8. Voyage Ridley
Chapter 8
Voyage Ridley
Jovani
Let me see dat pussy
Those five vulgar words shouldn’t have had me grinning as hard as I was. Yet here I was smiling down at the phone like this man had proposed to me. It had been nearly two weeks since his grandma caught me riding him like a seahorse. The embarrassment hadn’t faded however, that didn’t stop me from coming home and giving his ass the business again. In the past two weeks, we’ve been talking all day, every day. It was to the point that he even sat on FaceTime with me at work. In two weeks, he’d learned all my employees and even a few of the names of my favorite customers. It was so bad that one day while I was chatting with Rainah, one of my favorite customers, he’d facetimed me and caught her voice. He made me place him on speaker and hand her the phone, and come to find out, she was his twin brother’s girl. I knew Jeovanni had to have someone who didn’t play about him, judging by those hickies all over his neck that day in the mall, but knowing that it was Rainah had me jumping for joy. I loved it when she came into the store. Not only was she a successful attorney, but she was also a beautiful black woman whom I adored so much. I’d even learned that she had twin boys by Jovani’s brother. Ausnor beach was too damn big to be so small.
You do not have a sitter, and I’m busy right now.
Usually, anything baby or kids spiked my anxiety, but since I’ve been with Jovani, it hasn’t bothered me as much. He didn’t show his daughter on the camera when we did FaceTime. He also hadn’t pushed the issue of us meeting, and for that I was thankful. I wasn’t there yet and didn’t think I would be there for some time. Right now, I was enjoying her daddy. He knew all about Dutton leaving me because I didn’t want to get pregnant, and he respected the fact that I didn’t like to be around anything baby right now. As crazy as Jovani was, he made time for me, and our new thing had been him bringing me lunch. He would have his brother ride with him so he could leave his daughter in the car. Shamefully, we’d had sex about six more times, and it had been at work, in the stock room, or the employee bathroom. This damn man had me risking my job for the dick and in all honesty, I wasn’t even mad about it. Not only was he serving dick, he was feeding me, giving me wads of cash, and we talked so much on the phone that I hadn’t even had the chance to sink into my depression. I said I wasn’t looking for anything, but with Jovani, I found everything I hadn’t been looking for.
“I came over here to spend time with my cousin, drink, and talk shit about these busted up hoes on social media. Had I known your ass would be smiling at the phone all damn night I would have stayed at the house.”
My smile dropped when I snapped my head up at Baela, who wore a scowl as she held her martini glass in the air. Once again, we were both off work, and since a new manager had been hired, I had the next three days off. It was rare that I had a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, but I wasn’t complaining. I’d planned on spending time with Baela today, and I was hoping Jovani could get a babysitter tomorrow so we could re-run that beach scene. As much as I loved the beach, I hadn’t even been doing my daily walks because the sand didn’t hit the same after getting eaten to the bone. I didn’t want to be there if Jovani wasn’t; deep down, that scared me.
Locking my screen, I tossed my phone on my pale blue couch that cost me a pretty penny. I’d bought it during Christmas with our holiday bonus, and even though it took nearly my entire check, it went so well with the coastal theme I had in my apartment. Blues, tans, creams, seashells, anchors, and all things sea made up my décor. Baela often complimented that my place reminded her of those Airbnbs on Ocean View Drive. When Dutton lived here, I didn’t have much furniture. Mainly because I couldn’t afford it, and neither could he. I bought a bed and a raggedy couch from Facebook Marketplace. Baela had begged to furnish my place back then, but I would decline every time. Little did she know, it wasn’t because I didn’t want the help, I was never too proud to beg, but Dutton made me. He wanted Riker to put him on even with the man in jail. If Riker didn’t put him on he didn’t want me accepting shit from my cousin. In his mind, if Riker gave him a spot on his team, we wouldn’t need Baela’s help. I was just so damn stupid back then and I had to snap the fuck out of it because it looked like I was falling victim to the same shit with Jovani.
“I’m sorry, cousin.”
Baela turned her nose up, rolled her eyes, and then took a sip of her lemon drop. When a slow grin spread across her face, I joined in on her smile.
“I can’t even hate on you for texting your boo. This is what I wanted. I’m happy for you, cousin. Jovani is fine, paid, and he has you glowing again. I haven’t seen that glow since Madea passed. I’m just mad that Riker’s dumb ass did dumb ass shit.”
Riker was locked up in the next town over, and my cousin took that two-hour drive faithfully for visitation. Even on her twelve-hour shifts, she ensured her job worked around her schedule. She would be in that visitation with her scrubs on like the RN nurse baddie she was. Riker had been involved in a brawl, landing him in the hole for two weeks. He would also miss the subsequent four visitations. My cousin was pissed.
“But for real. It’s fine. I’m supposed to be celibate, but this man has my nose wide open. I have to fall back before I land myself in the same situation I was in with Dutton.”
Baela patted the purple satin bonnet on her head to relieve her scalp from an itch. She’d just gotten knotless braids the day before and had me wishing I wasn’t so tender-headed so I could get some. The thing I did most with my hair was wash and go, and I straightened it on special occasions like my birthday and Christmas. That was it. We were truly chilling, so we both were in biker shorts, screen tees, and fuzzy socks. We’d already gotten stuffed on Pluck if you buck meals and were drinking the first of the two bottles of ready-made Lemon Drop we found in the store.
We were supposed to be starting on the show YOU , but had yet to turn the TV on. The sixty-inch on the cream entertainment center had been a Christmas gift from Baela. She fussed about me having it put on the wall but I wanted my damn deposit back when I moved. I made it up in my mind that I would try to find something closer to the beach when my lease was up. I’d been stacking all the money Jovani had been giving me. It was still wild to me that I’d collected over twenty thousand dollars from him in two weeks. Even if he didn’t give me another penny, I could find something around four grand a month on the beach and pay two while adding two from the stash to make up my rent. I could only afford that a year before my lease would be up, but that would be the happiest year of my life.
“First off, please don’t even say that shit. Dutton and Jovani are in two different leagues. Jovani is in the pros and-” she reared her head back as if she smelled shit.
“Dutton isn’t in the league at all. That nigga is in the fucking audience. Matter fact his broke ass can’t afford a ticket. He’s outside the stadium asking for spare change. Bum ass nigga,” she mumbled as she sipped her martini.
“I don’t know. When I saw him at Jonah’s, he looked like he had stumbled upon some money.”
“Yeah, you did say you saw him at Jonah’s, but I got so wrapped up in the part where you freaked the man on the beach that Dutton was forgotten about.”
Usually, anything Dutton did put me in a sour mood, but Jovani had my head so big that the mention of him did nothing to me.
“Yeah, so he was rocking jewelry and name-brand clothes. Oh, and when Jovani put the gun to his head, I saw that his date was pregnant.”
“Wait.”
Baela scooted to the end of the couch to place her glass on the table.
“You told me you got upset because you saw Dutton with a girl. You didn’t tell me the bum had come up, but that ain’t the part of the story I care about. Twin put a gun to his head?” Baela looked like a kid on Christmas waiting for their parents’ okay to rip into their presents.
“He asked me if I wanted him to kill him. I was caught in the moment and said Yeah. He went to his table and made his ass plead for his life. He was bluffing, but I stopped him anyway,” I shrugged, playing off the fact that my panties were soiled off that memory. Jovani had been putting a hurting on my pussy. I hadn’t gotten enough of him, but at the same time, I hadn’t gotten used to him either. My girl was sore right now, and the last time we had sex was two days ago, right before I closed the store.
“Wait wait wait one damn minute!”
Baela stood with her mouth wide open. She placed a hand on her curvy hip and pointed her pink nail at me, which she kept short for work.
“See you always make shit sound boring! You left all that out! He was about to blow that niggas brains out behind that pussy?” She grinned mischievously.
“Girl, he was just showing off,” I waved.
There was no way he was going to kill that man in a packed restaurant, but the fact that he even stepped to him had my body heated. Everything Jovani did turned me on. I needed to reel it in quickly. But how in the hell could I do that when he had a anaconda for a dick, friendly pockets and was always laughing me right out of my panties? Shit. Whoever his baby mama was her dumb ass had fucked up tremendously. I would have never let that man out of my sight. He had custody of his daughter so, her ass had to have been dead or a crackhead or a street runner like my mama and aunt.
“Cousin.”
Baela took a seat but sat closer to me. Knowing her like a book, I downed the rest of my lemon drop because I knew I needed to be buzzed for whatever she was about to say.
“How much do you know about the Bendetti twins?”
Searching her face, she blinked her lash extensions twice while waiting for me to answer.
“I mean, I know he and his brother own businesses. Jonah is one that his brother owns and has some real estate. I know he has a condo in the city and a house on the beach.” I also know he can eat and beat the box like he lives off cardboard.
“When you told me his name, me being the cousin that I am, I asked Riker about him. You know, I had to make sure the nigga wasn’t no psycho or nothing.”
“You didn’t care if he was a psycho when you urged me to leave with him after the club, though,” I sassed.
Picking up the bottle, I refilled our glasses and took a sip from mine. I was going to be good and drunk soon and was going to be pissed if I couldn’t get no dingaling tonight.
“That’s the past. Anyway, I asked, right? Come to find out them niggas are in the streets tough. It was only so much Riker could say over the phone, but I think Riker buys his product from them.”
“So, he sells drugs?”
Baela nodded. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I mean, I had a feeling because he has the persona of a dope boy so I couldn’t say I was too surprised but damn, selling drugs have him living like that?
“Not just sells drugs, he is the drug. The niggas are the plugs. They got a cartel in their pocket overseas that they get the shit from. Riker didn’t tell me that over the phone; he told me that one day during visitation, when I asked about how his operation was still able to run smoothly. That was like a year after him being locked up, but I remember. I also remember him saying his plugs were brothers. Friend that nigga wasn’t acting. If he said he was going to kill Dutton, he was going to kill his ass. He got the city in his pocket. Ausnor has two kings, and Jovani is one of them. The nigga that shares his face is the other. He can do what the fuck he wants and everyone will turn a blind eye.”
My nerves tensed immediately. My mind fluttered away in anxiety as my heart pounded. I didn’t feel a way about Jovani selling drugs but I didn’t think he was the fucking man to see. I’d been fucking that man and cheesing like a school girl when he had all this power and influence. I should have known though because when he enters the store, people gawk at his ass like he was God. I just thought it was due to his dominating persona because he had that.
“Voyage. You know I love you. I really do. But you have to start looking into these men. Having a one-night stand is one thing, but the minute you decided to take it further, you should have been asking questions. Now, I like Jovani, and I would be the last person to tell you to walk away from a dope boy. Hell, I have one myself that I would never leave. But us not doing our due diligence on Dutton is how you got caught up with that shit show. Granted, you hit the jackpot, and according to Riker, he’s a good dude, but you gotta do better, mamas. Had that nigga been a fucking serial killer, then I would be part to blame because I pushed you to him so I got to tighten up too. I don’t want you to ever get in a situation where I can’t see you again. It had been a year last time. What if it’s forever the next?”
Baela wasn’t telling me anything wrong. I’d fallen for Jovani and fallen fast. I couldn’t even lie. It was the same way with Dutton. Just like now, finding out Jovani was a kingpin still didn’t have me wanting to walk away from him, as I was with Dutton. I had to have gotten this shit from my mama and we see how that didn’t end to well for her.
“You’re going to be okay, though. Just keep putting that pussy on him so these pussyasshoes won’t try and think they coming for your spot. Thankfully, you ended up with a boss and not a bum. Hallelujah. Now, what’s this I hear about Dutton? I know the nigga didn’t come up after leaving you flat on your ass.”
I sighed. It was fuck Dutton but he most definitely owed me. He owed me for so much shit that he couldn’t even afford the tab because many of the things were indeed priceless.
Baela lifted her glass and then removed her phone from her bra. She was constantly telling me to keep mine out because it caused breast cancer, but she kept hers in it. She was pecking away on her phone as she sipped her lemon drop.
“What are you doing?”
“Girl, I’m looking that nigga up from my fake page. He blocked me when he kept you away and even though I hadn’t thought about his ass, I’m looking him up today. Let me see what the fuck going on.”
Dutton had me blocked, too, and even though I could have made a fake page to stalk his accounts, I refrained. I honestly didn’t ever want to see him again, let alone his page. He could go to the lowest pits of hell for all I cared. But seeing him appearing to be pocket heavy had me vexed.
“Biiiitch!”
“What?”
“You said he had the white bitch pregnant and it looked like she was only a couple months, well, her ass was further than that. Look, they had the baby.”
Baela scooted close to me to show me the clear ass newborn on the screen. There was a pink band around her head. The picture dated back to a week ago, meaning she was in her last trimester when I saw them at the restaurant. Dutton hadn’t posted the photo himself; the girl did and tagged him. There weren’t any likes on the picture, but there was one comment.
Dutton Finesser Chester: Delete this shit. Didn’t I tell you not to post her at all?
“That nigga so pitiful. Why in the fuck can’t that girl post her damn baby? I hate niggas.”
Baela scrolled through the picture and went down Dutton’s page. This nigga was living it up. There were pictures of him in various cities, he had two cars, one being a mustang truck and the other the Benz, and all he did was post money, talk shit, and be seen. He’d come a long way from the Dutton that didn’t have shit on shit and was bad mouthing any nigga that wouldn’t put him on including his uncle. He’d finally gotten the life he wanted. Niggas did shit like that. They gave you the most fucked up version of them while they lived it up with another bitch. That man had ruined me. Crushed me and was on top of the world now. Unfuckingbelievable. I was wrong for letting him convince me to cut my cousin off that year. Man, I was dumb.
“This nigga must’ve ran off on the plug or got the ultimate sugar mama because there is no way he came up.”
I shook my head.
“You know the white girls in Florida only going for black dudes if they tricking off. They are not taking care of them at all.”
“True. Let me click on her page.”
Baela scrolled back up and clicked on the profile that posted the baby picture. Our noses crinkled because the girl only had one hundred friends on Facebook.
“This gotta be her fake page,” Baela mumbled.
I didn’t know if it was a fake page or not, but it was definitely the blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady from Jonah's. Her profile picture was a face shot of her with the beach in the background. Scrolling her page, there were nothing but videos of her with red-rimmed eyes.
“Look where she from? Same city Riker locked up at. Two hours away. So what the fuck they was doing in Jonah’s on a week day?”
The city hopping for lunch wasn’t suspicious or a crime, but I was anxious to see what the videos of her crying were about. Before Baela clicked on them, she scrolled her profile, and there weren’t any pictures of Dutton, only that one picture of the baby that she posted.
“I want to start from the bottom with the videos so we won’t be confused. Maybe the nigga emptied her bank account.”
Baela and I were experts on social media drama. With her man locked up and me just as lonely, we caught all the drama and live videos, and when one didn’t see it, we sent it to the other. We would have whole think pieces on other folk drama. We needed a life badly.
Clicking on the video, Baela turned her volume up as I leaned over to see.
“Facebook. I know I don’t have many friends here, but please help this go viral. I need to get my thoughts together, so come back for part two. Please. I can not believe this is my life.”
When the video ended, my stomach dropped to the floor. I didn’t know what she was about to expose, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it.
Baela clicked on the following video.
“Hey guys, I’m back. I don’t have much time because I am frankly afraid for my life, but I’ll try to get out as much as possible. My name is Amanda Welms. I am twenty years old. I moved to Florida for college against my parents’ wishes, and even though they were upset, I stayed. I’ve been here two years, and it was the end of my sophomore year when I met my boyfriend. I didn’t usually go for his type-”
“This hoe means she didn’t go for black guys unless he got money. You said it, cousin,” Baela interrupted.
“He was kind. He was giving. He was loyal. He treated me so well. I didn’t have plans on getting in a relationship, but I was so lonely, and he was there. My parents live way in Idaho. They haven’t spoken to me in two years, so it’s just me. Dutton was my saving grace. He made my dark days brighter. We went on trips and shopped, and he took care of me. Then, I got pregnant-”
The video cut off, so we went to the next one.
“I’m back, guys.”
Amanda dabbed at her eyes with the tissue and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I received a call that I had to take. Where was I? Oh yeah. I got pregnant. I was so distraught. I wanted to terminate immediately. I was only nineteen when I found out I was carrying a child. Dutton and I had only been together four months, and he’d gotten me pregnant. I am half to blame, but he knew I wanted to get my degree before anything. He begged me-”
Her voice broke as she cried into the tissue.
“Bitches want our niggas until they make them a single mama. Shit wild. The difference between us and them we saw our mamas and grandmas and aunties go through the shit. Sadly we are cut for it and their two parent home living asses isn’t.” Baela interjected.
“I’m sorry, but I just can not believe this. I feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone right now. But I kept the baby. He wouldn’t allow me to get an abortion anyway. I kept the baby, and he promised to spoil me during the pregnancy. It’s strange now, but then it was endearing. He was at every doctor’s appointment, asking questions and ensuring the baby was healthy. He wouldn’t allow me to eat certain foods like shellfish, trying to convince me that I was allergic. I love shellfishhhhhh!” She boohooed.
“Lord this girl is tore the hell up off Dutton’s ass.” Baela lilted.
“Pregnancy was great, even though I didn’t have a relationship with my family. It was just me and Dutton. It was great. It was so great that I wanted to make amends with my people and let them know I was expecting. He shut that down. Saying he didn’t want them to stress his baby out and that we would tell them after the baby was born. Hesitantly, I agreed.”
“And you dumb ass hell,” Baela commentated.
Swallowing hard, I continued to watch.
“I ended up having the baby. Right on time. Five pounds even and perfectly healthy. He was concerned since I was carrying so small, but she was perfect. It was the happiest day of my life. I had my daughter and my man, who had made sure I brought the baby into the world without issues. I was more than ready to tell my parents so that they could fly in and celebrate us. They’ve always wanted grandchildren. And looking at my child, the guilt of hiding the pregnancy from them hit me hard. Dutton reasoned that we should get home, get settled, and wait for her two-week check-up before we told them so, I agreed,” she chuckled as more tears fell.
My body tensed, and it felt like I was about to pass out, but somehow I kept watching.
“We didn’t make it to the two weeks. One week after she was born, I let him convince me to take a ride with him to pick up drugs. It wasn’t for sale, it was for his personal use, and I wanted to get out of the house and get some sun since I felt myself falling into depression, so I agreed. I just agreed to any damn thing he said. I agreed, and that was the worst thing I could have done. He took me to a sketchy part of town. He drove. I was in the backseat with our baby, and while he waited for his dealer to pull up, we were robbed,” she screamed.
“We weren’t robbed for money or jewelry, though. We were robbed for our daughter! I tried so hard to fight for her back, but they held a gun to my head and showed me a picture of my parents. They said if I go to anyone, they are dead. I cried and screamed all night! I needed to do something. Dutton was calm. Too calm. When I asked him what we could do, he looked me dead in the eye and said, Let’s have another baby. I don’t care! I don’t care if I only have ten of you watching. I know in my heart he had something to do with it. Two days later, he moved out when I wouldn’t agree with him, and I haven’t seen him since. He targeted me. Now I know. I was just a girl with no family. He targeted me, trapped me, and even made me switch to online classes before I could start showing. He did something to my baby! I know he did. Please. His name is Dutton Chester, and he is about six feet high. He is African American with fair skin and wears a lot of jewelry. I hate to say it, but that’s all I know. HE TOOK MY BABY! HE SET IT UP!”
I felt my mouth water. My ears rang as Amanda screamed at the camera.
“Turn it off,” I mumbled as I swallowed back bile.
“Girl, this is so sad! What the fuck? You think he killed that girl’s baby?”
“Turn it off!”
Jumping up, I ran down the hall, barely reaching the toilet before spilling all my contents. The chicken and the liquor hit the water as tears pooled in my eyes.
“Oh my god, cousin, are you okay?”
I felt Baela holding my hair back; I kept going until I dry heaved. Pushing away from the toilet, my back hit the wall, and my elbows planted on my bent knees. Closing my eyes, I tried to make the world stop spinning. My phone vibrated in my bra, but I ignored it.
“Cousin. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Opening my eyes, Baela was right there on the floor beside me. Still feeling my phone vibrate, I pulled it out and saw a text from Jovani.
Jovani
Aye. I love you. I know that shit soon and it sound like bullshit even coming out of my mouth but, I love your lil nerdy fine good pussy having ass. We gotta figure this shit out. My brother got some in house pussy and I’m tryna be on that same type of timing. Your apartment is too small, though, so you gotta move in with me. How you feel about that?
Locking the screen without replying, I couldn’t even make sense of Jovani’s text. I was still caught up on what I just watched.
“Voyage.”
“I…I have to tell you something.”
Baela rubbed my head and then my face.
“What cousin. Tell me what’s wrong? You pregnant?”
I shook my head.
“He…He…I think he did the same thing to me.”
“Jovani? Wait, I’m lost. Who is he? Did what?”
I was silently letting her process what I’d said. Baela’s eyes grew big, and then she scooted away from me. She looked from my stomach to my face and back to my stomach.
“Dutton. He did the same thing to me. I didn’t talk to you for that one year because-
“You were pregnant.”
“And I think he set me up, too, like he did Amanda.”