I counted to ten in my head and then popped off the mattress and onto my feet. I walked to the end of the air mattress and pulled down the latch where the plug hid. After inserting the plug into the outlet, I turned the lever over to deflate. While it was doing its job, I grabbed a pair of denim shorts and a white spaghetti-strap tank top, out of one of the many TJ Maxx bags that sat in my closet.
There was stuff everywhere! I had living room furniture from RC Willey, that I had to have. It was too nice to leave there. I’d donated my living room furniture before I left Cali, so it was a necessity to get something new. My bedroom, and dinette set, I kept and was excited that they’d be arriving today! Those pieces of furniture were under two months young. Couldn’t wait to see them set up in the new place.
Since I now had four bedrooms I bought me a full in-home office set. I hadn’t chosen which room it would be, but I’d know by the time they arrived today. I was expecting them within the same timeframe that my furniture from home was to arrive.
By the time all the air had deflated from the mattress, I was dressed and had my hair pulled up on top of my head in some kind of makeshift messy bun. Just to make sure no loose curls would fall, I also tied a bandanna around my nape and fastened it at the top.
The clock read 7:45 when I walked to the front of the house to stand watch in the window. I loved the large windows in the house. Loved everything about the house, neighborhood included. It was a part of Vegas called Summerlin and it was immaculate. Peaceful, clean, and gated. I lucked up. I was fully prepared to find a small apartment, but unlike Cali, Vegas had property management places all over, ready to assist with your rental needs. Literally, like liquor stores and churches, on every corner in Oakland. So, I called up one and was able to see a couple of properties that really caught my eye. The one I ended up with stuck out for me because of all the space.
Just as I had predicted, when I called my mother and told her that I was renting a four-bedroom home, she shut down the idea. She felt it was too much room and too many windows and doors to manage. The twenty-four hundred square feet, drew me in, but it was the huge kitchen with the granite counters, and the island in the middle, that sealed the deal. The stainless-steel appliances looked to be fresh off a showroom floor! And then the yard with a hot tub in the back. Yeah, I was all in. All the bedrooms, with the exception of the master, were in proportion too.
At eight o’clock on the nose, my face opened up into a huge smile when a big truck pulled up curbside in front of my house with, Black Ice Movers on the side of it. It looked to be made of aluminum. It was really nice compared to moving trucks I had seen before. Not two seconds after the truck cut its engine, a car pulled in front of it and a guy in a black snapback, white tee-shirt, and jeans, hopped out of the front seat of a shiny black Ford F-150. He proceeded straight toward the movers and I was mortified of what was about to be said.
Oh shit, I said to myself. Must be a neighbor with an issue with the time or something, I thought, as I ran to the front door and slid my feet into my Nike slides and headed outside to explain the situation.
-36-
MARCO
“Aye boss!”
Berto, walked from around the side of the truck, while Mark and Mike were just now climbing out of the front seat.
“What’s goin’ on?” Mike asked, as he approached.
I got closer to where they all gathered and laughed out loud.
“What’s funny?” Berto asked, his smile exposing that chipped front tooth that he refused to get fixed. Said it was because his women dug it, so it was something like a trademark.
I shook hands with all three of them before responding. “What’s funny is that it’s takin’ all three of you guys to move and it only took me and James to load.”
“Shit . . .” Mark said. “That’s because this is just the first of three moves today. Y’all had it easy. We had to load more merchandise on this damn thing at the break of dawn!”
“Aww, so what you sayin’?” I asked Mark, playing around. “That we didn’t have that much to do?”
He stretched his arms out to the side, and took a small step back. “If the shoe fits, man.”
“Wow. All this work we did for you guys and you’re so unappreciative.”
We all started laughing together at the joke; and it was for sure a joke, because James and I did have the lighter part to do. Everything was already in the storage when we got to Lathrop. All we had to do was pull up to the first-floor unit and load. Piece of cake. We finished in record time and barely broke a sweat.
“What brings you out, M.G.?” Mike asked, towering over all of us, and looking like he should be on a basketball court instead of moving furniture.
“You already know,” Berto burst in. “It’s his neighborhood. The man came to be nosy.”
“Negative!” I laughed.
“Oh, I see what’s up,” Mike said. “I don’t know why I didn’t figure that out sooner. We gotta be extra with the manners because this is his ‘hood.”
“Jokes. Y’all sure you don’t wanna do standup, instead?” I kidded. “Because I’m sure it pays a helluva lot more than this.”
“Nah, I’m good on standup. I save all this good comedy for the ladies,” Mark laughed.
“Yeah, okay. I’m so sure,” I said, laughing along with him.
Berto looked at his watch. “We gotta get—”
“I know,” I acknowledged, cutting him off. I pulled my key fob from my pocket and started my engine. “I really just came to check on you guys before I headed into the office.”
“Yeah, of course you—”
“Good morning, everybody,” a woman’s voice said from behind me. “Is everything okay out here?” she asked.
“Everything is cool,” Berto responded. “Boss man was just checking in.”
Sensing that I might need to be a minute, I turned my truck back off and went to turn around to introduce myself to the client. “Yeah, everything is . . .”
My voice cut off in the middle of my sentence when I saw who it was that had been talking. For a second, I couldn’t believe it, because how? And why? Yet, there she was in living color—Kassidi, the fiancée.
-37-
MARCO
As soon as our eyes met, it was clear that she remembered who I was. I damn sure remembered her. But what the hell was she doing there—in my neighborhood?! Every time Cyn brought up her and her now-husband, she talked about them living in the Bay Area! So, it was their stuff that James and I had driven to California, for? Small-ass world. But the aunt had referenced, “My niece’s storage keys.” She made it sound like it was just her stuff. Unless the husband had his items in a separate place . . .
Never mind. What fuckin’ difference does it make whose shit it is?
“Good morning,” the guys all said in unison. Mine was delayed while I continued trying to solve the damn mystery of how this shit came to be.
“Good morning,” finally made its way from my mouth.
She kept her eyes on me for a few seconds before breaking her stare. I didn’t know what to read in her eyes, but I was sure that she was filled with as many questions as I was.
“Here you go,” Berto offered, extending the itinerary to her. “This is the list of all your items. Next to each one there’s a box to check. As we offload the boxes, you can perform your own inventory.”
She looked at me once again before accepting the clipboard from Berto. “Okay. Umm . . .” She paused a moment, then, “Can I talk to you for a second?” she asked me.
I looked at the guys, curiosity and trapped smirks, all over their demeanor.
“Sure.”
I followed her as she walked to my truck and stopped on the driver’s side. She looked back at the guys and then turned to me. In a low voice, she asked, “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing here?”
“I mean, why are you showing up here at my house? How did you even know where I lived?”
“I’m not here for you. I mean, I’m here for you . . . just didn’t know it was you.”
She closed her eyes tight, and shook her head. “What does that even mean?”
“It means this is my moving company. Did your hearing stop somewhere in translation? Berto said who I was. And since I am who I am, I was stopping by to check on my guys before I went into my office.”
“Your office? Your moving company? Wait. I thought you were some kinda stripper or something like that.”
“Or something like that?” I asked. “You know it’s more than just, ‘something like that’. You were there to see it,” I stated cockily.
“I’m confused as hell. So, you’re a stripper and a mover?”
“I own a moving company and I have an exotic dance review. Yeah, that’s all me. And?”
“Well, I think your guys have it under control. If you don’t have to be here, then—”
“I don’t have to be here. And like I said, I wasn’t here for you in the first place. But be clear. Wherever my employees are, I have a right to be. Because you’re uncomfortable, that’s not my problem.”
“I’m not uncomfortable,” she snapped.
“Oh, okay. So, you’re always an asshole, then?”
“I’m not an asshole.”
“Ya kinda are, lady. A far cry from your aunt. She’s a much nicer person. You seem uptight. Relax.”
“Don’t tell me to relax. The last person I need to take advice from is a person who takes their clothes off for money.”
“You mean the same person who got you out of your bodysuit for free?” I glanced quickly at her ring finger, then back up at her. “Speaking of that, how’s married life?”
I swear, if looks could kill in that moment, I would’ve hit the concrete hard. Her pretty eyes bore into me so hard I thought she was going to start letting expletives fall from her lips. All the while she was looking at me in anger, I was remembering being inside her that night. She had good pussy. Quality pussy. She also had fire—the same fire she was emitting right now. The only reason she was refraining was because the guys were there. That much I was sure of. It was clear that her husband wasn’t in the house, or I think she would’ve been trying to get rid of me, instead of standing there being combative.
After a momentary staring battle, she turned on her heel and stormed back toward the guys. As I hopped into the driver’s seat of my vehicle, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. I sat behind the wheel for a few minutes watching her interact with Berto. I stared at the roundness of her ass, the curve in her hips and the firmness of her thighs. Memories of what lie beneath the shorts, returned. The moans, how wide she spread for me, how wet and willing she was. It all returned. Right then and there, my mind went to how I’d be all-in with fucking her again. Husband or not.
-38-
KASSIDI
The world is just too fucking small!
It’s just too fucking smallll!
I found myself pacing the floor of my bedroom long after the movers had left. I should’ve been enjoying myself! All my stuff from home was with me, and the new furniture had also been delivered. I had no business in the state of mind that I was in. Especially, since I was supposed to return to work tomorrow. I had only taken the day off to supervise everything, and possibly get some of my stuff put away. I was at least thankful that the movers were nice enough to assemble my bed, so I would have my bed to sleep in tonight. But dammit! Hours had passed and I hadn’t so much as placed my crisp, clean, and ready-to-sleep-on linen.
I couldn’t believe that he had walked into my world—again. How was that? How was it that I managed to come face-to-face with the person that was the reason I hadn’t made it to the alter? How?! Had the damn nerve to say he got me out of my clothes for free! Cocky-ass bastard! Yeah, I told him he took off his clothes for money, but how fuckin’ dare he! Ugh!
My heart was racing at the thought that I might run into this person again. His mover, Berto mentioned that he lived in my neighborhood! Was Vegas really that goddamn small that I had to be at risk of seeing this individual again?! And then how in the fuck did it happen that his moving company had moved my shit?! I have to be getting punished. That’s the only explanation. Has to be. Why else would you insinuate this person so deeply in my life, God!
“Why?!” I screamed, shocking myself that the words had actually made it into the real world.
Pull yourself together, Kassidi. You moved here for a new beginning. Fuck the rest. Just marry the moment and get your shit together!
I left my bedroom and made my way to the kitchen. I knew what to do to silence my damn brain. I was tired of kicking my own ass. I needed some relief so that I could focus on what was really important. I went straight for my new bottle of honey Jack Daniels. I twisted that top and as ‘hood as it was, I turned it straight up to my lips. I swallowed down just enough to feel a burn trickle down my chest. Minutes later, as my chest welcomed the warm sensation, I felt myself begin to loosen up. My nagging thoughts of the dancer dude dissipated. I was relieved because the last thing I needed was to be having thoughts of a man that wasn’t anything to my life. Hell no.
Since I was already in the kitchen, I decided to start there. The box labeled, “Fragile”, was up first. But while I was cutting the clear tape from the first box, my cellphone rang. I searched frantically for my Bluetooth so that I could be handsfree, but I couldn’t find it and had to answer the line.
“Hello?” I said, still searching the immediate area for my earpiece.
“So, you really did it, huh?” the familiar voice asked.
“Brianna?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
I hadn’t heard from Brianna in months. I didn’t know why that was. All I knew was that I’d tried to reach out and was always met with her voicemail and no return phone call. I even asked Yolanda if she knew what was going on, but after a while of no answers I just left it alone. I was always a person who would do what I could to save the relationships that meant something to me, but I was also the person that refused to kiss somebody’s ass. So, when Brianna decided that she was done with the friendship, I let her go.
“What’s up?” I asked her nonchalantly, finally having located my Bluetooth.
“I heard you left the Bay.”
“Yeah, I did. What’s up?” I asked, rushing her along. I had no desire to talk to her.
Silence loomed so long that I was about to hang up without saying anything. But then I decided that it would be petty and childish, so I decided to announce my exit. However, before I could do that, she spoke up.
“I wanted to apologize. I was scared that you wouldn’t even pick the phone up at all. I needed to call, though. I’m so sorry for—”
“It’s cool, Brianna.” I interjected before she could continue, my disinterest evident. “I’m good.”
“Look, Kass. I know you’re good. I know I fucked up. But I was fucked up.”
“Brianna, that’s not my problem. Not at all. You checked out without saying shit. Friends don’t do that. Especially, not friends who’ve been in each other’s lives as long as we have.”
“I know. If anything, I should’ve reached out when I heard about the wedding being called off. I wasn’t there for you and I’m—”
“Don’t say ‘sorry’, again, Brianna. Please don’t.”
“But I am, Kass.” I heard her sniffling. “I really am. I didn’t know how to be there for you, knowing that you were in that predicament because of me.”
That shit was like an echo coming down off a mountain and ricocheting against a wall and then echoing even louder.
“What you mean it was because of you?” I asked, finally wanting to hear what she had to say.
-39-
KASSIDI
“Listen, Brianna, how long are you going to sit there and not say anything? I have a lot to do before I go back to work tom—”
“I know. And I really thought that calling would be easier, but I see that
it’s not.”
“If you’re saying that I’m making it hard, that’s not something I can apologize for.”
“I’m not saying that. I just—”
“Good, Brianna, because I would really feel a way if you were. I was there for you! I was there for you and all those other bitches when y’all needed me—whenever y’all needed me. But when it came time for me to get a little support, it was a muthafuckin’ ghost town! Y’all turned on me in my time of need! Y’all judged me in the way that I would’ve expected strangers to! And then youuu! I was there for you, Brianna!”
I found myself breaking, going off on Brianna. It was everything I wanted to say to her, Yolanda, Pilar, and Niecy. At the time that everything hit the fan, I was so distraught and felt so low, that I didn’t have the energy to give. So, I let them rip me apart! Let them say what they wanted to say, feel how they wanted to feel and then I politely walked away from the friendships.
“I know, Kassidi. I know you were there for me.”
I heard her sniffling and hiccupping, but I didn’t care. Any amount of crying that she was doing right now, was nowhere near the crying and suffering I went through when I turned around and had no fiancée, no happily ever after, and no clear direction of where I was going. A time where I found out just how easy it was for people you thought gave a fuck about you, to turn on you!
“I just didn’t know how to be there. I felt like shit. Still feel like shit. You sat up with me when I showed up to your suite at damn near four in the morning and didn’t so much as give me a side eye when I told you that I fucked another man! Don’t you think I get it?! That it mattered to me?! That I loved you then and still love you now—like a sister! You never even brought it up past me telling you. You didn’t pry; you just let me speak. You listened, you cried with me! And I abandoned you! I get . . . it!” she screamed.
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