Darius gave her away. Lawrence’s nephew acted as ring bearer, and Lawrence’s childhood friend, Doug, was the best man. The one thing Jada wouldn’t compromise on was her minister performing their ceremony.
“Do you take this woman . . .” Pastor Tellings’s lips moved slowly.
Ashlee made a beautiful junior bridesmaid. Her complexion resembled her mother’s, almost milky white. Except for her beautiful big brown eyes, Ashlee scarcely resembled Lawrence. Jada glimpsed at Darius and wondered if she and Ashlee’s mother harbored the same secret.
“I do,” Lawrence said, gazing deep into Jada’s eyes.
Jada glanced over her left shoulder at her mother seated in the front row. Mama nodded and swirled her finger in tiny circles, so Jada turned and faced the pastor. Darius was thrilled, and Jada knew exactly why. Mama was spending the week with him while they honeymooned in London. Knowing her mother wouldn’t establish a list of rules for him to follow, Darius was certain to find a new limit.
“Do you take this man . . .” Pastor Tellings hadn’t changed much. His hair still resembled Don King’s, except now it was all silver. The train on Jada’s gown lay twelve feet behind her. The wedding vows she had written for Wellington were now in her safety-deposit box. Had he kept his? Lawrence didn’t want to exchange any sacred messages, and that suited Jada just fine.
Taking a deep breath, Jada replied, “I do,” as she exhaled. She was still uncertain but now committed. Lawrence looked handsome and smelled great. His tailor-made black tuxedo was flawless.
Pastor Tellings cleared his throat and said, “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride.”
Their wedding was more beautiful than Jada had envisioned. She had wanted to be a bride ever since she was a little girl pretending to match and marry her dolls. The next day flights to their honeymoon destination from Los Angeles to New York and then into London’s Heathrow airport was tiresome. After they checked into their hotel, Lawrence swept Jada off her feet and carried her from the lobby, to their room, then across the threshold.
“I want to make love to you like never before. Like there’s no tomorrow.” Lawrence had reserved the finest suite at their hotel near Buckingham Palace. Not permitting Jada to go farther than the living area, he said, “But before I do, I want to blindfold you.”
Memories of when Melanie blindfolded Wellington resurfaced. Sexually sharing her man with another woman had seemed innocent and fun at the time. That was until Melanie had announced she was pregnant with Wellington’s baby. And being a gentleman with morals, values, and principals, Wellington had married Melanie. In contrast to Wellington, Lawrence was all hers, and Jada wasn’t making the mistake of sharing him with anyone, ever.
Eyeing the black satin mask and silk scarf, Jada said, “Okay.” She closed her eyes and patiently waited. “Are you planning to use both of those?”
Lawrence kissed from her shoulder up to her ear as he undressed them both. “Trust me. You’re my wife now.”
True. After signing her marriage certificate, she felt closer and more dedicated to Lawrence than before. Jada took baby steps on the plush carpet, erased everything from her mind, and totally submitted. The nakedness of Lawrence’s body pressed behind hers made her nipples harden.
The man standing behind her was her husband in both her eyesight and God’s. No more fornication. Romance. Love. Sex. Jada didn’t want one without the other. Lawrence’s pubic hairs grazed the small of her back as the tip of his head momentarily lay between her firm cheeks. Jada paced her steps so theirs became one. Lawrence held her hands and continued to lead her.
“Where are we going?” The suspense emitted sexual hormones that made her heart rate quicken.
“Sssh.” Lawrence traced her inner earlobe with his tongue as though it were a maze. He paused, then lightly blew into her ear and whispered, “Tonight, no questions.” His moist lips pressed softly against her nape and lingered.
“Oooooh.” Jada trembled in his arms. Her knees weakened. Whenever Lawrence told her no questions, there was an unforgettable adventure ahead.
“Don’t stop. We’re only a few steps away. Trust me to lead you. Today. Tomorrow. Always.”
Jada’s voice trembled, “I will,” and her body followed in motion. Surrendering her heart and soul to the man she loved felt heavenly. She did love Lawrence. Otherwise, she would have let someone else marry him.
“Now step up,” Lawrence instructed. “Again. Once more. Stop. Now step down and slowly sit. “
Bubbles galore floating on warm water surrounded her. Lawrence removed the blindfolds. Covering her mouth with both palms, Jada gasped. The black marbled Jacuzzi with gold fixtures was lined with red, yellow, white, pink, peach, and lilac roses. The jet stream created so many suds they overflowed onto the black granite floor. The flower bundles were connected with clusters of gardenias. Aromatherapy candles burned in every corner of the unbelievably spacious bathroom. Although no stars were outside the windows, so many fireworks exploded inside her heart they could have celebrated Independence Day.
“Oh, my gosh! This is too much.” Jada looked around the room. The familiar sound of John Coltrane’s For Lovers CD filled the air.
“Don’t speak. I want every sense in our bodies to express our love without words. That’s how I want to remember our wedding night.” Lawrence motioned for a toast. Their quietness heightened her other senses as she internalized the essence of feeling versus speaking. Jada focused on the sounds of water and music. His touch made her hot. His scent made her hotter. His smell made her even hotter. His taste made her famished and hungry to feast on his love. This sight of her husband, naked and vulnerable inside and out, made Jada appreciate Lawrence.
Handing Jada a chilled glass, he removed the champagne bottle from the gold metal ice bucket and filled it halfway. After pouring his own, he held his crystal in the air. Jada mimicked his movement. Her energy twirled inside and escaped through tiny bumps of excitement.
Picking up a soft, white sponge, he stroked her feet. As he cleaned, he massaged every crevice between her toes. Ankles. Calves. Knees. He delicately washed inside her thighs. Butt. Back. Waist. Breasts. Nipples. Neck. Spreading her lips, he fondled her, stimulated her clit, and inserted his finger into her vagina while using his thumb and pinky to tease her clitoris and her anus until Jada released herself. Then Lawrence lathered her hair, widened her legs, and slid his penis deep inside of her, making her cum again. Jada lifted her body, took a deep breath, held it, and sank under the water. When she came up, she unequivocally returned his passion with the same persistence.
Afterward, Lawrence carried her to the bedroom. She felt as if drifting on air. Lawrence’s pole was solid and stood north. As he braced her back in one arm and her legs in his other, Jada felt his erection touching her ass. Love. Peace. Happiness. Different words were sewn on so many pillowcases she hardly saw the white linen sheets. Red rose petals accented the bed and the floor.
Laying her across the cushions, he positioned his lean body next to hers. Holding her in his arms, her husband kissed her lips for at least an hour. Slowly, Lawrence moved down to her breasts and teased with his fingers, tongue, hands, and lips. By the time he finished loving every inch, Jada was a burning inferno.
Tenderly, he turned her onto her stomach. Jada’s now favorite fragrance—tropical-scented shea butter—filled the air. Lawrence had ordered it from Sacred Thoughts across the country in Jersey City, New Jersey. Shondalon RaMin knew exactly how to mix the cherries, berries, and fruits into a delectable blend.
Lawrence’s hands traveled from the arch in her back up her spine to her hairline. Penetrating her, his head maneuvered in and out. The softer he rubbed, the deeper he traveled. Occasionally, he blew air over her back. His chest and stomach flattened against her vertebrae, while sweat dripped onto her face.
Jada thrust against his movement, wrapping her insides around his shaft. With each downward motion, the pace quickened to squishing perspiration. Lawren
ce plunged so far his penis slipped into her cul-de-sac. Attempting to prolong their orgasms, Jada used her vaginal muscles and pushed down so hard she almost ejected Lawrence completely. Tightly, he embraced her shoulders, holding her virtually motionless while he rotated along her spot.
Panting, Jada said, “Oh, damn, baby, I can’t hold back anymore.” The thickness of her secretions liquefied as their orgasms combined.
“Sssshh.” Lawrence instinctively moved in tempo to her beat. Nature’s fluids abundantly flowed. After Jada was one hundred percent satisfied, Lawrence tossed the wet pillows on the floor.
The last moment Jada remembered before dozing in her husband’s arms was Lawrence delicately running his fingers through the wetness of her hairs.
In the beginning, Lawrence expressed pleasure whenever Wellington spent quality time with Darius, thereby providing Lawrence more time with his firm. But immediately after they had married, he didn’t want another man around his wife and stepson, so he made himself available and took Darius to Texas when visiting Ashlee and Ashley. Lawrence and his ex-wife became friendly again, while Darius and Ashlee ultimately became best friends.
Sometimes a woman had to let a man be manly, but Jada knew Lawrence had no power over her relationship with Wellington. Hell, she couldn’t deny the truth. She didn’t have any control her damn self. Wellington still made her spirit dance every time she saw him. Why couldn’t she erase those feelings?
Chapter 12
Watching his mother marry Lawrence was saddening. Why couldn’t his parents get married and the three of them live happily ever after together? Why did they have him out of wedlock, birthing him into this world a bastard? Technically, he was an illegitimate child. Sometimes he wished he’d never been born.
Darius could neither understand nor forget how Wellington had shown the audacity to punch him in the chest for almost ruining his mother’s wedding. Ashlee had received a spanking from her mother. They only ran away to the guesthouse for two days. Actually they had a pretty good time sharing scary stories, drinking apple cider, and catching bugs for pets. Darius had concluded his dad was taking out his frustrations on him, since Wellington had been in town and hadn’t shown up at the wedding or the reception.
Darius tied his basketball shoe and shot his orange sponge ball into the plastic hoop mounted on his bedroom wall.
Jada yelled from the foyer, “Darius, your game starts in ninety minutes, sweetie. We’ve got to go!”
Yeah. Yeah. Darius dunked the ball and watched the orange rim flutter so fast it left shadows in its tracks. Glancing in the mirror, he admired his fresh twists. Maybe growing dreads would be easier and less time consuming. “I’m coming, Mom.” If his mother had to call him twice, she’d lecture him all the way to the gym, and at the age of fifteen, he’d heard every speech his mom had at least ten times over.
Lawrence was a good guy and all. He bought Darius’s mom flowers and candy and showered both of them with gifts and trips for no reason. Lawrence didn’t miss many of his games, and he played escort to and from practice whenever he had time. Lawrence even shot the ball with him and helped to perfect his skills. But Darius couldn’t wait until he got his driver’s permit. His mom had reneged on letting him get it as one of his birthday presents this year. His urgency was predicated on the fact that California was considering raising the legal age limit to get a permit from fifteen to eighteen.
Lawrence and Mom never argued; at least he’d never heard them. And Lawrence had bought the family season tickets for the Lakers’ games just because Darius had asked. His sisterfriend, Ashlee, was jealous because Lawrence had seldom made time for her and her mom when they were a family. But Lawrence’s generosity couldn’t replace Darius’s love and need to reside with his own father.
Darius’s average was ninety percent from the free throw line and eighty percent as a three-point shooter, and though he didn’t play the number one position of point guard, he called all of the shots on the court. Hopefully, his leadership abilities would increase his chances of going to the NBA. At six-foot-five he prayed he’d grow at least another three inches to increase his possibility of being drafted into the pros on the first round. This was his ninth year playing CYO, but he preferred AAU because the kids were tougher, the referees didn’t call as many fouls, and the girls that came to the games were finer than the Catholic school girls—like his future prep girlfriend Maxine. Today was AAU.
Closing his door so his mother wouldn’t see the mess he’d created in his room, Darius grabbed his NCAA basketball and dribbled to the front door.
“Darius Jones!” his mother shouted.
When he got to the door, his mother gave him “the look,” so he spun the ball on his pointing finger. Once outside, he dribbled in the driveway while she got the car from the garage. They already had a gymnasium; but Lawrence had bought him an expensive outdoor goal, so all of Darius’s friends came to his house on the weekends to shoot hoops.
Darius hopped in the back of the car and dropped his ball between his feet. Shuffling it side to side, he asked, “Is Dad coming to my game?” He already knew the answer. He just needed to occasionally remind Lawrence that he couldn’t replace Wellington. He knew Lawrence made his mother happy, but didn’t anyone care about his feelings? Evidently not, since they had been together over ten years and never asked. He realized his situation could have been worse, because Lawrence could have been a jerk.
“Yes, sweetie. He’ll be there,” Jada answered.
Darius liked that his mom still called him sweetie. “You think he can come over for dinner afterward?” Darius was pushing his luck, but why should he be considerate of them?
His mom glanced at his image on her front windshield. That meant she’d had enough of the questions. “We’ll see. Just concentrate on mentally preparing for your championship game.”
Darius loved his mom’s new car, but with the new projector, she could watch his every move without turning around. If it were a weekday, he could say, “Oprah’s on,” and his mother would instruct her voice command to change to channel seven. He flipped up the cover of the screen on the back of his mother’s headrest and popped in the DVD music video Area Codes by Ludicrous. In a way that was how he was already living, because every trip he’d taken over the past year he’d met a new female. And if an opportunity was presented, he sexed her, too. Shanté had permed him on his fourteenth birthday, so Darius was no longer a virgin. Shanté was a preacher’s daughter, so his mom trusted her to come up to his bedroom. As soon as his mom put the car in park, Darius turned off his video.
“Open doors,” Jada voice commanded, and all four doors opened automatically. Darius waited, then got out. His mother went ballistic if he unlocked the door while the car was in drive or the engine was still running. “I’ll see you guys inside.”
Darius strolled past the snack bar and into the gymnasium. The head coach signaled for him to come join his teammates. Coach yelled so much Darius had become immune. He liked coach’s rule that all ballers had to wear a suit and tie to and from each game. Darius’s black designer suit made him feel like a professional player. Shanté made him feel that way, too, giving it up whenever he asked or offering when he didn’t ask.
“Hurry up and get over here, Jones!” Coach gave the same speech each game, and although Darius appeared distracted, he listened intently. Paying attention to details and working really hard was why his coach had made him captain. Most of the time Darius scanned the bleachers; he was looking for Wellington, checking out the honeys, and sizing up the scrubs he was getting ready to whip up on. He spotted his dad and waved. If his dad showed up late, Darius had to work harder to concentrate on his game.
Nobody understood his frustrations, because he never complained. Whining was for sissies and females, so he released his anger on his opponents during his games. In a few years, he’d be on his own. Instead of feeling special, he felt odd being the only player with three parents in the bleachers. His dads usually sat with his
mom seated in the middle. They expected material items to compensate for his happiness. In fact, he used to give CDs and video games to teammates whose parents couldn’t afford them. He even gave away his PlayStation2 and asked Lawrence to buy him another one.
“Hey, Darius.” That was one of his ladybugs giving him a shout out.
Coach would bench him in a heartbeat if he answered. Huddled in a circle, Darius led his team, “Dragons on three. One. Two. Three.”
The whole team yelled, “Dragons!”
During the game, Darius earned each of his four fouls and the championship three-point shot that sealed the lead. The crowd went wild cheering with excitement. That was another reason he preferred AAU. The fans weren’t quiet like at Catholic high school games. AAU fans, especially the ladybugs, let a player know right away when he’d messed up.
Darius’s teammates and Wellington paraded him on their shoulders. But the best ride he could remember was the last one he got from Wellington when he was ten. Riding high on his dad’s shoulders had made him feel like King Darius. Suddenly, all the players lowered him to the floor and swarmed around this giant man handing out autographs.
Darius followed pursuit. “I’ll be right back, Dad.” He raced over to the pack. Running back to his mom, Darius was so excited he could hardly speak. “I—I—I need a piece of paper. Quick. Darryl Williams is signing autographs.” Although Darryl Williams had hung up his jersey a few seasons ago, he was still one of Darius’s all-time favorite ballers.
Jada frantically fumbled through her purse, then handed Darius a credit card receipt and a pen. “Here, honey.”
Darius zoomed over to the crowd. When he stood before Darryl, Darryl asked, “Where’s your uniform?”
Darius was speechless, but rumbled to dig his cover-up out of his bag. Darryl signed it and said, “I’ve got my eyes on you, DJ. You keep ballin’ like that and I’ll make sure you get a scholarship and starting position at GT.” Then he handed Darius back his shirt.
Never Again Once More Page 9