Page 28 of Queen of the Pole

I tossed the phone on the counter, while looking at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t even the type to allow a nigga the luxury of making me cry. Hitta has done some things to me that would have brought most women down to their knees. Each time he did me dirty, I would tuck my chin and allow it to make me harder. This one though? It made my chest tight. I got a burning sensation in my throat. Before a tear could fall from my eyes though, someone knocked on the restroom door.

“Deja? You in here? Open the door,” that was Lyric on the other side.

I tilted my head back, and picked my hands up, so that I could fan at my eyes. I did that to force myself from crying. I wasn’t one of those people that cried in front of people. I had way too much pride. Even though I had women in my life that I loved deeply, I just couldn’t find it in me to shed tears in front of them. I often saved my tears for the shower, or on some drives home.

Once I got it together, I walked over to the restroom door, so that I could unlock it. I did that, and pushed the door open, allowing Lyric to come in.

“Nari called me while I was in the locker room. It was too loud in there, so I came in the restroom. What happened?” I asked her, lying right through my teeth, as I walked away, so that I could go back over to the counter.

When I spoke to her, my voice told on me. My words cracked a little bit. When Lyric locked the door behind herself, and she walked over to me, and hopped up on the counter, I knew then that she was about to dig. She didn’t believe what I just said to her.

“But when you got here, you told me that Nari and Nico weren’t feeling well, and that they were going to bed early. You can’t lie to me, Deja. I told you before that you make a real shitty liar. What happened? What’s going on?” when Lyric asked me that, I swear I wanted to break so bad, but I didn’t.

I just stood with the palms of my hands on the counter, picking my head up, so that I could look her in her eyes. I felt like I looked back at her with eyes that were helpless.

“When I walked in the locker room, they brought up Obsession. They wanted to know where she’s been. Desire said that she spoke to her a couple of days ago on facetime. She said that she was in bed sick. She said she thinks she’s pregnant. I came in the restroom so that I could call Hitta. I called him well over fifteen times. When I finally got a hold of him, he answered, but he was anxious to get off the phone with me because he’s playing blackjack, and you know how he gets when he’s at the table with that. I asked him when was the last time he saw Obsession. He told me he hadn’t seen her in weeks. Lyric, he’s lying. I know when Hitta is lying. What if she’s pregnant with his baby?” I asked. I started crying right after I asked it. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

If it was any other nigga, I promise I wouldn’t give a damn. It would be the kind of thing that I expected from a man. I loved Hitta though. I know that he wasn’t always the best man to me, but I loved him. If he was expecting a baby from another bitch, that would be the last straw. I was going to have to leave him.

“Deja, you got a fuckin big dawg waiting for your ass in the parking lot! Do a lot of things in front of me, but don’t shed tears in front of me over a nigga like Hitta! You knew he was a dog when you got with him. I hate to sound so blunt, but bitch are we shocked that he might have a baby on the way with Obsession? This is the kind of shit that I expect from a nigga like him!” Lyric’s words were tough.

It was the kind of words that my aunt would say to me if she was standing in front of me. I know for a fact that my aunt wouldn’t have had any sympathy towards me right now because she’s been telling me to leave this nigga alone. She told me that he was going to break my heart for good one day.

“It’s billionaire money waiting for you in the parking lot. You know the kind of nigga that Wolf is. Outside of him coming in here the other night for his brother’s birthday, when have we ever known Wolf to come in the club at two in the morning? Girl, if you don’t dry those fuckin tears and go get some of that billionaire dick, and money. Better do it before one of these other hoes try to jump on it. Hoe, lock in!” she encouraged me.

I laughed at her words. She was saying the things that I needed to hear. It made me feel better.

I only stood here in my feelings, crying for a few seconds more. Lyric then put her hands out, allowed me to walk into her embrace, and we hugged for a few seconds. We eventually pulled away, and I stood in front of the mirror, so I could get myself together. I put eyedrops in my eyes and everything. I didn’t want to meet Wolf in the parking lot with red eyes. My nose was a little red too, so I had to go inside my duffle bag to touch up my makeup a little bit. In about ten more minutes, I was looking like a new person.

I led the way over to the door. Lyric still had a few hours left at the club, but she told me to text her whatever my plans were going to be. I let her know that I loved her, and to be safe. From there, I took the back door out of the club.

The second I opened the door, there was a tall figure standing right outside of it. I didn’t expect for anyone to be on the other side, so I let out a squeal, placed my hand over my chest, while stepping back a little bit.

It was Wolf standing on the other side of the door. I was expecting him to be in the parking lot. I had no idea how he even made his way over to the back door. He had that cold gaze on, just as he did the couple of times that I’ve been around him. I noticed that he never really smiled. He didn’t give he was angry. He just didn’t give that he was the kind of man to go around smiling all the time.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I told him, after finding my voice.

“I knew you probably had a lot of money on you, so I figured I would meet you at the back door, compared to you cutting through the lot on your own with all that money on you. This spot still jumping. People still standing out front waiting to get inside,” he casually said it.

“Why did you come here tonight? This club shit isn’t your thing,” I voiced, waiting to get to the matter at hand.

I stepped outside of the door, allowing it to close behind me. I stood in front of him in my sweatsuit, with two duffle bags on my shoulders. One held all the money, while the other held the essentials that I was going to need for the night.

“I wanted to find out if you got your car,” he said. I knew he was full of shit when he said that. I didn’t believe him. The very same nigga that I’m fuckin didn’t even ask me if I’d gotten my car back, and I’ve had it for two days now.

“Yeah. I got it back a couple of days ago. It’s almost three in the morning. What? Did it hit you while you were at home that I probably still didn’t have my car and you drove out here to see? Was it that important to you?” I asked.

My questions were hard. Life made me so hard. I wasn’t used to niggas doing shit out of the goodness of their hearts. I felt like it was always some sort of catch. Some kind of motive behind it. I guess this was just the part where I was fishing. Trying to find out what his motive was.

“Nah. I actually wasn’t home. I’m leaving my shop. We had inventory come in this evening. I stuck around with the team, and we didn’t get out of there until about an hour ago. The club isn’t too far from my store. You probably think that I’m selling you bullshit, but yeah, it was that important to me. The last time that I saw you, you didn’t know the kind of problems that you were having with your car. It was supposed to be ready that day, but they stood you up. I just came out to see what the verdict was. I ain’t no psycho ass nigga. I don’t know shit about your schedule. I took a chance and pulled up, not even knowing if you were working tonight. While I was standing in line, I overheard some of the people saying that you had a set tonight. That’s how I knew you were here,” he finished. I guess I believed him.

“Well yeah. My car is fine. They fixed everything,” I let him know, and he nodded his head.

Just like me, you could tell that he was stuck. He probably didn’t know what to say afterwards. I didn’t know what to say, either. I was a little nervous.

I didn’t want us to part ways though. I kind of wanted to stick around him for a little while longer. Of course, I wasn’t going to disclose that though. The ball was in his court. He came off as this manly man, so I wanted to see if he could stand on it. I wanted to see if he could lead some shit. Could he plan? Could he get me from standing by this back door, and somehow to follow him somewhere? I had time tonight. Well, I didn’t, but for him, I would make the time.

“When the last time you ate something?” he finally asked the million-dollar question.