When Angel got to the bar, Tasha, Mecca, Sanette, and Shanna were kickin’ it. When they looked up and saw the obvious glow on her face, they all started laughing.
“Don’t be hatin’ on a sista,” she told them before they could say anything.
“Ain’t nobody hatin’. I know he’s the birthday boy, but y’all couldn’t wait till y’all got home?” Mecca teased.
“No, I was the birthday boy’s present,” she grinned, jumping up on the stool next to Tasha and kissing her on the cheek. Tasha smiled and pushed her away.
“Well, well, well ... they say milk does a body good. I say prison does a body even better. Damn! Nikayah looks good!” Mecca said, in full lust mode. Everyone turned around to look at him except for Tasha. Nikayah was standing around talking to some people.
“That’s my cue to get the fuck outta here. Where is Trae?” Tasha asked, looking around. Her mood changing from festive to gloom just that quick.
“How much you wanna bet he’s going to come over and say somethin’ to you?” Angel challenged, elbowing her.
“I don’t think so. He ain’t crazy. At least I hope he ain’t.” But after some thought she said, “Oh, hell yeah! That nigga is crazy. Hand me that bottle. If he comes over here trying to fuck with me, this bottle is going over his fuckin’ head. Watch and see.”
“Roz chill. You should’ve known you were going to have to face him eventually. You know he heard that you’re pregnant. Plus, you know that he didn’t think that you would just up and leave his sorry ass,” Angel said, trying to calm her down.
“Well, he brought that on himself. Where is Trae?” she asked, ignoring Angel’s attempt to be reasonable. She wanted to get up but couldn’t move. Her palms were starting to sweat.
“I feel sick. Can somebody please go get Trae for me?”
Shanna and Sanette both jumped off their stools and disappeared into the crowd. Just as they did, Nikayah was walking over to the the bar.
“Welcome home Nikayah. You piece of shit,” Angel mumbled as he approached.
“Angel what’s goin’ on? You’re lookin’ good.” He hugged her while looking Tasha over.
“I heard you already took the bar exam.”
“Yup, just waiting impatiently to see if I passed.” She forced a smile.
“Congratulations. You know you passed.”
“Thanks.”
“I heard that both Kyra and Jaz done settled down.” “Pretty much,” Angel dryly stated.
Nikayah was still looking at Tasha, who had her back to him.
“Why’s your girl being so hard on me?” He nodded towards Tasha.
“Nigga, you know why.” Angel had to catch herself because she was about to go off.
Nikayah kept gazing at Tasha. He fixed his eyes on her stomach, then found himself checking out all the ice she had on. Then he focused his attention on the ankle bracelet with Trae’s name on it. He was turning green with envy, his ego shattered.
“What’s up Rozzie?” he asked, using the pet name he gave her.
“I know you’re allowed to speak to a nigga.” She could smell alcohol on his breath. He was that damn close.
“Damn baby. What you doin’ to my man to make him drape you with all this ice? You easily got on two, three hundred thousand worth of shit. Fuck!”
“Nikayah, get the fuck away from me!”
“I guess it’s really over between me and you, huh?”
“Get away from me, Nikayah!” she screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. He was giving her the creeps.
“I still don’t want to believe you fuckin’ killed my babies, but yet you’re gonna have that nigga’s? You are an ice-cold bitch,” he said, kissing the back of her neck like he was trying to suck the skin off.
She squeezed the liquor bottle, spun around, and smashed it on his forehead.
“Owww! You bitch!” he yelled, wrapping his hands around her neck and choking her.
Angel and Mecca jumped down off their stools and immediately began to dig their nails into his wrists, trying to loosen his grip. Tasha was gasping and trying to poke his eyes out. The next thing you know, Trae, Bo, Kay, Supreme, Mel, and some other niggas were pushing their way through the crowd.
Trae punched him in the jaw and kept punching him until his bloody teeth flew out of his mouth. He finally let her go, Omar taking over. Trae then pulled out his gat and cocked it. In one quick move Kay snatched it, emptied it, and gave it back to him saying, “Not here, man!”
With that the niggas started beating Nikayah down to the ground. Trae pushed them all away and was stomping him in the head. There was blood everywhere. “
That’s enough man! Not here!” Kay was holding Trae and yelling at him. But Trae still managed to break free and started dragging Nikayah outside.
Meanwhile, Tasha had fallen to her knees and was crawling on the floor. She was gasping for air and throwing up. “Get her the fuck out of here!” Trae yelled to Kay.
“No, Trae!” Tasha screamed. “Let him go!” She was trying to get up off the floor but couldn’t. Kay picked her up to carry her out to the car. “Kay stop him! Please Kay! Stop him before he does something stupid!” She was screaming and crying. She reached out to Bo, “Go get my man, Bo, please. He’s going to jail for murder. Let me down, Kay.” She was kicking and screaming, but Kay still ignored her.
“Take the keys out of my pocket,” Kay said to Angel, who was crying and following right behind them.
“Let me go, please. Kay, go stop him,” Tash pleaded. Angel unlocked the car, and Kay put her in the back seat. Angel then climbed in the back with her, trying her best to calm her down.
Kay locked the doors, telling Bo, “Watch them!”
“Angel, Trae is going to kill him. He’s going to prison. Kay could have stopped him.” Tasha was now screaming and crying at the top of her lungs.
She tried to open the car door, but Bo wouldn’t let her.
“Bo go get him.”
“He’s coming,” he assured her. “He’s coming.”
“Fuck you Bo!”
Angel was holding her and rocking her back and forth. Police cars were starting to pull up. They could hear Kay yelling at Trae. Both girls looked anxiously in that direction. Trae quickly got in the back seat. Angel then jumped in the front with Kay, and they sped off. Trae flicked on the light.
“Go to the nearest hospital,” he instructed Kay. He was looking at Tasha’s face and neck. “Damn!” he said, on seeing her neck red and swollen from Nikayah’s fingerprints. He turned the light out.
“Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m sorry, baby.” He tried to hold her, but she started swinging at him.
“You killed him, didn’t you? You’re going to prison, Trae. You know these niggas are gonna tell on you. How could you do this? You got a baby on the way Trae.” She kept swinging at him. He grabbed her arms and held her so that she couldn’t move.
“You got a fucking baby on the way,” she cried.
“You didn’t have to kill him.”
“No baby, I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me Trae.”
“You know I never lied to you. He’s fucked up, but he ain’t dead.”
“You’re a liar Trae. I’m not having this baby if I find out you lied. I’m not bringing a baby to prison to visit you. I can’t do it Trae. I’m not raising a child by myself.”
He hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. “Baby, you gotta calm down.” Her trembling body was feeling hot.
When they pulled up to the emergency room, Trae jumped out and immediately went to yelling about the pregnant woman who was attacked and needs assistance right fuckin’ now, or else he would make sure the hospital got shut down.
After his rampage four doctors immediately started working on Tasha.
Her blood pressure was way up and she was dehydrated. They hooked her up to an IV and began running tests to check on the baby. It didn’t look good.
After they ran what seemed like a thousand tests, the doctors at the hospital told Trae the baby was fine. The doctor said that the mother needed to rest for a couple of days and to remain stress-free. They kept her in the hospital for two days, the doctor wanting to make sure her blood pressure stayed down. He also ordered her to rest at home for the next three days.
Trae took her straight to his apartment, where he waited on her, hand and foot.
“Trae, will you stop treating me like an invalid,” Tasha complained as she plopped down on the sofa next to him.
“You are supposed to be on bed rest, ma.”
“I’m ready to go home,” she whined.
“You are home.”
“Baby you know what I mean. Take me for a ride or something. What’s so stressful about that?”
“Three more days, then I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“I’m so bored. Three damn days I’ll be crazy.”
“No you won’t. You’re supposed to be resting.”
She picked up the cell phone and dialed Angel’s cell number.
“Hello,” Angel answered.
“It’s me, Tasha.” She dryly stated.
“Hey, ma. Why are you sounding all dead? How are you?”
“I’m bored to death.” She complained.
Angel laughed. “You need to enjoy this little vacation. You’ve been living la vida loca lately.”
“Tell me about it. Where are you?”
“On a family outing,” she said, reaching over and playing with Kay’s braids.
“What kind of family outing?”
“Kaylin, his son Malik, and my little sister, Carmen. Malik is too cute. I have to bring him to see you. We’re in the Mercedes station wagon going to Chuck E. Cheese.”
“How cute! Makes me want to hurry up and have mine.” She said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Have one for me too, while you’re at it,” Angel joked.
“You can have your own. Are y’all coming over?”
“I don’t know. Depends on what Kaylin has to do. I’ll call you later. Now get your ass in the bed.”
“I am in the bed.”
“No, she isn’t!” Trae yelled.
“I knew you wasn’t. You liar. Give the phone to Trae. His boy wants to speak to him.”
She handed Trae the phone and started kissing him on the neck. Then she unbuckled his pants and pulled them, along with his boxers, down to his ankles. He was ignoring her until he no-ticed she was down on her knees.
“Kay, I’ma have to hit you up a little later, man.” He closed his cell phone and looked at Tasha.
“You mean to say you finally gonna break a nigga off?” he asked smiling.
“Mm hmm,” she mumbled. She gently pushed him back and told him to relax. She grabbed his dick with both hands and massaged and squeezed it while running her tongue ring over its head. Trae started breathing harder. When she started sucking on the head, he leaned up and moaned. “Do your thang, baby! Handle your business.” She started squeezing the base and put the rest into her warm, moist, juicy mouth, working it.
“Damn Tash! That feels good,” he groaned. When he felt her throat squeeze the head of his dick, he grabbed her head and started making subtle grinds. She deep-throated his dick, causing him to shudder at what felt like electric currents shooting from his toes up to his head. “Tasha baby.” He tried to hold her back, but the suction of her jaws made his knees buckle. Then he suddenly exploded, releasing what felt like buckets down her throat.
She turned him loose and looked up at him while wiping her mouth. He was still leaning back with his eyes closed. She pulled his jeans all the way off and pulled his boxers back up. Then she climbed up on top of him and kissed him as he wrapped both arms around her, anxious to taste his own juices in her mouth.
“Ma, that was the best fuckin’ head I ever got. Why you always holdin’ out on your man?” He was totally relaxed.
“How’d you deep-throat my dick like that?” He squeezed her cheeks, trying to get her to open wide. “And you swallowed!”
“Stop!” she giggled.
“That shit don’t hurt?”
“No, it don’t hurt as long as I breathe right, and you’re not movin’ around all wild and shit.”
He smiled at her. “Damn! That was some intense shit. Seemed like I never was gonna stop cummin’. I can’t believe you finally gave me some head.” He was still in shock.
“The boredom must be really gettin’ to you,” he teased. “I’ma get you bored more often.”
“Where did you go when you got that call late last night?” she inquired, changing the subject.
He stopped rubbing her back. “I had to take care of some shit I had hangin’. Baby, you never ask me where I’ve been. What’s up? Where do you think I went?”
“It’s just that you were real tense, and when you got that phone call you left in a hurry. When you came back you seemed relieved. That’s why I asked. I’m your woman, Trae. I can sense when something’s not right with my man.”
“Everything’s cool. You worry about finishing these last few hours on bed rest.” As they lay there holding each other, he whispered, “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too,” she said, planting a big, sloppy kiss on his lips.
They got up and took a bath together. After dinner they watched Brothers on DVD. When Tasha fell asleep, Trae got dressed and left.
About 6:30 the next morning, the phone rang. Tasha picked it up but didn’t say anything.
“Mornin’ ma.”
Tasha looked at the clock and ran her hand over the empty space next to her.
“Baby when did you leave?”
“Right after you fell asleep. My Aunt Marva, the nurse, is coming over around 7:30 to cook and clean and to make sure you’re alright.”
“Trae I don’t need a nurse. I need you to come home.”
“I’ll be there later on this afternoon.”
“I’m not letting her in.”
“Yo ma, she already has a key. Just let her cook you breakfast, make dinner, and clean up. Then you can ask her to leave, a’ight?” Tasha wouldn’t say anything.
“Let her do that for me, and I’ll be there later on. You only have one more day to chill out. A’ight?”
“I love you,” she sighed.
“I love you too. I gotta run.”
Tasha raced to the shower. By the time she made up the bed and threw a load of clothes in the washer, Aunt Marva was turning the key. She came in like a storm and took over. She made Tasha go back to bed, prepared a big healthy breakfast for her, cleaned up, and started dinner.
Tasha woke up from her nap around 11:30. She called her house to listen to her voice mail. The first few messages were really nothing. But the one from Nikayah’s mother got her sick to her stomach: Nikayah’s naked body was found hog-tied in a dumpster; he had been beaten in the head with a blunt object. His body would be cremated because his face was beyond recognition, counting out being put in an open casket.
Tasha hung up the phone, ran to the toilet, and threw up. She hurried and cleaned up real good. When she heard footsteps she jumped in the bed and pretended she was asleep. He told me he wouldn’t do him, she kept thinking to herself and crying. He probably waited and did him the night he was all tense and left out right after he got that phone call. I knew something was up.
Aunt Marva didn’t leave until 2:00. As soon as she left, Tasha jumped up and got dressed. She was furious at Trae. She locked up the apartment, turning everything off, and went downstairs. Trae’s building always had limo drivers parked out front and so she was able to get a driver to take her home.
On the way home she called the phone company and requested a new number. Then she called a locksmith to change all the locks, arranging for him to meet her when she got to her apartment. When she got there she packed a suitcase and headed for her Aunt Ginger’s house.
When she got to work the next day she switched shifts with a lady who worked at the nursing home just in case Trae came to her job, she wouldn’t be there. The nursing home was about ten minutes away from the hospital where she worked. She called Angel, who was at work, and was put on hold for about five minutes.
“This is Ms. Smith.”
“It’s me,” said Tasha.
“It just ought to be you,” she snapped. “You got me, Kay, and your man especially, worried sick about you. Trae is going crazy. Where are you?” Angel’s exasperation evident.
“At work.”
“What happened? Trae said the locks are changed. You won’t answer the house phone or your cell phone, and the job is saying that you’re not there. What is the matter with you? What happened? Did ya’ll have a fight?”
Roz told her how she freaked out after she heard the message from Nikayah’s mom on her voice mail.
“Dayum!” Angel said. “You’re lying!”
“Do I sound like I’m lying? I’m through with Trae. He’s going to jail, or somebody is gonna put his ass six feet under. I just feel it. How could he do this?” She burst out crying.
“That’s why I’m breaking it off now. That way when it happens, I’ll be able to handle it much better. I won’t be all in love and attached and shit, looking stupid. Angel I am so hurt that he would do this and jeopardize me and the baby. And being pregnant has got me so emotional and moody. Sometimes I feel like I can’t control myself. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.”
“Trae wouldn’t jeopardize you and the baby. You better keep that nigga’s baby,” Angel warned.
“Wouldn’t jeopardize?” Tasha spat.
“Angel, killing a nigga is not a free ‘do not go to prison pass.’ What if they figure out who did it?”
“Roz, you don’t know if he did it.”
“Well my gut tells me he did,” she cried. “I hate Nikayah but if I lose Trae then he would have got the last laugh. I’m scared Angel. I can’t do this.”
“Roz I want you to think about the baby. Before you make a decision talk to somebody. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I can’t kill this baby. I thought about it but I can’t do it. I love him, but I gots to let him go. The stress is killing me. If I lose this baby or get an abortion, I feel that God is going to punish me because I’ve already killed one baby.”
“Well that’s a relief. Where are you staying? Or should I say in hiding?”
“With my aunt. Angel, if you tell anybody I mean anybody, Kay, Trae, anybody I’m not speaking to you ever again. Do we have an understanding?” She was dead serious.
“Okay, okay. But let me at least tell Kaylin that you’re okay and that you called me. Trae is stressing and he’s making my baby stress. Doesn’t your cell phone have caller ID?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, make sure you answer it if I call.”
“If you have Trae or Kay anywhere around, I’m not speaking to you Angel.”
“Girl, you are sounding like you’re losing your mind. How are you just gonna shut that nigga out like that?”
“I don’t know.” She started crying again. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I’m just doing it.”
“Roz my sista, you need to chill out. You need to talk to him. That is your man, your fiancé. Did you forget?”
“Whose side are you on? I’m the one that’s going to be stuck with a baby and no baby’s daddy.”
“Roz, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You know Trae is crazy about you and wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or the baby.”
“I can’t tell. He did Nikayah when he told me he wouldn’t.”
“You’re not a hundred percent sure. And if he did, you’re still supposed to have his back. How long do you plan on hiding from him?”
Tasha blew her nose. “Until he gives up and stop looking. I want him to leave me alone.”
Angel just sighed. “Girl, you are not making any kind of sense. Let me call Kay and let him know that you’re okay. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Whatever.”
“Love you. And chill the fuck out.”
“Bye,” Tasha said, blowing her nose again.
Angel called Kay and told him she just finished talking to Tasha. Kay passed the phone to his boy. Angel told Trae about Nikayah’s mom leaving that message on her voice mail and how it freaked her out. She also told him that Tasha got it in her mind that he’d either be going to prison or getting buried in the very near future.
Trae wanted to know if she planned on keeping the baby. She told him she did and he was very relieved. She also told him, when he asked, that she didn’t know where Tasha was staying.
Angel went on to tell him that the pregnancy had Tasha very emotional and moody. Trae gave the phone back to Kay, who watched his boy’s nostrils flare up as he ran his hands over his face and stared out the window.
“Where she at, dawg?” Kay asked.
“I don’t know, man,” he said, still looking at the window. “Why she trippin’ like this? Pregnant or not this is bullshit!” Trae vented.