Beautiful Nightmare

by Johnna B

  Valencia fought within herself not to get too upset. Lord knows she didn’t want that kind of lasting impression on their minds.

  “Man, fuck that bullshit, so you’ve never busted a nut? I mean, a toe-curling, eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head nut? Damn, baby girl! I don’t mean no disrespect, but what the fuck you been doing with yourself?” Moochie couldn’t hide his stupidity even if he tried.

  “You know you are a certified jerk.” Sena got a little closer to his ear. “We gon’ have to discuss those toe-curling orgams you talking about.” Sena was clearly trying to defend her friend, but she got sidetracked somewhere in the conversation between “man, fuck that bullshit,” and “toe-curling, eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head nut.” Hell. She hadn’t had a nut like that in all of her life, and she needed one. No doubt, he would get the business.

  “What you looking for?”

  Valencia was looking in her purse for something. Kidd hadn’t said much since the revelation. Valencia reached in her purse and handed Kidd thirty dollars to pay for her food.

  Looking at her like she had a real bad odor about herself, he asked, “What’s this for?”

  “My food. I have to be going.” She began to get up to leave.

  “Look, I understand you’re a little embarrassed, but don’t insult me like that. That’s your prerogative on what you do with your body. I ain’t trying to do nothing but be your friend.”

  “I have enough friends and don’t need no more. Shit! The one I got can’t seem to keep her fuckin’ mouth shut. Petty, messy-ass li’l wanch.” Instantly the cool breeze atmosphere had shifted into a burning inferno. If looks could kill, Sena would’ve dropped dead right there in that restaurant. “Are you coming? Better yet, y’all give her a ride home. I don’t feel like this right now.” Valencia could hardly get away quick enough. She didn’t want to leave that way, but she knew that once she was upset and she started feeling that pounding in her head, it was a wrap, and there was nothing she could do to control her next actions.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that side of her. Sometimes, I feel like I’m talking to a whole different person when we are talking.” Sena got up to catch up with Valencia, knowing she wouldn’t leave her. “Don’t count this against her. This was a little touchy subject that I shouldn’t have brought up. She is really crazy about you,” she said as she ran after Valencia and prepared for the tongue-lashing she was about to get.

  “It’s good, ma. Just tell her to get at me when she’s ready to talk.”

  “And you don’t forget to call me. I’ll be waiting,” she winked at Moochie.

  “I got you on speed dial. Don’t even trip,” Moochie said, holding his phone up in the air.

  “Bitch, you know you got the biggest fucking mouth I have ever seen.” Valencia didn’t even wait for her to get in the seat good.

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t know the conversation was gon’ take that kind of turn. Shit! We were talking about me and ended up talking ’bout you. The look on your face told the truth even if I ain’t say much more, so don’t be jumping down my throat. You my nigga if you don’t get no bigger, but that disrespectful shit ain’t for us.” Sena loved Valencia to death, but being disrespected didn’t sit right with her.

  “I’m sorry, girl. You know I’m just totally embarrassed.” Valencia put her head down on the steering wheel.

  “It’s all good. Shit! You know I got love for you to walk away from two of my favoritest things in the world.”

  “And what the hell is that?” Valencia asked, already knowing half of the answer.

  “Dick and the Cheesecake Factory!”

  “Girl, get the hell out of my car. I’ll see you at work Monday.”

  Chapter 9

  Am I Dreaming?

  “Yeah, bitch. Just like that. Yeah. Suck it. Fuck is you doing? Stop playing with my fucking nut! I got something for people who play with me.”

  “I’m trying.” The girl looked really scared. The sweet woman she had met at the store had flipped all the way out.

  “Don’t try, bitch. Do it!” She dug her nails into the top of the girl’s head, smashing her face farther into her pussy. “You like it rough, don’t you?” She yanked the girl by her hair and backhanded her across the face. The girl flew off the bed. When Raven got like this, she had superhuman strength. “You want a bitch that’s gon’ beat that ass?”

  She literally jumped out of bed and on top of the girl in one stride. Her fist came down like a bolt of lightning across the girl’s face over and over again until there was blood everywhere.

  “What the fuck kinda shit was that?” Valencia said, waking up from yet another dream that she considered a nightmare. She lay in the bed staring at the ceiling as she tried to calm her nerves. Dripping from head to toe in sweat, she got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. She pulled at the hairs that were sticking to her face as she stared at herself in the mirror. She had been having dreams about having sex with women, but she always ended up beating them really bad in the end.

  Get control of yourself, Vee.

  On shaky legs, she walked back to her bedroom and took the soaking wet red satin Ralph Lauren sheets off the bed and placed them in the hamper. Bits and pieces of the dream kept flashing through her head.

  “Where is this shit coming from?” she asked herself.

  She desperately tried to remember any portion of the dream that would answer her questions, but she came up with nothing sufficient.

  She walked back to the bathroom and started a bath. She dropped some lavender bath beads into the warm water to sooth her senses. Because she always slept naked, she didn’t have to undress, so, while waiting for the tub to fill up, thoughts of Kidd flooded her mind.

  What could he be doing at this time? She was scared to call him after what had transpired yesterday. She really was sorry for the way she had left things. She looked at the clock. It read two-thirty in the morning. Is he at home? Is he with a woman? He said he didn’t have a woman, but that would be too good to be true. She had studied his every move at lunch earlier and didn’t see one flaw. His swagger was on point. He was sweet as could be. He looked “mmm-mmm good” like Campbell’s soup, and he had two major attributes—no kids and he was rich. What were the chances of finding all that in one man? It was usually broken down and spread out sporadically, something good here and something worse there. Rich but looked like a fucking wildebeest. Fine but has four and a half kids. Sexy but straight lame. The kind of nigga that pulled his money out to get your attention ’cause he knew he wouldn’t get it any other way.

  “There has to be something. Shit! He’s gotta have six toes or something. Some kind of turnoff.” Valencia picked up the phone to call him again for the fiftieth time.

  “Bitch, just call him. Either he can talk or he can’t,” she said to herself as she picked up the phone, took two deep breaths, and looked at the clock again. It read 2:33 a.m. Finally, she sat in the tub, waiting for him to answer. He didn’t. That crushed her feelings.

  “Figures. He must be somewhere laid up with his woman.”

  The phone began ringing before she could put it down.

  “Hello?”

  “Yeah. Somebody just call Kidd?”

  “I’m sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number. I was trying to reach Wanya.”

  “Vee?” Kidd asked, knowing it could only be her since he never told any women his real name.

  “Yes, this is she,” she smiled.

  “What’s good, ma? This me.” He was glad she had called. He had been thinking about her a lot. He too hated the way things ended yesterday.

  “Oh, were you busy?”

  “Nah, my retarded-ass brother wouldn’t give me the phone. Anyway, what’s up? Why you up so late?” He could hear water splashing.

  “Just woke up. Couldn’t sleep. Thought about you and called.”

  He had this big stupid-ass smile on his face.

  “I hear that. Good shit. If I could call you every t
ime I thought about you, you would think I was a stalker or something. What are you doing? Washing dishes?”

  “No, I’m in the tub.”

  “Now, I really feel special.”

  “Why is that?”

  “’Cause first you called me when you couldn’t sleep. Second, you called me when you are in the tub, and, third, you called me by my real name.”

  “What’s up, sis?” she heard Moochie yell in the background.

  “Tell Moochie I said hello, and how does he know I’m gon’ be his sister?”

  He could feel her smile through the phone.

  “’Cause he says we’re going to be married one day.”

  “And what do you say?” Her cheeks were on fire from sitting in their “big smile” position for so long.

  “I say you never go against the grain, so I guess I have to agree with him.”

  “Umm-hmmm, I see.” She was enjoying this conversation. His voice was sending vibrations through her body.

  “What do you say?”

  “I say nothing is written in stone. Destiny will lead the way, my young grasshopper.”

  “Okay. I see you got jokes.” They shared a laugh.

  “I called for a reason.”

  “And what’s that?”

  She paused for a moment because she knew her next move would be taking a chance, but her need for him to be by her side, if only for a little while, outweighed any repercussions. Moving fast and having so many emotions going on in her head had her feeling like she was on an emotional roller coaster. Being afraid, curious, nervous, sad, mad, just an emotional wreck, she threw caution to the wind.

  “Umm . . . Do you mind coming over to keep me company for a little while? I had no one else to call so . . .”

  He cut her off. “Not a problem. You want me to come now?”

  Any chance he got to spend some time with her, he would jump on it. No matter the time or place, he would be there in a heartbeat. He wanted her to be his, and she would be very soon if it was left up to him.

  “Yeah, could you?”

  “Give me the directions.”

  When she was done giving him the directions, he was excited to get to be with her alone. Without any distractions, just her and him getting to know each other. She made him feel like a teenage boy with a crush.

  “All right. Give me about twenty minutes. Stay right where you are.”

  “Boy, shut up. I’d be a prune by the time you got here. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you.”

  “A’ight.”

  “What you looking at?” Moochie asked as he walked up behind him.

  “Oh nothing, just thinking. She asked me to come over.”

  “Are you gonna go?”

  “Yeah, I’ma go.” Kidd felt his phone vibrate, and when he looked at the screen, it was picture of Valencia’s legs covered in bubbles. He licked his lips. “Check these out.” Kidd turned his phone toward Moochie.

  “What the hell we looking at? Nice.”

  “That’s enough, nigga. Stop drooling over my woman.”

  “Now, she’s your woman? Whatever. You gon’ fuck around and catch blue balls fucking with her. She ain’t giving up the skins, and yo’ nympho ass ain’t gon’ make it to the wedding date,” Moochie said with a smirk.

  “Have a little more faith in ya big brother. I ain’t pressed for sex.”

  “Not yet. You always had an option. Once you get with her, you ain’t gon’ have no option but to wait till she ready.”

  “Why you say that? I got hoes throwing the pussy at me.”

  “True, but you ain’t trying to catch it. You dropping and dodging that shit like it’s the plague, and, once you get with her, you really gon’ be in a game of dodgeball.”

  “Man, I ain’t caught up like that. I mean, I dig her, but I ain’t in love or nothing.” Kidd was trying to convince himself more than Moochie. He knew she had stolen his heart the moment he laid eyes on her. Her smile was like his kryptonite.

  “I know that, but I know you, and, once you see what I see, it’s a wrap,” Moochie said, remembering the promise they’d made to their mother.

  “When was last time you called up a honey and did the do?” Moochie was waiting on the response because he knew the answer. Because the last time Kidd got some, it just so happened he had gotten some too. It was practically the last time they were separated. Lately, Kidd had been cock-blocking like a mutha. It was like he could feel when Moochie was about to get into something. He would call with something to do, when it was really nothing to do. But Moochie wasn’t complaining because he loved his brother to death. It had always been him and Kidd against the world. Kidd practically raised him.

  “Man, get the fuck out of here.” Kidd was really trying to remember the last time he’d had sex. It wasn’t as bad as Moochie made it seem . . . was it?

  “You want me to tell you when it was?”

  “Yeah, go right ahead.”

  “It was with that chick, Tiffany, the dark girl with the big titties,” Moochie said with a knowing look.

  “So what is really the point of this little intervention?”

  “No shit, just opening your eyes to the situation. You dig ole girl. I can see it in your eyes. She would be good for you. She’s a virgin, and that’s a big deal, my dude. Either you gon’ be her first and break her heart because you can’t let go of your first love, or you gon’ break it ’cause you couldn’t wait to be her first.” Kidd had to give it to his little brother because he had a valid point. Could he do it? She would be the last person he would want to hurt.

  “Wait a minute. Who is my first love?”

  “The call of the streets.”

  * * *

  Kidd was sitting outside of Valencia’s house really thinking. Should he take that step? He was halfway out of the streets for good, so that wouldn’t be a problem. He wasn’t worried about being faithful, so that wasn’t a problem either. He had promised his mother that, if he ever found the right girl, he would love, cherish, and be faithful to her. She made both him and Moochie make that promise.

  She didn’t want her sons to exhibit the same behavior that their father had toward her. Loving a man that was unable to love her in return had done so much emotional and physical damage to her. So much so that she’d had three miscarriages, her hair had fallen out, and she had lost so much weight that she began to look skeletal. She made herself sick trying to do everything for him, but, in return, he left her with two young boys to raise on her own and cancer growing in her brain.

  It crushed them to see their mother like that. Moochie ran from love. He didn’t want to break the promise he’d made to his mother on her dying bed. While Kidd tried his best to embrace it, he wanted to prove to his mother that he could love a woman how she should have been loved.

  “I can do it. I’m good. She gon’ love me and give up the goods without a fight.”

  He got to the door and paused before knocking. He remembered she said she would leave the door open. He walked in, taking in the décor. The first thing he saw was a sign that said: PLEASE LEAVE SHOES AT THE DOOR with a stiletto in a circle and a red line going through it. After doing as the sign said, and, after further inspection of her humble abode, he couldn’t help but notice that she had it decked out.

  In the living room, there was a sofa made in the shape of a horseshoe that stretched across the whole room. There was a big-ass marble colorful butterfly table in the middle. A baby grand piano sat in that corner, and there was a wall-size fish tank with what looked like a thousand piranhas in it. But what really got him going when he went deeper into the living room was that there was a sixty-four-inch flat screen with a Wii and a PlayStation 4 hooked up to it.

  Then, there it sat in all its glory. A Madden 2017 game. He knew right then—he was in love. He had to find out if it was hers or her little brother’s. It had to have been someone else’s. He had never met a woman that could understand the game.

  He walked down the hall, opened a few
doors, and walked up a small stairwell that ended at a door that he assumed to be her bedroom. The sign on the door said “heaven this way” with an arrow pointed up. She really loves her signs, don’t she? he thought. But she wasn’t done yet. There was another sign below that that read “No outside clothing on the premises” with a dress in a circle and red line going through it. So am I supposed to get naked or something? he wondered as he knocked on the door.

  “It’s open.”

  Pushing the door open, he asked, “This sign says no clothes, so what am I supposed to do?” He didn’t know if he would be able to lie or sit next to her with no clothes on.

  “Well, if you read the signs correctly, you should already have your shoes off. Now just take off your jeans and shirt.”

  Exhaling deeply again, he did as he was told. “A’ight. You love your signs, don’t you?”

  “People tend to do better with signs,” she said while watching him remove his shirt and examining every curve and cut of muscle that was bursting out of his wife beater. He was a masterpiece that even Leonardo da Vinci wouldn’t have been able to capture. She loved the way he always looked sleepy. His eyes seemed to be taunting her, beckoning her to come to bed with him. She could just imagine placing kisses all over his body because he looked so good. She wanted just to bite him. All the muscles in his legs were well defined. And his boxer briefs left nothing to the imagination. He caught her staring. Singing softly, all he could hear was “Half on a bayyyyybeeee . . .”

  “Like what you see?” He turned around, modeling.

  “Maybe,” she smiled big time.

  “Come. Sit down and talk to me.” She patted the spot on the bed next to her.

  He started to sit down, pulling the covers back, but he suddenly jumped out of the bed with the speed of light.

  “What the fuck?” he questioned, looking at her like she was crazy.

  “What happened?” she asked, jumping too ’cause he had scared the shit out of her.

  “You . . . You’re naked,” he stammered, looking at her like she had three heads.