I fussed to myself, thinking about the security of my career and how much I worked my ass off to get here. I can’t let being in a place like Club Raw mess up my reputation. The attorney industry is male-dominated, and women have to work twice as hard and be ten times as perfect to be seen. Shit is even harder than that when you are a black woman. I can hear my partners now, wondering why I would come straight to the strip club after the botched opening day of a trial. Right now, I should be at home making up new opening remarks since I wasn’t going to be attacking the credibility of the witness who was now headed to the morgue. Instead, I’m at club Raw watching one of Hov’s homeboys get his rocks off in the private area.
I made the decision that it was best if I call her baby father, Nathan, to save her before she’s not the only person who needs saving. After all, him losing his construction job is a lot better than me losing a job that is paying me upwards of $325,000 a year, and that’s before bonuses.
I pulled out my phone and called Nathan, listening to the ring and ring until he finally answered.
“What, what is it, Bria? I told you I will have your rent money to you next week. Didn’t your sister tell you I don’t get paid until the 1st?”
Nathan snapped as soon as I answered the phone. I could hear the urgency and frustration in his voice because, for a broke ass nigga, Nathan had a lot of pride to say the least.
Besides being his sister-in-law and Ryan’s big sister, I've been their landlord for two years. When I first got my hundred-thousand-dollar signing bonus with the firm, I invested the whole amount in a small one-bedroom apartment in a brownstone building. The building was run down, but over the course of about a year, I fixed it up little by little. My plan was to list it on the marketplace as my first form of revenue outside of practicing law because I never wanted all my eggs in one basket. Then, my sister came over to help me paint the bathroom and threw out the idea of her, Nathan, and my niece, Love, living there. Nathan didn’t agree on the $1,500 rent I wanted to charge, so we met at a medium of them paying me $1,000 a month. That, however, didn’t help as much as I thought it would. Some months in the past, I would be happy to receive $800 worth of rent from them. These new jobs between the two of them were, however, supposed to change that. I hadn’t thrown their asses out yet simply because I didn’t want my niece out on the streets. Living with them for the first year of her life, when they had to stay with me, had me hooked on her. Love called me Aunty Bri Bri, and I swear every time she said that, she made my ovaries do a cartwheel. I love that little girl probably more than I loved her mama.
I sighed.
“I’m not calling you about the rent, Nathan. I’m calling because your girl called me to come get her from her job, but I can’t find her here, and I have to go.”
“And what am I supposed to do about it right now, Bria? I’m working.”
“I don't know! I have to go home and work too.”
The phone went silent for a minute, during which I heard a gurgling sound coming from somewhere near me. At first, I thought it was someone in one of these rooms getting head until I listened closer and heard the struggle behind the noise. I realized the noise was coming from the one room I hadn’t checked yet which was the last one down the dark hallway.
I walked towards it and pulled the Velvet drape back, and the sight in front of me made me screech like a horror movie.
“Oh my god! Ryan!” I kneeled next to Ryan, who was stripped down to just her panties, while foaming at the mouth. I hung up on Nathan without saying another word and instantly dialed 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I’m at club Raw! I think my sister is having a seizure or something. Please come quickly!”
I yelled into the phone, rocking back and forth as I attempted to console Ryan, whose eyes looked like they were losing consciousness by the second.
By the time the ambulance got there, they had to force me out of the back room so that they could work on her. I was so disgruntled and upset that I didn’t think twice about being seen at the club I knew had a bad reputation. I waited nervously outside the door until a short, round man with a huge chain on came around the corner, belly first, with a gauze on his hand that looked like he had bled through the first couple of layers. His eyes were cold, and even a mug couldn't describe the look on his face. Though I could see he was stressed, I could tell it wasn't for worry about my sister.
“What the fuck is going on back here?”
He grabbed one of the dancers by her arm aggressively.
“It’s Racks.”
“Racks? That dumb ass bitch is causing too much commotion. I’m going to have to get rid of her ass.”
My fist balled up at his ignorance, but I was too concerned about my sister to address him now.
“Yo Tiny.”
“Yes.” He barked the name of another stripper and she answered quickly as if he would slap her if she didn’t respond fast enough.
“Tell them mutha fuckas to hurry up, and that bitch better not die in my club. I’ll spit on that bitch dead body if she does.”
He turned and walked away, and just as I was about to address his disrespect, one of the paramedics came out of the room, and I could instantly see all of the regret all over his face.
“Are you the relative?”
“Yes, I’m her sister. Is she okay?”
He stared at me with a blank expression that told it all.
“No, no, no, no.”
