by Tiana Laveen
“But you went and—”
“I can’t have you worried, none of that! You told me I’m a man’s man, I’m prideful, like to handle my shit on my own… then let me do that! Some of the same shit you’re complaining about right now are the reasons you’ve always been drawn to me in the first place, back in the ’80s and now!” She hung her head, deflated. “I am not going anywhere, Cassidy.” He lifted her chin, made her look him in the eye. “You’ve got me… you’re stuck with me and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back. “I’m not a kid anymore. I know how to handle things now. Do you hear me? Do you understand?” She nodded. “Say it.”
“Fine… I trust you.”
“Stop thinking the worst, okay? Like you said earlier, if I can survive ten years in the pen, make a way out of no way when I was released and not have a raging drug or alcohol problem, be in my right mind, then that says something, right?” She nodded again, swallowing hard. “I’m built to last… nothing is breaking us apart again. I won’t let it. It would take God Himself to rip us apart. That’s the only way I’d ever leave your side again. He’d have to come down from Heaven and split us up. Other than that, no weapon formed against us shall prosper.” He flexed his arm muscle, showing the bicep tattoo that quoted the same biblical scripture. “We’re perfectly blended, meant to be together like gumbo, just like Grandmama said…”
“So look, when you come back to California, I need to have another meeting with you, Tony. We’ve got to follow up on our last discussion.” Tony stood in Grandmama’s overgrown backyard under the blazing sun, paint splatter all over his jeans. He’d just cut the grass and the shit was already back with a vengeance.
“Yeah. There was plenty more to talk about… we were just getting started.” He swiped sweat away from his brow with the back of his free hand, the other holding the cell phone to his ear.
“I appreciated you talking to me before you and Cassidy headed back to Florida. That was supposed to be a thirty-minute meeting but before I knew it, the thing turned to three hours, lunch included, and two other associates of mine I had to bring in for backup. They wanted to see your portfolio, too.”
Tevin Campbell’s ‘I’m Ready’ played softly from the house while Derek spoke.
“Yeah… thanks for asking for my opinion, Derek. It was nice seeing your work and bouncing ideas off one another. It was interesting seeing what you all were working on, too.”
“Look, I’m going to be frank with you. I know it hasn’t been easy, man.”
“No, it hasn’t, but some of it was self-inflicted and I’ve moved on.”
“Tony, can I tell you something? Man to man?”
“Yeah.”
“You put your feelings in your work. You sit there calmly, smile and laugh, but your work has so much emotion and movement. That’s where you live, the real you, in your art…” Tony reflected on Derek’s words. The man was right. “I know you have a record. You were honest with us, explaining why no one had snatched you up yet, but what impresses me about you Tony is that you’ve never seen the inside of a school before—an art school, that is. I just have never seen someone with your skill level, man, who is completely self-taught.”
“I think it’s more common than some people realize, ya know? It’s just that the art stays in a basement or attic somewhere and no one sees it.”
“Yeah, there are a lot of naturally talented guys out here, but they’ve had training too and in this digital age, you have to have that experience, that education. What impresses me about you is that you took the initiative and did all of that yourself, and some of those programs are really expensive, tedious to master, and to this day even I struggle with some of the applications.” The guy chuckled. “Some have a lengthy learning curve but you managed. I’m just blown away by you, man. I’ve gotta get you on board. When you move up here, we have a lot to work on together.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“You’ve got an amazing eye.”
Tony entered the house and kissed Cassidy on the cheek as she went through some old checkbooks at the kitchen table, her head down and her eyes fixed on her task.
“Thanks, Derek. Because I’m so interested in what I do, so heavily involved, it doesn’t feel like a big sacrifice to me. It’s just something that needs to be done so I can reach the next level. I love illustration, portraits, all of it. Digital or physical art, it’s all special.”
“It’s your passion. I get it. It’s mine, too. Tony, hold on a sec. Someone is calling.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Tony went into the bathroom and turned on the water in the sink. He began to splash water on his face and freshen up. Then, he walked back to her old bedroom, making himself comfortable on that old mattress.
“Okay, I’m back. So Tony, here’s where my head is at. I want to have a phone conference with you next week. Is that cool?”
“Yeah. Just let me know in advance so I can carve out the time you need. Cass and I are still trying to get the house squared away, you know, stuff like that.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. Nice talking to you again, man. Tell Cassidy we’re going to have a party when she returns for good and you two take care.”
“You do the same, and thanks again, Derek. I appreciate all the advice you gave me and everything we’ve discussed.”
“Sure, of course. Don’t hesitate to call me, Tony. I’ll be talking to you soon. Peace.”
The call ended and Tony headed back out the room, needing something cold to drink.
“Baby!” he called out as he made his way to the kitchen, uncertain where she was. The checkbooks were gone and Cassidy had vacated her seat. “Cass, any of that lemonade left?” He opened the refrigerator, hopeful… wishing.
“Not much,” she called out.
The pitcher only had a drop or two left, and a small lemon wedge swam in the bottom, looking sad and limp. Damn.
Cassidy paraded into the kitchen butt naked. She pulled out a small basket full of lemons, a knife from a drawer, a cutting board, and began to slice the bright yellow fruit in halves.
“So, uh, you wanna fuck?” He tugged at his zipper, getting into the groove while Joe crooned ‘All The Things (Your Man Won’t Do).’ He slapped her ass, making that sexy peach of hers giggle.
“Tony!” She turned towards him with the knife in hand and he jumped back, laughing. “That’s right, you better move back.” She chuckled. “I just got out of the shower and dried off, then was sitting in Grandmama’s room on the phone. This naked situation isn’t for you; this is not on your behalf! I figured you wanted more lemonade… It’ll only take me a second.”
She returned her attention to the cutting board.
“All right, baby. I’m going to go use the bathroom. I’ll be back.”
She nodded and kept on cutting.
He watched her sway from side to side, that ass of hers looking good enough to eat. Sneaking up behind her, he dropped quietly to his knees. He shoved her thighs apart and flicked his tongue against her soft pussy in one fell swoop.
“You son of a bitch!” She chortled, almost losing her footing. The knife dropped from her hand onto the counter.
Gripping her hips, he buried his chin and mouth against her zone, working his tongue back and forth along her slit as he eased his zipper down and freed his dick. She gripped the edge of the nearby sink, riding his face and moaning as she neared sweet release. Slipping his middle finger within her, he fucked her fast and hard, his tongue never leaving her clit. “You piece of shit!” She laughed and shook. “Oh, shit!”
He kept going until she shivered, barely able to keep standing. He ran his tongue along her fat pussy lips, kissed them, then got to his feet. Bending her over the sink, he knocked her thighs apart with his knee and gripped the back of her neck, holding her in place.
“Mmmm!” He entered her with brute force. As he thrust hard within her, he could see her reflection in the faucet. Her
mouth hung open, but no sound came out as he beat that sweet cookie up, made it crumble, tore it apart. She held tight to the sink as he slammed into her body, jerking in and out of her, his lust and love for her overflowing. “This’ll teach you to tease me, parading around naked… with your little lemons! Shaking your sexy ass… You brought this on yourself, fruity Chiquita! Shame on you!”
She burst out laughing, then moaned when he took her away to someplace beautifully dirty. He reached over to caress her chin and jawbone and soon felt wetness against his fingertips as she reached for his hand and sucked.
“Harder… harder, baby!” she begged between tastes of his digit, so finger licking good. Snatching his hand away, he held her tight around the waist and fucked the shit out of her. “I love that big, long, fat dick deep inside me! Shit! I missed it so much!”
Squeezing her to him, he crisscrossed his arms around her chest, forcing her body to meet his plunges, and they yelled and groaned together.
“I told you this was my pussy! Say it!”
“It’s your pussy, baby!”
“Your first lover, the fuckin’ original pussy slayer is back! I’m the leader of the pack! I was the first one to ever taste you. I busted your cherry… the first to make you cum! I’m back, baby, and I’m never leavin’ this throne again!”
They came at the same time, violently shaking against one another, stealing each other’s breaths, then replenishing their lifeforce all at the same time. He could barely see straight as he panted hard and heavy, his mind spinning, sweat stinging his eyes. Covered in her essence, his mind a daze, his heart pounding out of control, he stumbled back from her, wishing he could just spend the rest of the day inside of her. Why couldn’t it all be so simple?
“Shit…” he slurred. “I love the shit outta you, Cass.”
She cast him a glance from over her shoulder, laughed lightly, and gingerly stood straight. Then, she grabbed the knife again and continued to cut the lemons as if it were all a dream they’d awakened from.
“Tony, go relax. The lemonade will be ready in about ten minutes. We’ll start dinner in about an hour.”
“Okay, thank you, baby… I’m going to the bathroom for real this time.” Once at the john, as he washed his hands with a bar of light pink soap that smelled like roses, he heard his cellphone ringing.
Oh, I must’ve left it in her bedroom from when I was talking to Derek…
He opened Cassidy’s door and saw his cellphone lying on the old mattress. Still ringing. He quickly answered once he checked out the caller-ID.
“Tony, it’s Orlando.”
“Hey, yeah… shit… what’s up?” He took a deep breath, still panting hard from his erotic romp.
“I got some information for you, dog.”
“Talk to me.”
“Look, dude’s name is Brian, but they call ’im Boss. Check this out—this wasn’t authorized, Tony. This shake down bullshit is something he drummed up with a few of his boys, but he is runnin’ the show. This is some sneaky shit he’s doing on the side. Nobody knows about it; it’s what he does.”
“So he’s run off with the mistress in the middle of the night and leaves behind the wife ’nd kids…”
“Basically. Here’s the killa though. Word on the street is that some are saying he is the one that offed Sly. Well, not him specifically, but he had him set up so he could take over.”
“You know what’s fucked up, Orlando? That actually did cross my mind when he was standing there talking to me… There was just something in his eyes; they were dead, man. He was talking and breathing, but he was already deceased, at least his heart and soul were. There was no connection to the present, the here and now. It was weird.”
“Well, you were onto something then because he’s crooked as fuck. You’ve got good instincts about people, just like me. This guy has no heart, man, no integrity. Back when I was in the game, there were still some rules you were supposed to play by. These young cats act like they don’t have no fuckin’ common sense. They get out here and get shot up, then snitch and take everybody down wit’ them. Aiight, let me get off my soap box. Anyway, hope that helps.”
“It does. Thank you.”
“You know it. Handle that mothafucka, one way or another.” Orlando ended the call.
Tony’s mind worked overtime, weaving the new information together to form a revised plan.
“Baaaby!” Cassidy called out. “Cold, fresh, home-squeezed lemonade is ready for you!”
“Okay, baby! Thank you! I’m coming.”
Boss, huh? Well Boss, you’ve definitely fucked with the wrong motherfucker this time… And you can take that to the bank.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Prodigal Son
“But that’s how he wanted it, Cassidy,” Derek explained. “We talked about this for a long time, and he wants to compete for Jerome’s offer. One of his top illustrators retired. I told Tony that Jerome said he wants him to come and join his paper, do all the political illustrations, help with the layouts, online publication and subscription, the works, all of that. This is a big time offer but Tony said no. He asked Jerome during the conference call if he had other candidates for the position, which he did. So Tony said that he wanted to fight for the position, get it fair and square, that’s a direct quote. He didn’t want shit handed to him.”
“I hear that about every other day around here.” She sighed. “He means it. How did this happen though? How did Jerome even know about my boyfriend?”
“Cass, I told Jerome during a routine conversation that you popped back into town after he asked how’d you been. I said you brought your boyfriend with you and the guy was a really good artist and left it at that. I had no idea that Jerome would call and ask about Tony later on. I was just as shocked as anyone else. He asked around and like me, he went online, looked at his stuff. The rest is history.”
Cassidy sat on Grandmama’s front porch in her pink sun dress, the old radio playing ‘California Love’ by 2Pac. Picking up her cinnamon stick from the napkin, she lightly chewed on it. The sun started to set. The air was scented with the aromas of grilled meat and something a little sweet and nutty, like the salty flesh of children playing in the sun, peanut butter and caramel, sweat and innocence all mingled together. She looked down at her feet, clad in sandals, and smiled, shaking her head.
“So Derek, what’s the next step?”
“Basically, all the candidates are to create a presentation and then send it to us later this morning. Jerome is not going to know whose presentation belongs to whom. They were all sent the same template to show their work and explain it and I’m acting as a middleman since he trusts my eye. I won’t even know who’s who because I am having Amber be directly emailed, then she is to send them all to me. It’s at least three other people trying their shot at this. The competition is pretty stiff.”
“Just how Tony likes it…” she mumbled.
“Huh?”
“Nothing… just thinking.”
“Is he there right now?” Derek asked.
“Nope. He is working on his presentation I guess. He left earlier today before I was even fully awake. Said he was going somewhere without distractions.” She took a deep breath and ran her fingers along her large afro puff, which she’d wrapped in a black and pink satin tie. “He painted the entire exterior and interior of Grandmama’s house. You should see it.” She smiled sadly as she watched a black ant march past. “Not one drip mark. Not one bad coat. He went from room to room—took him a long time ’cause he wanted to do a good job… said Grandmama was watchin’ so he better do it right. He kicked me out the house when he was going over my old room… told me I was gettin’ in the way.”
She chuckled then rubbed on her exposed toes and wiggled them.
“You love him a lot, Cass. I can tell just from how you speak about him.”
“I do. Nobody like him in the whole world.”
“You know, it’s good to see you happy during such an unhapp
y time.” She nodded. “You had a bad divorce. It took a toll on you. Then your grandmother passed… that’s a lot.”
“It was, but we all have no choice but to try and pull through. Tony is the love of my life. Sometimes he’s hard to love… difficult.” Her voice trailed as she dipped her mind into a daydream. “He’s an artist… artists can be complicated and yet, sometimes, he’s not problematic at all. Sometimes, he is clear like glass. I can see right through him. He’s like a missing limb… like a hand that’s gone.” She looked down at her fingers, then up into the sky. “I can function without him, but he makes me feel more put together, complete when he’s near, a part of my life. I’ve dated all kinds of men—men of means, men who had the world in the palms of their hands, Derek, but Tony’s soul… his spirit, I know it.
“He’s got something many don’t. Heart. It’s mine, he’s mine, I’m his. Our souls talk, they get along… they speak a language our minds don’t understand. It’s like they knew each other last century, and the century before that. I don’t believe in shit like that; well, I didn’t, until now. Yeah, now I’m thinking a little differently, questioning it because something is going on that I can’t quite explain.”
She paused and listened to the birds chirping.
“You think soulmates are all bullshit? I’m not so sure, Cass. There’s so much we don’t know, don’t understand.”
“My best friend Danica believes in that sort of stuff… always talkin’ ’bout astrology, soulmates, twin flames, things like that… but she might be on to something ’cause I know this man, Derek. I know things just by looking into his eyes. I know you like astrology, too. I saw that book in your office that time.” She heard the man laugh.
“I mean, I’m not deep into it, Cass, but it’s interesting. I was dating this woman who was into it. She gave that book to me so I read it. What’s his sign? If you don’t know, tell me his birthday and I’ll be able to figure it out.”
“Oh, I know it. He’s an Aries like you. You jerks like to argue too much, and you’re so damn demanding!” At this, Derek snorted, and she smiled. No doubt he was getting a kick out of this. “It’s true… but y’all are hardworking, no one can dispute that. You fight for what you believe in.”