“It’ll give us an opportunity for us to get to know one another again and to see if what I think we could have is possible.”
Bella opened her mouth to say something but Ramsey stopped her and continued. “It’ll even give you an opportunity to decide if being a pastor is what you want to continue doing. Bella, I think we would be good together as a couple. I want to be your man.”
Bella looked at him. She admitted to herself that she wanted him to be her man, the day he walked in the church the first time.
“I need some time to think about this,” she told him.
“You need know I’ll be leaving in two weeks,” he told her, “and I would like to be able to see you freely without feeling like we’re sneaking around.”
Bella wanted to see him as well. She was ready to start being true to herself. Yes, she was living her life for God and she would continue to do so but that didn’t mean she had to be without companionship. Bella knew what she wanted to do. Why was she putting off her own happiness?
“If I decide to go with you, I couldn’t do it right away, there are things I have to do like, find someone to pastor the church and—”
Ramsey didn’t give Bella a chance to finish or talk her way out of the decision he knew she’d made. He stepped forward and kissed her with such a passion that all Bella could do was thank the Lord.
Bella thought about Harmony, the young lady she met at the center and how she already had a family. Yes, she wished she had started one many years ago, but life circumstances didn’t permit it. Perhaps it wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
HARMONY
Harmony and Shareef were sitting in the living room discussing Ny’em. That day he showed up unannounced had caused a lot of disruption in the household and they had not recovered from it yet.
He had not shown up again but he’d been calling, making threats to take Harmony to court if she didn’t allow him to see his son. His other kids’ mothers weren’t giving him any problem, so why was she, he wanted to know.
“Look, Shareef, I already know what Ny’em is not and what he has never been and I already know all that you are. I don’t need to be reminded of that. But what you’ve got to understand is he’s threatening to take me to court and I really don’t want to put Shacquille through that. So in order to avoid all that, I think we should give him a chance to be a part of Shacquille’s world until he messes up again. You know just like I know that he will.”
Shareef refused to respond to what he considered nonsense. He seriously doubted that Ny’em would take them to court, especially with what he had just found out.
“I need you to be with me on this,” Harmony told him.
When Shareef still didn’t respond, Harmony repeated, “I need you to be with me on this.”
“Him taking us to court is not going to happen,” Shareef told Harmony.
“How do you know that? You can’t say that for sure.”
“Yes, I can.”
“How? What do you know that I don’t know?”
“How about the fact that Ny’em is gay,” Shareef told her.
Harmony looked at him like he was crazy. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me. I know for a fact that Ny’em is gay.”
Harmony just looked at Shareef. She couldn’t believe he would make up some shit like that. “I see you’re not ready to talk about this, you just want to play games. I know you don’t want Ny’em in Shacquille’s life, but I really didn’t think you would stoop this low.”
Shareef started laughing and shook his head. He looked Harmony in the eyes and told her, “My word is my bond, I’m not lying to you. If there is one thing I wouldn’t want to be true, this is it, but it is and we have to figure out how we’re going to deal with it.”
“How do you know this to be true?” Harmony still didn’t believe him but was willing to hear him out.
“Do you remember the other night when I told you that I was meeting with some clients regarding our nightclub account?”
“Go on,” Harmony told him.
“Well, the account is that gay nightclub on the beach.”
Please do not sit here and tell me Ny’em was in there. This was not something Harmony was prepared to hear because if there was ever a true thug, it was Ny’em.
“Well, you know Perry, right?”
“Are you talking about Perry, the gay video store owner?”
“Yeah. Anyway, as I was leaving I saw him and Ny’em pull up.”
“At the gay club, you saw Ny’em pull up at the gay club?”
“Will you stop interrupting and let me finish telling you?”
“Go ahead.”
“I saw Ny’em pull up. At the time I didn’t know it was him, until he turned around and greeted Perry. The next thing you know, I saw Perry get into the car and off they go.”
“So what? That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Why are you defending him? You still have feelings for him or something?”
“No, but just because a person gets in a car with someone it doesn’t mean they’re fucking.”
“Well, this does.” Shareef waited to make sure he had Harmony’s full attention. “I waited until the next day and went by the video store. I asked Perry if that was Ny’em he was with last night. He told me yes. I asked him what was up and you know Perry tells all his business, he told me that Ny’em was his thug lover.”
Harmony felt like she was about to cry. This was some bullshit. “You’re lying.”
“You know I’m not lying. You also know that when a man has been on lockdown for years, there’s always a possibility that his ass may get turned out.”
Harmony stood up.
“Where are you going?” Shareef asked.
“I’m going to call him.”
Before Shareef could say a word there was a knock on the door. “Wait right here. I’m going to answer the door and then we’re going to talk about this some more.”
When Shareef opened the door, there were two policemen standing there. “Are you Shareef?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to speak with you about an assault that transpired last night.”
Shareef had no idea what they were talking about. “An assault?”
By this time Harmony was standing behind him. “What’s going on?”
The policemen ignored her and said to Shareef, “Where were you last night?”
“Why?”
“It’s been brought to our attention that you threatened Ny’em Howard.”
“Man, please, I don’t have time for this. Who would have told you some shit like that?”
One of the cops looked at his notes and said, “La—”
The other cop gave him a look that shut him up.
“Lala?” Harmony asked. “Are you saying that bitch set my man up?”
“We’re saying no such thing, miss.” They looked past Harmony and asked Shareef, “If he wouldn’t mind coming down to the precinct to answer some questions.”
“Yeah, I would mind.”
“If you have nothing to hide, you’ll come and understand that we can do this the hard way or the easy way.”
Shareef looked at Harmony and noticed that she was looking at him like, Did you do it?
“I’ll go, because I didn’t do a damned thing.”
Before he walked out the door, Shareef looked at Harmony and told her to call King.
Harmony watched them walk to the police car and wondered if she should call Elsie too, since she was an ex-attorney and her boss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ELSIE
Elsie had an idea she wasn’t sure if she should present to Savannah or not. This was some next-level shit. She knew she was reaching, but all Savannah could say was “no,” “hell no,” or “hell fucking no.”
In order to present this idea to Savannah she knew she was going to have to go out of her way and treat her to something special, have her real relaxed and o
pen to the idea.
“Maybe we’ll have a day of beauty together, a spa day.” Elsie picked up the phone and cradled it on her shoulder. As she started to dial Savannah’s number, she was startled by the buzz of her cell phone. She’d forgotten that she had put it on vibrate. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it said private.
Elsie couldn’t stand when people called and the word private showed up. She liked to know who she would be speaking with beforehand. I’ll retrieve the message after I speak with Savannah.
“Hello? Hello?” Savannah was saying on the other phone.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Elsie said into the phone. “Someone was calling on my cell.”
“You want to call me back?” Savannah asked.
“No, we can talk now. How’s your day going?”
“Busy as usual, I had a lot of running around to do and my husband needed me to see a client, to stand in for him.”
“It must be a challenge having two doctors in the family.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Sometimes we go days without seeing one another.”
Is that why you’re seeing me? “Listen,” Elsie asked, “are you busy tomorrow?”
“I have a few things I need to do early in the morning, why?”
“I wanted to spend some time together, maybe go to the spa.”
“Mmm,” Elsie could feel Savannah thinking. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Call me when you know what time you’re going to be free so I can set up an appointment.”
“I’ll call you in the morning if I’m home alone.”
This was the exact reason Elsie didn’t want to get involved with someone that not only had a man but was married to one. What was she thinking? What did she think would become of this? Why was she wasting her time? That’s what she was doing, wasting time, hers and Savannah’s.
Or was she? Maybe there’s a reason for everything. Maybe her plans for a baby might come through via Savannah. One never knows, one can only hope.
Elsie remembered that someone tried calling on the cell phone. She wondered if they had left a message. She snatched her phone off the nightstand and checked her voice mail.
“You have two new messages,” the recording told her
She pressed one to listen to both.
“Hi, Elsie, this is Summer, I was thinking about you. Please give me a call when you get a chance. I’d love to her from you.”
Elsie listened to the second message. It was Trey telling her he was back in town and wanted to take her out to dinner. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I know you’re not interested in me, but I enjoyed your company the last time I was here and would love to see you again.”
Elsie deleted both messages. She was surprised to hear from Summer, yet pleased. She had finally gotten up the nerve to call her but each time she did, no one answered and she would end up leaving a message.
As for Trey, she’d call him back and accept his dinner invitation. She enjoyed his company the last time they were together also and one never knew what could happen. If Savannah turned her suggestion down, Trey just might be the one to say yes.
Elsie knew she needed to get on with her day. That afternoon she had to attend a fund raiser given by Waves of Courage, another local nonprofit organization. She was slated as one of the speakers. She would be speaking about going back to community and doing your part. She had to pick up Harmony, who was going to introduce the speakers.
A few hours later, when they arrived at the fund raiser, Cora Lee, the Executive Director of Waves of Courage, greeted them and thanked them for taking part in the event.
“You’re welcome, I’m honored to be here.” Elsie glanced around and was surprised to see so many people. “You have a nice turnout.”
“I know, I’m so pleased and it helps that Queen Latifah will be making a brief appearance,” Cora responded.
“Brief being the operative word,” Elsie pointed out.
Elsie was the one who set it up, she used one of her old modeling contacts that knew someone that knew someone and that someone made a phone call who made it happen.
“Is there anything I can do for you right now?” Harmony asked Cora.
“Yes there is, when the queen arrives, show her to the office and make sure she’s comfortable, that she’s not bombarded by fans.”
Harmony wanted to hug Elsie for hooking up this opportunity. She also wanted to do something special for Elsie for being there when she and Shareef needed her.
Harmony smiled at them both and said, “You can count on me.”
Elsie, knowing Harmony had three kids, told her, “Why don’t you walk around, see it there’s anything here for your kids?”
The fund raiser was called “Kept Kids.” Various stores donated children’s clothing, tapes, games, and items that low-income families couldn’t normally afford. There would also be a number of speeches and a small concert by a local.
Elsie was proud to be a part of the event.
As she walked around, Elsie spotted Savannah’s husband. She made a quick decision to go over and say hello but she stopped in her tracks when she spotted a woman approach him and place her hand intimately on his lower back. The woman leaned over and whispered in his ear.
He laughed, hugged the lady’s waist, and pulled her into him.
“What the hell?”
“See someone you know?”
Elsie turned around to see Crystal standing behind her. “What’s up, girl?” Elsie asked.
Crystal followed Elsie’s gaze. “Isn’t that your friend’s husband?”
“It sure is.”
“Well, he sure looks mighty friendly with Ms. Thang.”
Elsie agreed. Before she could say anything more, she heard her name being called over the intercom.
“Go motivate the people,” Crystal joked.
“I sure will.”
Later that night, Savannah and Elsie sat up in the bed together. They had just finished watching a movie. Savannah had surprised Elsie by coming to her house.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to see one another until tomorrow,” Elsie said.
“Well, I was able to get away tonight.”
“Where’s your husband?” Elsie asked.
“He got called in.”
Elsie thought to herself, I bet he did.
“So what do you want to do?” Savannah asked her.
“You tell me,” Elsie said.
Savannah rolled over and pushed Elsie back on the bed. She unbuttoned the shirt Elsie wore, pushed the bra up, and ran her tongue between Elsie’s breasts.
Savannah then stuck her thighs between Elsie’s and starting grinding her knee into Elsie’s pussy.
“Why are you playing with me?” Elsie asked.
“I’m not playing,” Savannah told her.
Elsie pushed Savannah over and laid on top of her. “Let me please you.”
Before Savannah could respond, Elsie pushed up Savannah’s skirt and pushed her panties to the side. She placed her fingers on her pussy and was surprised to find it was already moist. She then dove two fingers inside her, causing Savannah to shiver and wail out loud.
This only made Elsie place two more fingers inside her and pump her faster. “This is what you did to me in the bathroom,” Elsie told her. “I’m returning the favor.”
Savannah couldn’t say a word, all she could do was rear back against Elsie’s hand. “Harder,” she told her, “harder.”
The next thing you know, Savannah was screaming out loud and holding onto Elsie’s hand while it was still inside her.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Savannah said.
“You can leave anytime you want to,” Elsie told her, knowing she wouldn’t.
Caressing Savannah’s face, Elsie said to her, “I’m thinking about having a baby.”
“What?”
Elsie, unable to hold in what she wanted to ask Savannah, said, “How would you feel about asking your husband to donate his sperm to me?
”
Savannah removed Elsie’s hand and sat up. “Are you crazy? There’s no way I could ask him something like that. You’re joking, right?”
Elsie could feel her throat tightening. This was some serious shit to her, it wasn’t a joke and Savannah was treating it as such. Elsie felt her body tremble and not from pleasure. “You think this shit is funny? You think this a joke?”
Startled by Elsie’s response, Savannah leaned forward and told her, “I apologize if I was out of line. Please forgive me.” She waited on Elsie’s response, when she didn’t receive any, she went on. “I know this is important to you, but look at what you’re asking me to do, ask my husband to father your child when we don’t even have any of our own.”
Elsie realized that maybe she wanted this so much that she was blinded by her need and was not being realistic.
“I need to be alone,” Elsie told Savannah. “I really need to be alone.” She didn’t wait on Savannah’s response, she got out of the bed and walked into her bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
Once she heard Savannah leave, Elsie came out the bathroom and sat on the edge of her bed. She knew she had no reason to be mad at Savannah. Shit, if the roles were reversed, she would have thought that Savannah was crazy to make such a request.
Maybe having a baby right now or even doing the artificial insemination wasn’t a good idea. It was driving her crazy. Elsie decided to put that whole idea to the side for now.
Elsie looked at the phone. She really needed someone to help her sort through this madness. She picked it up and dialed a number.
“Hello?” the voice on the other line said.
“Summer?”
“Elsie?”
“Summer, I need a friend.”
“I’m on my way.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
FAITH
Faith had finally been able to bring Raheem home from the hospital. Considering the circumstances, he appeared to be fairly upbeat and somehow different, but almost losing your life can do that to you.
Faith was in the bathroom, looking at her cell phone. She wanted to see Siddiq in the worst way. She’d rarely been able to speak with him and when she was able to, the calls were extremely short. Assisting Raheem through his rehabilitation was taking up more time than she thought it would.
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