by D D Bridges
“What are you talking about? What happened?” I asked, putting my hands in my pockets.
“I was going back to her house to drop off her suitcase the other night, and I saw her driving away,” he began to tell me. “She drove right by me so I followed her. Turns out she was meeting up with D.J. and that dude Allen. They met up at this old run-down garage somewhere in town. So when I went inside to see if she was okay, I found her lying on the floor unconscious. She was all bruised and bloody and shit. Looked like he had beat her with a chain or something, bruh. She was in bad shape.”
“And you brought her here?” I said disapprovingly.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he said. “I couldn’t go back to her house after I had just gotten into it with Walter. And if I had taken her to the hospital they probably would have called the police and tried to say that I did that shit. So yeah, I brought her here, a’ight.”
“And you’re just now telling me,” I said. “Walter is gonna flip when he finds out.”
“I don’t mean no disrespect, but fuck Walter,” Terry said. “I’m still mad at how he came at me when I didn’t even do shit.”
“Cut him some slack, man,” Derek said. “How you expect the man to act over his daughter.”
“It’s not even about that, Derek. It’s about the fact that in spite of me working for Darius, he still looks at me like I’m a piece of shit. He looks at all of us that way. Like we ain’t nothing. I’m telling you right now, Darius, if I gotta go in there today and see that uppity nigga, me and him gonna have more than some words, ya’ feel me.”
I knew that Terry was still upset, and he had every right to be. Nobody liked to be judged or deemed as inferior based on how they looked or where they came from. And then to have someone put their hands on you took things to another level. I completely agreed that Walter had overreacted to that situation, and it probably was best that I gave Terry the day off so that they could both calm down.
“A’ight man, you can have the day off so that you can get Leah situated,” I told him. “I personally don’t have a problem with y’all kickin’ it, but I can’t speak for Walter. If you and Leah got something going on, then I think that out of respect you should talk to Walter about it. Let him know what your intentions are.”
“Hell nah. I ain’t doing that,” he said.
“Come on, man. Think about your daughter,” Derek said. “When she gets older and dudes trying to date her, you’re gonna want the same respect.”
“Yeah man,” I said, eagerly agreeing with Derek’s point. “You should be able to understand where he’s coming from even though his judgment was a little off.”
“Look, I’ll think about it,” Terry said. “But right now I’m just trying to help shawty out.”
It was clear to me that Terry really liked Leah. True to form, he was trying to be all hard about it and act like he wasn’t feeling her, but I knew him too well to fall for that. Terry may have some thug in him, and he’s definitely hardcore, but he’s a good man. He’d do right by Leah, I was pretty sure of that.
“Okay, fine. But go get her so that I can talk to her right quick,” I told him.
Terry went down the hall and into his room. He closed the door behind him and Derek and I stood there and waited. A few seconds later I heard both he and Leah’s voices being raised at one another. It was clear that they were arguing with one another, but I could only here bits and pieces of what the argument was about. Leah’s voice was more raised than Terry’s, which was something that I never thought I’d hear. After a while the only voice that I heard was Terry’s and it sounded as if he had gotten things under control.
After a few brief moments of silence, Leah came out of the room and Terry followed closely behind. She walked over to me and I could tell that she had been through it. A few of the bruises on her body were still visible in spite of the blouse that she wore, but for the most part she looked okay.
“Hey. You alright?” I asked her. She wore this pissed of look on her face which I knew was the result of whatever she and Terry had argued about in the room. I looked at Terry and he was watching her closely. He looked calm and relaxed in comparison to Leah’s demeanor.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Leah said. “Or at least I will be as soon as I get away from this nigga.” She cut her eyes at Terry before turning away from him and folding her arms. I looked back and forth between the two of them trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
“What’s the matter with you two?” I asked.
“She’s mad because we fucked,” Terry said. His tone was so nonchalant that I almost didn’t even catch on to what he said. I stared at him wide-eyed and then looked over at Leah who was staring at him too, her mouth hanging open in shock.
“I can’t believe you just said that. Will you shut the hell up!” She shoved him in the chest and then stormed off to the bedroom. Terry seemed to be unfazed by this whole scenario, but I wasn’t surprised because that was just how he was.
“Terry, you and Leah had sex?” I asked in disbelief.
“Why would she be mad about that?” Derek asked. “You must not have been hittin’ it right.”
“Nah, I was,” Terry replied. “You shoulda heard the way that she was screaming my name, bruh.”
“Yo, chill wit’ all that,” I told them. “You know I look at Leah like a little sister. I don’t want to hear all that.”
Terry immediately caused his smirk to disappear as he began to look a little apologetic. “I’ll tell you about it later,” he told Derek quickly and Derek nodded his approval. I shook my head at them.
“Terry, you can’t do Leah like that. She’s not like them girls that you’re used to dealing with,” I told him. “She’s really sensitive about that kind of stuff and you probably hurt her feelings. You need to go apologize.”
“Yeah, go apologize,” Derek chimed in unnecessarily.
“Shut up,” Terry told him before looking at me. “A’ight man. I guess I’ll go talk to her.”
“Cool. We’ll catch you later. I gotta get to the office,” I told him and then watched him walk away.
Once he was out of sight, Derek and I turned to each other and shared a laugh. Neither of us would have ever thought that Terry would end up hooking up with somebody like Leah. All three of Terry’s baby mommas were straight hood girls. If he and Leah did start to get serious, it was definitely going to be a change of pace for my boy.
“You know I need y’all to hold things down while I’m gone,” I said to Derek as he and I began to make our way downstairs.
“Don’t even worry about that, man. You know that we gon’ handle things around here,” he told me before his expression became really serious. “You sure about this though? I mean, I don’t know how any of us will be able to sleep knowing that you’re in Miami all by yourself.”
“Knowing you, you probably already got some kind of plan on how you can keep an eye on me while I’m there.”
Derek smirked and said, “You know me too well, bruh.”
Once we were at the bottom of the stairs we headed for the kitchen.
“I’ve already hacked into the surveillance cameras at the hotel that you’ll be staying in,” he told me. “Their security is already pretty tight, but you can never be too safe. What I’m really concerned about is when you’re not at the hotel. I’ll be able to track you only so far. Other than that, you’ll be on your own.”
I sighed as we stopped at the door of the kitchen.
“Well, I’m pretty sure that I won’t run into any issues,” I said. “As far Francisco is concerned, he’ll think that I’m still here in Atlanta. And I’m sure that by now he knows that his son is dead so I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t show up here any day now. That’s one of the reason’s that I need you all here. I can handle myself, but I can’t leave Natalie and my mom unprotected.”
“Don’t worry, man. We got it on this end,” Derek told me confidently as we slapped hands.
&nbs
p; “Cool. And if Natalie needs anything, take care of it.”
“Most definitely.”
Chapter XIII- Leah
I was standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror when Terry came in there with me. If he knew what was good for him then he would stay out of my way because I was highly upset with him. I couldn’t believe that he had just embarrassed me like that by telling Darius and Derek about what we did last night. I was beginning to see why my parents always warned me to stay away from guys like him.
He stood in the doorway and watched as I combed my hair. I put the comb down and turned to him.
“You are a real piece of shit! I can’t believe you said that in front of them. You might of thought that shit was funny, but it wasn’t funny at all!” He continued to stare at me after I said my peace, and the way that he was looking at me was a little bit unnerving. I kept my composure though, turned back to the mirror and continued combing my hair. If he wanted to stand there looking stupid then I was going to let him.
Before I knew it he came up behind me and stood over my right shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said as we watched one another through the mirror. “I didn’t mean to put all of your business out there.” This was throwing me off because he actually looked and sounded sincere, but I just knew that couldn’t be the case.
“No you’re not,” I said abruptly. “I do not accept your apology.”
He moved to my side so that he could look directly into my face.
“Come on, I’m trying to be nice,” he said, his hand resting gently on the small of my back.
“You think I’m a hoe, don’t you?” I said, putting my comb down again.
“No, I don’t think you’re a hoe,” he said unconvincingly.
“Then why did you tell them that we fucked? And why did you have to say it like that?” I said, turning toward him so that I could look into his face as well. “You made me feel like I was just another one of your chicks and that what we did didn’t mean anything.”
“Well, it’s not like I made you do it,” he said. “You came at me, remember?”
“Only because I thought we had a deal,” I protested. “You weren’t supposed to say anything to Darius. I thought you had my back.”
“I do have your back.”
“No you don’t.”
“Look, I didn’t promise you anything,” he said. “So next time you try to seduce a man into doing what you want him to do, make sure you at least get his word first.”
I knew that he was trying to mock me so I had to make one thing clear. “I don’t normally do stuff like this,” I told him snobbishly before huffing my displeasure. “I can’t believe I slept with somebody who doesn’t even like me!” I wished that I could have just melted into the floor. I stood there feeling embarrassed as hell until I heard him say,
“I never said that I didn’t like you.” I stared into his eyes, trying to determine if he was just playing with me or if he was being for real. “Do you think that I would be standing here having this conversation with you if I didn’t at least feel something for you?”
“What are you trying to say?” I asked him. He moved behind me again and put his hands on my hips.
“What I’m saying is that I came in here because I wanted us to make up,” he said before kissing me behind my ear. “And I got some ideas as to how we can do that.”
His hands moved under my blouse, lingering just above the waist of my Prada jeans. His eyes were fixated on the small amount of cleavage that was peeking out of the V in my top, but I didn’t mind. This was one of the rare times that I wanted a man to look as well as touch.
He didn’t hesitate to grab my breast, handling them roughly. Just as roughly, he turned me around so that I was facing him. Before I knew it, his tongue was invading my mouth and his skilled hands were undressing me. He kissed my neck while he unzipped my jeans and began to peel them off of me.
“I’m still mad at you, Terry,” I said, trying not to sound as turned on as I actually was, but failing miserably. He didn’t give my words any mind. He was too busy removing my panties. I kicked them and my jeans to the side, then he lifted me up and sat me on the edge of the sink.
He got on his knees and threw both of my legs over his shoulders. I gasped when his wet tongue made contact with my clitoris.
“Terry…” I moaned breathlessly as he placed hot kisses on my clit before delving his tongue deep into my wetness. He groaned low in his throat as he seemed to be enjoying the taste of my pussy. He refused to let any of my juices drip as he licked ferociously, almost like he was trying to finish off an ice cream cone before it melted. I grabbed the back of his head, and the more that I pushed his face into my fold, the more determined he seemed to be to not come up for air until I came. And came I did; long and hard. I came much harder than I had ever come with Allen. Trying to have an orgasm with him was like pulling teeth.
Terry stood and had a sexy and satisfied smirk on his face as he moved away from me. He grabbed one of the face towels from off of the wall and then came back over to me. He reached around me, turned on the faucet, wet the towel, then used it to wipe his face. I bit my lip while I watched him. He was so damn sexy. I was never into bad boys, but Terry had me feenin’ for more of him already.
Still sitting on the edge of the sink, I lifted my arms over my head and removed my top. I pulled his shirt off too and then began working on his belt.
“What you doin’, ma’?” he asked and then paused as if he actually needed me to respond.
“What does it look like?” I said, now unzipping his jeans.
“Damn, shawty, hold up,” he said. “I ain’t got no rubbers, and we already didn’t use one last night. I already got three kids, and I don’t need no more accidents.”
“I don’t give a damn about that,” I said as I pulled his dick out and guided it between my thighs. “I just want you to fuck me.”
He didn’t resist at all, but willingly obliged as he slid inside of me.
“I see you ain’t nothin’ but trouble, girl,” he grunted as he positioned one of his arms under my leg.
“I’m good trouble,” I smiled and said as I wrapped one of my arms around his neck and used my other hand to grip his shoulder. He put his arm under my other leg, and I held on for dear life as he pounded away.
He was much rougher than he was the night before, but I didn’t want it any other way. My body had healed rather quickly and I was almost back at full strength. The truth was that I had Terry to thank for that. He had stood up for me, rescued me, taken care of me, made love to me, and now he was giving me the best sex that I’d ever had. I didn’t know what this meant about us and our friendship, but I think it was safe to say that we were much more than friends now. At the very least, we were going to be friends with benefits from now on because I was already anticipating the next time that I’d be able to get some of this good sex again.
*******
After we left the house, Terry took me to see Dr. Jacobs. We went to his office and we were pleased to find out that he wasn’t seeing anyone that morning. He examined me right away, gave me a tetanus shot, and tested me for Hepatitis C. The test results came back negative and I was relieved. Dr. Jacobs then gave me specific instructions on taking the medication that he was prescribing me and told me to make sure that I got plenty of rest until I was fully recovered. Terry was in the room when Dr. Jacobs advised me not to participate in any sexual activity for the next two weeks. The look that I gave Terry at that moment made it very clear that I had no intention of following that order. Terry only laughed under his breath and then a few minutes later we left.
Today Terry was driving me around in Darius’s Maserati. I didn’t even know that Darius owned one of those since he was always riding around in either his Benz or Rolls Royce. The Maserati was a killer car; a fast and sexy piece of work. And Terry looked mighty fine behind the wheel.
I watched him from the passenger seat as he weaved through traffic
while we sped down I-285. He was taking me home so that I could get some rest, but if things went my way then I’d be only grabbing some clothes and then spending the next few days, or maybe even weeks, with him. I guess you could say that I was sprung, or maybe I was just suffering from the hero-syndrome. Either way, all I knew was that I wanted to be wherever Terry was. He was the first person that I felt completely safe around in a long time. Not only that, but I wasn’t ready to face my parents yet. I knew that it was only a matter of time before they came looking for me if they hadn’t already been doing so, but I wanted to avoid them for as long as I could.
We arrived at my parent’s house. The black, barred gate was already open so Terry pulled into the brick driveway and circled the fountain before putting the car in park. The only other car in the driveway was Jeremiah’s and I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew that my dad would be at work, but I was hoping and praying that my mother would be gone as well. It looked like my prayer had been answered.
“You home now, shawty,” Terry said. “Make sure you take care of yourself.”
I looked at Terry and he was looking back at me. His expression was unreadable but I was willing to bet that he was only fronting like he really wanted me to leave. I liked to think that I knew him a little better than that.
“So you’re just gonna toss me out like the trash?” I asked and then waited for his response.
“Nah,” he said while looking away briefly. “It’s just that I don’t want to be here too long. If your parents show up you know they gon’ trip.”
“Terry, I don’t give a damn what my parents think about you,” I said for the record. “They don’t know you like I do. Besides, my dad is at work and my mom is probably running errands or volunteering somewhere in the inner city.”
“So what you sayin’? You want me to stay?” he asked.
“Actually I was hoping that you would wait for me to go grab a few clothes and then you’d let me chill with you. I know that Darius won’t mind if I stay at the mansion for a few more days.”