Skeletons

by McFadden, Shimeka

  “I do take care of myself.” I said my head spinning.

  I felt Tabitha’s hand on my upper thigh as she whispered in my ear, “Baby, finger fucking yourself three times a week is not taking care of you.”

  I stood silently, trying to swallow whatever I was feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Here,” she said handing me a tiny blue pill that was in the shape of a Smurf, “Take this and really take care of yourself.” Tabitha popped a pill in her mouth.

  “What is this?” I asked looking at the pill.

  “This is your escape; this is your turn to take care of yourself for a chance.” She was so close to me that her breasts were on my arm and her lips were grazing my neck, “Just open your mouth and put it in it is not that difficult.” She whispered seductively.

  Tabitha had me in a trance as I did exactly what she told me to do.

  “Now sit back and enjoy the ride.” She whispered.

  Hearing the music in my ears was one thing, but now I could feel it in my body, coursing through my veins, my heart beating in sync with the music. Tabitha was no longer with me; she was back on the dance floor. I watched her move as if she and I were the only ones in the room with the music playing tunes that only we understood. As if in some sort of spell, I walked onto the dance floor and began dancing with Tabitha.

  We moved together as if we had fire inside of our bodies and needed one another to put it out. Tabitha snaked her body against mine like she was a pro, grinding her soft ass against my body and me grabbing her hips pulling her towards me. My hands wanted to touch Tabitha’s soft, moist skin; my lips wanting to suck hers as we moved to the beat of the music. I felt as if I were a King Cobra in a trance and my snake charmer was dancing in front of me and I never wanted to stop.

  13

  Jovanna

  It was after two in the morning when I felt Justin get up from the bed and walk into the living room to answer the phone.

  “Who was that baby?” I yawned when he got back into bed.

  “They had the wrong number.” He mumbled.

  Pulling the duvet back over my shoulder I asked, “Who did they ask for?”

  “He asked for Marquita; let’s get back to sleep.”

  My once drowsy eyes were wide open with my heart was pounding. Wide awake I got out of bed.

  “Where are you going?” Justin asked.

  “It’s freezing in here; I’m going to turn up the heat.” I fibbed as I shuffled out of the bedroom and into the living room. I grabbed the cordless phone and took it into the living room so that Justin wouldn’t hear me looking through the caller ID; I scrolled the last number dialed and to my amazement they hadn’t called anonymous, but from a St. Louis area code. Knowing that I couldn’t call the number right back, I wrote it on a post it note and slid it in my nightstand drawer.

  “I hope you didn’t turn the heat up on hell Jovanna, you know that I get hot.” Justin nagged.

  Disregarding him I tried to get some sleep before I called that number back in the morning.

  Closing my eyes, I could see his face just as if he were standing in front of me; his face was a face that I could never forget.

  Dancing at the club was something that I hated, but it afforded me a nice room that I rented, it put food in my once hungry stomach and the ability to keep my hair and nails done.

  Stripping for money started taking a toll on my mind. I no longer cared about men; in my eyes they were all lousy hounds who came to the club to escape their responsibilities at home. The way that they drooled over the dancers when we put our ass in their faces, was pathetic. How dumb of a woman to allow her man to come home smelling of alcohol and another woman’s pussy.

  I was finishing a dance to Prince’s ‘Do Me Baby’ with my legs spread and my pussy in some woman’s husband’s face as he flicked his rent money on top of me; when the song was over and I collected my money I looked to my left and there he was dressed in a red three piece suit with matching gators and fedora. His gold cuff links were the only sparkle in the dimly lit club while the smoke from the thick cigar perched between his lips billowed over his face.

  With the snap of his perfectly manicured fingers Chad could have had any girl in the Honey Lounge. We all knew who he was and what he was about because most of us wanted to be a part of it. Chad and his crew hardly ever stepped into the strip club unless it was in search of a new girl. I was mesmerized by his blue-black skin, dark curly hair and eyes as light as honey. The thick scar that ran from the left side of his neck to the right intrigued yet repulsed me. No one knew how he’d gotten the war wound, but I heard that the other guy didn’t walk away from that fight.

  Chad was one of the most well-known pimps in Memphis, everyone knew that to mess with him or his girls and his girls knew not to mess with his money. Part of his game was knowing the right things to say in order to get inside of a girls head; once he got inside of her head, he made her worship him by telling her about all of the money that he had, how powerful that he was and how she could be a big part of his world instead of a small part in her own and that was it, she was forever his; the younger the better. Chad didn’t deal with girls over the age of twenty-five, he preferred his girls young, because the older the girl the harder it she was to control. He picked girls who had nothing to run to, girls who were running from something and girls who didn’t have anyone coming to look for them.

  I was a seventeen-year-old who thought that I knew it all, but Chad erased all that I thought that I knew and replaced it with what he wanted me to know in return I became who he wanted me to be. He was my puppet master, when Chad pulled a string I did exactly as he commanded.

  Chad got me away from the Honey Lounge and into his apartment where he manipulated me into doing whatever it was that he wanted me to do. I was hated among the other girls because he chose me to be his “girlfriend”, but in this profession, a Queens’s reign is short-lived. Always trying to keep his love and interest, I made sure I did everything that he wanted. That included selling my body to strangers in cars, alleys and shitty hotels.

  I was one of six girls that Chad had working for him, and each one of us had a quota of at least three-hundred dollars a night and if we didn’t make his money we better stay out on the block until we did and he didn’t care if our feet bled, we’d better not call him for a ride or we’d be riding home in the trunk of his Cadillac. If any girl came up short, he made sure she knew better than to come up short again. Being one of Chad’s girls was not about the money because we never saw any of it once it went into Chad’s pocket; it was about the status.

  The next morning after Justin left for work, I went into the living room and dialed the number with my heart pounding in my chest.

  “Marquita, I knew that you would call.” The deep familiar voice with the thick Southern drawl said after the fifth ring. I could hear him take a drag out of the Don Diego cigar.

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “Have you become so high and mighty that you forgot where you came from?” He laughed.

  “What do you want?”

  “You know what I want; you took it from me years ago.”

  “I only took what was mine Chad.” I said as I paced the room biting my nails as I often did when I was nervous.

  He laughed deeply, “Yours? Bitch I made you!” he yelled into the phone.

  His yell made me jump almost dropping the phone, “I made you and don’t you ever forget that. If it weren’t for me you would still be dancing for dollars at the Honey Lounge!”

  I wanted to know how he got my number, but I already knew who told him and why. Tasha was Chad’s favorite girl before I came around and she was always jealous of the relationship that he and I had. She sold me out, she told him about my business and where I was based out of after running into her at the party. I knew that she could not be trusted, but what I didn’t know was why she was still dealing with Chad when she had a great career.

  I could hear Chad take another puf
f of the cigar; I could remember the strong smell of those Cuban cigars that he smoke and it made me want to vomit and I also remembered the large marks they’d leave after he burnt me on the leg with one.

  “Who was that who answered the phone last night Marquita? Tell me does he know who you really are? Does he know how much money you made on the corner of Fifth and Washington?”

  “Don’t worry about who that was who answered my phone. What do you want?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me hoe, I want what is due to me, I want my damn money!” he yelled then regained his composure, “You are lucky that I have let it go this long, but I’m trying to give you the benefit of doubt. I want you to doubt yourself the next time you fuck with a man like me. I want you to doubt your intelligence the next time the thought crosses your mind to steal money from a man like me.”

  “Fuck you!” I screamed, “You owed me that money, you stole so much more from me than I ever took from you!”

  “We had a deal Marquita; didn’t your momma ever warn you about making deals with the devil?”

  “You made me a scared, little girl and you wanted me to stay that way and now you are mad that I finally left.”

  “Don’t kid yourself hoe, you were just one of many and easily replaced.”

  “Like I said before, fuck you and don’t you ever call this phone again!”

  14

  Asteria

  With my arms folded across my chest as I stood in the doorway to my apartment refusing to let Keith inside.

  “Are you going to let me in?” he smiled.

  “Why should I?” I protested not moving an inch.

  Keith moved closer to me, the sexy scent of his cologne made me want to hold him close, “Because you know that you want some of this.”

  “I’m sorry I don’t do sloppy seconds.”

  “You’ve been doing seconds for a few years, so what has changed?”

  “Why did you take her out to lunch today Keith, do you realize how I felt?”

  “Well it’s not like you don’t know that I’m married Asteria.” He said.

  I rolled my eyes, “You never take me to lunch?”

  Keith kissed me softly on the cheek, “I will do better I promise. Come on, it’s cold out here.” He said pushing past me and into my home.

  “She gets lunch and I get late night dick; hardly seems fair Keith.” I said as I watched him play with our son. There are many nights when Keith came over and we ate dinner then took care of Latif together I imagined this as our life only to awaken to the harsh reality that my son and I are always on borrowed time. “I’m getting tired of living this way Keith.”

  Sighing heavily Keith looked at me with agitation in his eyes, “Asteria, I really don’t feel like this. Every time I come over here lately we have to have this same conversation.”

  “You are damn right we have the same conversation because I feel like you are using me!” I fussed.

  “Asteria, don’t yell in front of my son.” He warned.

  “No, your son is little Keith; Latif is only your son between the hours of 9 PM to whenever you feel like leaving. Admit it Keith, we come second!”

  Keith picked up Latif and took him upstairs to his bedroom, soon I could hear Keith giving him a bath and putting him to bed as I cleaned up the kitchen and living room. Keith came downstairs and pulled me close to him, but I pushed away in defiance.

  “Not tonight Keith, I’m not in the mood.”

  “What is your problem girl?”

  I didn’t answer him.

  “What more do you want from me Asteria? You went into this with your eyes wide open; I never forced you to start fucking me and you know this. You have been acting like a little kid lately with all of this pouting and carrying on. I don’t have time for this shit.”

  “Don’t tell me what you don’t have time for Keith!” I yelled, “I don’t have time for your constant bullshit.”

  “What constant bullshit?”

  “You telling me that you are going to leave Pandia and we are moving to Seattle to be together as a fucking family.” I muffed him in his forehead and walked away.

  Keith put his head down in his hands, “Asteria how many times do I have to tell you that it is not as cut and dry as you think.”

  “You go home tell her you no longer love her, pack up and leave; how hard is that Keith?”

  “That is my fucking wife!” he yelled trying to keep his composure, “She is your fucking sister! Don’t you have any heart?”

  “Really how soon I forget with the way you run up in here all hours of the night!”

  “So what are you saying Asteria?” Keith said.

  “Leave her.” I demanded.

  “In time.” He stood his ground.

  “You can’t come around here any longer until you leave her.”

  Keith looked at me in disbelief, “That is your sister Asteria.”

  “She knows that you are fucking someone else Keith; she is not stupid. I get tired of hearing her cry about how you didn’t come home this night or how you smelled like pussy the next and then see you come take her to lunch in my face like I’m not shit!”

  “That is my wife.”

  “You said that you loved me.”

  Keith took my hand, “I do love you, but I just can’t leave Pandia like that.”

  No matter how I tried to fight it, a single tear rolled down my face Keith stood and wiped it away and kissed me. “I do love you, but just give me some time.”

  “I’m tired of waiting.”

  Keith began kissing me on my neck, the softness of his lips made me weaken, “Me too.” Taking my hand Keith led me to the leather sectional sitting me down.

  He kissed my fingertips, taking my ring finger into his wet mouth while looking deeply into my eyes. He knew how to get what he wanted out of me. Unzipping his brown uniform pants and pulling out his long, thick dick Keith took my hand and wrapped it around his shaft.

  “Show me how much you love this.” He moaned Keith loved to have his dick touched and sucked.

  Smiling up at my dark stallion I licked my lips before playfully licking the head of his dick making it grow even harder.

  “I love your lips baby.” He moaned.

  Kissing his dick softly I said, “Do you love that daddy?”

  “Damn baby I do, I do, I do.” He moaned loudly.

  Taking my tongue I ran it up and down the length of his dick using my lips to suck the sides of it as my right hand squeezed it and my left hand cupped his balls giving them soft embraces. Keith’s body jerked as I wrapped my soft lips around his dick and work my mouth magic on him as my hands went to work on his shaft and balls. Keith’s moans grew louder and louder as he gripped my hair with both hands.

  “Damn. Baby. This. Shit. Feels. So. Fucking. Good.” Keith stammered as I tried to suck love from his dick, “Deep throat that dick baby.”

  I threw my head back and took the entire length of his dick inside of my mouth, swallowing as I tried to keep myself from gagging.

  “I am about to cum!” he growled.

  Trying to pull him out of my mouth, Keith gripped the back of my head as he released his seeds which filled my mouth with the thick, warm fluid.

  “Show me that you love me and swallow that shit.” He moaned as he came in my mouth.

  Wiping my mouth Keith said, “Your sister never lets me come in her mouth and that is why I love you.”

  I proved my love to him that night, but the true humiliation came after brushing my teeth, I walked downstairs to find Keith gone as if he were never there. He didn’t even say goodbye.

  15

  Santana

  Mike wore a satisfied smile Sunday when I came down for breakfast. He and the kids were already dressed for church.

  “Did you enjoy your night?” he asked giving me a wink.

  “I haven’t danced like that since college.” I said pouring myself a glass of orange juice. “My legs are sore.”

  Mike smacked
me on my butt, “Your legs don’t hurt from dancing all night.” He winked, “I was going to the gym, but you gave me quite the work out last night.”

  Trying to remember what exactly happened, I sat at the breakfast bar. I remembered taking the blue pill and dancing with Tabitha as if we were lovers. I recalled driving home in a daze, parking my van in the driveway and coming into the house to find Mike fast asleep in bed. Stripping down to nothing, I climbed on top of my husband surprising him, but not caring. I kissed him on the mouth with the passion that I had for him when we were in high school; my hands roaming on familiar territory as if I’d never traveled there before. Feeling Mike harden through his lounge pants I pulled them down and rode him as if he were a Bronco and I was trying to win the Lane Frost award. Mike called my name so loudly that I was sure he would wake the kids, but at that point I didn’t care.

  “Did you hear me?” He asked bringing me back to reality.

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “Are you going to make it to service this morning?”

  “Not today Mike, I’m tired. You and the kids can go without me; I need to rest before work tomorrow.”

  With the look of disappointment in his eyes Mike said, “Dad will be disappointed not to see you there, but I understand. Go ahead and get you some rest and we will see you this afternoon.” Mike kissed me on the cheek then he and the kids left for church.

  Climbing back into bed I checked my cell phone, I had one text message from Tabitha that read:

  You really know how to get loose! Hope you had as much fun as I did. C U Monday.

  Smiling I rolled over in bed and went back to sleep. It felt good to have the house to myself and not have to get dressed up only to sit in church for hours and pretend to be happy.

  The following day while I was at work, Tabitha knocked on my door with a bright smile on her face.

  “Good morning sunshine!” she smiled brightly.