When A Woman Hustles, Danielle Martin [books to read in your 20s .TXT] 📗

open. "What the fuck??" Her hair sat a scrambled mess on the top of her head as she came face to face with Jayla, who stood at the door with an evil look plastered on her face. She was dressed in her nurse scrubs which meant she had just arrived home from her overnight shift at the hospital. "What’s up??" Reese asked. 
Jayla glared at her. "What the fuck I tell you Reese? What I tell you about bringing that girls money in my house?"
Reese shot her a crazy look, "What the hell are you talking about??" She questioned her.
"What am I talking about??" Jayla repeated her. Digging in to her back pocket, she retrieved a stack of 100 dollar bills. Drawing her hand back, she tossed the wad of cash directly into her face, the paper swiping Reese across the lips as it fell on the floor. Shit. Jayla must have found the money she left hidden in the detergent box in the laundry room. Reese was really crap at hiding things and was not surprised to find out that Jayla had located her stash. 
"Don’t worry, it’s all there. I don’t want not one red dime!" She glared. Reese crossed her arms across her chest. She couldn’t figure out what the hell Jayla’s problem was. She felt extremely disrespected by the fact this girl really threw money in her face, but she decided against acting out and pushed that thought into the back of her mind. "What’s your problem Jayla?" Reese asked calmly, really wanting to know the answer.
"You know what my problem is!" She shouted back. "All you do is think about yourself! I told you I didn’t want that drug money in my fucking house."
Reese rolled her eyes. Jayla walked around this bitch like she owned everything and everyone who stepped foot through that door, which was not the case. "It ain’t no drug money, Jayla. You don’t even know what the fuck you’re talking about."
Jayla stepped even closer, preparing to challenge her. "I don’t give a damn what kind of money it is. Its dirty money Reese! And I told your stupid ass, but you still brought it in here and tried to hide it like I wouldn’t find out!"
Reese took a deep breath. Her patience was wearing extremely thin. For the longest, she held her tongue and kept her mouth shut, allowing Jayla to talk to her any type of way and treat her as if she was a child. At this moment, Reese didn’t need her money anymore nor did she have to suck up or kiss her ass. She wanted nothing more than to snap and tell this chick to remove her head from out of her ass, but she decided against cussing her the fuck out. "Listen why do you care what I do for money???” she questioned. “What does it matter to you???"
Jayla glared, her expression turning cold. "Honey, it matters to me because you are putting me in DANGER! Can’t you fucking see that??? What you think is gonna happen if niggas find out you got all this money???? Do you forget we live in Baltimore?? Niggas will rob you for everything you got!" 
Reese wanted to laugh in her face, but she didn’t knowing it would only escalate the situation. Jayla had no idea what she was talking about and she was sick of her thinking she was a miss know it all... Reese leaned against the door frame. "I'm good Jayla. I don’t need a mother okay? Last time I checked, I never had one so I don’t need you pretending to be her now." Reese glared. At times, she felt people like Jayla took advantage of the fact that she had never had a relationship with her mom. Quite frankly, her mama was a prostitute hoe and she never knew who her real father was. Reese didn’t have that leadership role in her life, which is the reason why she let folks boss her around and talk to her any way they wanted. But not anymore.

 "I'm not your mama???" Jayla repeated, taken back by her response.
"That’s what I said." Reese responded firmly. She was tired of Jayla pretending she was the boss and it was time she put her foot down.
"Okay fine." Jayla backed up. "You don’t want to hear what I got to say?? You can GET THE FUCK OUT THEN!" She shouted the words loudly, the veins popping out of her neck. Reese's jaw dropped open as she made sure she heard that correctly. "Excuse me???" She asked, shocked that Jayla was taking it this far.
"You heard what I said!” Jayla spat at her. “I refuse to let you put me in danger! You need to get all your shit and you need to move the fuck out!"
Reese stepped forward, clenching her fist to her side preventing herself from swinging on this bitch. It was too early for this and Jayla was really pushing her buttons right now.

"You want me to move out???" Reese repeated her. "Jayla you got me fucked up! This is my house too you can’t kick me out!"

Jayla glared, waving her finger inches away from her face. "This isn’t your house Clareese. Your name aint on this lease boo."

Reese cut her with her eyes. "So you gonna kick me out? You’re a fucking joke." Reese dismissed her, using her hand to wave her away. "I'll get all my stuff out by the end of the day. Don’t worry about me."

Jayla stood there in silence for a moment, still glaring with her arms crossed on her chest. "All I ever did was try to help you Reese. I tried to motivate you to do better. Do you know how many times I tried to get you a job at that hospital but you never wanted to get up and go to an interview? And you always claimed you was broke and couldn’t find a job. No, you were lazy as shit and you wanted to have everything handed to you. I guess you got what you wanted right???"

Reese walked over to her closet, listening to Jayla ramble in the background. This girl sounded like a mosquito in her ear and she wanted nothing more than for this bitch to disappear. She was sick and tired of her nagging and low-key grateful she finally got the push to move the hell out and get on with her life. She stood on her tippy toes to grab a tank top from the closet shelf. She whipped it over her head as Jayla’s rambling voice faded in the background. Her mind wandered as she began to think about the fact that she always lived with someone or had a roommate and never got the chance to live on her own. This was her moment. She had to take advantage of it. "Jayla." Reese turned towards her. "I don’t have no bad blood with you. You can turn this into beef if you want to. But I’m not gonna let you make me feel bad for hustling and making sure that I eat. It don’t matter how I get my money. It’s none of your business unless I say it’s your business, so you're going to have to take that or leave that. I really don’t give a shit at this point."

Reese grabbed her bag which sat next to her bad. She started feeling cooped up in this room and she didn’t like the way Jayla was surrounding her, invading her personal space. She only wore sweatpants and a tank top but she decided she would pick up something to wear later. Right now she just had to get out of here. She dropped to her feet and began to scoop up the one hundred dollar bills that were spread across the floor. She only had about $8,000 left which was not a lot considering she had over $25,000 two days ago. She wanted to knock herself upside the head as she remembered that $5000 dress.  No wonder her money was dwindling down.

Digging into her back pocket, Reese retrieved her cellphone. Standing to her feet, she unlocked the screen, scrolling through her contacts and dialing Pumpkins number. The line rang one time before she picked up. Pumpkin usually picked up her phone quickly.

"What’s up?" She answered.

"Hey Pumpkin. I got a code red. Can you help me out?" Reese intentionally made the phone call so Jayla could hear the conversation. She glanced up to see her expression. Jayla appeared bewildered as she stood in the door frame. “That’s just sad!” she hissed at her.  Pumpkin grabbed her car keys off the dresser desperate to make an escape. Jayla blocked the doorframe. "That girl is going to get you in some serious trouble. I promise you that." Reese ignored her threats as she brushed past her. She headed out the door and down the hallway. Jayla followed closely behind to see her out. Reese reached the front door, slipping on a pair of flip flops that sat next to the welcome mat.

"What’s going on Reese? Are you safe?" Pumpkin asked on the other line in a stern but concerned tone.

"Yep. Just need you to make a few connects for me. I know you got them." Reese spoke into the phone then pulled it away from her ear to speak to Jayla. "Oh yeah and this lease may be in your name. But the lights aint so have fun in the dark tonight." Reese smirked. She wasn’t really going to turn the lights off but if this bitch ever tried her again she would make good on her promise. Reese pranced out onto the porch, making sure to take her house key with her so this girl couldn’t lock her out when she came back to get her stuff. Jayla stepped off the porch after her but didn’t dare to follow her down the driveway. Again, Jayla’s mouth dropped open as she watched Reese sashay down the driveway, click the lock to her candy red infinity and walk around the car to the driver’s side door. Although the Infinity was parked directly in front of the apartment, this was Jayla’s first time seeing it. Reese did a good job hiding it and still kept her Honda Civic in the front yard to throw it off. "That’s a fucking sad, Reese." She shouted across the yard. "You better be safe out here girl. I’m real scared for you".

Reese ignored her. She was glad to finally get out of here. This apartment reminded her too much of her struggle. That was her past that now and ready to move on. Opening the door, she threw her bag into the passenger seat and pressed the phone back to her ear. She shut the door to make sure Jayla couldn’t hear the rest of her conversation. "My bad Pumpkin, I didn’t mean to call you like this but this bitch just kicked me out. I need somewhere to go."

Silence spread across the phone as Pumpkin went silent. Reese nervously fidgeted with her fingernails, hoping she wasn’t asking for too much, but she didn’t know what else to do. She heard Pumpkin sigh on the other end before she came back to the phone. "I'm going to call King. I will call you right back."

 

Chapter 10