The Reunion Show

by Brenda Hampton

  She was about to fuck herself. In no way did I like her tone. I had messed up, but she didn’t have to talk to me like I was some kind of idiot.

  “So, I messed up and Jaylin now has the flash drive. Don’t think you can talk to me any kind of way, ’cause the last time I checked, you walked out of here and left me to handle this. So, cool the hell out and let me get down like I do. Jaylin won’t say anything to Roc because Jaylin couldn’t care less about what happens. That’s what he said, so I’mma need for you to have a li’l faith in me workin’ this out.”

  I could hear her sigh over the phone. “I’m trying, but I don’t trust Jaylin not to say anything. My suggestion would be for you to hurry up and get this over with. The money is as good as ours if you can convince Roc to leave the house. The information that you have will send him packing. And please do not let him know about Desa Rae and me being sisters. I want to have the pleasure of telling her myself one day.”

  I only wished that I could be a fly on the wall when that day happened. Chase was scandalous. Roc hadn’t a clue about how badly he’d fucked up.

  “What we have will make him run out of here. I’m goin’ to move quickly on this, just not as quickly as you want me to. I don’t get off on hurtin’ people as easy as you do, but when money is involved, I gotta do what I must. The next time we talk, I’m confidence this will be over.”

  “Confident, Jada. The word is confident, and I hope you are.”

  “No, the word is confidence. I have a whole lot of confidence that I can beat yo ass, if you keep on tryin’ to tell me how to talk.”

  I hung up on that heifer. Some people didn’t know when to cut it off and keep their mouths shut. I guess Chase didn’t realize how much control I had in this matter. It was in her best interest to wise up.

  After I flushed the toilet and washed my hands, I felt the cell phone vibrating in my pocket. Chase was never supposed to call me, but I assumed she was upset with me for hanging up on her.

  “What is it, Chase?” I snapped.

  “Stop with the nonsense, Jada, and let’s put the focus back on getting this done. I apologize for raising my voice at you, for accusing you of telling Jaylin certain things, and for correcting your language. But please understand that I’m not happy about Jaylin having that flash drive.”

  “Like I said, I honestly do not think he cares about none of this. But I’m sure you can read him better than me.”

  “I would like to think so, but after last night, I’m not so sure. I think he’s plotting to do something. That’s why we need to hurry this up.”

  “Maybe he is plotting, but then again, maybe not. After he watches that video on the flash drive, he’ll be smilin’ his ass off. I watched some of what was on it, and I need to give you a Bad Bitch Award for hangin’ with Roc and for leavin’ Jaylin after he caressed and massaged all over you like that.”

  She laughed hysterically. I didn’t see anything funny—I was serious.

  “I couldn’t handle Roc on a good day. There is no secret that he beat me up pretty good. Had me bleeding and everything, but it was nice to have a man inside of me who could fill me up. As for Jaylin, he was exactly what the doctor ordered. Between us, I was a little disappointed about him rejecting me last night. But I assure you that it won’t go down like that the next time I see him. Besides, I’m not some airhead chick who thinks pussy is the key to winning his heart. There’s so much more to him, and I don’t mind taking a little extra time to figure him out.”

  “Well, if I were in your shoes, I would be head over heels for him and Roc. Earlier, he said I could get it, so I’m curious to see if he was tellin’ the truth.”

  Chase paused for several seconds, before she responded. “No offense, Jada, but I doubt that Roc is interested in you. He’s a big flirt who doesn’t follow through on what he says. Regardless, you don’t have time to pursue sex with him. Stay committed to our mission and save your pursuit of sex for another time.”

  Yet again, Chase rubbed me the wrong way. If anything, she sounded jealous. “I’m workin’ this on my time, not yours. Roc is waitin’ for me by the pool, and I have a feelin’ that somethin’ magical is goin’ to happen tonight. I’ll keep you informed on how the next several days play out. Bye.”

  I ended the call and turned off the phone so Chase wouldn’t interrupt me again. Unfortunately, though, when I opened the bathroom door, Roc stood on the other side. I wasn’t sure if he’d heard all of my conversation or not, but he questioned who I was talking to.

  “Sorry about that, but I me…medeate sometimes.” Suspicion was clearly in my eyes. “You should’ve knocked if you needed to use the bathroom.”

  “I was gettin’ ready to, but I didn’t because I heard you talkin’. You need to check yourself on that shit, ’cause you was soundin’ real coo-coo. And just so you know, ma, the way to pronounce the word is meditate, not medeate. Don’t get mad at me for correcting you, but what you said didn’t make sense.”

  Everybody correcting me all the time was embarrassing, but Roc had no business going there, especially with his thuggish self. “I get all of that, Roc, and I will try to do better. But since we’re on the subject of what do and don’t make sense, let me correct you on something. It makes no sense for you to run around here talking about love for yo woman, when you done cracked the code on another bitch’s pussy. Not only with yo dick, but also with yo mouth. If you can explain the logic to that, I’d like to hear it. If not, don’t worry about me, because my little problem with incorrectly pronouncing words seem minor compared to your problem. Wouldn’t you say so?”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “The way I see it, I don’t have a problem. But if you’re hemmed up in the bathroom medeatin’, I’d say you do. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to take a leak. Any follow up to this conversation will have to wait for another day or time.”

  I moved out of the way so he could go into the bathroom. Since he didn’t say that he’d overheard my conversation with Chase, I assumed he didn’t know what was up. Chase was right, though. I had to be more careful before this whole thing blew up in smoke.

  When Roc came out of the bathroom, we spent the next few hours hanging out by the pool. It was still kind of early when we hit the sack, and being that we were the only two left, I eased my way in the bed with him. The only thing I had on was a Betty Boop pajama top with no bra or panties. I snuggled close to his bare chest while reading a book to him. Ten minutes in, he interrupted me.

  “You know what’s strange,” he said, clearing his throat. “Desa Rae be readin’ to me like this all the time. I think that’s real sweet, ma. Continue.”

  Fuck Desa Rae. I was getting sick of hearing her name, but I pretended that what he said didn’t irritate me.

  “That’s nice, Roc. Now hursh so I can finish gettin’ to the good stuff.”

  I continued on. About fifteen minutes later, I could see his chest heaving in and out. His snores sounded like sizzling bacon frying in grease, and when I looked up, his eyes were closed. Well, I’ll be damned. Seeing him in action with Chase and her saying that he wouldn’t be interested in me made me curious about sex with him. There was something about him that was so sexy to me, and I loved his tattoos. His black skin was silky smooth; there was no question that he was my kind of man. Make no mistake about it, I wasn’t thirsty for no man like Sylvia and Chase. But any woman with her doggone head on straight wouldn’t let this opportunity go by.

  “Roc,” I whispered near his ear. That didn’t wake him, so I blew cool air from my breath, over his face. He winced, and with his eyes still closed, he shifted his head to the other side. I touched his smooth, coal-black waves and pressed my lips against his cheek, planting a kiss on it. This time, he squinted to look at me.

  “What’s up, ma?” he said in a groggy tone.

  “What’s up is I…I wondered if we could, you know, get a li’l freaky with each other?”

  Roc brushed me off. “Go to sleep, Jada. You know we ain
’t goin’ there.”

  I caught an attitude. “No, I don’t know anything except that you told me it was possible. I’m not gon’ sweat you, but what’s the big deal?”

  Now, he was wide awake and had sat up in the bed. Probably because he didn’t want me laying on him anymore.

  “The big deal is I have a woman. I don’t—”

  I put up one finger. “Wait a minute. You also had the same woman when your dick slipped and fell into Chase, didn’t you? Why does havin’ a woman matter now?”

  “Because I say it does, that’s why.”

  My face was all scrunched up. I was confused. “Really? You weren’t thinkin’ like that when you were blowin’ smoke into her pussy and suckin’ it, were you?”

  I could see the twisted look on Roc’s face; the truth must’ve upset him.

  “Let me say this to you with no intentional disrespect,” he said. “Who I decide to fuck ain’t got a damn thing to do with you. When you get done makin’ all that noise, no explanation as to why I don’t wish to fuck you will be given. If you don’t like what I’m sayin’ to you, there are five other beds in this room for you to snooze in. Move the fuck away from me, because I’m goin’ back to sleep.”

  Well damn! I guess his Doberman Pinscher-looking ass told me. I now understood what Chase meant about this motherfucker and his teasing tactics. He never should have touched my butt, invited me to play with his stuff, and then told me he’d be gentle when the time came for us to have sex. Not only was I disturbed by his rejection, but I was also embarrassed that I had put myself out there.

  At this point, all I could do was pick up my cracked face from the floor and get out of the bed.

  “Excuse me for bein’ a thorn in your side.” I got comfortable in another bed next to him. “I shouldn’t have overstepped my bounty, and you don’t have to tell me twice to stay in my lane. You were very pacific about us hooking up, but no need to worry about me no mo’.”

  “I hope not.” He turned and looked in the other direction. “And it’s boundaries, not bounty. And the Pacific is an ocean.”

  I bit down on my lip and tightened my fists. I was about to go over there and bust that mofo upside his head. No his ghetto-talking, thug-life ass didn’t try to correct me again, did he? I couldn’t give him a pass on this one, not tonight.

  “Listen up, street meat. You can go jump yo ass in the Pacific and nobody would miss you. Don’t pretend that you some kind of college professor up in here who can teach me a thing or two ’cause you can’t. Bounty, boundaries, or bow-tie pasta, you ain’t got no business tryin’ to correct me when you have proven yourself not to show or know love for the written word. I will stay in my place, so you can take that crooked, long dick of yours and shove it up your own ass. In other words, go fuck yourself, Roc. I hope it feels good to you, as I had hoped it would feel to me.”

  Roc refused to turn around and look at me. “Shut the fuck up and go to sleep. I ain’t even tryin’ to hear all of that noise you makin’ right now. Silly.”

  “Yo mama silly.”

  He didn’t respond. I was fuming inside and wanted to keep it going, but whatever. I had something for him, and I would definitely deliver it soon.

  Minutes later, all I could hear were Roc’s snores. It angered me that he was sleeping peacefully. I looked at the clock, seeing that it was only 10:45 PM. That was considered too early for me, so I yanked the covers aside and got out of bed. I went into the living room and used the cell phone to call my girlfriend, Portia.

  “Hello,” she said, sounding like she was smacking on something.

  “What you doin’?” I asked.

  “I’m on the phone with Tracy. What’s good with you?”

  “Nothin’. Just bored out of my mind, that’s all. Hell House is down to me and this ol’ borin’ fool, Roc. He’s sleepin’ right now. I was callin’ to see if you would come by to keep me company. You can bring Tracy too, even though I don’t care much for her.”

  “Are you serious?” Portia shouted. “I thought y’all couldn’t invite nobody to come over there?”

  “We’re not supposed to, but no matter what I do, Roc done already lost this challenge. He just don’t know it yet.”

  “Whatever you say. I would love to come over there. Give me the address again.”

  Even though Portia had dropped me off at Hell House, I gave her the address again. I told her to bring her swimming suit, in case she wanted to take a dip in the pool.

  After I got done talking to her, I called Kenny to see what he was up to. Our last conversation didn’t go so well, but since Roc had dissed me, I needed somebody to tell me something good.

  “Yo,” Kenny said, obviously not recognizing the number. “Who dis’?”

  “Jada. What you up to?”

  “Sittin’ here chillin’ with Lavel and Poorboy, smoking some Kush.”

  “Oooo, bring me some.”

  “Girl, please. Last thing I recall, you didn’t even want to tell me where you was at. You only done called me one time, and you know that shit ain’t cool.”

  “Boo, I’m over here tryin’ to handle a li’l somethin’ so I can win this paper. I couldn’t tell you everything upfront because this was supposed to be private.”

  “Yeah, whatever, Jada. You know damn well that you hemmed up somewhere with another nigga, so stop playin’.”

  “I just told you what was up. If you don’t believe me, you can come and see for yourself. Bring some of that weed with you, and you can bring Poorboy and Lavel with you too.”

  There was silence, but a few minutes later, he asked me for the address. I gave it to him and then hurried to change into my swimming suit. I wasn’t worried about Roc not one bit, but I did my best to keep quiet so he wouldn’t wake up and ruin the fun.

  Portia and Tracy arrived first. I looked through the window and saw them walking up the driveway. I hurried to open the door so they wouldn’t ring the doorbell and wake up Roc.

  “Welcome to my palace,” I bragged, as if Hell House was my residence.

  Portia’s and Tracy’s eyes lit up like Christmas trees as they stepped into the foyer checking out the scenery. They were dressed in one-piece swimming suits that were covered by fishnet robes. As big girls, none of us could do the bikini thing, but we still looked good. Well, Portia and I did. Tracy, on the other hand, looked casket-ready. She had on too much makeup, and the ruby-red lipstick was not working for her.

  “This place is off the hook,” Portia said loudly. Her voice was naturally loud, so I hurried her and Tracy to the backyard.

  “Girl, why you ain’t tell me you was over here doin’ it like this?” Portia asked.

  “I tried to tell you, but every time we talk, you always talkin’ about yourself.”

  Portia playfully shoved my shoulder, but she knew I wasn’t lying. We sat in the lounging chairs to relax. Portia and Tracy appeared to still be in awe. Tracy and I weren’t the best of friends, and the only reason we knew each other was because of our friendship with Portia. It didn’t surprise me that she hadn’t said much. She always hated on people who had something good going on.

  “Tracy, why are you so quiet?” I asked. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m good. I’m just surprised by how nice this house is. How did you say you got involved with this Hell House thingy?”

  “I didn’t say, and I’m not gon’ say because only certain, special people were invited to come here.”

  “Aw.” She slightly rolled her eyes and looked away at the crystal-blue water in the swimming pool.

  “So, girl,” Portia said, “tell me what’s been goin’ on in here.”

  I started to give Portia and Tracy the Hell House scoop. Their mouths hung wide open. They couldn’t believe what had gone down, and they were eager to meet Roc and Jaylin.

  “Go wake that nigga up,” Portia shouted. “I want to see his ass. If he that fine, he will be goin’ home with me tonight.”

  Portia needed to quit. If Roc was
n’t interested in a fine bitch like me, then he definitely wouldn’t go there with a trick like her. I was being nice when I said she looked nice, but truthfully…her lips were black from smoking too much and her blonde weave looked six months old. When this challenge was over, I was going to take my best friend to the beauty shop. Her hair was a hot-ass mess and she needed a complete makeover. She kept on talking about what she would do with Roc, and as she kept talking, my eyes kept shifting to the tracks that were showing in her hair. And was that a booger in her nose I saw? I hoped not. I didn’t have the guts to tell her something was hanging from her nose.

  The ringing doorbell knocked me out of my thoughts. I quickly jumped up from the table and told Portia and Tracy that I would be right back.

  By the time I had reached the door, I could see Kenny banging on it like he was the police. I pulled the door open, but calmed my attitude when he stepped forward to give me a hug.

  “What’s up, sweetness?” he said, squeezing me tighter.

  I couldn’t help but to smile, even though Kenny smelled like a gang of liquor mixed with weed. The smell tickled my nose, almost giving it a sting that burned. His friends had the same smell too. I hoped these doggone fools were stable.

  “Let me make one thing clear,” I warned. “Don’t y’all be comin’ up in here tryin’ to take nothin’ or tear nothin’ up. There are cameras all around here, and the owner will prozecute.”

  “Prosecute, girl,” Poorboy said with a frown on his face. “I know about that all too well, but just so you know, I don’t get off on petty things in people’s houses.”

  “Same here,” Lavel added and cuffed his dick. “Just point me in the direction of the party, so I can get on some of these hoes up in here.”

  “Ain’t nobody here but Portia and Tracy. I can assure you that they ain’t no hoes.”

  “Shiiiit,” Poorboy said. “If you talkin’ about yo friend, Portia, then she is a hoe. She waxed me and one of my boy’s dicks several times.”