Here is chapter 4! Now Mercedes is very ooc, but no matter what she does, this is a samcedes endgame story. Also remember that she is young and never really got a chance to be young. She had to grow up fast. So please don't judge her to hard.

if you have any questions that you want me to answer fast, you can reach me on tumblr at .com or .com

One evening Mercedes and her girlfriend, Tasha, were hanging out. Tasha was one of those girls straight from the projects who was just as fly as Mercedes was, but her life goals consisted of hooking the biggest drug dealer, being the baddest female in Richmond, keeping a nice ride, and to moving out of the projects to one of the nicer Section 8 communities. Tasha and Mercedes met because they both were captains of cheerleader squads back in school. They used to see each other at the games and both saw the material potential in each other. So, even though they were from two different sides of town they always kept in touch, and eventually became good friends.

Tasha was skinny, barely weighing in at 110 pounds. She never wore her real hair, only braided extensions. Displaying long, fat, neatly done box braids neatly in a ponytail on the top of her head, Tasha, without a doubt, set trends with her braided styles. Along with her braids she wore a small diamond earring in her nose and four holes in her ears. There was a permanent scar within her chocolate skin on her temple that she got from a scuffle years ago. Tasha wasn't self-conscious about her cut. Nobody was perfect and everybody had a flaw, and that was hers. She was very confident and couldn't be touched with a ten-foot pole.

Tasha and Mercedes were at the "Summer League" basketball tournament over on the West end on Idlewood Avenue. "Summer League" was packed. All the ballers were there showing off their cars as well as placing bets on which team was going to win. All the young adults knew that in Richmond if you were a female looking for a major player, or if you were a major player looking for a female, Summer League was the place to be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It was always jammed packed with wall-to-wall people. Girls were in their short shorts and a few guys were sitting or standing near their motorcycles. Cars lined up, double parked, horns honking because they were blocked in. Then there were the set of guys walking around with the super soaker bazooka water guns, who were searching for any stuck up, conceited, bourgeoisie acting female so they could soak her with their water guns. There were a few dudes scattered around who had their dogs on a leash, walking them. They either had Pitbulls or Rottweilers. Whenever the dogs would get in a thirty -foot radius of one another, the owners would have to pull the chains back to separate the dogs, as they growled at each other. Throughout the night during the basketball game, there would be somebody taking bets on which dog would win the dogfight, which was scheduled after the game later that night. The funniest part was that there was one guy, who always showed up wearing no shirt, with a super thick herringbone necklace on, and an albino, yellow and white Boa Constrictor snake around his neck. Now, he knew nine times out of ten, that most the females were afraid of snakes, so he'd get his entertainment by walking around watching the reaction of the ladies when he moved closer to them.

On this particular Thursday, Mercedes and Tasha were standing by the fence turning heads of the ballers walking by, acting like they were not paying any attention to all the ooh's and ah's. They were speaking and mingling with all by-passers. They noticed from across the court on the other side of the fence, this tall, kind of chubby, bumpy face, dark-skinned dude. He had thick eyebrows and was sporting a bald head and a mouth full of gold teeth. He had just got out of this bright yellow, flip-flop paint job BMW sitting on chrome. Chrome rims are like the shoes on a car. If an outfit doesn't have the right pair of shoes, the whole thing will be thrown off. It's the same thing with an automobile. Rims give it a whole different look as the right shoes would give an outfit a distinct look. They must be 18 inch or better. Although, when you take the original rims off a new car, the car depreciates. Some feel it's more important to make the car look good.

As soon as he rolled up, all eyes were on him. Mercedes and Tasha immediately acted as if they were not concerned, like they did not even see him. They were like sore thumbs sticking out because they were the only two who were not impressed. He immediately inquired to his homeboys as to who Mercedes and Tasha were.

He walked over with his Very Fine fruit punch drink in his hand, held his head back, drank his juice in one big gulp with his lips never touching the bottle, looks at Mercedes from head to toe a reaches up to remove his sunglasses. All he could say is, "ummp, ummp , ummp" He quickly glanced at Tasha.

"Didn't you used to go to Fairfield Middle School?" He eyed Tasha in recognition.

"Yeah. How you know?" Tasha says in a snobbish tone.

"I used to go there too for a lil while."

"Oh, for real? I don't remember you. What's your name?" Tasha squinted.

"Jamal Tinsley," he said.

"Oh, O.K. I remember your name. You look so different." They start reminiscing, going on and on about the good old days at Fairfield Middle School.

"Yo, I am trying to definitely meet your home girl right there," he turns his attention back to Mercedes.

"Mercedes, this is Jamal," pointing to Jamal, "Jamal this is my best friend Mercedes," as she points to Mercedes, making introduction. Jamal throws up his head, acknowledging her. Mercedes extends her hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Jamal," She says in a sweet, innocent voice.

Jamal looked and laughed. Damn, what type of shit she into? This chic gonna extend her hand for me to shake. Do she think she white or what? He threw his bottle in the trash and reached out and shook Mercedes's hand. Mercedes thought, where in the world did Tasha pick this stray up from with no manners? She knows she is wrong for introducing me to him.

At that very moment the Southside boys got to fighting with the Church Hill boys. Tasha and Mercedes made way to their car, afraid something more might happen.

The following Sunday Tasha and Mercedes drove out to Byrd Park. Byrd Park is off the hook every Sunday. It is the only thing to do on Sundays during the day in Richmond. Luckily, they roll up when someone is leaving, so they get a good parking space. It was a hassle not having a parking space on a Sunday. Traffic is at a standstill, this one and that one running to and from cars, carrying on conversation, females and guys catching up on gossip. No telling whom a person may run across. One is subject to see anybody and everybody at Byrd Park. You must also have a full tank of gas when riding through Byrd Park on a Sunday. People would sit in any one spot for twenty minutes before traffic would inch up even a few feet. Byrd Park was the happening place for all ages, but just like everything else, when there is a whole bunch of young folks, the police get scared and over react. They started blocking certain sides of the park down. Then they put signs up "No Parking, on Sundays 2pm- 8pm." Nevertheless, Sunday life at Byrd Park went on. The crowd just moved the party over to the other side of Byrd Park. The police posted "No Stopping or Standing" signs all over the park enforcing hundred dollar fines.

They saw Jamal again, and he tried to get Mercedes's number, but she wasn't pressed.

"Cedes, how come you don't like Jamal?" Tasha almost knew the answer, but she had to ask.

"I don't think I want to talk to no man who drives a canary yellow BMW." They both laughed. "Besides, that car looks like it could be a female car. To me only a female would drive that bright yellow car."

"Cedes, you know a brother is getting some money and want to shine."

"The only place shining gets you is in the penitentiary or in the diary of a stick up kid."

"Cedes, you right."

"But the crazy thing is, these brothers know this. They see so many of their boys right in their immediate circle fall victim. You would think they would learn. Right?" Mercedes, in her own way, tried to make sense of the high rate of young men in prison, more than at ODU and all the colleges in Virginia.

"You would think, but I guess their motto is ball til you fall," Tasha fell out laughing at her own poetics.

"Guess so, but you can't tell them nothing. When they sitting in da clinker, they be wishing they had listened," Mercedes said.

Later that night, Tasha wanted to go to Tropicana BADDD! Mercedes didn't really have any money to be jerking off at the club. She had just gotten her car out of the shop so her funds were very limited. To her the club wasn't where she wanted to spend her last money.

"Cedes, I'll pay your way in, and once we get in, some clown will buy our drinks and pay for our pictures."

"I don't even like rolling like that. I like having my own. Just the thought of some Wack Jack dude, giving me the impression that because he buys me a little $ 5.00 drink that I have to entertain him and act interested in his conversation for the rest of the night. No, I am not feeling that." Gina had trained her daughter well.

"Cedes, don't you got the money for your polo lessons?"

"Yep"

"Well, use that for your pictures and drinks and I'll give it back to you when I get paid tomorrow."

Mercedes seen that Tasha was determined to go, so she went. When they arrived at "Tropp" the line was all the way up to the next corner. As soon as they walked by they saw Jamal and his crew at the very front of the line. He called out to Mercedes.

"I got y'all, come on." He paid for them to get in, bought their drinks all night long, as well as paid for about six or seven pictures. He pulled Tasha to the side, peeled off five twenties and told her, he was paying her $ 100.00 for Mercedes's number. Tasha told him she'd get back to him before the end of the night.

"Look, Jamal is giving me a hundred dollars for your phone number. I'm going to give it to him. If he'll give up a hundred for your number you could probably get some shit out of him." At the end of the night, when they were walking to their car, he rolled up beside them in his canary yellow car with neon yellow lights under the bottom. Mercedes was not feeling that yellow car. I hope when he calls he doesn't ask to take me out anywhere. I am not riding in that car looking like it came straight from the Universal Soul Circus, she thought to herself. He called Tasha over to the car.

"You got that for me?" Tasha reached in her back pocket and handed over the number to Jamal. Jamal passed Tasha the hundred for the number. He then produced another a hundred.

"Put in a good word for me," Jamal said handing Tasha the second hundred dollar bill.

Mercedes thought to herself, this clown is really trying to shine, huh? I should've told Tasha to write "1-800-Joke" on the paper. Once they got in the car, Tasha handed Mercedes one-hundred dollars.

Jamal's first impression of Mercedes was she was a "missy prissy" type of chic. After conversing with her over the phone for 2 weeks, he felt her personality was down to Earth. Judging by the way she spoke, it would make one think that she was slow to the street life. She was very thorough.

Their first date was to Kings Dominion amusement park. They played and rode all the games and rides. Jamal won Mercedes a teddy bear, and she won him an even bigger teddy bear playing skeet ball. He was shocked when he found out she was actually a lot of fun to be around. They laughed and joked. She was pretty too. He was attracted to her and she didn't have a ghetto demeanor, which he wasn't use to. She was the best chic that he had ever dated.

They started hanging out a lot. Mercedes was on her summer vacation from school so she was in Richmond for the next three months. They went to see Jamie Foxx's comedy show together and went out to eat just about every day. They went bowling, played pool in the pool hall in Shockoe Bottom and saw every single movie together. He even took her shopping. Everything they did, she'd make sure none of their dates ran into the wee hours of the morning. She never put herself in the situation to have to feel pressured for sex. He actually was so intrigued with Mercedes he forgot what his initial intentions were.

That got old soon. Jamal had paid for all these extravagant clothes and hairdos to make her look drop dead gorgeous and for what? He couldn't even take them off her. He wasn't able to mess up the hair after he paid top dollar for it. Half of the time, he really didn't go out to any clubs. She'd come through the spot to get money to go out and he'd see exactly how good she looked. She wouldn't even come back around there to be with him after she left the club. She'd go straight home and kick it over the phone for the rest of the night. He decided they needed to have a "heart to heart" talk and now was the time.

"I need to see you," Jamal telephoned. "I've got something important to talk to you about."

Mercedes and Jamal went to an expensive Italian Restaurant. Mercedes was curious to know what exactly he wanted to talk to her about. Once their appetizers, mozzarella sticks, arrived, he dipped them into the tomato sauce and looked at Mercedes with a serious look. Here comes the game, Mercedes thought.

Jamal pulled no punches. "We have really been hanging tight and I want you to be a permanent part of my life. I want you to be my girl. I want us to be on some one on one type shit. I WANT US TO CARRY IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. Now I've showed you how I get down for mines and I haven't even had sex with you. Now imagine how lovely it can be if we step this up a notch." This was the game Jamal kicked to Mercedes.

"Honestly, I don't need a boyfriend right now. It wouldn't be fair to you because I already have a man! I love him very much and I am not leaving him for anybody. So me sitting here pretending that I can carry it to the next level with you, is a dead issue. I appreciate everything you've done for me and I value your friendship, but at the same time, I told you this in the beginning and I still feel the same way. I hope we are still cool." She bit into her mozzarella stick.

Oh, it's cool for you to accept my money and eat up all my damn food, but you don't want to be my girl. Now all of a sudden, you want to remember that you got a man. This no good, ho!

Mercedes's response cut him down. He wanted to smack the cowboy shit out of her, but he kept his composure.

"I respect you for being real about it," he shook his head and drank some of his Heineken.

The realness was, that he wanted to fuck her and just had to go at her from another angle. He continued to talk to her on the phone as nothing had changed. He called her six nights later.

"I want to ask you something. I don't want you to take any offense by it though. It's very important," Jamal put on his sincere, serious voice.

"Go ahead and ask," Mercedes responded. "I am so attracted to you mentally and physically, you know this, and I feel like you got a wall up against me to shield yourself from my feelings. I've tried to come at you from various different ways, but you keep turning me away. You turn me on and off like a light switch. Now, don't cuss me out when I ask you this, but if I give you a G, could we have sex?"

I can't believe he is propositioning me. I am broke as a broke dick dog. At the same time, I don't want to seem like a trick. I was planning on doing it to him in the next couple of days anyway. I think I have been jerking his chain long enough what the hell? I would have to do it to him, doggy style. He's so ugly, I can't stand the thought of looking at him in his face.

"It's really not about the money, Jamal, but I am broke as I don't know what. You can come over. That's no problem," she said, holding her breath.

He went right over her house with the G in his pocket. His plan was to fuck the shit out of her and not ever speak to her gold digging ass again.

When he arrived, she had candles burning all through her den, bedroom, and bathroom. She ran him a candlelit bubble bath, washed him up from head to toe. When he got out of the tub she wrapped him in a big, oversized towel, and wiped him off. She pulled her Dr. Scholls foot massager out and gave him a pedicure. She put lotion on him, and gave him a full body massage, with sensual massage oils. She then fed him some fruit, grapes off the vine, cherries, as well as chocolate covered strawberries. Then hopped on his little, itsy bitty dick and rode him backwards. He came in approximately 45 seconds and he had on a rubber. "If that wasn't a damn waste, I don't know what was." Nevertheless. She got up to wash up and brought a washcloth back to the bed to wash him up. Jamal was sleep, knocked out, snoring. When he felt the warmness of the washcloth on him, he opened his eyes and went right back to sleep.

The next morning he woke up to her voice. "Rise and Shine Big Daddy" Mercedes said. His eyes opened when she placed a tray on his lap. Turkey bacon, fried potatoes with onions, scrambled eggs, two almond croissants, some Smucker's grape jelly and a glass of Sunny Delight Orange Juice occupied the tray. NOBODY had ever cooked for him except his mother. The thought of somebody bringing him breakfast in bed was almost too much. He questioned her because he didn't know what a croissant was. He cleaned his plate empty, gave her the thousand dollars and an extra two hundred dollar tip. It was worth every penny, the best $ 1,200 he'd ever spent.

How could he possibly leave her alone? It wasn't as easy as he thought. Romancing him, she took fucking to another level. He'd gotten plenty of pussy in the hood, but that was all it was, sex, no romance, no feelings behind it. None of the things that Mercedes had done had ever even crossed his mind.

For the next two weeks, they saw each other every day just like before. They had sexual encounters two more times. He paid her each time. The third time when he went to give her the money, she wouldn't take it. She told him that it wasn't that type of party anymore. She informed him that they were better than that. When she came in, she looked at the mail. There was a letter there from Sam. She tore it open.

My Dearest Mercedes,

Just exactly how long do you plan to stay mad at me? I miss you and I love you very much. I want to apologize for asking you to jeopardize your freedom for my own selfish reasons. I also apologize for taking you for granted. You have every right not to speak to me ever again. I hope you won't take that avenue, though.

Anyway I need to put you down with something. I heard that you were hollering at that dude, Jamal, out there. He made sure it got back to me. He and Cam were boys. He hates me.

He and I were beefing before I left the streets. He is telling dudes how he is fucking my wife and how he really don't want you, and some other things I rather not say. What I will say is there's no need for you to get upset. Because the word is the dude is gone behind you. His plan to fuck you over blew up in his face. Now, what you've got to do is to take this dude for everything he got.

And when you feel you tired of that dude YOU just bounce on his ass. That's how you get revenge on him. And never ever let this dude know you know what his intentions were. The joke is on him, Boo!

Come and check me soon!

Forever and Ever,

Sam

Mercedes was furious. Was Sam just trying to throw salt in the game for his own selfish reasons? Nah, Sam wasn't that petty. But when you love somebody, love will make you genuinely do crazy stuff.

Right after she finished Sam' letter, Bo came by. He basically gave her the same info. So it was about to be on now, for real.

After Mercedes turned down that last money Jamal had offered her, his mind was blown. In his mind, that confirmed that she wasn't just out for his money. She knew that he'd never had a woman in her league and she used that to her advantage. She'd make sure that when she was with him, she'd always have some new type thing going on. She'd always wear the sexy, but not sleazy lingerie. She'd walk around him buck naked with nothing but some "come fuck me boots" on. Sometimes he'd never know who she was going to be until he arrived. She may come to the door with a blonde wig on, ask him "Is it true that blondes have more fun?" She'd cook for him and bring him back presents from the mall when he'd give her money to go shopping for herself. He wasn't used to any of this. All he ever dealt with was sleeze bags. So, everything Mercedes was doing was just getting him wide open.

Jamal fell in love with Mercedes. All he thought about all day was Mercedes. He catered to her in his own little way. He gave her money freely. Anything new that came out for females, he got it for her. He took care of her upcoming school expenses. He gave her a brand new candy apple Saab convertible with license plates that said "NO NOTE" because it was paid for. He said, he wanted them to have his and hers BMW's. She convinced him to get her a Rolls Royce instead.

After all this, Mercedes still continued to go see Sam faithfully. The only difference was, she was riding in the Rolls Royce that Jamal brought her. She'd drive any of Jamal's array of cars as well. Every Saturday morning, she'd get out of the bed with Jamal to go see Sam. At the same time, Jamal believed if he did everything for Mercedes and just was patient, she would eventually drop Sam. That wasn't the issue, though, because Sam was in her heart. Jamal wasn't aware that Mercedes knew what his initial intentions were.

Every Sunday morning, she'd go to church. After all, it was God who made all these things possible. She'd invite Jamal to go. She'd preach to him.

"You throw bricks at the penitentiary all day every day. God watches over you even though you are doing wrong. The least you could do is devote Sunday to Him and go to church to say, 'Thanks' and give God the praises," Mercedes preached.

Jamal didn't hustle on Sundays, but he would never go with her. However he'd always send his tithes and offerings.

"Don't you think God want to see you in church every once in a while?"

"No, I need to get myself together first," he hugged her and rolled back under the cover.

"Well, you start with hearing and studying the word. You doggone for sure ain't going to hear it on the strip."

Richmond was a small town where everybody, knew everybody. So, news traveled around the town. It got back to April, the mother of Jamal's baby girl; Jamalya, found he'd went out and brought Mercedes a brand new car while she drove around in a raggedy Chevy Chevette. She flipped. Oh, it was about to be on. April wasn't as unruly as she pretended to be, but the crew she rolled with went for bad. However, her deep voice made her bark louder than her bite. She was light skinned with short hair on the top and long weave sewn in. She had green eyes, a big nose and buckteeth. She stood five feet seven inches, weighing one-hundred ninety-five pounds; the two size too small clothes she squeezed into really added a good 20 extra pounds to her visual. No one could ever figure out why she continued to wear the gold earrings with "April" and "Jamal" inside of them. Is it because she couldn't afford to go and get some more? Or was it because she still loved Jamal? Or was it that she wanted everybody else to think she was still with Jamal? Whatever it was she wore the earrings faithfully.

Jamal always took care of his daughter. Mercedes would even buy Jamalya the cutest stuff when she went to the mall. He never told April that she bought it because with her ignorant self, she never would have accepted it. "Come on, what difference does it make who bought it? It wasn't for you anyway. It was for Jamalya," he would most likely argue with April in his mind. Little dick Jamal was at least a peaceful man when it concerned his daughter.

April, on the other hand, was hot. Anytime she would see Mercedes's car anywhere she would flatten the tires. Jamal would only give Mercedes one of his cars to drive and he'd take care of getting new tires. April would throw eggs at Mercedes's car, but never approached her when she saw her.

One night, Drake made a guest appearance at the Grand Opening of Polo Bay Lounge. Richmond was live this night. Everybody was out. Mercedes drove Tasha, Jerri and Monica, but something was wrong. She didn't feel right for some reason.

"If I was to get to fighting, would y'all help me?" She asked out of the blue.

"No doubt," the three replied in harmony. "Girl, you know I got your back. I don't know 'bout anyone else, but I got you," Tasha made her position known.

"Girl, don't ask no crazy questions, you know we got you." Jerri said.

"Girl, please, I wish somebody would try to roll up on you while you with me." Monica said.

Mercedes had on sky blue suede coochie cutter shorts, with the suede shirt tank top to match. She was definitely turning heads in the club. She made eye contact with this dude. She asked the three girlfriends if any of them knew who he was. None of them did.

She pushed her way through the hot, smoke-infested, congested crowd. She stopped to chat with folks she knew on the way over to the bar. When she approached the bar somebody she knew from high school came up to her, and gave her a hug. They gave each other a brief catch up. She didn't notice who was behind her. She inched her way up to the bar, and squeezed in to place her drink orders.

"Umm, one Pina Colada, Absolute and cranberry juice, Baltimore Zoo, and a Heineken," Mercedes told the bartender.

"Wait a minute, Sweetness. You just walked right up and cut in front of me. I am trying to order a glass of Alize," The man sitting on the bar stool said while using his hand to clarify what he was saying over the loud music.

The waitress looked at them both. "Go ahead, ladies first," he said, with a toothpick in his mouth. In the meantime, he started talking to one of his homeboys.

"May I have a tray to carry all my drinks?" Mercedes asked the waitress. She put the drinks on the tray except for the glass of Alize, tipped the waitress and tapped the dude on the shoulder that she had made eye contact with earlier when she first arrived to the club.

"Good things come to those who wait. Thanks for allowing me to go in front of you." She slid the drink over to him and picked up her tray of drinks. She walked away from the bar leaving him speechless!

Not ten minutes later, he was walking over to her table carrying a tray with drinks on it for her and her girlfriends. He kept the drinks coming all night. He sat over at Mercedes's table and talked to her. He looked good to her. He was a russet brown complexion with the sexiest full eyes and long eyelashes. He rocked a perfect rounded fade haircut with a little, short beard on his face. His face possessed a few razor bumps, which didn't matter because Mercedes was definitely attracted to him. He was a medium build, tight abs, not too muscular, but she could tell he worked out. They laughed and giggled together. He bopped a cool dance for her, and moved just the right way. She took a dollar bill from her pocketbook and was shaking it while he danced. They were having a ball. Mercedes put on her sunglasses and was dancing in front of the mirror around him. They were all into each other, and boy did they put on a show.

The females in the club were UPSET that Mercedes had the attention of this man. No one really knew who he was. They knew he had plenty of dough. He had come home from jail about two years ago. He was a dude that played the background. He was rarely out at a club. And when he did come to the club, it was through the back door, and he left through the back entrance where his car would be waiting. They couldn't believe that he was over there in her face and dancing for her too. What the hell was going on?

Mercedes saw April and her hood rat friends from a distance. She thought to herself, how they even got in here with sneakers on, the no-class-having Bitches. She whispered in her girl Tasha's ear.

"Girl, April and her girls are over there." Tasha alerted Monica and Jerri. Mercedes never let April know that she'd acknowledged them. They tried to make it known that they'd seen her. They were watching her like a hawk. She kept acting like she was having a ball with the mystery man. When she saw them out of the corner of her eye looking at her, oh, she showed off more. A couple minutes later, Tasha told her that she was going to the restroom. Jerri said she was going to get a drink. Mystery man said he'd be right back because he had to go to the restroom. Monica was talking to some dude. Monica asked Mercedes if she have an ink pen in her pocketbook. She started fumbling around in her bag for an ink pen. When she finally looked up, she saw April and her two other girlfriends walking up. They were less than fifteen feet away from her. While her hand was still in her pocketbook, she felt around for her knife. She knew it was about to go down!

She saw Tasha come out of the bathroom and walk back over there in that direction. They finally got in front of her. Not April, but Tonya, one of April's girlfriends who was about thirty pounds bigger and three inches taller than Mercedes, black as tar, a gap between her front teeth and broad shoulders, approached her.

"Why you be talking about me?" she asked Mercedes while April and the girl stood behind her.

"I don't even know you to talk about you," Mercedes told her.

"Why you rolled your eyes at me then?" Tonya asked, fishing for an argument.

Mercedes looked straight in Tonya's eyes.

"Look, I don't know you, nor have I ever seen your Bamma ass before, but straight up, get the fuck out of my face."

Tonya turned and started to walk away. April, wearing the gold earrings with "Jamal" and "April" inside of them, with the "Jamal" popping out a little, said something to Tonya. Tonya turned back to Mercedes and smacked her. Then Tonya proceeded to turn and walk away. Wait a minute, does she actually think she's going to smack me and just walk away? Oh, I think not! Mercedes was dressed to impress. Mercedes was very prissy, but at the same time, she wasn't a punk! Mercedes jumped up, grabbed that guttersnipe from the back and started slicing and dicing her. Mercedes caught her by surprise, had her on the ground and was on top of her, whipping her. Tonya was not even fighting back. At this point, April jumped on Mercedes's back and started pulling Mercedes's micro braids. Mercedes started fighting April trying to get her off of her to stop pulling her hair. Mercedes reached her hand behind her head, put her fingers in April's eyes, and April released her hair immediately. At that moment, security grabbed Mercedes. They picked her up off of her feet and carried her to the back of the club. She was still kicking when she went past April.

The big bald headed dark skinned security guard with a deep voice, tried to be patient with Mercedes.

"Look, I don't know how much damage you did to the girl laying on the floor. Normally under these circumstances, we'll lock somebody up and press charges, but since you are a personal friend of the owner's best friend, we're not," he continued as he made it clear to Mercedes. He instructed her as he pointed, after he heard another security guard over the walkie talkie.

"Smokey the Bear has just arrived, get lil momma wolf outta here."

"Go into the bathroom and clean yourself up. The police just arrived. In order to protect you from them, we're going to have to hurry and take you through the back entrance."

Mercedes had never been in an official fight. She was in shock over her reaction to the whole situation. She had no idea that she could ever get violent if the situation presented itself. I can't believe I actually got into a fight. Oh, my God! Where did I get all that strength and rage from out of nowhere? I could feel my heart beating fast, but I had no idea that I would go off like that. I know am going to look a wreck. I am going to be messed up. To her surprise, she only had three scratches on her back, but her braids were all over her head. All the bobby pins from the way she had it styled, were gone. Most of all, she was mad that her suede outfit was ruined. She looked in the mirror focusing in on the blood on her new outfit. Shit, she thought, this was the last one like this. I can't even replace this outfit. I know blood ain't going to come out, and especially since this is suede too. Shoot, I really like this outfit. I wonder where my girls at? I hope they don't get locked up behind this foolishness. I hope they just left on their own, but I am driving. Man, I hope they are O.K. As she tried to pull it together, some girl walked up to her and looked at Mercedes through the mirror.

"It's so foul that your girls didn't even help you, but you was still rumbling by yourself. Girl, I give you your props."

Mercedes couldn't believe her ears. "What?" She balled up her face and looked at the girl.

"Yeah, your friends, left you." the girl said, and right then and there, Tasha walked in.

"Girl you alright?" Tasha asked.

"Tasha, where were you?" Mercedes fairly brawled.

"I knew they were coming over there to start something, so I went to get security!" Mercedes saw red.

"What? You went to get security?" Mercedes punched Tasha in the face. She commenced to beat her down as if she had stolen something. Security rushed in the bathroom and the guard couldn't believe it. Mercedes had Tasha in the stall of the bathroom beating her head up against the wall. "Need back-up in the ladies room. Lil momma wolf is at it again," the security guard screamed over the walkie-talkie. As soon as the security grabbed Mercedes, Tasha tried to escape by crawling under the stalls. Mercedes was walking in front of the security guard and caught a glimpse of Tasha in the last stall closest to the door. She moved so expeditiously that security was caught off guard. Mercedes ran into the stall. Once she got into the stall security grabbed her, but not before she kicked Tasha in the face with her clog style, sling back, suede shoes. The security guard was amazed with Mercedes's energy.

"Do you want to go to jail?" He had to ask.

"No." Mercedes replied.

"Didn't I tell you to be cool?" Security escorted her to the back door and the mystery man was waiting in the alley for her.

"Did you drive?" He asked.

"Yes, my car is right in the front of the club."

"I'll give you a ride home. I'll get my homeboy to get your car and meet up with him in an hour."

"Thank you, but no thanks. I don't go anywhere with strange men."

"Yeah, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't recommend it, but these aren't normal circumstances."

"Do you have a cell phone? I lost mine somehow in the club." She suddenly thought to call home. He pulled out his iPhone attached to a black bag. She called Gina to tell her what was going on. She gave her his license plate number in case he turned out to be a psycho. Mercedes let Gina know that she would be there in a half hour. Gina insists that she stays put until she gets there. Mercedes knows for a fact that if Gina comes to pick her up, she will add fire to the situation as Gina use to be a real pistol in her day.

While she still had access to the iPhone, Mercedes called Jamal and filled him in on what just happened. She instructed Jamal to find out the outcome of her battle with Tonya. She also tells him to make sure they don't press any charges out on her. He'd already heard what happened. April had already called. He said that Tonya had to get a lot of stitches. She also let him know that dude was all in Mercedes's face, and how Mercedes looked like she was enjoying mystery man's company.

On the ride to her house, the mystery man revealed that his name is Benjamin. His mother named him Benjamin because when she looked at him, she knew that he'd make plenty of them. However, he was called Drew for short. He was the silent partner in four different restaurants in town. He owned and operated a landscaping business also, she thought to herself, just how typical it was for every dude who claims he is out, or getting out, of the drug game, always gets one of two businesses. A detail shop or a lawn care business. Drew explained, he lived alone and had done six years in the pen. He was now the most eligible bachelor on the street. By the time they got to her house, she'd basically knew his whole life story. But, she didn't focus on a word he was saying.