Marquise nodded. “Now that’s whassup. My man was just actin’ stupid; he ain’t mean no harm.”
“We could debate his intentions all day,” she said, laughing. It felt good to be in the company of a real man. Had she known thugs were so desirable, she’d have dabbled long ago.
She suddenly remembered that Marquise had mentioned something about getting married. Hmm. Oh well, it didn’t matter. Pending nuptials would not deter her.
Marquise looked at his watch. “Yo, I gotta get back to work before my supervisor starts lookin’ for me.”
Kai felt let down; she didn’t want him to leave.
“I’ll hollah at you later.” He disappeared before Kai could think of a response.
There were unlimited possibilities with that beautiful Mandingo warrior, Kai mused, but she would need a crash course in Ebonics if she expected to converse with her new thugged-out lust interest!
Chapter Twenty-six
It was lunchtime, but food was the last thing on Terelle’s mind when she entered the cafeteria. She surveyed the room, spotted Melanie eating alone. Taking advantage of the opportunity to speak to Melanie privately, Terelle walked briskly toward Melanie’s table.
“Hey,” Terelle said, pulling out the chair next to Melanie. Melanie’s plate was piled high with double portions of fried wing dings and onion rings.
“Whassup?” Melanie greeted her with a smile, which Terelle interpreted as an invitation to get straight to the point.
“I’ve heard that a female in your department’s been crackin’ on Marquise. Know anything about it?” In all honesty, Terelle hadn’t heard anything concrete, just the vague information that Marquise had allowed to slip out. He hadn’t identified the woman and he most definitely had not indicated that she worked in the Laundry Department.
Melanie shook hot sauce on her food. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Somebody in the Laundry Department? You lyin’? Who?”
“I don’t know. I figured you must have heard something.”
“Girl, I ain’t heard a thing about nobody in my department—but I did hear somethin’ ’bout some girl who works in the kitchen.”
“Oh yeah, what’s her name?” Terelle stood up, prepared to storm into the kitchen to confront her enemy.
“She’s not on the day shift,” Melanie said.
Disappointed, Terelle sat down.
“She works three-to-eleven.”
“Okay, I’ll pay her a visit before I clock out today at three-thirty. What’s her name?” she asked again.
“Heather…But, girl, don’t be puttin’ my name all up the middle of this shit. I’m just goin’ by what I heard. And from what I’m hearin’…she ain’t the only female in this place that’s pushin’ up on Marquise.”
“Who else?” Terelle’s brows furrowed with worry.
“Too many to name…” Melanie paused, screwed up her lips. “Girl, the females ’round here been disrespectin’ you real bad.”
Terelle’s entire body felt inflamed. “Don’t they know me and Marquise…?” Her mouth went dry. “Don’t they know we’re engaged?”
“Don’t matter. That makes it more excitin’. You know how these hoes play…I just can’t understand why you would bring your fiancé around all these haters.” Melanie shook her head disgustedly and then went on. “I wouldn’t dream of bringin’ my man up in this whorehouse.” Her tone was tinged with accusation, as if she blamed Terelle for their co-workers’ lack of scruples.
Her man! Melanie didn’t even have a man. She must have been referring to some phantom-lover because Terelle had never known her to be in a long-term relationship. And listen to the pot calling the kettle black! It was rumored that Melanie had slept around with so many men at the nursing home, there wasn’t a soul on the premises who would go anywhere near her worn-out coochie.
“So, are you going to name names or keep me in suspense?”
“I ain’t trying to get all caught up in the middle of this mess.” Melanie poked out her lips and tore open a packet of ketchup. “By the way—where was Marquise last Friday night?” she asked as she squeezed ketchup on the onion rings.
Sensing that Melanie was about to drop a bomb, Terelle repositioned herself in the chair, cleared her throat. “He…um…he was out with his friends.”
“At Chrome—on Delaware Avenue?”
Terelle shrugged. “I don’t keep tabs on Quise.”
“Maybe you should start,” Melanie said. “Word has it, Marquise was out with some big ballers at the club. They was treating all the women to Hypnotic and Remy Martin. Now I don’t have the whole story, but I heard that a certain nursing assistant from the second floor was all over Marquise—actin’ like he was her man.”
Terelle’s stomach did a double flip. She couldn’t bear to hear another word. Abruptly, she pushed back her chair and stood up. She had to find Marquise and hear what he had to say about Friday night.
“I’ll talk to you later, Melanie.” Terelle fled the cafeteria.
Running up the stairs, Terelle made it to the fifth floor without feeling even slightly winded. Her search for Marquise didn’t take long. She found him sitting on the bench in front of the elevators. He was kicked back, his long legs sprawled out—relaxed—with an arm outstretched across the back of the bench. Beside him sat a nursing assistant named Danita, a big-breasted heifer who worked on the second floor and who was notorious for dressing provocatively. She bought uniforms several sizes too small and pranced around the facility flaunting her body in skintight scrubs.
In the throes of laughter, Danita’s head bobbed and fell back, resting on the back of the bench near Marquise’s outstretched arm. She was deliberately giving the impression of intimacy, making it appear as if Marquise had his arm draped around her shoulder. Jolted by the sight of her fiancé and another woman interacting with such familiarity, Terelle stopped dead in her tracks. She silently absorbed and tried to make sense of the scene before her. When Danita, emphasizing a point, brushed Marquise’s kneecap with the tips of her fingers, a chill went up Terelle’s spine. She gasped in horror. A sledgehammer began pounding inside her chest as the shocking realization washed over her: Danita was the woman who had been up in Marquise’s face at Chrome. Making matters worse, Danita and Marquise had the audacity to continue carrying on—at work—completely out in the open for all eyes to see.
Seconds later, with her lips pressed together tightly and a confrontational hand positioned on her hip, Terelle approached Marquise and Danita. Her eyes, blazed in anger, burned holes through the faces of the two cheaters.
Briefly perplexed, Marquise looked up. His lips spread into a slight, uncomfortable smile. “Whassup?” he asked. There was annoyance in his tone and his expression quickly changed from discomfort to agitation.
Danita, apparently intending to resume her conversation with Marquise, didn’t budge from her position. “Hey, Terelle,” she said, regarding Terelle with curiosity, as if she expected Terelle to state her business and quickly move on.
“Whassup?” Terelle asked indignantly. “I should be asking you two that question! What’s all this?” She nodded at Marquise’s arm, which remained casually outstretched across the bench, a defiant testament that he’d done nothing wrong.
“What’s what?” Marquise chewed his lower lip and scowled.
“Excuse me, Danita. I’d like to speak to my fiancé in private.” Contempt dripped from every word.
“Excuse you!” Danita exploded. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere. Hmph! I was sitting here first; he sat down and started talkin’ to me.”
The hand on Terelle’s hip instantly balled into a fist. “Bitch!” was all she had managed to say before Marquise sprang up and grabbed her. Knowing Terelle was a second away from putting her fist in Danita’s mouth, Marquise pulled Terelle away from Danita and backed her out the door leading to the stairwell.
“What’s your problem? Why you startin’ your jealous shit on the job?” he fumed through clenched teeth. “You tryin’ to git us b
oth fired?”
Breathing hard, heart hammering, Terelle jerked away from Marquise’s grip. “You’re disrespecting me on my job, and you have the nerve to ask me, what’s my fuckin’ problem?”
“Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on between me and Danita; she’s just a co-worker,” he said in a tone that was low and deliberately calm as if he were talking to a crazy woman with a tendency toward extreme violence.
“Just a co-worker my ass,” Terelle fired at him. “Was she just a co-worker Friday night at Chrome?”
The question caught him off guard. As he struggled to come up with words to pacify Terelle, Marquise bought time by making a big show of looking shocked—looking falsely accused.
“Your night out with the boys…,” she reminded him.
“I was out with the boys. Danita just happened to be at one of the spots we was at.”
“What a coincidence.”
“Whatchu tryin’ to say? You think I took her out Friday night?”
“I’m trying to say that there’re ain’t no secrets in this nursing home, Quise. Everybody knows you hooked up with Danita at the club.”
“I ain’t hook up with no damn Danita…I bought her a few drinks; that’s it.”
“Is that right?” Terelle said sarcastically. “So, when you came home Friday night, you just forgot to mention that you spent time and money on someone we both work with?”
“Yo, Terelle. I ain’t got time for this bullshit. I gotta git back to work and so do you. We’ll talk about this when we git home, aiight?”
“No, it’s not all right. You know how people talk, and you didn’t even have the decency to prepare me for the gossip circulating around here. People are talking about you—about us—on every floor of this damn nursing home.”
“Fuck ’em; I don’t give a fuck what they think.”
“And obviously you don’t care what I think either. If you did, you would have had some consideration for my feelings before you struck up a conversation with the woman you’re accused of fuckin’ with.” Terelle’s voice raised several octaves.
Marquise covered his face with both hands and shook his head in exasperation. He removed his hands. “Oh, so now I’m fuckin’ Danita?” He chuckled as if Terelle had lost her mind.
“Since we both know you were too worn out to fuck me Friday night, why don’t you tell me who you’re fuckin’?” Terelle angrily poked him in the shoulder.
Marquise shot her a look of fury and then took a menacing step toward her. He towered over her, but Terelle didn’t feel threatened. In fact, she welcomed the release of a physical altercation, she took a defensive stance, reached up and poked him in the shoulder again.
His eyes told her he wanted to hit her, but he punched the wall instead. He stared at his bruised knuckles, opened his mouth to speak but abruptly closed it when a male employee from the Respiratory Department bounded the stairs lugging a green oxygen canister.
“How ya doing?” the man said, looking surprised to find the couple huddled in the stairwell. Terelle mumbled, “Hello,” and then lowered her head, taking a sudden interest in the concrete floor. Marquise nodded a greeting and even managed a low, “Whassup, man?”
After the man had passed from view, Marquise held Terelle in a fiery gaze.
“I’m through wit this conversation. And I’m gittin’ fed the fuck up with your insecure bullshit.”
“Then make me feel secure,” she yelled.
“You need to check yourself. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” Marquise pushed the door open and attempted to pass through, but Terelle, having a lot more to say, grabbed his shirtsleeve. He yanked away from her grasp, slipped through the door and slammed it closed.
She started after him, but suddenly stopped. Staring at the door, she was struck by the realization that Marquise had not only closed the door, but had closed his heart as well. Feeling abandoned and betrayed she burst into tears. The family life she’d worked so hard to create was swiftly deteriorating and she was helpless to stop it.
It was as if Marquise were doing everything in his power to keep the relationship from going to the next level. He’d put a ring on her finger and seemed content to remain in the engagement mode forever. His fear of commitment was why he’d been behaving so recklessly, she decided as she blotted her tears.
Well, she damn sure wasn’t going to just sit back and allow a bunch of bitches to disrespect her. But she wasn’t going to play herself by getting physical with any of them, either. She’d provide her girl Saleema with the name of each and every smut she even thought was crackin’ on Marquise. She knew Saleema wouldn’t get her own hands dirty, but she’d put together a squad of tough young girls who feared nothing. They’d be on the case without hesitation.
And Danita’s name would be the first on the list.
Marquise, she decided with a smile, was going to make good on all his promises. She’d have to devise a new plan of action—come at him from a totally different angle. No more actions motivated by jealousy. No more admissions of insecurity. No more signs of weakness. No more living to please him.
Starting today, she’d shift her focus from Marquise and concentrate on herself and Markeeta. It was time to reinvent herself. She’d begin the transformation by buying new clothes, get her hair styled, learn how to wear makeup, and start going out and having fun with Saleema. She’d show Marquise that it wasn’t all about him. And in time, motivated by the fear of losing her, Marquise would come around, see things her way and finally agree to set a wedding date.
Rejuvenated by visions of a September wedding day, Terelle happily bounded the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Heathens and barbarians! I just can’t escape them. I’m surrounded by them all day and have to run the gauntlet through them just to get the hell home.
Suddenly Kai was disgusted by her surroundings as she made her way home through the streets of North Philadelphia. Kai possessed no love for her black brothers and sisters. In fact, she deeply resented the black blood running through her veins and was prone to lash out in hatred at what she perceived as negative reminders of her true heritage.
They’re all degenerate laggards and absolutely good for nothing. However, her mental tirade abruptly shifted gears when she spotted Marquise…they’re good for nothing except…mmm…a good fuck!
She immediately assumed her more natural state of predator—instead of victim—when she caught sight of this potential sex toy. Oh goody, prey! He was just what the doctor ordered to hold her thoughts of persecution at bay and fill her empty evening with a decadent fix.
Reeling this one in should be child’s play. Kai pulled over at the corner of Broad of Girard and lowered the passenger window. “Need a ride?”
About to descend the subway stairs, Marquise stopped and looked in her direction. His surprised expression was quickly followed by a hearty smile of recognition. With a swagger, he strolled toward the car, nodding approvingly at her CL500 Mercedes-Benz.
Her eyes swept his long body, zooming in at in his crotch. His swagger and the bulge in his pants told her he was packing major meat. She took a deep breath and let it out.
“Hey, whassup?” he asked as he approached the car.
“I just want to make amends for my bad behavior the other day. I overreacted,” she said, feigning remorse. “I’m sure your friend meant no harm…Hop in; I’ll take you wherever you’re going.” She twirled her hair coquettishly as she awaited his response.
Marquise shook his head. “Naw, I’m straight. The train should be here in a minute. And you don’t owe me no apology ’cause like I said before…Spencer’s aiight and everything, but we ain’t like that. He was just trainin’ me for the day.”
His body language told Kai he was as comfortable in his grimy work boots and uniform as he’d be wearing the current urban garb or whatever thugs wore. Marquise was totally in touch with his sensuality, she observed excitedly as she squeezed her thighs together and rocked back and fort
h in an attempt to relieve the pressure building between her legs.
A loud rumble announced the arrival of the subway train.
“Let me buy you dinner,” she offered, feeling desperate and attempting to take his attention away from the train’s arrival.
“Yo, Mommy, this ain’t exactly my dinner gear,” he said, laughing.
Mommy! She’d never been called that before. Should she be offended? No, she decided. It sounded delicious coming from his lips which had become slightly moist from gentle gnaws and licks—reminiscent of LL Cool J. Hmmm. Conquering the prey was going to be more difficult than she expected. Kai surreptitiously began to pull her knees apart, causing her skirt to hike up a bit to show more of her creamy well-toned thighs.
“A drink?” she asked, pouting, her head leaning to one side.
“You gonna have to give me a rain check, Shorty; I gotta catch this train.”
Shorty? Yuck! She liked “Mommy” better, but there was no time to quibble over ghetto monikers. “One little drink,” she whined, holding up an index finger and holding her breath in anticipation. Kai loved the chase and this one was giving it to her good.
Marquise paused in thought, turned and cast a fleeting look at the subway stairs.
“What’s this about? Why you wanna take me out for a drink?”
“We got off to an unfortunate start. I’m just trying to make amends,” she said with an innocent shrug. “You’re a co-worker and I’d like to get to know you better.” Her voice took on a low, throaty tone despite her efforts to cloak her mounting arousal.
There was a loud whooshing sound as the train pulled off. “Damn,” Marquise muttered.
“Get in.” She nodded toward the passenger door. “I’ll take you home.”
“You tryin’ to hollah?” His eyes danced with amused devilment.
“Wait a second while I attempt to translate that,” Kai said, grinning. “Are you asking if I’m flirting with you?”
“Somethin’ like that.” he responded, amused.
“Yes, I’m flirting,” she admitted. “Now, let me ask you something?” Kai leaned in his direction.
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