Around the Way Girls 10 Read online

  Sasha was depressed for days and wanted nothing more than to kill herself. But thanks to Trina and a few more inmates convincing her to stay with Mario, at least until she got out and could do things for herself, Sasha kept it together. Countless times she wanted to write her sister back or at least call and explain her actions, but she knew Regina. She knew how hard she was when it came to forgiveness and how stupid she thought she had been for taking the time for Mario in the first place. In light of all the things that had been revealed, how could she say that she and her husband just wanted to be left alone until further notice? Sasha couldn’t bring herself to make that call or write that letter. Instead she said nothing and did nothing. She acted as if Regina, along with her elderly parents, didn’t exist. She reasoned that when she got out of jail she’d make things right with them all.

  * * *

  “You have a call from Sasha, an inmate at the Michigan Department of Corrections. If you feel that this call is harassing in nature or unwanted, please press one. In order to accept calls from an inmate at the Michigan Department of Corrections, press two.”

  Listening to that recording and pressing the number two had become a regular thing in Mario’s life. Trying his hardest to do the right thing by his wife, he smiled when hearing her voice. “Hey, baby, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing much, boo-boo. Just this damn Trina keeps hitting me up for noodles and candy bars every other day. I mean, it’s not like I can’t let her hold some until she get her money, so she claim, it’s just that I know she running game. She ain’t got no peoples or no money coming.”

  “Yeah, well, do what you can. But don’t be letting motherfuckers in there think you soft and they can run over you.”

  “Me, soft? Naw, fuck all that. Never again. Ain’t no bitch on this earth taking shit that belong to me, not even my freedom.”

  Mario noticed with each day that passed that his once shy, quiet wife had turned into a boisterous beast. He knew with the way Sasha spoke and behaved now, he would most definitely have hell on his hands if he even attempted to try to persuade her to take any more time for him. What once would have been easy for him to lie and get away with had become a no-go. She was on him heavy about everything. If she said she was going to call at 1:00 p.m. right after count and he didn’t answer on the first ring, she went ham. When Mario said he was writing her a letter, she had better get it in mail call in the next few days. Sasha was on his head; and the strange part about it was Mario seemed not to mind one bit. He had to finally respect her for standing up to his bad boy ways and outlandish antics. He needed structure in his life and she was giving him that, even if it was long distance from a jail cell.

  “Come on now, calm down, baby doll. You getting all worked up and aggressive for nothing. But on another note, I saw your sister earlier today.”

  “What? Regina? When? What did she say? Did she ask about me?” Sasha fired off question after question waiting anxiously for a reply.

  Mario had mixed feelings about telling his wife about the unplanned encounter because he knew she was caught up in the middle. And it was all because of him. “You know normally the guy who cuts your parents’ grass stops by here and picks up the money, but this morning he said his truck was acting funny and he didn’t think he could make it way across town to our house.”

  “And?”

  “And so I drove over there to give him his bread. No sooner than I pulled up in front of your parents’ house, Regina had pulled up too.”

  “Okay, Mario, and? What happened then? What she say? What you say?”

  “I ain’t say nothing and neither did she. I just stuck my hand out the window and gave ol’ boy his cash. She just mean mugged the fuck outta me until I pulled off. I swear to God she was still setting me on fire with her eyes when I turned the damn corner. When I say your sister hates the shit outta my fucking ass, that’s for real!”

  Sasha was sad. She felt some sort of way. How could she not? Although she knew her and Regina’s relationship would probably never be the same since she had not gotten back to her, Sasha still felt there was chance. Wherever there was love there was still hope. She thought that her older sibling would still put all bullshit aside to ask if she was at least okay and maintaining behind bars, if nothing else. But inmate number 998797 apparently was dead wrong in her thinking. Blood wasn’t thicker than water. Blood was just what it was: blood. Nothing more and nothing less.

  * * *

  Mario was exhausted. Not only had he done a lot of work in and around the house, he had been having phone sex with his wife the better half of the day. Just because he didn’t actually have her there in person to touch, hold, and bang didn’t mean he wasn’t just as tired beating his meat until it exploded.

  Needing to make a trip to Walmart, he felt as if the SUV had a mind of its own and was steering itself. With one task at hand, Mario slowly strolled up to the customer service counter. Just like all the multiple times prior, he added funds to Sasha’s JPay account. All the calls she was making were adding up. Mario knew for a fact he’d put more than $400 on her books in the last three weeks. With his receipt in hand, he turned to leave and was suddenly face to face with none other than Angie V. Even though he knew she worked there, he was still shocked to see her. Mario, however, didn’t say a word. He just stood there. After a few brief moments of silence, she was the one who finally broke the ice.

  “Oh, hey, Mario.”

  “Hey, girl, what’s good with you?”

  Having seen him come and go, Angie V had been ashamed for weeks to run into Mario. After what had taken place between the two, she felt he would look at her as if she was no more than a piece of trash. “I’m okay, I guess. I’ve been wanting to call you to say thank for what you did for me that day; but I didn’t know if it was all right to call.”

  Feeling guilty for the first time in history for fucking behind his wife’s back, Mario stuffed the JPay receipt in his pocket as if Sasha could magically hear what was being said through the paper. “Naw, it’s all good. It wasn’t no thang. I was glad to be able to help. Everybody needs somebody sometime or another, even if it’s just to talk.” He couldn’t help but have a flashback to his mother, whom he’d been thinking a lot about since he and Angie V hooked up.

  Angie V was relieved Mario didn’t judge her or the freaky circumstances that originally brought them together. Through standing there talking, she also noticed something different from before about Mario’s demeanor. He seemed much more settled and more laidback. His bad boy swag status was now more that of a grown-ass man. “Thanks for being so cool about it. You think I could give you my number and maybe we could talk sometime?”

  Mario didn’t refuse. Immediately, he pulled his cell out his back pocket. As she called out her number, he punched in the digits and locked it in. Exchanging a few more words, Mario knew he had to get back to the SUV and head home because Sasha was going to be calling him after the last count for the night was over. When he left through the door, Mario had no idea whatsoever that he had been spotted the very moment he walked through the front door of the store and watched like a hawk until the time he’d left.

  “Look at this sneaky-ass bum, all up in Walmart trying to mack bitches.” Kat was furious as she hissed under her breath so no one else could hear. “And check out this mixed-breed thirsty tramp all on his trail like he ain’t married to my best friend. I should just run up and sock the ho dead in the jaw.” Like Regina, she had had no contact with Sasha either, but that was still her road dawg and best friend.

  This was the first time in weeks anyone had seen Mario out and about. Although he was not officially hiding, he was trying his hardest to make shit right with his wife. He knew the streets were a major distraction and so were females, especially Angie V. Yet he took her number just the same.

  Kat couldn’t wait to tell Regina who she’d just seen and what he had done. But just her luck, the free minutes on the last cell she had that had not expired didn’t flip ove
r until midnight. So snitching on Sasha’s husband would have to temporarily wait. In the meantime, though, Kat pretended like she needed assistance finding an item so Angie V could help her. Striking up general conversation, Kat looked at her name tag: ANGELA. She also discovered the whore had three kids and no man at home. If this thing thinks she gonna get my girl’s husband to be her kids’ new daddy, she straight up fried in the brain.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “‘Mr. Mario Eubanks, after careful consideration of your application dated July 12, 2016, to visit Sasha Lachelle Eubanks, inmate number 998797, unfortunately at this time we cannot grant your request. As you are currently a felon registered to be on parole and under the jurisdiction of the State of Michigan Department of Corrections until September 15, 2016, we find it to be against our general code of conduct. After the terms of your parole are completed and all monies due to the State of Michigan are satisfied, we will accept and review any new applications to visit Sasha Lachelle Eubanks, inmate 998797.’”

  “That’s some bullshit! I hate these sons of bitches!” Sasha was livid after listening to Mario read the denied request for him to come and see her. It was hard enough being away from family and friends, but now the warden had shot down any chance she had of seeing her husband. They had both written letters as Mario’s parole officer had instructed them to do. Yet, as luck would have it, they crapped out. The only thing they could do was, as the letter stated, try again in a few months when he got off paper. There was no guarantee that application would be approved, but it was the only hope they had of a face-to-face reunion before Sasha was released.

  “Just stay calm. They love to push a nigga’s buttons up in there so they can write your ass a ticket and hold your black ass longer.”

  “Look, Mario, for real I’m not going to let this get me down, I swear I’m not. I’m about to get off this phone with you, go in the dayroom, and play checkers. I’m good.”

  Mario had wanted to see Sasha just as bad as she wanted to see him, but he was used to being in jail and isolated from people. She was a rookie to the act of jailing it. Now that Sasha had decided to give him a break, he welcomed a calm peace of mind. Dealing with her on a daily basis was starting to take a toll on him mentally.

  Having not been out to the cemetery in years, Mario had the strong urge to visit his mother’s gravesite. After taking a quick shower, he got dressed. Making sure he brought the garbage can back from the curb, he jumped in the SUV and sped off. After making one stop at the florist, Mario was finally on his way to make the cross-town, somber drive to what people in the city of Detroit called the welfare cemetery.

  Driving through the entrance, Mario automatically busted out crying. It was if he couldn’t control the tears. Overcome with emotion, twenty minutes or so later he got himself all the way back right. Getting out of the SUV, the warmness of the late evening sun hit his face as he walked to the cemetery office. It had been a long time since he’d been out here and he needed to know the ID marker number to locate his mother’s grave. Unlike most cemeteries that had tombstones, fancy headstones, and marble benches, the welfare facility for the most part had small ground-mounted oval shapes of thick tin that had numbers embedded in them. If a person buried there was blessed enough to have anything other than that, it was because some agency, church, or group had taken up a collection way after the burial.

  Told his mother’s ID number was B-107, Mario was then pointed toward that secluded area and informed to start looking to the right of the huge oak tree.

  “And by the way, son,” the caretaker warned as Mario left through the door, “I just want to let you know it’s been some time since I’ve been able to get around that way and take care of the grass and whatnot. So you may see more than a few weeds over in section B, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of it before long. We’re just shorthanded.”

  Mario left his SUV where it was. Although there seemed to be a small road that could take him to the far other side of the place where his mother was, it seemed too narrow for the SUV to get through. Cutting through what was once an already makeshift trail, he labored across the tall grass growing wild. Once near the tree that was mentioned as a landmark point, Mario started looking down but, as he was warned, the weeds covered the majority of the graves and their allotted numbers. There was no choice if he wanted to find 107; he would have to practically get on his knees and pull the weeds. Without hesitation, Mario did just that.

  “102, 103, 106, 107,” he counted out loud until seeing the number he was searching for. “Mama, I miss you so much.” The distraught son started crying once more while cleaning the marker all the way off.

  As he sat there in meditation, Mario was interrupted by the sound of someone else trampling across the grass. When he looked up, he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Bitch, what in the fuck is your ass doing here?”

  “It’s a free country, boy. I can come and go as I please, not like Sasha’s dumb ass that’s on lockdown thanks to you.”

  “Are you following me or something? Why is you even here? Damn!”

  “Like I said, it’s a free country. And if you don’t like me being here seeing what your sneaky ass is up to then make me leave. Matter of fact, why don’t you go and get that bitch Angela with three kids who work at Walmart to help you make me leave? How about that bullshit? Do that, playboy!”

  Mario was heated. He couldn’t believe the out-cold over-the-top nerve of this female. Not only had she apparently been stalking him to some degree to know anything about Angie V, here he was posted at his mother’s gravesite and this lunatic good-hating-ass ho popped up out of nowhere.

  Infuriated, Mario stood. Leaning over, he knocked a bit of dirt off his knee area. He attempted to get it together, but he could not. The left side of his head near his temple was pounding. The veins in his forehead could surely be seen. It was beginning to feel as if a set of hands from were reaching up out of a grave and strangling him. Mario was beside himself. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he felt an overwhelming urge to punch this tramp in the throat.

  Focusing in on Kat’s smug expression, he felt a rage come over him. He’d only felt this feeling once before in his entire life. It was the same anger, resentment, and desire to do great bodily harm to someone he’d experienced when finding out his mother had been murdered. Now, ironically standing near his mother’s grave, he wanted to give Kat the same fate she had succumbed to: death.

  Taking a few steps toward his wife’s best friend, Mario had blood in his eyes. “I swear to God I’m tired of you always being all up in my business, in Sasha business, and everything else. Now why is you following me?”

  “Boy, I wasn’t following your stupid ass. My peoples live right across the street from this raggedy-ass son of a bitch and I saw my best friend SUV drive in. So, yeah, I’m gonna see where my best friend SUV was going.” Kat was no fool, taking two steps back for her own safety as she talked cash hot fire shit. Right away, she sensed and visually saw that Mario was minutes, probably seconds, away from snapping. It was written all over his face. However, when it came down to it she didn’t care. She had wanted to do battle with him for years. The fact that he looked out for her back at the park that day meant absolutely nothing to Kat. She, just like Mario, had her own self-destructive, paranoid demons lurking that made her behave the way she did.

  Mario was emotionally drained. He was fed up. He was finished with listening to Kat always having something to say about her best friend. Now it was going to be his time to talk and Sasha’s best friend was going to hear him loud and clear. “Okay, bitch, you wanna just keep coming at me over and over again like I’m some sort of lame!”

  “You is a lame, with your punk ass,” she continued to taunt him, not believing that fat meat was greasy.

  Mario lunged at Kat, yanking her by her shirt. She struggled and squirmed trying to get away from his strong grip, but couldn’t. Mario didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. Balling up his fist, he then brought his
arm back and smiled. Before Kat knew what was happening next, his fist had made direct contact with her jaw. She was rattled for sure, but still up on her feet thanks to him holding her shirt. Now using his open hand, Mario slapped her around a few good times before letting her go. Kat was semi-delirious, but she was a trooper at best. The side of her face was swelling and had turned a dark shade of red, showing through her dark, rich chocolate skin.

  “Why in the hell is you always on a nigga worried about what I’m doing and what the fuck me and my wife doing? Why, bitch? What’s your damn problem?” Mario ran back up on her ready to fight even more. Kat tried her best to stand tall, but she was starting to be weak. The blows Mario had put on her were crucial. He yanked Kat up toward him and their bodies were now pressed against each other’s. “Why won’t you stop? What’s your damn problem with me?”

  Mario and Kat both stopped. There was a strange vibe between them, one that neither one of them could or wanted to explain. Next thing, the two sworn enemies were embraced in a deep, passionate kiss. That kiss led to them groping and their hands searching each other’s private parts. Mario wanted to stop, but couldn’t. Kat tried to pull away but the throbbing in between her legs wouldn’t allow it to happen. The unlikely pair was stuck doing what they both knew was wrong and would hurt Sasha if she ever found out.

  As they fell to the ground, Kat landed on top of Mario. She could feel the hard, strong print of his manhood fighting to get out of his blue jeans. It all made sense to her. Kat now knew why Sasha and the rest of the females he was messing around with were so in love with him. Mario had been blessed with a big dick. Wanting to see what it felt like, Kat helped him unzip his pants and reveal his big-headed gift from God. As she started sucking and licking the pole, Mario’s hand found its way down her shorts, fingers moving her panties to the side and exploring her cat. The raw freak feelings were quickly escalating to be too much to hold back.