Love- a Forgotten Art

by Ivy Symone

  “Are you falling in love?” I ask her again.

  “It’s impossible to fall in love in a day,” she says softly.

  “Says who?” I challenge.

  “It takes time to fall in love, Prime.”

  “Falling in love is active and an ever-going thing. It starts the very second someone has captured all of your senses and it never stops. You’re never not falling for that person. Every day you fall deeper, closer…with every intimate moment, every memorable event, every laugh, every cry, every argument…You’re connected and bound by love.”

  She turns slightly to gaze up at me with cynicism. “I bet that spill gets you plenty of pussy.”

  “You really don’t know whose presence you’re in. I ain’t your typical bum ass nigga that don’t know shit about love or how to love. Everyone isn’t capable. It’s an artistry, and it takes most people a while to master it. There’s a lot of power in love and it seems that so many have forgotten that.”

  “Or some of us just haven’t experienced it,” she says.

  “I’m giving you the opportunity to experience it, Dasani.”

  She turns around to face me fully. Passionately she says, “See, that’s what’s bothering me. Why? You don’t know me. You don’t know if I even deserve it. I could be the worst person in the world.”

  “I’ve been blessed with the power of discernment, and when you know, you just know. This feels good, baby. Let’s keep seeing one another and let things happen.”

  She searches my face I guess trying to detect the lie. When she doesn’t find it, she turns back around to face the water.

  The sun has dipped beyond the horizon, and the moon has graced us with its presence. It’s been following us for some time now providing a glow perfect for a night of romance. Nature serenades us with its nightly ballad. Spontaneously, a fish jumps out of water and causes a ripple effect.

  After a couple of minutes of silence, I say, “The last real relationship I tried to have was with my child’s mother. We were on two different pages and wanted different things out of life. I outgrew her so to speak. She was in love with the old me, and still is.”

  “So why are you two still married?”

  I shrug not having a good answer for that. “Just never bothered with a divorce.”

  “Say I’ve left my current relationship and we’ve grown madly in love. I want marriage; then what?”

  “I’d be divorced before then,” I assure her.

  She waits a few seconds before saying quietly, “Love hasn’t been good to me. I usually give too much of myself and hardly get anything in return. I stay guarded, afraid to be completely naked before love. All I was looking for the other night was dick. It had been so long I couldn’t remember what it felt like, but I wanted it. And you were there. Now, not only do you wanna give me dick, you also wanna give me love. This is unreal.”

  “You’d be a fool to not see where this goes,” I tell her before placing a tender kiss on her neck.

  She lets her body relax against mine. I hold her close and caress her through her dress. I continue to kiss her softly along her neck as I massage her breasts. She reaches up and touch my face lovingly as I push the bodice of her dress down just enough to cup her bare breasts in my hands.

  I feel like I’ve been in love with her for years and it’s taken all this time to finally connect with her physically. Is that what being soulmates feel like?

  Before I know it, I have her bent over holding on to the rail and we’re making love under the moon and stars on the Frankee O.

  Chapter 8: Dasani

  It’s one in the morning when I walk into my place. It’s dark and quiet. I try not to make any noise as I walk around carefully.

  Instead of going to the bedroom where Cam would be, I head down the opposite hallway to our guest bedroom. In there, I strip out of the original clothes I had on the night before and take another shower. I had already taken a shower at Prime’s friend’s house, but he had been all over me since then.

  After the quick shower, I dry off and wrap myself with a towel. When I walk into the bedroom area, Cam, sitting calmly on the bed, startles the shit out of me.

  She stares at me with question. I stare at her back and remain quiet.

  “For real, Deuce?”

  “For real what?” I play stupid.

  “In the year and some change that we’ve been in a serious relationship, you ain’t never not come home. I hadn’t seen you since Saturday evening. It’s been over twenty-four hours, and when you finally show up, you sneak in here to take a shower.”

  “I just didn’t want to disturb you,” I tell her.

  Angrily she says, “Miss me with the bullshit!”

  “Ssh,” I hush her. “Don’t wake Ari.”

  “She ain’t even here!” she yells.

  “Well where is the damn cat?” Again, deflecting because I’m trying to avoid this impending argument.

  “Fuck that goddamn cat! I wanna know about the cat you were just with.”

  I laugh. “I wasn’t with anybody.”

  Cam jumps up and walk up on me. “You’re lying! Who were you with?”

  “I text you and told you I was with Natalia an’nem.”

  She scoffs as she backs away. “No, you weren’t. I saw your wagon out in Bloodstone at Ruby’s. I pull up and see Natalia, Jerrica, Rico, and Box but I don’t see no mothafuckin Deuce. I ask Natalia where you were, and she tried to tell me some bullshit ass lie. You forgot to let her know y’all were supposed to be in Gemsville. So, come again.”

  I can’t think of a lie to tell her quick enough.

  Impatiently, she waves me off and head out the room. “Man, fuck this shit! Fuck you, Deuce!”

  I follow her as she speeds to our bedroom.

  “Cam, I’m sorry,” I tell her.

  She goes to her walk-in closet and starts grabbing suitcases and carryalls. She starts snatching her clothes off the hangers.

  I try to wrap my arms around her in a comforting manner. “Bae, stop. I promise I wasn’t with another woman. I just needed some time to myself. That’s all.”

  “You’re lying! Let me go!”

  “I’m not!”

  We go back and forth; she pushes and try to hit me, while I duck and dodge trying to restrain her. My towel unravels in the process and I’m completely naked.

  Cam starts crying. “You don’t love me anymore!”

  “Yes, I do,” I whisper desperately. “I love you and only you.”

  “Then why you need time to yourself? Is it because you saw me at the club last night? Are you mad at me and trying to punish me?”

  “No bae,” I say. I wipe the fallen tears from her cheeks. I kiss her lips softly. “I’m just going through some shit on the inside. It has nothing to do with you.”

  “I needed you and you weren’t here.”

  “But I’m here now.” I cup her heart-shaped face in my hands. “I’m here now. You can tell me what’s wrong and what you need.”

  “I need you,” she whispers. Her face softens and she bites down on her lip. Her eyes glimmer with a longing that tugs at my heart. She reaches out and let her fingers trail over my right breast. A tingle surges through my body.

  We close in the space between us and lock into a passionate kiss. Her hand finds my clit and begin to rub and tug at it until it grows rigid, and I begin to leak like a faulty faucet. Once she’s satisfied with the reaction she gets, she lowers herself to my pussy and begin to suckle my clit like it’s a dick.

  I find it unbearable and—

  Prime. His face, his touch, his kisses, his laughter…It all enters my mind and my senses heighten. I want him again. It’s him that’s driving my newfound hunger for fucking. But I’m not with him, so I try to push him out my head.

  Cam slurps on my clit until I scream with orgasm. She removes her nightshirt and panties and lie on the closet floor positioning herself on her back. Her legs are up and spread wide as she begins to play with her own pussy
seductively.

  “C’mon Deuce…Baby, make love to me,” she pleads.

  Before fucking her, I lower my face in between her legs to suck on her pussy. I get her to the point of orgasming and hop up to position my engorged clit against hers. Passionately, we grind and make enough friction to make us both cum. With us both wet as fuck, I place my clit at her opening and thrust over and over. She loves the friction and forcefulness, but it sends me over the edge again.

  After coming down from my orgasmic high, I hop up in search of my strap, Tommy. When I return to her, she’s on her knees bent over playing in her pussy. After securing Tommy, I enter her aggressively and fuck her until she taps out and I’m no longer thinking of Prime.

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  I awake the next morning to a dead phone, and Cam missing out of bed. However, I smell breakfast.

  It’s not often that Cam cooks, but when she does, she can really throw down. Milani managed to pass down one good skill to her daughter.

  I guess our love making was enough to get us back on track. But I felt so guilty. Not for anything I may have done to hurt Cam, but to Prime. He didn’t deserve this. Furthermore, living this double life seem like it would be stressful. And hearing from the way Prime spoke of us, I know that sooner or later I’m going to have to make a choice.

  I think the hardest thing for me to get around is being true to myself and being unapologetic for it. Slowly, that’s what I had been doing anyway. But this love Prime spoke about…

  I connect my phone up to a charger while I take care of my morning routine and get dressed. By the time I’m done, my phone is halfway fully charged. I also have a gazillion notifications. Many are from my team at the warehouse, a few are from friends, and lots are from my social media pages. But the two that puts a smile on my face are from Prime.

  The first one: Good morning my sweet! Just want you to know how amazing you are and I can’t stop thinking of you. I miss you terribly and it’s only been a few hours. I’m patiently waiting for the day to come to an end so that I can see you again. I don’t think I can wait that long. Can we do lunch or something? Maybe I do you for lunch? You gotta give me something so I won’t suffer all day! Anything!!!

  The second one: If I don’t hear back from you, I’m coming to your company demanding to speak to you. Me and that nigga just gonna have to fight. Anyway, call me whenever you can…Miss you…

  What the hell have I gotten myself into?

  I go to the kitchen where Cam is along with my nigga Box and Natalia. I dap up Box before greeting Cam with a peck to her cheek. Natalia sits at the breakfast bar engrossed in her phone.

  I try to shoo the cat off the counter, but she simply blinks her eyes at me.

  “Cam, get’cho damn puppy off the counter,” I say as I go for the refrigerator. I grab a personal bottle of orange juice to drink on my way to the office.

  In her teeny orange booty shorts, Cam whirls around and give the cat an affectionate rub under her chin. “Stop calling Chung Li a dog. She’s mama’s lil kitty.”

  “She doesn’t belong on the kitchen counter,” I scold playfully.

  Natalia scoffs. “White people shit.”

  Cam shoots daggers Natalia’s way before continuing at her task.

  “When did you get here?” I ask Natalia.

  “While you were in the shower,” she mumbles not looking up from her phone.

  I look at Box and say, “You’re up awfully early. Did Natalia drag you out this morning?”

  “Yeah, to bring you your truck. But she said she riding with you now and gon’ let me keep her car. Can you believe it?” He grins at Natalia.

  I look at Natalia in search of any admission of guilt. She maintains a scowl on her face and keeps her eyes on her phone. I want to laugh because she swears she doesn’t like Box like that, but somehow he’s always at her house in the mornings and she’s always letting him push her whip. And she recently purchased her all-time favorite car, a brand-new Nissan Altima in cash. She cherishes that car. For her, it’s symbolic of her journey. Before I built Mother Pearl, and brought her on as my assistant, she had been a struggling single mother trying to figure out what she wanted to do with herself. Now, you can’t tell Natalia shit.

  Shooting a sneaky look Cam’s way, he says, “And then I gotta meet up with somebody over this way.”

  Cam rolls her eyes in an exaggerated manner. “I can’t believe you’re even hanging with that clown.”

  Confused, I look between the two. “What clown?”

  “My baby daddy,” she says.

  Box shrugs. “Ay, I’m just doing as the boss says.”

  “Don’t you know this nigga had the nerve to tell on me to my daddy,” Cam complains. She continues to move about preparing her breakfast.

  I’m curious. “Tell on you about what? That fight at the club?”

  Cam pauses to give me a sideways look, not appreciating my jab.

  Box starts laughing. “Yo! Cam was about to fuck ol’ girl up though.”

  Cam added while staring at me, “And that ain’t had shit to do with him either. That bitch just got a smart mouth and thinks it’s cool and funny to keep a wedge between him and his child.”

  “She ain’t created no wedge; you done that,” Natalia interjects. “And who could blame him. I wouldn’t want to be bothered with your ass either.”

  Cam lets out an exasperated breath and looks at me desperately. “Can you please tell your pet to stop talking to me?”

  Natalia smirks. “It’s the truth; and it hurts, huh?”

  Box coaxes coolly, “Bae, stop. It’s too early for that shit.”

  Natalia is taken aback by his word choices, and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Nigga,” she says. “Bae? Don’t start that shit, Eldridge.”

  I laugh harder at her use of his government name. It causes him to cringe.

  “A’ight,” he winces. “Just don’t call me that.”

  The two of them are cute, but I want to know why Cam’s baby daddy communicating with her daddy. “So, what did he say to your daddy?”

  “Nothing,” she dismisses.

  Box grins in a taunting manner at me. “Did you get a chance to meet your daddy-in-law?”

  My brow furrows in puzzlement. “What you mean?” I look to Cam for an answer.

  Quietly, she says, “My daddy’s in town too.”

  I frown. “And you weren’t gonna tell me?”

  She sighs warily. She knows I’ve been waiting on a chance to knock that mothafucka out. I ain’t never met the man, but I can’t stand him. He’s the one that got her so fucked up and struggling with herself.

  “I just found out myself,” she says.

  Box continues, “Don’t worry, you’ll get to meet him soon. He’s supposed to be having his birthday party here in the city in a couple of months.”

  Now Cam looks surprised by this news. “What do you mean? I thought he was only here for a few days.”

  Box shakes his head. “Naw, P told me your daddy looking to get in on some of this real estate action here and plan to set up shop downtown. He got P on his team too cause you know P on this whole new legit vibe now. He’s tryna follow in your daddy’s footsteps and shit. But the change look good on him though.”

  Cam never told me that her baby daddy and daddy are so close. From the sounds of it, they’re almost business partners.

  “As a matter of fact, that’s why I’m meeting them in a few,” Box says while fishing for his phone. “Shit, his party gon be lit. It’s on the Fourth too.”

  Cam looks sick.

  I say, “I got a prior engagement for the Fourth, and even if I didn’t, I think I’d pass on attending anything on purpose where the two of them will be.”

  Natalia asks, “So you didn’t get to formally meet that hoe’s baby daddy either?”

  Cam snaps, “What they need to meet for?”

  I scoff as I begin to walk out of the kitchen. “Naw, I’m good. Cause neither of them will want
to meet me as Deuce. On God, I’d fuck them up on sight.”

  Natalia hops off her seat to follow behind me.

  We’re out of my place and strolling down the hallway to the elevators when I ask, “You’re gonna just leave Box behind like that?”

  She waves dismissively. “He was only with me in hopes to keep my car. When we pulled into the garage, I told him I would just ride with you to work. His ass invited himself inside with me.”

  Silence as we wait on the elevator. Once it arrives and we hop on, Natalia mentions, “Cam seemed pretty shook. What you think that hoe got going on?”

  I shrug. She did seem to tense up hearing that her daddy would be settling in the city. I’m not sure I like that. She and I will have to further discuss that, so I’ll know where her head is at. If it causes her too much anxiety, I may have to address her daddy, man to man.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  My Monday at the office is shit. Rico, my warehouse manager, called out and there’s an inventory mix-up. My publicist is having issues with the venue for one of my upcoming celebrations. The website is having technical issues. Cam isn’t answering her phone which has me perturbed. With her baby daddy being around now, my thoughts immediately go to the dark side.

  I’m so off, I continue to ignore messages and calls from Prime. I know I shouldn’t do him like that, and he doesn’t deserve my shit, but hell, I ain’t living right.

  To make matters absolutely the worst, I return to my office after a two-hour long lunch break, and I have a few guests waiting on me.

  Cautiously, I stand by the door to my office and stare at them in shock. I don’t want to alarm my staff, so I try my best to play it cool.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask the main one.

  He sits in my chair behind my desk wearing an ol’ greasy ass grin. He looks around and says, “This is nice, Deuce. My first time at your warehouse since you’ve got it and I’m impressed. They said you were doing it big and bossing it up; they ain’t lied.”

  “What do you want, Walt?” I ask calmly.

  He looks at the two goons with him and dismisses them with a head nod. They both quietly walk out of the office, but I can still feel them close by. Not wanting to be overheard, I push the door up behind me.