“You’re my diamond, and diamonds are forever. I would kill a nigga over you.”
***
By the time Diamond graduated high school, she had the sex game on lock. She was a female pimp, tricking the high school boys to her advantage. All the boys in the school wanted to sex her, but they had to pay a hefty price.
TWO
Virgin No More
As the years passed, Diamond continued to get in trouble in school, often getting into fights, and she didn’t have a problem displaying her lack of respect for her teachers either. Diamond knew all she had to do was play on her father’s emotions and he would get her out of trouble.
Chester lacked book smarts, but he made up for it in street smarts. Everyone knew his reputation, teachers included, and no one wanted to get into a confrontation with him. The principal of the school, especially, didn’t want any part of Chester after he’d witnessed firsthand how ruthless he could be. Chester at one time worked as an enforcer for one of the most ruthless drug cartels back in the day. His reputation preceded him, and most didn’t cross him because of the rumors that still lurked. So instead of expelling Diamond from the school system, they simply allowed her to have her way, and she slid through high school.
In her senior year a bunch of the seniors planned to go to Atlantic City for an overnight stay. Diamond had never stayed away from home overnight, but she really wanted to go on this trip. She had a crush on the captain of the basketball team, Maurice, but he didn’t feel the same way about her. She figured the trip would provide an opportunity for them to get closer.
Maurice knew who Diamond was, and all he wanted was to get in her drawers.
But Diamond really did like him. She wanted to experience sex with him, and not the way she’d sexed the others for gifts or money. She wanted to be his girlfriend.
She knew her father wouldn’t let her leave home for an overnight stay, the one thing he didn’t allow. She could have as many friends stay overnight with her as she wanted, but she could never spend the night at their houses or attend sleepover parties. There were times, though, when she snuck out of the house when her father was asleep, and she made sure to be back home in bed before dawn.
She knew Chester wouldn’t budge on her staying out all night in Atlantic City, so she had to formulate a plan quickly.
“Dad, you home?” she yelled as she walked in the door after school.
“In the kitchen!”
“Hey, Daddy.” Diamond walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek as she did every day.
“Hey, Pumpkin.”
Chester was washing the dishes that had piled in the sink for three days. Diamond had still not acquired domestic skills, and wasn’t accustomed to manual labor. Most of the time Chester hired someone to come clean the house for them, but he had been laid off from his job and needed to cut back on expenses, not knowing how long the layoff would be.
Diamond sat down at the kitchen table and opened her books to do her homework. “Dad, Tina wanted to know if I could spend the night with her tonight,” she said, never lifting her head.
“You know the rules, Diamond.” Chester kept scrubbing the pan.
“But, Daddy, I’m seventeen. I’m gonna be graduating high school this year, and you mean to tell me you still don’t trust me?” She looked up at him with pitiful eyes, something he usually couldn’t resist.
Chester looked over at her and quickly turned back to washing the dishes. He could never look into her beautiful eyes. They weakened him when he stared too long at them.
“When you graduate high school you can do whatever you want, but until then you are still a minor in my house. I don’t trust these clowns out here today. Times have changed, and they around here raping young women, killing them, and stringing them out on drugs, only to put them on the stroll. That’s not gonna happen to my baby.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Diamond laughed. “Daddy, you taught me everything I know. Do you honestly think I am that naïve to let something happen to me? Besides, I’m gonna be in the house.”
“What y’all gonna be doing over there, Diamond?”
“Well, we plan to go to the movies, but Tina’s mother is taking us and picking us up,” she lied. “We’re gonna go to an early show so we can be back at the house early.”
Diamond had mastered the lying game at an early age.
“I don’t know.” Chester shook his head.
“OK, listen, Daddy, I promise you I will call you at least a couple of times during the night so you know I’m all right, OK?”
Chester stared at her for a few moments. “OK, Diamond, but you have to call me every hour until you go to bed.”
“Thanks, Daddy! I love you!” Diamond leaped from the table and wrapped her arms around his neck.