Chapter 5
PERSIA
With a sigh I rolled my eyes upward. “Tina, you’ve had a week to think about this. You know I hate doing things last minute. I’m ready to buy the tickets. You have one minute to tell me if you want to go to Aruba or St. Thomas for your birthday.”
“Ughhhhh why make me choose? Why not just take me both places?”
“Bitch, I kn?“
“Okayyyyy,” she drawled with a giggle. “I choose St. Thomas.”
“Now, was that so hard? I’m about to book our flights right now. Looking for hotel rooms and resorts always stresses me out, and I don’t have the brain power for that today. I showed six houses today, did one walkthrough, an inspection, and a closing. My behind is tired.”
“That’s how you can afford to take me to St. Thomas for my birthday. You be working your ass off. I’ll be glad when you decide you want to put a receptionist on payroll because I hate my job.”
Tina worked full-time as a quality control agent for a call center, and she hated it.
I made great money, but it varied from month to month.
Truthfully, I could afford to hire a receptionist, but I was saving money by not having one.
Also, my sister made $21 an hour at her job.
I wouldn’t let her quit her job to work for me unless I was going to pay her more than she made at her job.
“Give me two more months, and you’re in there. I had two inquiries today from people that just passed the realtor’s exam. They want to come in and talk with me about working for my firm. Hiring agents is great, but I need to see if they’re going to actually sell some houses first.”
“I get it,” Tina replied as I sat down with my laptop.
I heard David unlocking the door. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was barely five pm.
He rarely came home that early and stayed.
David usually got in around ten or later.
Which was another reason I was hesitant to have his child.
I didn’t want to do everything alone while he still ran the streets like a dope boy with no family or responsibilities.
I’d never tried to control what David did, but if I had his child, I wanted him to be hands on.
All that hanging out late and clubbing every weekend wasn’t something I wanted the father of my child to be doing.
I wanted a man that helped to equally take care of his child and spent quality time with him or her. We’d been going to the club for years, and I was so past that. Every now and then was cool, but David was there every weekend like he owned stock in the place.
“Hey, babe,” I sang in a good mood. The smile melted off my face when I saw his swollen lip and the dried blood on his chin. My heart slammed into my ribcage. “Sissy, let me call you right back.”
I didn’t even give her a chance to respond before I ended the call. Tossing the laptop aside, I jumped up off the couch. “What happened to you?” my face was crumpled with worry.
David couldn’t even look me in the eyes. I was sure he was embarrassed, but all I cared about was what happened to him.
“Did you get into a fight? Did someone try to rob you?” I waited impatiently for answers.
David walked over to the couch still avoiding eye contact. “That nigga Kastian that we saw at the strip club.”
My blood ran cold upon hearing his name. Why would he put his hands on David?
“He bought a large shipment of guns from me. One of his runners got arrested, and they took the gun. They found out the gun was used in a double homicide, and they came back and arrested the guy. Kastian had to toss all the guns plus get old boy a lawyer. He said I owe him $60,000 in two days.”
I gasped. I wasn’t sure how much money David may have had stashed, but the bank account that held his legal money was down to $20,000.
It had been sitting at a little over $90,000 before he started investing in the construction company.
I didn’t panic because I had $46,000 saved.
If my man wanted to invest in his dream, I was all for it.
If things got shaky while he waited on the business to take off, I didn’t mind holding us down.
However, I wasn’t comfortable with giving everything we had to Kastian.
“And what happens if you don’t have the money in two days?” I couldn’t stop my voice from quivering. Kastian cleaned up nice, but tailored suits didn’t negate the fact that he looked like he didn’t play.
“If I don’t have it in two days, he’ll give me five more days to give him $65,000.”
I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Just great.”
“There is a way that he’ll wait two weeks for the money, and I still only have to give him $60,000.” At that point, David was staring at the floor, and he still hadn’t looked at me.
My breathing became labored. I didn’t have a clue what he was about to say, but I knew it wasn’t going to be good. After a few seconds of silence, I narrowed my eyes. “And what is that way?”
Finally, David lifted his head. The regret and sadness in his eyes tugged at my heart strings.
“I’m sorry, Persia. This nigga will kill me. I can’t get that shit in two days, but I’d rather give him sixty than sixty-five.”
“What does he want?” my chest was tight, and it was hard to breathe.
“He said he wants to spend twelve hours with you.”
David’s voice was so low I barely heard it. He was back to no eye contact. My chest tightened as I convinced myself that I didn’t hear him right. I was tripping.
“He said he wasn’t going to try and have sex with you. I guess it’s just some ego shit. He wants to be able to clown me, but as long as he doesn’t hurt you, baby I need the time to get his $60,000. You got any closings coming up? How much you got saved?”
I was trying with everything in me to remain calm, but I was on the very brink of hysteria. There was no way my husband was telling me that another man wanted to spend twelve hours with me, and he was with that shit.
“Did you tell that man he could spend twelve hours with me?” my heart thumped as I waited for his answer. The pleading look he tossed my way told me everything he was afraid to say. I felt like I had to throw up. I needed to steady my breathing.
“He promised not to hurt you. He said he wouldn’t try to have sex with you.”
“And you believe him?!” I screeched. Blinking back tears, I stared at David with nothing but contempt.
I didn’t want him to die but got damn. He didn’t even try to come up with the money in two days.
If we put all our money together, we had it.
Did I want to give Kastian everything I’d worked for?
Hell no. But my own husband handing me over to a man that wanted to kill him was absolutely fucking diabolical.
“Baby. I can get the money in two weeks.”
“You can get the money in two days! I know you have at least $20,000. I have $30,000.” I wasn’t willing to give him everything.
Thirty was more than half. Swallowing down a lump, I rubbed my aching chest with one hand.
“I know I can at least get ten for my wedding set. That’s $60,000. ” The last part came out in a whisper.
David shot up off the couch. “Your wedding set? You want to sell your rings?”
“You want to sell me, nigga?!”
“I wasn’t selling you! He doesn’t want to fuck you.”
“Bull fucking shit,” I eyed him with disgust. “You’re willing to send me with that man for twelve hours, but you don’t want me to get rid of my ring.
A ring that can easily be replaced. You promised that man that he could have twelve hours with me, and you didn’t even try to get the money in two days.
I have a legal business. I can apply for a loan!
We could’ve done something. You didn’t even try! ”
“He told me if I told him two days and didn’t get the money, he was going to kill me. I didn’t want to chance it. I panicked man,” he scrubbed a hand down his face in frustration.
“I’ll go get the money out of the bank in the morning. I’ll also hit Frank up. He’ll give me a good price for the rings without trying to get over.”
“I don’t want you to have to sell your rings, Persia. Let me figure some shit out.”
I chuckled angrily. “Now, you want to figure some shit out. Wow. You know what? I might as well sell the rings because they don’t mean shit to me anymore.”
“Man, don’t say that shit. I was just trying to stay alive. I was even thinking of ways to kill that nigga and get away with it. You know damn well, you being with him for even twelve minutes wasn’t sitting well with me.”
“Yet, you agreed to it.” I pivoted and left the room. I was officially disgusted. Disgusted and done.
Two days later, I sat in my office staring at my computer screen.
I couldn’t concentrate for shit. For two days, I’d been feeling sick to my stomach.
The tension in my house was thick enough to cut with a knife.
I also wasn’t comfortable with the fact that I was down to $16,000.
I knew how important it was to have money saved for an emergency or a rainy day.
And all because David was reckless with his business, I just had to hand my hard-earned money over to him, so he could give it to Kastian.
I was livid. On top of that, David’s entire savings had been wiped out.
All we had to our name was the $16,000 I had left.
And that wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been David’s idea for me to put up money for his debt.