Moriah was adorable and innocent. I addressed to Trecee that her younger siblings could come and stay at my place. It’s more than enough room there, and they’d be living way better than they live here now. Other than Yolanda putting these kids on her welfare case, she treated them like shit for the most part. When her leasing manager swept through her apartments to make sure shit was going good and everybody living here was on the lease, that’s the only time she made this place look decent. The only upside about being on Section 8 is that they announced their arrival so you could prepare for it, and they rarely ever popped up at random. I could put her brothers to work, have them young niggas cutting grass and shit to make some chump change, but Trecee opted for me to stay in my place and mind my business.
“I do miss you,” I glanced down, noticing her toothless grin.
“Did the tooth fairy come visit you?”
“Who’s the tooth fairy?” she asked inquisitively.
Yolanda was robbing these kids of their childhood in various ways.
Reaching down in the pocket of my joggers, I grabbed a thick wad of cash and peeled back a twenty-dollar bill, suitable for her age.
“I’m cool with the tooth fairy and shit. Your name was next on the list, but since you’re here now, I might as well gon’ and give it to you, huh?”
She gaped her mouth open in shock before snatching the money and running off with it to show her siblings who were the least bit excited by her dramatics. They were slouched back on the couch with their eyes trained on the television.
“Aye,” I called out to them. Their eyes darted off the television for a short second. “Don’t take her fucking money, and clean this nasty ass mess up in here. Stop living like this! Shit trifling as hell!”
They trampled up, rolling their eyes at the ceiling, but they still sat up from the couch and proceeded to clean up the shit piles scattered everywhere. More than likely, Yolanda wasn’t home to say anything, and when she is, she doesn’t say much. They always live like this, like it was normal, beyond keeping a clean house, as if that’s not a common suitor.
Shaking my head, I staggered throughout the house and went inside the bathroom where Mimi was soothing Trecee. She was sitting on the bathroom counter with a towel on her face dabbing at the damage. Nearing them, I could see that Synthia did a number on her. The blood smeared on her face earlier wasn’t clear enough to see where the damage was coming from. Mimi looked over at me and gave me a worried glance. Trecee followed her eyes, then ours met.
“I got her Mimi,” I let her know from outside the bathroom. It wasn’t big enough to fit all three of us, so I leaned against the wall as I peeked my head through.
Not taking my word, she peered her eyes over at Trecee and sauntered past me after she gave her the okay.
“Call me before you go to bed.”
Instead of looking my way, Trecee’s eyes remained trained ahead, her eyes roaming over the chipped wall.
“What’d you say?” I interrogated her after a few moments of silence.
“How do you know I said something?” she questioned with an attitude as she scrunched up her face, then winched in pain.
“So, she hauled off and popped yo ass in yo face?”
“What does it matter what I said? Synthia is a jealous ass bitch because I have more than her?”
“I remember at one point you were in her shoes,” I called out.
“Every bitch has to come up. I came up?—”
“Off of me,” I stated casually.
Instead of responding, she released a deep breath and rolled her eyes without screwing her face up too much.
“Stop smellin’ yo self. I do what I do fah you because I fuck wit’ you Trecee, but I ain’t too fond of you goin’ around runnin’ off at the mouth, puttin’ people down with less than. That’s some shit weak bitches do mane and it ain’t cool?—”
“So, you taking up for that pig shaped ass bitch over me?”
“I’m taking up for what’s right, mane. It ain’t shit you can do or say that can make me be on yo side, because had she been any other bitch, she wouldn’t be wrong for doing the same thing. Stop doin’ that ignorant ass shit,” I barked at her, making her tear up.
“This is the reason I don’t come over here,” her voice cracked. “It reminds me of what I escaped from. I didn’t have shit growing up, and coming over here always reminds me of that. Ain’t shit changed around here. I prayed for you in my dreams, Rome, and you saved me from the hood. I’ll never take you for granted. It’s bitches like Synthia who’re envious of me because they can’t find a way out the same way that I did.”
I inched further inside, and the smell of piss evaded my nostrils, making me release a deep breath like that would pause the stench. Leaning up against the wall, my eyes grazed over her petite frame. Besides the shitty attitude she kept, Trecee was fineas hell. That’s why I bagged her when I met her. Going after her looks first, I didn’t realize how much of a ditz she was until she opened her mouth. She fit into the category she was trying to claw her way out of. If it wasn’t for that pretty ass face, she wasn’t shit worth bragging about. She didn’t have any long-term goals and always talked big shit like she was trying to impress somebody. Feeling her out in the beginning, she always talked shit about Synthia. When we met, she barely said two words to me, but looked sweet as pie, and I ruled her out to be a good girl despite all the shit Trecee had said about her, but she somehow made sure to keep her in her corner, like doing her hair and shit.
Other than Mimi and Synthia, she didn’t hang around too many bitches anyway. For what it’s worth, she didn’t need to. Her mouth was smart as hell, and anybody who deemed her cool, she’d talk shit about to me behind closed doors.
Trecee wasn’t a prom queen and was lazy as hell. She was good at doing hair, and I had the plugs to get her in a salon without going through the bullshit of becoming licensed and docking cosmetology hours, but she’d rather lay around the house all day and spend my money. Little did she know, a woman like Synthia could take her spot any given day.
