by Rochelle Alers, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Brenda L. Thomas; Crystal Lacey Winslow
I was grinding my hips, spinning around, and going low to the ground when Joy came up to me with Leroy Paton. He was an NBA superstar, tall and lean with dark-brown skin and an Afro. His high cheekbones and thin lips were effeminate. The league signed him right out of high school, and he’d already gotten a $90 million endorsement deal from Nike. Joy had hit the jackpot meeting him—but I intended to leave with him.
“Nicoli, this is Leroy Paton. The NBA player,” Joy said.
“Nice to meet you,” I said and extended my hand.
“Likewise,” he retorted.
As we all walked off the dance floor into a secluded area, we were joined by this six-foot-looking chic. I looked up. I mean, I really had to look up to see her. She ignored Joy and me and spoke to Leroy.
“I’m getting ready to leave,” she announced. Briefly I wondered if she was his girlfriend, and thought how awkward she looked.
“Joy, Nicoli, this is Lisa, my sister,” Leroy said as he introduced us.
“Call me Big L,” she said, extending her hand. Joy and I shook it. She had a strong grip and almost squeezed the feelings out my delicate fingers. Big L had to be at least six foot five. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a pair of oversized Karl Kani men’s jean shorts and a T-shirt. She was almost as unattractive as Gail, but had the deepest dimples I had ever seen. She was so masculine from a distance, you could easily mistake her for a man.
As we all sat around our table, Leroy went on to tell us that Big L was a WNBA superstar.
“Nice. How long have you been playing?” I asked.
“I’ve been playing ball almost all my life. I went professional four years ago. I play a lot of games overseas, and now I’m starting to get the recognition I deserve. My agent has secured me a few endorsements.”
“Good for you,” I responded, totally uninterested.
“But the day my brother went pro was the most memorable day of my life.”
“It feels good,” Leroy said.
“I’m sure it does,” I said and made eye contact.
“You ready?” Leroy asked Big L.
“Yes.”
“Oh, no. You two leaving so early. The party just started,” Joy said.
“I want to go back to the hotel and have a drink and relax. You’re welcome to join us,” Leroy said.
“That would be nice,” Joy answered.
I had started looking around the club for a new prospect when Joy informed me we were leaving.
“Where to?” I asked, a little annoyed.
“We gonna go back to my hotel suite to chill,” Big L said.
“Well, I wanna chill here,” I said, putting up a cantankerous front. I’d seen Kevin come in and wanted to flirt with him. Leroy had lost my attention.
“Come on, Nicoli. Let’s go. How often do we get to hang out with a basketball star?” she asked. Then she whispered, “We should get cool with them so we can get free tickets to all the games.”
“I don’t want to see no damn women playing basketball,” I whispered.
“We can sell the WNBA tickets and keep the NBA tickets.”
“Oh.”
“Oh-h-h-h,” Joy said, making fun of me. “That’s what’s up!”
We left Club Bue and ended up at the W Hotel. We went upstairs with Leroy and Big L and ordered room service.
The one-bedroom suite had plush cream carpeting and all the amenities anyone could ever need.
As we got comfortable, Leroy announced he had to run out for a moment. “I’ll be back.”
“Would you like company while you run your errand?” I asked. I didn’t want to be cooped up in a hotel room with Joy and Big L. I wanted some action.
“No, thanks.” He politely dismissed me.
When the champagne and strawberries came, we commenced to getting drunk. Soon, we were laughing, giggling, and acting silly like we were all old friends.
“So, Big L, what time do you think Leroy will be coming back?” I asked.
“Soon,” she said and refilled my champagne glass.
“Gurrl, lemme tell you that your brother is fine. I saw his ass from way across the room and knew I had to bag him,” Joy said, recounting the events of the evening. As we laughed and lamented, Big L went into her room and came back out with a baggy of drugs.
“Y’all do E?”
“Ecstasy?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Nah, we ain’t tried that shit yet,” Joy replied.
“Oh, you gotta try it,” Big L said.
“We don’t do drugs,” I said. “I’m not getting addicted or strung out on no drugs, having me singing ‘Giving up’ like Sister from the movieSparkle .”
“The only thing you will get addicted to is sex when you take E.”
“That’s it?” I questioned.
“Hell, yeah! This shit will have you horny as shit. Make you wanna fuck,” Big L said.
“Well, what da fuck we ’posed to do after we take dat shit up in here? Ain’t no men up in here,” Joy asked.
Before Big L could respond, I interjected. “Let me try it. Then I’m going home to fuck my man’s brains out. I must be missing something if he going elsewhere to fuck.”
Big L eagerly gave us each a E capsule. Joy was reluctant to take it, but I swallowed my pill with a gulp of champagne. As the drug started to take effect, I found myself feeling exceptionally good and wanted to open up. I did a catlike stretch, then rolled around on the plush carpet.
“I’ve always wanted to fuck two men at the same time,” I confided to Joy and Big L.
“Been there, done that,” Joy said.
“I said ‘at the same time,’ not two men in the same day, because I’ve done that as well,” I said.
“I heard what you said. When I went away to Fresh Air Fun Camp to be a counselor, me and two other counselors got high off some weed, and we all fucked.”
“Wow,” was all I could reply.
I wondered why Joy had waited until now to confide that to me. I’d known her almost all my life, and she had never told me that. Then, I realized that the E had me wanting to spill my guts as well. The only problem was, Joy knew almost everything about me.
“Joy, did you know that Kim is my idol? I really look up to that lady.”
“What lady?” Joy asked.
“Kim.”
“Kim who?”
“Kim Porter. Diddy’s baby mama. She’s really doing it. That’s the kind of life I want to lead. Just be a rich man’s baby mama and you’re set for life.”
“Oh shit, Nicoli! She’s my idol too. She’s pretty. She’s fly. She gets with the richest guys.” Joy and I were really connecting. We gave each other a high five.
Big L had the radio on, and the DJ was playing club music. For some strange reason the music sounded exceptionally good. It made me feel good. In fact, I felt great just being there with them. I felt great being alive. Suddenly, I didn’t even care about fighting Black’s ho. Or Black’s infidelity. It all felt trivial.
I jumped up and started dancing. I tried to pull Joy up to dance with me, but she refused. I could tell Joy was resisting the drug. So I pulled up Big L. We started dancing around, acting silly. I was pulling up my shirt, flashing them my boobs, and sticking out my ass and rocking it back and forth. I may have been off beat, but it didn’t feel so.
While Big L and I danced around, Joy burst out into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Seeing her sitting there in tears looking so silly made Big L and I erupt into laughter. We started rolling around on the floor holding our stomachs. Joy had tickled my funny bone, and I couldn’t explain why.
As I lay on my back laughing, Big L reached out and put her hand over my stomach. She kept it there for a moment, and I didn’t remove it. Soon, her hand started to massage my stomach, then she took her index finger and started to circle my belly button. I went into a trancelike haze, still hearing the sobs of Joy in the distant background.
“This is really great,” I said and looked
into Big L’s eyes. In my drug-induced state, Big L’s tribal features now seemed beautiful to me. She was staring at me like I was some exquisite creature she’d like to get to know better. As my high started to come down, I started feeling extremely horny.
Big L’s touch was stimulating, yet I felt relaxed. When she put her mouth over mine, I didn’t stop her. In fact, I encouraged her to come for more. I started unbuttoning my shirt and ripping off my jeans in a frenzy. Big L followed and took off her clothing as well. As we kissed and groped each other’s breasts, I got really into it and said, “Fuck me…fuck me.”
Big L took the initiative and pushed me back on the plush carpet and spread my legs. With her two thumbs, she parted the lips of my vagina and began to eat my pussy. Her tongue darted in and out rapidly, then she slowed it down and began to suck my clit, while gently biting it. This drove me crazy. She had my knees knocking, lips quivering, and I was pulling out the hair on my head. Soon, strong waves of pleasure came rushing down, and I climaxed with such a ferocity, I yelled “Sweet Jesus!” as I came.
Without anybody inviting Joy to join us, she appeared, standing in front of us butt-naked. Big L ignored Joy at first. So Joy took the initiative to stick her index finger in Big L’s pussy. And so it began.
While Big L sucked my clitoris, Joy and I started to kiss passionately. I gently inserted Joy’s nipple in my mouth and sucked her soft breast. Joy moaned in pleasure. Soon we were all fondling each other and switching positions. At first I was a little hesitant about eating Big L’s pussy. But she was making me feel so good, I returned the favor. When Big L put on a strap-on dildo, it only heightened our sexual escapade. Big L laid down, and I rode on top of her artificial dick while I simultaneously ate Joy’s pussy. After Joy and I climaxed, I wanted to fuck Big L with the dildo, but she wouldn’t let me.
We all made love for hours. It was the most memorable sex I’ve ever had. I kept hoping that Leroy would come back and join in our threesome, but he didn’t. Once the E had totally worn off, I thought I’d feel embarrassed about fucking two women—especially since one of them was my best friend. But I didn’t. I felt enlightened. But Joy, on the other-hand, had the opposite effect. She grew quiet and sullen. Her eyes were flickering from side to side and her body was twitching.
“Let’s order room service,” I gleefully said. “I’m hungry. And I’ll have them send up a half dozen of Evian water. What do you think Big L?”
“Sounds cool. Just charge it to my room.”
“Joy, what do you want?” I asked trying to get her to snap out of it.
“I’m not hungry,” she said through clenched teeth. “In fact, I feel nauseous,” she continued. Her whining fell on deaf ears. Neither Big L nor I really cared. We felt great. At dawn I drove Joy home. There she would remain for the next two days, fighting a deep depression. We spoke a few times, and I simply told her that E wasn’t for her. And she agreed. Joy never indulged in the drug again. And that was fine by me.
Chapter 14
What you doin’, girl?” I asked Big L.
“I just came back from practice. Why? What’s up? You coming through?”
“I guess I’ll come holla at you for a moment,” I said.
“Yeah, come through. I miss your crazy ass.”
I had been going over to Big L’s hotel suite the past few weeks on a consistent basis to fuck ever since our first encounter. However, I could only get busy if she supplied the E. I hated to think that the E pills were addictive, but I had to admit I craved them. I would love to make love to Black while on E, but Black didn’t use drugs and would kill me if he knew I’d been indulging. So Big L and the E pills were my little secret.
When I hung up, I called Joy and asked her if she wanted to roll with me.
“Yo, I ain’t down wit dat shit!” she snapped.
“What shit? The E? You don’t have to indulge, Joy. You grown.”
“Not the E! Nicoli, I’m not down with that gay shit.”
“Gay?”
“Yes, gay. I know how it’s goin’ down, Nicoli, and I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t see how you sit up in her face all day. That bitch is frightenin’.”
I hung up the telephone, a little annoyed at Joy for being a killjoy. I considered not going to Big L’s room, but nothing else was going down on this boring Thursday afternoon. Black had gone to his office, and it was too late to go to the beach or to any other summertime venues.
I hopped into my Mercedes and drove to Big L’s hotel. She came to the door in a white terrycloth hotel robe. She’d just got out the shower.
“Hey, girl,” I said.
“Come in.”
I walked in and immediately made myself at home. I kicked off my Gucci sandals, then fixed a drink. The summer was almost over, and I thought about how I hadn’t gotten the tan I wanted. The whole goddamn summer had been rained out. Plus, it took forever to warm up. All I knew was that it had better stay hot until at least October, or that would really be fucked up.
As Big L went to get the stash from her room, I thought about what Joy had said.
“Lisa, you gay?” I asked.
She looked at me peculiarly and said, “Hell yeah! What you think?”
“I don’t know. You planned all this?”
“All what?”
“Me. Fucking. The E.”
She smiled, then said, “You was down. Nobody forced you. Besides, don’t you like it? The feeling I give you?”
“I do, I guess, but truthfully I just like to fuck. I like the feeling it gives me. But I don’t want to be considered gay.”
“Newsflash, you’ve been fucking a female. Now, that doesn’t make you gay. But, don’t you consider yourself bisexual? Bi-curious? Something is up. And are you still fucking your man?”
“Yes, I’m still fucking Black. I need dick. And not no fake dick either. I need the real thing. See, that proves I’m not gay. Besides, experimenting with the same sex is part of pop culture nowadays.”
“That experimenting logic is so ridiculous. If you ask me, you’re a gay female wanting to be guided by a mentor. You may be ‘bi’ at the moment, but hang around me a little while longer, and I’ll have you detesting dick, just like I do.”
“How can you detest something you’ve never tried? Now,your logic is ridiculous. Shit, I should let you fuck Black. Now that dick will bring you to your senses.”
“Yo, don’t talk about that nigga around me.”
“First off, he’s not a nigga. His name is Black. Secondly, why can’t I mention him around you?”
“It bothers me. It makes me jealous….” She trailed off.
“You’ve got issues. Serious issues, girl. Maybe a good fucking could straighten you out,” I joked. I then picked up an empty champagne bottle she had in her trashcan and simulated a penis.
“All I know is that I’ve never liked men. Never slept with a man and never will. I’m gay and proud,” she said as she swallowed her E pill.
The way she kept saying the wordgay infuriated me. I decided this would be my last rendezvous with Big L. She was trying to turn me out. Turn me into a committed pussy licker, and it wasn’t going down like that.
As the E started to come down, I got horny. Just then my cell phone rang. “Where you at?” Black said.
“I’m hanging out with my girlfriend.”
“Why can’t you ever keep your ass in the house? Didn’t I tell you that I was tired of you running the street?”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“What?” he asked disbelievingly.
“What am I supposed to do, cooped up in the house all day? I’m young and vibrant, and I like to have a good time,” I said, trying to enlighten Black on my inner being. The inner being the E had me in touch with.
Click.Black hung up the telephone in my ear.
I sat there for a moment, thinking that Big L was right. Maybe I didn’t need a man. She even started to convince me of this as she went down and started eating my p
ussy. Ashanti was singing,“Over and over I cried…and over and over you lied…”
Just as I started to hum along, the stereo shut off. Next, all the lights went off. I tried to summon the strength to figure out why we didn’t have any electricity in the room, but Big L had me feeling too good.
“Sit on my face,” Big L breathed.
“What?”
“Sit on my face, baby.”
I was lying on my back on the king-size bed in Big L’s hotel suite. We were both naked. Big L and I switched positions, and I climbed on top of her and sat on her face. My pussy opened up wide, and Big L’s tongue explored every crevice. I was grinding my hips in her face while her hands gripped my ass. As she ate my pussy, she would say, “How does it feel?”
“So-o-o-o-o good!” I moaned.
We made love for hours, until nightfall. When we finally decided to get up, we found out that there had been a blackout. The whole city was dark.
Chapter 15
The blackout of 2003 would prove to be the worst night of my life. First, it took me an hour to get twenty blocks. No traffic lights were working, and I couldn’t get through on any telephones lines. Once I got back home, our building had adequate lighting because there was a backup generator. So I could at least see where I was going. But the elevators weren’t working, so I had to take the stairs. I stuck my key in the door to Black’s penthouse apartment and couldn’t get in. I wiggled the key around until it sank in: Black had changed the locks. He’d threatened me for the last time about running the streets and disrespecting him.
Furious, I tried calling Black, to no avail. Desperate, I ran down to the lobby and asked if Black had left any messages.
“No, madam,” the doorman replied.
I contemplated what should I do. Then I thought I’d just wait in the lobby until Black came home. I knew that he was angry with me about my behavior. As I tried to sit and wait, I was escorted out by the doorman.
“Madam, this is private property. I’m sorry. Mr. King left specific instructions that once you came back down from your initial visit upstairs, you were not allowed back into the building.”