Loving Angel (21 page)

“
I’m sorry for my wife’s behavior,” my dad apologized. “Please sit Tyga; I’m sure she doesn’t have any other comments this evening. Do you sweetheart?” She didn’t dignify him with an answer, she just continue eating her food. I would have loved to understand what my dad said to shut her up. I pulled Tyga by the hand and he re-sat but he wasn’t too happy about it.

“
As soon as you’re done eating I’m ready to fucking go,” he whispered in my ear furiously. I knew his anger was directed at my step-mother.

“
Ok,” I nodded.

As soon as the meal ended we gathered the gifts my dad insisted we take and said our goodbyes. Rosario and Maria
were happy to see us leave, and we were more than happy to oblige. We drove back to our hotel in silence and then crawled into bed together.

“
You woke up this morning so excited and now they fucked your mood,” Tyga complained. He was lying behind me rubbing on my belly.

“
Why did I think for one second that I could spend such an important holiday with people who obviously hate me?”

He sighed.
“That’s how it is with some family members Sexy. They keep fucking you over and over again and you keep forgiving them, until one day you realize you’ve given them all you can and you’re able to move on.”

“
Is that how you feel about your brother?” I turned in his arms so I could look into his eyes.

“
I guess.”

“
I’m just happy we’re heading home tomorrow. Can you imagine I was actually happy to come down here and leave all my troubles behind? Now I’m just happy to be going home and leaving these horrible people behind.”

“
We also had some good times here and your father isn’t so bad,” he pointed out.

I
’d give him that; I’ll admit we had a good time minus the vipers, but there is absolutely no place like home. And I couldn’t wait to get back to mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ANGEL

Two days after I got back from Miami I stopped by Mina
’s apartment. I had being calling her with no answer since I returned to NY and was starting to become worried. I used my keys, which I didn’t return to her when I moved, to open the front door and the first thing that hit me when I entered was the scent. It smelt as though she hadn’t taken out her garbage in days. I flipped on the light switch in the living room and was greeted by a total disaster. Food wrappers, empty bottles and clothes everywhere. I made my way to the bedroom and it was a similar scene except for Mina lying in the middle of the rumpled unmade bed.

“
Mina,” I shook her by the shoulder. She mumbled something incoherent and rolled over. “Mina!” This time I was a lot louder and I slapped her mildly on the cheek.

“
I’m trying to sleep,” she grumbled. Holy morning breath, her mouth stank like a garbage dumpster.

“
Mina wake up!” I ordered.

She lifted her head, swiping hair from her face and squinted up at me.
“What do you want Angel?”

“
Why aren’t you answering my calls?” There I was worrying something might have happened to her when she had obviously been spending her time partying and sleeping off her hangovers.

“
You woke me to ask me that?” Her voice was filled with anger and disbelief. “I’ve got a fucking head ache the size of a freaking continent here Angel. Why don’t you let me sleep and come back later and while you’re at it, turn the damn light off, it’s only making my head hurt worse.”

“
Maybe if you didn’t drink so much your damn head would hurt a lot less,” I shot back. I went to the window and pulled the curtains away and opened the blinds, letting more light in. She obviously needed to become reacquainted with a mop and a broom; her apartment looked more of a disaster in the sunlight. “Get the fuck out of bed and go take a shower!”

“
What the fuck!” she shouted. “You can’t come up in here telling me what to do.”

She was pissed but I was even more pissed.
“Just watch and see.” I pulled the sheets off her and threw them on the floor. She glared at me and I responded with a smirk letting her know I wasn’t going anywhere. After a final heated look she stalked off to the bathroom slamming the door behind her.

I ignored her te
mper tantrum and started cleaning. I filled three garbage bags with the trash from the apartment and gathered her dirty clothes from all over and started a load of laundry.

I was washing the dishes when she walked into the kitchen. I knew she stank before but damn if her shower didn
’t take a lot longer than needed.

“
I’m a grown ass woman Angel, you can’t come up in here trying to run me.” She plopped down on one of the kitchen chairs.

“
If you’re so damn grown, why don’t you start acting like it?” I was tired of her and her bullshit causing me stress all the time. “All this drinking and partying and fighting over a stupid nigga is so teenage angst you disgust me.”

“
If I disgust you so much why the fuck are you here?” she riled, throwing up her hands in exasperations.

“
Because you’re my mother and I love you,” I shouted at her. “Even though sometimes I wish I didn’t,” I whispered so softly she didn’t hear.

It took me three hours to completely clean her apartment. When I was done there were five bags of garbage and I had a major back ache. Mina spent the entire time I was cleaning sleeping in my old bedroom. It was the onl
y room in the apartment that she didn’t get filthy.

I was packing away her laundry in her draws when I came across a small baggy containing some white powder. I may not know a lot, but something told me it was cocaine.

“What the fuck is this?” I flew into my old bedroom, stuck the baggy in Mina’s face while I screamed at her.

She rolled her eyes.
“What does it look like to you?” her tone was very sarcastic. “It’s not like I’m doing that shit every day. I use it occasionally, so sue me.”

“
Coke Mina? You’ll fuck up your life watch; and all because you lost a baby and your man is running around on you. You think you’re the first woman to lose a fucking baby? Women lose them every day, some women can’t even have them and you don’t see them acting like you,” I was shouting at her as tears streamed down my face.  “You think you’re the first bitch with man problems; every bitch has those so you aren’t first on that frontier either.”

She
rose in anger and slapped me causing a shocked gasp to escape both our mouths. She had never put her hands on me before even when I was a kid and behaving badly. “Oh Angel, I’m sorry.” Tears started running down her cheeks.

“
It’s ok Mina,” I soothed, taking her into my arms, because I knew she hadn’t meant to hit me. “We’ll get through this, you’ll see. I’m here for you.”

“
I’m such a disappointment as a mother; no wonder my baby died,” she sobbed.

“
Don’t you ever say that again,” I warned her as I held her face in the palms of my hands and looked her directly in the eyes so she could see the truth in mine. “You would have been a great mother to my sister. You were young when you had me, so you were allowed your mistakes. You may not have been the perfect mother, but you were there for me when it counted.”

She nodded and wiped at her eyes.
“Thanks Angel, for everything.”

“
You’re welcome. Now get some rest, you really need it, you look like hell warmed over.” We both chuckled. “I’m gonna finish putting away your laundry and then I’ll cook you something for when you wake.”

“
I really couldn’t have been too bad of a parent if you turned out so great,” she said pensively.

“
I guess not,” I smiled. “And Mina, like it or not, you’re going to get some professional help.”

“
Yes mother,” she joked as she lay back in bed.

I turned off her light and closed the door. After I finished her laundry, I
threw together some chicken with vegetables and potatoes in a baking tin, popped it in the oven and set the timer. I was feeling so tired after all the cleaning, so I decided to take a nap on the couch.

A hand massaging its way up my thigh woke me from my sleep.

“Bay,” I moaned, thinking it was Tyga because I was still disoriented from sleep. Then it suddenly occurred to me I was at Mina’s house and therefore my bay couldn’t be there. I shot up in the sofa and glared at my tormentor. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“
Waking you,” Boss smirked.

“
By trying to put your hand under my dress,” I accused angrily.

“
Calm down, I don’t think stress is good for the baby. Just ask your mother.” I tried to slap him but he grabbed my hand.

“
Let.Me.Go,” I gritted through clenched teeth. I was beyond furious.

He smiled.
“The next time you try hitting me you won’t like what I’m going to do.” He kissed my palm before returning my hand to me. I wiped it on my clothes, talk about major gross.

I went to t
he kitchen to check on dinner and put some distance between me and the asshole, but he was right on my heels.

“
Why don’t you stop following me around you fucking pervert,” I snapped giving him a disgusted look. He was really starting to creep me out more than he normally did.

Boss laughed
. “Why am I a pervert?” I could see he was having fun messing with me and making me feel uncomfortable.

I gave him a look of disbelief.
“Let’s see, trying to get in the pants of your girlfriend’s daughter sounds perverse to me.”

He laughed even harder.
“I’d be a pervert if I didn’t want to fuck you since every nigga with eyes want to.”

“
So you finally admit it. You do want to fuck me. You’re disgusting.”

“
I do,” he conceded, standing way too close to me. I backed up and he followed me until my back was pressed against the kitchen counter. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I do want to fuck you and someday I will. That’s a promise.”

“
What’s going on here?” Mina demanded from the kitchen doorway.

Boss stepped away from me abruptly.
“Nothing,” he said, while I said, “Your man is hitting on me,” at the same time.

“
I’m not standing for her constant accusations anymore,” Boss spat. He was a consummate actor; if I didn’t know better I would have believed his air of indignation. “Every time I come here she thinks I want to fuck her. I can’t even talk to her without getting accused. I’m going to stop coming here if I have to deal with this.” He started for the door.

“
Boss, wait,” Mina pleaded, running after him.

“
Are you fucking serious,” I fumed, following her. “The mother fucker was just telling me he wants to fuck me and you’re running after him.”

She ignored me and grabbed onto his arm.
“Don’t leave.”

“
I should stay and let your daughter accuse me some more?” he seethed, pulling his arm from her grasp.

“
I’m sure Angel is ready to go home now,” she suggested.

I looked at her like she had damn gone and lost her mind.
“You’re kicking me out for him; this loser who treats you like shit and keeps trying to fuck your own daughter?”

“
I’m not kicking you out. I’m sure you were leaving anyway, because it’s getting late,” she placated. “And you know you’re always misunderstanding things with Boss because you don’t like him.”

I threw up my hands in defeat. Why bother trying to talk sense into her anyway, he had her wrapped around his little finger.

“Thanks for believing in me babe.” He pulled her into his arms and smirked at me over her head.

I glared at him, grabbed my bag and walked through the
front door. I decided I wouldn’t stop by Mina’s apartment again. I wouldn’t turn my back on her, because she was my mother and I loved her despite the fact that she was a fucking idiot, but I obviously wasn’t safe from her boyfriend’s lecherous advances and I wasn’t going to put myself in the position for him to carry out his threats.

When I got home Tyga
wasn’t there. I called him on his phone and he didn’t answer. Typical man, when I needed him for something important he wasn’t around. No, that wasn’t true. He’d always being there for me, but I just felt so angry and frustrated with the entire Mina/Boss situation and was displacing my anger on someone else, namely my bay. I decided to do my own laundry to get rid of some of my angry energy. Imagine I’d gone to someone else’s house to do their chores when I had more than my fair share. I was sorting our dirty laundry by going through the pockets to ensure they were empty and arranging them into those I was going to wash and those that needed to go to the cleaners when I came across a receipt for condoms in one of Tyga’s jeans pockets. The receipt dated two weeks earlier. Why would someone who was supposed to be in a monogamous relationship in which he didn’t use protection need a pack of condoms?