Page 11 of The Hellcat Barbies: Aubree
“This is a super rare occasion,” Dashai chimed in.
“I know. That means I have to make it one for the books.”
“And do,” Saskia raised her lemon drop in the air.
A group walked past the booths that we were occupying, and I noticed Nice among the men. I hoped he wouldn’t see or acknowledge me because I wasn’t in the mood to talk. It was so weird to me that I’d been willing to get to know him before Brasi came home, but since seeing him with Nice, I had no desire to entertain him.
I poured more Mimosa from the pitcher on the table as a loud voice sounded off a few feet away from me.
“Nah, you’s a hoe ass nigga. You couldn’t come home last night, but you’re out at brunch like a bitch.”
Like everyone else in the restaurant, I craned my neck to see what was going on, and I saw a pretty female up in Nice’s face. My brow hiked as I watched her poke her finger into his forehead. She said he didn’t come home last night. I chuckled before taking a sip of my drink. So he lived with a woman? Men were something else. Welp, that was the excuse that I needed to stop answering the phone for him. Smirking, I watched the show. Had I been into him, I’d be hurt, but I was relieved.
Nice tried to play it cool as he pushed her finger out of his face. I couldn’t hear what he said because he was too far away, but whatever it was, it didn’t deter his girlfriend from acting out.
“You’re a joke. I be trying real hard to stall yo’ ass out, but I see you want me to give you back to the streets. It’s cool, ‘cus there’s a line of niggas waiting for me to come back outside too.”
The look that Nice gave her after that comment said it all. He loved her, and he was ready to spazz out at the mere thought of her being with another man. As I drank more Mimosa, I silently thanked God that I had never slept with him. I was officially done with men and dating. It was a waste of time, and I could be doing other things. I couldn’t wait to get back to football and creating content on a consistent basis. I wanted more brand deals and to travel more. Sitting around wasting time and energy with a trifling ass man wasn’t going to do anything for me.
A few members of the staff went over and tried to diffuse the situation between Nice and the woman that he was arguing with. I wasn’t sure if he left on his own or if he was asked to leave, but Nice stood and walked toward the exit.
“Isn’t he the one that was begging to take you out for months?” Breezy asked with a slack jaw.
I nodded, and she kissed her teeth.
“These men really ought to be ashamed of themselves. My God it’s sickening the way so many of them lie and cheat.”
I didn’t even respond because there was no need. There wasn’t anything I could say that hadn’t already been said a million times before during girl talk. Men were full of shit. The end. Grabbing my fork, I speared the last piece of my red velvet waffle and placed it in my mouth. “I’m going home to sleep off the Mimosa’s I drank, so I can be ready for tonight. I’ll see you ladies later,” I smiled and placed cash in the folder that contained my bill.
The race was going to take place on the outskirts of town in an area that didn’t have much traffic at night. Street racing was dangerous, but that was part of the thrill. At home, I laid on the couch and watched TV until I dosed off. Once I woke up, I pulled my camera out to film a get ready with me chit chat type video. I was going to update my subscribers on why I hadn’t released a vlog in over a week when I usually dropped one vlog a week sometimes two. I wasn’t going to tell them all the details, but on YouTube alone, I had 560,000 subscribers. If I went a few days without posting my DM’s were flooded with people asking where I was. It was flattering but overwhelming all the same.
I loved creating content, but there were times when I was stressed and just wanted to go off the grid for a bit. There were actually some people that didn’t understand when I didn’t want to share every aspect of my life. I did a short story time on getting shot because of mistaken identity. It was sad but I knew the video would do numbers because people were just that damn nosey. I wouldn’t be surprised if I reached a million views. At least I could turn the drama I endured into money. YouTube paid me well. My phone chimed with a text message and as I rolled my eyes upon seeing Nice’s name, another text came through from Irv.
Irv had approached Breezy a while back and educated her on the money that was involved in street racing. The pots could get pretty high from the bets that were placed on the races. When he told me the kind of money that I could get from winning a race my jaw slacked. I wasn’t hurting for money at all, so if I did win a race and get the pot, that was extra money to stack or blow depending on what kind of mood I was in.
I had to constantly give myself pep talks to not be greedy. Being that I wasn’t hurting for anything, it was kind of crazy to risk it all for some money but at the same time, I was far from rich. Money from street racing could come in handy like amuhfucka. Ignoring the text from Nice, I opened Irv’s message. With wide eyes and a hanging jaw, I stared at the words he’d typed. The pot was up to $22,000. And that was just foronerace. I wasn’t sure how it worked as far as people that won the bets being compensated, and I didn’t care. Being paid to drive my car fast as hell didn’t seem like a bad idea to me.
I finished getting ready, cut my camera off, and dropped down to my knees to say a quick prayer. The race was going to start in a church parking lot and end up in the huge lot of an industrial warehouse. The distance from the church to the warehouse was only four miles. The entire drive to the church I gave myself a pep talk. I needed to get out of my head, forget everything that was wrong, and focus. I couldn’t let bullshit with Brasi, my sister, my past, or even Nice knock me off my square. Not having my head in the game could be the reason that me or someone else got hurt.
The majority of the spectators would of course be at the warehouse, so they could see for themselves who won. The thing that made racing at the track better was the fact that the entire race could be enjoyed without having to either watch the beginning or the end. Even if we ended back up at the same place we started from, spectators wouldn’t be able to see the actual race. Maybe they just liked the thrill of knowing that a race was even happening. Racing was about way more than driving fast.
It took possessing quick reflexes and being precise with maneuvering a car while driving it at insane speeds. Being able to brake suddenly, make sharp turns, watch out for drivers around me, etc. It was an immense amount of pressure. One wrong move, and a driver could lose control of the car. All those things ran through my mind as I drove. When I pulled up at the church, Irv was already there. So was Nate. The guy that I was racing against. He had a car just like mine, but his was a year older and it was yellow and black.
Irv came over to the car, and I lowered the window, so he could go over the details and rules that I already knew with me. A tall female that Irv was probably screwing sauntered in front of the me and Nate’s cars. I glanced over at him as he revved the engine and gave him a slight smirk before sitting up in the seat and waiting for ole girl to wave the flag. The moment she did, I mashed the gas. My focus wasn’t on Nate. I was watching the road in front of me and my surroundings. The route we were taking was one without a lot of stop lights but in the event we did come across one, it was imperative to be able to stop in time and not run a red light.
The extra money that I could get from winning the race would be nice, but I wasn’t trying to die for the shit. Somebody was looking out for me because traffic was pretty much nonexistent on the backroads we were traveling on. A few feet ahead a car pulled out in front of me and was driving under the speed limit. With a kiss of my teeth, I went around the vehicle and made a sharp right turn. Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw Nate go around the car as well. I was in the lead.
The only stop light that I’d come across was yellow as I approached it and as I coasted through it turned red. I wasn’t sure if Nate would run the light. Looking in the mirror, I saw that he did. He was on my ass, and I mashed the gas a little harder while turning the wheel slightly and turning into the parking lot of the industrial warehouse. My cheeks lifted into a smile as I saw The Hellcat Barbies waiting for me. I approached the finish line two seconds before Nate. He was on my ass the entire time, but the fact remained that I won the race. Since I had that out of the way, I wanted to celebrate with a shot or three.
“You did that shit,” Breezy jumped up and down with a smile on her face while Lauren poured some tequila into a red plastic Solo cup.
“Thank you,” I smiled as I thought about the money that I was going to get.
Being that street racing was illegal, I never vlogged the races under any circumstances. My followers knew that I was in a car club, but they didn’t know I participated in street racing. Even though I won the money, I still had to get back into grind mode. I had content to make for the brands that I had deals with. Being shot set me back, but it was time to get back on my shit.
I had a few more drinks and stuck around for a few more races. Shortly after I told everyone goodbye, collected my winnings, and got in the car, Nice called. Rolling my eyes, I placed my gun on my lap in case anyone got the bright idea to try and follow me and rob me. Cressida and Lauren lived on the same side of town as me, so they followed me as well to make sure nothing popped off.
Once I made it safely inside my house, I set the alarm and put my money away before getting ready for bed. Nice called again before I could get comfortable and close my eyes. I blocked his ass and went straight to sleep.
