Chapter 6 #2
“Took you long enough.” She hissed rolling her eyes.
I walked past her without saying nothing, shutting the door behind me.
The house was just as quiet as it always was.
The television played low in the back, but it smelled like bleach mixed with a scent of vanilla and she still had pots on the stover from whatever she was cooking that smelled good as hell.
Tasha had family pictures covered the walls from one end of the hallway to the other held up in fancy iced out frames and every other frame had her mama smiling in it, looking healthier than the woman lying down the hall now.
She kept her little place up nice and cozy too and it wasn’t a time that I ever came over and it wasn’t spotless and girly looking. Yeah, she stripped and hustled in the club, but she did what she could with the money.
“Your mama sleep?” I asked, loosening the collar of my shirt while making myself comfortable on her black leather sectional with the fluffy white throw pillows.
Tasha nodded toward the hallway and shook her head while sipping on whatever she was drinking. “That damn treatment wore her out.”
I nodded and continued to look around while still taking glances at her sexy ass too.
The last time I saw her was a few days ago when she invaded my fucking house going off on me about my wife.
I could’ve strangled her ass, but she loved Navy, I get it.
I stared into her dark hazel eyes and soft lips covered in clear gloss and I licked my lips.
“The doctors saying anything different?” I asked.
She finally took a seat but still had that attitude on her face. “They switched one of the medications.”
“And is it helping?”
She shrugged and sucked her teeth. “Man, they said it’ll help… eventually.”
She didn’t sound convinced and neither was I. Without another word, I reached inside my back pocket, pulled out a thick envelope, and tossed it onto the coffee table between us as it landed with a soft thud.
“There.” I told her. Tasha looked down at it without even blinking because she was used to this shit. “You ain’t gone count it?” I asked.
She furrowed her brows. “I already know it’s enough Rome, damn, don’t start this bullshit.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
She finally lifted her eyes to mine. “You always think money fix everything, that’s why you holding Nay hostage.”
“Aye, I keep telling you that ain’t for you to determine. Mind your business Tasha, that’s the best thing you can do.”
“I can do what I want when it comes to my best friend!” She spat.
I slowly rubbed my tongue across my top teeth and cocked my head to the side. “You ain’t living right either Tasha.” I reminded her.
She slid closer to the edge of the couch and took the last shot of her drink before sitting it on the coffee table. She dropped her eyes into tiny slits. “Don’t you fucking dare Rome. Fuck what you’re talking about. Money doesn’t fix everything.”
I was still giving her a blank stare because what was she even talking about. “It fix the bills.”
“It don’t fix this.” She mumbled.
Her eyes slowly drifted toward the hallway and for that split second neither one of us spoke. You could hear the oxygen machine humming from the bedroom if you listened hard enough. Tasha swallowed hard before she picked the envelope up, opened it, and sat it right back where it was.
“You know, my mama asked where all this money keeps coming from to take care of her treatments.”
“What you tell her?” I asked her curious as to if she told the truth.
“The truth.”
That made me raise a brow. “Oh yeah?”
She looked at me and shook her head. “Well, my version of it.”
A small grin showed up on her face, not that she thought shit was funny, but I got it. “I told her I picked up another job.”
“You did though.”
She laughed without a smile this time, more like a sarcastic chuckle. “You know exactly what I mean.” She said now folding her arms across her chest looking everywhere except at me. “I had to look my mama in her face and lie to her again.”
“Well, you keeping a roof over her head and you taking care of everything.” I reminded her.
She finally looked at me again and shook her head. “I’m selling pieces of myself soul to do that shit and I’m betraying my best friend while doing it.”
The room got quiet again, and I watched her fight back whatever she was feeling before finally looking back up at me again.
“When she beats this cancer…” She paused, before she continued.
“I’m never answering another one of your phone calls again, I’m never talking to your ass again, and I’m going to help my friend find another man too, right after we beat your ass together. ”
I looked at her for a long few seconds before I simply gave her a slow nod. “We’ll cross that bridge when your mama’s healthy. Now come sit on this dick.”
Tasha rolled her eyes and slowly walked over to me not wasting any time to remove her tights and her thong while on the way, but she was so player about how she did it, I knew firsthand why all the dudes in the club loved her.
I know I did because she had some of the best pussy I ever had in my life next to Nay.