Obsession: Warm Bodies, Cold Hearts

by Rice, Rachel E.

  On returning from L.A., Anthony put his key into Kesha’s apartment door. He once enjoyed her attention, even though Kesha knew Anthony and Page were an item. As he walked into the apartment, he smelled incense burning, and knew she was in bed. He strode into the room with a smile on his face and thoughts of a night of erotic sexual release.

  He didn’t walked far when he saw two figures in bed. Kesha lying naked on the covers, her smooth brown skin and large breast gave him a thrill whenever he nursed them. There sleeping calm next to her, and no doubt in a deep sleep, lay a dark skinned male whose skin had a dark brilliant hue.

  The male appeared to be young and a bit handsome with a physic to match his youthful body with its predatory form—hard body, hard life.

  The covers thrown violently on the floor showed remnants of serious lovemaking. Anthony recognized the signs because he had engaged in the same debauchery on many occasions. The feel of another body inhabiting the room, woke the two lovers.

  “I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Don’t you know homey you are in my bed and fucking my women?” He said holding his gun to the man’s head.

  “Shit Kesha you told me you were finished with him, and he wasn’t coming back,” the handsome dark brown skin man shouted. “Can I get up and get out?” Anthony gestured to him with a wave of the gun, to get going and now.

  Kesha didn’t say a word, as she looked up at Anthony hoping he didn’t do anything stupid. “Get out and don’t come back here unless you want me to shoot your ass,” he stated as he follow the man to the door.

  The young man left with only his pants and shoes, he didn’t want to spend anytime explaining, or waiting to see if Anthony would beat Kesha senseless. Anthony controlled his emotions and his urges. He stood looking at Kesha’s naked body and all his anger faded, and his pent up emotions took over. The thought of her having a man in his bed ignited the passion and caused him to drool with sexual anticipation. Kesha peered at Anthony with her mouth opened.

  “I’m sorry Anthony, I thought you left me and wasn’t coming back. I was trying to get these drugs sold and pay for this apartment.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it Kesha, just do me,” he said pointing to his erection.

  He stripped his clothes off and grabbed Kesha. He turned her on her stomach and thrust his penis into the first cavity he could locate. He told her he was going to punish her for giving his stuff away. He ravished her for an hour and when he finished he thought he was in love again.

  Now he had two women he was trying to please, but he found himself crazy about Kesha.

  Anthony brought Kesha to his club, and began introducing her as his main woman. When Page found out about the rumors, she dismissed them as just gossip. Anthony not seeing Page in months became caught up with Kesha, because he didn’t want anyone to have her.

  His jealousy of Kesha surprised him. He waited for her and drove her from place to place. He didn’t want anyone to speak to her, or for her to have friends. He isolated her from her mother and sisters. Anthony brought her to the club every night to keep an eye on her. Kesha worked behind the bar, controlled the receipts and computer that Anthony once reserved for only him.

  Kesha stole his money, but Anthony too consumed with the heated sex, which Kesha provided by accident, would not believe it when they told him. He just fired them and continued to be a fool in love, a fool that wasn’t use to being in love.

  He thought he had love for Page, but soon dismissed that as passion, he knew his love for Kesha was real. He wanted what she had to offer every minute of the day whenever he laid eyes on her. He knew his feelings weren’t deceiving him.

  Anthony, obligated to pick Page up from LaGuardia airport, dismissed her because he was now into Kesha, he was seriously into her.

  Page waited for Anthony’s car but it never came.

  When Page walked through the door of The Red Carpet with her bags in her hands, she saw him kissing a woman. He turned in shock.

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Page stated angrily.

  Anthony moved away from Kesha and never moved in Page’s direction.

  “Who is this Anthony?” Page demanded.

  Anthony stood and looked at Kesha, “This is Page, I told you about her.”

  “Yea, but you didn’t tell me about Kee Sha,” Page said with a disinterested look on her pale and empty face.

  “He didn’t have to tell you about me bitch. Action speaks louder than words.”

  “Look Anthony I’m leaving.” Kesha sauntered between Anthony and Page. Anthony caught Kesha’s arm and she jerked it from his grasp.

  Page saw how Kesha had pushed Anthony out of the way without him saying a word. She knew she was in big trouble. She realized that she had lost her man because of the time spent with Danny, and now he was being a pussy for a bitch in Harlem, she thought.

  Page down and out for the count tried to find a way to get up and back into the game. He had his issues, a womanizer, a flirt, but she wanted this man, not Danny. Besides, Danny loved another woman and would always love Sydney. She thought Anthony was hers after what she did for him. She did everything that he wanted, seduced Danny, and took his money and got connections in Hollywood.

  Now he’s catering to another woman the way he never catered to her, and she didn’t like it.

  “I stayed with Danny to help you and I come back to New York to find you with that!”

  “You were gone so long I thought you wanted him and not me,” Anthony said.

  “You are a liar. Do you think I’m stupid? I didn’t hear from you for months. I guess you found someone to fuck when you weren’t fucking me.”

  “I guess you found someone yourself,” he said walking away to find Kesha.

  “Don’t you fucking lay that one on me you little bastard,” Page said walking behind him.

  Anthony turned, “Look Page, I don’t have time to stand her and fight with you, I have to take care of my business.”

  “Now your business is keeping that bitch happy.”

  “I guess you could say that.”

  Anthony walked out the door and took a cab to Kesha’s apartment. Page couldn’t believe what was happening to her. Anthony left her, and now Danny is sober and gone.

  Page studied the last month, and how she dropped Danny to run to Anthony. She couldn’t picture her life with anyone but Anthony.

  She decided to give him room, and he would come around, she thought. She went to a friend’s apartment and waited and waited. He never called.

  It was a Saturday night and she returned to the Red Carpet to see him. When she walked into the club, the chill was in the air. Once friendly associates, refused to speak to her after she gave a warm greeting. Kesha sat at the bar with her back turned facing it and Anthony standing facing Kesha, holding her hand and both laughing. An angry Page began tapping on the bar, and tapping on Anthony’s back, she said, “Anthony I’ve got to speak to you in private.”

  “Anthony’s not going to talk to you in private,” Kesha stated with confidence.

  “She’s speaking for you now Anthony? I didn’t know you had turned into a bitch since the last time I saw you.”

  Anthony turned with a hard look and a wrinkled brow, “I’ll see you upstairs.”

  He walked behind Page up to the place where she enjoyed many nights of lovemaking and heated sexual passion. He grabbed her by the arms, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Don’t you ever do that to me again. Don’t you ever say that to me in front of my woman and my workers.”

  “What did you say? Your women. Tell me I didn’t hear that?” Her heart beat quickly and she held her breath.

  “You heard me.”

  “So it’s like that, well you better be sure that you don’t want me. Don’t you worry I’m getting the hell out of here, because I know who wants me and I’m going to him.

  “Wait Page.” All of a sudden, Anthony woke up and realized what he knew all along that he didn’t want to lose Page. It
was too late. Anthony always wanted what he thought another man appeared to have.

  Page walked out on Anthony as he stood calling her name. Still confused, he didn’t want to let go of Kesha, even as he was losing Page. In the middle of a dilemma, he couldn’t decide which woman. He was still so hot for Kesha’s body that it made him sick. On the other hand, there wasn’t any lovemaking between him and Page for some time, and the hold she had on him transferred to Kesha.

  Kesha, still seeing the rapper B. stupid, had to sneak around because Anthony cut her off from everyone, so she told anyone that would listen that she couldn’t “breath.” She liked the previous arrangements, where she enjoyed her privacy, and Anthony came for an occasional fuck. Now he was there all the time like a lovesick dog, and this was getting on her last nerve.

  * * * *

  Kesha arranged to see B this night, because she knew that Anthony was preoccupied at the club. Anthony’s jealousy wore thin on everyone, especially Kesha. He accused her of some of the vilest things, because she wanted more time to herself. Kesha didn’t understand what made Anthony tick, but Page did.

  Things were getting out of hand with Anthony. B Stupid suggested killing Anthony and keeping all the drugs. Kesha confused, considered the idea, because Anthony’s jealousy cost her freedom she once had, which was to pursue a career in the Rap world.

  Kesha’s reason for calling B stupid to her apartment was to discuss a plan to rid them of Anthony.B stupid came over in the snow and parked around the corner, not because he was afraid of Anthony, but because he couldn’t find a space.

  He and Kesha settled in and enjoyed the drugs Anthony stashed at Kesha’s pad. They reasoned, all great plans had been hashed with a little drug to free the mind. However, they took a lot of drugs. They even discussed the benefits of drugs, and how creative people took drugs for inspiration. However, they didn’t recite all the crazy fucked up things that occur when people consume drugs, and they were getting ready to get a lesson in how crazy and fucked up life can become with drugs as an inspiration.

  Kesha began a plan to kill Anthony one cold winter night. She would lure him over to the apartment, then she and B would shoot him and dump his body in a landfill in Staten Island. Well it appears that the drugs did not help with creativity, and there would be no thinking out of the box tonight.

  Their plan would be to take the drugs and sell them, and finance her career in the Rap world. It appeared clear-cut, yet, they had to work on it a bit before putting it into action.

  Kesha would set him up by telling him that her rapper friend was bothering her about sex.

  “B, I’m going to get Anthony over here and when he starts taking his clothes off, I’m going to reach under my pillow, get my gun, and shoot him. Then I want you to make sure he’s dead. Shoot him again or whatever you have to do to kill him,” Kesha stated with a smile.

  “What about the noise.”

  “I forgot about the noise, then I have to stab him first. Then you put a pillow over his face and shoot him, that should take care of the noise,” Kasha said with the coolness of a killer, after sucking down pills.

  “I’m so sick of Anthony and his clinging ways that I can’t stand another minute of his shit. It was ok as long as he was ape over Page, now I have to be bothered with him all the time, and he wants all kinds of sex, even anal sex. It makes me want to throw up.”

  “Then call him now and let’s get this done,” said B Stupid, too stupid to carry out anything without first asking someone’s opinion. Kesha picked up the phone and made the call.

  “Hello, let me speak to Anthony. “Who is this? What? No shit!” She hung up and stared long at B stupid.

  “What? What?” B said, gesturing with his hands.

  * * * *

  An hour earlier—I want you back Anthony

  Page left Anthony alone for a few weeks to come to his senses. She finally decided to see him. She knew Anthony liked her fresh and alluring, at least that is what he wanted before Kesha nudged her out of his life. Page catered to Anthony, selling drugs and sex to the highest bidder, letting her modeling jobs go. Without Anthony she had nothing but the streets.

  Page tried on every dress and pair of pants she could, but nothing fit. She was a size four when she met Anthony, but now she was a size zero, and looked like a skeleton.

  Her emaciated face appeared to be a death mask. Her eyes were sunken and lips were dried and peeling. Her skin had pot marks. What happen to her she wondered? She shook it off and she grabbed a bag that carried all her necessities for traveling late at night and rushed off.

  Sunday night the club would be closed. Page would get a chance to see Anthony if Kesha wasn’t there. Page hated being side lined with Anthony, especially since she had to stand by and watch another woman take him from her. Sadness, anger, and jealous crept into her soul. She made up her mind to fight for him. She knew that she could not return to Danny because he was finally seeing through her deceptions.

  Page quickly hailed a cab. It had been raining and instead of the day being fresh, the air smelled of mold and garbage. It wasn’t the cab that reeked of old smells, it was the air in the club of an old building, it was the smell of a dying love.

  She rang the bell and Anthony answered the door. He looked surprised when she walked in. Anthony and Page had seen each other many times with a state of attraction that pierced their body. Now there was nothing, and Page felt it. She wanted that back, she wanted that attraction they experienced from just their body reeking of sexual explosions. She felt the coldness of his body and heart. There was nothing in his eyes for her. His black and lifeless eyes were as if she was staring at a dead body.

  “What, what do you want here Page? I thought you were in L.A. with Danny. You should have stayed there.”Anthony’s words cut into her.

  “Why are you saying this Anthony? You know I did what I did for you.”

  “Look at you, you look terrible. You are so skinny, your ass is gone, your skirt has turned around, and the back is in the front. Look at you, there is nothing to you.”

  “Why are you talking to me like that? I love you. What do you want me to do? I’ll do it.”

  “You know how it is, I just moved on,” he said not skipping a beat, not showing any emotion.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this Anthony.”

  “How was it supposed to be Page? You look like shit, go home!”

  “I need to talk to you,” she begged as she came near reaching for him, and he moved away.

  “I can’t because I’m expecting a call from Kesha.”

  “You jump when that bitch calls. You use me and now you don’t want me. I can make you want me again, give me a chance please?”

  “Not anymore, get out of here,” Anthony said as he turned his back on Page.

  Page reached into her purse and pulled a 22 automatic, she had that gun since she was a teen living in the park; she used it to protect herself. Page held her breadth, looked at Anthony, a tear fell, and she shot him in his back.

  He turned around and looking at her with the same intensity of feelings when they first met, and slumped to the floor. Page reached for Anthony and held him in her arms, as he lay dying, and then she put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

  They finally found their ultimate thrill, that of dying together. It was like Romeo and Juliet she thought, as she released her last satisfying breath.

  Chapter 22

  A Night at the Oscars—Two Years after Page’s Death

  The Oscar buzz made its rounds in Hollywood like gossip from a jealous lover—vicious, persistent, and undeniable. Phillip and Danny both nominated for best actor in a motion picture. No doubt, someone thought of a way to enliven this year’s ceremony.

  The irony of life was stampeding to the finish line.

  A tense day surrounded Phillip preparing for the awards. Dressing for opening nights was nothing new for Phillip, yet he appeared anxious. He invented the phrase cool, now he was sweating, an
d I knew why. He became nervous the day the media announced Danny’s nomination, with the usual reference to Phillip, me, and Sean. He took everything Danny wanted in life and the last thing he could take from him would be the Oscar.

  I looked in on Phillip shaving; he had a sticky note attached to the mirror, with something scrawled on it. There he stood swept away in his own world, practicing his speech.

  “I’m getting dressed honey and I suggest you start,” I said as I kissed him on his neck as I had done many times lately.

  Phillip’s loyalty to his designer had gone too far. He knew Phillip as a child and dressed him since then. However, I thought Phillip should go with one of the younger designers and change his style. His style was still too old Hollywood—the white shirt, bow tie, and classic tuxedo. Nevertheless, Phillip made his choice and was busy dressing. I on the other hand found this ritual tiresome. Dresses and jewelry from designers around the world sent for my inspection each time we went out anywhere. He was indeed old Hollywood. I have seen some of the younger actress dress in clothes I wouldn’t give to my worst enemy, and the dresses cost a small fortune.

  Nervousness retained for Phillip, caused me to realize that there was a possibility I would see Danny. I couldn’t get out of my head how he begged me not to leave him. I dropped him in the desert and I haven’t seen him since. Then I married Phillip and had children—Danny’s. The scene where I left Danny in Las Vegas, California, and Arizona, and all the scenes thereafter, kept my mind busy. Now the curtain was rising again and there could be drama of a different kind and scope.

  Two years since Page killed herself and her lover Anthony, two years since Robert died, two years since I last saw Danny!

  Danny gave a press conference to explain his connection to Page. He stated how sad and sorrowful he felt to discover that his good friend was so disturbed, where she had resorted to taking her life.

  Danny further emphasized that they were only friends. Some believed him, and the rest knew the whole sordid story. Reports connected Robert to me and me to Danny, where Danny stated that he wouldn’t answer questions concerning his son’s mother. I knew he wanted to protect me, yet people whispered and he pretended it never happened.