Pandora's Box

by Coffee

  As G’Corey was stepping out into the hallway, Man Man tried to run past him again. G’Corey stuck his foot out and clipped him, causing him to fall and cry.

  Skittles didn’t know why he was boohooing but she called for it to stop immediately. “Boy, shut the fuck up with that sissified crying you doing before I come beat the shit out you.”

  G’Corey smirked. “Lil’ punk,” he said below his breath and stepped over him.

  He then walked into the kitchen where Skittles was making a late breakfast. When she saw him, she resumed her questions. “How long you tryna lay up here?”

  He hunched his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  “Okay, well, back to my other question. Where is your wife?”

  “I don’t know that either.”

  “Well, bitch, what the fuck do you know?”

  “I know why yo baby daddy beat the shit outta you. Your fuckin’ mouth don’t stop.“

  “And I know if you visit that bitch over at his place, you gon’ hafta him some time to answer the door because he doesn’t walk the same.” She referred to the time she shot him.

  “What the fuck ever. Put a fuckin’ filter on your mouth ‘cause I’m not in the mood to hear yo shit.”

  Skittles rolled her eyes. G’Corey wasn’t being himself. He was acting beyond sensitive, so she chilled a bit. “Alright, then. Tell me what you do know. What’s really goin’ on with you?”

  As much as Skittles got under his skin, she was as down as they came. So, he didn’t mind telling her the truth because as big as her mouth was, she’d never open it to gossip family business.

  “I fucked up, thinking with my dick, lying and shit. Minnie found out and bounced on me. Had my lil’ one and didn’t even tell me about it.”

  “Awww, she phony fa that.”

  “Somewhere in the middle of havin’ got ghost on me, she divorced me and was preparing to marry another thuggah. But you know I couldn’t let that shit play out like that, so I rocked his ass to sleep right there on the spot. Now, I’m tryna figure out how in the fuck do I make it all the way right with Minnie because I need her in my life. I ain’t even playin’.”

  “Damn! You fucked up. Real talk, the best thing you can do right now is give her time.”

  “How much time?”

  “Bitch, I mean G’Corey, do I look like Oprah? I don’t fuckin’ know all that. All I know is you can’t be clit riding. You gotta ease yo stupid ass back in there from a distance, though. You don’t want to come on too strong because I can tell you right now she ain’t feeling you.”

  “You think she gon’ forgive me if I give her a little time?”

  “Shit, all things are possible. Just start off small so she don’t forget why she fell for yo ugly ass in the first place. Then after that, gradually work your way in and make your efforts to win her back bigger. Make her forget the dummy shit you’ve done by making her fall in love again.”

  “That’s fuckin’ genius. Will you help me?”

  “Will I help you? What in the hell could I do?” She removed the last pancake from the skillet and removed the pan from the stove.

  “Get close enough to her to find out her routine and I’ll take it from there.”

  “Bitch, you sound crazy as a Betsy bug. How in the fuck am I supposed to do that?”

  “Leave that up to me.” G’Corey’s eyes glimmered with impossible hope as he smiled at his newly formed plan.

  Chapter 17

  Monday morning…

  The need to puke her guts outs kept Samiyah hovered over the toilet all throughout the night. Unable to lie down for a straight hour without having another violent urge, she ended up spending the night in her bathroom on the floor.

  It was 4 a.m. when she awoke yet again to another compulsion to upchuck. After the release of what felt like pure acid reflux, she continued to linger over the ceramic bowl as she began to cry.

  She bawled because she was in pain, both emotionally and physically. It had been a week since she spoke to Gerran and now her bud was sending her through changes.

  Grabbing some tissue from off of the spindle, she blew her nose. She threw it away in the waste basket, then slowly got up off of the floor. Samiyah then sat on her bed and thought about her family, specifically Gerran.

  There was no doubt in her mind he was taking it hard, she and the baby were his heart. Everything he did in the months leading up the I do’s and thereafter was testament of his love. In an effort to show how deep his love went for Lil’ Acacia, he did the one thing he vowed never to do.

  “You’re serious aren’t you?” Samiyah asked for the tenth time to be sure.

  “It was my idea, so I’m one hunnid about it.”

  “You’ve always been against them. Remember you said ‘my body is a temple?’ So I won’t know it ‘til I see it. After you, sir.” She smiled like a silly school girl while holding the door open to the tattoo shop.

  “And it is a temple. That’s why I wasn’t marking my body up with random shit but this is different. This is special.”

  After a few minutes of filling out the consent form and the artist sterilizing his station, Gerran removed his shirt and reclined into the chair.

  Samiyah leaned down to kiss him. “This is special to me, too.”

  After hours of jaw clenching pain, the buzz of the gun stopped and Gerran heard the specialist tell him, “Have a look, my man.”

  Gerran stood up and walked over to the full length mirror. The artist reached him the picture he used for comparison but he didn’t need the portrait of Lil’ Acacia held up against his chest to see that the 3D drawing of the chubby, red-skinned, curly-haired two month old was his daughter.

  “This is tight.” Gerran grinned as he dapped the man for doing such a spectacular job on the coloring and the script underneath her face, which read: Daddy’s Angel.

  Samiyah wiped the tears that were in constant stream after reflecting on that day.

  She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. The silence was driving her mad. She needed to talk to her husband but what had been the usual pattern of their tumultuous past was becoming her present again, him leaving her alone to figure things out by herself.

  Samiyah reached for her phone. It was 4:30 but she knew he’d hear his phone ringing, no matter the time.

  “Hello,” Elias answered with his eyes still clamped shut.

  “Eli, I need you.” Her voice was frail like she’d been injured.

  His eyes shot open, he sat up and cut his lamp on. “What’s wrong with Peaches?”

  “Oh, God, nothing’s wrong with her. She’s fine. Matter of fact, I get to bring her home in a couple hours. I was calling for myself.”

  Elias laid back against his pillow, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “What’s up, Yah?”

  “I’m sick and I’m stressed and I’m scared. I can’t figure Gerran out although I know exactly what’s wrong. He is still refusing my calls, so we have yet to talk.” The sigh she let out sounded like the burden of one who was carrying the world on their shoulders. “I couldn’t be pregnant at a worser time.”

  He wanted to save her. He knew he could make it alright if she wanted him to. “What do you need right now to feel better?”

  “I need to talk to Gerran.”

  “Well, that ain’t happenin’. So what else do you need? From me, just to be clear.”

  There was silence on her end. She knew what she wanted to say but she wasn’t sure if she should say it. Samiyah looked over at the empty side of her bed and then closed her eyes. The sound of her lightly gasping could be heard second before she answered in her small voice. “I need you.”

  The way she said those three words made the heart he promised to keep in the freezer, after the fall out with Blu a few days ago, melt.

  “Get here, then. You heard me? Get here.” The second get here sounded like he was desperate for her to come to him.

  Samiyah didn’t know if she was reading him right but his pull on her
was a hell of a lot stronger now that Gerran was pushing her away. “I’m on my way.”

  Samiyah got out of bed, headed over to her closet and pulled a pair of jeans and a blouse off of a hanger. She removed a box with a pair of hot pink Mary Jane pumps inside and placed those items into a bag.

  Moving over to her drawers, she pulled out some sweat pants to slide into and a bra to put on since she never wore one to sleep. She could never get comfortable with her breast being restrained by one.

  Stashing some fresh underwear in her bag, she then moved to her bathroom so she could brush her teeth.

  Since she had everything she needed for herself, she then proceeded down the hall to Lil’ Acacia’s room and picked up her pre-packed baby bag from off of her change table.

  “Bags? Keys? Phone? Purse? Check,” she said out loud as she headed downstairs to leave.

  Two quick snaps to the left undid both locks. And as she opened the door, she shouted and stumbled backwards when the unexpected happened.

  “Gerran!” She grabbed her chest as he stood there looking just as shocked as she was. Trepidation caused her breathing to become irregular for a moment, so she had to settle herself down before speaking again. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

  “And I wasn’t expecting to see you, leaving. Where you on your way to at four something in the morning?”

  The walls were closing in on me and I had to get out, is all.”

  “I didn’t ask you why. I asked you where?” He stepped all the way inside.

  “By my mama.” She regretted lying almost immediately but it wouldn’t have looked good for her to tell him actualities.

  “Ya mama, huh?” Gerran didn’t believe her.

  “You decided to come home and talk?”

  “Not at all.”

  She was puzzled at his reply. “So why did you come, then?”

  “It’s still my house and I have things I need to get out of my office. Look, I don’t want to talk to you, so chill out talking to me. And I don’t want to see you, either. That’s the whole reason why I came at this hour but you were on your creep shit, so here we are. But you can still carry the hell on to your mama’s,” he spoke distrustfully.

  She placed her phone and keys on the hall table and dropped her bags on the floor next to it.

  She followed him into his work space and stood by the door as he cut on the light and began looking through his things. “Gerran, there’s a whole lot I want to say but I need to start with I’m sorry.”

  Gerran didn’t acknowledge her. He just continued searching through his drawers until he found the UB drive he was looking for.

  “Are you listening to me?” Samiyah almost wanted to pout but she held it in.

  He turned around and jabbed at the wall, leaving a deep impression in the sheet rock.

  “I’m sorry, wall.” He eyeballed it for a second before facing Samiyah, who was trembling with nerves. “Look at that. It’s not fixed. Hell out my way!” He walked past her and through the house to leave.

  She followed behind him, pleading for an opportunity to explain herself but he wasn’t fazed. However, her ringing cell phone caught his attention as he walked past it. Curiously, he picked it up, looked at it and then slapped it into her hand.

  “Ya mama, huh?” He glared at her so hard she didn’t want to breathe.

  Gerran then walked out of the door, got into his car and whipped out of the driveway in a hurry.

  She felt weak seeing his car drive off to who knows where.

  Samiyah locked her door and then lifelessly walked over to her sofa and plopped down. She was tired of trying to figure out how to deal with the curve balls of life alone.

  Samiyah pressed the button on her phone to light up the display. She knew who called her but she couldn’t help but wish for a tiny miracle that it wasn’t so.

  The screen came to life. Missed call: Elias.

  She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Damn, E! Damn!”

  Samiyah debated for a few minutes on whether she was going to stay home and sulk or still go over to Eli’s.

  A few moments of contemplation gave her the verdict she was to carry out. It’s whatever. The damage is done and I still need him. With that, she grabbed everything she sat down and headed out of the door.

  Twenty minutes later…

  She parked in Eli’s driveway, only taking her purse as she stepped out.

  Elias was in his living room when he heard her pull up, so he was already standing on the porch waiting for her.

  She walked up on him. Her lips stretched into a frown as she stood directly in front of him, looking up at him as he was looking down at her. She then allowed her bag to slip from her hand and wrapped her arms around him and cried.

  He closed his eyes for a time and then reopened them as he shook his head slowly, resting his chin on top of her head, swallowing her within his embrace.

  He remembered this exact feeling, a spark that turned into a flame.

  Not long after, he pulled away. He had too. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”

  She grabbed her purse off of the ground and walked in with him.

  Samiyah took a seat on the sofa, removed her Uggs and coiled her feet under her as she lay her head on the arm of the couch. Eli sat across from her, where it was safe.

  The dim shine from the lamp sitting off in the corner provided the only light the otherwise dark house had. He saw just enough of Samiyah to see she was wiping tears away with the tips of her fingers.

  “Talk to me.”

  “From over there?” she asked.

  “Nah.” He stood up and took a seat at the other end from her. “Give me your feet.”

  She unfolded her legs and stretched out on her back, placing her legs in his lap. He removed her socks and began giving her a massage.

  “Talk to me,” he said again as he provided smooth strokes and firm grips around her foot.

  “Gerran came by the house right before I came here.”

  “So y’all talked?”

  “No indeed, no. He don’t have no words for me and you calling after I told him I was going by my mama’s only made him look at me more hatefully.” She placed her hand on her stomach. “What am I gonna do if he won’t let me make this right?”

  “Fuck him, ya heard me. And I ain’t just saying that shit because he’s a bitch, either.”

  “Come on, Eli, he’s still my husband.”

  “Yea, a husband who treats you like shit. Should he be pissed the fuck off? Hell yea but you carrying his baby and you still his fuckin’ wife. That should have at least earned you a decent conversation, at minimum. But like I said, he’s a bitch!” Eli held his position on it.

  “This is stressin’ me out. Why couldn’t he be like you in this situation?”

  “We were built in different elements, Yah. He was made for the sun and I was crafted for the rain. He can’t handle a storm. That’s why I’m here and he’s not.”

  His words were like a blow to the heart because each trial, whether it was her fault or Gerran’s, made them weaker. And now wasn’t the time for them to fold. They were grown and married with children.

  “I need something unbreakable, Eli, ‘cause I can’t keep going through this.”

  “Come here.” He motioned with the wave of his hand for her to come lay on his lap.

  She changed positions and cradled herself against his body, resting her head on his muscular thighs.

  In a consoling manner, he began rubbing the contour of her physique, down and then back up. Her body was firm in places and soft in others.

  There goes those sparks again, he thought.

  He bit down on his bottom lip as he shook off carnal impulses. Elias didn’t want to travel that road with her but it was torturous to deny them. As long as she was with Gerran and he was with Blu, he managed to bury intimate thoughts of them sea level deep. But now, those feelings were rising just like his dick had.

  It jumped once. It thumped twice. Samiyah felt
its movement. It was too big not too but she didn’t stir.

  Elias suddenly found his hand on her back under her T-shirt. His lips parted and his heavy breathing became noticeable.

  He then used the assistance of his other hand to unbuckle her bra.

  “Eli, what are you doing?”

  “Nothing that shouldn’t be happening.” He pushed one strap off of her shoulder and she sat up on command, so he could remove the other.

  Sliding his hand up her stomach, he felt her muscles tense as he pulled her brazier down, tossing it on the coffee table.

  His tongue rolled over his lips. He then stretched his neck to the left and then the right to loosen himself up.

  Then without hesitation, he grabbed the throw blanket that draped over his sofa and used it to cover Samiyah’s body. He needed her comfortable and he knew she couldn’t get there with a bra on.

  He leaned down toward her ear and whispered. “Get some sleep. We gotta get our daughter in a few hours.

  Tears dripped from her eyes as a smile creased her lips. He always knew what to do to make things better, even if it only lasted a little while. “Okay.”

  She nestled closer to him and fell asleep with ease under his comforting touch.

  Chapter 18

  One week later…

  Samiyah sat Indian style on the sofa as she breastfed Lil’ Acacia while eating peanut butter toast when her phone rang next to her.

  She stared at it for a second and started not to answer because she wasn’t in the best mood but she decided to pick up anyway and was glad she did when she heard who it was on the other end.

  “Hi Samiyah, this is Zanete. Am I reaching you at a good time?”

  Hell yea! Samiyah wanted to say. “Yes, absolutely. How can I help you?” She spoke professionally.

  “Well, I could have called Gee but I thought it was only right that I contacted you since you’re the reason Pleasure will be producing her entire album with you all. She wants to work with Gerran.” The artist’s manager relayed.