“Rock forward on the right. Recover weight back on to the left, three and four. Step right foot. Half turn to the right. Step slightly forward onto the left. Now facing the six o’clock wall, shuffle forward. Right, left and right. Step left. Forward and pivot half turn. Right foot. Weight onto the right and step to the left. Bend slightly forward. Now facing the twelve o'clock wall I want you to…”
Dancing and choreography was her calling. Watching the girls perform energized her. She was back where she belonged. Her body seldom harassed her about doing drugs. The seven and a half pounds she’d gained had given her a healthier glow. For now, things for her couldn’t be better.
♦
Aisha, Tameria and Angie danced around Aisha’s spacious living room while Beyonce’s latest chart topper Check On It blared on the stereo. Ohh, Boy you looking like you like what you see, the three women sang in unison and laughed wildly. It had been such a long time since the three of them had gotten together for a girl’s night out. It felt good to Aisha to have her friends around her. Having been off of drugs and alcohol for close to six months, her outlook on life was upbeat again.
“Tameria, I thought you were going to fix us some more daiquiris and margaritas,” Tameria asked while sipping the last bit of her peach margarita.
“Hold up, girl. Don’t you see I’ve got my dance on,” Aisha yelled over the music.
“She doesn’t need any more anyway. You know she can’t hold water, let alone a third virgin margarita. No telling what she’d be doing if alcohol was really in our drinks,” Angie teased before breaking out in the Beyonce booty dance.
After the song ended the exhausted girls fell on the sofa and chair.
“Tameria, what’s up with you and Chase?” Angie asked while Aisha got up to go and mix some more drinks.
“We’re going strong. I tell you, I love me some Chase.” She tilted her head back and laughed loudly again.
From the kitchen Aisha added, “Tell us something we don’t know already. We know he’s got your nose wide open.”
“Angie, I don’t recall you asking Miss Know It All anything,” Tameria shot back.
“Okay girls, settle down.” Angie remarked and jokingly raised her hands like she was trying to part them. Aisha put a two more pitchers of the non-alcoholic peach daiquiris and margaritas on the living room table and then stood in front of Tameria with her hands positioned on her hips.
“And? What are you supposed to be doing?”
“I’m about to get my groove on again. That’s what I’m about to do.” Aisha pranced over to the stereo and turned on another song. This time it was Unpredictable by Jamie Foxx. After putting the CD on, she looked at the girls and said, “you know I’m unpredictable myself,” and started laughing.
“Yeah right, I think it’s Minister Jackson Williams that’s unpredictable.” Tameria answered and swayed to the beat of the music.
“I know you didn’t go there. Jackson and I, I mean Minister Williams and I are just friends. He’s been a great counselor.”
“What? Naw she didn’t just play us for crazy,” Angie looked over at Tameria with a huge smile plastered across her face.
“I don’t know what y’all mean. There’s nothing going on between me and Minister Williams.”
“Go on, call the man Jackson. No sense in pretending to be all professional now. It’s too late for that.” Again, Tameria and Angie laughed while Aisha looked at them like she had no idea what they meant. She was still somewhat uncertain about her feelings for Jackson Williams. He was a minister and she couldn’t see herself becoming caught up with a man of the cloth. Her life had been far too complicated for her to start living the life of a preacher’s lady.
“Okay, okay, I admit it. I do like him, but that’s about it. The man is a preacher for God’s sake. What kind of relationship can we have?”
“A real one, just like anybody else,” Angie interjected. “He’s a man who happens to preach for a living. He’s no different from any other fine brother out there.”
“Except if you cross him, he’s got the power to report you directly to God,” Tameria teased again. Aisha picked up the fluffy sofa pillow and threw it at Tameria. In return, Tameria grabbed one and threw it at Aisha. .
“Angie, don’t think you’re getting away,” Aisha yelled between laughing and dodging pillows. “We know you and your man are going at it like forty going north.”
“I’m not like you,” Angie said as she ducked the flying pillow. Almost out of breath she responded, “I’m not ashamed about anything. I do what I do,” she breathed heavily, “and I do it good. My husband and I aren’t trying to hide a thing.”
“Oh, that we know. Don’t we Aisha. When you have a husband things are different,” Tameria answered.
“That’s for sure. Especially when you have a good man like you do Angie.” Aisha giggled and plopped down on the sofa, tired from the pillow fight. “I like it when we get together like this.”
“Yeah, me too,” Tameria replied.
“We just don’t do it often enough,” Angie added. “Maybe when you finish your residency we’ll have more time to hang out.”
“I don’t know about that. By that time she’ll be doing her full time doctor thing, you know. And she and Chase will be tying the knot.”
“Tying the knot,” Angie sat up right and glanced over at Tameria in surprise. “You and Chase are getting married? When?”
“Girl, puhleeze. Don’t listen to Aisha. Chase and I haven’t talked about marriage, well not lately anyway. We have to get our careers going first. I’m not saying that I don’t want to marry him, but first things first. Shoots, Aisha will probably be married before Chase and I get hitched. Isn’t that right Aisha?”
“Yeah, right,” Aisha mocked.
“I’m hungry.” Angie got up and went into the kitchen. “If you’re going to invite your friends over you’re at least supposed to have something for us to munch on.”
“You know I am not a cook. The best I can offer is Pizza Hut.”
“Sounds good to me. Tameria, are you going to order? You always know how to talk them into giving us something free.”
“All right, as if I have a choice. Aisha passed the phone to her. “What would you two do without me?” Tameria asked.
The three of them burst out laughing again.
Tameria and Angie didn’t leave until two o’clock in the morning. After they left, Aisha reflected on the evening’s events. It was times like these when she was reminded of how valuable it was to have true friends in her life. It was hard to have women friends because other women could become jealous easily at another woman’s relationships, success or whatever. But Angie and Tameria had never displayed a jealous or envious bone in their bodies. She and Tameria were childhood friends and Angie joined their small circle a few years ago. Tameria and Aisha liked her immediately. The only thing different about Aisha’s relationship with Angie was that Aisha didn’t confide everything to her like she did with Tameria. There were just some things you didn’t share with everyone. Aisha believed in degrees of friendship. Some friendships were meant to be deep, totally giving and last forever. Others were the kind friendship that filled another void in a person’s life but yet not meant to be as deep as the best friend kind of relationship. Angie fell into the latter category. Nevertheless, Aisha felt truly blessed by both of the ladies. Before she settled down for the night, she thanked God for her friends.
During her sleep, she dreamed about her and Jackson. The two of them were standing in front of Pastor Shipley. She couldn’t tell what they were saying in the dream, but Pastor Shipley was smiling. She and Jackson were holding something in their hands. Jackson pulled her underneath his arm and held her close to him while they continued to stand before of Pastor Shipley. A glowing bluish light suddenly appeared and she and Jackson smiled as they looked toward the light. Jackson turned to face her. His lips met hers. He thrusted his tongue into her mouth. The alarm clock jarred her from her sl
eep. She stretched in the bed. She smiled when she remembered that she’d dreamed about the exceptionally charming, handsome Minister Jackson Williams. Looking around the room, she envisioned him standing at the foot of the bed smiling at her with arms outstretched, waiting to hold her. Don’t go there, Aisha. Don’t even go there.
She stopped off at the coffee house before she went to the studio. As usual, this time of morning the place was crowded. Finally she was able to place her order. She moved through the crowd of people and headed out of the shop with her steaming brew.
“Well, hello Miss Carlisle.” The voice startled her and she almost spilled her hot cup of caramel apple cider. The man grabbed her by her arms and steadied her. “It’s good to see you too.” He mocked.
Aisha’s face reddened. Her mouth hung open but no words came out.
“Don’t you have something to say to me? Or is it that you don’t speak to your clients outside of your former place of employment, The Lynx?”
“What do you want Chandler?” she asked nastily. She hadn’t seen or heard from him since her unpleasant meeting with him at Marlowe’s. And she did not miss him one bit after she found out what kind of guy he really was. A lying snake.
“Now that’s no way to treat me is it? If it wasn’t for me, you would be locked up along with Shipley, Jason and the rest of them.”
Aisha turned from him and briskly walked away but he wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass him by. He’d been waiting for such a time as this. He’d called her office several times but never left a message. His anger with her was still raw since he found out how she had deceived him in to believing she was a saint. There was a time he thought about a long term serious relationship with Aisha. No one knew how it crushed his heart when he found out she had been dancing at The Lynx and doing drugs. But seeing her today somehow rekindled some old feelings that he forced back into the safe place within his cold lonely heart.
“Hey, what’s your hurry?”
Aisha didn’t bother to turn around. She wanted to get to her car as quickly as she could. The strong hand latched onto her arm and pulled her back with such force that this time she did drop the cup of cider. She was furious and frightened at the same time.
“Let go of me, Chandler.” He ignored her pleas and proceeded to pull her into the alley on the right of them.
“Where are you taking me? I swear, if you don’t let me go I’m going to scream.”
“Go on. Scream. I’m a cop remember. Who’s going to help you?” He flashed an evil grin at her that made her stomach turn.
In the alley he pushed her backwards hard against the brick wall. The pain in her back was excruciating and she couldn’t stop the tears that formed in her eyes. Chandler must be crazy, she thought. Lord help me, she prayed to herself.
“What do you want?” she cried.
“Oh, let’s put it this way. You’re nothing but a slut and a whore. You’re just like your friend Elisa.”
At the mention of Elisa, Aisha jerked her head up and looked at him. “Where is Elisa? Is she all right? Tell me Chandler, please.”
“I guess whores stick together huh. Well, Elisa is long gone. You’ll never see her again. I guess you’ll just have to find yourself another whore to fool around with. Maybe I can do you a favor and turn you on to some of the girls at the Platinum Plus.”
“How dare you talk to me like this. Let me go or I’ll report you to Internal Affairs.”
“Don’t you threaten me! He tightened his already vice grip on her. “If you do, I’ll make sure you’re locked up for a long time. You see this?” He pulled out a package of white powder. “How’d you like to go down for this? This little package can get you oh say about twenty years at the least.” He laughed wickedly. “Better yet. Wouldn’t you like a little hit of this Aisha. Huh?”
He opened the package of cocaine. He moved it back and forth underneath her nose. Aisha jerked her head away before any of the powder went up her nostrils. Seeing the drug for the first time months was tempting but Chandler would never know it. She fought against him but his grip on her was way too tight.
“Why are you doing this?” Her tears were flowing heavily and she didn’t know what to do.
“Because you’re walking around thinking you got away with something. You should have gone down with the rest of them. Do you know they were using little girls as young as thirteen and fourteen years old to satisfy their sick sexual desires. You know that, Miss Luscious? Do you?” He stood so close to her she could smell the breath mint on his breath. His chest was against hers. He still had her pinned between him and the wall.
“I didn’t know anything about that. I told you that, Chandler. If I had known anything or suspected anything illegal was going on at The Lynx, I would have gone straight to the police.”
“You’re lying and you know it. You fooled me once, but you won’t fool me again. You’re not going to tell me that you didn’t notice that some of those girls looked like little teenyboppers. And you sure as hell can’t convince me that you thought the coke they were giving you was legal. Whore puhleeze.”
“Stop calling me a whore. I’m not a whore,” she finally yelled back.
“Oh, we’re getting a little feisty aren’t we? Well let me tell you this. Then I’ll bid you farewell. If I ever, and I mean ever catch you doing so much as pausing at a stop sign instead of coming to a complete stop or jay walking, whatever it is, I’ll lock you up so fast you won’t know what day it is. You better watch your back every step of the way Aisha because you never know just when I might pop up.” Without warning, he shouted “Boo!”
Aisha jumped. Loosening his grip on her, Chandler laughed loudly and walked off.
“Now you go and have yourself a good day.”
Aisha was shaken. When she arrived at the studio, she barely spoke to Kaye. She went straight to her office and called Jackson’s office.
“Good morning, Natalie.” Her voice was shaking as she spoke. “This is Aisha.”
“Good morning, Aisha. Are you all right? You sound a little strange.”
“No, I’m fine. I wanted to know if I could schedule an appointment with Minister Williams. I really need to see him. I know it’s short notice but if you’ll ask him and get back with me, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Hold on. He just walked in. I’ll let him talk to you.”
“Good morning, Sista Carlisle. How are you?” He was surprised to find out she was on the other line. Their sessions had ended several weeks ago. Since then he’d seen her at church a few times but he never had a chance to talk to her.
“Jackson. I, I need to talk to you.” Her voice trembled. Right away he could sense that something was wrong.
“Sure. How soon can you get here? Or would you prefer that I meet you somewhere?”
“Would you do that?”
“Of course. I don’t usually make house calls, but since you’re high on my list, I’ll make an exception,” he laughed.
Aisha didn’t respond to his humor. She was still trembling from her traumatizing encounter with Chandler. When she didn’t laugh, Jackson became worried.
“Look, tell me where and when.”
“My, my studio. Say in about one hour.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Jackson?”
“Yes. Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“I think I do. I’ll see you in an hour.”
True to his word, within an hour, Jackson was walking through the studio doors.
Kaye admired the handsome stranger as he walked up to her desk. Mercy, mercy, she said to herself. “How may I help you sir?” she asked in her usual polite manner.
“I’m here to see Aisha Carlisle. She’s expecting me,” he answered pleasantly.
“Your name?”
“Jackson. Jackson Williams.”
Kaye immediately recognized his name from calling the studio. Dialing Aisha’s intercom, she informed her of his arrival. “Mr. William
s, you can go on back. Just go down that hallway,” Kaye pointed to the hallway on the right of her. “Her office is the first door on the left.”
“Thank you. Uh” he paused and looked at her name plate, “Kaye,” he said and proceeded to walk away.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.” As soon as he entered her office he noticed her face was puffy and her eyes were red. She’d obviously been crying. What could have her so upset?” He walked over to her and knelt down beside her.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Tell me what happened,” he urged.
“It’s awful. I’m scared, Jackson. I’m really scared.” She was shaking. She grabbed the center of his arm in a tight grip.
“I’m getting you out of here. You’re no good to anyone in this shape. Come on,” he ordered and gently grabbed her by her arms and pulled her up from the chair. Tugging at her hand, he led her out of the office.
Without looking directly at Kaye, Aisha said, “Kaye, I’m going out. Please send all my calls to audix. Tell Angie when she gets in that I’m with Minister Williams.”
Kaye’s eyes grew large when she heard the word Minister.” She had no idea he was a minister. “Okay sure. I’ll tell her.”
Jackson opened the passenger door of his Crossfire and waited for Aisha to get in. He ran to the driver’s side and jumped in. Speeding off, he asked, “My place or yours?”
“Mine, I guess.” Aisha suddenly thought about Chandler and quickly changed her mind. She didn’t know what else Chandler was capable of and she didn’t want to find out. “No on second thought I’d rather go to your place. If that’s okay with you.”
“Sure.” They rode the twenty minute drive to his place in total silence. He didn’t say anything to her on purpose. There would be time for talking. Pulling up in front of Riverfront Condominiums, he keyed in his security code and the massive iron gates slowly opened. Aisha slightly lifted her head to survey her surroundings.
SinSatiable Page 24