Nobody Can Love You Like Them Roughnecks Do Read online

  My eyes followed Five-Star as he walked up on Logic, dapping him up and cheesing too widely.

  Five-Star and I had a very strained relationship. When he offered to keep my life afloat if I still fucked with him, I accepted, but it only lasted for two long ass months. After that, I couldn’t do it anymore, and I didn’t care about what he could buy me nor how well he could take care of me. I was a twenty-year-old fool in love, but I quickly matured. If only I’d known how he’d respond.

  He didn’t take back any gifts, but he let everyone who would listen know that six-month pregnant Blaise had lured him from Tahani and trapped him with a baby. I was baffled by how quickly people believed this, considering I’d been with him, sort of, for the majority of my pregnancy. But I guess because we weren’t exactly flashy with our relationship prior, it was easy to conclude that I was just some jump off.

  Five-Star made it sound as if I was some fuck buddy he’d knocked up, when really, we were in a relationship, with him telling me he loved me and everything. People in the industry knew of his lies because they’d seen me on his arm plenty of times, but all these spectators and fans of gossip on social media, ate up everything he said.

  I was miserable for about three weeks, during all of this, then one morning, I woke up and decided I was going to be strong for my baby that was coming. I also decided that I would do exactly what Five-Star claimed I’d done to him; I was no longer giving my heart to niggas, and the only men that would even get any of my time would have to have a lot of paper.

  Since Five-Star, I’d dated two other guys; NBA player Evan Davis who was a starter, and this rapper named VIP; both balling, and both threw me money.

  My man now, Merlin Patrick, was the CEO of an indie record label and management company named Superior Recordings, or just Superior for short. Yeah, it was indie and, yeah, he only had three artists, but they were big ass artists who’d been dropping nothing but hits for the past two years.

  Merlin had a lot of women after him, was rich as hell, and to be honest, the latter was why I was attracted to him. His looks were subpar, but his pockets made up for that. He treated me just as good as Five-Star used to but even better in certain areas. I honestly felt like I’d struck gold by bagging him, and every bitch agreed. A lot of my peers, hating ass females, were definitely a little jealous.

  I met Merlin just by being in the entertainment industry. I was introduced to a lot of people while dating Five-Star, so I still got invited to places and hung out with some connected people even after our nasty breakup. I somehow caught Merlin’s attention when he saw me somewhere, so he slid into my DM’s on social media.

  Five hated it when I got with Merlin about eight months ago, and it was so annoying seeing him act out all over the Internet and drag my name through the mud yet again.

  I tried to stay as low-key as possible when it came to the media, but with a ridiculous ex and nosy social media, it was a bit hard. I absolutely never responded to Five-Star’s rude comments about me though; I just acted as if nothing was happening, continuing to build my brand.

  “Blaise, can we talk?” The P.A. from earlier came up to me at the refreshment table.

  “Yes, sure.” I smiled.

  Her eyes darted around for a moment before she said, “Today isn’t going to work out with you.”

  “Why? I thought I was doing well so far. I can take criticism, so if there is something I need to fix then—”

  “No, no. You’ll be paid for the time spent here so far, but you can go now.” She turned on her heels and walked her flat ass off, adjusting her headset.

  For a moment, I just stared at her back, blinking repeatedly so that tears wouldn’t fall from my eyes. I knew exactly why this had happened because it was nothing new. And when I felt someone staring at me, I glanced to my left to see Five-Star watching with a smirk, which only confirmed my assumptions.

  Turning away, I headed back toward the dressing room, but before I was even in all the way, Five-Star was on my heels.

  “Jelani, I’m not in the mood.” I tried to close him out, but he made it in, bumping me, and shutting the door behind himself. “Get the fuck out!” I hollered, pissed at him. He only smiled widely, rubbing his hand down his face, making his cologne travel through the air. Per usual, he was dressed in the latest and dripping in the most expensive jewelry and timepieces.

  “Blaise, baby, I told you if you wanna make moves in my city, then you need to work with me.” He moved closer and tried to run his finger down my cheek, but I slapped his hand.

  Tearing up because I was tired of this situation, I replied, “Jelani, just stop. What the fuck? It’s been three years, and you’re still worried about me, why?”

  Since me, Jelani had been with a plethora of other girls, double backing to Tahani and Liza in between. In public, because I wanted nothing to do with him, he made it seem as if he hated me and as if I was nothing but some hoe that he’d regretted sleeping with. However, behind closed doors, he was making my work life a living hell by getting me dropped from jobs he had connections in, in hopes of forcing me to leave Merlin and be with him.

  “’Cause I love you, Blaise, and you know that. Why I have to keep saying this shit?”

  “You don’t love me, Jelani, and I’m not fucking with you like that so bye. Ah—stop!” I screeched when he wrapped his hand around my neck and shoved me into the wall. The excruciating pain from hitting my head almost took me out.

  “Don’t talk to me like that, Blaise. You don’t dismiss no fucking body, you hear me?” he gritted out in my ear. Five-Star wasn’t a small guy by any means, standing at six feet three and weighing… a lot. “If you wanna work, you need to drop that nigga and come back home. If not, you forever gon’ be a broke bitch hoping to make some money. Because LA is mine, and I have the power to control almost everything in entertainment.”

  He loosened his grip on my neck and tried to kiss me, but I turned away, panting.

  “Mmm!” I yelped when he grabbed a handful of my hair, forcing a kiss on my lips, in which I could feel him smearing my lipstick. I didn’t want to cry, but I was so tired of this shit.

  Stepping back, he nodded while wearing that same stupid ass smirk.

  This definitely wasn’t the first time Five-Star had put his hands on me. He didn’t start until after I’d left him for good though. It was three days after I’d given birth because I wouldn’t fuck him. Not like I could have anyway.

  “It’s your choice, Blaise.” He interrupted my thoughts. Staring me down for a minute, he whispered, “You so fucking fine.”

  I said nothing and waited for him to leave, feeling my head and scalp throb.

  Once he was gone, I packed up my things and then headed to my mother’s house. When I got there, it was quiet, so I knew everyone was sleeping already.

  Making my way up the stairs, I entered the bedroom and smiled at the sight of my two- and half-year-old daughter, Island, sleeping soundly. Walking closer, I got down onto the floor to be eye level with her bed and just caressed her head full of hair. She had the supplest caramel skin with beautiful, thick, kinky hair, looking exactly like her stupid ass father.

  Five-Star took care of Island financially mainly, and only saw her about three times a month. He tried to get away with not helping me with her since I wouldn’t be with him, but I filed for child support, which changed all of that. He hated me even more for it, but I didn’t give a fuck; my baby wasn’t going to suffer just so he could like me a little more.

  Then when I got with Merlin, he stopped paying like an idiot, claiming he wasn’t gonna take care of Island unless I was single, but ended up having to give me a huge sum to catch up in the end. The two men I’d dated before Merlin, I was able to keep on the low despite their celebrity status, so Merlin was the first time Five-Star knew of any man I’d entertained.

  Island was the only reason I was working all day trying to make this acting thing take off and the only reason I even paid men like Merlin any mind. I woul
d do anything to make sure she was taken care of, and I had to take care of myself too. Yes, Five-Star paid me a very nice amount in child support, but I used none of it for myself; I made sure of it.

  And lastly, I had to take care of my mother, so right now, a man with a lot of bread was what I needed. Yes, I made a cool amount of money from the few movies I’d done, but that still didn’t mean I was giving a broke nigga my time. Plus, the money, trips, and nice dinners didn’t hurt either. Hell, the house my mama was living in right now was thanks to Merlin. Before, we were all living in my three-bedroom condo Five-Star had gotten me when we were together. My ex before Merlin, VIP, offered to move us, but I declined.

  The saying ‘use what you’ve got to get what you want’ was my motto; I was a pretty bitch, I knew it, and I used it as an advantage in this world. Especially since my mom and daughter could also reap the benefits of my physical.

  And I was naturally pretty; well, kind of. I got a boob job thanks to this one movie I booked that did well. I only got it because after I had Island, they got smaller for some reason. But everything else on my shapely frame was au-natural.

  After about thirty minutes of just caressing my baby, I left the room to take a hot shower. I was too exhausted and irritated to wake Island up and then drive home, so I was just going to sleep here for the night.

  As I put the last of my face lotion on, my phone started ringing on the sink, and I looked down to see it was Merlin. Grabbing it, I swiped across the screen to answer.

  “Hey, baby girl. How did the video go?”

  “It was cool. I got sick halfway through, so I had to go home.”

  I’d given up on telling Merlin about Five-Star’s antics. He was no help. I understood he was mature, despite being thirty just like Five-Star, and a businessman, but a part of me wished he would mix some hood shit in there and fuck my baby daddy up or do something. Five-Star had tried to fight Merlin plenty of times, but Merlin just paid him dust.

  All he did was offer to get me jobs himself, and I just couldn’t do that. I needed to have something in my life that I’d gotten on my own.

  “You ain’t pregnant, right?” Merlin laughed heartily, and I faked one along with him. He wished; I knew it.

  I was never getting pregnant again. I hadn’t had sex raw since Five-Star, and it was gonna stay that way. Plus, it was too hard getting my body back together for my career, to let some nigga I saw no future with impregnate me and fuck it up.

  “Definitely not. But I’ve had a long day, Merlin, so goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, baby girl. Don’t forget the brunch at the yacht party tomorrow.”

  “Of course not.” I half smiled, thinking about it. Merlin definitely provided me with the good life, and I got to meet just about every damn body because of it. I’d made even more connections than when I was with Five-Star.

  Hanging up the phone, I tread down the hall to my daughter’s bedroom, and then climbed in the bed with her.

  Life at times was good… I guess…

  Party day…

  “Do I have enough glitter on?” Nichole asked me, sticking her chest out so that her fake breasts were damn near about to poke my eye out.

  Unlike me, Nichole didn’t stop at her boobs. She got some nigga to finance a Brazilian Butt Lift and some shit that made her hips appear wider. Luckily for me, I was pretty blessed everywhere else on my body. I didn’t have the widest hips, actually they were quite small, but my ass was definitely naturally plump, and my thighs matched.

  “Yes, you do.” I shook my head at her and then glanced over at my friend Priscilla.

  Priscilla and I had been cool for a minute now, since just before I got pregnant with Island. Even though I knew Nichole first, I definitely preferred Priscilla at times because she was more of my speed. She was a lot of fun and wasn’t always on me about keeping Merlin or obsessing over finding some rich famous nigga to save her like Nichole.

  I met her the same way I met everyone else, through the industry and at one of the many parties, events, or functions I went to. Priscilla was a background dancer and had gotten a nice amount of cool jobs, dancing for some big names. Although she was doing okay, like me, she felt she had much more to do to achieve her goals.

  Currently, the three of us were riding in the back of an all-black Escalade, courtesy of Merlin, headed to a yacht party. Everybody who was anybody was going to be there, so I knew Nichole would kill me if I didn’t invite her along with Priscilla and me.

  “Excuse me, driver, turn that up please! I heard my man’s name!” Nichole giggled, spritzing herself with perfume as I covered my lips in the Fenty gloss bomb.

  “So you’re telling me that you, thee Ricky AK, has never once stepped out on his wife?” the radio host asked, chuckling. I did the same when I looked over at Nichole, listening intently; she was obsessed with this nigga. He could release a song with just him breathing on it, and she would buy it and play it every day.

  “Hell nah, not once we made that shit official,” Ricky AK replied. “I wouldn’t be here right now, alive, if I had,” he added, making the host laugh and Nichole suck her teeth.

  “You believe that shit?” She looked to Priscilla and me.

  “I don’t know. His wife is kind of crazy,” Priscilla responded, causing me to chuckle.

  “Whatever. All I know is all men cheat, and if I get a chance to meet Frederick Montana’s rich, sexy ass, I’m fucking him.”

  “All men do cheat, except my man, and of course, Merlin.” Priscilla nudged me, and I just raised my brows. “Why that face?”

  “Nothing.” I sighed lowly.

  “Bitch, you better realize you’re winning with Merlin. He’s rich as hell and only gonna get richer. You need to be trying to get pregnant.” Nichole then let a wide grin spread across her face. “Blaise, you’d be the MVP for having two balling ass baby daddies.”

  I just ignored Nichole’s foolish ass and continued to sip on my champagne for the rest of the ride. I wasn’t having anybody’s damn baby, and I especially wasn’t trying to be known as a professional baby mama. At least I was in love with Five-Star when I got pregnant; I was only with Merlin because of his pockets and connections, so a baby was a no.

  I didn’t like to say that I was using him, but the truth of the matter was, I liked him because he had money.

  We got to the dock, and once Merlin was aware, he sent his security to walk us over to the boat. I had on a cute thong bikini that showed off damn near everything. I was proud of my body, considering that I looked like a sack of potatoes for months after giving birth. So the fact that I had tightened up had me wanting to show it off anytime I could. Priscilla and of course Nichole weren’t exactly covered much either.

  As soon as the three of us got onto the boat full of people, the niggas were clocking our moves with their jaws on the floor. Priscilla was beautiful with a banging physique, just smaller, and Nichole was extra thick; her face had always been pretty.

  “Aye, come here.” Merlin gave my friends a fake smile and then escorted me to a room below the deck. I really hoped he didn’t want to fuck because I wasn’t in the mood right now. Sex with Merlin was… okay. Sometimes I came, and a lot of times I didn’t.

  “Baby, you okay?” I asked as he closed the door. He looked nice as usual and smelled good too. Merlin stayed fitted and dipped in plenty of diamonds. His light complexion was blemish free, and his dreads were always neat. He was a nice height and size; not super in shape but not even close to being fat.

  “Why you walking past them niggas smiling and shit, knowing they wanna fuck you, Blaise?”

  “I didn’t smile like that, Merlin, I’m just happy to be at the party.” I frowned as he moved closer to me.

  “Nah, you was on some other shit. Let me find out you’re trying to get fucked by another nigga.”

  “Okay, Merlin.” My voice was dry as ever. This nigga wouldn’t even defend me against Five-Star but wanted me to believe he’d beat a nigga’s ass for fucking
me? Sure, buddy.

  “Who is that?” He snatched my ringing phone. “Why is this nigga Five calling you?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “Why the fuck he even got your damn number! You fucking him still?”

  “No! And he has my number because he’s my daughter’s father, Merlin. We have to be in contact!”

  “When you gon’ have my baby?” he asked as if we were even close enough to be discussing that.

  “I told you from day one I’m not having any more kids, Merlin. I wanna go back out to the party.” I tried to walk past him, but he blocked me.

  “Nah, we are gon’ have a baby. It’s either that, or I cut you off. I don’t like seeing niggas look at you and shit, not in person and not on Instagram. Them niggas need to know you’re mine, Blaise, so we having a baby. Plus, I love you and I want kids.” He kissed my lips gently.

  It seemed like every nigga I met was trying to trap me by getting me pregnant, and I didn’t understand why. Even that ball player, Evan, and my ex VIP wanted a baby. Maybe my pussy was as good as Five-Star used to say it was. And speaking of him, he loved to brag to me about how I had his baby and no one else’s.

  The only way I would ever have another child was if I fell in love, and I knew that would never happen again.

  Cortez “Belly” Khalil

  The Hood’s Champ…

  Text a message, I don't know the number. Flexin' on these niggas, every bone and muscle…

  I took the blunt in my hand to the face as A$AP Rocky’s “Praise The Lord” blasted from every speaker inside of this packed out ass club. I was in Miami turning the fuck up after winning my match tonight against this one muthafucka who swore up and down he was gon’ have me on my ass in under a minute. Shit took a totally different fucking turn when I took his ass out in fifty-five seconds. I even surprised my damn self, and that meant a lot because I was a pretty confident and cocky muthafucka.