My Mans Best Friend (9781622860241)

by Henderson, Tresser

  “I don’t want to hear it,” I said throwing my hand up.

  “But I may need you.”

  “How?”

  “I heard about the get-together Derrick and Jaquon are having. I still don’t understand why neither of them have ripped each other to bits since both of them know the other has slept with their girl. They’re acting like things are still cool. What the hell is going on with them two? By the way, I heard you talking to Jaquon earlier and ...”

  “Why you eavesdropping on my conversations? You need to hurry up and get up out of my house so I can finally have some privacy.”

  “Essence, please. Are you going to hear me out?”

  “No. I don’t want any part of this.”

  “I know he invited you.”

  “And?”

  “Just take me with you,” Zacariah pleaded.

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Essence, please.”

  “I don’t even know if I’m going.”

  “Please go and take me.”

  “If they wanted you there, then they would have invited you. You with Derrick, Jaquon, and possibly Kea in the same room is the makings for a disaster.”

  “Not for me.”

  “Something is wrong with you.”

  “That may be so, but I got some information I need to drop. I think the heavens are opening up for me to do this. What better place than at this get-together? I might get a two-for-one deal here,” she said.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “You’ll see when you take me.”

  I sighed.

  “You know you’re curious.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “We only have a couple of days, so think fast.”

  “I said I’ll think about it.”

  “Thanks, Essence. I know you’re going so why don’t we go to the mall and buy the sexiest outfits we can?”

  The look on Zacariah’s face was one of euphoria. I knew it had to do with this retaliation she was plotting. I swear I wanted no part of this, but this situation was like watching a bad movie you just paid for. You make yourself go through it anyway just to see how it’s going to end.

  Derrick

  Mama was here and had taken over the cooking of the seafood. She had already fried some catfish and clams, and the lobsters were being steamed. Not only was she putting a hurting on the food, she brought homemade coleslaw and hush puppies, which I requested. She also made baked beans, corn bread, four sweet potato pies, and a pineapple upside-down cake. Mama looked for any excuse to cook, and I took advantage of her expertise in her cuisine. This event was the perfect opportunity to get my mama to come visit me. She didn’t live too far away from me, but she didn’t drop by as much as I would have liked either. But I knew that had a lot to do with Zacariah.

  Most of the men pitched in purchasing the seafood with me. It was a BYOB event, so they also brought their own alcoholic beverages. The ladies brought additional side dishes. I provided hamburgers, hot dogs, and some alcohol too.

  My house was full to capacity. Most of the crowd was outside and not trampling through my house, which is the way I liked it. I didn’t want anyone getting stupid and start tearing up my stuff because if they did, there was going to be a problem.

  When Jaquon came up with the idea, I wanted to reach through the phone and choke him to death. He had slept with Zacariah and acted like nothing had ever happened between the two of them. I wanted to confront him so bad my body ached, but Mama told me to “Leave it alone. You are not with Zacariah any more, so let things be. Yes, Jaquon was wrong, but you two are like brothers, and you should never let a woman come between you.”

  It was true. We had been friends for so many years. But I had to wonder whether Zacariah was the only girl of mine he had slept with. Doubts about our friendship started to surface, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I didn’t know how I was going to act when I saw him. But when I did, he acted like the same old crazy Jaquon, which, in a way, made it a lot easier to deal with. That was, until I saw Kea linked arm in arm with him. She was looking so damn sexy. I tried to play it off, but her beauty made it hard for me to concentrate. A part of me wanted to tear her away from him, punch him in his face, and take her away to be with me forever. But I maintained. Maybe this was also due to Mama standing right there watching me. She kept giving me the eye to let sleeping dogs lie. Little did she know how bad I wanted to lie with Kea.

  Jaquon took off to the back to help with the setup while Kea joined Mama in the kitchen helping her with peeling the shells off the already deveined shrimp to be dropped into the deep fryer outside on the patio. The two of them hit it off immediately. Once Mama walked back outside to drop some shrimp, I walked behind Kea gripping her hips, pulling her body to mine.

  “What do you think you are doing?” she asked.

  “I’ve wanted to do this since you got here.”

  “We’re going to get caught, Derrick. Move back,” she said sticking her butt out, bumping me away.

  “You know that’s making me want you more,” I said pulling her closer, making the space between us disappear. I knew she had to feel the growth forming underneath my jeans with each pulsation of my heart.

  “Derrick, please stop,” she asked seductively.

  “Do you really want me to, or do you want me as bad as I want you?”

  “This isn’t right,” she said.

  “Neither is your man cheating on you, but it doesn’t stop his flow.”

  She turned in anger pushing me away. “You supposed to be his friend.”

  “And you supposed to be his girl. Come on, Kea. You know I speak nothing but the truth,” I said holding up my hand like I was being sworn in to testify.

  “Don’t get mad with me because you have feelings for me. I’m innocent,” I said shrinking the space between us again. The heat emitting off her body made my manhood stretch out to reach her.

  I leaned my body against hers, pushing her against the counter. She held her hands up, trying not to get shrimp juice on us. I leaned in and kissed her. Her lips were supple and tongue-inviting. I couldn’t bring myself to break away, but hearing voices made Kea break free and walk out of the kitchen. Mama opened the door to find me standing at the sink pretending to finish shelling the remaining shrimp left in the bowl. No matter how much I didn’t want to get caught, my extension would have drawn enough attention to itself to give me away. I hid it by leaning against the counter pretending to be helping.

  “Derrick, what are you doing in here?”

  “I’m finishing the shrimp. I have a couple more, and then you can have it,” I tried to say calmly.

  “Are you okay, son, because you look a little flushed in the face? What’s going on with you?”

  “I’m just tired, and you know it’s hot as hell.” I tried to stop the words from rolling off my tongue but couldn’t take them back. “I mean heck.”

  “Boy, I was getting ready to say, you know better.”

  “I know, Mama. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s fine. I come to see where you were and to soak up some of this cool air. That heat is something else. To be October, it’s hot for this time of year,” she said pulling up a chair at the kitchen table. “Seasons mixing like this can’t be good. The Lord is on His way back. People better start paying attention to these signs. Everybody needs to get their souls right with God because when He cracks this sky, it’s going to be too late for many. And that’s including you, Derrick.”

  There was nothing like a good sermon from Mama to bring a man’s erection down, literally. I loved Mama and knew she was telling the truth, but sometimes her preaching did get to me. I grew up in the church. I sang on the choir. I ushered and everything because that’s what Mama had me do when I was coming up. Now I understand why she did what she did because I am aware where all my blessings come from. But she needed to understand it’s a process for me, just like it was for her. It took time.

  “Baby, you hear what I’m te
lling you?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied rinsing the last of the shrimp.

  “I wish everybody knew God like I know Him,” she said fanning herself with a newspaper I had on the table.

  “Are you all right, Mama? I hope you haven’t overdone it out there. You were supposed to come over here and let us do all the work.”

  “Son, I’m good. I’m just trying to cool myself down. And you know I don’t eat everybody’s cooking. I can’t stand to see too many hands handling the food.”

  Kea walked into the room wiping her hands on a towel.

  “Honey, what did you say your name was again?” Mama asked.

  “Mama, this is Kea.”

  “Jaquon’s girlfriend, right?” Mama asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Oh, so you the girl dumb enough to get yourself wrapped up in that man.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kea said looking staggered.

  “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean for it to come out of my mouth like that.”

  “Mama speaks her mind,” I said softly to Kea, knowing Mama heard me.

  “Boy, step back and let the girl breathe.”

  I laughed along with Kea.

  “Are you having a good time, Mrs.—”

  “Call me Ms. Shirley, and yes, this is really nice. I better get back out there and check on the food. I don’t trust Jaquon or your daddy to be handling anything,” Mama said getting up. “Pass me those shrimp so I can finish cooking. I hope we don’t have burnt fish,” she said walking out.

  Kea

  Almost getting caught earlier made me try to stay away from Derrick as much as possible. Every now and then I would look around and catch him watching me, but I played it off. I kept hoping Jaquon wouldn’t notice. Yes, a small part of me wanted to be with Derrick, but not here and not now. Jaquon was who I came with, and he is who I had to show the majority of my affection to. I have to say he made sure to pay more attention to me, which was a total turnaround from the last get-together we attended. The last cookout consisted of Jaquon smiling all up in some woman’s face and whispering in another one’s ear, but I couldn’t think about the past now. I had to concentrate on our future, but did we have one together?

  We ate and we drank until we couldn’t eat anymore. Ms. Shirley put a hurting on the food, and we broke one of the commandments, and that was the sin of gluttony. Everybody sat back with their bellies tight, and now it was time for the men to get caught up in their card games, Jaquon being one of them.

  People were quick to eat, but no one was quick to clean up after themselves. Ms. Shirley attempted to tackle some of the mess, but I made her sit down. She had done enough with the cooking. Now it was time for her to sit back and relax.

  I picked up where she left off by throwing all the used paper plates in the trash can. I dumped drinks out of cups and picked up paper off the ground. I swear some people just didn’t have any home training.

  One of the trash cans was running over with garbage. I tried to lift the industrial-size black plastic bag, but it was too heavy for me to pick up. Derrick showed up out of nowhere to help me.

  “I got it,” he said brushing his hand across mine. Instantly tingles surged throughout my body. “I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” he said.

  I couldn’t do anything but smile and get away from him. The only thing left to do was to store the leftover food and wash the dishes. Derrick had a dishwasher, so it made that easy.

  Derrick kept looking at me with a passion hot enough to ignite us both into flames. Finally he got his chance again to be with me alone when I was loading the dishwasher.

  “Meet me later,” he whispered to me.

  “We can’t do this. Not tonight,” I said.

  “I need to be with you, Kea.”

  “How is it going to look when both of us disappear?”

  “Who’s going to notice? Everybody is dancing and playing cards. No one will miss us,” he said grabbing my hand and kissing the back of it gently.

  “You are really not making this easy,” I said.

  “Dip out in twenty minutes and meet me at the cut overlooking the city. I’m going to leave now.”

  “And you think your mother won’t notice?”

  “I’ll tell her I have to dip out for a minute if that will make you feel better.”

  It didn’t make me feel better. Twenty minutes went by, and Derrick still hadn’t left. I figured out later he was trying to see his parents off. They were ready to go home. Once he got them on their way, he mingled a bit, and then disappeared.

  Watching the digits on my watch move at a snail’s pace, I longed for that time when I could make my grand exit. What was I thinking, though? I couldn’t go be with Derrick after uncurling myself out of the arms of Jaquon earlier. What does that say about me? And wouldn’t Jaquon get curious about my sudden departure? Wouldn’t he wonder why he doesn’t see Derrick either? I would have to think of something. The guilt of the entire thing was killing me. Why was I worried about what Jaquon thought? He disappeared on me all the time. Why was it I was always thinking about our relationship when he never once considered me when it came to him doing what he wanted to do? I know he claimed to have changed, but why should I believe him? Or was I making excuses to justify me doing my dirt now?

  I needed to do this. Maybe we could make this our last time together. Tonight I was going to step outside the box and do the unexpected. I was going to play Jaquon’s game and be with the person I wanted to be with, Derrick. Whatever happens, happens.

  Grabbing my car keys, I left without saying a word. Luck was with me because Jaquon was too busy playing cards to even notice. I was also glad no one screamed, “Where you going?” since a beer run needed to happen every hour and any car moving was responsible for the next run.

  Arriving at the location Derrick specified, I saw him sitting in his car. The neon lights from his stereo glowed brightly. I let down the automatic window and cut my car off, and he did the same.

  “Get out and get into my car,” he said. I didn’t hesitate doing what he asked. Once in, I enjoyed the new car scent as the black leather seats welcomed me into his new ride.

  “You like?” he asked.

  “I do.”

  “I have been wanting this SUV for a while now, and I finally got it,” he said, brushing his hand across the steering wheel.

  Not meaning to change the subject I asked, “Derrick, what are we doing?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. The one thing I do know is I want you. I know you feel a connection between us, Kea. When I saw you standing alone earlier, my mind led me to embrace you. Your body fits like a glove against mine, and I knew then that maybe what we got going on is not just an ordinary fling.”

  “So you want me for my body?” I questioned jokingly.

  “No. I love your mind too,” he said smiling. “I love your eyes, your scent, and your smile. I just love being in your presence.”

  “But ...” I said.

  “I know what you’re going to say. What about Jaquon?”

  “And your crazy ex-girl, Zacariah,” I added.

  “Zacariah and I are over. There’s no going back. I’m only looking forward. I’m driving blindly, but I clearly see I want you. When I saw you walk in with Jaquon, my heart skipped some beats.”

  “I was nervous about coming because I was scared someone would figure out we’ve had something going on.”

  Derrick reached for my hand.

  I said, “You know, Jaquon told me he’s going to change, and lately he’s been showing me a different side of him.”

  “But for how long?” Derrick asked.

  “I don’t know, but he hasn’t been going out, and he’s been spending more time with me.”

  “Do you trust him?”

  “Of course not. I’m still leery. I’m wondering where all of this newfound devotion is coming from all of a sudden.”

  “Maybe he’s starting to realize it’s too late f
or him. He had his chance, and he blew it. Maybe I’m the man you need in your life right now.”

  “And you’re willing to lose your friendship with him?”

  “Yes.”

  The truth was in Derrick’s eyes. I looked intently into them, searching for something that would let me know this wasn’t meant to be. But the longer I stared, the more I could see his affection for me wasn’t wavering.

  “I don’t know,” I said cautiously.

  “Aren’t you tired of getting walked on all the time? I know I am.”

  “I am too, but—”

  “Kea, I know all of this sneaking around isn’t right, but we walked around looking like fools with people who openly cheated on us.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Baby, let’s do this. Let’s be together. I know I don’t know your entire story, but I’m willing to convert this tragedy into a love story with a happy ending. And if you didn’t know it already, Kea, I’ve fallen in love with you.”

  If there ever were words a woman wanted to hear, here was Derrick telling them to me.

  “Let me make love to you again.”

  “Derrick,” I said before feeling the tip of his finger on my lips.

  “Shhhh, just kiss me.”

  He leaned over the console and planted his lips on mine.

  “I want you so bad,” he whispered reaching under my shirt, taking my right breast in his hands. His thumb came in contact with my nipple, sending quivers through me.

  “What do you want from me?” I said, then immediately thought it was a dumb question.

  “I want you, baby.”

  He leaned his seat all the way back to the reclining position and asked me to get on top. I crawled over and straddled him as my legs gripped both sides of him, fitting perfectly. I was happy I was wearing a short denim mini. Feeling his hardness beneath me, I leaned down and kissed him some more. His hands explored my body while I unbuckled his belt and jeans. He eased them down, exposing his immense manhood.

  “Come on, baby, give it to me,” he whispered, ripping my G-string off. For a minute I thought how in the world was I going to explain to Jaquon not having on panties, but I figured when that time came, I could lie like he did.