by Sienna Mynx
She takes off her sunglasses and drops them in the bag. I put the oar in the boat with us and let us coast along the shore.
“I want you to come to New York with me. Stay with me for a while, Brick.”
“I dunno, might take a while before I can work that out.”
“Brick,” she says and I look up at her.
“Stay with me, Brick. You told me that you’d have to leave New Orleans to get better. I believe you. Look at us. Look at us now. That doesn’t have to change.”
“Let me think about it,” I tell her. It’s not as simple as walking away. I made a deal with Pops. One that doesn’t change because I found my baby again. I can’t tell her that. I don’t want to further tarnish her view of me. “Let’s just focus on us, right here, right now.”
“Brick! A shark!” she screams.
I turn my head and look behind me. A dolphin jumps out of the water and goes back into the waves. Close enough to splash us. Coco laughs. “Oh my God! I saw the fin and thought it was a shark.”
I can’t help but laugh.
“The only shark in this boat is me,” I take her leg and bring it up so her foot rests on my knee. She smiles. I take off her sandal and brush off the sand. I massage her foot. We bob and coast in the water. The dolphin is jumping out of the water a few feet away.
“He’s playing with us.”
“He’s trying to seduce my girl.”
“Well he can’t have me. I’m already taken.”
She tilts her head back and her floppy hat stays on. Her pretty body is now absorbing the sun. I continue to massage her foot and relax hrt. There is something I’m dying to know. Something I need to tell her, eventually. With her so relaxed and loving me at the moment, I hesitate asking her. And then I do.
“Coco?”
“Mmmm?”
“Did your mom ever tell you that she knows Smoke?”
Coco head comes down and she looks at me with a frown. “No, because she doesn’t.”
“He mentioned her once. Said he knew her in Houma years ago. Before she and your dad met.”
“Really?”
I look at her, and then lower my gaze back to her foot. I’m massaging it and gauging my words. “Yeah, really.”
“She never said anything to me. Not once.”
“Oh?”
“What is it?” she asks.
“I don’t want to say, baby. I don’t know if it’s true. And I don’t want to upset you.”
“Brick?” She removes her foot from my hand and sits upright. “If you know something about my family, tell me.”
I sigh. “Promise me you won’t let it ruin our trip? Promise.”
She made the sign of the cross over her heart. I smile at her. But Coco isn’t smiling. She looks alarmed. “Remember Smoke didn’t treat you friendly. How he kept trying to warn me about us.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“He knew your father and mother. In fact, Smoke says your father set him up and sent him to jail for the death of two men.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know all the details, sweetheart. All I know is that your mother and Smoke had a relationship, and her parents forced her into marrying your father. Smoke couldn’t let her go so he followed her to Lafayette where he worked the factory and continued to see her. I guess your father found out. Smoke and some men got into some kind of accident where they were boiled to death in the vats that make the alcohol. Smoke took the fall for it. Your father pressed charges and claimed it was all Smoke. Pops tried to get him out of it… and…”
“What?”
“And Smoke said your mother was pregnant. He had to let her go. To protect her.”
“Jalen? My brother Jalen is Smoke’s son?”
“I think so.”
“When did he tell you this?”
“I was in the hospital not able to speak when Pops told me that part of the story. I always knew Smoke spent time in prison. Just not your father’s role in it. Smoke told me that part of the story.”
Coco’s head turns. She looks out to the ocean and the mountains beyond. She looks sad.
“I’m sorry, bae-bee. I want us to be honest. I thought you should know.”
“Can you take me back now, please?” she asks, softly.
I pick up the oars and begin to row us back.
I’m on my back swaying in the net hammock tied between two palm trees, listening to Coco’s raised voice as it carries out of the window. She’s upset. Crying. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her. I still can’t decide if I did the right thing. I only want to be honest with her.
Coco comes out of the house. She marches straight to me. “She didn’t deny it, Brick! She didn’t deny any of it!”
“I’m sorry, bae-bee.”
“How could she live with it? Live with daddy knowing what he did to Smoke? And Jalen? He doesn’t even know. No wonder he married and moved to Texas. Daddy treated him like…”
Coco pauses. Her eye stretched. “Daddy knows?”
“What?”
“He has to know, Brick. It explains so much. Why he treated Jalen so awful. Wouldn’t even let him work in the family business. He has to know. I never understood his cruelty toward Jalen. Until now. He has to know Jalen isn’t his.”
I extend my hand. She moves the hammock to keep it from flipping and gently rolls onto it with me. I pull her closer. We sway together.
“All my life my family has been living lies, keeping secrets, and I was clueless.”
“Do you think Jalen knows?” I ask her.
“If he doesn’t I’m not going to tell him. It’s not my place. I told my mother she needs to. Who knows if she will. I don’t understand her. Not at all.”
“Don’t be too hard on her.”
Coco turns toward me and puts her arm around my chest. I close my eyes. The truth isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I feel good having told her everything. There’s nothing between us now. We sway by the gentle push of the ocean breeze. The palm leaves bristle but continue to provide shade for us. After a few minutes I’m drifting like a baby in a cradle, while I hold her in my arms.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The calypso band can’t keep me in my seat. The Afro-Caribbean music is highly rhythmic with harmonic vocals. I’m up dancing and working my hips while Brick eats his crab legs. The band jams with various types of percussion instruments with a banjo, guitar and bells. I love it. And dancing for Brick under the music reminds me of my first time in the Bone Room.
He and I decided to leave the cabin by the sea and walk into the little fisherman town for fun. I need fun. Uncovering darkness in my family is draining. Not for Brick. He seems to come more alive with every demon we cast. Tonight he’s hungry. He loves his crawfish. That’s not on the menu. Tonight he tears through blue crabs like a champion.
I’m dancing as he watches. To be honest several men are watching my little mini dress rise up my thighs. It’s all in fun, but my baby isn’t smiling. Guys like Brick don’t take kind to sharing their women, and are prone to jealous fits. When an older white man gets up and comes to join me on the dance floor I almost decline. But he’s so cute. He tries to waltz with me to the music. Brick frowns. I laugh and let the old guy spin and turn me and teach him a few moves of my own. His wife is clapping. Brick is still breaking into crabs.
It’s time to put this little show to an end. The restaurant cheers for us. I return to the table as the waitress comes and offers him some beer or alcohol punch. Brick looks at me and the offer of liquor. I don’t speak for him. I wait and let him do it. He declines. She brings us a fresh pint of lemonade.
“Do you still smoke marijuana?” I ask him.
He shakes his head no. “Not when I was clean and sober. And I’m clean and sober again.”
I smile at him. The singer for the band switches up and begins his Bob Marley tribute. I pick up a crab and break into it.
“You look beautiful up there, dancing,” Brick says.
&
nbsp; “You could have joined me,” I tease.
“Maybe later. He says and sucks on a crab leg. I smile.
“We only have two more days before we have to go back and join Georgie and Marcel.” I pout.
“I know, I could live here with you forever.”
“We will live together, forever. Just wait and see.”
“What if we do it?” he asks.
“Do what?” I pick out the crab meat with my nails.
“Get married.”
My eyes flash up and lock with his. He stares at me, his facial expression is unchanged. I can’t figure out if he is teasing me or if he is serious.
“We can’t get married. That’s crazy talk.”
“Why not. I love you, and you love me.”
“Yeah, but we just got back together.”
“It took four long years of waiting. Why do we have to wait another minute?”
I stare at him again, trying to figure out if he’s serious. “We don’t have a marriage license. I’m sure it can’t be done with our passports only.”
“We can have the ceremony here and then go home and file the paperwork,” he says.
“I don’t have a ring. And I’m not going to tell our children someday that you proposed to me over a glass of lemonade and half eaten crabs.”
He laughs. His smile broadens. “Kids? We’re having kids?”
I lower my gaze. “I’m not on the pill anymore.”
He stops chewing. His eyes narrow on me. This time I can’t look at him. I stopped taking them a few months ago. I was going to get the IUD but never made my appointment. Besides, there was no rush. I’m not even dating anyone.
“You trying to trap me by getting pregnant?”
“What?”
He laughs. I shake my head smiling. “If we get married I want a proposal. I want you on your knees saying the words. And then…” I shrug. “And then I’m yours.”
“You’re already mine,” he says and rips into the crab with his teeth. I shake my head smiling.
“Those are my terms.”
“I accept your terms, and have a few of my own.”
“Really? What are they?” I say with a roll of my neck.
“We live in New Orleans.”
My heart sinks. I blink at him. Not sure what to say, I can’t speak. It was the one thing we agreed wasn’t good for either of us. “Brick? Why?”
“It’s home. I couldn’t bear the city after you left. But when you are there with me I feel like I’m home. I want to open the Bone Room again. I want to raise our children in the Quarter around real people, and jazz. I want to wake up to the smell of beignet and gumbo. I want us to live our life right there where it began.”
I don’t know what to say. I only avoided the city I love because I couldn’t bear it without Brick. “I have a career in New York. A number one play and a Tony award.”
“You’re a writer, and you write about the Bayou but you want to live in New York to do it?”
I smile. “You have a point.”
“So is it a deal? You and me, bae-bee?”
“What about Pops? And the things you do for him.”
Brick’s smile faded. “Pops is in our lives, Coco. I want to say he isn’t, but he will be. And I’ll still have to work for him, for a while, until I can figure a way out.”
I reach across the table and take his hand. “He’s killing what’s special in you, Brick.”
“You’re what’s special. I’ll beat Pops, if you believe in me. Come back to me. Come back to N’awlins with me as my wife.”
“Okay,” I say.
Brick looks as if he didn’t believe me. I get up from my seat and I go over to him. He scoots his chair back and I sit on his lap. I don’t care who sees as I kiss his greasy, crab stained lips and hug his neck.
“I’m getting married!” I shout out.
Everyone in the restaurant cheers. Brick laughs and hugs me.
When I wake up Brick is gone. I look for him on the beach. I come back in to see a text message from him. He says he had to take care of a few things and wouldn’t be back until the afternoon. We have today and tomorrow before we leave. Our time is precious, and he’s gone? I’m a little pissed and confused.
I cook my breakfast and watch some television. I even brave the outside shower without Brick. I hear insects and birds in the trees above but thank God I don’t see anything. When boredom settles in I take out my laptop and start to write. It’s all about our private beach, and our love for each other. More like journal writing than a story. But I get it all out of me. It feels good. Soon after, I’m dozing on the futon and drift asleep.
“Coco?”
I open my eyes and Brick is smiling at me. “Hey? Where have you been?”
I look to the window and can tell by the dim light that its late. “What time is it, Brick?”
“Six, sorry it took me so long.”
“That’s okay. You’re back now. You hungry? I made some vegetable lasagna. It’s in the oven.”
He kisses me. I’m surprised but I kiss him back. He pulls me form the futon to him on the floor. Brick rolls me under him and kisses my face while reaching under my skirt to drag down my panties. I’m not sure why he’s so horny in the moment but I like it. And I want him just as bad.
I’m so happy I can’t explain it. When I came back into the cabin I found her asleep on the futon. She had on a black mini dress that barely covered her thighs. I stood over her and stared at her beauty. The ring in my pocket is burning a hole through it. I want to do this right. But I have to savor my new future. Coco is mine. All mine.
I wake her and the minute she smiles for me I’m a goner. I’m pulling her off the sofa and I kissing her. I’m drowning in her power. My lady’s magic is still there. It’s like a current of energy that rushes over my skin in waves and makes my groin tight and dick hard. I’m in her before I can explain myself. My pants aren’t even pushed off my hips. Her panties are tangled around one foot. Her pussy contracts around me and I’m grinding my teeth. I thrust forward, rocking against her body while she is pinned to the floor. She’s still trying to kiss me. Not the least bit concerned about my passion. It’s all I can do to keep from coming inside her right then and there. The melting hot softness of her pussy is pushing me closer to the edge. With each push of my hips I’m charged and I go faster, and faster. I don’t want it to be all about me so I stop. She’s groaning. I yank up her dress and go between her thighs. I trace the slick entrance of her pussy with my tongue. She cries out just as my tongue takes the plunge into her already slick core. She gyrates against my mouth, smashing her juicy pussy against my lips. I want her to climax, I want her to have the best orgasm of her life and I’ll stay between her thighs until she gets it.
My sweet, sweet, Coco. She’s saved me. I’m going to love her forever.
And then she lets go her passion and creams for me. My chest and dick are vibrating with urgent need. It’s not enough, she needs more, and I’m going to give it to her. I sit back on my legs and grab her by the hips. I lift her up and settle her on my lap after awkwardly moving my legs from under me to sit on the floor. She’s positioned against my chest and kissing my face. But I’m more interested in getting my dick back into that sweet pussy of hers. And it happens. She goes down on my length and her pussy flutters with tension. She sighs and arches her back as she rides my cock with her head reared back and those dark nipples of hers within reach. I suck on one to relieve my stress, and hers. She keeps bouncing and bouncing until my balls are emptied and my cock flaccid, yet we don’t stop. I can’t. I won’t. And when she does, it makes me weep. I hug Coco to me and I let go the first cry I’ve ever shed since I lost her. Sure I have had drunken fits of sadness and depression but I never let myself go this deep, feel of loss that I have felt so purely. And now it’s all about my gain. I won’t let Pops take her from me. No one. She’s mine this time. Forever.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Coco, bae-bee, what’s ta
king so long?” I shout.
She’s been getting ready for over an hour. After the shower I thought it would be quick and easy. But dating and loving a black woman you learn that the hair and makeup routine is a process. I’m so anxious I can’t stop tapping my left foot and shaking my left leg.
“C’mon de’re Coco!” I say and hear my fathers voice come out of me. I need to chill and relax. I know she’ll make it worth my wait. And she does. She emerges in a white sundress with thin straps. Her beauty is like something from a magazine. Her hair has many long ringlet curls and her make up is just touches of color and gloss, to highlight her natural beauty.
“Do you like?” she asks.
“Like? I love it, uh, you.” I say and stand.
“You won’t tell me where we’re going. I didn’t know how to dress. Is this too much?”
“No. It’s perfect.” I say and walk over to her. She gives me her cheek when I try to kiss her lips. I’ve never been one of those men to complain about sticky lipgloss on their girl’s lips. So I steal a kiss. Coco wipes my mouth with her thumb.
“Change your shoes. Put on flat sandals,” I tell her and pat her on the butt. She goes back inside and steps out of her heels and puts on her sandals. She returns and I take her hand. The timing is perfect. Everything is ready.
I thought there would be a car waiting for us. To take us back to the market side of the fisherman town. There are several nice restaurants there. These beaches are celebrity havens and cost me a small fortune to secure. Everyone from Beyonce to Oprah vacation here.
Brick leads me out of the door into the sand and walks straight for the beach. When he passes our trees, I see along the shore there is a tent erected with lanterns on the post. Two men and one woman are there in servant jackets.
“What is this?”
“Me doing it right,” he replies.
I smile. The night isn’t as breezy as most. But it’s humid. We approach the candlelit table under a trillion stars and a full moon. I look up at the moon and remember what Brick told me in the Bayou about full moons. That life we shared seems like it’s a million years in the past. He takes me to my chair and pulls it out. Tonight I feel like everything with him is for the first time. I sit and smile as he takes his seat. The server removes the cover to my food. The plating is fancy and the portions are small. I bet my lasagna in the oven is better. But I don’t complain. My glass is poured with champagne. Brick is given lemonade.