by Keeshia K
“I’m telling you, homie, just be straight with these broads and you too can have the dream life.” I said to my nosey coworkers. “My wife goes and gets ‘em and I fucks ‘em, straight like that. To be honest our teamwork makes the dream work.”
I was on the job changing the oil on a silver Cadillac Escalade and giving the niggas I work with, Randy and Quentin some hope for they boring ass love lives and future. Part of the reason they didn’t have exciting lives was because they were afraid to take chances.
Randy was real tall and lanky and he didn’t do nothing to keep himself up. I caught him on the streets one time and he was wearing his uniform even though he was off.
Quentin was a little better I guess. He thought he was the shit because he had that soft hair that females liked and favored the singer, Miguel, except he was a couple inches taller. But unless he was getting pussy like me then it didn’t mean shit.
“Ain’t no way.” Randy yelled out laughing like I wasn’t trying to give him the gospel. “That may be your thing but it ain’t me.” He paused. “But to each his own though.”
“You say that now but this shit lit,” I told him. “I legit wish you could have it like me.” I wiped my hands on an oily rag. “We go out to the club and I scope out the spot. I point out the broad I want and wifey goes hunting. Real live.” I embellished a little. “The best thing I could’ve done was marry her.”
My co-workers continued to laugh. It was a fairly slow workday. Normally it would be busier than it was so I took advantage of the down time.
“So how did you get her to do that shit?” Quentin walked up to me and asked. “Because I saw her a few times when she came by to scoop you and to be honest she didn’t look like the type.”
“Easy, I told her on the day of our wedding that if I couldn’t have excitement in the bedroom then we couldn’t get married.” I paused. “I knew for a fact I wasn’t going into the future with lies.”
“And she went for that?” Randy asked scratching his head. “Because that seems a little far fetched.”
“We married ain’t we?” I shot back. “She just lucky I ain’t demand we put that shit in our vows.” I laughed. “But her family was in the room so that would’ve been a little awkward.”
“So she just gives you a pass to fuck other women?” Q asked looking at me with his arms folded.
“Naw, not on the solo tip.” I paused. “We have a threesome with the chicks we bring home.” I continued. “And it ain’t like it’s just me. She be into it too. It’s like I awakened something in her that may have always been there.”
They both fell out in hysterical laughter I could tell not believing me. That’s why I’m glad I had proof.
“I knew niggas would think I was bullshitting…check this out.” I snatched off the glove from my hand and reached into my coveralls for my cell phone. After scrolling through my pictures, I found the selfies that I took of me, Siena and Tae. “Look,” I said handing Randy my phone. “Now talk that dumb shit.” I waited.
He scrolled and Q walked near him to view the snapshots too. I ain’t have no nudes or nothing, but the flicks we took do show how close we all were. I figured it would validate me a little at least.
“Oh, shit.” Randy yelled. “You serious ‘bout this shit?” He continued as he kept scrolling through my phone.
“I told you.” I said reaching out for him to hand me my phone back. “I wish I had a pic of the other chick we picked up recently but I ain’t get a chance to get none. Besides, she was too worried about the dick for me to take a flick. Maybe I’ll catch her next time.”
Quentin looked at me with a serious expression. “You need to be careful about this situation, Bronco.” He said. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“Fuck you talking ‘bout?” I asked him.
“I’m talking about karma.” Quentin shook his head. “Putting your wife in this predicament ain’t cool man and if you not careful, it may backfire in your face and she could leave you.” He continued. “I’ve seen this kind of thing happen before.”
“First off you lying,” I said. “You never seen this type of thing before.” This nigga sounded like he was hating a little. It’s always one in every bunch. “Never!” I reiterated. “If she wasn’t down with it she would have never gone through with the wedding. She into it just as much as I am, trust me.”
“You ain’t leave her no choice by pulling that shit out your ass on your wedding day. That was foul even for you.”
“She could’ve still told me no.” I shot back.
He shook his head. “Yeah, aight. But don’t say I ain’t warn you.” He continued turning around to focus on his paperwork.
Randy handed me a quart of oil and I lowered the Escalade to fill it up. Just as I sat the truck back down on the ground, our manager walked past the garage and into the break room.
“I’ma grab a soda. I’ll be right back.” I told Randy as I jogged towards the break room. She had just paid for pretzels. “You snack on them joints now and you gonna ruin your dinner.” I said to my manager, Alicia trying to spark up some convo. She was a little on the sexy side with her caramelized skin and thick pink lips.
“These pretzels are my dinner tonight,” she said rolling her eyes. I didn’t know why but something told me she wasn’t checking for me. “Anyway I have a lot of paperwork to get finished so I’ll be working through dinner.” She continued focusing back on the machine.
“Oh, yeah, well you know I can stay and give you some assistance if need be.” I licked my lips and rubbed my hands together. “You don’t have to do it alone.” I shrugged.
She laughed. “No, I’m good on that. But what you can do is finish up that Escalade so the customer will be satisfied. I’d like to let him know he can pick it up tonight instead of tomorrow. How ‘bout we do that?” She said taking the pretzels out the machine.
I laughed as I watched her walk back into her office. She don’t give me no love. I had been trying to get at her ever since she transferred here and became our new manager. But so far nothing I did worked.
She don’t wear a wedding ring so I don’t think she’s married. She ain’t even got no Gram or Twitter page. I tried looking her up to see if she got a nigga or something to explain why she so icy. But as of now all my research ended in vain. The only thing I was sure of is that she didn’t fuck with me.
I grabbed a soda and walked back out into the garage where I saw Randy laughing. He must have seen me fail at trying my hand but I didn’t give a fuck. Quentin looked over at me and shook his head. Fuck that nigga! All I knew was this, I had to get at her. At the end of the day I won’t give up until she caves. Believe that.
I opened my soda and started hatching up a plan.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TAE
I was eating dinner at home in the living room while on the phone with Siena. Although we texted each other every day, this was the first time I had spoken to her since our sex/lunch at the movies.
“So, what happened?” I asked nosily. Siena was telling me the story of what went on in her last relationship. “Because I don’t get why you’re single. Something ain’t adding up.”
She giggled. “Let’s just say that my ex was crazy. She did stupid things all the time and we would go back and fourth in the relationship. But the final straw was when I had to get stitches after a fight. I knew I wasn’t going to be with a person who hit me.” She explained.
“Wait a minute…what?” I asked putting my fork down. “You had to get stitches because she hit you? I didn’t even know lesbians went through that kind of stuff too.”
“Yep, she had hit me before, but this time the stitches were because she bit me on my back.” She continued. “The bite was so deep that it looked crazy even after it was sewn up. I had to have reconstructive surgery to fix it and everything.” She informed.
“Oh my God! How on earth did she bite you that hard on your back to cause that much damage?” I asked puzzled.
“Like I said we had an argument, and it was bad. It lasted for a couple days and we didn’t speak to each other at all.” She paused. “So we eventually came back together to talk it out as we did often when we had a fight.” She paused. “But this time, after we yelled it out, we got turned on. Which is something we also did a lot of, fighting and fucking.”
I listened attentively. She didn’t strike me as the type of woman to put up with this kind of drama so I was curious how it all played out.
“Anyway, while we were in the middle of a heavy sex session, she just hauled off and bit a chunk out my back. Here I was thinking we were making up and she was still mad the entire time.” She sighed. “The way she did it was so devious though.”
“That is so crazy.” I told her. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe you went through something like that.” I paused. “How long were you guys together before you officially broke it off?”
“Off and on for a year.” She said.
“Well where is she now? I mean, do you still see her?” I asked chewing my chicken slowly so I didn’t make smacking noises over the phone. “Because I would try to avoid her if I was you.”
“Uh…No. She actually died.” She said in a low voice.
I started choking on my dinner. I did not expect her to tell me that. “What…How?” I asked while coughing.
“I don’t know all the details.” She paused. “She was on her way home and someone stabbed her I think.” She said in a low voice. “It’s a mystery to this day for real.”
I took a sip of water and cleared my throat. “Wow, I really am so sorry, Siena.” I said. “I know you guys were broken up, but I can’t imagine how you felt when you found out.” I continued. “Because at some point I know you cared about her.”
I heard keys jingling at the front door and looked at it. Seconds later Bronco walked in from work and shook his head when he saw me sitting on the couch on the phone. He didn’t say anything to me, just walked towards the kitchen with an attitude all over his face.
“How long ago did this happen?” I asked Siena not caring about Bronco’s screwed up face. To be honest I was kind of tired of kissing up to him. Sometimes he acted like a kid and needed to grow up.
“Over a year ago.” Siena said. “It was real hard for me the first few months after she passed but I got over it.” She continued. “I think her family took it hard though. Her mother had a heart attack. Her father had a stroke. It was real bad.”
“What the fuck is this?” Bronco walked up behind me and asked. When I turned around he was holding the Fried Chicken salad I made us for dinner in his hand.
“Wow…Um can you hold on for a sec?” I asked Siena but didn’t wait to hear her reply before I pushed the mute button on my cell phone. “It’s dinner, Bronco what you think it is?” I asked him.
“This it?” He frowned. “Because I need more than this.” He said with an attitude holding the plate up. “I mean you normally make me some wings or some burgers or something to go along with the salad, Tae. This not gonna hold me up all night.”
“I made cornbread too, it’s in the oven.” I paused. “But I didn’t make anything else because I’m trying to cut back on the stuff we eat around here. Plus that salad has a lot of substance in it and its healthier for us.” I told him turning back around to finish my conversation.
“Man, fuck all that.” He said waving me off. “I worked all day long and I expect to come home to more to eat than this bird food you trying to give me.” He yelled. “You know I do manual labor.”
I ignored him and focused on the phone. I hit the mute button again so that I could talk. “My bad. Anyway, I know that was rough to go through. I can’t even imagine.” I said to Siena not checking for Bronco anymore. I knew he was being extra because I was still on the phone even though he was home.
“It was a crazy time believe me,” she sighed. “Anyway, I know Bronco home now and I don’t wanna keep you.” Siena paused. “So just text me when you can and I’ll talk to you later.”
I sighed not really wanting to deal with him and his temper tantrum at the moment. “I guess…ok, that’s cool. Talk to you soon.” I ended the call and put my cell phone face down on the couch before picking up the remote to turn the TV on.
I felt Bronco staring at me from behind. The tension was so thick, I thought the steam coming out of him would burn the back of my neck but I refused to turn around and look at him.
I don’t know what came over me all of a sudden. But I felt different in ways I couldn’t explain. Maybe I was still holding on to anger from the night I came home late and he wasn’t even there. Or maybe it was everything that’s been going on with us since we got married. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just didn’t feel like it with him tonight.
“Who the fuck was that on the phone?” He finally asked. “Had to be somebody real important for you not to get off the call once I came in. I mean we are married.”
I turned around and laughed loudly. It took me a few seconds to calm down and he was glaring the entire time. “Bronco, I don’t ask you who you be on the phone with do I?”
“That’s cuz I don’t be on that bitch!” He yelled. “You must be out here fucking around or something. If you are say it. Because it’s obvious that you want to.”
“You playing right?” I asked getting up to walk towards him. I couldn’t believe he was asking me something like that.
“No I ain’t playing.” He continued.
I just looked at him. He had some nerve with all the shit I been putting up with around here. “You know what, fuck all this shit. It don’t even matter to me.” Feeling like I didn’t owe him an explanation, I walked past him and headed to our bedroom giggling the entire way.
****
IN THE KITCHEN
BRONCO
What the fuck just happened here? Did Tae really just carry the shit out of me and not answer none of my questions? I thought. Something is definitely going on with her and this new attitude. For her sake, she better hope I never find out she cheating on me.
I’ll light this entire bitch up.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BRONCO
I made Tae bring me to work today for a couple reasons but mainly so that I could introduce her to my manager. I wanted to see if she could help me get ole girl in the sack. For some reason I needed to bust them cheeks bad. And the urge wouldn’t go away.
When Tae pulled up I pointed to the parking space in the lot so that she could park the truck, which was not too far from the entrance. She looked at me like I was crazy but I just pointed harder. Sometimes she acts like an idiot so I have to treat her like one.
I had been outside my building smoking my Capone while I waited on her to come scoop me. After she parked she sat there and played with her phone. Every few seconds she would look up at me and smile but I felt like something was different. Especially after how she treated me the night before. In the past, whenever I came home she was always available for me but last night she acted funny so something was definitely up.
I walked toward my ride to get Tae. I came up on the driver’s side and tapped the window with my knuckles so she could roll it down. “Why you ain’t get out?” I asked. “You acting all anti-social and shit.”
“Get out for what, Bronco?” She frowned. “I’ve never gotten out when I picked you up from work before. Why should that change now?” She paused. “I mean are you not ready to go?”
I laughed. She was right, normally there was no reason for her to do anything but pull up, but today, I had bigger plans. Plans I needed her help with if I was going to fulfill my goal.
“I know.” I said using my knuckle to touch her cheek. “I just wanted to introduce you to my new manager.” I paused and flicked the end of my Capone and blew out the last of the smoke. “So get out.”