[Alyssa]
Chresanto looks at me, an unreadable expression on his face. "Piper?"
"Yes, Piper, or as you probably know her, Precious," I elaborate, staring at the picture in my hands. In the picture, Chresanto is holding an ivory skinned Piper on his back and both of them are smiling; the only way I know for certain that Piper is in the picture is because she has a mole just under the corner of her mouth and her facial features are identical to how she looks now.
"That's not Piper," Chresanto says.
I kiss my teeth and correct him, "Of course it's Piper. I'd know my own best friend anywhere, Chresanto."
He shakes his head. "That's my cousin... Keeleigh."
"Keeleigh?" I repeat, watching as he nods. "The one who almost got bit by a dog?"
Chresanto nods again, his face contorting into one of hurt; all traces of anger I held towards him are now gone and replaced by sympathy. Then, more anger comes to the surface. How could he not ask me to help him find his cousin... especially if she's my best friend!
"Please, don't say a word about this to her," he pleads, his voice pulling me from my thoughts. "She doesn't know anything, and I want to keep it that way."
"Kind of like how you kept what you really do from me, huh?" I retort, my tone feisty.
Chresanto sighs and says nothing more as he starts the car and begins driving down the road. I give him the directions to where all of Ace's girls stay, but other than that, nothing else is spoken between the two of us.
~•~•~
As soon as I step in the house, I feel a stinging sensation across my cheek. I look up and see a not so pleased Ace glaring down at me.
"The fuck I told yo ugly ass about fuckin' customers with no rubber!?" he roars.
As a tear falls down my cheek, I shakily respond, "I di-didn't." Yes, I lied, but I would never tell him that.
"So, why the fuck I got somebody sayin' different?" He crosses his arms over his chest; I don't respond to his question fast enough, and that upsets him even more. "Bitch, is you deaf or some shit!? I just asked yo stupid ass a question!"
More tears roll down my cheek. I guess I better come clean to him. As I get ready to admit that there's a possibility I might be pregnant, three teenaged girls walk down the stairs. I don't know their names, but one of them steps forward; she has auburn red hair.
"It's me," she speaks up. "I'm pregnant."
Ace spins around and focuses his anger on her. "The fuck did you just say, bitch!?"
"I said I-"
One of her friends with blonde hair to her waist cuts her off. "I'm the one that's pregnant."
"No, I am," the last girl speaks up.
Ace lets out a chuckle before nodding his head. "Okay. Since y'all think y'all gonna play a nigga, I got something for all of y'all." He walks to the edge of the stairs and cups his hands around his mouth. "To every bitch in this muhfucka, bring yo dirty asses down here! Right. Fuckin'. Now!"
