The Rhythm of Blues (Love In Rhythm & Blues Book 1)

by Love Belvin

  “Raj?”

  “Yes, girl! Them moves Cut was teaching him all those months in the gym had paid off, because blood sprayed all around, but Gee-Gee kept going. And then don’t you know, that crackhead, cunt bitch tried to jump on Ragee?” LeRoy sucked in a hard, dramatic breath with wild eyes. “Honey, I yanked that one by the head and tossed her somewhere. Told her I would kill her if she ain’t run like a bat out of hell!”

  “Oh, my god!” I chirped, tensing all over. I had sat through real life nightmare tales, but this one was affecting me because…it included him. Ragee. “What happened to the guy?”

  “After using all my might to pull Raj off him, I threw on shoes and jacket—forgetting I was just in boxers—and pulled that joker out of the basement and all the way down to the railroad by Jersey Ave. Then my scary ass had to get back to the house, force Raj’s zombie ass into the bathroom to shower. When that was accomplished, I found some bleach and soap, and scrubbed blood from everywhere. My mattress reeked of pee. I threw that out and the sheets and stuff before Pastor McKinnon or anybody else from upstairs woke up.” He shook the nightmare off. “That was one hell of a night.”

  “Whatever happened to the guy?”

  “Hell if I know. He just ain’t never come back and that was for the good.”

  I nodded. Funny how relaxed and broken LeRoy’s vernacular became when recounting back when. It reminded me of the tough veneers people with traumatic experiences can put on. Much similar to his best friend.

  “Hey,” as if on cue, Raj appeared over my shoulder. “You done with this love sick fool yet?” he asked with a half-committed smile.

  “Fuck you, McKinnon,” LeRoy charged, but mildly. “Not everyone wants to die alone like you. We’re not all built for it.” He swung his neck in the air. “Don’t go falling for this man. He’s heartless. I don’t give a damn if the dick is good. Trust me, belle: good dick is rare and outstanding dick is dangerous,” he over-enunciated the s.

  After the journey he’d just taken me on with their dark pasts, I didn’t have the ability to switch moods. I was still processing pain.

  “I think I can handle dangerous.” My eyes swept up to Raj and my lashes fluttered.

  He laughed at my attempt to flirt. I really had a short reserve for positivity after what I’d just sat through.

  “Oh, damn,” LeRoy rustled. “I told my crew I’d be just a few hours. It’s been damn near four. Let me take my tired ass off.” He stood.

  “Get some Kleenex or something, my nigga.” Raj teased. “They out front?”

  “Better be or heads will be rolling,” LeRoy swore before chucking back the last tequila shot.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Raj offered. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured in my ear.

  “No. I’ll come.”

  The three of us left the small club and traveled to the front of the resort where we found a waiting car with someone standing next to it. It was the petite femme guy with a high-top fade who usually traveled with LeRoy. He didn’t seem relieved to see him either. When we said our goodbyes, I actually absorbed LeRoy into a hug. I could feel his thin frame stiffen in my embrace as I rubbed his back. Weird, but I felt that was what he needed, unbiased compassion.

  “Take care, friend,” I offered when we pulled away.

  His tall frame gazed down on me with what I could have sworn to be misted eyes. “Thank you, belle.”

  Raj’s salutation was a bit different. “A’ight, man. Stay up.”

  “What? No prayers from the preacher man?”

  Raj snorted, brows hiked. “Not on this crybaby nonsense. Grow some and move on.”

  LeRoy rolled his eyes. “Love you, too, fucking asshole,” he hissed as he walked off.

  “Love you more, duke.” Raj’s smile was tempting as well as annoying.

  It was sinister. He was teasing his friend who was tender. Again, Raj was a dude. That could be dangerous to a needy soul. My thoughts lingered as I watched LeRoy get into the car and pull off.

  Before I knew it, I was thrusted into hard planks of muscle. Raj was in my face, the ends of his beard tickling my cheek.

  “Sorry about the interruption,” he hummed deliciously in my ear. “Now back to the birthday celebration. I only have eleven months and eleven days before you’re next one to celebrate.” His big palm gripped my ass and a powerful zing coursed my spine.

  I had to keep from moaning. “No interruption at all. It’s always good getting to know more about my husband.” I wrinkled my nose and cocked my head. “What does he do for a living that has him detouring a chartered plane with limos and chauffeurs?” When I googled Raj before the wedding and learned of his bestie, LeRoy, I could tell he was in the fashion industry, but didn’t know exactly how.

  Raj shook his head, exhaling. “He’s a fashion buyer for a major department store. But the planes, limos, and exotic trips don’t come from his modest pay. The people he comes across in his line of work sponsor that.”

  “Like his bestie?”

  “Used to when I first came up. Lee’s my brother. We were broke together. But dude’s got his own rep and name now. Never mind him.” His eyes narrowed devilishly and head tilted as he pulled me into his hard, lengthy frame. “Now, I wanna dance more. I like the feel of you moving against me.”

  A smile blossomed on my face. Raj wasn’t a performance dancer, but the guy had moves.

  “I’d like that very much…and something else.”

  His face opened with humor. “What?”

  “To move against you without clothes.”

  “Prove it…on the dance floor.” He dared with one cheek hiked.

  We made our way back to the small club where on the way, we spotted his security, Danny G, whispering in the ear of a young woman. She appeared to love it as she giggled with half-mast eyes. Back at the club, there were fewer people and Raj approached the deejay to ask for less upbeat tunes to ease us into mellow R&B. Raj ordered a round of shots at the bar where I followed him to, bobbing to the music.

  When the drinks were served, he turned to me with his glass in the air. “To the birthday girl! May your latter days be filled with joy your heart can hardly contain, laughter that splits your pants, friends strong enough to hold you down on your worse days, and overflowing blessings. May at twenty-nine, you begin to live the best years of your life.”

  His wide and elated grin mixed with those heady words swelled my heart. I didn’t think I’d ever been wished well by a man other than my mother’s father and Van.

  “Hmmmmm…” I angled my head and tossed my eyes into the distance. “I think my heart can agree on that.”

  We clinked glasses then tossed them back. Raj placed them both on the bar top and led me to the dance floor where we ground on each other while the music was still up-tempo. I laughed at his silliness of playful seduction. His hips rocked side to side, waist twisted and circled; Raj was no Chris Brown or Michael Jackson, but he had an adult two-step. Our pace moved according to that of the music. When it wound down, he turned me so my back was against his chest. I couldn’t help my giggle when his lips brushed against my face and his teeth bit my earlobe.

  I’d never done this before. Never felt…precious and adored. I’d been in love once in my life. It almost ruined me. Wrecked me. Falling in love with a man over ten years older taught me a lot about my body, but nothing about my heart. Never had it made me feel like a whole woman, or that a woman could hold so much significance to a man. Although he wasn’t my first, Sheldon taught me how to fuck. I thought that one aspect of our relationship made me a woman. No. These few years since I left him had. From quitting my job to beginning this journey of becoming the fake Mrs. McKinnon, I’d learned to step out of what didn’t bring me happiness and take risks. These years had also taught me I could never trust my heart to a tortured soul like Ragee McKinnon, but I could be an ally. I could pad him with the privacy and support he needed to thrive.

  We danced for what felt like hours. Spinning, dipping,
gripping, and grinding. I was a sweaty mess after a while, but I’d never felt so incredibly feminine in my life. I turned in his arms, putting us chest to abdomen.

  “Okay. I’m ready to blow your fucking mind now.” My expression was as serious as my desire urgent.

  Raj’s eyes narrowed even more than the alcohol and heavy seductive dancing made them when he laughed. “That mouth of yours!” Then his expression sobered, darkened. “I’m ready.”

  She was sweaty. God, she dripped with it, and it turned me on each time my hand slipped from her waist as she bounced on top of me. Her body glistened under the silver streak of the moonlight, and my rod stiffened inside of her. She bounced, rolled, and grounded her pussy over my cock slowly as we both looked at where we met. Her drives and pace changed when she lifted one leg to flatten her foot on the bed. Wynter’s head tossed back in tortured pleasure and I watched it all, struggling not to spill into her.

  “Don’t come,” she panted, her face tight and strained.

  “Okay, baby…” I whispered, pushing my head to the back of the couch.

  My hands slid up her belly and busied with her hard nipples that disappeared in the darkness of the night. But her tits were firm, bouncy, and soft. My hands struggled to stay on them, her skin was so glossy from perspiration.

  “Oooh, Raj,” she breathed, mouth open. God, she’s sexy… “Oooh, Raj!”

  I felt her puss grip me below like a vice and her thrusts into me came faster and harder. Her spine curled and head flew back as she breathed pained gulps.

  “Don’t come! Don’t come!”

  “Gaaaaah!” I breathed, squeezing my cheeks to the point of pain.

  I tried hard to think of something far from this bungalow even though that was hard to when I had Wynter doing figure eight drops on my dick. But I managed to ride it out until her cries softened and her chin dropped back down. Then she hopped off me, scrambling to the floor. She moved so fast, I couldn’t ask what the hell was she doing when my dick was so hard, I was in pain.

  Wynter pushed my legs open, making more room for herself in between than she needed. Her mouth sank down on my cock and her hands made rings around the root of me. Goddamn… She applied the right type of pressure with her hands and tongue as it rolled over my head, around the Apa bar. Her palms moved up, massaged more of me while those lips and tongue stayed busy up top. Her breaths came fast and loud, reminding me of the work she was putting in.

  I grabbed her at the back of the head, easing my way into a blast off. Her hand jerked smoothly, her spit game was on point, keeping me lubed. And her hot mouth kept me warm. Soon her hands reached just under my swollen head and she didn’t bob anymore. My eyes began to blur and feet started to heat at the bottom. With her elbows, she spread my legs wider, and I pumped harder into her grip and mouth.

  Then her head dipped. Her mouth went around one of my engorged balls. I focused on her hand game instead. My hips pumped up and Wynter’s clutch tightened. But when her head dipped lower and I felt a slither way down in a place unfamiliar, my eyes shot open. I tried staying with my pace, my dick moving up and down against her wet palms. The sensation from under my balls started warming my damn belly, making my right leg stand on its big toe.

  What. The. Hell…

  I didn’t like the invasion, but I tried playing cool. Wynter was nasty as hell; this I knew already. But what the hell was she trying to pull on me? Damn if I didn’t I moan. Her tongue swiped over nerves I never knew I had down there.

  “Goddamn, Wyn—” I barked hard, wanting to tell her to stop.

  This was fucking disgusting. And felt so damn good… She kept at it, her tongue swirled around. Slowly, my eyes closed. My hands gripped the back of the couch as she rolled her tongue round and round and round, dizzying me. My pelvis pushed harder and harder. My ass squeezed and squeezed.

  “Ah!” My spine straightened like a line and I grabbed the backs of her hands, jerking myself with her, driving toward demanding and growing pleasure. I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to.

  And with her, I didn’t.

  I sprayed in the air, feeling hot cum slap on my chest, thighs, and stomach. My orgasm rolled over me, over and over and over. My shoulders caved and my chin hung over her head as I tried to breathe my way through pleasure I never knew. She didn’t stop and neither did my coming, it seemed. It was all over my hands that covered hers. They slipped away before Wynter’s. But she knew when I was done. Her hands slowed and head rolled up with eyes guilty as sin.

  As I turned onto my back, I could feel my mouth was dry and shoulder muscles a little tight. My eyes fluttered open to bright sunlight and blue waters, I couldn’t see much else. The windows and back doors of the bungalow were open, but out of focus for my eyes. I blinked a few times and stretched to clear my vision.

  She sat down at the foot of the bed with her knees pulled up to her chin. I blinked a few more times then rubbed my eyes.

  Wynter’s chin was on her shoulder as she looked back at me.

  “Is this going to only be a three day vacation now, or worse: you want to leave today?”

  Even with the fake pout of her mouth, I could see the sadness in her eyes. It was a sincere question from her.

  “Why? You ready to go?” my voice was so deep, I could hardly get out each syllable.

  When Wynter’s eyes circled and strained guiltily, I caught on.

  My head fell back on the pillow and I used both hands to rub my face awake. “Nah, but I’m good on the nifkin play. No more for me.”

  “Sorry,” she whined and I glanced down the bed and saw her bottom lip poking apologetically.

  I laughed, scraping my face with my hands again. “It’s all good. I ain’t trippin’ at all. It’s just a once and done type of deal with me.”

  “So you enjoyed it?” Her face lifted in a smile.

  “I enjoyed you.”

  That was all I could think of. I never did anal play or teasing. In fact, no matter how good it made me feel last night, it made me feel more vulnerable than a man should. Nobody should be able to make me lose it the way I did.

  Wynter turned and crawled up the mattress, her expression turned full on seductress.

  “Then we’re still friends?” she asked on all fours.

  I laughed, holding my bare chest. “Oh, cut it out, freak!” I hit her with a small pillow.

  “You know what hit me the other day?” Wynter asked, cutting into her flourless and eggless pancakes I had to convince her she could eat.

  Man, she took this dieting thing too seriously.

  “What’s that?” I grabbed my water.

  “You hated me so much you didn’t want me on your little jet.” She used her fork to point at me.

  I chuckled. “One, there’s nothing little about my jet, sweetheart. Two, what’re you talking about?”

  “The wedding down in Marye Island…in the Keys, you didn’t want me to fly down on it. Even when I flew out to Detroit for your show, I took a commercial flight.”

  My laugh this time was full blown. I scratched my nose, looking out to the water that seemed boundless from this view. “Nah, I wasn’t willing to share my toys then.”

  “You were mean.” She forked a piece of grapefruit in her mouth.

  My head shook as I faced my plate. “I was angry. Still am.”

  “With me?”

  “No. With me.”

  “And Mike?”

  “And Mike.” I laughed, agreeing again. “The last thing I thought of when the studio execs turned me down was I’d create a whole life to be accepted. It’s not how I roll.”

  “So it’s true.” She licked her lips. “That’s why you did this marriage thing. It was to sweeten your image for business reasons?”

  My eyes fell to the table and I tried busying myself with my food. “Yeah. That’s one thing the blogs did get right—well, a blog. The rest ran off the plug with it.”

  “Spilling that Hot Tea!” she muttered while sitting up with one hand holding up
her coffee mug and the other crossed over her waist.

  “Yup. Them.” I nodded. “They always seem to be cutting edge with their posts.”

  She nodded, casting her eyes out to the oceanfront. For a while, I finished my breakfast in silence.

  “You never talk about your mother.”

  “What about her?” I asked, still tending to my plate.

  “When did she pass? Myisha said it was a long time ago, but didn’t say when.”

  “When I was ten.”

  “How?”

  Why?

  “Ummmmm…” I hated talking about it. About her. “Uh… They say an aneurysm.”

  “You think differently?” There was heightened curiosity in her tone.

  I sat back, taking a deep breath. “Yeah and no. I think she was overworked and more than that, unhappy.” Wynter’s lifted brows pushed me to explain. “She spent her life trying to please her mother and aid her druggy sister. She acted as though my grandmother didn’t have two other daughters—well, one died when she was like five, I was told. But she had a son, too. He’s the oldest. My mom played everybody’s savior, caregiver. Seemed like she had the patience of Job with everybody but my Pops.”

  “You think they should have stayed together?”

  “I think giving it a try would have meant putting each other first. Like my pops begged her to do after she had Arnie. She never gave ‘them’ a real chance as a couple. I’ve learned nobody is worth your happiness. Not your demanding family, who don’t have much of a purview outside of the family’s storefront church. Not fans, who don’t know you past the songs you sing or the lines you recite while the cameras are rolling.”

  “What’s happiness?” Her eyes were intent, and body steeled.

  I shrugged my eyebrows and took a sip of my water. “Today, it’s me celebrating an extraordinary woman, who’s survived my crankiness for four months.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she planted her elbows on the table. “You think I’m extraordinary?”

  I leaned into the table, too, and mimicked her expression. “I think I wanna take you out on the water and laugh at you while you learn to surf.”