by Natavia
“Exactly, that’s why I want her to stay away from Eze,” I said.
“Sounds like he’s the one who can’t stay away from her,” Toyi replied. Quanir massaged the shampoo into her scalp and Toyi began purring.
“I like her,” Quanir said.
“You hate lions,” I replied.
“All that lying you keep doing, I’m gonna call you a lion,” he said and Toyi giggled.
“You guys are funny. If only we had humor like this in my pride,” Toyi said.
“What’s up with your pride?” Quanir asked.
“It’s sorta distant; well, for me anyway. Nobody in the house likes me. I guess because of my involvement with the king, but I was only doing what he wanted me to. I found them jobs and collected their hard earnings. It was the cruelest thing I had to do and I pretended it didn’t bother me but I hated it,” she said and burst into tears. My eyes watered for her; the pain in her voice held a story of its own. Finding her in the woods clinging onto life was the most damaging thing I had seen.
“You don’t have to go back,” Quanir said.
“You two don’t owe me anything,” Toyi said, wiping her eyes.
“No, but we can’t send you back there like this. How young are your cubs?” Quanir asked.
“Three weeks,” she replied.
“Eze will be home later on and we can take it from there,” Quanir said.
“Where is Eze?” I asked.
“On a business trip. You know what he does on the side,” he replied.
“So, him and Sy’noba just up and disappear and they’re not together?” I asked.
“Thanks to you, she doesn’t want anything to do with him,” Quanir spat.
While he rinsed Toyi’s hair out, I helped her bathe. Her broken leg was swollen and so was her arm.
“I’ll be back. I have to walk Bernice to the door,” Quanir said before he left the bathroom. Toyi draped her good arm around my shoulder and I helped her out of the tub. She grabbed a towel and sat on the toilet seat.
“I got it from here, thanks,” she said.
“Do you love your mate?” I asked.
“I worshipped him because I was supposed to but I don’t love him,” she replied.
“Who was the one that attacked you?” I asked.
“Sy’noba’s older sister, Asha. She’s the king’s first wife and they have three cubs together,” she replied.
“Is Sy’noba like her sister?” I asked.
“No, she isn’t. Sy’noba is different but she’s not hard to understand. She won’t mess with you if you don’t mess with her. Do you dislike, Sy’noba?” she replied.
“I don’t hate her, she just aggravates me. She came into my life and stole my mate from me. I can tolerate her as long as she stays in her place and does her job for Saber Enterprises,” I replied.
“Ohhhhh, okay. It all makes sense now. Sy’noba was working for Eze?” she asked.
“Yes, she met him while cleaning his building,” I replied.
“And you love him?” she asked.
“Yes, very much,” I replied.
“Does he love you?” she asked.
“He does but not the same. It will change soon,” I replied.
“Be careful,” she said.
Moments later, I helped Toyi back into bed. She laid on her back and stared at the ceiling. She was thinking about her cubs again.
“Do you want something to eat?” I asked.
“No, thank you,” she replied sadly.
Quanir came into the room with a warm glass of milk and caramel syrup.
“Is there Henny in that?” I asked.
“Don’t offend me. I wouldn’t give a nursing mother alcohol. Go to bed, you have school in a few hours,” he said.
“School isn’t important right now,” I replied.
“Eze wasted all that money sending you to that fancy college and you don’t want to go? That’s pretty fucked up, Lynx,” Quanir said.
“And you’re just trying to sneak between her legs. I’m staying here to keep an eye on you,” I replied.
“Your nosey ass keeps an eye on everyone,” he said, and I smacked my teeth. He walked over to Toyi and pulled her up so she could drink some milk.
“Ummm, this is good,” Toyi said. “You’re the first caring male I’ve met,” Toyi told Quanir and his eyes glowed.
“That’s because he’s a mama’s boy,” I joked.
“I think he’s adorable,” Toyi said. I threw my hands up in frustration because their googly eyes were killing me. Quanir was a pompous asshole.
“I will be back later to check up on you. I have to get to school and, Quanir, I’m warning you. Keep your paws to yourself or I will have to kick your ass again,” I warned.
“I let you kick my ass. I could’ve killed you with one bite. Have a nice day, Lynx. I got this,” he said.
I headed down the long spiral staircase and went towards the living room to get my car keys and purse. When I looked down the hall, I noticed the doors to the library were boarded up.
“What are they hiding?” I asked myself aloud.
The boards wouldn’t budge when I tried to pull them off. They were tightly nailed in. I hurriedly grabbed my keys and purse and went outside. I walked around the house and climbed up the brick wall so I could peek through the library window but the curtains were closed.
“OUCH!” I screamed when I punched the window, hoping it would break.
“Get your ass off the house like you Spiderman or something!”
Quanir was hanging out the window on the fourth floor smoking a blunt. I jumped off the wall and gave him the finger.
“Wit’ your nosey ass!” he yelled out as I ran to my truck.
Speeding home, I cursed out Sy’noba, Quanir, and Eze. Those three were up to something and I knew it had to do with the library. As long as I’ve known Eze, he barely went into the library. Since his rebirth, his behavior drastically changed. He was a complete stranger to me and I was losing him. I thought his rebirth was a blessing but it was a curse.
***********
“I need more.” I approached David in the parking lot on campus.
“The bottle is gone already? That bottle was supposed to last more than a year, Lynx. Are you smoking it in your blunt or something?” he asked.
“I gave it to my cat,” I replied and he spit his water out.
“YOU DID WHAT?” he asked.
“I gave it to my cat and it isn’t working,” I replied.
“Is your cat as big as Godzilla? Why would you give the whole damn bottle to a ten-pound cat? All you needed was barely a pinch. If I were you, I’d take my cat to the animal hospital immediately,” he said.
“What are the side-effects?” I asked and he slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead.
“Death, infertility, internal bleeding, hallucination and plenty of other shit. Did the cat go into heat?” he asked.
“Yeah, and she mated with another cat. Tell me something, how does it affect the male cat?” I asked.
“Well, the powder helps build a temporary potent scent from the female. The scent then attracts the male even if he’s not in the mood to mate. It’s supposed to be a quick and easy way to mate animals without having to wait until their mating cycle,” he replied.
“So, it only lasts a few hours opposed to a few days?” I asked.
“Damn, it. Yes, did you listen to anything I told you when we talked about it? It only lasts for a few minutes but since you gave the cat the whole bottle, it probably lasted longer. If your cat dies, you didn’t get shit from me,” he said. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and scurried away. Instead of going to class, I got back inside my truck and burst into tears. What else could I have done to get Eze to notice me?
There was a knock at the window. It was my best friend, Mia. I met Mia when I started school a couple of months ago. We met in a study group and have been close ever since. She was the only human friend I had. I had human fri
ends who were like sisters but they were killed when we went on a ski trip my freshman year of college. It took months for me to come back to school and have a social life again. Eze was the only one I spent time all of my time with since the tragedy happened. He helped me during my grieving process.
“What is wrong with you?” Mia asked when I put the window down.
“I’m having a bad day. Me and Eze aren’t on good terms,” I finally admitted.
“But everything was going great between the two of you. Is there someone else in the picture?” she asked. I nodded my head.
“Yeah, there is. She’s the fucking cleaning girl for crying out loud. I don’t know what he sees in her,” I replied.
“Is she pretty?” Mia asked and I rolled my eyes.
“The bitch is drop-dead gorgeous. Pretty almond eyes, long kinky hair, pretty skin and she’s curvy,” I replied.
“Maybe he just wants to sleep with her.” Mia shrugged her shoulders. I thought the same way, too, but after a while, I realized it was bigger than that—wayyy bigger.
“I think he loves her. She literally came out of nowhere, and just like that, he fell in love with her. How am I supposed to compete with that? I’ve been in his life for a year and he doesn’t look at me the same way he does her,” I replied.
“Make him jealous. Flaunt another guy in his face and he’ll come to his senses. It happened with my mom and dad. He cheated on her with some bimbo and even left us for her. Tired of drinking herself to sleep every night, my mother ended up dating this younger guy. My dad was so jealous he tried to get custody over me then he came back home. Give him something to lose, Lynx. You can’t just give up so easily,” Mia said.
“I haven’t thought about another guy,” I replied.
“There is gonna be a huge party in the woods by the old beach tonight. Everyone on campus is talking about going. Some cute football and basketball players are going to be there,” she said. I rested my head on the steering wheel and whimpered.
“Human guys are boring,” I replied.
“Eze is a human,” she said.
“You know what I mean, regular guys. I doubt if any of them can give me their credit card and tell me buy whatever I want or give me a house. They are so beneath me right now. Eze is just different, a rare breed of man,” I replied.
“A little extra cock in your life won’t hurt.” Mia winked.
“That word makes me cringe. Please say dick, cock sounds sooooo small,” I replied and she laughed.
“Get out of the truck and let’s go to class. I’ll die in class without you,” she playfully whined.
“Okay, fine,” I replied and got out of the truck.
Mia wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close.
“After class, we can go to the mall and get a few things for the party,” Mia said as we walked through the parking lot.
“Okay, cool,” I replied.
Later on, that night…
“The party should be around here,” Mia said, pointing at a long dirt road.
“It’s dark back there,” I replied.
“No, duh. The party is in the woods and, besides, they have camp fires going on,” she said. I grabbed my shades from the cup holder and put them over my eyes.
“Why do you need sunglasses in the dark?” Mia asked.
“My eyes are sensitive to campfire smoke. They water a lot,” I lied. The sunglasses were to keep my glowing eyes hidden. At certain angles, you could see the reflection of my cat’s eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was creep out a bunch of drunk teens.
“Park right here underneath that tree,” Mia said. I pulled over on the dark side of the road and parked. Mia checked her make-up in the mirror and applied a nude lipstick on her lips. My shoulder-length hair was styled in kinky two-strand twists. I wore jeans and an off-the-shoulder top with a pair of sandals. Mia was wearing shorts with a halter top and a jean jacket. Her sandals had a small heel and tied up her leg.
“We look good,” I told her.
“Okay, now let’s go,” she said.
Mia grabbed the case of beers from the back seat after she stepped out of the truck.
“I can’t see,” Mia said as we walked down the dirt road.
“Grab my hand,” I replied.
“How can you see with sunglasses?” she asked.
“Night vision,” I replied and she giggled.
A few minutes down the road, there was a camp fire. The closer we got, the louder they were. There were over sixty people in the woods and from where me and Mia were standing, I could see the beach.
“Let’s mingle,” Mia said, dancing to the music they were playing. She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd. A guy grabbed my ass and I turned around and hissed at him.
“Weirdo,” he said and walked away.
“Did you just hiss like a cat?” Mia asked.
“Yeah, because he was acting like a dog,” I replied.
“I like that,” Mia said.
A white guy smacked Mia on her butt when she walked past and she hissed at him.
“That was so hot and kinky,” he slurred.
“Let’s go find a quiet place to sit. This is too much for me,” I said.
“Loosen up, Lynx. Has anyone ever told you that you’re too prissy?” Mia asked and I rolled my eyes. We sat on a log by the beach where the party was smaller. A few college students were playing guitars and smoking weed. Mia surprised me when she pulled two fat blunts out of her purse.
“Crack the beer open,” she said.
She gave me a beer opener and I cracked the top off a Heineken for us. While Mia was lighting the blunt, a football player that couldn’t keep his eyes off me on campus walked over to us with his friend.
“Lynx Stevenson. What are you doing out here?” he asked.
“Ummm, do I know you?” I played along. I knew him but I didn’t know his name.
“Yeah, we stare at each other on campus. Plus, I asked around about you. My name is Ryson and this is my homeboy, Damien. We’re on the football team. Y’all didn’t go to the games?” he asked.
“Naw, we’re not into sports. Hey, Damien, I’m Mia,” she said, flirting, and he sat next to her.
“You don’t know anything about that kush,” Damien said.
“I know a lot of things,” she replied and blew smoke in his face.
“Do you want a beer?” I asked Ryson.
“Naw, I’m straight. We have a bottle of Cîroc in the car. How old are you?” he asked.
“Nineteen and you?” I replied.
“I turned twenty-one a few days ago,” he said.
“Happy belated-birthday,” I replied.
Damien sat his Bluetooth speaker on the ground and Chance the Rapper’s song, “No Problem” started playing. Eze used to play the song every morning while working out in his gym. Mia began dancing and Damien cheered her on.
“Come on, Lynx,” she said.
“I’d rather watch you,” I laughed.
Ryson scooted closer to me and his Givenchy cologne tickled my nose. I knew the brand of cologne because Eze wore it a lot. Everything surrounding me reminded me of him.
“What are y’all getting into later? This party ain’t really my style but he dragged me out here,” Ryson said about Damien.
“Shit, it wasn’t nothing else to do,” Damien said.
Mia passed me the blunt and I stared at it for a while before I wrapped my lips around it. Ryson patted my back when I choked on the smoke. It burned my lungs and clogged my throat.
“This is very strong,” I coughed. Ryson chuckled. He declined when I passed it to him.
“Naw, I don’t smoke,” he said, and Mia took it away from me.
“I think we should go to my house. It’s too rowdy here. Besides, I live by a lake,” I said.
“A private party?” Mia asked.
“Only if y’all are down with it,” I replied.
“Cool with me,” Ryson said and Damien agreed.