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  “Take her the phone, Auntie. I need to speak to her.”

  As Marva went to open the front door, Tasha burst in huffing and puffing. Marva held out the phone. “This is your husband.”

  “Please. Not now.”

  “You heard her, didn’t you?” Marva said to Trae.

  “Tell her I said to get her ass on this fuckin’ phone.”

  “Tasha, your husband said to get your ass on this fuckin’ phone.” She shoved the phone at her. “Chile, take this phone. Y’all got me in the middle of this mess. I need to check on Concita and the kids.”

  Tasha snatched the phone from out of her hands. She was so mad that she couldn’t even speak. All Trae heard was her breathing.

  “Tasha, I know you ain’t trippin’ over this bullshit.”

  “No, I’m not trippin’. Just bring your ass home right now, Trae. And you better hope your little Asian mistress is not dumb enough to bring her stupid ass over here. If she does, I’ma mop the cement with her ass.”

  Trae was left with the dial tone. “Damn,” Trae snapped. “C’mon. Take me home.”

  “Do I need to break the speed limit?” Marvin wanted to know.

  “What you think, man?”

  Marvin pulled out his car keys and stood up.

  “Tell us what’s happening, nigga,” Stephon said. “Y’all leaving already? Y’all just got here. What about our meeting?”

  “It’s Charli, man. Which one of y’all muthafuckas talking about me to her? You or Benny? Y’all the only niggas knew I was lookin’ at the Harley.”

  “Yo, she hooked you up?” Stephon said excitedly, not answering his question.

  “Yeah, but from what I hear Tasha fucked that shit up.”

  “Dayuuum,” Marvin gritted. “She fucked up a hundred-thousand-dollar bike like that?” He visualized himself riding it down Highway 10 at eighty miles an hour.

  “Awww, man. My cuz get down like that?” Stephon said as he followed them to the car. “Aiight, then handle your business. I’ll hit y’all up later.” He watched them pull off before going back inside the club.

  As soon as they pulled up in front of the house, Trae jumped out of the truck, glad to see that Charli hadn’t shown up. Tasha had used black spray paint and a can of red. It was all over the grass and driveway, and all over what was left of the bike. Trae picked the baseball bat up off the ground. The headlights and mirrors were busted and the pieces were scattered on the ground and dents were covering the bike. It was totaled.

  Marvin came up and stood next to him. “Damn. This is fucked up. Where she get the strength from to destroy a machine? I wouldn’t go in there if I was you, dawg. Wait until she cools off, playa.”

  “You don’t know Tasha like I know her. She isn’t going to cool off. I might as well go and get the shit over with.” He left Marvin standing there and headed for the front porch.

  “Hold up, man, let me get Aisha and take her home.”

  When they walked into the house it looked as if no one were home. “They must be in the backyard.” Trae led the way out back, dropping the baseball bat next to the basement door.

  “Daddy!” Aisha yelled, running and jumping down the steps into Marvin’s arms.

  “What’s up?” He kissed his daughter on the forehead and threw her up into the air, causing her to yell with glee.

  “Twins and Caliph! Your daddy is here,” she yelled. Before you knew it the twins were running for the kitchen. When they saw Trae they both rushed over to where he was. He stooped down and started playing with them.

  “Aunt Tasha said I can spend the night,” Aisha told Marvin.

  “That may be so, but I think your mother wants me to bring you home.”

  “Aww, Daddy. Can’t I stay?” she pouted. “I don’t want to go home. It ain’t no fun at home.”

  “Daddy ain’t no fun?”

  “I like having fun with the twins.”

  “Well, we have to go home and talk to your mother about it.”

  “Mommy ain’t home.”

  “Mommy isn’t home,” he corrected her. “And she is home.”

  “Mommy isn’t home. You dropped her off at school, remember?”

  “Yes, but after she finished talking to the teacher, I took her home. Now go get your things.”

  Tasha was upstairs on the phone with her girl Jaz. She was furious. Jaz was always the first person she consulted with whenever she had a beef with Trae. When she lived in Jersey she would run over to Jaz’s house. Now that Jaz was living in Georgia, she could only call her up.

  “This bitch had the nerve to have the shit delivered to my house, Jaz.”

  “Tasha, calm down. Have you heard Trae’s side of the story?”

  “No, his black ass ain’t home yet.”

  “Here I go right here.” Trae waltzed through their bedroom door. When he saw the blotches of red and black spray paint on her face he smiled.

  “Oh you think the shit is funny?” Tasha snapped. She hung up on Jaz without saying bye and popped up off the bed and stood in Trae’s face. “You think the shit is cute?” She poked him in the forehead.

  “Tasha, I don’t know why she bought me the bike. I damn sure didn’t ask her to.”

  “Nigga, that’s bullshit. Just say it. You fuckin’ her. Say it, Trae.”

  “Why am I going to say something that ain’t true? I’m not fuckin’ her and don’t be accusing me of no bullshit that I’m not guilty of.”

  “Nigga, ain’t no bitch gonna put that kind of money out and ain’t gettin’ no dick. This is me you’re talking to. Plus, I saw how she was looking at you when I picked you up from that restaurant. And I remember that stunt she pulled at the club.”

  “Tasha, how was she looking at me? Wasn’t it dark outside? What the fuck is the matter with you? Where’s the fuckin’ calendar? You gettin’ ready to come on your period?” He went over to the calendar. She was right on his heels and snatched it off the wall and threw it at him. He ducked and by reflex grabbed her neck. “What is wrong with you?” He let her neck go, realizing that he hadn’t meant to grab her. When he let her go she smacked him across the face.

  “How dare you put your fuckin’ hands on me? How would you like it if a nigga delivered me a brand-new car? You would be acting the same way.”

  “Nah, I’d be acting much worse.” He grabbed her by the neck again. “Then I’d put some bullets in the nigga. Remember that.” He tossed her across the bed.

  She jumped back up and went to swinging at him. He grabbed her.

  Marva was standing in the bedroom doorway. “Tasha, take Caliph. He’s sleepy. Me and the twins will be back. Here’s his teddy bear.” She laid him on the bed with his favorite bear and left, acting as if they weren’t fighting.

  Trae still held her tight. Her body was trembling.

  “I don’t want to fight with you in front of my son,” he told her.

  “Turn me loose.” Her voice cracked. “You hit me over some bitch?”

  “Tasha, you are blowing this shit all out of proportion. First off, I didn’t even hit you. And like I said, I ain’t fuckin’ nobody but you. You know that shit. We shouldn’t even be having this senseless conversation.”

  “Why is she sending you gifts, Trae?”

  “She obviously thinks a nigga is for sale. And she is probably used to getting whatever she wants. But I told the bitch don’t be sending me shit and stop calling my house. I told her to send messages through Benny. You know you ain’t got shit to worry about.” His cell phone began ringing so he turned her loose.

  “It better not be that bitch.”

  She grabbed the phone out of his hand and looked at the caller ID, recognizing one of the family’s numbers. She threw the phone at him and headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower. She needed to wash the spray paint off her face and hands. Plus, totaling the Harley-Davidson had caused her to work up a nice sweat.

  Trae sighed as he checked the caller ID. It was Bo.

  “What’s u
p?”

  “Damn, I’m happy to hear from you too. You sound like you just got caught creepin’.” Trae just shook his head. If he only knew.

  “What’s up, man?”

  “Listen, you were right. That is shorty who had the video camera. The name, the school. Everything matches.”

  “Damn,” Trae hissed.

  “But yo, her brother wanted to thank you for handling Magnificent. He wanted to know how much you wanted. I told him to just give us the tape and he did that. So tell me, how did you know it was her?”

  “I didn’t. Not until I walked up on her. Y’all already destroyed the tape, right?”

  “Of course, nigga! I told you our peeps run that strip.”

  “How do we know she had only one?”

  “It was only one,” Bo assured him.

  Trae ended the call. He knew that his crew was thorough, but damn, it had to be a reason he had run into her. What were the odds of that happening? His gut was telling him he needed to check shit out for himself.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It was comedy night at Club New York, where Kat Williams, Jim Jones along with Juelz Santana, was in the house representing Dipset. Paul Mooney and Capone the Gangsta of Comedy were preparing to grace the stage. The club was packed to capacity as Trae, Marvin and Stephon were sitting in Trae’s office, chillin’ while watching the security cameras and monitoring the promoters who were in charge of the event.

  “Why are you so quiet, man?” Stephon asked Trae.

  “His little Asian fantasy got his ass in trouble,” Marvin answered for Trae. “That little Chinese hood chick done got a taste of some thug lovin’ and went crazy. And the sad part is your cousin Tasha don’t even know if Trae fucked her or not. She only speculatin’.”

  “What?” Stephon asked. “Tell me Marvin is exaggerating. What have I been missing?”

  “Nigga, you ain’t gotta take my word for it. Tell him, Trae,” Marvin prodded. “Tasha done sent for her sister, had a girl’s night out and you know what they do at those. They bash a nigga’s reputation to the ground. I bet you ain’t had no pussy since that motorcycle shit went down two weeks ago, did you?”

  Trae swiveled away from the monitor and faced Marvin. He held up his arms in surrender. “What? Marvin, are you my official spokesperson now?”

  “Nigga, you ain’t sayin’ nothing. And it’s not like I’m lying,” Marvin teased.

  “Don’t worry about if I’m fuckin’ her or not,” Trae snapped.

  “A Harley? Nigga she done felt your swag. Just come out and say it.” Marvin snickered, refusing to let up.

  Stephon started laughing. “But damn, Tasha done sent for her sister? My cousin Trina?” Stephon was still on that part of the conversation.

  Trae swiveled back around to the monitor. “Here she go right here.” He pointed at the screen. Stephon came over to take a closer look. Tasha, Kyra and Trina were seated at a table in the middle of the floor. There was a bouquet of roses in front of Tasha and a bucket of ice that held three bottles.

  “Damn, look at my lil’ cuz! She is fine! The last time I saw her was back in ’97. She is all growed up. And I guess you sent the roses? Nice touch!” he said, not giving Trae a chance to answer. “I gotta go say hi to my lil’ cuz.” Stephon’s phone chirped.

  “Boss man,” the voice bellowed.

  “What’s up?”

  “Your attorney is here.” The voice faded out. Trae and Marvin turned to look at Stephon, who had a huge grin on his face.

  “Say that again?” Stephon beamed.

  “Your attorney is here. Smitty is covering the back area tonight. He’s bringing her up to your office. She got some papers for you to sign.”

  “Tell him to bring her to Trae’s office.” He put the phone on the clip. “I’m so glad y’all niggas moved out here. Y’all keep shit going.”

  “Speak of the little devil,” Marvin smirked.

  “You got an office, nigga,” said Trae. “Take that bitch to your office. All I need is for Tasha to come walking up in here.”

  A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Stephon rushed to open it. Charli stood there with her hair up in a bun, perfect makeup, an all-white Chanel dress and white stilettos. Even her briefcase was white. “Stephon,” Charli greeted him with a hug. “Marvin.” She held out her hand and smiled as he gently shook it. “Mr. Macklin, I’m glad you’re here. I have some documents for you to look over. I’m telling you, you are going to love this one. How does a resort sound added to your investment portfolio?”

  Trae swiveled around to face her. “I told you to go through Benny.”

  “Benny has been impossible to reach. So here I am.”

  Trae stood. “Yo, Marvin and Steph. Let me holla at this girl in private.”

  “Not a problem.” Marvin was the first to stand up and leave. Charli handed Stephon a folder. “This is for you.” Stephon took it and left Trae’s office, closing the door behind him.

  “Check this out, shorty. You official on the business tip. And I’m feelin’ your swag. But it ain’t nothing personal between us. So what’s up? What you want?”

  “What do you think I want?”

  Trae felt her small hand grab his dick and she wasted no time getting on her knees. “Whoa.” He grabbed her wrist. “I don’t think you want to do that.”

  “Aren’t you the least bit curious?” She massaged his dick right out of his sweatpants, making it stand at attention. Her finger circled the head with immaculate skill. She then licked the tip, causing the precome to ooze out.

  “Yo, you know this is going to cost you, right?”

  “Name it,” she said, even though her tongue was already lapping his pole. Trae tried to look back at the monitor to see where Tasha was. He knew that if she were to walk in at that very moment, the both of them would be taking their last breath, but he couldn’t see it from where he was standing.

  Sensations shot through his body like electricity. He didn’t know what she was doing to his dick but he knew that he didn’t want her to stop. Watching the door and trying to look back at the monitor wouldn’t allow him to enjoy it.

  “Yo.” He grabbed her head. “Get up.”

  She looked up at him, slid his dick out of her mouth and smiled.

  “Get up.”

  She stood and began to unzip her dress.

  “You now got me fucked up. My wife is downstairs, so I hope you got your shit off because you gots to go,” he said as he stuffed his massive hard-on back into his sweats.

  “What? Is she coming?”

  “That ain’t the point. I said you gots to go.”

  “It’s a point if you want to make it one.” She gazed into his eyes as she fixed her dress and then checked her watch. “Well, I do need to be going, I’m running late. Make sure you and Benny go over that file. You’ll see that the offer is very generous.” She spoke as if she hadn’t just been on the floor sucking his dick. She then grabbed her briefcase and left.

  He grabbed the folder, put it on his desk and headed for the elevators.

  Tasha, her sister Trina and Kyra were sitting at a table on the floor enjoying themselves. Tasha had needed to see her sister so she had sent for her.

  “You got some roses, dawg,” Kyra teased Tasha, trying to sound like Tommy from the hit sitcom Martin.

  Tasha waved her off. Kat Williams was mad funny, but he still wasn’t cheering Tasha up. She wished she had followed her gut and stayed home.

  “Don’t look now but somebody is on his way over here,” Trina sang as she watched Trae steal somebody’s chair.

  Tasha sighed. She knew she had been hard on Trae the last couple of days since Trina had been in town. Trina was in the guest bedroom and Tasha was sleeping in there with her. She was actually depressed and was thinking that this California trip had been the wrong move, marrying Trae had been the wrong move, having three children had been the wrong move. Shit, nothing seemed to be going her way as far as she was concerned.


  Trae set the chair down next to Tasha, who had her legs crossed and her elbow resting on the back of Trina’s chair. Charli appeared out of nowhere, whispered something in Trae’s ear and sashayed off.

  “What’s up, brother-in-law?” Trina smirked. “So that’s the Chinese bitch?” Trina yelled loud enough for her to hear.

  “Tasha, let me go beat that ho’s ass,” Kyra pleaded. Tasha waved her off.

  Trae ignored them as he pulled Tasha and her chair closer to him. He took his time and lovingly admired his wife. Her hair was hanging loose in spiral curls. She had on a halter top and a pair of True Religion low-cut jeans with Gucci sandals. She had on one of his favorite perfumes, Escada. She was stunning to him. And on impulse he planted a soft kiss on her shoulder.

  “How long are you going to be mad at me, Tasha?”

  She kept her eyes straight ahead, glued on Kat Williams.

  “How long, Tasha?”

  “Until you tell me what went on between you and that Asian bitch!” she said, still looking straight ahead.

  Trae let out a sigh. “What? You want me to make up something so that we can put this shit behind us and move on with our lives? Is that what you want, Tasha? I mean, come on now. You letting this bitch disrupt our happy home? Ain’t shit to tell you, Tasha.”

  “The bitch just came by and whispered in your ear. And you know what? I’m tired. Too tired to put my foot all up in her ass. Any other day I would have snatched the bitch up and broke her neck. But for some reason, today I just don’t give a fuck. So do you, nigga.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Tasha stood up. “C’mon y’all. I’m ready to go.” Kyra and Trina weren’t paying her any attention because Kat Williams had them slapping each other five and laughing. Kyra had tears running down her cheeks she was laughing so hard.

  “Tasha, c’mon, Ma. Don’t be like this.” Trae grabbed her wrist.

  “I said c’mon, ladies. It is time to go.”

  They both looked at each other and then at Trae and stopped laughing.

  Tasha gritted, “Let’s go.”