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

socialize. She didn’t want to make friends. She didn’t want anyone knowing about her personal life. That way, no one had anything to hold over her head.

Trix on the other hand was persistence on getting her best friend back despite the rumors that were going around about her. She was changing into a different woman. She was growing on the inside. Literally. 3 weeks prior to her death, Trix had discovered she was pregnant with her first child. Pumpkin remembered those voice mails. “Pumpkin! It’s Trix! I’m pregnant girl!!! I know you hate me, but I can’t believe it! Call me please!” She could hear her voice as if she just listened to that voicemail yesterday. Pumpkin never returned that phone call. Or the 20 other phone calls that followed behind that one. February 18th 5:35 p.m. was the last missed call in her call log from Trix. There were no more calls after that.

Trix was murdered February 19th. The worst day of her life.

Pumpkin remembered getting that phone call from Trix’s mother 12 a.m. that night. She was bawling crying on the other line.

“Somebody shot my babyyyyyyyy! They killed Trix!!!”

Her entire world stopped at that moment. She slipped into a very deep, dark space. Her body was numb, she didn’t react, cry or show emotions. Pumpkin’s body didn’t feel it was real. But it was.

Trix may have been a notorious jacker, but underneath it all she was a good woman. She was genuine and she cared about people. Trix wanted to get out the game for her unborn baby, but she never got the chance.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Pumpkin suddenly cried out. She couldn’t hold it in any longer.

She dropped her face inside her hands, sobbing out loud. She was overwhelmed. The memories were too much. Her past haunted her.

"What the hell Punk?" She felt Kings hand brush her shoulder.

She continued to sob with her face buried in her hands, her shoulders bouncing up and down as she cried.

"Punk, I have never seen you cry. What the hell is up with you, man?" He asked her again.

He was right. It takes a very emotionless woman to not shed a tear in over 16 years. She didn’t cry when her mother died. She didn’t cry when her father got 25 to life. She didn’t cry at Pumpkins funeral. Others thought she was incapable. No one knew she really cried herself to sleep almost every night. Almost every time she was alone. She was depressed. She continued to sob, wiping the tears away from her cheeks not knowing for sure the real reason behind her tears. She had been holding it in for a while. Pumpkin had all the money she could want, but no one to talk to. No one to listen to her. No one to love. She glanced up at King who stared at the tears running down her cheeks in disbelief. Pumpkin never cried in front of anyone. She couldn’t help it. Her tough exterior was breaking down.

"I don’t understand why you’re crying." He continued. "Where is this coming from?" He was confused. She shrugged her shoulders while looking away. Her makeup was probably ruined now. She wiped her eyes as she quickly came to her senses. "I don't know." Pumpkin dropped her head in shame, too embarrassed to look him in the eye. "King, you just don't understand, I got a lot on my mind right now. I'm really starting to think it was a mistake hiring Reese."

He crossed his arms across his chest as he listened to her vent. King shook his head. “Really Pumpkin?”  he smacked his lips. “So this is what this is all about??? Come on now punk. What's the real reason behind you saying this right now?" he questioned her digging for more information. She stared at him for a moment. Pumpkin wanted to tell him her true feelings. She wanted to tell him how much her love from him had grown these last few years. She hesitated knowing he would only resist and she was tired of explaining herself over and over again. "I don't know King, I just don't trust her." she partially began to tell the truth. “I moved way too fast. I wasn’t ready for a new partner. I still haven’t recovered from what happened with Trix."

He continued to stare at her absorbing each word allowing her to speak. As soon as she was finished, he sat forward. "Listen Pumpkin, I need you to understand… This is why I never wanted you to catch feelings for me. I always told you this from the beginning it would complicate things when it comes to business. You always acted like you didn't understand that. Reese is a good girl. You have no reason to dislike her. I think you are just letting your feelings get in the way. As usual"

Pumpkin’s heart weakened. She needed him so badly. She needed him to be on her side right now. Her pain deepened even worse as he took up for Reese and not her. She was devastated. He had given her all the answers she needed.

 Silently she bent down to pick up the duffel bag sitting at her feet. She dried her face, cleaning herself up. "I split all the money evenly.” She spoke emotionlessly. She felt like an idiot for crying but she couldn’t take it back. “You, myself and Reese all have our fair share." She tossed the bag into his lap. The weight fell against his chest. Emotionally, Pumpkin was beginning to shut down and now she just wanted to get the hell out of this truck. "Goodbye King." she reached for the door handle, preparing to exit the car.

"I promise you that baby wasn’t mines Punk."

Pumpkins body froze, her arm halfway extended in midair. Silence filled the truck once again. She sat still. Her body wouldn’t move and had not registered what she just heard. Moments before she could exit, he hit her with a huge curve ball. She could see her reflection through his dark tint, her eyes had widened her jaw slightly hung open. 30 seconds went by. Slowly, she turned her body in the seat to face him. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. There’s no way I’m hearing this correctly.

He never gave her any answers. “I’m not telling you shit Pumpkin! I don’t have to answer to anyone!! She remembered hearing his response after confronting him about it. He was angry with her for asking, eventually she had stopped questioning. But she never forgot. 5 years had passed, and it still weighed heavy on her mind.

Pumpkin removed her hand from the door knob. She was shaken, chills running up her spine. She turned to him. "What did you just say?" she asked, her voice shaking.

He continued "Regardless to what you were told or what you heard Pumpkin… I never slept with Trix. Ever. And her baby wasn’t mines."

Her mind wandered a million miles a minute while she sat stuck in time. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  She looked him deep into his eyes searching for a sign of deception. She saw none.  "I know that." she spoke quietly. She always knew.

 "If you knew that, why did you turn your back on her Pumpkin?" he asked a question that she asked beat herself up about almost every day. She rocked back and forth as her mind revisited her past once again.

“Did yawl see Trix come out of King’s office at 3 in the morning last night???”

“They have been messing around for years!”

“King said he was gonna marry her.”

“I heard King has the best sex ever!”

“I heard she got knocked up.”

“I heard King is the baby father!”

Rumors. Lies. Deception.

She reminisced on those nights hanging out at Guilty Passions night club when it first opened. She frequented the club often for business purposes, accompanied by King and Trix on certain nights. King never liked doing business in the open, which is why over the years, he gradually stopped going to the club. The bitches that hung out around there were thirsty for a story and desperate to get their hands on some juicy information. If they couldn’t find any, they would make up shit. Pumpkin was a fool. She believed it.

She remembered walking pasts as though bitches intentionally gossiped. They spoke loud enough so she could hear. Eavesdropping, her heart fell into her stomach as she caught an ear full. The accusations were extreme. They were believable. Indeed, Trix and King did spend a lot of time together when she was alive. Her frequent visits to his office alone were enough to cause speculation. Pumpkin had her own concerns, but having to hear about it from someone else’s mouth was too much to handle. That was the first time her heart broke. She felt betrayed. Sad and angry with the world. Depressed. At that moment, Trix was dead to her. There was no listening to her side of the story. As far as she was concerned, everything was true + there was no denying it.  She loved King. Trix knew how she felt about him. Pumpkin couldn’t believe her best friend betrayed her. If only she would have listened to her… If only…

"I was hurt King. I didn’t know what to think." She knew she had to answer to somebody someday.

He smacked his lips. "That’s my point exactly Pumpkin. You went off assumptions. I would never fuck your best friend and Trix would have never done you like that either." His gaze burned her skin. She shrinked in existence, feeling like a damn fool. So vulnerable and weak to the man she loved.

 "I know I fucked up." she admitted it to both him and herself. "If I could go back and change things, I would."

"But you can’t." He interrupted. He was no longer taking it easier on her.  King knew Trix was a sensitive subject for her but they could not avoid the issue forever.

"I love you Punk. I always told you that. But I need you to understand, it can’t be like that between us.”

He took a dagger sticking it deep into her heart. She was sick to her stomach. So overcome with emotions, she wanted to vomit.  This pain ran so deep, she didn’t want to feel anymore.

"I give up King." she spoke underneath her breath. Reaching for the door handle, she quickly opened the truck and stepped out without giving him time for a response. She shut the door behind her, closing it in his face. Raindrops trickled on her forehead. Clouds filled the sky. The perfect weather for the perfect mood. She shut her eyes and began to silently pray. She prayed that God would someday wash away her feelings for King. Loving him was painful. He didn’t feel for her the way she felt for him and it tore her up inside. She wanted to love him. Protect him. All he wanted to do was push her away. She refused to cry again.

She headed back towards her Rover. He rolled the window down to speak, "You gone always be my ride or die Punk. You hold a spot in my life no other woman can hold. Don’t you forget that?" She stopped and stared at him for a moment. For a moment, she had hope. Maybe he does love me. Maybe it’s killing him as much as it’s killing me.

Quickly she came to her senses. She knew that was not true.

 Yes, he loved her. King found her sleeping behind a dumpster at 16.  He took her in when no one else would. Kept clothes on her back and food on the table.  He promised her she would never be homeless or hungry. 16 years later, he kept his word. But he didn’t love her the way she wanted him to love her. For years, she believed one day he was going to wake up and realize that she was the one for him. But now, she was slowly coming to the realization that it may