Chapter 8 Gorjess
That’s Not How We Gonna Play This . . .
My heart was so conflicted. I was hurt by what happened, but in the same breath, I felt blessed to have these new people in my life that were a part of me.
I was still not ready to meet Travis, but the more that I learned about him, the more I became comfortable with the thought.
Vanessa showed me a photo of him. I picked apart his features to match mine.
We shared the same eye color and nose shape. I found out that his wife was a professor at UNCC, so I looked her up. She was a beautiful woman. It was clear that Travis had a type.
Yesterday, I groomed Vanessa’s Maltese baby.
Shimmy was the cutest baby ever, but she was not used to being groomed at all.
When she told me that the previous groomer preferred not to groom her, I thought that I would be dealing with a demon dog.
I asked her if Shimmy could spend the night with me the night before.
Once I did that, we were alright. It still took a little more effort than normal, but with more time, we’d get it right.
“Elica, I think you should wear it. The dress is gorgeous.” I was on the phone as I drove to my grooming appointment.
Jessop had a championship belt fight in a few weeks. It was their turn for a relationship debut. We went dress shopping with Cadence, Tsia, and Vanessa a few days ago. The dress she bought was beautiful, but she thought that it was too much. We all told her that she needed to do the fucking most.
She sighed loudly like a little ass kid. “Jess, my entire back is out. It’s Tiana Taylor flow, and I’m not that girl’s size.”
“What does she have to do with you? Her ass is bad. Your ass is bad. Aren’t you the one that told me that Jessop had you try the dress on and it ended with you bent over in the dress?” I asked with a tilted head and my eyes between the road and GPS.
Her breathing got heavy. “Whew, child, yes, he did. Girl, that man had me bent over the banister of the balcony in his bedroom under the evening stars with a leg up. If I fell, it would have been damn worth that dick. Bitch, I wore the dress the next morning while I cooked breakfast for a remix of the night before.”
My face scrunched. “Heifer, I hope you took that dress to the cleaners, with y’all nasty asses. My point in asking that question was if your man loves it, then that is all that matters. Girl, these bitches are going to nut up when they see you.”
She sucked her teeth. “You know what, you’re right! I’m about to step all over these bitches with my thick as Wheatena ass.”
I almost swerved because I laughed so hard. “Bitch, what the fuck! Wheatena though?”
“Yes, I am a wholesome, brown skin, thick ass girl. I’m good for the soul and can fill you up really good,” she confidently said. I could imagine her neck snaps and eye rolls to emphasize her point like she stood in front of me.
All I could do was laugh and love it. I glanced at the address on a house, then the GPS to make sure that I was at the right place. It was a beautiful home. “I think I’m at my new client’s place. Girl, their house is nice.”
This was a new client that reached out to me earlier this week. I was excited to meet Dora. She was a beautiful Cane Corso, one-year-old baby. I loved that breed so much. I thought about owning one, but you rarely found them at the shelter.
“Oh, take a picture and send it to me. Let me see where you are.” I knew she was pulling up the app that shared my location.
I turned my truck off. Before I got out, I made sure that the call transferred to my earpiece.
Once it did, I got out to start my normal process to turn on the air in the trailer and make sure everything was set up.
I kept Elica in my ear, which was normal when I came to new clients.
As I walked to the door, I noticed a car pulled into the driveway. I didn’t think too much of it, though.
Before I could knock on the front door, it opened. Oh, hell no! At no time when I was on my way here did I expect Athena to answer the damn door. “What the hell? We are not doing this!”
“Gorjess, please! Just let me talk to you. I just want to talk,” she said as she rushed after me.
Elica was in my ear asking what was going on. The person who drove into the driveway had me blocked in. I walked to the car. “Excuse me, I need to leave. Can you please . . .”
Brenda rolled the tinted window down before the last words of my question left my mouth. “This can’t be life. Move your fuckin’ car. I need to leave.”
“Jess, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on! I’m on the way right now,” Elica yelled in my ear. Before I could respond, Brenda spoke. “Is that how you speak to your mother? I thought I raised you better than that.”
I heard Elica say fuck no in my ear before the line clicked.
I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I needed and wanted to get the hell out of here.
I ignored her and went to my trailer to shut it down and lock it up.
By that time, Athena stood by the front of my truck.
“Gorjess, I just want to talk to you to explain myself. I love you whether I was your sister or mother.”
I stared at her blankly for a beat. “You explained yourself at the restaurant. I don’t need any further explanation. I mean, this shit here is crazy. Do you even have a dog and whose house is this? This is my fuckin’ business!”
Brenda came and stood next to her. “And? It’s a business that my husband funded with our money, so technically, a part of this business is mine. I wanted to see how my business was doing.”
My head bucked back. “Bitch, you got me all the way fucked up. None of Gorjess Pups belongs to you. Athena, get your mama before I lay hands on her, and I’m not talking about the healing kind.”
Athena huffed. “Mama, just move your car and let her go. We shouldn’t have done this. I wanted to see and talk to you, so I got this Airbnb to book the appointment.” Tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry. We should have waited for you to reach out to us.”
Brenda clearly didn’t hold the same regard. “I’m not waiting for anything. She didn’t wait to ruin my life.”
I had no time for people who talked crazy. “Look, I’m getting in my shit. If your car ain’t moved by you then, it will be moved by me.”
Brenda’s face scrunched. She turned on her heels, then rushed to her car. Athena and I looked at her like she was crazy. When she emerged from her car, she had a knife in her hands. “You’re not going any damn where!”
This crazy bitch flattened my tires. Now tears were in my eyes. “Are you fucking crazy!”
I pulled my phone out to call the police. Athena yelled at her mother to stop. It was all too much. As I unlocked my phone, a black pickup truck that I’d never seen before pulled up. The wheels actually screeched. What the hell now?
The passenger, back passenger, and driver’s side doors opened.
My eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
Travis! I’d seen him in tons of photos that my sister brought over to my house.
This was different because I was able to feel his aura.
His aura said that he would fuck it up and leave.
My head snapped to the side of me when I heard Athena whisper his name with a hint of lust in it.
Travis’s stroll was smooth, calm, and scary. It took a few more seconds to notice the two women that walked behind him. I recognized one as his wife, but the other, I wasn’t sure. She was an older woman. Wait! How does he know I’m here?
“Now, BB, it’s been years, and this is how we meet again? You fucking with the daughter that you kidnapped from me. Why would you think that would be okay?” Travis venomously said.
BB was stuck for a quick minute before she gained an evilness that I never knew she had. She looked him up and down. “The drug dealer has arrived. It looks like you’re doing well for yourself.” She looked around him. “Irene, long time no see. Oh, and is this your new whore?”
That’s my grandmother. She stepped forward. “Don’t worry about who is who around here. So, explain to me why my son called me to tell me that you’re fucking with one of my grandbabies. I’ve been waiting to put hands on you for almost twenty-eight damn years.”
The loud roars of motorcycles and engines could be heard coming down the street.
There was no need to wonder who it was. Everyone’s attention turned to the noise.
My baby led the way, with Jessop and Issac behind him on their motorcycles.
I recognized TJ’s Charger behind them, and Elica’s car behind him.
We all waited until they parked. Solomon dismounted his bike, took his helmet off, then made his way to me. He paused then stopped as he walked past my trailer and truck. “What the fuck happened to your tires?”
“She slit them. I told her to move her car, and she told me that I wasn’t going anywhere.” I couldn’t believe any of this. “Brenda, why are you here?”
Solomon finally got to me and kissed my lips. “You okay? She didn’t touch you?”
I shook my head. “You see her still standing, right. She would be on that ground.”
Travis’s sons went over and stood next to him. He smiled at them, then his attention went back to Brenda. “BB, why the fuck are you fuckin’ with my daughter?”
She didn’t take her eyes off me. “My husband left me because of her. He said that he couldn’t be with a woman that was so vindictive that would kidnap a baby. I didn’t kidnap shit. Athena did.”
Athena stepped forward. “No, you will not blame this on me. I told you that I wanted her to stay with Travis! You told me that if I didn’t go along with your plan that you would call the police on him and tell them that he was a drug dealer.
You knew that I would do anything to keep him out of trouble. I loved him.”