I would have ignored it, but the similarities couldn’t be missed. Before I could think twice, I walked up to the group to get a closer look.
“Umm, can we help you? Why would you stand right in front of us as if we weren’t watching tv?” Lena questioned with her head cocked to the side.
All I wanted was answers, so I swallowed hard and tried to speak calmly.
“I apologize, I noticed Marissa’s bracelet, and it looked similar to mine.”
“Are you trying to call my friend a thief?” Lena sat up in her seat as if she were ready to jump up. Fighting was against the shelter’s rules, so I wasn’t willing to risk my housing. However, I wanted to know where the bracelet came from, and I wasn’t backing down from anyone.
“My mother gave me that bracelet, and I’m desperately trying to find it. Do you mind showing me the diamonds? All I need to do is verify that it isn’t mine and I’ll go back to my room.” It took everything inside of me to remain calm because my spirit wanted to tell her to kiss my ass.
“You’re a bold bitch. I’ll give you that. Did you really think you could walk your ass over here, accuse me of stealing, and I was gonna let you search me? Bitch, you have lost your mind,” Marissa spat.
“You don’t have to show me, but I’ve already reached out to Denise, and she’s having security pull the tapes. If you did take my bracelet, you’ll either be in jail or on the streets by tomorrow. I tried to come to you with respect, but since you want to get disrespectful, we can go there.”
“You look like the type of bitch who steals because no one else loved you enough to buy you anything. I already know that you and two of the girls on the cleaning staff are close, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped you take my things. If you did take my shit, I would suggest you return it before morning comes, it’s hard to sell pussy with no place to sleep.” I turned to walk away because if I stuck around, things would only get worse.
“Yeah, well, at least I’ll have a piece of your dead momma to keep me company. Maybe she’ll give me better luck than she gave you.” Her words felt like salt in a fresh wound, and before I knew it, we were on the ground, scrapping. Marissa weighed more than I did, but it didn’t faze me one bit.
I wasn’t sure how much time went by, but after a while, we were pulled apart by the staff. Blood poured out of Marissa’s mouth, but I felt no remorse. I tried my best to avoid any drama because I wanted to keep a roof over my daughter’s head, but I lost control.
“What in the world has gotten into you, ladies? You know the rules, so why would you put yourselves and your families at risk? What were you fighting about?” Denise questioned as she stood between us. She turned to face me first as she waited for an answer.
“She has my bracelet on. I tried to ask her about it nicely, but things got heated. She made a comment about my mother, and we ended up fighting.” I felt dumb as I repeated the story. The right thing to do was to walk away and let the staff handle things, but I messed up.
“I told you I would handle it. All you had to do was wait for us to investigate, and we would have gotten to the bottom of things. I’m sorry, Peace, but you knew the rules. I’ll give you a couple of hours to gather your things, and security will escort you out. I wish you the best.”
“Wait. What about my bracelet?” I was already out of a home; it would have been even worse if it had been in vain.
“I’ll be in touch with you once we review the cameras.”
“No, that’s not gonna work for me. We can involve the police if needed. I’m not leaving this property without my bracelet. There’s a small heart charm on the clasp, and it has the letter “P” on it. You can look at the bracelet and verify that it’s mine.”
Denise nodded her head for the security guard to check Marissa’s wrist. Her dumb ass should have had enough sense to remove the heart charm at least, but she may not have noticed because she was too busy being a sneaky bitch.
“It’s hers.” He lifted Marissa’s arm and removed it from her wrist. Denise gave her the same disappointed look she gave me.
“You need to pack your things, Marissa. We do not tolerate thieves in this facility. If someone helped you, please tell us who they are so we can let them go as well. I wish you the best.” Denise walked away as the guard handed me the bracelet. They followed me to my room, where I packed up our things. I wanted to beat my own ass for allowing my anger to get the best of me, but there was no time to dwell on things I couldn’t change.
Dreaux texted me to ask what time I would be there to pick up Promise, but I told him I needed some time. He assured me there was no rush, but I planned to get out there as soonas possible. The only reason I stopped by the shelter first was that I was anxious about my bracelet and I wanted to catch the cleaning staff before they left.
Once all our things were packed, the staff helped me load them into my car. I was grateful to have a working vehicle because at least I would be able to get to work, and we would have a place to sleep. My emotions were numb as I closed the trunk, filled with all our belongings. Once again, my choices would have a negative impact on my daughter, and that hurt more than anything. The only bright side was that I would have enough money for a security deposit and a down payment on Friday. All we had to do was grind it out for a few days.
dreaux davis
. . .
“Nigga,you talk all of that shit and can’t lift three hundred pounds. Weak ass arms.” I talked shit to Loyal as we lifted weights.
He and Messiah decided they wanted to bring their ass to the gym so we could put that work in. My schedule had been so busy lately, but I made sure to have my ass up early so I could work out.
“Fuck you, ol’ buff ass hoe. I told you, I hurt my arm at my last video shoot. My dumb ass thought I could lift one of those big ass tires and almost lost my life.” He huffed.
“You sound like a bitch. I can’t believe you’re ass let a prop almost take you out.” Messiah shot back.
“I know you ain’t talking. Didn’t you almost take yourself out of the game trying to ride that four-wheeler at OJ’s house? You were on the ground, folded up like a lawn chair. Don’t even play with me.”
“Whatever, mothafucka. I saw a white light that day. I thought it was my last day on Earth,” Messiah admitted. We fell out laughing because he was still traumatized.
