“Awe shit!”
Khalid pounded deep inside Racquel’s walls, and she coated his manhood with her own wetness. Khalid fell into Racquel, exhausted, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They were both breathing heavily, decompressing from the exhilaration. As their breathing regulated, Racquel released Khalid from the hold she had on him.
“Khalid, is it good to you, baby,” Racquel purred, enjoying his contorted facial expressions.
“Yes,” Khalid answered, breathing heavily. “Damn good.”
Khalid felt Racquel’s walls pulse against him. His thrusts became frantic, hard, fast, and jarring. Racquel spilled sweet nectar, drowning his manhood in her hot juices. That only fueled Khalid more as he teetered on the edge of his explosion. She called his name.
“Fuck me, Khalid! Fuck me.”
He obliged, ramming his steely length deep into Racquel, hitting her g-spot with every stroke.
“Uh, uh, uh,” they breathed in sync.
Releasing her hips, Khalid wrapped his arms around Racquel, holding her steady as he neared climax. Racquel was right there with him, ready to release again. Gism reached Khalid’s tip and flowed hotly into Racquel’s welcoming womb. He bit down on her shoulder, growling as he moistened her walls.
“Yes, Khalid, yes,” Racquel whimpered, as her body shook from the strength of her orgasm.
The two fell into a slow grinding fuck, with no space between his manliness and her jewel. Racquel collapsed her walls around Khalid’s member, holding him tight, even as he softened. He replaced his teeth with soft kisses to Racquel’s shoulder. She felt perspiration on his forehead as he rested against her. Khalid’s kisses trailed from Racquel’s shoulder to her neckline, and he cupped and caressed her breasts lovingly.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” Racquel whispered, giggling into his ear.
“I can,” he crooned. “You are irresistible,” Khalid replied. “So, I take it you’re not mad anymore?”
“I might be,” she fussed.
“Nah, you’re not,” Khalid grinned, obviously raking his eyes over all her sexiness.
Racquel pushed back and playfully punched Khalid in the chest.
Khalid grabbed Racquel by the wrists before she could swing on him again and pulled her in for a kiss. A smile invaded Racquel’s face as she wholeheartedly accepted the compliment. Khalid followed by leaving kisses wherever his lips landed. The two stayed connected, inextricably, for a while. Khalid smiled for her. Racquel smiled in return.
Chapter Thirteen
“Don’t you ever say nothing to me no more about not answering my damn phone when you call or not calling when I’m supposed to,” Naomi fussed, folding her arms across her buxom chest.
Naomi and Racquel met for their girl’s day out and were at the nail salon getting mani and pedis.
“What are you up in arms about now?” Racquel asked, reclining her seat, and nestling her head into the cushioned headrest. Picking up the remote, Racquel selected a massage that started as soon as she pressed the button. With her feet soaking in warm water bubbling with detoxifier and soother, Racquel only intended to relax, relate, and release.
Naomi cut her eyes in Racquel’s direction, having recently been chastised by Rocky for doing the same thing.
“Were we not supposed to confirm for today on yesterday evening?” Naomi questioned. There was a hint of cynicism in her voice, and Racquel didn’t miss the rhetorical nature of her inquiry. “What were you doing that you couldn’t answer the phone, not once or twice but the three times I called? What if it was an emergency or something?”
Racquel leaned her head over in Naomi’s direction and then lifted her eyes to her friend.
“Was it an emergency, Na?”
“No, but that is far from the point,” Naomi quipped. “So, what were you doing that was more important than talking to me?” Naomi’s eyes leveled on Racquel, and when she noticed a slight smile teasing the corner of her friend’s lips, Naomi sat forward in her seat, foregoing the comfort of resting her head on the soft headrest to peer at her bestie.
Racquel couldn’t keep the smile from invading her lips and turned away from Naomi, so she didn’t see the smile blossom fully.
“Oh, no ma’am,” Naomi sassed, reaching for Racquel’s arm. She dodged her friend’s grasp but still did not fully incline herself to Naomi as Racquel couldn’t erase the smile from her lips. Thoughts of Khalid plagued her from last night’s rendezvous, and the mere reflection on their time together made Racquel’s yoni thump. She still had some achy muscles from the acrobatics they performed in the barber’s chair. Thinking of that only made the smile dancing on her lips even more pronounced.
“Racquel Diane Alexander,” Naomi badgered. “What is that all about?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Racquel feigned innocence.
“Okay, play it like that if you want to,” Naomi hissed. “You gone be missing a bestie.”
Racquel squeezed her cheeks together to eradicate the smile. Only then did she turn to face Naomi.
“Don’t be like that, Na,” Racquel whined. She batted her thick lashes and gave Naomi the full puppy dog eye treatment trying to garner sympathy and to deflect from further inquiry hopefully.
“Tell me why you couldn’t talk to me yesterday, not making me a priority, and I’m supposed to be your best damn friend. How does that work?”
“I had a late customer, that’s all,” Racquel reasoned.
“And that took precedence over my multiple phone calls?” Naomi shrieked loud enough for the two pedicurists working on the friends to look up in surprise.
“Shh, girl, damn,” Racquel cursed. “My phone was in my office, Naomi. I was in the shop. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less.”
“But that damn smile on your face says it was a helluva lot more, and you just don’t want to tell me,” Naomi sniped. Then, she thought about it for a moment, sliding her newly manicured index finger to her cheek and resting her chin against her palm. The earlier phone call, the day before from Tareef, who continued to make Naomi swoon, and the clandestine way Racquel was acting had to be connected. When Racquel saw a surprising glint in Naomi’s eye, she was curious.
“Now, what’s that look all about?” Racquel inquired.
“Because, I’ve figured out who that unexpected client was, and by the sneaky way you been acting, I know what the hell happened, with yo old nasty self,” Naomi teasingly hissed.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Racquel insisted, snooting up her nose and trying to look above it all.
“Look me in my face and tell me that you wasn’t with Khalid last night,” Naomi’s pitched brow and laser-focused eyes demanded.
Racquel’s pursed lips and neck roll said she intended to do just that. She lined her eyes up with Naomi’s.
“I was not with Khalid last night,” she asserted. And Racquel tried her damndest to hold her jaw firm and her lips tight, but she couldn’t. Although Racquel didn’t want her friend to be mad or to be right, Naomi was the only person she would ever share something so personal with. That smile Racquel hid now infiltrated her sensibilities again and reached her eyes.
“Ya’ll hooted?”
“What,” Racquel began confused by the terminology.
“You know, hooted, did the doo-wop, got busy,” Naomi replied, her eyes darting to the pedicure technicians and back to Rocky, using code so as not to put all of Racquel’s business in the street, especially since the technicians were eavesdropping.
Racquel burst out laughing. All she could manage was a confirmatory nod of the head.
Naomi’s hands flew to her mouth, covering the gasp. “Awwwww, shit!” She blurted, breaking out in a chair dance that looked like the four corners.
“Aww, Rocky,” Naomi hummed, clasping her hands in front of her chest. “That’s so good!”
“No, it’s really not,” Racquel countered.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because, Naomi,
think about it. I can’t stand him.”
“That’s a lie,” Naomi mumbled.
“Huh?” Racquel questioned, although she heard her friend’s commentary.
“What was it, an angry bang?”
“How old are you again?” Racquel teased, “sounding like you grew up in the ’70s!”
“Whatever,” Naomi sounded. “You know what the hell I mean.” She pouted momentarily but got right back on task. “Was it everything?” The swoon that passed through Naomi was as much about her fantasies of intimacy with Tareef as it was cheering for Racquel.
“It was everything it shouldn’t have been,” Racquel sighed, tossing a dismissive hand in Naomi’s direction. “It happened, the deed is done, it’s over. Next.”
“Don’t even try it, Rocky,” Naomi chimed. “First of all, ain’t no next to move on to unless you’re talking about business because that’s all you’ve been doing for the past few years. Secondly, the deed might be done, but baby, it ain’t ova!”
The eye-roll Racquel gave could not be missed by anyone remotely close to the friends. Naomi was right. Rocky had been ultra-focused on business, especially after losing her dad. There was no next, but that was not the point. Racquel had to minimize the impact of her time with Khalid because it wasn’t supposed to be.
“There doesn’t have to be more,” Racquel insisted. “Sometimes it’s just physical. That’s it.”
“But you’re not that kind of girl,” Naomi interjected.
“Can we please change the subject,” Racquel asked without waiting for Naomi to agree. “We need to talk about the final plans for daddy’s benefit.”
“Everything I was responsible for has been taken care of, media, social media, press releases, and the phone bank has been set up,” Naomi counted off.
“Excellent. The venue, catering, DJ, MC, and invitations have all gone out,” Rocky added.
“The only thing we have left to do is make sure we have plenty of red-carpet moments for the print press,” Naomi replied. “Are you inviting Khalid?”
“I thought we agreed to change the subject?”
“No, you suggested it, but I didn’t agree,” Naomi rebuffed.
“I’m sure Mr. Ali will be busy on the night of the benefit,” Racquel guessed.
“I’m sure, if he knows about it, he will make it his business to come,” Naomi smiled.
“Na, did you already invite Tareef?”
“Of course! It's for a very worthy cause, and because colon cancer significantly impacts the Black male community, I felt like it was my responsibility to invite him. He’s Black and male, and I want him in my community.”
“You are awful,” Racquel laughingly bellowed.
“I know!”
“Leave your invitation with Tareef, Naomi, okay? Don’t be extending it vicariously to Khalid,” Racquel warned.
“And if I do, whatchu gone do about it, huh? He’s Black. He’s male, and from what you told me, he’s already in your community.”
Chapter Fourteen
Two Days Before the Benefit
There was only one place to hold the Second Annual Charles Alexander Benefit, and that was her father’s old stomping grounds at the first barbershop he ever opened. Racquel stood outside and watched as the workmen put up the large banner that announced the benefit. It was a moment that brought her a sense of purpose, joy, and accomplishment but also a moment of sadness. There would be no need for a memorial benefit if her father were still with her if colon cancer had not ravished his body and dampened his spirit, ultimately making Racquel a fatherless child. She was already motherless and had been for the majority of her life. Charles Alexander was a single father raising a daughter all before that scenario became much more commonplace. Racquel’s mother was never really in the picture. It was like after she gave birth, she simply vanished. Her dad rarely, if ever, talked about what really happened.
They say you can never miss what you never had, and because her dad was all Racquel had ever known, she didn’t miss not having a mother. It was only when an outside person would ask or mention it did their inquiry raise questions for Racquel. On those rare occasions when what someone said or asked bother Racquel enough that she asked her dad about it, he didn’t get upset like her questions somehow implicated his parenting. Her dad would say that her mom, Josephine, had lost her way and because she wanted what was best for Racquel, and because she couldn’t be her best, she went away. As a child, and with the love her father consistently showed Racquel, that answer satisfied her.
Later, Racquel learned what her mom not being her best self meant. Apparently, she had a drug addiction she couldn’t kick. She stayed sober during the pregnancy with Racquel, but immediately after, Josephine relapsed. Secretly, her dad tried to help, tried to get her in rehab in the beginning. But Josephine wouldn’t stick and stay. She couldn’t kick it, not for good. About ten years ago, Racquel learned that her mother died of an overdose. Racquel was saddened by it, but she couldn’t grieve for a woman she never knew. She never missed what she never had. What helped is that Naomi’s mom was always there. She was a surrogate mom to Racquel, and so those mother-daughter conversations that needed to be had, or when Charles had to work late, Naomi’s mom, Natasha, stepped right in. She never missed a beat and offered the kind of consistent maternal influence that served as just the right balance to the loving protection her father always provided.
Looking up at her father’s name and knowing what doing something in his honor meant, Racquel didn’t stay sad for long.
“Can you raise it just a little on the left?” She called out to the workers.
Everything needed to be perfect, and when the sign was positioned just as she liked, Racquel gave the workers the okay. And only when Racquel was satisfied with the signage did she step back into the barbershop. The shop was closed for business for the few days leading up to the benefit. Inside, the shop had been transformed with decorations in festive colors, a set up for hors d’ouevres, decorations, gift bags, and informational tables so that the guests who came would learn more about colon cancer. That was Racquel’s goal, to inform so that no other family would have to suffer the way she had.
She and Naomi had been working virtually nonstop over the past few days to make sure everything was as it should be. They’d worked tirelessly for months, ensuring that the benefit would go off without a hitch. Racquel was meticulous about the details and double and triple checked that everything was as it should be before she left the shop that evening. When she turned the lights off and locked the door, Racquel was confident things would go well. She would return to the shop on the morning of the event. She still had work to do, but it would be from home, phone calls to make, final details to monitor, and hopefully a chance to get some rest.
Racquel climbed into her car, turned on the ignition, and put the car in drive. She didn’t realize how tired she was until she sat down in that seat and felt the ache in her knees she hadn’t paid attention before, or the slight throbbing in her back that she dismissed when she was climbing up and down the ladder. The pain was all worth it, though, to possibly help someone else and honor her dad along the way.
Racquel navigated the BMW through the side streets until she reached the interstate where she could let the BMW fly and get her home fast.
“Dammit,” Racquel hummed as she reached to the dashboard and activated the phone hitting speed dial number one.
“We just left each other. What could you possibly want?” Naomi huffed, rolling her eyes as she navigated her car to her apartment.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but do we have confirmation from the mayor?”
“Yes, Rocky, we have confirmation, but I have already scheduled to contact her assistant to confirm her arrival time. I will also talk with her assistant the morning of to make sure there are no issues or delays. So, if that’s all, I have a date tonight, so I am trying not to think about anything other than what I’m going to wear and whether or not Im’ma give him so
me, okay?”
“You are so awful and honest, and that’ s why I love you, with your crazy self,” Racquel giggled. “Go have some fun while I stress out about the next couple of days.”
“No, you need to call Khalid and see about having some fun, take your mind off the event. Everything is in place, so try and relax, okay?”
“I’ll try, but you know how I get,” Racquel sighed.
“That’s why I said call Khalid,” Naomi repeated. “Maybe he can take your mind off things.”
“You know that’s not going to happen,” Racquel giggled, as she paid attention to the cars around her.
“But you should call him, get you some, help you to relax.” Naomi was smiling and laughing on the other end, but she meant it. Khalid and Racquel would be incredible together, only if Rocky gave him a real chance, and she wanted that for Racquel to give a good man a real chance to love her so she wouldn’t feel so alone. She deserved good things. Khalid was a good thing.
“Bye, Naomi,” Racquel insisted, still laughing.
“Bye, girl, and don’t call me later on unless it’s a real emergency Rocky,” Naomi warned. “I ain’t playing neither.”
“I got you on speed dial, boo,” Racquel laughed. “Talk to you later.”
Racquel disconnected the line, still giggling. Naomi was crazy about Tareef, and although she didn’t say that’s who she was going out with, Rocky could tell from the lilt in her voice, it was him. She wouldn’t get that excited about any other man, especially after spending time with Tareef. When her phone rang again, Racquel was merging lanes and hit the button without looking to see who the incoming call was from. She assumed it was Naomi wanting to razz her some more about what she should be doing.
“What?” Racquel quizzed.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
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