My Love Ain't Meant For a Thug Read online

  Congo sidestepped so that he was standing in front of her. “Aye bruh don’t fucking touch her.”

  His deep voice made Honey shiver. The fact that he was now trying to protect her made her feel some kind of way but she ignored it and stepped around him.

  “It’s fine. He can’t tell me what to do.”

  Congo looked down at her when she stepped in front of him. She was short and average size. He looked her over in the tight fitting clothes she was wearing. Not much ass, nice size titties but that didn’t mean shit to him. She was pretty as hell and feisty. That shit was sexy as fuck. She stood with her hands on her hips looking at all of the cops. Congo could tell they were hating the fact that she’d shown up. They were all grimacing and curling their lips up at her.

  “Can y’all please do y’all job and get this situation handled? You’ve put on this little show long enough.” She sucked her teeth and stood watching them until they all began moving around doing something.

  That’s right lil mama, put some fire under their asses.

  Congo looked around at all the people that had been out there the whole time and hadn’t done one thing to help. It disgusted him but he couldn’t blame them.

  “Lean down let me look at your face. It looks swollen.” Honey was now standing back in front of him with her arms outstretched towards his head.

  Congo licked his lips before leaning down slightly so she could get a better look. When her small hands touched the sides of his face he couldn’t help but to notice how soft they were. Her perfume traveled up his nose as she leaned his head to the side and looked at the side of his face that had been pressed against the car. She sucked her teeth and shook her head.

  “This don’t make no sense. Your face is super red and its already swelling,” She pulled his head a little closer. “How long were you on that car before I got here?”

  Congo thought it was cute how caring she was being. “Bout ten minutes.”

  “Ten minutes?” She said in disbelief before shaking her head again. “What did you do?” She whispered.

  “Nothing lil mama I swear. They saying I stole a car or some shit but that’s my gotdamn car. I aint took shit.”

  Honey was about to say something else but was cut off by the officer walking to them. “Excuse me ma’am but he’s under arrest we need to place him in the car.”

  Honey nor Congo missed the fact that his voice was void of any attitude. Maybe they were trying to save face but it was way too late for that shit. Congo stood back up not caring to hear shit the cop had to say. Honey on the other hand decided to take advantage of his niceness.

  “Can I just give him some water? It’s really hot out here,” When he looked like he had to think about it Honey laid it on a little thicker. “He was lying across that hot car for a while sir, I’m sure he’s thirsty.”

  He nodded his head up and down quickly.

  Honey turned away from him and loosed one of the straps on her backpack and pulled it from her back. She unzipped it and removed the tall bottle of Smart Water she’d been drinking earlier and twisted the cap off. She sat her backpack on the ground against her leg before standing back up and waving her hand for him to lean down. He looked at her as he leaned forward and she stood on her tiptoes. With her hand resting on his bicep for support she placed the rim of the bottle to his lips. His juicy lips swallowed the top of the bottle as she tilted it up so that he could drink from it. He gulped the water eagerly. Honey held onto him allowing him to drink almost all of the water from her bottle. When he pulled away she stood back flat on her feet and released his arm.

  “You had enough?” She looked directly into his eyes.

  He nodded. “Appreciate that.”

  “No problem. Take care, and don’t give them any trouble on the way downtown. I don’t want them beating you up while I’m not around to save you.” Honey joked trying to make light of the situation.

  Somehow Honey was able to make him smile in the middle of this fucked up situation. “I got you.”

  Satisfied, Honey grabbed her bottle of water and stuck it back in her backpack and zipped it up. The cop grabbed his arm and led him to the back of the squad car. Honey kept her eyes on him while they loaded him up and closed the door. When he was seated he looked back out of the window at her. They held eye contact until the officer got in and pulled away. Honey turned around looking at everybody that was standing out there before walking away. She was late for work and needed to hurry up and get there. Thoughts ran rapidly through her mind as she walked trying to figure out what she’d just done. Willingly placing herself in the position to be arrested. That was out of character but she had to do it. He needed her. Somebody had to do something. The more Honey thought about it the weirder it all seemed. She’d just saved this perfectly good looking stranger and didn’t even know his name. Walking into the shop, it was already in full swing. The set up was red and black and there were Afrocentric and inspirational pictures all over the walls. There was five chairs and all of them were occupied. Hers was the furthest one on the end directly in front of the window. It was the only red one, the rest of the barber chairs were black. Her station was decorated with various girly looking things, with the added pop of pink clippers and brushes.

  “Honeyyyyyyyy.” Rick said as soon as she walked in. He was followed by pretty much the rest of the shop doing the same thing. They were always dragging her name out trying to be annoying.

  “Hey y’all.”

  “Where you been girl? You late.”

  Honey got the booster seat for MJ and headed back to her chair. “Don’t be clocking me nigga.”

  Rick and the rest of the barbers laughed.

  “I won’t check on your young ass no more.”

  “Good.” She smiled as she waved for Monte to bring MJ to her chair.

  Chapter Two

  I Hope you’re thinking of me too…

  Honey got right into the swing of things just like any other day. She cut hair for the rest of the day. Around closing time she’d made close to $300. That was good for a Friday. The weekends was always her time to make money. Once she cleaned her station and grabbed her things she headed back home. It was a good thing she lived right up the street because it had gotten dark and she hated walking in the dark. It seemed like all the perverts and crackheads came out then. She held the straps to her book bag tightly in her hands and walked quickly down the street. She wished she had listened to her coworker Rick and either gotten out of the shop earlier or at least let one of them give her a ride home. They were all so used to her turning their rides down they didn’t even bother to offer anymore. She crossed the street and walked slowly down the hill to her house. She could see a car with three boys leaning on it at the bottom. Hopefully they wouldn’t bother her, but she already knew that was just too much like right. The moment she came into view they began saying stuff.

  “Aye girl come holla at me real quick.” One of them yelled out

  “I’m in a rush sorry.” Honey tried to be cordial to keep them from getting angry. Niggas never took rejection easy.

  “Well let me at least give you a ride to where you going.”

  Honey looked over at the car all of them were sitting on and assumed it was his. She smiled and shook her head.

  “No thank you. I’m almost there. Thank you though.” She picked up her pace and hurried down the street. She could hear him calling out what she assumed to be his number as she continued walking.

  Boy please.

  She was relieved to see Samuel’s car in the driveway when she got home. That meant he’d gotten home early. She hated being at his house when he wasn’t there, but most days she had no other choice. The days she knew he was closing she would try to stay at the shop as late as she could before it got dark. Samuel’s family didn’t care too much for her and she had no idea why. She was always nice, and tried her best not to be a problem but that never worked. She stayed to herself as much as possible, getting up early to bathe, washi
ng her clothes when no one was home, making sure to keep everything as tidy as she could, but that still didn’t work. At least one person had to pick with her at all times. Honey took a deep breath and used her key to let herself inside. When she walked in his mother and sister were sitting on the sofa watching TV. As evil as they were sometimes she wouldn’t be surprised if they were sitting there waiting for her to come in. When they saw her, they both rolled their eyes. Honey closed the door and locked it back.

  “Don’t slam my door like that little girl. You break my window you will be paying to get it fixed.” That was his mother.

  “I’m sorry Mrs. Joanne.”

  “You wouldn’t have to be sorry if you would just be more careful.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Honey walked out of the living room but heard his sister as she headed down the hall.

  “I don’t know why she’s even still here. I’ll be so glad when she leaves.”

  “Me too.” Joanne cosigned.

  “Well why don’t you put her out?”

  Honey didn’t even wait around to hear Joanne’s reasoning for not putting her out. She wasn’t even in the mood. She opened the door to the room she shared with Samuel and kicked her shoes off. He wasn’t in there but she heard the shower running when she walked down the hall so she assumed that’s where he was. Honey picked her sneakers up and put them in the closet with the rest of her things. She removed her back pack and sat it next to her shoes and closed the door. After grabbing her a pair of tights and a spaghetti strap shirt to sleep in she tied her scarf around her head, grabbed her body wash, shower cap, and towel and sat on the bed to wait for Samuel. When he came in he had a towel around his waist and no shirt. Samuel wasn’t the best looking thing, but he wasn’t the ugliest either. He was older than her by eight years making him thirty. The dark hair on his light chest wasn’t appealing, but he thought it was so she wasn’t going to tell him any different. His stomach wasn’t very toned due to the six pack of beer he consumed daily. The M shaped hairline he had reminded her of the McDonald’s sign which was ironic since that was where he worked as a manager. He was rubbing his head with a smaller towel. That was another thing she wasn’t too fond of. The little baby fro thing he was rocking was so played but like the hair on his chest, he refused to cut it off.

  “Oh hey baby, I didn’t know you were here.” He looked at her as he dropped his towel and grabbed a pair of underwear from his drawer.

  Chile please.

  Honey wanted to roll her eyes so bad but she chose not to. Samuel was always so free with his body and she could not see why. It wasn’t even all that. It wasn’t even a little of that to be honest.

  “I just walked in.”

  “How was work?”

  “Good, I had a few people.”

  “How much you make?”

  Honey expected this. He was always checking her money right before he took it.

  “150,” She lied.

  “That’s good baby. Especially since moms was just fussing about needing some groceries.”

  “Oh okay well here you can give it to her.” Honey went into the closet and stuck her hand in the small part of her backpack. She’d already split her money in half. Keeping half for herself and giving the other half to them. Her money was in a small red bag at the shop in her locker. She would never bring it here. Samuel and his mama was always going through her things. She’d caught them on numerous occasions but acted as if she hadn’t. It was no different from his sister that claimed to hate her, always finding a way to “borrow” her clothes. Majority of the things Honey had seen her wearing, she still hadn’t gotten it back yet but she just charged it to the game and kept it moving.

  Honey handed him the money and grabbed her things from the bed.

  “Make it fast Honey. I need some loving but I aint trying to wait on it all night.”

  Honey forced a smile. “I won’t be long.”

  She tiptoed down the hall scared to make any real noise. Thank God the door closed lightly once she was inside of the bathroom. The mirror and walls were still wet and steamy from Samuels shower. Honey stood in the middle of the floor a tad bit disgusted before flipping the shower on. After stripping down she got into the shower and washed her body. Honey thought about her mother and uncle and felt a little sad but toughened back up before letting herself get too far into her feelings. They were both in jail with life sentences without the possibility of parole. Every so often when she was having a bad day she would think of them and what life would be like if they were still out. The loud beating on the door brought her out of her thoughts.

  “You gon’ help pay that damn water bill this month.” Sammy Sr. yelled through the door.

  He was Samuel’s dad and almost the worst one. He was always yelling and cursing at her. Growing up her uncle never allowed people to curse at her. Because of that she didn’t curse. Well she tried not to anyway. Sometimes when she was really mad one or two might slip. Having him or anybody else yell and curse at her the way Sammy Sr. did always made her so mad. Honey rinsed the soap from her body and turned the water off. She hadn’t even been in the shower a full five minutes yet but she knew this was going to happen. It never failed. Somebody had to say something.

  He hit the door again. “You hear me girl?”

  “Yes. I’ll give you some money tomorrow.” Honey dried off as fast as she could because she already knew that Sammy Sr. would “accidentally” walk into the bathroom when she was in there. The lock was broken and he felt he had free range she was guessing because he made it a habit to bust in here and there.

  She slipped her shirt over her head and snatched her shorts up just as the door opened. He stood there and looked her up and down. Seeing that she was already dressed, he snarled and glared at her.

  “It better be some hot water left.” He yelled as he stood blocking the doorway.

  Sammy Sr. was big and light skinned just like Samuel but he was much fatter. He had to be close to four hundred pounds. Honey knew she was going to have to touch him in order to get by so she tucked her clothes under her arm and turned her butt so that it would touch the wall. Her breast rubbed across his stomach as she scooted past. Honey made it past him as quick as she could and hurried into Samuel’s room. One more hurdle to cross and she could go to bed. Samuel was on his bed watching a porn tape while stroking himself. Ewww. Honey turned her head quickly and put her clothes in the little pink hamper she had in the closet. She made sure to keep her things separate from his. She had grown to care for Samuel deeply but he was nasty. His clothes always smelled funny. Somewhere between old food grease and sweat. The smell was horrid.

  “I’m ready and waiting for you baby.”

  “I see,” Honey climbed on the bed next to him and grabbed his little piece of meat and started stroking it for him. The faster she got with it, the faster it would be over. Not that it ever lasted too long anyways.

  “Aggghhh yeah Honey.” He groaned as if she was doing something for real.

  She worked her hand up and down at a moderate pace while looking at the wall.

  “Come on baby I want some coochie tonight.”

  Ugghh! Honey wanted to scream. She hated when he called it that. She hated that word. Coochie was ugly and old. But what more could she expect from a thirty year old that still lived with his parents? This fool was so old school he wouldn’t even let her shave her pubic hair. She wanted to so bad but he said God put hair there for a reason and she needed to leave it alone. Samuel pushed her thighs back slightly letting her know to step back so he could sit up. They switched places so that he was on the top and she was now lying in the same spot he was just in. He pulled her shorts off and pushed himself between her legs. He was so rough and quick with all his movements. He rolled the Lifestyle condom over himself and pushed right in. It wasn’t much of a struggle due to the size of his penis.

  “Ahhhh yeahhhhh Honey.” He moaned loudly.

  His body was pressed on top of her and sh
e wished he would lift himself up some so she could breathe but he didn’t. He kept moaning loud enough for everybody in the house to hear. This too was something he always did. Clearly he wanted his family to think he was really putting in work when he wasn’t.

  “You aint feeling this shit Honey?” He looked down at her.

  “Oh yeah Sam, I feel it.” She faked.

  As always, she had to fake it until he finished. The louder she got the faster he finished. Needless to say Honey started moaning like crazy. Anybody with ears would be able to tell she was faking but Sam clearly didn’t. He began pounding her really hard. Slamming his body into her roughly. Honey guessed he was trying to add some power behind his pumps to give the illusion of good sex.

  “Oh Sam.”

  Honey turned her head towards the door as she let out another fake moan. When her eyes connected with Sammy Sr.’s she wasn’t even surprised. He was so nasty he didn’t even try to hide. He stood right there and watched his son put on this charade. Honey turned her head feeling ashamed and closed her eyes. She kept them closed until she felt Sam’s body jerking. Oh Thank God he was finished. He rolled off of her panting like a dog. He removed the condom and let it fall to the floor. He scooted backwards on his pillow getting comfortable. Honey checked the door to make sure Sammy Srs gone before she got up from the bed and went to the closet to grab her a wipe from her backpack. She cleaned herself up good enough and put her shorts back on. She grabbed her sketch book, water, and sour patch kids from her backpack as well. She laid across the bottom of the bed and opened her book. She looked at the dimensions of the picture she was drawing right then before getting back to work. Drawing was the one thing that kept Honey sane. If she couldn’t draw she would probably sink and drown in depression. She popped sour patch kids continuously while she used her ruler and number 2 pencil to make her visons come to life. Honey pulled her hands back to look at the picture she was working on. It was of the strip mall. Of course she’d added her own graphics to it to make it her own. Honey grabbed her water and drank from it as she marveled at her work. When she was no longer getting any water out she looked at her bottle. How all my water get gone that fast? Honey’s eyebrows furrowed together as she thought about it. Lawd! It hit her quick. She’d just drank after a complete stranger. She’d given all of her water away to the man from earlier. Looking at the water bottle made her wonder what was going on with him right now. Was he still in jail? Honey lay back with the water bottle cradled to her chest and closed her eyes. She fell asleep to images of his handsome face.