocked the gun back, ready to shoot.

“Put
the gun down, Cedes. How the fuck did you get that in here anyway? You gonna
get us arrested.” Candy inched towards her trying to get her to put down the
gun.

“Fuck
that, her baby doesn’t deserve to live!” Tears streamed down her face. “She
took the only thing that Chino and I beautifully created! Why should I?”
Mercedes screamed as her hands shook holding the loaded weapon.

“Come
on Mercedes, she ain’t worth it B, she’ll get hers.” Hazel chimed in. “Come on
Ma don’t do this, you don’t want to end up in jail for murder.” Hazel walked
over and lowered the gun and took it from her. Mercedes stared down at India,
looking her in the eyes. “You took away my baby!” India’s crew rushed in and
wondered what the commotion was, but they received the answer when they spotted
India’s face and the damage that her face endured. “Bitch-” one of India’s girl
tried to come at Mercedes, but Hazel pointed the gun in her face. “You better
not try anything stupid; shit will go down. I got the gun now.” Hazel warned
the girl; she backed off and they exited the bathroom.

They
left the club and hopped in the car and drove Mercedes home because she was too
drunk to drive.