by Xyla Turner
Rich met up with his friends, Will and Max at the ski rental. They were all excited about the trip and already had the keg in ice for later that night. Rich thought nothing could get better than this. Good friends, good fun, and a big ass mountain. Rich was the last once off of the lift out of his two friends. They stood, smiled at each other and started to go down the mountain. As Rich descended, he thought about his job, the upcoming race, his father, and the plan. He kept making sharp turns with each thought. Then his mind wandered to Lisa, what she thought of him, how she communicated that to him, how she publicly humiliated him again, and then his mind wandered to their kiss. He remembered the way her fingers slid into his hair. It was so simple, but it felt erotic to him. In the 32 degrees weather, Rich felt hot and he knew it was not his snowsuit. It was the same reason he could not sleep last night. As if being lifted from a daze, Rich jerked and realized that he was skiing too close to the edge. He tried to make another sharp turn, but his angle was wrong and he toppled over into the trees. A lot of branches broke as he kept tumbling through the snow, unable to get his bearings on the skis. That’s when he heard something crack and it was not a big branch, it was attached to him.
Rich knew this would not be good.
******
LISA:
Lisa paced around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to approach Danny with her ultimatum. It had been six years, so at this point, there was only one ultimatum. She wanted the wedding date, the time and location of the joyous event. There would be no more of this pushing the conversation off. She was 26 years old and he had known her since she was a child. They grew up together, played football and basketball together. He was 29 and the man still was not trying to settle down. She attempted to figure out where it went wrong. She used to love Danny when she was little because he always made a point to pick on her. Then as she grew out of her tomboy phase, Danny stopped talking to her. She did not know why, but he stopped showing her the attention he used to before. He had girlfriends that he seemed to talk about when only she was around or he would kiss them when she was walking down the street. So, she stopped liking Danny and started to secretly see different guys.
They had to remain a secret because Aaron and Josh Johnson would not have little Lisa dating. When she went to college, even though Drexel was a bus ride away, her dad insisted that she stay on campus and get away from the neighborhood. Lisa wanted that anyway because being under their microscope had severely limited her love life. In her junior year, she ran across Danny talking with one of her college professors. He was shocked to see her, hugged her and asked her out for old time’s sake. Lisa was a little weary about this because she had made him her nemesis since he was such a jerk to her the last she saw him.
She’d never forget how Danny was staring at her and kept touching her in public at the Starbucks. He said that he wanted to catch up with her again because he would be on campus more, with his research career taking off. Hanging out turned into making out, then Lisa called him out on the shit he pulled when they were teenagers. In essence, he said that he liked her when she was young, but could not really do anything about that, due to his loyalty to Josh and he was scared of her father. Then he said when she stopped hanging around them or playing ball with them, he knew she had changed. Therefore, he decided to cut her from his life the best way he knew how. She was not the little runt that followed them everywhere or stole the ball from him during a game. She was becoming a beautiful young woman and that scared him. He said he was too young to figure out what to do with that, but now as a grown man, he knew exactly what to do with her.
From that day forward, they were an item. Josh was cool with it, her dad was surprisingly very silent about his thoughts, which meant he did not approve. Josh called him out on this once, but dad only said, ‘I just don’t see it.’ He was never rude or cold towards Danny, but Dad was Dad. After she graduated from college and started teaching, Danny’s career took off, which had him traveling all around the country and spending weeks and months away. This was fine for Lisa then, but she did not feel like a priority to him, which meant that she probably wasn’t.
A knock came on the door. Lisa knew it was him because he had the same knock every time. 1,2,3,4 pause, 5,6. He was very meticulous, which was why he was an excellent researcher. She opened the door for him and they embraced for a kiss. He could tell there was something off because he pulled back and said, “What’s wrong?”
She tried to figure out the best way to approach him about this. Then, she did the standard Lisa move. Jump first then ask questions later, “Do you want to marry me?”
Danny sighed and exclaimed, “Not this again!”
She did not know his full feelings on the subject and that he never wanted to be married or tied down. He just wanted them to kick it as they had before. Marriage was for fools. All he had to do was look at his father, his uncles, and every other man that was in his life. They were all fools and he would never succumb to that torture. Lisa was not getting this and lately she kept bringing it up. At first, he would make a joke and they laughed it off, but now she was persistent. He wondered why this was so important to her right now since before she never cared.
“Yes, this again. I need to know,” she asserted.
“Lisa, when did you become this marriage-crazy woman?”
“First of all, I’m not marriage crazy and second of all,” she took a deep breath and yelled, “It’s been six years. We’ve known each other all our lives. You either want to or you don’t.”
“It’s not that simple!” he yelled back.
“Oh, it damn sure is. I need an answer today.” She seethed.
“What if I can’t give you an answer?”
“Then we need to call it quits,” she paused, “today!”
He took a step towards Lisa, leaned down in her face and said through his teeth. “You mean to tell me that you will throw away six years of our relationship, 26 years of us knowing each other because I won’t sign up for a ball and chain?”
She jerked back in shock. “Ball and Chain!” She shook her head, then screamed, “ball and fucking chain.” Lisa turned her lip up at him in disgust, “How old are you? 18? You are about to be 30 years old, still talking like a frat boy.”
“Better than you talking like an old maid,” he sniped back at her.
Lisa was done with this. The entire conversation, this entire relationship. It suddenly hit her, she was dating a boy who never wanted to be married and honestly, wanted to be free. As long as she let him travel the world and do what he wanted to do, he was fine, but try to tie him down and this is what she received back. She took a calming breath and said, “You know Danny, you are right. We want different things for our lives, so to go and pursue those things I think we should break up and set each other free.”
Danny looked at her with anger in his eyes, “I won’t lose you over this.”
The woman was mad, Danny thought. She was willing to throw away years for this shit.
She quickly responded, “Danny, that’s the thing. You already have. I can’t give you what you want. I’ve tried, but I can’t.”
“I just want you.”
“No, you want your freedom and I love you enough to give that to you. I want to settle down, be secure, and have roots. I want to start and I cannot do that with someone who doesn’t share that with me.”
“Lisa, think about what you are saying –”
“For once I am thinking. I don’t want this,” she motioned between the two of them, “I want more.”
Danny approached her again, but she moved. He frowned at her retreat and said, “I won’t lose you.”
“Please leave Danny.”
“I’m not going any-fucking-where until we talk this out.”
A loud knock had both Danny and Lisa looking to the front door. Lisa knew it was probably Josh, who had been waiting patiently for the right words of her asking him to leave and him refusing. She knew this was the case when Josh used his k
ey and came in after no one answered.
“Hey Danny, let’s go grab some beer,” Josh suggested in a jovial manner.
“Not a good time, Josh, in the middle of something with my girl,” Danny replied, looking at Lisa.
“Naw Danny,” Josh dropped the jovial tone, “let’s do it now.”
Danny looked at Josh, then looked back to Lisa. “We’re not through, Lisa,” he said as he walked towards the door.
“No, Danny, we are done. I’ll have Josh give you your things later.”
He was through the door, but she could hear the growl and then the crash. Josh had looked at Lisa before he closed the door, motioning for her to lock it behind him. Danny was his friend so he would take care of him. She had nothing to worry about, except the hole in her heart.
Chapter 5: Lisa’s 6 Months
6 Months later (LISA)
The first two months after Danny and Lisa broke up, he would show up to her apartment, and Josh would always escort him off. Then he showed up at her board meeting, which did not end well because one of the members threatened to call the cops when he refused to leave. Danny had become obsessed, calling, texting and emailing her. She blocked his numbers and emails. Then he resorted to using a block number to call or text. Lisa had enough, so she told her brother and father. They had a conversation with him that stopped all of that. She was not sure what was said, but she was sure it either led to bodily injury or the threat of it.
Three months after they broke up, one of Lisa’s students was arrested and the police had treated him brutally. To the point where she took pictures because of his bruises. Another student had a video on his phone where two cops, one white and one black, beat the boy up viciously. Lisa wrote a segment on this and, of course, the school system came up again, so she received her pink letter of a suspension from her job. She wrote about that as well, then the unions and school board were involved. At this point, Lisa did not care because her acceptance letters from Temple, University of Maryland, and Syracuse were all in and accounted for. She felt like since she was going down regardless and she planned to go with a bang.
She had not heard from Rich about anything; the board meeting, his meetings, so she assumed he flaked out, like the coward he was. His father was in the paper often enough, but there was nothing from Rich. She even emailed him to ask when he would be at the board meeting. She received no response until a couple of months later, she received a call from a woman, saying that Mr. Rich Wells requested her company to his home. The woman, whose name was Tilda, had a Jamaican accent, which seemed odd. When she arrived, she saw an older round black woman with a gray afro. She genuinely smiled when she greeted Lisa and begin to fill her in on Mr. Wells.
Apparently, Rich had broken his leg in a skiing accident a few months back, with a 3C open fracture, which usually takes 30 – 50 weeks to heal. Tilda was his home nurse aid and she said for the first two months, he refused to do any rehabilitation. He had broken up with his girlfriend, who was a ‘trot’, she called her. Then he drank himself into a stupor for about a month. She went on to say how for the past couple of months, he’s been extremely busy, working on his laptop and how Lisa’s name has come up many times. When news comes out concerning her or when any of her articles is published – Rich drops everything to listen or read them. I asked her how she came to be the aid, she said her father ordered her specifically.
Weird.
Lisa followed Tilda to Rich’s room and when she entered, she saw that he was lying on the bed. He had no shirt on, basketball shorts and a cast on his left leg from his mid-thigh to his ankle.
“L-lisa?” Rich smiled.
“What is it Rich?” she said with a little bark.
“Still giving me shit and busting my balls?” He replied.
“What do you want?”
“Just to say, I’m sorry for not doing what I told you I was going to do. I intend to do it, but I just can’t right now.” He pointed to his leg. “I’ve been stuck here for five months now with that woman.” He pointed towards his door but was smiling.
“She seems to like you,” Lisa quipped.
He muttered, “I don’t know why.”
“Me neither,” she muttered and rolled her eyes.
Lisa stayed by the door, still standing and watching him. Rich was also watching her and then he sat up. “Could there ever be a ‘you and me’?”
“What! Rich, what medication does she have you on?”
“I’m not on any meds. I can’t take them. No drugs. Did you know,” he shook his head, “speaking of drugs, that Grace was a coke-head? My good ole’ ex-girlfriend Grace? The perfect couple –“, he wandered off.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, you would be. You’re a sympathizer to a fault.”
“Don’t start that shit again,” she snapped.
“No, I’m not. I just understand now. What you were trying to tell me a while ago. I didn’t get it. I didn’t care.” He leaned up some more. “I see now.” He looked at her more intently.
“Calm down, it’s just the six months of being bound to that bed talking,” Lisa responded.
“No, it’s not. Come here, I have to show you something,” he said as he reached for his iPad.
Lisa walked over to his bed and stood. He patted the bed next to him and she shook her head. “I won’t bite, I promise.” He smiled.
She sat on the edge of the bed to see what he had on the iPad. There were a bunch of names with codes next to them.
“What is this?” Lisa asked.
“This is my 70%.” Rich switched to another page and said, “This is the other 50% of juveniles in Philadelphia who pleaded guilty because of public defenders like me.” He kept switching pages, “these are the other adults as well.”
Lisa’s mouth was wide open.
“I’ve gone back for five years and as I get more resources, I’ll go back further, but I see now. This isn’t about the plan, but my purpose.”
“What in the world are you talking about, Rich?” she said, feeling close to tears.
He looked up at her with bright eyes and said, “I get it now.” Just as quickly as he dropped the iPad on his lap, he grabbed her neck and brought her down to him.
She scrambled to get away from him, anticipating that he would be weak from his injury, but he was not. Rich gripped her arms and pulled her body to his, then he descended on her lips with a hard kiss. She gave in and stopped struggling. He tasted a little spicy, like ginger. Lisa opened her mouth and he took over completely. She started to suck on his tongue and he groaned. Lisa’s body was lying sideways on the bed and so was Rich. His hand grasped her ass to bring her closer to him, which allowed her to feel his erection. The man was long, thick and hard as steel. He lifted her skirt and put his hands in her panties until she opened her legs wide for him. She was lost in his web and too overwhelmed to stop him. She did not want to want him, nor did she think he would wish to be with her. Maybe it was a ‘bang a black woman’ experiment. At that moment, this was alright with her because she had never been with a white guy before. So, she’d have her own experiment.
Rich started to rub her wet little nub slowly at first, then he sped up, causing her to writhe more. She moaned and he bit her lip, causing pain and then arousal. He moved to nip her neck, muttering, “God you smell like chocolate.”
She moaned louder because he actually noticed. She always wore the cocoa butter lotion because it smelled like chocolate and not once did Danny ever comment about her scent. It was a stupid concept, she thought, but since she was the perfect complexion of milk chocolate, sweet and brown, she wanted to taste and smell like it as well. Lisa thought, who would have thought the white guy would smell it on her.
Lisa arched into him more so he could have better access to her breast. Then Rich plunged a finger into her tight, wet pussy causing her to moan loudly. “You like that,” he said to her neck.
She moaned her agreement.
“You’re so tigh
t and wet for me.” Rich stuck another finger in to join the first and she started to rock against them. “That’s right darling, take what’s yours.”
His words were too much for Lisa, she was about to cum all over his hands. She writhed until he stopped and said, “I want a taste.” His gaze met hers, when he commanded, “Sit on my face.”
Lisa was shocked and began to wonder who this man was and where did the old Rich go? Since they were experimenting, she pulled down her panties, swung her leg over his stomach, and climbed up so her drenched pussy was right over his mouth. Lisa grabbed the bars embedded in the headboard while Rich grabbed onto her thighs. At first, he slowly licked the lips of her pussy and she started to feel self-conscience. She thought she was probably the first black woman he slept with so it would be like tasting food he was not familiar with. In her discomfort with that reality, she snapped, “Look, if you are going to eat, then fucking eat it.”
That got her a slap on the ass, which she actually liked and moaned to show her approval. Rich wrapped his arms around her thighs and pulled her down on his face. Lisa knew she was not a small girl, so she tried to lean forward in order to not smother him. Rich had other thoughts because he ate her pussy for what felt like hours. She knew she was leaking juices all over his face. At one point, she started to rock on him and he pulled her down further to increase the friction. Lisa had never rode a man’s face that hard before, nor did a guy hold on to her like his life depended on it. Rich finally latched onto her taut little nub and inserted two fingers into her wet canal. The two simultaneous motions made her body tingle with awareness.
“I’m about to cum,” Lisa said breathlessly.
“Yes, let me taste that mocha, baby! Right in my mouth.”
His words did spur her on. She climaxed right in his mouth as he said and she damn near passed out from exhaustion. Rich lapped up every drop, then he lifted her, so she was straddling his bare chest. Lisa’s head was back with her eyes closed because she knew he would be looking at her.