“Let me go.” I gritted. He ignored that as he dragged me under the bleachers.
“What the fuck you doing here, Raven?” he fumed.
“The same thing you doing here.” I snapped.
“Naw, you can’t be. Cause I’m here looking for my dumb ass baby mama who left our son with a complete stranger. A stranger that is a wet head.”
“What? That girl aint no wet head.”
“No, she aint but her boyfriend is. She left my son with that nigga while she walked to the store. I ran into her hanging up there like she wasn’t keeping nobody’s baby.”
That’s when I felt stupid. I didn’t think that she’d leave my three month old baby with James’s incompetent ass. Really, I shouldn’t have left him with her, either. I just wanted a break for a little while.
That night Jahrein punched me in the mouth again and I deserved it. He was pissed that I had left the baby with irresponsible people, but what really caused him to flip was those numbers he found in my pocket. Yeah, I might‘ve been wrong, but I still punched him in the nose. Then he fucked the shit out of me, until I fell into a coma like sleep.
Chapter 5
(I should’ve Cheated/Keyshia Cole)
“I should have lied. I should have cheated. I should have went out to the club. Or maybe I should have done it. I should’ve given away all my love.”
1999
“Say, lil' mama, let me get that number.”
I rolled my eyes at the eighth boy trying to holler that day.
“He was cute. Why didn't you get his number?” Shell questioned.
I bit my bottom lip, trying not to go off on her. She'd said that about the last five dudes that had approached me. I was about to ask her why didn't she just holler at him herself, until it dawned on me that she probably would if she could.
I was pushing my baby’s stroller through Greenspoint Mall, trying to figure out what store I wanted to hit up next. I was looking older with my hair hanging down in a long wrap and with high heels on. I was going for a conservative look to draw less attention to myself.
Shell naturally looked older so she didn’t have to try as hard. Her job was to hold Junior, who had just made one, while I pushed his seemingly empty stroller. That’s where we stored all of our merchandise. We had lighters, pliers, and whatever else we needed to remove any kind of censor. Shit, I had to get mine by any means necessary.
I went into Foley’s and brought five pair of jeans in the dressing room. The pants that I was wearing were rather loose, so that was my advantage. I was only taking three out of the five. I placed on two underneath my clothes, and I hid one pair in my son’s diaper bag. That was after I removed all the censors.
The women that were working the fitting rooms were all too busy gossiping to count the items, before I went inside of the dressing room. So, I walked out of that bitch like I owned the place.
That day we stole about a thousand plus worth of merchandise. We had been hitting up different stores all day. We loaded all of that stuff in Shell’s boyfriend’s beat up Buick. That car would putt all over the place, but it got us wherever we needed to go.
I was only keeping two of the outfits that I stole and selling the rest. I didn’t know what Shell was doing with her shit, but that was her business. She was probably getting all that stuff for her man, T-Boy. He was twenty-five and a loser. He was a sherm head that lived with her and her mama. He wouldn’t look like shit either, if she wouldn’t have been taking care of him.
“Bitch, T-Boy is going to love these jeans that I got for him.” she boasted.
“Are you charging him?” I teased.
“What? Do you chargeJahrein?” she asked me smartly.
“Bitch, Jahrein don’t know that I steal and you know that. I put myself on the line for me and my son,only.” I stressed. The truth was Jahrein benefited from my hustle sometimes, but he really didn’t know what I was doing. I hid my shit in the garage and my clients wouldcall just like my friends. I didn’t really talk my hand. Loose lips sink ships.
“What stuff are you keeping?” she asked me.
“The two outfits for Jahrein Junior.”
“I guess. That little boy don’t need shit else. I don’t even know why you steal stuff for him. Jahrein buy him everything that he needs.”
“There’s never enough when it comes to my baby.” I let the bitch know. I learned that philosophy from Big Jahrein. He bought that little boy everything under the sun. There wasn’t a month that went by that Junior didn’t have a new pair of Jordans on his feet. Shit, I think that that was one of the main reasons why my daddy didn’t really trip with Jahrein. He took care of his responsibilities. I just didn’t like asking him for money, though. When he put money in my hands I had to explain how I was spending every cent, down to the last penny. I didn’t have time for his controlling ass. Then I couldn’t get much from my daddy, because when I would ask him for something Jah would step in and tell him that he got me. It was like I had two daddies, but trust me, one was enough.
