Page 16 of Fraudulent Beauty

“I didn’t know you twisted locs.”

“I don’t, but if I can teach myself to install a wig, I can teach myself to twist locs.”

A cocky grin lifted my lips. “Let me find out you don’t want anybody else doing my hair.”

Tahli straddled me with a cocky grin of her own. “I can’t tell you what to do. I’m just saying if my free isn’t better than theirs then feel free to go back and give them your money.”

Tahli’s dress had risen above her ass cheeks, so I gripped her ass like I was holding two basketballs. “You got my dick so fuckin’ hard, man.” I groaned.

With a simper, Tahli leaned in and snaked her tongue into my mouth. After a deep, sensual kiss, I scooted to the edge of the couch still holding her by her ass and stood up. Taking her into my bedroom, I knew for sure that I could get used to her being around.

Khalif dropped me off at home a little after nine am. Sore thighs had never felt so good. Each time we had sex it got better and better. When I walked into the house and saw my mother placing items in a box, I stopped in my tracks. A bottle of gin and numerous beer bottles littered the coffee table. The stench of cigarettes was suffocating, but the boxes spread throughout the room had all of my attention. My mother didn’t look up from what she was doing as I stood there staring at her with a slack jaw.

“Um, what are you doing?” I closed the door behind me.

With her gaze focused on the box in front of her, my mother’s words were slurred as they left her mouth. “We have to leave. We were supposed to be out yesterday. The mortgage is way past due, and I don’t have the money to catch it up.”

Clearly, I had to be drunk from the night before, because I was hallucinating. I had to be. There was no way I heard my mother correctly. “How is it too far behind for you to catch up? I just gave you more than $6,000.”

“And it wasn’t enough. I didn’t expect you to give me the money, so I lied about how much I owed. In total, I owed those folks $10,000. The money you gave me wasn’t enough, so I used it for something else.”

“Excuse me?” my eyebrows were hiked up so far, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they disappeared into my hairline. “I gave you $4,000 to keep a roof over both our heads, and you used the money for something else? Is it crack? Have you started smoking crack?”

My mother’s head shot up, and she glared at me with her eyes narrowed into slits. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to. I’m still your mother, little girl.”

“Ha!” I scoffed. “You damn sure aren’t acting like it. This is so messed up it’s almost funny. Wow.” Storming up the stairs, I still couldn’t believe my mother.

Luckily for me, when I moved in with my mother, I left the bulk of my things in storage, so all I had to pack was clothes, shoes, purses, and some of my favorite books. With tears in my eyes, I tossed my belongings into plastic bins, duffel bags, and trash bags. Honestly, I didn’t even want to know what my mother had done with the money. I was certain that no matter what I’d be pissed with her for a long time, but if I found out she gave my money to Earl, I would probably never speak to her again.

I took what she did to me very personal. But I was also pissed at how she’d treated the home that her parents worked so hard to pay off. Now, it was just gone. My blood ran cold when I heard Earl’s voice in the living room.

“You been knew this was coming. I don’t understand why your stuff isn’t already packed.”

“And I don’t understand how I helped you start a business, and you’re giving me your funky ass to kiss! The plan was you get the trucks on the road, and you take care of me. I lost my house, and now I can’t live with you? You don’t want me there because you won’t be able to bring your sluts there?”

“You have five minutes to finish this shit up, or you’re going to find someone else to help you. I’ve looked out for you for years. I thought you helped me because of all the times I helped you not because you wanted something in return. I don’t have to let you move in my house. I hate the smell of those stinking ass cigarettes, and you can’t lay around my shit all day drinking and smoking, barely washing your ass, and not cleaning up. Fuck no.”

“Wowwwww,” I chuckled angrily shaking my head.

“If I barely wash my ass then you must not wash yours at all because I lost count of how many times your nuts was a little ripe!”

“Oh my God,” I grumbled with a frown. “Let me hurry up and get the hell out of here.”

I heard the front door slam, and I could only assume that Earl left. I had money for a hotel room, but I knew as soon as Sheniah found out what was going on, she’d just ask me why I didn’t come stay with her. She was newly single, and I didn’t want to infringe on her space. After living with someone for so long, she could have been enjoying the solitude, or she could have been lonely.

Since I only worked part-time, I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find a place, and living in a hotel would get expensive. Once I was in the car, I’d call Sheniah and ask if it was okay to stay with her for two or three weeks. I was pretty certain Sheniah wouldn’t do me the way my mother did, but I still refused to get too comfortable in anyone else’s house. Maybe I would just start applying to work at other banks to see if they would hire me full-time. I had the money to get my own place, but no one would approve me with the check stubs I had since the criteria for most places was a person had to make three times the rent.

It took me almost two hours to gather all my things. It also took me about seven trips to the car before it was packed to capacity and nothing else would fit inside. Whether I stayed with Sheniah or at a hotel, I was only taking two duffel bags of things with me. Everything else was going in storage.

“Where you going?” my mother asked after my last trip to the car.

Ignoring her, I went into the kitchen to get the fruit, protein shakes, and other things I’d bought. My mother stormed into the kitchen as I was removing items from the fridge.

“I get that you’re mad, Tahli, but don’t piss me off. You hear me talking to you!”

“Why does it matter?” I stopped what I was doing and stared at her. “You waited until the last possible minute to inform me that I no longer had a place to live. I’ll end up where I end up.”

“I have about $300. Maybe we can go half on one of those rooms at The Extended Stay until we figure something out.”