I watched her swish her little narrow ass around the corner before I joined Kayla, who was waiting eagerly to hear what I had to say. “That crazy bitch thinks Leroy walks on water.”
“What did she say?”
I scowled. “Nothing worth repeating. Although she is under the impression Leroy used to pretend to go fishing and instead was spending the weekend with you.”
“I wish. All he ever gave me was a quick, cheap screw,” she returned with a dejected look.
I could tell she was about to get depressed again. I rose and pulled her up to her feet. “Come on. Let’s not let her ruin our day.”
We still went to dinner, but I could tell her heart was no longer in it. I wanted to go find Darlene myself and give her a piece of my mind for messing everything up.
After I dropped Kayla off at home, I decided to go by Danielle’s house unannounced and see why her ass hasn’t been answering the phone. I made a left onto her street and before I even reached her house, I spotted the Impala in her driveway. Ain’t this a bitch. Don’t tell me she let Ron’s freeloading ass back into her house. I climbed out and walked up the driveway. The door was open and as soon as I stepped onto the porch, I could see straight through the storm door into the living room and neither of them were in sight. Knowing Danielle, they were probably in her bedroom getting busy. It takes a ho to know one, and I know my girl will drop her drawers for a thug in a heartbeat.
I rang the doorbell repeatedly, knowing good and well it was going to piss her behind off. I didn’t care, because it was the only way I knew she would hurry to the door. I heard footsteps and thought it was her, but instead Ron came around the corner.
“Hey, Renee, come on in.” Ron’s honey-coated voice oozed into my head and I couldn’t help smiling as he unlocked the door and I stepped in.
“Where’s Danny?”
“She’ll be right down.”
I tried not to stare, but damn, the brotha looked good. He had come to the door with no shirt on and had a body that very few mothafuckas could hold a torch to. In fact, in a pair of jean shorts, he showed off the sexiest set of calves I have seen in years. Shit, maybe I need to find me a thug. Not to date, just to fuck.
Ron reached for a white tee on the couch, lowered it over his head, then grabbed a set of keys off the coffee table and headed toward the door. “Tell Danny to hit me on my cell later.”
“Uh-huh,” I mumbled. My eyes followed him out the door and down the driveway. He hopped into the Impala and started the car. Music blared, bass thumping as he peeled around the corner.
“Hey, girl.” Danielle came bouncing down the stairs, taking them two at a time in a slamming two-piece shorts outfit.
“What you all smiles for? You must have gotten you some.”
Blushing, she moved over to the couch and took a seat.
“Girl, I don’t blame you. As fine as he is, I don’t think I could stay mad at him, either.” I gave her a high five and we started laughing.
“You seen Kayla?” she asked.
I nodded, then sat in the chair across from her and told her about our shopping adventure, including running into Mrs. Brown.
“She’s crazy.”
“Yep. I wouldn’t be surprised if that anorexic bitch didn’t kill him herself,” I said.
Danielle’s eyes grew large. “Daaayum! Me, either.”
“Crazy as she is, she at least gave me a clue.” I told her about the fishing trips. “I don’t think they were fishing. I bet you Deacon Williams was covering for Reverend Brown so he could be with another one of his skanks.”
I agree.
“Now I just have to find out who she is.”
“Or he,” Danielle corrected.
“Right.” I leaned back in the chair, trying to make some sense out of everything that was happening. “Deacon Williams and my grandfather go way back. I’m going to drop by and see if maybe, now that his boy Leroy is gone, he’ll tell me what really happened. He’s a Christian man so I’m sure he’s ready to cleanse his soul.”
Nodding, Danielle added, “While you do that, I’ll keep trying to reach Tracy. I left her two messages at her mama’s house and she ain’t bothered to call me back yet.”
“Then drop in on her ass. She don’t work and got four kids. How far can she be?”
Danielle cackled. “I know that’s right.” She laughed, then asked, “Have you seen Peaches yet?”
I gave her a grim look. “I’ve been asking around. Even Tommy is trying to find her.”
“She’ll pop up eventually,” Danielle replied confidently.
But personally, I wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know, Danny. I’m starting to think that maybe Leroy might have done something to Peaches.”
She gave me a worried look that I was amazed to see, considering she and Peaches never cared much about each other. “Do you really think so?”
“Right now, anything is possible.” I glanced up the stairs curiously. “It’s quiet. Where’s Portia?”
Danielle looked down at her acrylic nails, “I put her hot ass out.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Why’d you do that?”
Her voice was cool and detached. “Because she lied and said she was pregnant by Ron.”
“What!” I sprang from the chair like a jack-in-the- box. “Hold up! Wait a minute. My goddaughter told you she was pregnant by Ron, and you put her out?”
She straightened her shoulders. “Yep, sure did. She’s staying over there with my mama.”
“What is Ron saying about all this?”
She drew in a deep breath. “He said she’s lying.”
Is this bitch stuck on stupid or what? “Of course, he’s gonna say that. Do you think he’ll admit fuckin’ around with your daughter?” I shook my head in disbelief. I’d met some dumb women in my lifetime, but Danielle takes the cake. “How the hell you gonna take some negro’s word over your daughter’s?”
Danielle gave me a dismissive wave. “’Cause she lies too damn much.”
“How you know she ain’t telling you the truth for once?”
“Because I know.”
“No...because you don’t want to know. Whatever. There is no way in hell I would believe dick over blood.”
She looked at me with those slanted eyes of hers and tried to get me to understand. “You don’t know how Portia is, but I do. She lies all the time to get attention, and I know she’s lying. She just doesn’t want to see me happy.”
“First off, how the hell can Ron make you happy? That mothafucka may be fine, but he ain’t got a pot to piss in.”
“He may not have much, but at least he’s trying. He got a job and is planning to start paying bills around here.”
“Ain’t you heard this sad love song before? Come on, Danielle. How can you turn your back on your daughter?” I rolled my eyes. “See, if it had been Tamara, all she’d have to do is tell me once some nigga was trying to touch her and I’m gonna do a Lorena Bobbitt on his ass.”
Danielle shook her head. “You don’t understand. Yo’ daughter doesn’t act like mine. Portia is off the chain and driving me crazier by the day. All this sneaking out and meeting men on the Internet and pretending someone raped her. Now she’s pregnant and claiming that my man is the father.”
“Wait a minute. Yo’ man ... What happened to Calvin?”
She pursed her lips with attitude. “I thought you didn’t want me being with Calvin.”
“I told you I didn’t care if you were with him. I just wished you had given me a heads-up. But, I’d rather you be with him than with Ron’s ass. Come on, Danny, he might be screwing your daughter.”
There was a long moment of silence. “How do I find out for sure?”
I can’t believe this ho. She is more afraid of losing a man than her own child. What is wrong with this world? “What does Portia say?”
She gave me a disbelieving look. “She says she loves him, and he promised her they would be together after the baby is born.”
&n
bsp; I can honestly say I can’t blame Portia for falling for his fine ass. Ron is a chocolate bar definitely worth sampling. I can see any teenage girl falling for him. “Well... what’s something that only a person who’s fucking him would know?”
Danielle gave me a long, thoughtful look before finally saying, “He’s not circumcised.”
My jaw dropped. “Ewww! You’ve been messing with a dirty dick.” I started waving my hands in the air like they were on fire.
“He’s not dirty,” she replied defensively. “Ron’s the cleanest man I know.”
“But he ain’t circumcised. Yuck!”
She rolled her eyes. “Girl, whatever.”
I could tell I had pissed her off by talking about her man, but so what. “Okay, so then all you have to do is have Portia describe his dick.”
“Yeah, I guess,” she said, unconvinced.
“What do you mean, you guess?”
“I mean, I guess you’re right.”
“Damn straight I’m right. Is his thing long, fat, does it have a curve?”
Her jaw twitched with amusement “Ain’t you nosy.”
“No, but you need to have her describe it. We already know she knows what the rest of his body looks like. Hell, I saw that when he came to the door.” And damn, did that shit look good. “But no one should have seen his dick but you.”
“Okay, I’ll ask her.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Why not now?”
“Because I need a moment to prepare,” she informed me.
“Prepare for what? Putting the mothafucka out? Girl, please.”
“Renee, just let me do this my way.”
“Whatever.” I rose from the chair, pissed off and ready to go get my cousin Murphy and have him whoop Ron’s ass. “You need to handle your business—otherwise, I’m gonna ask my goddaughter myself.” I turned on my heels and headed back out to my car. This shit gets crazier by the second.
Lisa, girl, shit is crazy down here. Kayla’s been charged with murder. Danielle’s man is fucking her daughter, and me, well, I don’t know what to say about my fucked-up situation except to say that this shit has got to come to an end soon.
Chapter 36
Danielle
Danielle slept late the next morning, not at all ready to face what she was about to do. Renee had made a good point. Some way, somehow, she had to know for sure if her daughter was lying.
“Boo, you up?” Ron mumbled as he stirred in the bed beside her. Turning on his side, he swung an arm around her waist.
“Yeah, I’m up.”
“Good, can yo’ man get some attention this morning?”
Her hand traveled down between his legs to find him hard as a rock. She rolled over and straddled him, then took every inch with one push. “Ooh!” she moaned. Every time he was inside of her, he made her feel so complete. A perfect fit. Danielle rocked her hips slowly at first, then sped things up.
“Yeah, boo, that’s what I’m talking about. Ride this dick,” Ron managed between groans.
She rocked hard while he joined in and moved beneath her.
“Tell me you don’t like this.”
Like it? That was a stupid question. She loved it. Danielle made a sound in her throat but didn’t answer. How could she give all this up? It had taken her years to find the perfect dick and now she might have to let it go. She rose up and down and plunged hard, wanting it like a hungry woman trying to get a meal. There was a chance that she might not ever have this again and she wanted to get all she could.
Ron tapped her lightly on the butt. “Roll yo’ ass over.”
Obediently, she got down on all fours and Ron positioned himself behind her and pushed inside. She sucked air between her teeth at the contact. He pumped his hips until he had her screaming and speaking in tongues. Danielle came, then came again. While he stroked, he slapped her ass and gave her a thorough spanking. Oh, was it good, and she couldn’t get enough.
“Yes, baby, fuck me!” she cried.
Ron smacked her ass again. “Whose pussy is it?”
“It’s yours. Only yours.”
“You promise not to give my shit to some other nucca?”
He didn’t have to worry about that. “I promise. This pussy belongs to you.” And she meant it.
Ron reached for her hair and pulled it while his body tensed. Trembling violently, he came long and hard, and she right along with him, until they collapsed on the bed together. After a while he reached across her to the nightstand.
“Boo, here’s two hundred.”
Danielle sat up straight on the bed and glanced from him to the money and back. “For what?”
“What you think? To help wit’ the bills. I told you I’m gonna start doing right by you,” he announced proudly.
Danielle lowered her head to his chest again. She loved him so much, she didn’t know what she was going to do. “Can I ask a question?”
“Yo, you can ask me any thang.”
She wrung her hands nervously before saying, “Has Portia ever seen you with ... with yo’ clothes off?”
Ron pushed her head off his chest and sat up so he could look down at her face. “What kind of question is that?”
“One that requires an answer,” she replied with a roll of her neck. “I want to know if my daughter has seen you naked.”
His eyes shifted nervously before he finally shook his head. “Nah, boo. That girl ain’t seen my shit. Damn! I thought we squashed this thang.”
She hugged him close. The last thing she wanted was to mess things up between them. “I know, I know. But she is my daughter.”
“Yeah, and your daughter has a serious problem. What the hell do I need with a kid when I got a fine-ass woman lying right here?” He winked, then tickled her underarm and she squirmed and screamed.
“Okay, stop it!” Danielle tried to push his hand away, but he pinned her hands at her side and straddled her.
“Damn, Danny. I know I’ve fucked up in the past, but I’m tryin’ to do right by you, boo. Give yo’ man a chance.” He kissed her and she moaned. “Man, you got my dick hard again.”
“Oh, really?” she cooed. “So, what we goin’ do ’bout it?”
“Watch and see.” He pushed her thighs apart and slid all eleven back in, banging and pumping until she thought she would explode because it was so good. She wrapped her legs around his neck and Ron stroked her long and deep. She clung to him; her breath jagged. Finally, when she didn’t think she could take another second, he exploded inside her.
He lay there holding her for the longest time. Something in her heart told her that her man was telling her the truth. Ron had been serious about trying to change. But the maternal part of her said she needed to talk to her daughter and give her a chance to explain before passing judgment. Danielle breathed a deep sigh. Before the day was over, she was going to have to choose between her man and her daughter.
The phone rang and she pushed Ron’s snoring body off of her so she could grab the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, this is Veronica.”
It took a second for her to recognize her cousin’s voice. “Why are you whispering?”
“’Cause I don’t want no one to hear me. You still looking for Tracy?”
Danielle instantly sat up straight. “Yeah, you seen her?”
“She’s here right now, waiting to get her toes done.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a flash.”
“A’ight.”
Danielle hung up the phone and dashed to take a shower.
Dressed in white capris, a red midriff blouse exposing her flat, pierced belly button, and wearing white strappy sandals with rings on all her toes, Danielle strolled into the nail salon. Glancing around, she was pleased to see Veronica sitting in front of the foot tub, scrubbing Tracy’s feet.
“What’s up, girl?” Veronica said when she glanced toward the door.
“Nothing,” Danielle replied, then made eye contact with
Tracy and acted surprised. “Girl, I didn’t even recognize you. What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothing. Just treatin’ myself. What’s been up wit’ you? I haven’t seen you in ... a long-ass time.”
Her grin widened. “Same here.”
“Cuz, you can go ahead and take that seat there and I can get started on your feet in a minute.”
Danielle gave Veronica a puzzled look, then noticed she wanted her to play along. “Oh, yeah. Okay.” She slipped off her shoes and took the seat beside Tracy and waited while Veronica poured her water.
After a while Danielle said out of the blue, “It’s first Sunday, so I am going to try and go to church this weekend.”
“Aunt Bea will be happy to hear that,” Veronica chimed in.
While she scrubbed the bottoms of Tracy’s feet, Danielle watched her expression as she asked, “Tracy, you still attend Mt. Carmel?”
She nodded. “Yeah, girl, but we’ve got drama at our house.”
“Yeah, I heard Reverend Brown was murdered.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, all loud.
“I was reading in the paper they now have a possible suspect,” Danielle paused, then snapped her finger and faked ignorance. “What’s that girl’s name?”
“Kayla Sparks,” she spat, loud and ghetto-like. “I know that bitch did it, too.”
Danielle gaped. “What?” She tried to act like she loved to gossip. “Why you say that?”
“Because she was mad when she found out I was getting some of that, too.”
Danielle had to try and hold it together. “Wasn’t he married?”
“And?” she rolled her eyes and watched as Veronica painted her toes red. “Darlene knew I was screwin’ her man. Came up to me and made sure I knew she knew. She had the nerve to laugh and said she could care less who was getting that, because wasn’t nobody getting his check but her.”
“Shit, no! Girl, she sounds crazy.”
“Crazy ain’t the word. All that wench cared about was the status she received bein’ married to Leroy’s ass.”
“She’s better than me because after I saw that video, I would have stabbed his ass.”
Veronica’s eyes grew large and round. “Girl, wasn’t that some jacked-up shit!” She clapped her hands and laughed louder than was called for. “I think I watched that video three times. Tracy, girl, what you doing messing with that fool?”
Trouble Loves Company Page 24