Made To Be Together

Smile

"Tony's Nephew" August In The MM

La'Shonte

"Girl, let me ask you something?" I looked over at my best friend, Carter, as she spoke. We were sitting in the dressing room at the strip club. She and I had met each other here.

"What's up?" I asked, taking a sip of the drink I held in my hand. I always took a drink before going out on stage, made me less nervous.

"When the hell you gonna get out of this club, girl?" She asked.

I had been thinking about that for a long time. I had been working at this club for the past 6 years. I wasn't keen on working here but I had never been encouraged to do anything else. Kevin had always told me that I should use my body rather than go out and get hurt trying to do something else.

"I don't know, Carter. I'm scared that if I try to go to school or something, it's just gonna be a waste of my time. I don't know what to do." I answered.

Carter looked at me like I was crazy before shaking her head.

"I know you ain't get that dumb shit from nobody but Kevin's stupid ass." She said, making me sigh.

"He's right Carter! What am I gonna do other than this? I know the ins and outs of this shit. Anything else I tried to do would only end in me fucking up." I said.

"Tae, you need to shut that dumb shit up. Look, if your boyfriend that, so called, loves you says some shit like that he probably doesn't love you. Nobody should put down a person that they love. You need to invest in a new man, and that's real." She said, standing up and leaving me by myself in the dressing room.

Carter had always pushed me hard in the direction of leaving Kevin alone. Honestly, I wanted to but I was scared. I didn't know what I was gonna do. Kevin would lose his mind and try to kill me if I tried to leave him. But at the rate we were going, he would kill me if I didn't leave him. I didn't know what to do.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

I finished my set and was on my way to the bar when Kevin walked up to me.

"You did good baby." He said, pulling me close to him.

"Thank you." I said, with a weak smile. I didn't even want him to touch me, but there was nothing that I could do. "Can I talk to you?"

He nodded and we went in the back hall by the private rooms, where it was quieter.

"What's up baby?" He asked.

"Baby, I wanna quit working here." I blurted.

He instantly frowned.

"Why? What's wrong with working here?" He asked.

"I just think that it would be better if I went back to school. I mean, I could be getting an education and then doing something better with myself than shaking my ass for these niggas." I answered. From the look he gave me, I thought he was about to smack me right then and there.

"What the fuck is you talkin' about, Tae? What you too good to work in the club now?" He said.

"No, baby. That's not what I'm saying at all." I said, shaking my head.

"Look, schooling ain't gonna help you. This is the shit that you're used to. You good at this shit. Obviously school ain't for you or you wouldn't have dropped out in the 11th grade to start working here." He said, instantly making me flinch.

Kevin knew that I dropped out of high school because I had gotten pregnant. I was trying to get some money saved before I started to show. I was on my own without any guidance. I didn't know what to do with a baby at 17.

Before I could answer, someone else spoke up.

"You shouldn't talk to your woman like that, dawg." I looked up to see a man coming out of the back room.

"Mind yo business, dude. You ain't got shit to do with how I talk to my bitch." I flinched again. I was scared as hell. I did not need a man to speak up for me. The only thing Kevin would think was that I was fucking the man.

"I'm just lettin' you know. A man should neva' talk to a woman like dat." The man said. I looked up at him and noticed he was staring right at me. The more I looked at him, the more I noticed how gorgeous he was. A little too skinny for my tastes, but the man had the sexiest lips I had ever seen.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kevin replied, approaching the man. He turned and looked at me. "What you fucking this nigga?"

"NO, Kevin! I don't even know him!" I exclaimed. The guy just started laughing.

"I'm Tony's nephew." He answered. Tony was the owner of the club. I had heard about his nephew coming to take over the club, but I did not expect him to look like this.

"Look lil' mama, you can do so much betta'." He said, walking past Kevin. Kevin just stared at him as he walked up to me. I was surprised he didn't pop off on him like he did to me all the time.

"Rememba' to smile for me, pretty lady." He said, walking off. I couldn't help but blush.

I looked over at Kevin and saw hell in his eyes. I knew shit was gonna go down when we got home.