Page 20 of Ghetto Heartstrings

“Good,” she exhaled. “Now, I don’t even know where to start, but I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

” All of a sudden, she went from going off on Wise to having water in her eyes.

“When I met Brody, I was a young girl, and I mean young. I didn’t have much to offer myself or nobody else for that matter, so I had to do what I had to do.

I lived in the toughest slums of Miami, so when I got a fake I.D.

to start dancing in the club, I had no regrets at all.

I was sixteen years old and broke, but with my young mature body, I started making more money than the vets up in that bitch.

” She took a second to reminisce and wiped a tear with a smirk on her face.

“Um, um, um… those were the good old days. I got my own place, my own car, and had my own money. I thought things were finally looking up for me, and then, one day when I was getting off of work, some bitches that were hating on me tried to jump me outside the club. Brody intervened and made them all line it up and give me a fair one on one. The minute he whispered in my ear that he had a thousand a piece for every ass I whooped, I went crazy on them. Hell, it was five of them, so you do the math. I needed that money,” she chuckled and took a seat.

“Now, from that moment on, Brody and me were like peanut butter and jelly, stuck together. He showed me a different life and lavished me with all kinds of shit, so it was easy for me to fall in love with him… only he didn’t feel the same.

Brody had other plans for me, and I definitely wasn’t what he wanted.

What he did want was to pay me for me to have a baby for him and his lover, and if I did that for him, he would make sure I was taken care of…

I had to raise my baby until he was old enough, and then, he would also pay me to leave and live a good life.

And because I was young and stupid for his ass, I would’ve done anything that I thought would keep him in my life some kind of way.

” She picked up the entire bottle of Hennessy this time and took a swig to the head.

Her face was red and full of tears, even Brook’Lynn and Wise could sense the hurt in her heart.

“Well, I played my part, and a year and a half later, along came Brook’Lynn, and I was devastated, especially since it wasn’t supposed to be any other women. ”

Brook’Lynn cut her off. “Did you know my mom?”

She nodded her head. “I did… and that’s why it hurt so bad.

She was one of the five women who tried to jump on me, so when I found out about you, it was a stab in the heart.

He moved your mama out to Atlanta when she was pregnant…

the minute he found out it was a girl. But, whenever he would visit Miami, he brought you on a couple of occasions, and then, when he had to handle business, he would leave you with me.

” She had a spaced-out look in her eyes now.

“That didn’t last long though. Your mama called me one day looking for him and we had a long conversation.

Turned out, she was just as hurt as me because she was sold the same dreams and he told her the same thing.

He also paid her to have you. As stupid as we both were at the time, we’d rather have a piece of him than none at all…

and besides, he was going to fuck with us both regardless, no matter how much we didn’t like it, so we left well nuff alone.

No need in being beefed out with each other.

” She shrugged. “We kept in contact until you were about four years old, but by that time, we were pretty much over it, especially because in between that time, we found out about another child. Only I was so stupid, so I still tried to stick around. I learned a big lesson; everything isn’t always what it seemed. Him fucking with us was all for show.”

Wise didn’t understand. “So, you didn’t want me? He paid you to have me?”

“Son, it doesn’t matter how it happened, fact remains that you’re my son and God chose me to be your mother. I love you no different, and that’s why it was so hard for me to leave you in the first place. That man sold me so many lies that I didn’t know my own name anymore.”

Brook’Lynn sighed, she was glad that they were finally getting somewhere. “Why in the hell was he paying women to have his kids?”

“Because,” she said, “he didn’t want to feel like he had any kind of personal connections to us. He didn’t want us to feel like he owed us something. Are ya’ll even listening to anything I’ve been telling ya’ll?” She frowned. “Can you not read in between the lines?”

“Mama, you know I’d never disrespect you, but maybe I’m just a tad bit slow right now because I don’t understand. What was the deal? His girl, or ‘lover’ as you call it, couldn’t have kids?”

She sucked her teeth and shook her head.

“You young people are supposed to be the smart ones. There was never a woman Wise! Did you hear me when I said I didn’t have shit he wanted?

I’m sorry to break the news to you kids, but your hardcore ass father is gay!

He paid us to have his kids, so he can have children to carry on his name or ‘legacy’, in his words. ”

Brook’Lynn burst out laughing. Matter of fact, she was laughing uncontrollably, cause she knew that Ms. Fiona had just sold them a bunch of bullshit; she should’ve gotten an Oscar for that story.

Wise and Ms. Fiona both were staring at her like she was losing it.

“Brook’Lynn… I have one question for you…

do you know the real reason why you and Perfect were never supposed to be together?

Did you know that Brody and Rasta are supposed to be best friends?

” she sneered. “Bet you didn’t know that, did you?

Wonder why they never let you kids see them together or even mentioned each other?

” She tapped her finger on the table. “Ask your little boyfriend where his mother is. I bet she just up and left too, huh? Yeah, I know I’m right…

Rasta pulled the same shit that Brody did.

Only difference was Rasta married that girl in order to cover up his true intentions.

Them hardcore, very well-respected in the street, fake ass best friend ass niggas are booty partners.

They only wanted kids for their namesake to carry on the legacy.

Do you know how that fucks both of them up to know that you and Perfect are fucking?

That wasn’t a part of the plan. Wake up little girl…

you wanted the truth, right? Well, checkmate!

” she said, slamming her hand down. “There you have it! And that’s the reason why he never did shit to hurt Perfect; he is his lover’s child! ”

“Bitch!” Brook’Lynn hopped up. “Stop fucking lying! You a liar yo! I’m bout to fuck this bitch up!” she shouted as Wise grabbed her.

“Brook’Lynn!” Wise yelled. “Stop it! Calm the fuck down!”

“Fuck that! My daddy is a lot of shit, but the nigga ain’t gay!”

“You don’t have to accept it; you came way out here for the truth, and you got it,” Ms. Fiona said, making sure she stayed clear away from Brook’Lynn. She wasn’t afraid or anything; she just didn’t want to fight with her. After all, she was her son’s sister.

“Brook’Lynn! You think I wanted to hear that shit? I don’t wanna accept no shit like that either, but what the fuck would she lie for? You trying to have a baby or a miscarriage?” Wise asked, thinking fast as he figured that would be the only thing that would calm her down and he was right.

She snatched away from him. “Get off of me! I’m outta here!” She rushed to the room and grabbed her bag since it was still packed. She shot out the front door with Wise right on her heels.

“Get in the car,” he ordered. He was so mad, he wanted to strangle her fucking neck.

She hopped in and slammed the door. “I don’t know why I agreed to even come out here, just to be told some bullshit.”

“Nah Brook, that was some real shit,” he told her, looking in her eyes.

“You’ll say that cause that’s your mama; nigga, shut up.”

He shook his head. “Nah, I’ll say that because I saw the hurt in her eyes when she told us the story, and I can tell she really didn’t want to. But, think about it. Where the fuck is Perfect and C2’s mama? Where yo mama, Brook? When the last time you seen her?”

She took a deep breath and thought about it. “She ran off with her boyfriend,” she admitted.

“Or at least that’s what Brody told you, right?

” he chuckled. “Why the fuck didn’t I have my mama like I should’ve?

Cause she ran off Brook’Lynn… only difference was, she kept in contact with me; she never hid her location.

All she made me do was promise to never mention her to my punk ass daddy cause she didn’t want him to know where she was. ”

Brook’Lynn thought about it, and it made hella sense now. “I don’t even know what to say,” she replied, fighting back tears. “Like, I wanna fucking scream right now.”

“You know what’s so fucked up about this shit Brook?

This shit is happening in the real world; this shit is actually happening every day.

Niggas is lowkey shittin’ on beautiful ass women, just so they can fuck around with another man.

Then, be out here claiming they some real niggas.

Niggas is living life a big ass lie out here.

I’ve heard about it, but the shit has hit close to home,” Wise said, shaking his head.

“The fact that these niggas only wanted kids to carry their last names is weak as fuck. Brody didn’t have plans on us meeting each other; he didn’t give a fuck about that. ”

Brook’Lynn sat still, all of a sudden feeling bad about how she treated Ms. Fiona.

Another part of her was battling with the fact that her man was now gone on the strength of some shit Rasta told him.

Everything could’ve been a big ass lie. Perfect, Boom, and C2 could’ve been on the run for no reason at all.