It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Falls in Love

by Drea Riley

  “Someone please tell me what the hell is going?” I asked, my voice wavering. I could feel anxious tears building in my eyes.

  “Don’t be so dramatic, Jonica Farran. Papi and I just decided to renew our vows. No big deal.”

  My head whipped back and forth between my parents. I stuttered, stopped and closed my mouth. I couldn’t even think how to verbalize all the questions running through my mind. Pablo squeezed my hand and spoke softly.

  “I know you have many questions, my heart. And your mother and I have answers, but now is not the time. Both of my girls needs some rest, don’t you think, Zeke? Let me take your mother home. You go home with Zeke and we’ll meet later on. We can have a good meal and a long talk then. Okay?”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea, Pablo. Both Jonica and Lloydia have had a rough couple of weeks. I think everyone needs to get a good night’s rest, and then we can talk later.”

  I didn’t argue as my father led me to the passenger side of my SUV and tucked me in. I waited silently, watching the two men get my mother settled into the sedan. Tears slid down my cheeks as Pablo pulled Zeke in for a quick embrace before getting into the car and pulling away from the loading zone. Zeke got into my SUV, and I didn’t even ask him where we were going. I just stared out the window as he drove.

  I was mildly confused when we pulled up at my house—I’d thought we were headed for Zeke’s. I waited until he pulled into the garage and pressed the button to bring the large bay door down. Once the garage door was closed, I turned to him, but every question I wanted to ask was clogged behind tears in my throat. What the hell was going on with my parents? What the hell was going on between us? Why were we here at my home when he’d taken care of me at his while I was sick? There were a million questions, and I—strong, take no prisoners Jonica—was mute. I couldn’t have spoken if my life depended on it. And for all I knew my life, my happiness, my dreams very well could depend it.

  ***

  Zeke sat with his hands in textbook position on the steering wheel. Two and ten. Eyes a hundred yard ahead. Mind stuck on the woman next to him. His palms were sweaty, and he was nervous. There’d been so much going on around Jonica in the last few days. How was he ever going to convince her that in the short time since she’d closed him out of the elevator, he’d fallen madly in love with her? Was this the craziness that had happened between Pablo and Lloydia? How was he going to reassure her they wouldn’t end up like her parents had, forced to spend the better part of nearly thirty years apart? So passionately in love, but clueless as how to make a relationship work outside the bedroom. Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, afraid that if he looked at her dead on he’d break down and cry, confess his love and make her think he was a grade-A wuss, Zeke held his breath and waited for her to move.

  ***

  I’d had enough waiting. Biting the inside of my cheek, I asked, “Did you know my parents were getting married today?”

  “No, not until after I got to the hospital. And not married—renewed. According to your parents, they’ve always been in love. Been married since two years before you were born. They just...their personalities were so strong, they just couldn’t get along. When you came along, they decided to separate. They didn’t want you to suffer from their selfishness. Apparently they’ve been on and off again all along. Your mom says she’s dated a lot, but she could never bring herself to have sex with anyone other than your dad. And, well, your dad... You know, maybe they should be telling you all this. BUT we are not them. Jonica, I know you’re confused and tired. But trust me when I say we are not your parents. I am nothing like your father. Well, maybe I am. I love you, and he loves you. Hell, I even think I love your mom, and she pinched me on the ass five minutes after I met her. I am telling you now, I intend to be in your life. We don’t have to get married right away. We don’t have to have kids soon either. Hell, if you don’t want to get married, then I will be your boyfriend for the rest of my life. You were meant to be my woman. I knew it the moment your mom started talking about you. I knew it the moment I saw you blowing air down your shirt in that elevator before you closed the doors and made me run up a flight of stairs. You don’t have to say you love me. Just say you’ll let me be your man.”

  “Well, damn.”

  Jonica sighed. She turned in her seat and undid her seatbelt before getting out of the car and walking to the door. As soon as she opened it, Claymore rushed out and ran right past me.

  ***

  “Ain’t that about a bitch,” I muttered hotly to myself. Stepping into the cool kitchen, I made my way to the fridge, snagged a mini bottle of orange juice and guzzled it down. I’d started to throw the bottle in the trash when I caught Zeke looking at me from the doorway. Both he and Claymore had the most pathetic looks on their faces. It should have been against the law for them to

  both be that damn big and look so disgustingly sweet.

  “Well, damn,” I said again. “Look, you might as well come in. I need a shower, and then we can talk.” I tossed the words over my shoulder as I headed down the hall, muttering the whole way.

  ***

  Zeke waited until he was sure Jonica was under the spray of the water before he moved.

  “Well, beast, whataya think?” he asked. Claymore gave him a longsuffering look before walking over to his own bed and plopping down. Zeke laughed when he noticed the dog had dragged out a smaller stuffed dog with a pink bow perched between its ears. Claymore snuggled down with his toy resting securely beneath one massive paw and gave Zeke a look that said, “Dude, go claim your woman” before closing his eyes and promptly dismissing him. Zeke laughed aloud. Claymore had it right. A woman like Jonica wasn’t going to fall for flowery words. He needed to put some action behind his proclamation. He needed to stake his claim and fight for it every day. Even if that meant fighting Jonica herself.

  He went back out to Jonica’s truck and snagged the ring box he’d hidden there. He’d had it at the hospital when he’d asked Lloydia and Pablo for their blessing, which he’d received along with death threats from Pablo and sex tips from Loydia. He’d then stood as witness to their vows in the chapel downstairs.

  Sneaking in to the small hall bath, he sucked in his breath. There was no door on the shower, and Jonica stood there giving him the most decadent view of her backside. Zeke listened as she talked to herself about the day’s events. Well, argued with herself was more like it. When she began chastising herself for liking the way he’d felt behind her in bed, Zeke slipped under the spray with her, pinning her nakedness against the cool tiles.

  ***

  “You know they say if you argue with yourself and lose, it’s a sign of insanity.”

  “Who said I was losing? I mean, if I am arguing with myself, it stands to reason that I would win as well.” I tried to sound cool and aloof, but Zeke’s tongue in my ear and pulsing cock at my ass was causing me to wonder why we were talking to begin with. “Besides, I wasn’t arguing. I was...ummm, yeah...ummm, getting a second opinion.”

  “Oh yeah?” Zeke asked as he palmed my large breasts. “And what do you think?”

  My eyes slammed shut as he pinched my nipple with one hand and my clit with the other. “That I am fucked.”

  “Not yet you aren’t, but you’re about to be.”

  Zeke didn’t hesitate to make good on his declaration as he bent his knees, letting the length of his shaft caress the underside of my rounded ass. He rubbed the head of his cock over my pulsing labia before he found his entrance and sank home. I felt my eyes roll back into my head. With one arm wrapped solidly under my breast and the other snaked around my waist, Zeke brought me to nirvana. When his fingers resumed their dance on my clit, I sang his praises and showered his rod with hot, sticky nectar. The third time he brought me to orgasm, I thought I might drown. We’d somehow backed up so that I was leaning, bent from the waist, my hand braced against the wall, with Zeke thrusting away like a mad man. My thighs were beginning to tremble, and my knees wer
e becoming weak.

  Just when I thought I couldn’t handle any more, Zeke pulled out and dragged me from the shower. He stopped just long enough to turn off the water and spread a thick towel on the floor. Lying on his back, he pulled me over his face and sighed.

  When the tip of his tongue hit my sex, I screamed. I wanted to stand, to move to escape the pure pleasure, but Zeke held me firmly to his mouth as he kissed and licked and suckled. I came over and over and over and over until I couldn’t hold myself up any longer. I let myself slump forward, with my hands on the floor above Zeke’s head and my pussy still in direct contact with his probing tongue.

  “If you don’t stop, I am going to die. I need...I need…”

  ***

  “Me...you need me to fuck you. You need me to put my dick into the best pussy it’s ever had and teach you why no other man can replace me,” Zeke answered for her.

  He didn’t give her a moment to think before he slid from under her and then stood, scooping her up and to his chest before striding down the hall until he found her bedroom. After he placed her on the bed, he sank between her legs and kissed her long and deep. He put every ounce of himself into the kiss. All of his love and devotion pouring from his heart and soul, out of his mouth and into hers. Slowly he brought her legs up on either side of his hips and then guided her to lock her ankles at his back. Once she was in position he sank into her, breaking their kiss but joining their bodies. Deep within her his rod pulsed, ready to be stroked in and out. Jonica milked him with her walls, but Zeke held his ground. Not moving, but staring at her intently he stayed as still as art until she opened her eyes and focused on his gaze. When he was sure she was about to question him, he sang. He prayed that God would give him the inflection he needed, to let Jonica know how much he meant the lyrics. Tears ran down his face, dropping onto Jonica’s cheeks, and his voice wavered slightly as he neared the end of the ballad.

  “I cross my heart and promise to give all I’ve got to make all your dreams come true. In all the world, you’ll never find a love as true as mine.”

  ***

  I cried silently, my chest heaving as Zeke finished his song. I’d never heard anything so beautiful. Never seen anything more glorious than this man. This man who’d had made himself as vulnerable as possible and then opened his chest and exposed his beating heart to me. Reaching up, I ran my fingers over Zeke’s cheek, wiping away his tears. “Hey, Doc. I got that second opinion you wanted?”

  I watched as he closed his eyes and rested his cheek in the palm of my hand. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried to control his emotions. I waited until he opened his eyes, still shimmering with his love. “Oh yeah. What’s that opinion?”

  Laughing through tears, I grinned. “We are so fucked.”

  Zeke smiled down at me and joined in my laughter. “Mmmm, yeah, you’re gonna be that way for the next fifty to sixty years,” he said as he collapsed down on me. Our laughter continued even as we found release in each other. Even slumber couldn’t erase my smile.

  ***

  They both awoke to someone banging and shouting to open the door. Zeke was pushed out of bed by a very sleepy Jonica, telling him to answer the door before Rachel woke up the whole damn neighborhood. Sleep still clouding his mind, he couldn’t find his pants, so he opened the door naked. He wasn’t ashamed of his body and was pretty sure Rachel would look the other way. Boy was he wrong. Not only did she stare at him when he opened the door, but now Rob, who stood beside her, was mad as hell. Jonica must have realized the error of her command, because she slipped and tripped her way down the hall, a sheet haphazardly wrapped around her body.

  “RACHEL, you’d better not be staring. Bitch, I’ll tell you what, you’d better close your damn eyes before I knock them outta your head.” Jonica would have come completely into the living room, but a stern look from Zeke brought her up short. Sure he was naked, but there was no way in hell he was going to let Rob see Jonica that way.

  “First of all, I am four foot four, and his...his…it’s right there, Jonica. Boy is it right there. How am I not supposed to see it?”

  “Can’t you go put some clothes on?” Rob growled at Zeke before slamming his large hand over Rachel’s eyes. Zeke was struggling not to laugh until Rachel said something about wanting to shake his hand but grabbing his “friend” on accident. That comment caused Jonica to growl and Rob to nearly implode with anger.

  Zeke shrugged and headed down the hall, leaving Rachel and Rob standing in the living room. Gathering Jonica in his arms, he kissed her long and deep. Not caring that they had an audience, he reassured both Jonica and the onlookers that she was his woman. He only stopped kissing Jonica when he heard Rachel’s indignant voice ask Rob, “HEY, how come I can’t look at the new man, but you can practically see everything Jonica has? I saw that skimpy little towel she has on.”

  Jonica chose that moment to step back and drop said towel before balling it up, throwing it over Zeke’s shoulder and causing it to land on Rachel’s head.

  “EWWWWWWWWWWW, that better not be covered in my future nieces and nephews,” Rachel groused as Rob tossed her over his shoulder and headed for the door.

  “Meet us at Tex’s for drinks, Jonica. We’ll talk then,” Rob said on his way out the door, a giggling Rachel pounding furiously at his back in mock anger. “Zeke,” he added simply before nodding slightly and continuing out the door and down the walk.

  Zeke slammed the door and locked it.

  “What the hell do you think you were doing opening the door naked? Rachel is eye level with your dick, Zeke. Rule number one. NO naked conversations with my sister,” Jonica huffed, hands placed on her generous hips.

  “One,” Zeke counted.

  “One what, motherfucker?” Jonica asked, her face still pulled in anger.

  “Five second head start. You’d better take it because when I catch you, YOU’RE FUCKED.”

  Jonica’s eyes grew big a nanosecond before she turned on her heel. She didn’t get a foot away before Zeke spoke again.

  “Five!”

  “Wait, wait…you cheated!” she screamed as she ran back down the hall.

  “Yeah. Like I told you,” Zeke’s deep voice followed her, “you’re fucked.”

  ***

  Zeke and Jonica met Rachel and Rob at the girls’ favorite bar where he’d gotten to see one of his favorite sides of Jonica again: her eating habits. She’d inhaled an order of fried mushrooms and one of the messiest chili cheeseburgers he’d ever seen. It came served open faced and smothered in cheese and onions on a plate nearly as big as the table they’d been sitting at.

  He had heartburn just thinking about it. There was no way he’d enjoyed his plan ole cheeseburger anywhere near as much as Jonica enjoyed her “Longhorn.” She’d offered him a bite, and when he’d refused she’d tucked in as if she was afraid he’d suddenly change his mind. He’d asked before they ordered if they should wait on their guests, and the look Jonica sent him was scathing.

  “Rachel would be late for her own funeral. And her and Rob are probably still screwing.” She’d shrugged. Zeke made a mental note then; Jonica did not wait on anything or anyone to eat. He could have sworn he heard her mumble the word “grace” just before she tucked in.

  He’d like to say they spent a wonderful evening with friends, but true to Jonica’s word Rachel and Rob were over an hour late. And upon their arrival, Rachel discovered the ring Zeke had put on Jonica’s finger. Rachel promptly crawled into his lap with Jonica, and the two made themselves at home planning not only a wedding , but the honeymoon and a post-honeymoon double vacation. The two women must have forgotten any disagreement they’d been having. Hell, they might have forgotten that both he and Rob existed. They didn’t break their conversation when Rob removed Rachel from Zeke’s lap. Nor when both men rose, arms laden with buzzing females, and made their way out of the bar. They’d simply fished out their phones and called each other.

  Zeke had to listen to the chatting all the way
from the bar to Jonica’s, where he’d retrieved her dog and his favorite toy. And then all the way from Jonica’s house to his, where once inside, he’d unceremoniously dumped his fiancée in the center of his big bed.

  He was still standing over her with Claymore at his side, staring in awe at the complete shift from badass to dainty diva. Every since she’d flashed her ring at Rachel in the bar, the two best friends had been chatting a mile a minute. Zeke could hardly keep up. Especially with them switching back and forth between English and Spanish.

  Glancing down at the big dog, he asked, “Are they always like that?”

  When Claymore let out a huge yawn and settled down on his haunches as if to say you better just get used to it, Zeke nearly lost it.

  Leaning over the bed, he kissed Jonica deeply. It only took a few seconds before she relaxed all the way into the pillows and let the phone slide from her face to the bed. Seizing the opportunity, he snagged her phone and with a final, lingering peck rose from the bed. He was just about to inform Rachel that she and Jonica were going to need to finish their chat over lunch the next day when he heard Rob’s deep voice rumble in his ear.

  “Damn, do you two ever even breathe? I haven’t heard that much chatting since you fired all those gaggle-head sorority girls.”

  Zeke couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently he and Rob were more alike than he’d first thought. It would be good to have the man on his side. They were going to need all the help they could get romancing these two feisty women.