by Meisha Camm
There wasn’t a magazine out of place, a crumb lingering on the counter, or a shirt having a permanent spot on the carpet.
“I got to ask because this has been on my mind for a while. Do people, especially women, approach you with the notion that you favor the actor Blair Underwood?”
“Yes, all the time, but with a Latin twist. Matter of fact, about three years ago, I was strolling in the mall heading toward Nordstrom’s for a new suit and an older woman stopped me dead in my tracks and said, ‘Sugar pie, your hot ass should be on a billboard strutting yourself in boxers, briefs, and those tight T-shirts. I insist that I would buy the one of your sculptured body.”
We both busted out laughing.
“I didn’t know whether to say thank you or no thank you. Needless to say, she put the bug in my ear to show my stuff, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
“I’m shocked an older woman would make those remarks.”
“They’re far worse than the younger ladies. Would you care for something to drink?”
“Yeah, I’ll get it myself. What would you like to drink?”
“Just grab a Corona out of the fridge for me. I’m going upstairs to change my shirt and get out of these sticky pants.”
“I’ll be up in a second,” I stated, heading for the kitchen.
As I gulped down a bottle of Fuji water, I walked upstairs with my raspberry Smirnoff and his Corona in my hand. I caught a glimpse of Xavier’s total package. I paid close attention to his muscular physique and his huge dick, wanting to take it for a late-afternoon ride.
“Thanks, baby.” He reached for the bottle.
“No problem. What did you want to do for the rest of the day?”
“Well, I figured we could watch a movie, and later on I’m taking you to a little quaint Greek restaurant.”
“Sounds good to me. What DVD’s do you have?”
“Come crawl into bed with me. The movie is about to start. Oh, I almost forgot. I have something for you.”
“What is it? Hand it over, please,” I suggested, laughing.
Xavier reached into a plastic Target bag and gave me a DVD. It was the DVD of the second season of Grey’s Anatomy. He knew how much I enjoyed the show. I tried to buy it the other day, but Wal-Mart was sold out.
“Thank you.” I hugged him.
“You’re welcome. Now the movie is about to start. I have kettle corn popcorn in the pantry. Would you like some?”
“No, thanks.” I was too excited about my new DVD.
The movie began to play. It was Love Jones. “This is my favorite movie.”
“I know.”
“How did you know?”
“By carefully listening to you.”
Funny, I didn’t remember telling him that fun fact about me because Jarrad and I watched that movie plenty of times. I couldn’t bear to be reminded of him in any way.
My sexual drive was on the rise owing to the buzz from the Smirnoff.
“Love Jones gives me everything, you know, the laughter, love, and pain.” I sighed and rolled onto my back while the credits played.
“I don’t want to cause you hurt and pain.”
“What do you want?”
“To bring you laughter and love. Right now, I want to make our own piece of history.”
I giggled in surprise as I felt a sharp tingle down my spine.
“Do you like it?” Xavier rubbed a soft feather against the back of my legs.
“Yes.” I giggled again.
“You won’t be laughing for long.” Xavier turned me over and slowly removed all of my clothes. “Your feet are so soft.”
To show his admiration, he sucked my toes, and an even bigger chill went to my vagina. After ten years of wondering, I finally got my toes sucked. Next, his fingers massaged my scalp. I loved his strong and firm hands.
He paused for a moment. “I feel more comfortable naked,” he whispered in my ear and slowly removed all his clothes. Xavier’s body was packed with all sorts of goodies as my eyes were fixated on his muscular chest and six-pack abs, just to name a few. He continued on massaging my scalp in sensual circular motions.
Lauryn Hill’s “Sweetest Thing” played as he rubbed the inside and outside of my hot spot with the feather. I was ready to get dicked down. Almost about to explode, Xavier almost made me beg for it.
Next, he slid the feather down my nipples over and over again.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I wrestled him down to the carpet, grabbing his huge cobra and sucking and licking as if it was a green apple Jolly Rancher stick. After saddling up for the ride, I locked my legs on his sides and ferociously pounded up and down until both of us exploded.
“Now, it’s my turn,” Xavier said in a determined tone. He picked me up and landed me on a tilted cushioned stoop that raised my butt up and made my orgasm so intense, I screamed in ecstasy, impatiently desiring another go-round.
After two and a half hours of intense sex, Xavier and I had worked up a sweat. He joined me in the shower. I couldn’t stop thinking about when he rode me from behind up against the wall and rubbed my thighs the whole time. My thighs was one of the many “spots” that I had on my body. I thought my knees were going to give out on me after I came.
We ordered take out from the Speedy Gonzales Mexican Restaurant and settled to watch an all-day marathon of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Xavier gave me just what I needed. He kept hitting my G-spot, touching, licking, and sucking me in the right places. The clock on the mahogany chest read 3:15 in the morning. I awoke to use the bathroom and couldn’t feel the warmth of Xavier’s body next to me.
After washing and drying my hands, I walked out onto the terrace with a blanket hovered over me. I saw Xavier’s head pointed down and both of his hands tightly affixed to the rail.
He greeted me with a warm embrace. “I could smell your perfume a mile away.”
“Kenneth Cole White does it every time. What are you doing out here?”
“Just thinking about my mother. I miss her so much. I’m surprised you haven’t asked me about the tattoo on my chest.” He pointed to it.
“Well, I have noticed. So I guess this means Loupe is your mother. May I ask, what happened to her?”
“The night before my family and I were supposed to leave Puerto Rico to come to the States, there was a terrible fire. Many lives were lost. We searched for a month in every crevice of our town. She never showed up at any of the hospitals or relief aid stations. After a year of waiting for any clues or answers, we left. The day we departed a piece of my heart died. My father made me go kicking and screaming. I love my mother so much. I didn’t want to leave her. We were inseparable. Call me what you want, I’m a true momma’s boy as you Americans would say,” he said, his voice shaky.
I rubbed my fingers through his hair. “How long has it been since you left Puerto Rico?”
“Twenty years,” he cried, a tear coming down his left eye. “Today would have been my father’s and her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.”
Chapter 44
For a while now, I’d learned to pack an extra set of clothes and shoes in the car. There wasn’t enough time in the day for me. I speeded my way to the Cheesecake Factory from the hospital.
“Ladies, sorry I’m late. Babies come when they want to.” I plopped down in the booth.
“It’s all right. We were just about to order drinks.” Maria handed me a menu.
“We’ve been waiting for over an hour.” Charlotte folded her arms. “Believe me, I have better things to do than wait on you.”
“Hello to you, Charlotte. How’s married life treating you?” I hadn’t seen or really spoken to her since I was in the hospital. She needed someone or something to give her a better attitude. Maybe her husband Bobby wasn’t doing the trick.
“Don’t patronize me.” She rolled her eyes. “My marriage is fine, with nine months of wonderful bliss.”
Ever since Charlotte came back from her honeymoon, she’d
been even snappier with me. Before, we talked at least once a day. Now, I was lucky to get a hello out of her. I tried not to let it get to me.
“Charlotte, don’t start. Alex and I don’t want you to bring your shit to the table tonight.”
I looked at Maria. “What’s been going on?”
“Girl, you know . . . the same old thing. The business at the restaurant has doubled, and so have my hours. I’m beyond beat down, but I enjoy every minute of it.”
“I feel you on that one. Yesterday, I worked a fourteen-hour shift. At times, I think my body is going to shut down. Xavier’s home-cooked meals and sweet nothings in my ears keep me going. So has it really come to pass? Hasaan and you are over for good?”
“Yeah, I dibbled and dabbled back to him in the past. This time it’s for good.”
Speaking of the everlasting moocher . . . just then Hasaan walked in. He wasn’t alone either. Another woman, who couldn’t even compare to Maria, was gripping his hand. She was a rather skinny woman dressed in a purple spandex dress and she had a weave that needed to be reweaved back into her one-inch hair length. Bad acne and dark blemishes consumed her face, and her long dark blue fingernails made me cringe.
Hasaan walked by and didn’t utter a word to any of us. He definitely wanted to be seen.
Maria began tapping her hand on the table, giving me the cue that she wanted to do something to a particular somebody with her fists.
“Hold on now. What are you getting all huffy about?”
“I’m not. It doesn’t matter to me. He’s with a broke-down chick.” Maria balled up her hands in a fist.
“Calm down. He’s not even worth it.”
“I know,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“He was trash anyway.” Charlotte looked up from the menu.
“I wouldn’t mind spitting in his face though.”
After the waiter took our orders, we had to wait another twenty minutes before I could dig into my first decent meal for the week.
Maria calmed down. From the looks of it, Hasaan and his creature date got tired of waiting at the bar for a table and left. Not to mention, his and her credit card got denied. I saw the waiter shake his head and hold up the cards.
“How’s the new house?” I asked Charlotte, attempting again to spark up a cordial conversation.
“What’s it to you? You don’t care about me, Alex.”
“That’s it. I’ve tried to be nice to your behind. What’s your problem? Are you bored sitting at home all day deciding what wallpaper should go in the foyer? Go do something with yourself and go back to work if all you have to do is analyze me. I’m not looking at you, Charlotte, I’m looking past you.”
“You heard what I said. You don’t care about anything or anybody. Especially your babies. I would have thought you would have learned your lesson after the first abortion. Maybe you should find another form of birth control. A condom, the shot, or a simple diaphragm works.”
“My babies have nothing to do with you.”
“You’re just a painful reminder.”
“A painful reminder of what, Charlotte? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I can’t have kids. Bobby and I have been trying for a while. I thought it was him, but it’s not. It’s me. We tried everything, and I keep getting a period every month.”
“What!” Maria said, astonished.
“Look at you, Alex. You’re around babies around the clock. You can get pregnant at the drop of a dime, as fertile as you are,” Charlotte shot back.
“Don’t get mad at me because you can’t have kids. It’s not my fault you’re infertile. Most women can get pregnant. It’s a shame I can’t add you in that category. I know what I did was wrong, but you’re not going to punish me in your own sick way. Charlotte, you’re not God. You’re just a woman who can’t give her successful, wealthy husband what he truly wants. A child. I bet you’ve been wondering each day in that head of yours if Bobby will stay or leave you all alone to put his seed in another fertile woman.”
Before Charlotte could get a word in, the waiter came back with our entrees. “Here is your grilled chicken.” He placed the sizzling plate in front of me.
“I just lost my appetite.” I handed him a fifty-dollar bill and stormed out of the restaurant.
On the way home, I stopped by Quiznos’ to buy the antipasta salad.
Xavier had a late shoot and told me he would be over later.
Upon arriving home, I ate every bit of my salad, took a hot shower, and watched the DVD, The Best Man, and dozed off to sleep on the couch.
I awoke to Xavier all on top of me, my shirt lifted up and my panties tossed on the carpet.
“I’ve been horny all day,” he whispered in my ear, sliding his dick inside of me. I could tell he’d just had a shower too.
I kept squeezing my vagina walls in and out while he penetrated me.
“My turn. Sit on the couch.” I forced him off of me. I rode him with my butt facing him. That position can be a lot of work, but it was well worth it when both of us came at the same time.
We rested for ten minutes.
“Come on,” I suggested, pulling on his arm, and ran up the stairs.
He followed behind me. My baby was so tired after a ten-hour shoot. Once in the bedroom, Xavier and I fell out on the bed.
Chapter 45
Cruising down Virginia Beach Boulevard on a sunny morning, the world was at my command, as I sipped on a caramel latte with one scoop of sugar. The sounds of “U Don’t Know My Name” seeped through my speakers. Next, Jill Scott’s “He Loves Me” played. I haven’t heard this song in a while. Ninety-five point seven always knows how to take it back.
It felt so intoxicating to be in love. I didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere without Xavier. Time flew when I was in his arms. If he had to go to a photo shoot or I was paged to the hospital, I agonized over the next time we’d be together. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was in love with him, but I sure did like his ass.
Barnes and Nobles was jam-packed, which was typical for a Saturday. It boggled my mind how so many people stayed for hours and hours in there reading. I liked reading in the comfort of my own home, sitting right by a window with a cool breeze. Taking advantage of the savings and avoiding the never-ending aisles of trying to find the right one, Black Expressions and Doubleday book clubs delivered my book selections to my front door. Once a month, I made a trip here to get all of my magazines. I could subscribe, but this had been a ritual of mine for years. Essence, Self, Vogue, Black Enterprise, Black Woman, Vibe, Cosmopolitan—you name it, I got it.
Kneeling down to get the current issue of InStyle magazine, I looked up to see her hovered over me, aged about ten years from the picture I took from Ms. Cracken. After all this time, I ran into this woman. Jarrad’s (“I’m-going-to-leave-her”) wife.
Tina carefully examined my physique. Many times, I played in my mind over and over again what I would say to her if I ever got the chance. Better yet, what I wanted to do to her. Hell, Tina crumbled my happiness and dreams of becoming Jarrad’s wife with two more children, the mansion home, and a guesthouse for our company. I’ll wait and see where her head is at before I react. If she acts up, ‘Pocketknife Pete’ will help me get out of this jam.
“Alexis Gibbs, I presume?”
“Tina Simmons, I presume?” I stood up to face her.
“Listen, I didn’t come here to fight,” she explained, taking her sunglasses off.
“What do you want? Don’t waste my time.”
“I’m asking you nicely to stay away from my husband. We’ve been married for many years, and I intend to reach my twentieth wedding anniversary. You see, Jarrad was just going through a midlife crisis, but he knows where home is.” She dangled her wedding ring and laminated marriage certificate in my face.
“Jarrad doesn’t interest me anymore. I’ve moved on.”
“Honey, I know you’re quite scorned because Jarrad broke things off with you. I’m
sure you can find someone else to smooch off of. Maybe if you go to school and get a proper education you wouldn’t have to get your bills paid by doing ungodly acts. I’m sure your mother didn’t raise you like that.”
I remained cool on the outside, but inside I was boiling. It would have killed me more if she knew her words were crawling under my skin.
“Gee, Tina, you’re one to talk about school, especially high school. You barely made it out of Princess Anne High School. All you wanted to do is sit at home, eat Rice Krispies Treats, and bounce checks all over the Tidewater area.”
“Little girl, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Jarrad told you a bunch of pillow talk, full of lies.”
“It seems as though I have strangled a nerve with you. I may be young, but your husband didn’t say that when we christened every room in the condo in Miami. Not to mention, the house he also bought me with the title in my name for a graduation gift. Hmm, it must have slipped my mind. And the brand-new BMW jeep after a little spat that we had.
“Anyway, I was so excited to be graduating from college to get accepted to medical school on a scholarship. After a lot of hard work and dedication, you’re looking at Dr. Alexis Gibbs, specializing in obstetrics.” I grinned and winked my right eye.
“Tell his mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, I said hello. How’s his brother David and his wife doing? I really enjoyed her baby shower.”
“You’re lying. He couldn’t of possibly spent our money on a leech,” she said, her face red now.
“Hmm, you’re one to talk doing the oldest trick in the book by getting knocked up to trap Jarrad. The only reason he married you was because it was the right thing to do, not even sure if your daughter Renee is really his. He hasn’t divorced you because of the kids. Once Jarrad junior turns eighteen, your gravy train is over.”
“Beating you with this heel is the right thing to do. Stay away from my husband.”
“It’s been lovely chatting with you, but I really need to be running along.” I ignored her remarks and glanced down at my watch.
When I looked up, Tina’s crazy ass had her hand raised up to smack me. Reacting quickly, I threw the caramel latte in her face. Knocking her down, I kicked her in the stomach.