by Zane
“That’s not true. I’m extremely proud of you.”
“Then act like it!”
Tasha slammed a platter down in the dish drainer and flew out the back door.
Tasha was sitting in a lawn chair on the farthest end of the back yard when her mother sashayed over to her. She stood over Tasha and stared down her aquiline nose at her.
“I’m sorry, Tasha. I haven’t behaved pleasantly today and I’m willing to admit it.”
Tasha gripped the handles of the chair to release some of the anger she was feeling. Her mother always acted a fool and then said sorry, as if that made her actions disappear.
“It’s okay, Momma. You’re probably just tired from helping Aunt Mavis entertain and everything,” Tasha said, trying her best to sound sincere.
Allison glanced back at the deck, where the men were still talking loudly. “Well, I guess I’ll go back inside. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to lurk over here in a corner while everyone else is having a good time.”
“Thanks.”
“For what it’s worth, I do think Rinaldo is nice. I just want you to make sure that you choose your gentlemen friends wisely. A lot of them are up to no good.”
“I know that already, Momma. I’ve been hurt so many times by men that I’ve lost count.”
“Exactly, and I see the aftermath every time one of them exits your life. Can you really blame me for showing concern? After all, you’re my only child and like any mother, I feel protective of you.”
“I understand, Momma.”
“Your Aunt Mavis made some peach cobbler.”
“She did?” Tasha’s eyes lit up. She loved herself some Aunt Mavis’ peach cobbler.
“Yes.”
“I didn’t see any on the table earlier.”
“That’s because she had it hidden in the oven. You know that cobbler wouldn’t have last ten minutes with all those people that were here earlier.”
They both laughed.
“I’ll be in to get some in a few minutes.”
“See you in the house.”
“Okay.”
Chapter Seven
Rinaldo and Tasha got back to her townhouse about ten. When she checked her voice mail, there was a message from her father.
“Tasha, baby, I wasn’t even going to call but I felt like I had to. Your momma and I just got home. She’s in the bathroom taking off all that makeup so I decided now was my chance. Normally, I try to stay out of your business. You know that. This time, I can’t. Rinaldo let the alcohol guide him tonight and told your Uncle Rufus and I the truth about how you met. I’m sure you know I don’t approve of you meeting a man over the computer. I’ve heard so many terrible, terrible things about young ladies meeting men that way. Please be careful. I don’t know what I’d do without my baby. If you need anything, anything at all, you call me day or night. You hear? I’m not going to tell your momma. She’d have the Montgomery County Police banging down your door in less than five minutes if she knew you’d just actually met Rinaldo this morning and the circumstances. I just pray that you’ll be safe. I love you, sugar.”
Tasha felt like shit. “Bad news?” Rinaldo asked, coming out of the bathroom after gargling some of that alcohol off his breath.
“Rinaldo, why’d you tell my father about the way we met?”
Rinaldo leered at her and sat down on her vanity seat to remove his sneakers. “Look, you might be used to lying to your parents, but I’m not. Pops was cool and so was your uncle. He asked me a few questions and I answered him honestly, unlike the bullshit you were over there trying to feed everybody.”
Tasha felt like shit warmed over then. She was subjecting everyone to lies and having Rinaldo fly thousands of miles only to ask him to join her in the madness was unfair.
“You’re right. We either should’ve stayed home or gone over there to be honest. I messed up. I’m sorry.”
Rinaldo chuckled, pulling his shirt up over his head. “No problem. I’m going to give you the opportunity to make it up to me.”
“How?”
“Get butt naked and give me some ass.”
“Rinaldo, there’s an appropriate way to ask for sex and that’s not it.”
“An appropriate way to ask for sex? Girl, you better drop them drawers and give me some ass.”
“No, I will not drop my drawers and give you some ass. Not until you show me some respect.”
“Respect? What the hell you think I’ve been doing for the last six months? I’ve spent a grip. No, make that two grips on phone calls to your ass.”
“You didn’t talk to me like this on the phone.”
“So what, now you want to live in a fairy tale or something?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Rinaldo plopped down on the mattress beside Tasha.
“This ain’t no fuckin’ fairy tale, I’m not a fuckin’ prince, and I’ve never even seen a real horse in my entire fuckin’ life. I came here for one thing. Sex on top of sex on top of mutha fuckin’ sex. We’ve done enough talkin’ for three lifetimes. I went to the bullshit cookout and…”
“Oh, so now it was a bullshit cookout? A minute ago you were talking about how cool my daddy and uncle were. Now, it was all bullshit.”
There was a loud knock on the bedroom door. Tasha jumped because she hadn’t heard Roz come in the house. She got up to answer it, but only opened the door wide enough for Roz to see her face.
“Trouble in paradise?” Roz asked snidely, letting them know she’d heard the arguing.
“Roz, I really don’t need any shit from you?” Tasha rolled her eyes. “When did you get home anyway?”
“I just came in, but I’m leaving right back out. I just stopped through to get some board games to take over Juicy’s house.” Roz stood on her toes, attempting to see over Tasha’s head. “You need me to stay?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“You know I’ve got your back.”
“I’m fine, Roz. Really!”
“Why don’t you come over to Juicy’s with me?” Roz offered. “You can bring him.”
“What’s going on over Juicy’s?”
“Just a bunch of peeps hanging out.”
“You can go if you want, Tasha!” Rinaldo yelled out from behind her. “I’m not going another fuckin’ place tonight!”
“Is that fool out of his damn mind?” Roz whispered. “He thinks we’d leave his ass here alone?”
Tasha came out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
“Roz, you go ahead. Rinaldo and I are in for the night.”
Roz started toward the steps and then turned around.
“I don’t feel comfortable about this. Not at all.”
“You don’t have to feel comfortable. I do.”
Tasha followed Roz downstairs, helped her locate the missing question cards from Scattergories, and then locked up after she left.
“So, what’s up? We booty bouncin’ tonight or what?” Rinaldo asked, as soon as she returned to the bedroom. He was sprawled out in her bed with nothing on but a pair of black briefs.
“No, we’re not.” Tasha lay down on the bed and stared Rinaldo in the eyes. “I don’t like nor appreciate your sexual innuendoes.”
“Innu what?” Rinaldo turned over on his side, away from her. “Fuckin’ women! I shoulda done like my dogs and went elsewhere.”
Tasha propped herself up on one elbow.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“All of them got Latinas, white girls, or slant-eyed hoes so they can get a little sucky-sucky,” Rinaldo replied over his shoulder. “Speakin’ of which, you ain’t even slobbed my knob yet.”
“And I never will!” Tasha exclaimed angrily.
“This is bullshit!” Rinaldo climbed over Tasha so he could get up. “After all the time and effort I’ve spent on your ass, you’re supposed to be giving up carte blanche pussy up in this mutha fucka.”
“So you’re saying that a woman of another r
ace, any other race, would allow you to talk to her in such a nasty way?”
“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’.”
“I don’t believe that. Not for one second.”
“Believe it! I’ll tell you what else. That fine ass Maddie woulda gave me some ass tonight and sucked me dry, too. For that matter, she probably woulda given you some ass while she was at it.”
Tasha got up, went into her bathroom, and slammed the door.
“Why don’t you just call Maddie, then?” she yelled through the wood.
“I ain’t got her number. I wish the hell I did. Think you can get it for me?”
Tasha yanked the bathroom door back open and emerged holding Rinaldo’s shaving kit.
“No, but I can get your shit for you!”
Tasha went to the closet, tossed Rinaldo’s garment bag on the bed, and starting throwing his clothes into it piece by piece.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like, stupid? I’m packing up all your shit so you can get the fuck out of my house!”
Rinaldo grabbed Tasha by the wrist, but she yanked free and kept packing.
“What’d I tell you about callin’ me stupid?”
Tasha finished shoving everything she could find into the bag and zipped it up.
“And to think I actually cried over you at the cookout.”
“Cried?”
“Yes, I cried, but it won’t happen again. I’ve had enough. I thought you were different, Rinaldo. I thought you were special,” she said, throwing the shirt and pants he’d worn to the cookout at him. “You’re just like all the shitty ass men here in the D.C. area. If all I wanted was a man to treat me like a piece of meat, I didn’t need to search a website for that. I could’ve just gone down the street to the Briggs Chaney Safeway, stuck a sticker on my tit, and climbed into the meat case between the ground turkey and porterhouse steaks.”
Rinaldo tossed his clothes back on the floor. He had no intention of getting dressed.
“See, now you’re being damn ridiculous.”
“Then prove it! Prove me wrong!” Tasha pleaded, on the brink of tears but refusing to let a single one fall. “Act like the Rinaldo I fell in love with!”
“Fell in love with?”
Both of them went silent while the power of Tasha’s last statement sunk in. She sat down on the bed and buried her head into a pillow for a few moments. When she looked up, Rinaldo was leaning against her dresser with a stunned expression on his face.
“I fell in love with you, Rinaldo. While you apparently viewed this as some sort of a big joke and took everything with a grain of salt, I took every lie you ever told me seriously.”
“I never lied to you, Tasha,” he said defensively.
“Yes, you did. You had to have lied because the Rinaldo that stepped off that plane this morning isn’t the same Rinaldo I fell in love with.”
Tasha went back into her closet and came out with an old shoebox. She sat on the bed, flipped the top off, and started rummaging through it.
“You want to know the kind of shit I’ve had to go through with men? Huh, do you?”
She pulled a tattered piece of yellow paper from the box and held it out to Rinaldo.
“I wrote this poem the night I lost my virginity. Read it!”
Rinaldo waved her off. “Naw, that’s too personal.”
“No, I want you to read it.” She walked over to him and shoved it into his chest. “I insist.”
Rinaldo unfolded the piece of paper and read it silently to himself while Tasha lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
How Dare You Do This To Me?
I didn’t ask for this
I didn’t want this
How dare you do this to me?
Take something I never gave
Take something I planned to save
How dare you do this to me?
They say women should trust men
That we can all get along and be friends
But then a man like you comes along
Treating us like animals, committing horrible wrongs
Men like you are such violators
No wonder so many sisters are man haters
How dare you do this to me?
I seriously thought you were the one
We hung out, had a little fun
But I never said you could come inside
Climb on board and take a little ride
Afterwards, your boy gave you a high five
While I struggled to breathe, grateful to even be alive
How dare you do this to me?
My life will go on, it has to
But no matter what you say or do
You could never make up for it
Might as well take your boy, get in your car, and floor it
Time will be my mender
And take care of you, my offender
How dare you do this to me?
Now it was time for Rinaldo to feel like shit. He had no idea that Tasha had been raped. Worse yet, that she’d lost her virginity that way.
He laid beside of her and draped his arm over her waist. She didn’t look at him. She just continued to stare at the ceiling.
“Look, I’m sorry,” he whispered sincerely into her ear. “I let the alcohol get the best of me and it was stupid.”
Tasha glared at him. “Did you just use the word stupid?”
“Yes, I said stupid.” He gently rubbed his lips against her cheek. “Let’s kiss and make up. Let’s just rewind the clock and start all over.”
“I’m not sure that we can.”
“We can try,” he said, slipping his tongue into her mouth.
Rinaldo was like a prince among men for the rest of the night, even though he’d never seen a horse. He gave Tasha a bubble bath by candlelight, used a bottle of scented massage oil she had to dig into the bottom of her bathroom cabinet to locate to give her a sensuous massage, licked chocolate sauce off her toes, spread honey all over her breasts systematically lapping up every drop, and made love to her slowly and tenderly.
They ended up downstairs on the sofa, covered up by a throw, about midnight.
“You have any breath mints?” Rinaldo asked.
“There are some in my purse.”
Rinaldo got up, walked over to the dining room table, and rifled through Tasha’s purse until he found Altoids.
He turned around and eyed her seductively. Tasha was taken aback by how beautiful his nude body was by the moonlight seeping in through the mini-blinds.
“Come here, baby.”
“Over there?”
“Yes, over here.”
Tasha got up and did as he instructed. He lifted her ass up on the table, sat down in a chair between her legs, popped an Altoid in his mouth, and went to town on her pussy.
Fifteen minutes later, she came all over his tongue. The heat from the Altoid brought about an earth-shattering orgasm.
“Did you like that?” Rinaldo asked, lifting his head and kissing her inner thighs while stroking her ass tenderly with his fingertips.
“I loved that,” she replied. Then she started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Rinaldo chuckled.
“I was just thinking about something.”
“What?”
Tasha recalled the conversation she’d had with Roz and Juicy about the dining room table. “I guess I’m a skank, too.” She giggled.
“A skank?”
“Never mind. It’s an inside joke.”
“Well, I’ve got a joke for you.”
“Really? Tell it to me.”
“It’s actually a riddle.”
“Okay.”
“How many times can Rinaldo fuck Tasha in one night without her passing out?”
Tasha giggled. “I don’t know.”
Rinaldo stood up slowly, licking a trail up her stomach to her breasts, palming them, and sucking them one at a time.
“I don’t know,” Tasha repeated, �
��but let’s find out.”
Chapter Eight
The next morning Rinaldo and Tasha were in her Saab on their way to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge before the sun came up. Tasha was amazed she had so much energy, considering she’d barely gotten an hour of sleep.
Rinaldo was anxious to go to the beach. He’d seen one coast and wanted to see the other one. They spent the morning shopping along a small, cozy boardwalk. Tasha was tempted to ask questions when she saw the roll of cash Rinaldo pulled out of his waist pack. He’d always made it seem like he was strapped for cash, which is why she was so shocked when he called with the news of his visit.
Rinaldo bought so many items in a men’s clothing store, they had to make a special trip to the car to drop off the bags. Then he started in with buying her things. Tasha tried to decline his offer when he picked out a fly ass two-hundred dollar business suit for her, but he got offended. She decided to let him buy it, along with a few pair of jeans, and a pair of leather pumps. She didn’t want any more arguments after the night before.
They put their name on a long ass waiting list at the Sea Barron Seafood Restaurant and then went for a long walk on the beach.
“Let me run in here and buy a phone card right quick,” Rinaldo said, walking into a gift shop. “I need to make a phone call.”
Tasha reached into her purse for her cell phone. “You can just use my phone.”
“No, but thanks for the offer.”
Tasha waited out front while he went in and purchased a card. He came back out and headed toward a bank of pay phones.
“I’ll be right back, Tasha. You wait here.”
“Okay.”
Tasha stood there for about ten minutes, watching Rinaldo talk on a telephone several yards away. Then she began to get suspicious. Why did she need to wait over there? Who was he calling? Was it another woman? Is that why he didn’t want to use her phone? So the number wouldn’t show up on her bill?
Tasha’s curiosity finally got the best of her; especially when the expression on Rinaldo’s face transformed from casual to angry. He turned his back to her and didn’t see her coming, the sand masking her footsteps.