by Kaige Keira
Is he wearing boxers, Autumn wonder. She looked even harder and saw he was indeed not wearing any. Autumn heard Chicago clearing his throat and looked up. “That’s better. My eyes are up here,” Chicago teased as he leaned his back against the counter.
Autumn suddenly had visions of him pulling her into him as they started kissing. Autumn’s face started turning red as the visions went even further into details. “You ok,” Chicago asked. Autumn turned her head away. “You are such a virgin.” Chicago laughed as he went to check on the chicken.
“It’s that obvious,” Autumn asked as she looked down at her hand. Chicago nodded as he turned the stove off.
“I got you though,” he said. He washed his hands and turned to Autumn. “You ready?”
Autumn looked at him, puzzled. “Ready for what? I didn’t come over here to fuck.”
Chicago rolled his eyes. “I don’t fuck. But I wanted to show you different alternatives on how your body can be pleased.”
“What different ways?”
Chicago stepped closer to her as she inhaled his cologne. Damn, this man is fine. Autumn looked at him with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. Her insides were melting like butter and her vagina was suddenly tightening as she thought about what he just said.
Chicago leaned his head down as he whispered into Autumn’s ear. “Breathe.”
Autumn closed her eyes as she felt him linger close to her neck. Chicago planted a small kiss on her chin as she opened her eyes. “You still thinking about him.” Chicago backed away as he grabbed a plate from out of the cabinet. “Grab a chair.”
Autumn looked at him, flustered. She walked timidly to the table as she sat down. Chicago brought her a plate of food and sat it down in front of her.
“I wasn’t thinking about him,” Autumn timidly said as she felt a need to explain herself. “I’m just trying to figure all this out and you are making it hard.” Autumn looked as Chicago ate a piece of chicken.
Chicago looked at her and gave her a smile. “I’m supposed to make it easy for the next guy?” Autumn shrugged her shoulders.
“I just know I went through my whole high school year, single and with no drama. Now here I am in college, and now I have drama,” Autumn said as she pushed the plate of food away from her. “This sucks monkey balls.”
Chicago grabbed her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. “You got this. You gone figure everything out. Regardless if it means choosing who is best for you. You have to make that choice. Nobody else.”
Autumn sighed as she looked at him. He smiled as he flicked her on her nose. No, the fuck he didn’t, she thought. He bust out in a deep laughter and soon Autumn joined him.
“I need to go,” Autumn said as she looked down at her watch. “My mother would be home soon. Can I get this to go?” Chicago nodded as he grabbed her plate and walked by the pantry to grab foil paper.
Autumn followed him as she watched his every movement. Maybe in another lifetime, Autumn found herself saying. Her heart was still somewhat stuck on Avery. Some kind of way he found his way into her heart. Right now, Chicago was just in her thoughts that she kept hidden.
Chicago handed her the plate. “Gives you a reason to come back.” Autumn accepted the plate as she looked at him.
“Do I really need a reason,” she asked.
“Keep talking that shit and I will forget that you even have a boyfriend,” Chicago replied in a husky voice.
He ushered Autumn to the front door and then down the stairs. “I could give you a ride home.”
Autumn looked down at her cell phone. “Sure, why not.”
Chicago grabbed his keys out of his pocket and walked Autumn to his car. He opened Autumn’s door and she gave him a look of appreciation. He smiled as he closed her door and walked to his.
After about a thirty-minute car ride, Chicago was pulling up to Autumn’s house. “Thank you for the ride,” Autumn said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Chicago grabbed her arm suddenly and made his move. He grabbed her face and planted his lips on hers. Autumn was about to resist but something inside of her started to stir. She kissed him back and let him have free range of her body. He placed his hands under her shirt just so he can squeeze on one of her titties.
Autumn moaned into his mouth as she let him explore the upper region of her body. It was once she felt his hands reaching for her pants, that she decided enough was enough. “I got to go pee,” she said. Chicago smirked as he backed away from her. “I do.”
“That’s not pee,” Chicago laughed as he wiped his hand over his mouth. “But I will let you slide this time.”
Autumn got out of the car and walked to the front door. She looked at him one more time before the front door open. Suddenly, Autumn was filled with regret. Avery was standing in the doorway, watching her. His facial expression said it all.
“Avery,” Autumn stammered. She was trying to come up with a lie, but she knew that he had seen everything. “What are you doing here?” She was trying her best to diffuse the situation before it got uglier.
Avery looked at her and then at Chicago’s car. “So, you leave me to go by another nigga house?” Avery stepped all the way outside of the door. “I was blowing up your phone all day. Worrying that I might have lost you or that you were hurt. But you are getting felt up on by this nigga?” Avery glared at Chicago who had just gotten out of car. “The fuck you are doing here, bruh?”
Chicago stood by his car as he watched Avery continue his rant. “She just needed a friend to vent too,” Chicago said as he tried to help Autumn out. “Nothing else.”
Avery scoffed. “So, by venting, that requires tongue action,” Avery asked. He turned to Autumn with fire blazing in his eyes. He was heated. “The fuck is this shit, Autumn? I didn’t tell you about your sister because I knew that would break you. I know what kind of dealings Yvonne and Mark are into. But Tori made her decision. What you going to do? Fuss at her until she gets tired of it and comes home? That shit doesn’t work. Welcome to the real world where a big ass house in a fancy neighborhood doesn’t stop the ghetto from knocking on your door. But I see how you are rocking.”
Autumn held back a tear. “She is my sister. You could have just told me.”
Avery ran a hand down his face. “I told your mother. She said Tori got to figure her own shit out. That was the best I could do. You had enough going on with midterms. Fuck I look like putting all of that shit on your mind?”
“You don’t have to curse, bro,” Chicago suggested as he still stood by his car.
Avery rolled his eyes as he looked at Chicago. “You can hop in your truck and go back to whatever the fuck you came from.” Avery continued to glare at Chicago. “This is between me and my girlfriend.”
“I’m just saying, watch how you speak to her,” Chicago said as he added more bass to his voice.
“You know what,” Avery said as he stepped to Chicago. “You got one second to hop your undone seasoned chicken ass into your car and pull the fuck off.”
Autumn quickly moved in between the two of them. She knew a fight was about to happen. She would feel like shit if either one of them got hurt. “Avery, enough,” Autumn said as she placed her hands on his chest. She tried to get him to back up, but he wasn’t budging. “Let’s go inside and talk.” She was pleading for him to hear her out.
“So, your mad cause your girl has more trust in opening up to me than she does you,” Chicago taunted. “You and Mark have more in common than what you willing to admit. Both of yall act like a bitch.”
“Fuck you, Sylvester Stallone built ass.” Avery pushed Autumn out of the way and charged at Chicago.
“Avery, stop,” Autumn yelled as she tried to get off the ground, but her words fell on deaf ears as Avery deliver a blow to Chicago’s face. Chicago fell back and then delivered a few blows as well. Both men were in all out fight in Autumn’s front yard.
Autumn ran in the house and looking for her mother. “Mom, come quick,” Autumn yelled.
She ran
upstairs and hurried into her mother’s room. She was shocked to see her mother in the tub, holding Blessings. “Is the ambulance here, yet” Dina asked her daughter.
“What’s wrong with her,” Autumn asked as she tried to figure out what was going on. She looked down and saw that her mother was applying pressure to a wound on Blessings wrist that was bleeding profusely.
“She tried to kill herself,” Dina explained as she kept her hand on Blessings wrist. “Autumn, baby, is the ambulance here?” Autumn’s world suddenly started to fade as she backed out of the bathroom. All she could hear was her mother’s voice screaming her name as she succumbed to the darkness.
Chapter 16
Ms. Nancy raced into the hospital emergency room as soon as she got the call. She couldn’t believe her daughter had tried to commit suicide. Were things really that bad? Had she failed at being a mother? She had one son that didn’t want to do shit with his life and her daughter is going through relationship issues.
Ms. Nancy looked around until she saw the lady that resembles Autumn but much older, sitting in the waiting room. “Hi. I’m Nancy. Your Dina, right?” Nancy extended her hand as she looked anxiously at Dina. “How is she?”
Dina looked grim as she grabbed Nancy’s hand and made her take a seat right next to her. “She tried to commit suicide,” Dina said as she looked at Nancy. “But fortunately, she didn’t cut herself deep enough to cut a vein.” Ms. Nancy breathe a sigh of relief as she thanked God. She didn’t know what she would do if she would have lost her baby girl.
“I just don’t understand why,” Ms. Nancy said as she looked at Dina. “She hasn’t been coming around because of her brother. Then I just assumed she needed time to clear her head.” Ms. Nancy shook her head as she looked down at her hands. “I should have called her. I always gave her space to figure it out on her own.”
Dina put a reassuring hand on Ms. Nancy’s shoulder. “You know as well as I know, that kids are going to make their own decisions. We just are there to help pick up the pieces when they fall down.” Ms. Nancy nodded her head vigorously as she tried to hold back the tears.
“That’s just,” Ms. Nancy said as she tried to speak. “She is my heart. She was Duke’s last gift to me, and I can’t lose her.” Dina quickly placed Ms. Nancy’s head on her shoulder.
“Well she needs you to nurture her back to health,” Dina whispered. “She is going to need you now more than anything.”
Autumn walked into the lobby, sipping on a carton of orange juice. She eyed the women and decided to walk back out to give Dina a moment with Ms. Nancy. Autumn walked over to a window that had a chair by it and sat down. Her mind was racing as she played over the events. Her heart was definitely torn between the two men who was almost arrested when the next-door neighbors had called the police.
Autumn knew Avery had her best interest at heart, but she didn’t like the fact he kept certain things from her. She wanted to decide on whether or not it was important. Tori is still her sister and Autumn wanted her back home. Ever since she discovered who Tori was hanging with, Autumn been having a strange sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t trust Yvonne. Nor did she trust Yvonne to have her sister’s back if a problem arises.
Autumn sighed as she looked out the window. Her late afternoon with Chicago was still heavy on her mind. She was really starting to feel him. Everything about him just screamed intimacy. The way he looked at her and said her name had her skin on fire. There was no way she could be with Avery and have thoughts like these about Chicago. She will eventually have to choose. She didn’t want to be one of those women that had a nigga and a side nigga. She just wanted one man in her life. She only needed one.
Autumn looked up when she heard a familiar voice talking to a nearby nurse. Autumn got up from the chair and walked towards the end of the hallway. Once she hit the corner, she froze in her tracks.
There he was. The man responsible for breaking her mother’s heart and the father of Tori, talking to the nurse. His appearance didn’t even change. He was still six-two with chocolate skin. His beard was now sporting a few gray hairs and he wore prescription eyeglasses. Larenz Johnson was here in the flesh.
“So, what are you doing later on tonight,” Larenz asked the nurse. The nurse giggled as she wrote something down on the chart she was holding. “I have a vacation home down in Miami. Maybe you and I can go down there and relax on the beach?”
“I am married, Mr. Johnson,” the nurse said as she looked at him.
“So am I,” he said. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them. I’m trying to give you a well needed break.”
“Still the same old asshole, I see,” Autumn said as she kept her eyes on him. Both the nurse and Larenz looked at her. The nurse quickly excused herself as she left them alone. Larenz looked at Autumn sideways.
“I’m sorry but do I know you,” he asked as he tried to place her face. She looked familiar but he doesn’t date anybody under the age of twenty-five.
Autumn stepped closer to him so he could get a good look. “You used to date my mother and you have a child with her. Ring any bells?”
“Little girl, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Larenz stated as he looked away. He didn’t have time for this bullshit again. Every year, another woman is trying to pin a baby on him. It’s like they are all trying to get pregnant by him. As long as his wife had money in her account, she could care less about what the fuck Larenz Johnson do.
“Autumn, the doctor is here to tell us about Blessings,” Dina said as she rounded the corner. She looked past her daughter to see who she was talking too. “Well, if it isn’t the pathological liar himself,” Dina said as she folded her arms.
Larenz smiled when he saw Dina. Now he remembers. Dina Coleman was the prize among prizes at Dillard University, where he used to teach anatomy. He would sometimes find himself lost in her brown eyes as she paid attention to his lectures. He knew it was against the school’s code of conduct for a teacher to be involved with a student. But Dina was a woman you couldn’t resist. She had the brains and the beauty to go along with her personality.
“Autumn go find Blessings mother. She stepped out to go and grab her phone charger,” Dina said as she kept her eyes on Larenz. He was the worst mistake in her life that had given her a baby. She loved her daughter but as the years passed, Tori was showing signs that she would be just as manipulative as her father was.
“Baby,” Larenz said as he stepped towards Dina with open arms. Dina stepped back as she held out her hand to stop him.
“Don’t,” Dina warned. “How dare you not be there for your daughter? You didn’t call or send anything to help support the child you created.”
Larenz rolled his eyes as he looked at Dina. “You were the one who agreed to fuck with no condom,” he said as he looked at her. “So, you got what you wanted. A bouncy baby girl all for yourself.”
Dina scoffed as she looked at him. “You right. But what I should have done was put your ass on child support. That way those checks you deposited into your wife’s account, will be deposited into mine.”
Larenz stepped back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Dina smiled. “I’m not that same naïve girl that was sprung over your dirty dick ass. I should have been woman enough a long time ago and maybe the daughter you ignored, would have went on a different path.”
“You don’t mean that, Dina,” Larenz said as he looked at her. He eyed her up and down and noticed she was still the same size she was in college. Her ass got a little bit bigger, but he always did love the way her ass jiggles in her jeans and when she wore nothing but panties. “How about I stop by and we can discuss Terri?”
Dina rolled her eyes. “Her name is Tori. And we don’t have shit to discuss.” Dina snapped her fingers at him and walked away. She felt like a small weight has been lifted off her shoulders by confronting the man that preyed on her weakness and exploited them to her advantages. She tried so hard in life to make sure her
daughters didn’t fall for a man like him that she didn’t expect the alternative.
Dina sighed when her thoughts raced back to Nancy and Blessings. There was really no perfect guide on how to raise a child to be all who they could be. Each child’s need is different from the next and a parent just had to learn as they go. What works for one child may not work for the next. Dina learned that the hard way. The holidays were slowly approaching and only one of her children would be home for the holidays. Dina didn’t want to admit it. But she was scared for Tori’s safety. Tori wasn’t a street kid, but the streets had a way of destroying innocence.
Nancy spotted Dina and walked over. “I just talked to the doctor. Blessings is about to be wheeled into a room and they said once everything is set up, I can see her.” Nancy took a deeper look at Dina and noticed something was off. “Did something happen?”
“No,” Dina said as she shook her head. “I’m just thinking about my own baby. She is out there in this cruel world, alone. I said some things to her that I shouldn’t have said.” Dina looked at Nancy and gave a weak smile. “Kids have a way with pushing our buttons.”
Nancy laughed as she hugged Dina. “They surely do. They won’t understand until they are blessed to have their own kids.” Dina joined in on the laughter as she wiped her eyes.
“They gon’ learn then.”
“Dina, I mean what I said that I do want to discuss our child,” Larenz said as he walked up on Dina. Nancy looked up and stepped back from Dina as she pointed a finger at Larenz.
“You dirty bastard,” Nancy said as she looked at Larenz. “Didn’t I tell you if I catch you out in the street, I was gone whup your ass?” Nancy took off her earrings and placed them in her pockets. Dina looked at Nancy then at Larenz. Confusion was written all over her face.