Page 4

Staysha huffed. “Fine. Go make the money. About time you used all that ass for evil.”

“Please leave me the hell alone,” Eden huffed in turn and started out of her room. “I’m serious, Stay. The goal is to get all of us out of here, not be stuck here forever. I don’t want to end up like Poppi.”

“Then get us out of here,” Staysha sarcastically scoffed.

“Bitch, I’ll knock your teeth out playing with me like that.”

“Mmhmm, I’d like to see it.”

Eden threw up her middle finger and roamed out of the apartment to her car.

When she got to Midnight, she sat in the parking lot and took a few still moments to breathe.

Out of all things she did to make money, she never thought she’d be on the cusp of basically selling pussy.

She smiled, played helpless, faked like she was about to give a man some, set him up, and then bounced.

It was the life her mother introduced her to and the life she’d been left in.

She wanted so much more for herself and her sister, and right now, it seemed like swimming from the deep end to the surface was becoming impossible. She prayed she didn’t drown.

Walking into the locker room was like stepping into a realm of hell.

In the corner stall of the bathroom, two strippers were entangled, and another set were doing lines off the sink.

At the line of vanities, a few were muttering amongst themselves.

A conversation she couldn’t help but overhear as she found an empty locker.

“Bitch, pregnant? What the fuck you gon’ do?” one stripper asked.

“Would you keep your fuckin’ voice down?” the main one with the back-alley-enhanced body replied. “Yes. It’s got to be like four weeks or something. MB just got home, what am I supposed to tell him?”

The third stripper scoffed. “Don’t tell him shit. Hop on his dick the minute you get home, pin the baby on him. I mean, him and his brother do look just alike.”

“Except, Aug is shorter,” the first pointed out. “But that shouldn’t really matter. Unless it matters.”

“It doesn’t. I mean at least you were fuckin’ with brothers and not some other random nigga. MB ain’t gon’ kill his brother. He’s hard but he ain’t that ruthless.”

“I don’t know, sleeping with his girl while he served time is a recipe to get a bullet,” the third woman replied to the first. “Hold on.”

Eden hadn’t even realized she was eavesdropping so hard until the third woman said, “bitch, what the fuck you ear hustling for?”

“M-my bad,” Eden slightly stuttered before turning back to get dressed.

“That’s that new pussy Mama got,” the center of attention spoke up. “How much you owe her? That’s the only reason a pretty bitch like you is in here with us. You give her a taste of that? Watch out, she like to get hers at the end of the night too.”

Eden said nothing. It was no one’s business.

“She gon’ play quiet now, Pri,” the first stated, standing from her vanity. “A little piece of advice, mind your business and stay out of our business. It ain’t nothing to turn you out.”

The chime signaling it was time for them to hit the stage sounded off.

Eden finished dressing in barely anything and started out of the door in the cluster.

On her way out, she caught a pair of dark, deep-set eyes.

They seemed so focused but so distant as he ran his eyes over her.

His strong jawline clenched, and his hair was in desperate need of tender love and care.

Before Eden could get caught up in the ruggedness of his features, she blinked, looked away, and headed to her destination – Mama’s office.

She waited in the hall for the quieted conversation to stop and the door to open. A man strolled out in tandem with Mama, whistling and snapping her fingers at her niece. Eden stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.

“You tell your momma or better yet, my demented ass momma you were in here about to be swinging from a pole?”

“No, she doesn’t answer my calls even if I did call.”

“That bitch. The whole family is fucked up huh?” Mama chuckled bitterly. “You’re shadowing Priya tonight. She’s my biggest money maker.”

“How long am I here? Like what’s the number?”

“Not even a thank you, TT? You know I could’ve had your ass upstairs on your back serving niggas and their bitches back-to-back. You got that little body on you and a handful of ass, they’ll pay good money for you. Shit, fuckin’ might put some hips on you.”

“I understand, I just-”

“Don’t have a plan. You don’t have a plan. Your momma was and still is a hoe, but the bitch had a plan. My momma was a Trae Way Gangsta with a fucking plan. What’s your plan?”

Eden couldn’t answer that. She only knew that she didn’t want to be in Trae Way longer than she had to. At twenty-six years old, it had already been too damn long.

“That’s what I thought. You have no plan.

So, until you can tell me something that involves you and Stay getting out of here and Poppi doing something other than cussing at the plants and shit, on the pole is where you’ll be.

At least that way, I can control the niggas you want to run game on and keep y’all silly asses out of jail. ”

Eden looked at her oddly.

“Get out my face and go make me some money. And if you think about stealing from me, I’ll beat your ass worse than I do these other bitches.”

Eden nodded in understanding and moved out of the office into the hall. She found Priya lingering with the hooded man.

“He asked me about this shit,” she whispered, holding out a test. “What am I supposed to do, tell him that while he was gone, we were fucking every chance we got?”

“Don’t tell him shit. Didn’t I tell you I was going to get him out the way? I already made a deal with Mama to be the main one over her shipments. I got you.”

“Alright, Aug. I’m trusting you. I’m not getting another abortion for you, them people at the clinic already looking at me funny.”

“Hey, hey,” the man said, lifting her chin. “What I tell you?”

“That you got me.”

“Then I got you. Go make your money, baby, I’ll call you,” he said with a smack against her ass and kiss to the side of her face.

Priya gave him a small smile before walking away, finding Eden in her way. “You a nosey bitch, you know that?”

“I was minding my business. Mama said I’m with you.”

Priya rolled her eyes. “Can’t believe she’s putting your green ass with me. Can you even dance?”

“Studied dance at Waynesville State University before I dropped out,” Eden shared, making Priya curl her lip. “What?”

“Bring your ass on so I can show you where the ballers at and get back to my shit.”

Eden followed Priya into the VIP section filled with men in tailored suits who’d clearly come to do business. Why they were here and not at the Silk Lounge in the city was beyond her.

“These the niggas making money moves outside the city so their competition ain’t in their business.

The one in the middle is Mac’Roy, he owns Black Essence Daily and a modeling agency.

He be in here trying to find the next big thing and some pussy he can keep quiet.

The other two are money managers. The cigars and the bottles on the table are about four grand.

They’re closing a deal. Get on the stage, look pretty, and don’t say shit. ”

Eden studied Mac’Roy. Dark skin, salt and pepper goatee, shades covering his eyes.

He indeed looked like a money, a perfect mark, but Eden was trying to get through the night without being involved in any shit.

She got on the stage and started moving to the music.

She noticed the chatter had stopped, and Mac’Roy took his glasses off.

“Babygirl,” he called, and Priya immediately pranced over. “No, not you. Her.”

Eden stopped moving and looked at him. He waved her closer, sensing that Priya’s jealousy could turn this into something more than what it was. She moved closer. “Yeah.”

Mac’Roy urged her closer before silently whispering, “Why are you here?”

Eden drew back, furrowing her brow. “What’s the game? You want to offer me something? A deal I can’t refuse and then end up pimpin’ me out or something?”

Mac’Roy shook his head. “I’m not in the business of managing pussy. I got three daughters, and I couldn’t imagine someone playing them. Our cover model fell through; you look like you can fit the part.”

Eden chortled and pulled away from him. “I’m not buying it. I’m just here to dance, that’s it. I’ve had enough of men trying to sell me dreams.”