CHAPTER FOURTEEN
One year later….
Yah-Yah
I was laid out on the big ass sectional in the living room, my feet propped up on the ottoman, scrolling through Pinterest trying to figure out what the fuck I was gon' wear for Thanksgiving.
The house was quiet except for the sound of that Jhené Aiko playing low through the speakers. This was my favorite time of day, when Sosa was still at the restaurant handling business and I had the whole mansion to myself.
A whole ass mansion. I still couldn't believe this was my life sometimes.
I looked around at the high ceilings, the chandelier hanging in the foyer, the marble floors that stayed so clean 'cause we had a housekeeper come through twice a week.
This wasn't the cramped ass house I used to share with Yatta and Ya'Mya.
This was some grown woman shit. And I was finally, finally, happy.
A year ago, I was still out here tricking, still letting niggas pay for my time 'cause that's what I thought I had to do to survive.
Still hurt over Rylo's bitch ass and how he played me.
Still fucked up about Morgan fuckin' him behind my back.
That shit had me so cold, so numb to everything.
I didn't think I could trust nobody, especially not no nigga. But then Sosa changed everything.
He saw me when I was at my lowest and didn't judge me.
He didn't try to fix me or save me like I was some charity case.
He just...wanted me. All of me. The hurt, the attitude, the walls I had up, and he broke through all that shit with his patient ass.
He told me he was going to take care of me, and he was a man of his word about that shit.
We opened Sontae’s six months ago. It was a casual dining restaurant downtown that had Chicago going crazy.
Named after Sosa's real name, 'cause that's what I called him when it was just us.
The restaurant was doing numbers, we had a waiting list weeks out, and I worked there right alongside of him.
Not as no hostess or nothing basic, nah, I helped him run that shit.
Managing, planning events, all that. Sosa said I had a head for business and he wasn't wrong.
I ain't have to depend on no man for money no more. I was making my own. But the difference was, Sosa wanted to share his with me anyway. He wanted me to have everything I ever wanted. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I deserved it.
My phone buzzed and I smiled when I saw Sosa's name.
Sosa: You good baby?
Me: Yeah, just chilling. You still at the restaurant?
Sosa: Bout to leave in a few. Need anything?
Me: Just you
Sosa: Bet. Be there soon. Love you.
Me: Love you too.
I put my phone down, still smiling. Yeah, I was in love. Real love, not that toxic shit I had with Rylo. Sosa treated me like a queen, and I made sure he knew he was my king.
We had our arguments sometimes. I still had my attitude and he still had his stubborn ass ways but we always worked through it and came back to each other.
I was about to get up and start on dinner when I heard keys in the front door. I frowned, looking at the time. Sosa said he'd be a while still, so who the fuck….
The door swung open and in walked Miss Shaunie, Sosa's mama, carrying two big ass turkeys in her arms. She was dressed in some tight ass Fashion Nova jeans and a tight ass top to match it.
her burgundy lace front was laid to the gods, fresh white Air Forces on her feet.
A cigarette was dangling from her lips, and she had on big ass gold hoops that swung when she walked.
She looked good for her age, she was forty-something but could pass for thirty, and she knew it.
"Wassup," she said, barely glancing at me as she kicked the door closed behind her with her foot.
"Hey, Miss Shaunie." I sat up, already feeling my mood shift. Me and Sosa's mama... we ain't never clicked. And it wasn't 'cause she was proper or uptight. nah, it was the opposite. She was too much like me, or like I used to be. And I think that's why we ain't get along.
"Mmhmm." She walked past me toward the kitchen, the turkeys looking heavy as hell, but she carried them like they wasn't nothing. The smell of her cigarette smoke trailed behind her.
“Sosa here?"
"No, he still at the restaurant. He should be home soon though." I got up and followed her to the kitchen, trying to be cordial even though she never gave me the same energy.
"You need some help?"
"Girl, I been carrying turkeys since before you was born. I'm good." She plopped them down on the counter and took a long drag of her cigarette, then looked around for somewhere to ash it. I slid her an ashtray from the windowsill and she nodded.
"Thanksgiving in three days. I figured I'd bring these by so Sosa could get 'em ready."
"Oh, we was actually gon' handle everything at the restaurant."
"The restaurant?" She turned and looked at me, her perfectly arched eyebrow raised.
"Baby, you don't do Thanksgiving at no restaurant.
That's family time. Home cooked meal type shit.
" She took another drag, blowing the smoke to the side.
"But I guess you ain't used to that type of family time, huh? "
There it was. The shade. Always disguised as something innocent but it never was.
"I know about family, Miss Shaunie," I said, keeping my voice level. "Me, Yatta, and Ya'Mya,"
"Yeah, yeah, your brother and sister." She waved her hand dismissively, her long acrylics catching the light. "Y'all was out here doing whatever y'all was doing. I heard about it. The whole city talk."
My jaw clenched. "That was before—"
"Before Sosa saved you?" She looked me dead in my eyes, and I saw something flash there. Something like jealousy mixed with resentment. "Yeah, my son good at that. Saving these lil' girls who don't know what they doing. Giving them a come up."
"It ain't like that,"
"Baby, don't play with me. I was out here before you.
Way before you." She ashed her cigarette, leaning back against the counter all casual.
"I know the game. I was running shit when you was still in pampers.
I had niggas lined up around the block wanting to wife me, trick on me, all that.
I chose this life. I did what I had to do to survive and take care of my kids. "
I knew about Miss Shaunie's past. Sosa had told me some of it, about how she used to hustle, used to be out here in these streets making money however she could.
How she raised Sosa and Zurie by herself when their father got locked up.
Plus, she took in Trigg and his sister Tasha when they was kids.
How she was tough as nails and didn't take shit from nobody.
"I respect what you did for your kids," I said carefully. "Sosa told me how you held it down,"
"Respect?" She laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "Girl, you don't respect me. You probably think I'm just some ghetto ass mammy who got lucky. But let me tell you something, I ain't need no nigga to give me nothing. I got everything I got on my own. My house, my cars, my money. All me."
"I never said—"
"You ain't have to say it. I see how you look at me." She pointed at me with the hand holding her cigarette. "Like you better than me now 'cause my son cleaned you up. Like you different. But baby, you ain't. You just got a nigga taking care of you now. That's all."
I felt my face get hot. My hands balled into fists at my sides. "That ain't fair Ms. Shaunie and you know it."
"Life ain't fair, sweetheart." She took one last drag and put her cigarette out in the ashtray.
"And let me keep it a buck with you, my son could have any bitch in this city.
He fine, he got money, he got status. These hoes throw themselves at him daily.
So I don't know what you did to lock him down, but just know it's other bitches waiting for you to fuck up. "
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes hard. "Sosa is my baby boy. My only son. Zurie a whole different story. she grown, got her own shit, but Sontae, he’s my heart. And I ain't about to let no little girl come in here and play with his heart or his pockets. I’ve seen too many bitches try to come up off my kid. So if you here for the wrong reasons, if you using him, if you gon' hurt him, trust me, I will find out. And belive me. You don’t wanna be on my bad side.”
I stared at her, feeling all types of emotions running through me.
Anger, hurt, disrespect. But also... I understood. In a fucked up way, I got it. She was protecting her son. The same way Yatta protected me and Mya. The same way I'd protect my little sister from any nigga I thought was using her. But that didn't mean I had to stand here and take her shit.
"Miss Shaunie," I started, trying to keep my voice calm even though I wanted to go off, "I love your son. For real. This ain't no game to me. This ain't about his money or what he can give me,"
"Every bitch say that until the money run out." She looked at her nails, unbothered. "Trust me, baby. I been around long enough to know how this go."
"You don't know me—"
"I know enough." She looked up at me again. "I know you used to trick off with old ass men. I know you used to let niggas pay for your time. And now you up in here playing wifey in my son's house, working at my son's restaurant, living off my son's money."
"I work for my own money."
"That he gave you the opportunity to make.
" She stepped closer to me, and even though she was shorter than me, her presence was intimidating.
"Look, I ain't saying you a bad person. I'm just saying you convenient.
You was there when he wanted to play Captain Save-a-Hoe, and now he think he in love.
But baby, that shit fade. And when it do, where you gon' be? "
I opened my mouth to respond but I couldn't find the words. I was so mad, so hurt, so fucking frustrated that tears started forming in my eyes. And I refused to cry in front of this bitch. Refused.