Gumbo

by Tiana Laveen

  He readjusted the white towel around his waist and trimmed his nails. When he was done, he checked to see her eyes were still glued to the screen.

  “What’s that you’re watching?” he asked while combing his hair.

  “Only the best. ‘Count Duckula’!”

  “Oh, no!” He chuckled. “Worst cartoon ever!”

  “This is classic, Tony. You’re crazy!”

  He shook his head and grabbed the toothpaste. “Classically bad…”

  “‘The Snorks’ was on right before this. I used to like that, too.”

  “Just when I didn’t think it could get any worse, you go and surprise me. You never did have good taste in cartoons. Of course, I met you after you were pretty much over them but it was clear that you needed to get out of the house more.” He turned to look at her and got a kick out of her rolling her eyes. “Now, the best cartoons when we were kids were ‘Inspector Gadget’, ‘Thundercats’, and ‘He-Man.’”

  “BOOOO!” She laughed. “‘Muppet Babies’ and ‘The Smurfs’ will always get top billing.’”

  “Trash! They get top picks in the trash! Ahhh!”

  Cassidy was all over him, throwing playful slaps and fists. He hadn’t even heard her get up, let alone catch her open the bathroom door. He tumbled down onto the floor, taking her with him.

  “Let me up off this nasty floor!” Her eyes bucked as she laughed, seemingly shocked she’d somehow been outpowered.

  “I was hopin’ you’d want to get down and dirty.”

  She struggled against him, her eyes wild as if she was scared creepy crawlies were out to get her.

  “It’s a hotel bathroom. No tellin’ what kinda strange science fiction germs and experiments gone bad are growin’ in the crevices.”

  He swiftly picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and slammed her onto the bed. Tugging at his towel, he let it fall to the floor before getting on his knees and crawling towards her.

  “What are you doing?” She visibly swallowed as she sat up on her elbows.

  “Havin’ breakfast…”

  He looped his arms around her thighs and yanked her towards him. Pulling her zipper down, he helped her discard her jeans, then her panties. Soon, he was nose deep in her pussy, sucking and licking her lotus with quicksilver flicks of his eager tongue. She sighed and bucked against him, rocking her hips back and forth against his working mouth. Gripping a fistful of the sheets, she moaned loud and shuddered, filling his mouth like a goblet with her nectar.

  “Tony… shit…” Her eyes rolled up as he tongue-fucked her sweet pussy hole with playful licks, driving the last of her orgasm from her core out into the open. Her shaking moved from soft and airy to jerky and beautifully violent. While she raked her fingers roughly through his hair, he kept right on, stroking her clit, rotating his tongue in and out of her, swallowing each and every drop of her intoxicating pussy punch.

  “Are you good? You want to serve me seconds?” he asked as he layered her inner thighs with soft kisses and caresses.

  “You’re… you’re crazy,” She smiled, breathing hard and barely keeping her eyes open. “Come here and lie down next to me.”

  He crawled up her body, rubbing her breasts through her shirt before settling beside her. Her gaze traveled to his erection. He made his dick jump, causing her to laugh and shake her head.

  “You still do that, huh? Just silly.”

  She straddled him, and he sighed when she kissed his bare chest, running her fingers along the silky dark hairs all along his torso. While trailing her lips to his neck and then lavishing his face with soft kisses, she reached down with her hand to caress his cock. He kissed her, his tongue dancing in her mouth as he slid his dick in and out of her grasp. She snuck away from him, leaving him craving her … yearning for more.

  “I want some breakfast, too…” Her eyes hooded.

  His breath hitched when she wrapped both hands around his dick, situated her body between his thighs, and took the head of his love into her mouth. Back arching from the bed, he groaned from the heated warmth of her wet oral embrace. Without a moment to lose, he grabbed the back of her head, forcing her to taste more of him as he jerked in and out of her mouth, fucking it with severe need and great desire. He hungered for her with each thrust, and she greedily accepted every inch he jammed in her mouth. Loud, wet slurping mingled with the sounds of the cartoon on the television, the bed squeaking as he rose and fell against it.

  Needing more of her, he sat up, ushered her away from his throbbing dick, and quickly placed her on her back. Sheathing himself with a condom, he placed her legs around his neck, forcing her to bend and contort to his whims, twist about in the nastiest of ways…

  “Ohhh!” She shuddered when he plunged deep inside her. Her feet started to slip away from his shoulders, but he yanked her back into place.

  “Mmmm hmmm, no, no, no… Where do you think you’re goin’, baby? Stay where the fuck I put you. I want you to feel all of me…” Depositing a kiss on her lips, he started his sensual rhythm, getting off on the beautifully seductive faces she made as he had his way with her.

  “Oh, God…it feels so good!”

  She cried out as he went impossibly deeper, driving himself into the wet, soft confines of her essence. He went in slow circles, fast thrusts, slid and bumped against her clit, rotating the order, driving her insane. He loved when she came… She made the most beautiful noises coupled with the most twisted facial expressions.

  “I was your first and I’m going to be your fucking last, baby. The guys in between were just placeholders. It’s cool… it’s fine. They served their purpose.”

  “You’re not… you’re not jealous?” she teased, a sneaky smirk on her face.

  “Jealous of what? There’s no competition. I know nobody will love you more than me, fuck you better than me, make love to you better than me… We’ve got history, we have the present and future plans. You were mine then, your ass is mine now… and mine forever. Just stating a fact. Now memorize it. You’ll be tested later.”

  She screamed when she came again. He let go of her legs as she trembled against his body.

  Gently wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he brought her in for a soft kiss. After she settled, he lifted her shirt and undid her bra, freeing her gorgeous small breasts. Licking and sucking the rich chocolate twin pearls, he inhaled her lovely perfume as he fucked her slow and easy. Her wetness overwhelmed him, the sound of his girth sliding against her tight walls echoing around him.

  Building up momentum, he kept sucking her taut nipples, taking turns between the two as she ran her fingers through his hair. He increased his pace, feeling the urgency as sweat gathered around his brow. He soon felt himself falling into a trance, seeing flashes of the good times they’d had in the past, their youthful romance—a thing he could never shake, never be rid of, never release… fun times at the carnival, beach visits, the car rides going nowhere, just listening to music and talking.

  They’d made the best out of a fucked-up situation, rode that silver lining right into the sky then exploded like fireworks…

  “God! God! GOD!”

  Her thighs enveloping him in a hot, carnal cocoon, she shuddered beneath him, trembling so beautifully. He watched her… cherished her… loved her…

  “You have the most beautiful orgasms…”

  He kissed her hard, feeling her hands glide against his pumping hips. She stared into his eyes with the intensity of a python drunk on lust.

  “That’s it, baby… keep fucking me back… you know how to turn me on.”

  She rocked against him as if they were dancing, in tune, on beat… sweet harmony. Fisting the sheets beside her head, she made an incredible sight. He gnashed his teeth, straining, until he could no longer hold back.

  Pressing his forehead against her chest, he closed his eyes and quivered, emptying into the condom in hard, spasmodic spurts. When it was all over, he didn’t move a muscle. He just wanted to be there, inside of
her, lying still, memorizing the moment. They stayed that way until time started ticking again, spinning forward, then counterclockwise, then in reverse. Their gazes hooked. The left corner of her lips curled as she wrapped her arms around him.

  “So… we need to get back to the house eventually. I brought the cookbook so we could decide what to make for dinner tonight. We were going to go to the grocery store right after breakfast, then pull up the carpet in the dining room.”

  “We can still do all of that.” He shrugged. “Nothing has changed.”

  “But we’re late now. We agreed I’d come by and we’d have breakfast out this way, but you ended up taking advantage of the situation.” She chuckled.

  “Oh, don’t try to put this all on me.” He pointed to himself. “You didn’t seem to have such a horrible time. In fact, there were three times during this whole situation when I am certain you were quite happy!”

  “It was awful!” She giggled. “Worst time of my life!” He picked her up in his arms and squeezed her. Her soft, warm body felt like a dream in the flesh…

  “I love you, Cass.” She cocked her head to the side and caressed his face. “I know you may still question that, but I do. Just keep giving me time, letting us happen… I’m going to prove to you that you can trust me again. I’m going to show you that what happened was just an intermission, not a conclusion. You just watch.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Friends in High Places

  “Like this?” Cassidy turned to the right as the sweet breeze blew through her braid out. Her toes sank in the sand, feeling so good…

  “Yeah. Pose just like that… try not to move.” Tony said.

  The sun was starting to set. She faced the ocean while he moved his pencil like a maniac across the pad of paper. There were far less people on the beach now, but the sky was her audience. Strawberry and blueberry swirls occupied the spaces between the cottony clouds. Nervousness and excitement filled her as she modeled for the man. He’d suggested they get out of the house and here is where they ended up… the beach in which he’d promised to love her forever when they were kids.

  They’d been working tirelessly on Grandmama’s house and she’d spoken to a couple realtors. Things were moving along. They’d done so much to the place, and the day before they’d even pulled up the carpet, exposing decent hardwood floors.

  I don’t know how I could have done all of this without him.

  All of the pictures and knickknacks had been removed from the living and dining room. The kitchen was bare, with the exception of their cooking essentials, but there were still tasks ahead—more yardwork, the bedrooms weren’t finished, and there were some plumbing issues Tony believed he could address. It seemed that little house held secret doors and passageways filled with more and more stuff.

  Grandmama had been far more sentimental than Cassidy had ever imagined. She’d kept birthday cards, letters from family members and friends, and would write these little notes—like tiny journal entries—and stash them away in the oddest locations… wedged between the pages of the cookbook, her Bible, or an old, motheaten Encyclopedia.

  Last night, they’d celebrated their progress by cooking Grandmama’s Cola baked ham, coleslaw, and black-eyed peas. The meal had been absolutely delicious… almost as delicious as his kiss…

  “All right.” Tony stood from the sand, his bare feet fully immersed in it as he took a few steps towards her. “What do you think?” He turned the sketch her way.

  “Wow! Tony, this is amazing!” She took the sketch from his hands and looked it over with a discerning eye. She couldn’t believe it. “You’re even better than before, you know, when we were kids… and you were damn good then.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I can’t believe you whipped this up in twenty minutes. It looks like a black and white photograph. I can barely see any pencil lines. Tony, you have to do something with this talent. I know that you work, doing contract gigs, but you need to be truly compensated for this. I’m talking about a full-time situation because this is… this is plain incredible. This is not the sort of talent you see every day. It’s like some superpower of yours. This is God given and way advanced.” He smiled at her, enjoying the compliments no doubt, but she meant every word she said. “You’re so talented, baby… I mean, Tony.”

  He cocked his head to the side and shoved his hands in his beige cargo shorts’ pockets. “Why’d you do that?” he asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Overthink… correct yourself? You’re supposed to be like the ocean… ebbing and flowing. Instead, you’re resisting and fighting the current.” He pointed out at the sea. “You said you would try to let this happen. You’re fighting it. You just started this up. I understood your initial reservations, but I have done nothing but be open and candid with you, Cass. I have done everything you asked me to and will continue to do so. I’ll address all of your questions, anything you want to talk about, all right? You wanted me to get myself tested because you were concerned about my past promiscuity after I got out of prison… not a problem. I got all of that bloodwork done, came back clean. You even came with me and got tested, too. You didn’t want other women calling me that I used to fuck. Understood.

  “I had you sit right there while I let the two in question know that I was moving on and there was no need for them to contact me. I would have done that anyway, without you asking, and I haven’t spoken to any of the women I used to date since I’ve been here with you. I have not shied away from telling you anything you wanted to know, from the prison conversations, stuff about my mother and brother, Maize’s death and how I coped with it, Street, you and me, the drug dealing… not one detail have I skirted away from and trust me, you’ve been digging and digging hard. After we made love in my hotel room you’ve been resisting, and you’re scared. I don’t like this. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

  She got ready to protest, but then sighed, accepting that she was on the spot and he’d hit the nail on the head. There was no escape.

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “You want the truth?”

  “Yes. I always want the truth, Cassidy.”

  She handed the sketch back and he closed the book and placed it on the ground alongside his plastic bag containing his pencils and erasers.

  “I’m not afraid to fall in love with you, Tony.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I am afraid of being the only one who does…”

  He scratched his neck, took a deep breath, and looked around, as if needing a minute. “How can you honestly believe I don’t love you?”

  “I believe you do, but I’m afraid of loving you harder than you love me… that’s how I felt when you were in prison and shut me out. I don’t think you understand how traumatic that was for me, Tony. You are the type of person who, when something shitty happens, you bounce back. I pretend to bounce back but that’s not really the case. It’s not that I’m not strong, but I carry my scars differently than you carry yours, okay?”

  He closed the gap between them, took her in his arms, and kissed her forehead.

  “Cassidy, you brought up my art being like a super power for me. if I could give you a super power, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes. Then, all of this would be put to rest.” She sniffed and squeezed him tight. “You would see that there is no way this is a competition as to who is more loyal, more trustworthy, is loving harder, longer and stronger… you would see that this isn’t about battle wounds, scars, trauma caused by the actions of a hot-headed eighteen-year-old boy who loved a young lady, but was a product of his environment at the time—which caused him to do something without fully thinking of the consequences. I will keep apologizing until it is drilled into your skull, Angel Eyes… but I can’t take back what happened.”

  “I know that, Tony, and I know you’re genuinely sorry. But I told you, it’s not even about what you did anymore. It’s about you still not choosing me, after we were all that we had�
��”

  “I chose you, Cassidy. I chose you over myself.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes as he held onto her shoulders. “I chose you every damn day that I lay in that cell, with your picture under my pillow and cried myself to sleep at times… wondering what you were doing, how school was going, if you’d fallen in love with some other guy. I chose you each and every time I got ready to call you, but hung up… because our emotional tie was so strong, I knew that if I opened that door again, I’d never be able to let you go and then you’d be a prisoner, too. You didn’t deserve to serve time. I chose you when I sent Grandmama a letter, apologizing for hurting her grandbaby, begging her to please let me know if there was anything I could do for her or you, from afar. I let her know that even though I’d released you from the fucked-up situation I was in, I still loved you and always would. I chose you, Cassidy, when I read that you were getting married after seeing the big announcement in Ebony magazine, and your magazine, too, to some big-time sports reporter. I didn’t say shit, even when I was out of prison. I swallowed my pride and just wanted you to be happy.

  “I chose you, Cassidy, when I drew countless pictures of you over the years, poured my heart into those instead of disturbing your peace, interrupting your world. I chose you when you divorced and I didn’t come running after you right away. I wanted to be respectful enough to give you some space, some room to heal, and you know how impatient I am.”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks as he spoke.

  “I chose you when I brought my ass down here to a place that literally makes me want to scream. Some of the memories I have from here are so disturbing that the emotion makes me shake with anger. Yet, I came anyway to pay my respects and try to get my woman back… bow down to her… beg if I have to…” He broke their embrace, fell to his knees, and wrapped his arms around her legs. Cassidy stood there crying, the pain finally breaking free, the truth of his words finally sinking in, getting into her heart and making itself at home.

  “Tony… sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we never broke up? I understand what you’re saying now. I get it… you’re right. I do question it though…”