Okay here is chapter 5. This is very Mercedes, Jamal, and Drew centric. The next chapter, chapter 6 will be Samcedes focused. For the guest, I'm sure this is a samcedes story because I wrote it. Sam isn't in a lot of chapters because he is locked up. This story focuses on Mercedes growing up and trying to navigate a work where her soul mate isn't with her. She will make a lot of mistakes... Where Sam will make her choose and he will make mistakes where she will make him choose. But that's later. Bare with me.
All Mercedes could think about was, that she'd had enough of the whole situation with Jamal. She was sick of his little dick and fed up with his baby mama drama. She especially didn't like his attitude when she called him to inform him of the fight. It was time to move on.
After Drew dropped Mercedes off. Jamal came over to make sure everything was cool with Mercedes and, more importantly, to give her the third degree about who the dude was she was talking to all night at the club. She denied everything and did a flip mode on him.
"How can you believe anything that April says? Why would you even approach me with anything that skank had to say? You should know yourself that April is only going to bring lies." She knew that after this whole ordeal she wasn't messing with Jamal anymore. He never meant her any good anyway. All the money wasn't worth all the drama. She just needed a way to get some money from him as her severance pay as well as to throw salt one last time for his trying to be disrespectful towards her husband, Sam. She knew just the plan.
Mercedes knew that Jamal felt awful about the fight, and he should have. She knew he was in the street life. She also suspected that he messed around on her. She felt like if you're going to cheat, at least keep your women in check. Inform them of their place and make them play their position. Taking all this into consideration, she decided to use this to her benefit. He knew that the fight was because of him. He felt guilty because he was still sleeping with April every now and then. He'd explained to April that it could be "no more them," that he was with Mercedes now. He shouldn't have slept with April. He knew that she was going to get out of hand. April just gave the bomb head. This week, especially, oh he spoiled Mercedes! He brought her a 7-carat tennis bracelet and her allowance was tripled. He agreed to go on a 7 day cruise with her. He gave her the money to go pay for it. She didn't because she wasn't going on any cruise with him. She just kept the money.
After all this, she decided she had gotten enough from him. They went to Tyson's Corner Mall. They just put out their new fall line. She knew she was going to be going back to school soon. She shopped early for her school clothes. She figured she'd better get it now. She knew when she left him alone she wasn't going to able to afford shopping sprees in the exquisite boutiques. They actually had a nice day together. All good things must come to an end, huh?
When he dropped her off at her house, she gathered all her bags and told him that she was going in the house to lie down because the Tai food they'd eaten was making her feel nauseated.
The next morning, she changed her phone number to a nonpublished number. She pulled her car into the closed garage, so it appeared that she wasn't home. When she did leave the house, she drove her mother's spare car, a Toyota Camry. When he called on her mother's line, her mother would just say Mercedes wasn't available. He wouldn't dare ask Gina any questions.
After about four days, he realized she really didn't want to mess with him. I can't believe how she just booked up and left me like that. After all the good times , he thought, she let one incident come between us, and I went all out to make it right, not hustling, just straight catering to her that whole week. That cruddy bitch! Then, to put the icing on the cake, his cousin's girlfriend told Jamal she'd seen Mercedes down at the prison, visiting Sam. She described what Mercedes had on from head to toe. It was one of the outfits he had bought her. The gall of her. She had him looking like the laughing stock of Richmond. What was he to do now?
Jamal decided to tell all the hood rats from around the p.j.' s that if any of them saw that bitch, Mercedes, anywhere at all, he didn't care if it was at church on Easter Sunday, he wanted her beat down. He'd pay anybody $ 250.00 to beat her every time they saw her.
It didn't take long for Mercedes to get a whiff of the rumor. One day she was in the beauty parlor, some girls were talking about her and didn't even realize that she was right there. She got her beautician to go over there and ask who and what they were talking about. They let the cat out of the bag.
When she got home, she was so furious with the whole thing. She paced the floor trying to make sense of this matter. She looked at Jamal's picture that she had on her dresser.
Now, enough is enough! I let you get off easy when I just stepped off. Now, you don't appreciate it when a sister walks away! No, you gotta have drama. Well, let the games begin, Mr. Jamal. We'll see who gets the last laugh; He who laughs last, laughs the longest. You just HAAADDDD to take it to another level. Now it's on!
She pulled herself together and paged Jamal. She put 4000 in after her number to make it look like it was somebody trying to spend $4,000. Just as she thought, he called right back.
Mercedes made her voice sound real weak. "Hey, it's me. Sorry I haven't called you. I've been feeling so bad ever since we came back from Tyson's. I've been feeling so weak that I didn't call and give you the new number. I changed it because somehow, April got my number and was playing on my phone. I really need you right now. My doctor's office gave me a sick patient appointment, and I can't drive myself. I need you to come and take me." Of course, Jamal agreed and rushed right over.
Mercedes threw on some sweatpants and sneakers and she kept her hair wrapped up in a doobie. She planned out every single detail. She let him go back in the room with her to see the doctor. They asked her for her urine sample so Mercedes peed in the cup. When they did a pregnancy test, it came back positive. She had gone by her cousin's house, who was pregnant, and got her to pee in a cup with a top. She had the cup in her pocket all along and used her cousin's pee instead of her own. They asked her when her last period was. She told them a date two months before. She reminded them about how irregular her periods were. They told her she was six weeks pregnant, and the doctor prescribed prenatal vitamins.
Jamal was happy, although he had ulterior motives, when he first met her and messed around on her, but now he truly loved her. He wanted to marry her. He even told her to set up some marriage counseling with her pastor, but Mercedes wasn't thinking about marrying him. Jamal was a snake. How could he even think I would dare to even entertain the thought of marrying him after , just earlier today, he had the dogs out looking for me? Am I just supposed to forget about that?
Mercedes knew that Jamal, more than anything, wanted a child with her. He thought that was his way of trapping her and the ultimate revenge on Sam. But really it was her way of imprisoning his mind. He'd never find out the truth. The fact that he truly loved her, just the thought of him knowing that they'd conceived a child together, and she aborted it. It would damage him for sure. Not like a gunshot wound that would eventually heal if nursed right. She wanted real damage. Injury to the heart is the worst kind of bodily harm. Now, if he didn't love her, it wouldn't have had any effect on him, but that wasn't the case.
On the way from the doctor's office she explained to him that having a child right now wouldn't be a good move for her. Mercedes could be very persuasive. She'd always been able to debate and argue her point. So she explained to Jamal while he drove.
"Jamal, I am still trying to complete my schooling and we're not ready for a child. I'm not even legally divorced from Sam, and Sam isn't going to take no divorce papers lightly." She said, even though she knew that she and Sam weren't legally married, but Jamal didn't know that. She continued to assure him.
"We have plenty of time to get married and have a baby. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Do you plan on messing with somebody else?"
As soon as she said that, he consented to the abortion.
"I'm not real good with these type of things, but if you absolutely need me to, I'll go with you." Mercedes paused for full affect.
"Jamal, for real, it's going to be hard enough to do it. I don't need you there making the situation worse. As a matter of fact, I need some time to myself to get my mind right."
Jamal respected her wishes. When he dropped her off he told her he was going to bring the money back. He left and came right back and gave her $3,000. He said it was some extra money in case she might've wanted to go shopping afterwards. He thought it would help her feel better.
She went straight to Cloverleaf Mall, a.k.a. "the ghetto mall of Richmond," and every city has one. Whenever you go to Cloverleaf Mall you are subject to see anybody and run into some of everybody. She ran into this big mouth girl Amy. Now Amy was a gossip box who grew up in the suburbs near Mercedes, but as soon as she got a job, she moved to the city just so she could be closer to the action.
Every town is equipped with three or four Amy's. Amy is the person who knows everything about everybody. She knows who drives what, who has a baby by whom. You don't even have to request a blood test because Amy knows. She knows where everybody works, who's getting money, as well as who's bankrupt. If you need to locate or get a message to someone, she can take care of that too. The only thing she don't know, is how to take her gossiping ass up to Channel 12 and get a job so she can get paid to report the news instead of being a broke bootleg gossip columnist.
Amy was pretty as a little girl, but now she has so many scrapes and scars from being in scuffles about, he said, she said, type mess. All of her bruises have given her "a hard" look, which has added about seven years on to her actual age. Thirty years old, standing 5'5, birthing three children, she still maintains her brick house type shape, and is up on all the trends to hit the fashion scene. Amy's complexion is a walnut shade of brown and she has nice round, full lips. Most of the time when she is out during the day, her hair is wrapped around in a doobie under a scarf to match her outfit. Although she can maintain the upkeep of her hair herself, she is faithfully in the beauty shop every Friday and Saturday to get her hair and nails done. But while she's getting pampered, she's gathering and passing on gossip.
Amy informed Mercedes, "Girl, that dude Drew has been looking all around town for you. He's been trying to locate you. He said he didn't want to show up at your mother's house unannounced." She remembered telling Drew that was her mother's house and she was never there, because she had just met Drew and didn't want him to know exactly where she lived . She thanked Amy for the info and kept it moving.
She also ran into April, Jamalya , and Jamal, looking like a big happy family. Oh, I'm glad to see them out doing a family outing. This is all I need. This is surely a valid excuse to be rid of him. He stopped to talk to her.
"Come here, Mercedes. Let me holler at you for a minute." Mercedes giggled a little with one of those fake laughs. Ohh, he got big balls don't he? He got the nerve to stop and want to carry on a conversation with me when he is with that guttersnipe. I ain't even going to act stupid. Oh, but I'm going to stop and talk to him just to make Ms. April mad. Watch and see. She didn't get upset.
She just stopped and chit chatted with him. Jamalya stood by Jamal holding his leg, smiling.
"Hey Jamalya, you're so cute." Mercedes said, in a goo goo ga ga way.
"Hi, what's yo name?" Jamalya asked, but Jamal cut in.
"This is my good friend, Mercedes." Oh, I'm his good friend now, huh?
"Daddy, that's your girlfriend?" Jamalya asked her father, knowing the score.
"Yeah baby, that's my girlfriend."
April was furious. She looked like a time bomb about to explode. She stared at her watch and sucked her teeth.
"Jamal, come on. Time's up. I thought you just said we was going home to lay up?" April said in her most ghetto-fabulous voice while twitching her neck and placing her hand on her hip. Mercedes acted as if she didn't hear April. Mercedes simply turned to Jamal and asked for some money. He went in his pocket. He pulled out a bankroll. He peeled off four hundreds. She grabbed the bankroll and left him with the four hundreds.
"Big daddy," she whined in her most seductive voice, pissing April off. "Call me when you drop them off alright," and she kept on going, laughing to herself how funny she was.
Before she got in her door good the phone was ringing. It was Jamal and she told him that it was over. There was nothing he could say. Mercedes hung up on him after telling him to never call her again, but those words didn't mean anything. He kept calling, so she simply got her number changed again.
Mercedes called Information and asked for the number and address to "Right Choice Landscaping". The operator gave her the information she needed. Her next phone call was to Vogue Florist. She ordered a dozen sunflowers. The card attached read "Thanks a bunch for being my Superman when I was truly a damsel in distress."
She was sure that some of his homeboys would be hanging out up at his shop. That's usually how it goes. A brother who is trying to go legit still keeps company with dudes from his past. Mercedes's guess was that he might be trying to lay the foundation for the other brothers so they could know that they could do it too. Mercedes Knew as soon as the flowers arrived, the other guys would be hyping it up. She gave them until about 5pm for the flowers to arrive. Just then, her next-door neighbor, Ms. Jackson, called her to inform her that somebody was over by her car. She slipped on her shoes and ran outside. Her first thought that it was April or Jamal. She was wrong it was Drew leaving a note on her car.
He smiled when he made sight of Mercedes and was clearly happy to see her.
"I didn't have any way of getting in contact with you. I knew your mother lived here. I was hoping to catch her outside watering her flowers or doing some type of yard work."
He stared into her eyes and said, "Today must be my lucky day! I have been looking for you ever since I dropped you off. I didn't want to come back here all unannounced at your people's house. Then today, I surprisingly get these sunflowers from you. Nobody has ever sent me flowers". Mercedes already figured that anyway. She just smiled back at Drew and was pleased with herself.
"The guys at the shop couldn't believe it," he continued. Then they exchanged numbers and agreed to see each other the next day. He bent down, kissed her on the cheek and got into his truck. She looked at his work truck and just shook her head as he pulled off.
She immediately ran in the house and called him on his cell phone. "I have to ask," She said laughing, "why do men who are most likely using a business for a front, go get a work truck and have it sitting on 18 inch rims or better. They have their work trucks chromed out." Mercedes mentioned how she'd seen a work truck the other day with TV's in it. "Come on guys, then you wonder how the police know what you're doing?" She went on. He just started laughing. He knew she was sharp.
They went out for brunch the next day at the Jefferson Hotel.
For the next 16 days, he sent her some type of flowers. It had been sixteen days since they first met at the club. He explained, "These are for every day I wanted to bring you flowers and couldn't." Drew wanted to make up for it now. They met at the movies the next day. When she came out of the movies, somebody had spray painted "Bitch" on her car. Another time they met at TGI Fridays for Happy Hour, to have a cocktail after Drew got off work, when they came out, somebody had stolen her tags and colored her inspection sticker and her county sticker black with a marker. He then told her that from now on, he'd drive his car. Mercedes knew that she really had to get a new car. With her car being paid for, she could surely trade it. The value had depreciated so much from all the times it had to be painted from the many times of being vandalized by the playa haters, plus her insurance premium was escalating as high as gas. She felt helpless. She couldn't help but to think.
Shoot! It doesn't make any sense. Why do people who have a problem with a person, always mess with their car? What did the car do to you? Why are you taking it out on the car? Take it out on the person. The car can't fight back. Sabotaging somebody's car is a real cowardly move. What people fail to realize is that when you vandalize somebody's car, nine times out of ten, the person has insurance. And if their car is paid for, then you are probably putting a few extra dollars in their pocket.
After all this drama with Mercedes's car, Drew decided he needed to get her away from all this madness. He decided to take her to the Poconos. They stayed at Caesar's Resorts with a champagne glass Jacuzzi, swimming pool and fireplace in the room. It was truly the getaway she needed.
When she returned from their four-day weekend getaway, she heard that Jamal had raised the stakes up to $500.00, and if somebody broke a bone or made her have a fracture or anything of that nature, it was $750.00. She couldn't believe what was happening all because his heart was broken. Who does he think he is, that he could put a price on my safety?
Throughout the years, Tank, and Mercedes had become very good friends. He was a brother to her. He never got into anything concerning her and Sam. He wanted no parts of it because he knew that they may go through things, but ultimately Sam and Mercedes would always be together. She tried not to involve him in any of her negative situations because she knew that he is a certified tickbird and would overreact.
Tank already had his differences with Jamal before Sam left the street. He found out Mercedes was messing with Jamal; Jamal became a part of Mercedes's life and was her sole provider, and for the most part, she seemed happy with him. So, he spared Jamal for the sake of his sister, Mercedes. But he had carried it to another level now. He didn't like what he was hearing on the streets.
Two days after Mercedes came back from the Pocono's she met Tank for lunch and she was driving Drew's Porsche. He could tell that she was a little shaken up. She told him that she really didn't want to drive it because it was too flashy, but she had no choice. She told him how Jamal was so petty to get April or some female to call the insurance company and cancel the insurance on her car. While the car was parked outside the front of her house, he came and set it on fire. She couldn't get any money for it. It was burnt to a crisp. She explained the whole story to Tank.
"I am not going to worry about it. I'm just going to get me a little hoopty to kick around in, get me from point a to b." She joked, "after all, it's not the car, it's the star driving it." She continued to make jokes. "Now, had I spent one penny of my money in that car besides putting gas in it, oh, I'd be pitching one. He's the stupid one. He should've just taken the car up top to the chop shop. He's the one that lost out because his money gone down the drain. What did I lose? Shoot, I rode all summer at this dude's expense."
Tank wasn't having that. He told her that he was going to help her get a car. Tank tried to keep his cool, but he knew what had to happen. This dude Jamal's life had been spared time after time, like a cat, who only has nine lives he thought to himself. This dude, Jamal was on his last one. One way or the other, Jamal is going to be just like Christopher Columbus History.
A couple of weeks later, the Feds did a sweep in the 643Killa Villa where Jamal hangs at. They picked up twelve people, including all of Jamal's homeboys. All of them got indictments except for Jamal. Now these are the guys who Jamal is with every day, day in and day out. They all hustle and gamble right there around the 643 together. The boys wondered how come Jamal didn't get picked up. It looked suspect to his boys in jail as well as to everybody on the streets. On their warrants it stated that a "confidential informant" was snitching on them. Jamal's drug supplier cut him clean off. He couldn't find anybody to buy any dope from or anyone who would buy any from him. He was slowly going broke. He lived off his stash money, but he pinched off of that because he didn't know exactly when the police was going to come and pick him up. Nobody wanted to be around him. Everyone kept his or her distance.
Jamal started driving to Baltimore to buy dope. They were beating him in the head with those high prices because he was an out of towner. He was going to the Dinwiddie County in the boon docks to hustle, but them country dudes wasn't having it. They kept robbing him. He didn't know what to do. Hustling was all he knew.
He couldn't sleep. He was too paranoid, not knowing when the police was going to come or when dudes was going to kick up in his house and kill him. He was wearing a hard label. The label of a snitch is the worst kind of label. In all actuality, he was locked up, just minus the bars. And for Tank, that was the best get back. With the label of a snitch, he might as well be dead. He's invisible to all the people he once cared about. So he's just dead weight walking around. A label of a snitch is like a tattoo, a mark that one will have for the rest of his life. Once that label is placed on somebody, it is damn near impossible to take it back and fix it.