7. Tahli
I was living in Sheniah’s house, so having an attitude with her felt awkward, but she had to be the one to tell Nook my business.
I was smart enough to know that Nook probably knew some of my business.
Couples pillow talked. Some just talked more than others, but I didn’t want Nook or anyone else knowing that I had done illegal shit.
Clearly, he wasn’t thinking about me when he ran his mouth to Khalif.
That nigga didn’t ask any questions, he just went straight to spazzing, and that was off the strength of what Nook’s lame ass said?
I didn’t have a fake bone in my body. Sheniah was going to know that something was bothering me, so I knew I might as well go ahead and confront her about it. I didn’t hate her. If she pillow talked and told my business, I’d be pissed for a few days, but I wouldn’t stop being her friend over it.
“Nook told Khalif that I was a scammer. Any idea where he got that information from?”
Sheniah’s jaw muscles clenched. “Wow,” she shook her head in disbelief.
“I can’t believe he did that.” Sheniah looked at me with pleading eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t just telling your business.
It was like the fifth time you’d cracked a card, and I was scared for you.
I didn’t tell his stupid ass that for him to tell anyone else.
If you hate me, I understand. Khalif is cool, but he is a police officer.
Nook would have never known if I didn’t tell him. ”
Hearing her confess made me a little angrier, but even then, I couldn’t pretend like I hated her. Sheniah was like my sister. I didn’t get mad at her often, but when I did, it would only last a day or two.
“It’s fine,” I mumbled. It really wasn’t, but I’d get over it.
“What did Khalif say? I can talk to him about it. I’m so sorry, friend.”
Pushing out a sigh, I shook my head. “He didn’t say anything about it until earlier when he found a fake license in my car.
I told him I could explain, and he basically said he already knew what it was because Nook told him.
I won’t lie. I did scam recently, but I don’t plan on doing it anymore.
He just flew off the handle like I personally stole from him. ”
“Khalif has never cared about Nook smoking weed. When he’s not in uniform, I’m trying to figure out when he became so self-righteous. I never judged you, Tahli. Right hand to God, I just didn’t want you to get in trouble.”
“I get it, Sheniah,” I mumbled. “It really doesn’t even matter. I did what I did, and if Khalif doesn’t want to date me, I’m not going to cry about it. Fuck it.”
I was putting up a brave front, but I did feel bad.
I liked Khalif. I liked him a lot, but I wasn’t about to apologize to him because I committed fraud in the past. If he didn’t want to date me because of that, then so be it.
I wasn’t even sure why I still had the ID in my possession.
It was a dummy move, but I still hadn’t gotten rid of it.
“But Tahli. He is a really good catch. Maybe he was caught off guard. I think once he cools down, he’ll see that he overreacted.”
“He didn’t overreact. He told me exactly how he feels. If he introduces me to his daughter or enters a relationship with me, and I get arrested for fraud, he’s right. It won’t be a good look.”
“But you don’t do it anymore, right?”
I didn’t have any plans of doing it again, but who really knew if I’d get desperate enough to do it again?
“It’s fine, Sheniah. I’m not running Khalif down to explain anything to him. I’m not begging no nigga. It was fun while it lasted.”
She stood there with a forlorn look on her face, and I was just ready to be alone.
I was used to being single. Leaving Khalif alone wouldn’t make my life feel too much different than it had felt for years.
I knew when I found out he was a cop that we might not be compatible.
I would have rather him found out on his own than for Nook’s bitch ass to reveal it.
He was the main one trying to hook us up then had the nerve to get mad at Sheniah and snitch.
He was the true definition of a fuck nigga.
Sheniah looked so sad, my anger toward her melted.
She was on the verge of tears. “You better not start crying,” I warned.
“I know you’re not the type to tell people’s business, so if you told him out of genuine concern, I’m not mad at you.
There’s no need to be angry with Khalif either. He’s just doing his job.”
“I’m about to cook. You want to come in the kitchen and drink wine with me?”
Standing up, I grabbed my laptop to take to the kitchen with me. “Yes, let’s have some wine because you look like you’re about to cry. I’m the one that lost a nigga. What are you crying for?” I jested.
“Tahli, I’m about to call him.”
“No, you’re not. It’s fine. Just stop talking about him, please.”
It took two glasses of wine for my mood to brighten.
If I had to choose between being sad about Khalif or being happy about my social media payout, I was going to choose to be happy.
I needed money more than I needed love. Khalif was busy with his job and his daughter.
Maybe it was all for the best. He had to get his life in order, and I had to do the same.
The money I had left from the counterfeit check was going to go toward my move as soon as I got approved for a place.
Working at the bank wasn’t bad, but if I had to be honest, I’d rather be a full-time content creator than to work five days a week. But content creation didn’t have the benefits like healthcare and 401k that the bank had.
My phone rang, and I saw that my mother was calling. I hadn’t spoken to her since the day I left her house, and I wasn’t in the mood. Something told me if I answered, the conversation wouldn’t go well, but I bit the bullet and answered anyway.
“Hello.”
“Tahli, where have you been staying?”
“With a friend,” I responded dryly.
“So, I guess you’re so upset with me that you don’t even care to ask how I’ve been or where I’ve been staying.”
“Not really. I tried to make sure you had somewhere to stay which is why I gave you the money for the mortgage and the taxes on the house. I did my part.”
“You going to keep bringing that up?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure I am.”
“I have to pay $375 by Sunday to keep my hotel room for another week, and I don’t have that. Can you please loan me $500. I’ll get the money from Earl to pay you back. His truck is fixed now, and he’s back working.”
“No. You’ve given him everything you had. You shouldn’t have to wait for any money from him. And if he doesn’t have any money for you, he could let you stay with him. I’m not sure what you got going on, but I’m only looking out for me this time around. I need to do what everyone else does.”
My mother hung up on me without saying another word. I was pissed, but the moment she ended the call, guilt began to set in. Was I wrong for not giving her the money? I needed another glass of wine because the slight buzz I had was gone just that fast.
Two days later, I was at the mall. When I got off work, I had a message that I had been approved for the apartment I applied for, and I was in a great mood.
I wanted my favorite candles and wall plug-ins from one of my favorite stores.
I was almost there, when I saw Mack walking in my direction with two bags in his hands.
“What up, Tahli? Hold these for me while I go to the bathroom. Swear to God it’ll only be two seconds.” He shoved the bags in my hands before I could even protest, and he walked around the corner.
I looked over my shoulder with a frown before looking down at the bags.
They were both from Sak’s, and I was pretty sure there was some expensive shit inside.
Looking up, I saw a red-faced security guard walking my way speaking into a walkie talkie.
His gaze was set on me, and my heart fell into my ass.
I know the fuck Mack didn’t. The security officer approached me.
“Ma’am where is the man that passed you those bags?”
“Um, he asked me to hold them while he went to the bathroom.”
Another mall cop appeared out of nowhere. The first guy went to the bathroom, while the person that had just arrived asked for the bags.
“These items were purchased with a stolen credit card, and I’m going to need to confiscate them.”
I wasn’t about to put up a fight to protect what was inside the bags, so I handed them over with no issues.
“What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Why?” I asked in defense mode.
“Because you’re in possession of stolen merchandise.”
“You just saw that man give me these bags. I didn’t know what was going on. He shoved them in my arms and asked me to hold them while he was going to the bathroom.”
“And most times, thieves don’t work alone.”
“What?!” I shrieked. People were walking by looking, so not only was the entire ordeal embarrassing, but I was pissed. I hadn’t even done shit, and I was being harassed by mall cops. Mack was a dirty ass dog, and I was done with him forever. I wouldn’t piss on that nigga if he was on fire.
I saw two very real police officers walking toward us, and I kissed my teeth.
This couldn’t be happening. The white men advancing my way had their lips set in hard lines, and they looked like rednecks that didn’t play.
I never would have gotten arrested for something I actually did and snitched on anyone else, but I was thinking real hard about telling them everything I knew about Mack’s ass just off the strength of him being a bitch ass fuck boy.
“Miss, I’m going to need you to follow us to the security office.
I need to ask you some questions,” the tallest officer stated.
Him being the tallest wasn’t exactly anything to brag about because he had to be about 5’9 while his partner stood about 5’7.
I wondered why the police department didn’t have a height requirement.
Looking at the floor, I followed the men through the mall and to a small office. I was so embarrassed; I was afraid to make eye contact with anyone inside the mall. If I saw anyone that I knew I would be absolutely mortified. Inside the office, I sat down in a hard chair and kissed my teeth.
“What’s your name?” the officer that was taking the lead asked.
“Tahli Ross.” I answered in a flat tone. I was pissed and not trying to hide it.
“Do you have identification on you?”
“Didn’t I just tell you my name?” I snapped.
For a few seconds, he glared at me like he wanted to slap the taste out of my mouth.
With an evil ass smirk on his face, he reached for my purse.
My heart drummed in my chest because my dumb ass still hadn’t gotten rid of the ID that I used when I got that fake ass check deposited. Stupid, stupid me.
The officer looked through my card holder and when he came across both driver’s license his eyes lit up like the sky on the fourth of July. “Well, what do we have here? Is your name Tahli Ross or Tameka Johnson? I had about five fake ID’s total. Thank God, they weren’t all on me.
I refused to say anything else. They could take me to jail because I was done talking.
A sour taste infiltrated my mouth when I realized I was going to lose my job at the bank.
Mack was lame as hell and in that moment, I hated him.
I couldn’t be angry with him without being upset with myself, but this particular incident wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t damn near forced his bags in my hands and dipped. He was a piece of shit for that.
Inside the police car, I was so pissed and zoned out that I wasn’t paying attention to any of the little slick comments the officer was saying.
I was so infuriated that tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
When it dawned on me that I might actually see Khalif at the station, I felt nauseous.
At least he already knew what I was about, and he wouldn’t be shocked to see me walking in with cuffs on.
I wasn’t sure what kind of charge I was going to get for having the fake ID.
My head was throbbing, and the day had quickly become one of my worst days ever.
The mall cop saw Mack give me the bags. I wasn’t with him when he purchased the items with the stolen card, and I would be damned if I ate any of those charges.
I would use every dime I had for a lawyer.
Just because I was in possession of a fake driver’s license didn’t mean that I had ever even used it.
Hell nah, I wasn’t eating this charge. I would give them Mack’s first and last name along with the bastard’s phone number if they wanted it.
When the officer arrived at the station, my gut made this embarrassing ass noise.
I wasn’t hungry, so my stomach damn sure wasn’t growling.
I just wanted to close my eyes, open them, and be anywhere else but where I was.
I simply had to learn to make better choices.
This reality check had slapped the taste from my mouth, and all I could do was learn from it.
I had a sold a CPN number earlier, and I was done with that too.
The cocky officer walked around and opened my door.
He still had that same creepy, shit eating grin on his face.
“Let’s go.”
The way his eyes roamed over my frame made me want to vomit.
He didn’t appear to be too much older than thirty-five, but his pink ass skin was making mine crawl.
He looked like one of those people that had weird ass fetishes like sticking beer bottles up his ass or something.
I got out of the car, and he roughly yanked my arm.
“Never seen a thief act so uppity. You could have made all of this go away by giving up some of that sweet black pussy. That’s about all y’all are good for anyway. I might even have thrown in some money, so you can stop stealing shit. But your kind is good for that too, right?”
“Fuck did you just say to her?”
Heat radiated through my body from anger and relief. At least someone else heard what the officer said to me because no one would have believed me if I reported him. I was also a little embarrassed because the one person that I didn’t want to run into was right where I didn’t want him to be.
“This doesn’t really concern you now does it?” the officer snapped.
“Ma’am, would you like to file a complaint against this officer? If so, I’ll be a witness of everything he just said to you.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” the officer growled. “You are a grade A fucking ass kisser and dick sucker.”
I gasped when Khalif punched the officer in the face so hard that he let my arm go and fell back onto the police car. It felt as if I was in a dream as other officers ran out to see what the commotion was about. It was about to be a long ass day.