“For real, Reese, though, on a serious tip, you should give this to Jesus. You already know what He can do for you.”
I fiddled with my hands to show Toya I didn’t wanna hear it. This was something bigger than me getting it together with Jesus. But deep down, I did know that she was right. “I know, I know! I do wanna get my relationship right with Jesus and I know that’s the only way I can get my life.” I put my head down and sipped my coffee.
“I’m not gonna beat you wit’ it. But He got you and those boys. Walk away, babe, before you get hurt. It’s only a matter of time before he starts getting physical. Jason is a time bomb!”
I looked out the window, then said, “Waiting to explode.”
Chapter 10
The Money Is Safe
Jason did agree to take his dope somewhere else, but he kept the money at my house. That was the only place he and Kev agreed it would be safe. The money was safe, but I was miserable. I knew I had made a mistake by getting in this relationship this fast and I was looking for a way out. It seemed as though every time I was ready to walk away, Jason would pull me back into it with his gifts, trips, or fear tactics. Eventually, I gave up hope and thought this is what my life would be about. I figured I might as well accept it. That was until the day Jason and Kev got into a fight.
Jason and Kev were out enjoying the night with a few members of their crew. They went out to celebrate because Shy, the youngest member of their crew, was going off to college. They went to the strip club to celebrate. Before the night ended, the two of them were fighting.
Jason was very close with Shy. He didn’t really have him selling; he more or less had him following him around, like a protégé, to take over or be a key player one day. He took Shy everywhere he went, bought him clothes, and kept him geared up. He took Shy out of town with him and treated him like he was his son.
So the night was supposed to be all about Shy, but it wasn’t. It ended up being all about me.
After I left Toya’s house feeling so refreshed and renewed and believing I could change I was awakened by my cell ringing. I looked down at it and saw that it was Kev. He was pumped when I answered.
“Hello?” I yawned. “Kev, it’s after one o’clock in the morning. What’s wrong?” I sat up in the bed and turned on my light. I was a bit nervous and didn’t like late night calls because it made me think something was wrong.
“I’m sorry to call you this late, Reese.”
“ Is everything all right?” I wondered what was going on. Kev didn’t call me at one in the morning.
“Jason needs to get it right.” I could tell Kev had been drinking. He would never call me and say all of this, but I decided to listen. I knew he needed an ear. And as many times as I leaned on his shoulder and cried it was time for me to return the favor.
He began to tell me that he and Jason had fought. He told me what happened earlier that night, word for word:
“So, Jay, how everything workin’ out between you and Reese now?” Kev asked.
“Man, that crazy woman flushed that stuff down the toilet!”
Everybody in their crew laughed.
“What?” Kev laughed more. “What you do?”
“I wasn’t mad. I figured it was understandable, her being mad and flushin’ it, but then she started actin’ crazy. She slipped up and called me stupid!”
Their whole crew was listening and laughing as he displayed what he did next.
“I jumped off that couch and tried to wring her neck!”
He walked up to Shy and put him in a chokehold as demonstration.
Kev got uncomfortable in his seat, like he wanted to say somethin’ else about what Jay did.
“Bro, you shouldn’t do that girl like that. She cool,” Kev said.
Jason looked at him. “Are you serious? Naw, man, she ain’t getting away wit’ that. I gave her a pass on da dope!” He shook his head and continued to look at Kev. “That was twenty grand she flushed. Crazy chick!” Jason yelled.
Kev sat there and put his head down like he was deep in thought as he moved his head to the music. “‘Nothing Even Matters,’ that’s the jam!” Kev said, moving his head some more to the Lauryn Hill and D’angelo duet.“Naw, bro, you wrong for that. You should have never had that in her house, you know that. I told you not to do that but you don’t listen,” Kev said.
“Bro, why you on this tonight? That’s yesterdays news . . . Come on. We suppose to be celebratin’. You over there on that Lauryn Hill mess! Man up!” Jason laughed, then got distracted by one of the strippers.
“Come here, baby, what yo’ name is?” Jason joked. He was pullin’ her close to him, whispering in her ear and smilin’.
Jason watched Kev getting upset, shaking his head like he was displeased at Jason and what he was doing.“Kev, what’s up? Why you so worried about what I do to Reese? She ain’t your concern.” Jason was tired of Kev always reminding him about the good woman he had. “You act like I’m cheatin’ on you or somethin’.” Jason chuckled and blew out the smoke from the weed then passed it to Kev.
“Naw, man. I’m just sayin’. Reese is a good woman. What more do you want from a woman? That’s all, man,” Kev reasoned.
Jason started smiling. “You see that right there?” He pointed at the stripper he was talkin’ to; then he handed her some money. “That’s what I want right now, and when I’m finished wit’ her, I’ll go see Reese.”
Everybody in their crew laughed at Jason; everybody but Kev.
“Man, you wrong. Reese is fine. She has a college degree and a good job,” Kev stated, shaking his head as if Jason had to be the most stupid man in the world for playing a woman like Reese.
“Since you feel like that, bro, why don’t you get wit’ her then?” Jason was getting upset. “You talk about her like you want her. Huh, you want Reese, Kev?” Jason got up off the stool and stood in front of Kev.
Kev smirked and got off the stool too, still with his drink in his hand. “I tell you what, Jay. If I had gone after her instead of you, she would be mine. You don’t want her.”
Kev and Jason were drunk and getting loud. The rest of the crew was watching and getting nervous that this was going to turn into something real bad.
Kev put his glass down and stood face to face with Jason. “I said it: she deserves to be treated better than what you treat her man, that’s all. That woman is fine!” He smiled, flung his hands in the air, and turned to sit back down when Jay punched him in his jaw.
They started fighting after that and everybody tried to break it up, but it was bad, and when it was all over, Jason had a black eye and Kev had a busted lip. Kev left the club after that, leaving Jason in the club without a ride because no one else knew where he and Reese lived.
