Obsession 3

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Your girl,” Lucky said.

  Secret thought for a moment, at first thinking it was Kat. Besides Kat and Yolanda, Secret hadn’t really told anyone else where she worked. But Lucky didn’t know Yolanda and why would Kat be talking to him.

  “Shawndiece,” Lucky said after watching Secret rack her brain.

  “Oh, yeah.” Secret nodded.

  “She said she was supposed to come up here and holler at you, so that y’all could talk, but you played her.”

  “I didn’t play her. I had a situation.” Bumping into Mrs. Langston and finding out about the whole scholarship thing had trumped meeting up with Shawndiece. “I had a family emergency and had to leave.”

  “Was it the baby? Is everything okay? Anything you need from me?”

  Secret’s heart began to patter. She had to take deep breaths. Hearing the sincerity in Lucky’s voice, him wanting to be at her beck and call, him wanting to rescue her, made her feel so good and wanted. It reminded her of how things used to be between them, how things were supposed to be. Lucky had saved her from the streets, literally. He’d been there to protect her and supply her with all her needs without her ever even having to ask. That was every girl’s dream come true, at least the dream of all the girls Secret knew. She’d heard enough conversations in the girls’ bathroom at school to know what their motives and aspirations were when it came to men. And Secret had achieved such without even having to work for it.

  The same went for Shawndiece when it came to guys. Secret had seen her run through men like it wasn’t nothing. Anybody she gave herself to had to be giving her something in return. She hoped eventually she would hit the jackpot and end up with one dude who would cater to all her needs so she could just have to worry with one lame. At least those were her words. But to date it hadn’t happened, which was why Secret kind of understood how Shawndiece could have gotten caught up with the dope game. It was quick, fast, and easy money; sometimes good money.

  There was a time, though, where Secret felt Shawndiece was jealous of the fact that the first baller Secret had gotten with was the jackpot, while Shawndiece had been trying to rope one in ever since her cherry got popped. But in so many words Shawndiece had used Biggie Smalls’ words on her: “I made you . . .” So why would Shawndiece play her?

  Secret could honestly say that throughout her entire friendship with Shawndiece, Shawndiece never asked for or ever wanted a thing from Secret. The only thing Shawndiece had ever wanted for her was to survive. She made sure she taught Secret everything she knew in order to be able to survive.

  Secret hated that Shawndiece thought Secret was trying to play her the other day by not waiting for her to show up at the store. That hadn’t been the case at all, but Secret could wholeheartedly understand how Shawndiece might have thought that.

  “Nothing was wrong with the baby. Everything is good. I don’t need anything. I’m going to have to get with Shawn though and let her know what was up.”

  “Well, I’m glad everything is good with you,” Lucky said.

  Secret began to restock some canned goods out of the basket. “So you said you came by to see me. For what?”

  “I hadn’t heard from you since that day I came to your place.”

  Secret gave him the once over. “I haven’t heard from you either,” she shot back and then continued restocking.

  “I kind of figured the ball was in your court though. I wanted to respect your feelings about the situation.”

  “Look, like I said, everybody deserves a second chance. You explained yourself about the matter, I kind of get it. I’m out of jail. I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl. No harm no foul.” Secret shrugged and kept focused on her work.

  Lucky stared at Secret in awe. “Girl, where did you come from? I know I’ve said it a million times, but I can’t help it because it’s true. You are not like other chicks from here. And I can’t even believe you are related to Kat. You are nothing like her.” Lucky laughed. “If this had been her, she would have went ham on me and probably tried to . . .” Lucky’s words trailed off once he noticed the sour expression on Secret’s face.

  “You really gonna compare me to my sister right now? Really?”

  “Oh, my bad,” Lucky said.

  Secret let a smile slip through. “I’m just messing with you. I get that situation, too.”

  Lucky watched Secret struggle to place something on the top shelf. She couldn’t quite reach it. “Here, let me help you.” Lucky went and stood behind Secret.

  The heat from his body was warming her. She could smell his soft daytime cologne. Places in her body started to get moist.

  Even once Lucky had removed the item from Secret’s hand and placed it on the shelf, he stood behind her a few seconds, inhaling the smell of her hair. “Suave Professionals.”

  “Huh?” Secret turned around, her front side now against Lucky’s.

  “Suave Professionals. I remember that is the kind of shampoo you use. Remember that time I washed your hair in the shower?”

  Secret smiled. “Yeah. I was pregnant and getting too fat and tired to do it myself.”

  “Let me do it again.” Lucky said it in a whisper with his lips practically pressed up against Secret’s. “Damn, I missed you so much. I didn’t know what I was going to do without you.”

  “I’m sure you found plenty of women to fill the void,” Secret said.

  “With your watchdog, cock blocking–ass best friend around? Shitttttt.”

  Secret couldn’t help but laugh. That was Shawndiece for you. Secret stopped laughing. She stopped smiling. She didn’t want to be all up in this dude’s face hee hee hawing, not for real and hardly for fake. But she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t shake the feelings rising up inside of her, some old and some new. This was something she hadn’t thought about when agreeing to rekindle a relationship with Lucky. She thought for sure all the hate would drown out the little bit of love that still might have been lingering around.

  Lucky touched her cheek. Secret quickly turned away.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucky asked.

  “I can’t right now,” Secret said as she pushed Lucky from in front of her and went in search of the aisles she needed to be in to put the remaining items in the basket in.

  “Wait! Secret wait!” Lucky rushed behind her and grabbed her arm.

  “Hey, is everything okay here?” the store manager came around the corner and asked. He looked down to see Lucky gripping Secret’s arm. “Hey, young man. Get off of her.”

  “Dude, I’m having a conversation with my girl,” Lucky told the store manager while Secret was trying to loosen her arm from him. He kept a tight grip on it though.

  “Well, this looks like more than a conversation to me. You are being physical. If you don’t take your hands off of her right now, I’m calling the police.”

  Lucky released Secret and stormed over to the manager, pointing his finger and getting all up in his face. “Man, I said I’m just talking to my girl here.” Spittle was flying out of Lucky’s mouth.

  “That’s it. I’m calling the cops now.” The store manager went storming back up the aisle.

  Lucky looked at Secret in a panic. His eyes pleaded with her to do something. She knew that look all too well. She’d had the very same look in her eyes that day of her arrest. She’d pleaded with Lucky but he did nothing. Payback was a bitch.

  Secret watched as the store manager pulled out his cell phone. She then looked back to Lucky and his pleading puppy dog eyes. She took a step toward her manager. “Wait, Mr. Farmer. Please, no need to call the police,” Secret told him just as he was about to dial 911.

  Mr. Farmer looked to Lucky and then back to Secret. “I understand domestic violence. My mother protected my father for years. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll be a witness and—”

  “Mr. Farmer, no, it’s not like that. He’s my baby’s father. He was sharing something very important with me about the baby. He was touching me more so out of passio
n versus being violent. I’d never allow a man to put his hands on me. Ever.”

  Mr. Farmer stared at Secret a few more moments trying to read her face. He wanted to make sure she was telling the truth and just wasn’t afraid of the repercussions from her abuser if the police were called.

  For assurance Secret said, “And after hearing about your mother, you can best believe I’ll never let a man put his hands on me. I’m so sorry your mother went through that, and that you had to experience that. I won’t allow that to happen to myself or my child.” Secret rubbed her manager’s shoulder. “But thank you so much for caring enough to want to protect me.” She was still speaking to her manager but looked to Lucky when she said, “No one has ever protected me like that before.” She looked back to her manager who 100 percent believed everything Secret was saying.

  Mr. Farmer looked to Lucky. “Hey, I’m sorry about that, man. It just looked like—”

  Lucky cut him off. “Don’t worry about it. Like my girl here said”—he pointed to Secret—“thank you for looking out for her. It’s good to know that if something did happen to her, there is a good person like you around to take care of her.”

  The pride building up in Mr. Farmer was obvious by the way his shoulders lifted and he held his head up high. “I just did what any decent person would do. That’s all.” He looked to Secret. “Secret, we need you on register four.” He then walked away.

  Once Mr. Farmer was gone Lucky walked over to Secret. He touched her on her elbow. “Thank you so much.” He exhaled. “You didn’t have to do that for me. I don’t even know why you did considering . . .” His words trailed off as he shook his head.

  Secret finished his thoughts. “Especially since you didn’t do the same for me when you had a chance?”

  Lucky nodded. “That would have been a golden opportunity to pay me back.”

  “I don’t need to pay you back, Lucky. ‘Vengeance is mine thus sayeth the Lord.’”

  Lucky had a confused look on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “According to my grandmother, it means God can get you back way better than I ever could.” Secret pulled her arm away from Lucky and walked away while throwing over her shoulder, “And by the way, I’m not your girl.”

  Lucky watched Secret walk away while mumbling under his breath, “Not yet anyway.”

  Chapter 20

  “Ray, oh my goodness! What are you doing here?” Secret said after slinging open her door.

  Ray looked Secret up and down. Secret was dressed in a nice flowing off-the-shoulder chiffon top. She wore white leggings underneath and some studded flip-flops. Her hair was in flat twist straight back and she wore some silver dripping earrings. “Looks like you were expecting company, just not me.” Ray looked over Secret’s shoulder and into her apartment. She could see where the dining room table was set. There was even a candle in the middle of the table.

  Secret followed Ray’s eyes to the table. “Oh, that. Yeah, well.” Secret turned to face Ray. “But, uh, you can come in.” Secret stepped to the side.

  “You sure? I don’t want to interrupt your evening.”

  “You came all this way. At least come in and say hi. Besides that, I’ve missed you.”

  Ray stepped into the apartment. “I can tell.” There was a hint of sarcasm behind Ray’s tone.

  Secret immediately felt convicted for having not even bothered to pick up the phone and call Ray these past weeks. After all, if it had not been for Ray stepping in to save the day, Secret could very well still be in jail. And it wasn’t because Secret hadn’t appreciated everything that Ray had done for her that had kept her from calling up Ray. It just felt so awkward.

  It was no secret that there was some type of attraction between the two women. They’d shared a kiss at Ray’s home. Not just some little “Secret kissed a girl and she liked it” peck. It had been a deep, passionate kiss that had sent chills through Secret’s body. Had she not recently given birth to Dina at the time, Lord only knows what might have happened between the two that night. Never ever having felt that way about a female before, those feelings she was having toward Ray scared her. So it was safe to say that fear was the main reason why Secret hadn’t reached out to Ray.

  Ray stepped inside and Secret closed and locked the door behind them. Ray sniffed the aroma wavering throughout the room. “Mmmm. Smells good in here.”

  “Yes, I just finished cooking dinner,” Secret said. Feeling as though it would be rude to have Ray over smelling all that delicious food and not offering her any, she made a suggestion. “I’d love it if you’d do me a favor. Come and taste some of what I cooked and tell me what you think.”

  Ray stuck her hands down in her pockets. “Nahh, from the times you cooked while staying at my place, I’m sure it’s just fine,” she complimented her. “Where’s Dina?” She looked around. She saw a couple of Dina’s toys and her baby swing, but the baby was nowhere in sight.

  “She’s down for the evening. Well at least for the next few hours. That child doesn’t hardly sleep through the night.”

  “Yeah, that must be tough, getting up in the middle of the night.”

  “I really don’t mind. Her little face puts a smile on mine every time.”

  “I imagine. She has a face just like yours.”

  Secret blushed at Ray’s compliment. “Anyway, come.” Secret waved Ray into the kitchen. “Taste this food for me.”

  Ray followed Secret into the kitchen and watched her take pans out of the oven and lids off pots on the stove. Secret retrieved a spoon and fork from the kitchen drawer and fed Ray samples of all the different foods she’d prepared.

  “Girl, you are the young, black Martha Stewart,” Ray teased.

  “So I take it you approve?” Secret asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Then I’ll have to have you over and cook like this for you sometime.”

  “I’d really like that, Secret.”

  The two just stood there smiling in silence. Finally Secret figured she should speak on whatever this thing was, or wasn’t, between the two of them.

  “Look,” both women began at the same time. Then they both laughed. “You go ahead.” Again the two women spoke at the same time.

  “I just wanted to say that I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable in any way.” Ray finally got her words out.

  “Uncomfortable.” Secret feigned dumb. “Why would I be uncomfortable around you?”

  “Come on, Secret. Let’s not play games. We’re better than that.” Ray took Secret’s hands into hers. “You’re a sweet girl. Nice and beautiful. I just want to clarify that in no way did I want anything from you in return for helping you out. So I hope with that kiss and getting my little feel on I didn’t make you, you know, feel like you couldn’t be around me.”

  Secret shook her head. “No, no, it’s not that at all. I’m a big girl. Trust me, every decision I make, I make on my own. Good or bad. Besides, I’m the one who kissed you first. Remember?”

  “I hear you,” Ray said. “So was it good?” She looked into Secret’s eyes.

  “Huh, what?”

  “The kiss, was it—”

  “Oh, it was good, real good,” Secret expressed.

  Ray smiled. “I was going to ask was it a good decision to kiss me.”

  Secret felt embarrassed. “Oh, oh, my bad, I thought—”

  “It’s okay. I’m glad the kiss was good. I’m flattered.”

  Secret looked down at her hands that were still nestled inside of Ray’s. Ray looked down.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Ray let go of Secret’s hands. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s okay. Please, I didn’t mean anything by, you know.” Secret took Ray’s hands into hers. She didn’t want Ray to think she had looked down at her hands as a sign for her to not touch her. She liked Ray’s touch.

  Ray took her thumbs and rubbed the back of Secret’s hands. “So soft.”

  “Thank you,” Secret said. She
could feel Ray tugging on her hands, pulling her into her. Secret didn’t resist. She found herself nose to nose with Ray.

  Ray leaned in slowly and brushed her lips up against Secret’s. She then placed a kiss on them. On the second kiss, she could feel Secret participating. Slowly Ray slid her tongue into Secret’s mouth. Secret began to inhale and exhale as she became hot and bothered. Ray pulled her hands away from Secret and placed them around her small waist. She pulled Secret into her then allowed her hands to cup Secret’s ass.

  She massaged Secret’s butt cheeks as she deep throated her with a passionate kiss. Looking into Secret’s eyes Ray took her hand and brought it around to Secret’s private spot and began massaging her through her white pants.

  “Ahhh,” Secret moaned.

  Ray suddenly stopped. “What am I doing?” She went to pull away but Secret pulled her back close.

  “You’re making me feel good, that’s what you’re doing,” Secret said. “Please don’t stop. I like it.” Secret pulled Ray up against her and began kissing her.

  Ray gave in and allowed her hands to begin roaming Secret’s body. She cupped Secret’s breast through the chiffon shirt. She then placed her hand under the shirt, cupping her breast through her bra. Once again Ray allowed her hand to massage Secret’s privates. Ray could feel the warmth coming from Secret.

  “Damn, you’re so hot,” Ray panted. Ray kneeled down and removed Secret’s flip-flops. She then stood up in Secret’s face, staring in her eyes as she slipped Secret’s pants and panties down her thighs. She bent down again and slid them off of each of Secret’s feet. She then lifted Secret’s right foot up to her mouth and began massaging each pink-painted toe with her tongue.

  The feeling practically drove Secret out of her mind. She grabbed the counter with one hand and the refrigerator handle with the other in order to balance. Ray was making her weak.

  Ray ran her tongue across each toe, placing each one in her mouth, popping it out with a thud sound. She used her tongue to trace in-between Secret’s toes. Next she placed kisses all up Secret’s legs and thighs until her face was right at Secret’s triangle. Ray used her mouth to nuzzle and part Secret’s vagina lips.