BOMAW 10-12

by Mercedes Keyes

  He thought about them and wondered had they felt the difference in the way he was with Ben, as with them? He then reflected on Kevin's outburst with him in the kitchen when Vivian defended him. He felt it, the difference, it had come out right then. Whereas Paul had never let on if he was aware, because he had always been grateful for whatever time he gave them. He sighed, the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how much he owed his very own sons.

  Again, he shook off his thoughts, he was at Ashland Avenue, the main road leading to their place. Right away his mind went back to Vivian - he couldn't wait to get her with him. He needed her in place in his life. He needed her there, as his wife to help him deal with his sons, and maybe - make some corrections. He sensed, more so with Kevin than with Paul. Paul was extra kind, insightful and giving - he always went the extra mile for family, friends and certainly his brothers and father. Yes, he would finally settle down, provide a home for them to come to, with a wife that was smart, moral, and a fighter. He chuckled to himself thinking about her, and a bit crazy. He could handle crazy, because there were times, many times when he felt crazy as well - angry crazy that could make him capable of doing things shocking to others. That part of him had been ignited in him when Shawn had left home. Leaving him, whether he wanted to be in his shoes or not, it was his turn to fill them. And just as he had with all things he'd done to prove himself just as good as Shawn, he had put those shoes on and made those that tested him, sorry they ever had. Yes, he knew crazy well.

  That had been in the past, he was older now, and a bit more wiser. Even so, he still had his tendencies to screw up. That curse of impulsiveness still had a way of rearing it's ugly head, that - he had yet to get under control. He wouldn't worry about that now. He had a future wife to collect; a home to renovate for her; babies to make; and a singing carrier to build, one he hoped would mean success for him. He couldn't wait for Shawn to return to show him what he had so far, he'd compiled a list of songs he would cover with the new ones he'd written. Now, he needed a band, he wasn't entirely sure how to go about putting a band together, but put one together he would. His brother would know how, Shawn always knew just what to do. Jake smiled, he was glad that he was back, that he was home, home to stay.

  In no time at all, lost in thought as he had been, he found himself turning down the long boulevard on the off side of the park he would have to drive down, turn onto one of the cut through streets and then come back up to pull in front of their apartment. Thankfully, at this time of evening, there was hardly any traffic so his cut through time had been relatively easy. When he pulled up in front of the gray stone flats, there was no where to park, among two other vehicles, there was his truck, with his Vivian and Sheila standing by, loading it up. She looked up to see if it was him, he gave a quick sounding of the horn and she immediately burst into a beautiful, wide white smile. Chuckling, excited himself to see her, he drove on to pull into the side street and park.

  Vivian couldn't believe how worried and scared she'd been that morning; because right now, seeing him, the sight of him driving, operating such a large vehicle, hit on all the areas within her being a feminine woman; something so simple as that was effective in turning her on. The sight of this very virile, heterosexual man, masculine to the core, sent a thrill rushing through her that was undeniable. It showed clear to see with her broad grin, her teeth showing from the first sight of him. Try as she might, she couldn't douse the giddiness he evoked.

  Sheila standing as a witness to it, couldn't resist, "I'mo start callin' yo'ass Cybil. This morning you was trippin' and whining, now look at you - I can count all them teeth in your face." She teased grinning.

  "You can call me any damn thing you want to, talk about me all you want - that's my man! Damn he look good - handlin' that big ass rig. But then, he used to handlin' big things." She bragged.

  "But yo'ass ain't, so don't be complainin' when he grab yo'ass later."

  "Ha ha ha - you so quick to remind me. I know, and I don't care. Problem with me Sheila, knowing I can't always handle him, doesn't stop me from wanting him, that's the crazy part. Even when something in my gut nags me now and then, telling me - not this one Vivian - walk away." She further confessed.

  "What? Girl - if you felt that way, why you let it get this far?"

  "I want him Sheila, I want - him. I love him. He does that something in me, that I'm afraid no other man will ever do, will never come close to doing."

  "Even though you can't handle him? Or, trust him?"

  Vivian looked from the end of the block where she'd been staring, waiting for him to appear after parking, answering her best friend in all the world, "What can I say? Everything in life worth having, comes at a high price. I've always been willing to pay big for what I want, and I want him."

  "You sho' right about that, you do write some big checks baby girl, let's just hope this one, don't bounce on yo'ass - let's just hope you got what it takes to cover it, otherwise-..."

  "Stop Sheila. I want him, I love him, simply as that." She cut her off gently. Then headed off towards the end of the block to look for him. Leaving Sheila behind, shaking her head and wondering what her little sister was getting herself into.

  Half way to the corner, Vivian saw him, turning it; walking tall in his cowboy boots, dressed in black jeans, a white wife beater t-shirt underneath his plaid red and black flannel buttoned up halfway. From where she was, she could see he was smiling and happy to see her as well, and her heart grew wings, flying high.

  "Lil'girl, get here and great your man proper!" He called in his deep timbre.

  Laughing Vivian skipped into a trot, rushing to him, stopping him right on the dark street, palming his cheeks, leaning into him she rose on her toes, placing a chaste kiss on his lips, which he readily accepted, a large warm hand supporting her lower back. "I missed you." She broke the kiss to confess.

  "Better have, you all packed up?" He asked as he resumed his forward motion, with her moving to his side, arms around each other.

  "Packed up and loading the truck. Sheila's here helping me."

  He could see that as they drew closer to where the truck was parked, "Sheila! Hello lady, I see you here taking care of my lil'girl and son, have they been behaving?"

  Sheila laughed, forgetting all that she and Vivian had been speaking about with him present. Standing there as she was, in his presence, she would be the first to admit, that this man, was a very hard one to resist. Were she not so happily married to Dennis, the man of her dreams; this one, knowing all that she did about him, would be a temptation to her, even if for just a memorable night of pleasure. He had that something about him that made you tingle from within; everything about him. She just prayed that Vivian could find her happiness with him.

  "They have no choice but to behave, I'on play!" She grinned up at him in reply.

  "Well I thank you lady, I'll take'em from here." He returned.

  "Yeah, you both funny, I'm grown!" Vivian reminded them.

  "Almost." Jake followed her declaration, clearly joking with her.

  "Yeah, I'm grown enough when we're alone at night, ain't I?" She pointed out to him.

  Jake laughed out, turning to Sheila, "She got me there," and back to Vivian, "I'll be reminding you of that later," he promised softly, "Now, where's my son?"

  He was coming out the door with more of Vivian's packed bags as he asked the question. Shaking his head, "Hey dad, we're almost packed." He spoke up.

  "How much more? Is that the last one?" Vivian asked. They were guarding the truck after packing in the house and he was bringing it out to be loaded on. Paul stopped at the back of the truck, looking in. "I'm afraid, that while there are four more bags in the house, this is the last one that will fit. I've never seen anybody, with so many clothes and shoes in all my life. I thought gran' had clothes, but you've got even her beat."

  Sheila laughed, "I told her she gone end up leaving some of that stuff behind."

  Jake had been looking int
o the truck bed, trying to shift a few things, but it was pretty well loaded, "What the hell is all this?" He asked as Paul forced the case he had in among the other things loaded. "All my stuff!" Vivian answered looking in, wondering what was the big deal. "Just clothes? Land-sakes, you're just one lil'skinny body with an ass, how many clothes do you need?" Jake asked.

  "I beg your pardon, I am not skinny, and it's not just clothes, there are some other necessities as well."

  "Like what?" He started pulling at some of the bags.

  "Get out of my stuff." Vivian swatted at his hand, leaning into the truck-bed beside him. "Can't you squeeze the rest into the back seat of the cab?"

  "It's full already - with more of your stuff." Paul informed her.

  "Already? There has to be more room." Vivian questioned.

  "Vivian Cooke, you don't need half of this shit in this truck where you're going!" Jake announced.

  "Don't call my stuff shit, I need all of it!"

  "No you don't!"

  "Yes I do!"

  "And all these other bags and boxes, what's this?" Jake reached in the truck-bed again, opening the top of one. Vivian ran closing it back, moving his hands away. "Get out of there, those are my beauty supplies."

  "Beauty supplies?!" Jake parroted.

  Sheila shook her head grinning, enjoying just watching them.

  "Loads and loads of the stuff." Paul informed his father.

  "Not loads and loads." Vivian defended.

  "Beauty supplies for what?!"

  "For me! It's all the stuff I need, shampoos-..."

  "They sell shampoo in Wisconsin at the IGA."

  "I don't use grocery store shampoo on my hair." Vivian informed him.

  "You've got a afro, what more do you need?"

  "Excuse me, just because I have an afro, doesn't mean I don't have to take good care of my hair. I have a special shampoo, conditioners, softeners, cremes, hot oil treatment, leave in conditioners, skin cream and moisturizers. You don't want me getting dry and ashy do you?"

  "Darlin' I could give a shit - don't matter to me." Jake answered incredulously.

  "Well it matters to me, black ain't pretty ashy."

  Sheila was dying laughing.

  "What the hell is ashy?" Again Jake.

  "What I'll be if I don't have all this stuff!"

  "Good God'o'mighty! Look at all this stuff, you've got enough here to open your own store."

  "I can't be running out of stuff, quit opening boxes, and get out of that bag."

  "What's all this!"

  "Get - out Jake!"

  Jake stood leaning with one hand to the truck, the other on his hip, looking from Sheila, his expression of disbelief was clear, and then at Paul as Vivian stood next to him, putting her things back as they were before he got into them. Sighing deep, Jake nodded in silent greeting as two guys passed them on the street, having nodded as well, striding on their way. Jake then turned to Vivian, finally announcing. "Lil'girl - time to make up your mind, what stays, what goes."

  "I need everything."

  Ignoring that, he suggested, "Leave some clothing behind."

  "What?!" She objected.

  "Leave all of your fancy dress suits and work clothes behind. Bring your jeans, grubbies, and a few nice sets to go out in. Leave the rest."

  "Jake!"

  "Times awastin'! Let's go, Paul, pull those big bags out with the clothing and shoes in it." He directed, doing the same.

  "Wait a minute here!" Vivian fussed.

  "You can get the rest later. It's either half the clothes, or all that other shit you got in there."

  "Quit calling my stuff shit!"

  "O-o-oh! Excuse me, beauty supplies." Jake crouched down to her height, fluttering his fingers and batting his eyelashes, cracking Paul and Sheila up.

  "You need to stop - you look gay, doin' that, careful!" Vivian teased.

  Jake stood back straight, deepening his voice, "Hey! Bullshit. Get in that house and pull some clothes out so we can get going here."

  A moment later, they had all her cases back in the house, with Paul and Sheila out waiting by the truck and watching it, while Jake supervised Vivian on what was going and what was not. They could hear them every now and then out by the truck and laughed shaking their heads. "You ready to get back home now?" She asked.

  "Not really, I wouldn't mind staying longer to be honest, but - oh well."

  "What, you didn't get done at - what's her name? Jackie right?" she asked, knowing full well her name.

  "Yeah - it's all done."

  "Was she satisfied with all you did?" She smiled, knowing full well he hadn't a clue of what she was really asking.

  "She seemed happy with it, no complaints."

  "Em, I imagine if you work anything like your daddy, there would be no complaints."

  "Yeah, I'm a lot like my dad, no complaints." It was Paul's turn to mean something other than what he figured she would know, believing the statement went over her head, the famous grin was there as well. Sheila shot him a narrowed eyed glare wondering if he was messing with her, and couldn't help but laugh when he blushed a bit, chuckling.

  "Em mm, you too much like your daddy for me, you might not look like him, but I see him in you."

  "That's what my mama always said, I guess it must be true."

  While they spoke in companionable low tones, waiting for Vivian and Jake to get done, inside the house, thanks to Jake, it was taking them longer than it normally would.

  "Would you stop grabbing my butt!" Vivian swatted his hand off of her for the third time.

  "I can't help it, you keep puttin' it in my face." He spoke in a low, sultry voice, full of suggestion.

  "Hang on a minute, my butt is pointed away from you, reason you had to reach over here to grab it." She pointed out. He was on his knees amidst her cases while she stood bending over, transferring things from various ones, to the main one she would be taking.

  "But you keep bending over like that, and - emmm - it's puttin' somethin' on my mind."

  "My bending over is not putting anything on your mind that isn't always there anyway."

  "I was thinking about you, on the road, the closer I got, the quicker I wanted to reach you. An' all you give me, was that lil'kiss."

  "If I'm not mistaken, we were out on the sidewalk." She reminded him, walking to the case to place more things in it, having to cross his path to get to it. Once more, she found his large hand, palming the cheek of her firm rump. "Jake, I'm trying to hurry up and pack this stuff."

  "You didn't miss me?" He asked in a low husky tone. His manner, his voice, his heavy lidded eyes, had her juices flowing, the juncture of her thighs throbbing, her heart thudding. "I told you I missed you outside."

  "No, I mean, you ready for me again? You know what I mean, look'it, I've been like this on and off halfway here. C'mere, give me a real kiss."

  "Nooo Jake, now stop." He'd taken hold of her wrist, pulling her towards where he knelt. His other hand went boldly up the center of her thighs, touching her rising heat, rubbing it as if he had full rights to. Vivian squeezed her thighs together, trapping his hand there. "Get your hand out of there! You know Sheila and Paul right outside, sss-ach! Oooh stop Jake, don't..."

  "I am so fuckin' horny, I swear to god - let's go in the bathroom, I swear I'll be quick, I won't hurt you baby, please - just a quickie before we head out?" He pleaded and wouldn't take his hand away, turned upward cupping her, his middle fingers stroking her through her jeans.

  "Stop you gettin' me - ssss oooh shit - you gettin' me - oh... Jake, stop now." She whimpered.

  "I bet you wet as hell all ready, aren't you? Baby I promise, it will be quick."

  "Jake - now stop - we can't with them out there, now let me finish." She had to struggle out of his arms, but he wouldn't let her wrist go. "C'mere give me a kiss at least, a real kiss."

  "No, and look at you, you need to chill before one of them come in here and see you like that. Go pee or something, make it go
down."

  "Takin' a piss is not gonna fix this." He gripped the bold, long bulge that lay beneath his jeans, showing how hard it already was, "Baby there are eighty trillion swimmers in here ready to go - and you gone get every - one of'em. I promise you that, hurry up - because when we get home, you know what to expect."

  "Deg! Do you have to be like that?"

  He stood suddenly beside her, grabbing and palming the cheeks of her face and pulling her to him as he kissed her mouth forcefully, firmly, thrusting his tongue in and kissing her so that she almost went weak in the knees, gripping his strong forearms, intending to push him away, but ended up holding on instead. The kiss was as close to sex as he could get, turning his head one way and then the other, boldly taking her mouth, sucking her tongue into his mouth to entwine the two, then back to loving her lips, inhaling her scent deep into his nostrils with his nose rubbing against hers, by the time he turned her loose, she was dizzy and out of breath, even staggering a bit as he released her - her lips throbbed from the pressure, feeling swollen.

  "Now let's go, get it moving, we're heading out."

  * * *

  An hour later, Sheila returned home after they'd finally gotten back on the road. Due to Vivian having to repack and then Paul reload the truck, Jake insisted they needed to get right on the road. Sheila understood and promised Jake to tell Dennis hello and goodbye, and that they'd be back down in a few weeks. Vivian had hugged her tightly, making her promise that once the house was done, they would have to come up. With Sheila responding, "Now girl, you ain't even got to say that, you know we gone be up there all the time."