Gets No Love

by Eric Pete

  “Right now,” she replied as she began grasping at my shirt in an effort to pull it off.

  Another look at the clock told me it was way too late for any kind of party. “You didn’t come here to use the mirror, did you?”

  “You’ve never been slow,” she said as she succeeded in ridding herself of my shirt. “Don’t be now, baby.”

  We kissed long and deep as if trying to exorcise the demons that plagued us. Renika’s urgings got louder as I did what she wanted and removed her dress. A black mesh bra and panties scented with an intoxicating perfume ran over me as I was pushed onto my back. As Renika seemed to know what she was doing and exactly what she wanted this night, I left her in complete control. Then as now, she loved to bite. I allowed her to suck on my neck like a character from an Anne Rice novel, for I had surrendered.

  “Mmm. That feels good,” I mumbled with a smile.

  “I know something that will feel even better.” She whispered some of her hidden desires in my ear before slurping on my lobe. She reached back to turn my lamp off and I watched her silhouette as she undid the back clasp on her bra. It fell on my chest and I picked it up and brought it to my face where I inhaled deeply.

  “Just like old times, Lance.”

  “Uh-huh,” was all I could say as I looked up at her heaving breasts.

  Renika brought her hands to my chest as she pressed herself down onto the large bulge wanting to escape my shorts. I felt her treasure wanting to open up and embrace me as she began twisting her full hips and ass harder and harder into me. A slow burn followed as her tasty honey seeped through her panties and began staining my crotch. Dry humping always worked her thirst up for the actual act of sexin’ that was to follow.

  “I can’t take this shit no more,” she said, speaking more to her body than to me. I was in agreement and ready to take the plunge. In a slow, sexy manner, she slid her hands down her body and into her panties. Both hands then extended to the sides of her hips and pulled the fabric away from her body as she began to slide them off her, ready to unleash their captive on me. She urged, “Fuck me like you used to, sweetie.”

  As Renika moved aside to let her panties slide off her leg, I grabbed my shorts and briefs together and began yanking them down. They weren’t fully off before her hands were already grabbing at my exposed dick.

  I guess that was as appropriate a time as any for my phone to begin ringing. I kid you not. It rang. And I knew who it was.

  “Bad timing,” she spoke as she began climbing back on top of me.

  After a second of hesitation and confusion, I found myself. “No, no. Wait,” I said as I halted her. “I need to take this call.”

  “You are kidding.”

  “No,” I answered, pulling my shorts back up over my still-swollen shaft. I rolled over to reach the phone by the nightstand. Renika was stunned and speechless. “And could you turn the light back on?” I asked before I picked up the phone.

  “I woke you up, bruh?” Akhet said.

  “No. Not this time.”

  “You busy?”

  I paused and looked at Renika. She understood my body language and hesitation and began putting her clothes back on. “Not for a friend.”

  “Oh,” he said as he reacted to my words. “I didn’t know if I was still your friend.”

  “I deserved everything I got.”

  “Yeah. You were actin’ like a little bitch,” he laughed in his usual gruff manner. “I still shouldn’t have choked you . . . that hard. Who you got over there? Val?”

  “Nah, man. No one’s here,” I said in a hushed tone, trying to keep Renika from overhearing me. I don’t know why, but I was suddenly embarrassed at the situation I had almost put myself in. Without my saying a thing, she heard me loud and clear and went into the bathroom, leaving me to my conversation with Akhet. Her beautiful red dress was now wrinkled as she hastily put it on. I fumbled for something to say as I stuck my hand out in some kind of futile effort, but put it back down as Renika shut the door on me and with a click locked it behind her. I groaned then continued, “Had another dream tonight, huh?”

  “Fo’ sho. That ain’t the only reason I called though.”

  “Oh?”

  “I guess I’m kinda sorry ’bout how things went down too.”

  “Do you love her?” I asked abruptly.

  “Dang, bruh,” he said, taken aback. “You ain’t pullin’ no punches. You know a thug like me ain’t gettin’ off into that sentimental stuff. You might be taping me and try to play that back for someone.” A light went on in my head.

  “Where is Kyne?”

  “She sleepin’ upstairs. Why?”

  I had no idea how far Melvin and Jason North had gone in bugging Akhet’s so I restrained myself. “Just wondering.”

  “You can’t just let it go, huh?”

  “It’s not that, man. Look . . .” I was trying to choose the right words when a crash from my medicine cabinet startled me. Through the door, I could hear Renika as she fumbled to pick things up off my bathroom floor.

  “You there?” he asked as I went silent. “Hello? Hello? Man, I knew I shouldn’t have called you.”

  “Wait! Wait!” I shouted in the phone before Akhet could hang up on me. “Look, I’m kinda in the middle of something. Let’s get together tomorrow and talk.”

  “Wanna pass by the crib?”

  Thinking about the bugs that were probably all over his house as well as our conversation that was probably being taped, I thought quickly. “No. Meet me by my job.”

  “Yeah, that’ll work, bruh. Look, if I knew you had company, I wouldn’t have kept you on the phone. Y’all never stay away from each other for too long. Tell Val I said, ’Whuzzup.’ ”

  Embarrassed and afraid to admit otherwise, I quietly replied, “Alright. I’ll do that.”

  Wringing my hands, I crept over to the locked bathroom door. Words weren’t coming to me so I did the most basic thing I could. I knocked. “Are you okay in there?”

  “You’re off the phone?”

  “Yeah.”

  I paused with my ear to the door until she unlocked it. I stuck my head in and saw aspirin tablets all over the floor. Renika was sitting atop the closed toilet seat. I knew she had been crying.

  “Sorry,” she said with a sniffle. “I picked up most of them. I have a really bad headache.”

  “About that call. I . . .”

  “Don’t explain. You don’t have to,” she said, grabbing my hand. “You got a little time for me now?”

  “I’ll always have time for you. . . . Just as a friend though. You see,” I said, pausing, “I can’t do this. This was wrong. Wrong for me and wrong for us.”

  “You wouldn’t be saying that if the phone hadn’t interrupted us.”

  “I’m glad it did,” I mumbled as I looked away and took a breath.

  Renika stood and composed herself. As she walked past me to leave, she sensuously kissed me on my cheek, then pulled back. “I saw it with the way you were around Valerie, but I guess I didn’t want to believe . . . no . . . I didn’t want to accept it. I guess you really have changed. You’re now a good boy.”

  And that was just it. Everyone had their own notion of who Lance was and the Lance they wanted. Renika had wanted the reckless bad boy I once was. Kyne wanted the understanding friend, but wild with no attachments. Valerie wanted that person who was too good to be true . . . and who never could live up to that. I was all of them, yet none of them. I was far from perfect and life was a constant lesson. In essence, I was simply me.

  29

  “What’s up with all this spy shit?” he yelled as he walked out in the middle of the road and stormed in my direction.

  “Hang on. Let me park,” I said as I lowered my window and watched the cars that drove by.

  “Nah. Will you look at me?” Akhet said, waving his hands in front of my face. “First you tell me to meet you at work, then your place is closed, then you call me on my cell and tell me to get back in my
ride and drive, then you tell me to act natural . . . like I know what in the fuck that means, then you have me drive back across the bridge to the East Bank—by the way, you owe me a toll—then you drive behind me all over town only to have me get on the interstate and follow me out here? Here? What am I doing way out here in Gonzales, Louisiana? Gonzales?”

  “Actually, we’re in Prairieville. Gonzales is down the road. Relax.”

  “Relax? Like hell. You owe me gas money!”

  I rolled my eyes at my friend then drove in front of his Escalade, where I parked. Like some kind of crab in a defensive posture, his arms were folded as he cursed me to high heaven.

  “Who did your braids this time?” I asked, admiring the tight, crisp patterns that crisscrossed his head. It was the wrong time, but I thought it would be cute to piss him off just a little more.

  Very unlike Akhet, his scowl disappeared. He answered, “Kyne did ’em, man. Tight, ain’t they?”

  “Yeah. It’s still so hard to believe y’all two are . . .”

  “Friendly?”

  “Yeah, that’s it,” I laughed.

  “Talk. Why’d you have me drive all over, bruh? I know we’re not out here to talk about her.”

  “I had to make sure you weren’t being followed. And that no one was listening.”

  That got Akhet’s attention. All of sudden he began looking around at the birds and trees that surrounded us as if just noticing them for the first time. His face took on a serious, fixated look as he focused on me. “What’s going on, Lance?”

  “You need to be careful.”

  “Careful with what?”

  “Them,” I said, putting a finger on the pristine medallion dangling from his neck.

  “Man, they ain’t ’bout shit,” Akhet chuckled as he swatted at the air. “I already told them I want out. What you heard?”

  “Enough. Enough to have me scared as hell and out here talking to you in the woods.”

  “I’m a grown-ass man. I can take care of myself.”

  “True,” I answered. “But what about Kyne?”

  “They wouldn’t dare. “

  I paused, then let it rip. It was the only way to get through to him. “They have your house bugged, man.”

  “Say what?”

  “They know everything you’re doing. Everything.”

  “And how do you know this?”

  “They told me. They want you to lay off . . . or else.”

  “Man, North’s all talk—”

  “Jason didn’t tell me this. It was Melvin.”

  The seriousness of what I was saying set in with just the mention of his name. I could see the wheels turning in Akhet’s head. I wondered what all Melvin had done during his time on earth to warrant that kind of reaction from people. “Did he threaten Kyne?”

  “No. Not exactly. But with someone like him, he didn’t have to say it. I got the feeling nothing was off limits.”

  “Where? When?” Akhet had begun nervously pacing between my car and his.

  “That doesn’t matter. Let’s just say they found me. I’m not supposed to tell you any of this. . . . Just get you to behave and stop this talk of leaving the label.”

  “What have I gotten myself into?” he asked himself. His fist slammed down on the hood of the Escalade, leaving an impression in the metal.

  “I’ll help you however I can, bruh.”

  He just smiled. “I know. I can’t let you though. This could get messy.”

  “I know,” I said, nodding my head.

  “No. You don’t. You’re in too deep already. This could spill over to—” He ended abruptly as if disturbed by a vision before continuing. “I’ll think of something. Go. Just go home and love Valerie and Bobby. Be a husband and father to them.”

  “I can’t be,” I said, acknowledging my failure. “I’m not back with her, man. Hell, I’m not even in Bobby’s life anymore.”

  “Y’all couldn’t be back on bad terms that quick! She was at your crib last night when I called.”

  “That wasn’t her.”

  He thought about my last comment, digested it then moved on. With a laugh, he spoke again. “Don’t matter. That’s just a temporary thang. It always is with y’all two. Why don’t you try to make it permanent? But in a good way. Just forget about everything else. Do like I do when I’m losin’ to you at video games.”

  “Turn it off and start over again?”

  “Fo’ sho.”

  I don’t know from where Akhet’s newfound wisdom was springing forth, but it made sense. I had led him out to the woods to save him and wound up being counseled instead. There was nothing else we needed to say. We both had things to think over.

  As I walked to the Honda to leave, I left Akhet with a final request. “Protect Kyne. That’s all I ask.”

  30

  Turn it off and start over again. Turn it off and start over again.

  Akhet was right.

  “What do you mean, ‘She’s not here?’ Did she take a late lunch?”

  “No sir,” the rather nervous guy with a comb-over atop his head answered. I didn’t believe him and I guess he could tell. I thought it was all part of the rules Val had set up to deal with me if I came around. Val’s co-worker Lisa, who could’ve confirmed what he was telling me, was absent from her desk as well.

  The small black box in my hand felt like it was generating its own warmth. I adjusted it in my palm before returning it to my pocket. “Do you know where she is?”

  “If you hold on a moment, I’ll be more than happy to check for you,” he answered in a manner that told me he was anxious to see me leave.

  I waited, expecting the cops to storm in instead and escort me off the school premises, but the administrator returned with the news. Val was no longer employed with them. I didn’t believe him at first, but gave in when I acknowledged he had nothing to gain by telling me this. More questions than answers ruled this day so far.

  As I drove, I tried to figure out why Val hadn’t told me about her job switch. I slapped my head when I realized she had no reason to inform me of anything these days. That didn’t matter, for things were about to change. I tried calling her house to see if she was there but got the answering machine.

  “Val, it’s me,” I said as I moved to put my phone on hands-free. “I know this is unexpected, but I really need to talk to you. Call me. It’s important.”

  As impatient as I was feeling, I decided to make the drive by her house. She was probably working, but I had to take the chance in case she just wasn’t answering my calls. If she was there, I was going to make her listen to what my heart had to say and damn all the shit of the past.

  Turn it off and start over again. Turn it off and start over again.

  After the battle through noontime traffic, I turned into Val’s Lincolnshire neighborhood. Without a conscious thought, I drove toward her house, wanting the Kia to be in the driveway waiting on me. Her parents weren’t there, but she was not alone. Blocking her car in was that damn BMW again. I felt the blood rush out of my head when I realized another reason for Val leaving her job. She was leaving town with Robert.

  I was a lot older now, but there were still those times when that “I don’t give a fuck” Lance would assert himself. I didn’t even turn the car off as I put it in park and jumped out. With each step taken, I grew more desperate. As I got closer to the front door, anger crept in. How could she just up and leave with him? I thought to myself. Then I saw him and really wondered what the fuck was wrong with her mind.

  Robert was leaving out the door and speaking to someone on his way out. He looked to be serious until he saw me rushing up on him. Unexpectedly, he smiled a twisted smile.

  “Love you too, baby,” he said back into the house as if I were a ghost who had no business being there. “I’ll be back.” When he turned around again he was hurriedly adjusting his zipper.

  “Hey.”

  “Oh. Hey, Lance. Didn’t see you there,” he said with hurtful intent
ions in his words and spite in his eyes. “What are you doing here? Lose something?”

  “Yeah . . . my cool.”

  Before Robert could say anything else smart, I rained a flurry of punches into his face. A spurt of blood sprayed across my crisp white shirt as he fell back against the bricks behind him. Robert, all the while gasping and choking, charged at me. I tried to guard myself but the jerk slammed into my gut and wrapped me up. The two of us tumbled across the hood of Val’s car with a large smack. As we landed hard on the driveway concrete, I gripped Robert in a headlock.

  I yelled and winced with pain as I felt his teeth break the flesh of my forearm. I released my grip and a bruised and huffing Robert tried to get to his feet. I was up first and proceeded to swing on him again. A gang of teenage boys, who should have been in school at the time, was walking by in the street. They stopped, laughed, and high-fived in amusement at the poor example being set. Robert, who had all but given up, resorted to shielding himself from my wrath. His lack of willingness coupled with our growing audience left a hollow feeling inside me that only grew with each club of my fists.

  “C’mon. Fight back! Say something now!”

  “Damn. You bwoke my nose. I’ll sue you,” he said from his sheltered face. Red streaks and smear marks from his hands lined the sides of Val’s Kia.

  Just then, the front door opened and a robed figure emerged.

  “Lance!”

  My hands fell to my sides. A crumpled Robert slid down to the ground where he sat in a heap. Val’s hair was all disheveled and she looked drained. I looked her dead in her face—she was wearing a robe in the middle of the day. I just shook my head.

  “What are you doing?” she asked a second time as she surveyed the destruction. “Are you crazy?”

  My eyes squinted and I heard a distant voice answer from within. “Crazy? No. Not anymore.”