by Twyla T
“FORTY-EIGHT HOURS! MY BABY IS GONNA DIE!” Bertha screamed.
“I can assure you that he will be well taken care of,” the doctor chimed in and said. Bertha was sitting there, half listening to them explain how everything works there. On the inside, she was feeling like she had failed her son. She told him that she would always protect him. Thoughts of Cameron started taking over her mind and she visualized herself choking the little bitch to death.
After the meeting ended, Bertha was told that she could visit with Malcolm after lunch. Not really liking that news, but not having a choice in the matter, she decided to leave and go get her something to eat. Deciding to eat at Denny’s so she could go in and pass some time, Bertha pulled in. Once she was seated and ordered her food, she noticed a woman sitting at a table in the back picking over food, looking like she had been crying. For some strange reason, Bertha wanted to reach out to the young woman. She figured that interacting with someone would help her to take her mind off of her own thoughts, so she got up and walked to the back.
“Hi, I’m Bertha. I know this is a bit out of the norm and I’m not even from around here, but it looks like you can use some company and honestly, I can too,” Bertha said. The lady was looking hesitant, but felt like she could really use some company, so she decided to accept her invitation by waving her hand towards one of the empty chairs. “I’m not even from here. I’m only in town for a couple of days to pick up my son and I’m sure you will never see me again,” Bertha said while laughing, trying to lighten the atmosphere. “So, what’s bothering you? It better not be a man because you’re far too pretty to be crying over a man,” Bertha continued.
“I wish it was that simple,” the lady replied while trying to sit up straight and gather herself.
“It can’t be worse than my life,” Bertha told her.
“Yeah right! If I ran down everything that I’m going through, it would take us until this time next week and I’m sure you don’t have the time, since you’re only here for a couple of days,” the lady replied.
“Well, I have a few hours and I’m all ears,” Bertha replied. The young lady took a deep breath and began telling Bertha about her problems, feeling good to vent to someone she figured she would never see again in life.
Chapter 7
Keith woke up the next morning and Phebe was already out of bed. He was sure she had an early morning hair appointment or something to do that required spending money. As he began to stir, he sniffed the air and started smelling smoke. Just as he was about to get up and see what was going on, the smoke detector started sounding and he jumped right up. He found Phebe in the kitchen trying to cook and started laughing. “What you tryna do, burn the house down? You know damn well you can’t cook,” he said while laughing. He started thinking about Cameron, once again, and how she made the best breakfast food. She cooked breakfast better than his mom, but he would never admit that to either of them.
Just as Keith was about to head to the car to get his phone, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that it was lying on the kitchen table. Looking in Phebe’s direction, he decided not to say anything and start another argument. For the moment anyway. He went and picked up his phone and scrolled through and got a little disappointed when he noticed that he didn’t have any missed calls or new text messages. From Cameron, in particular. Is she still ignoring me or did Phebe intercept, Keith thought to himself. Phebe was trying to discreetly look at him to check his body language, but of course, he noticed. “You been through my phone?” he finally asked her. Initially, he was going to drop it, but after noticing her body language, he couldn’t help but to address the situation.
“No, I just went and got it out of the car for you because I knew it was gonna be the first thing you did. I was only saving you some steps, so you should thank me,” she replied while rolling her eyes with her back facing him. Keith exhaled, bit his tongue, and got up and walked over to the stove and looked at the burnt bacon and shook his head. “At least I tried, nigga! You gonna give me some money for my hair and nails today?” Phebe asked.
“Damn, you done spent two stacks since the other day already?” he asked while becoming slightly agitated.
“I went shopping. Didn’t you like what I had on last night?” she replied while smiling and winking.
“But, you think me working a regular nine to five will keep your high maintenance ass straight?” he asked.
“I am not high maintenance; I just like nice things,” Phebe replied while rolling her eyes. Keith opened the refrigerator and grabbed the milk, then got a bowl out of the cabinet and his Frosted Flakes from on top of the fridge. “So, you not gon eat what I cooked?” Phebe asked.
“You ain’t gon even eat what you cooked girl! Stop playing,” Keith said. Phebe had to laugh at him because he was exactly right. She tried to surprise him by cooking, but she only wasted time because she burnt the bacon and the grands biscuits, and she didn’t even wanna look at the eggs. She started throwing all of the food in the garbage and decided to just grab her something later.
“Well, I’m about to shower and head on out. My appointment at the nail salon is in an hour and my hair appointment is right afterwards,” Phebe said while heading to the back.
When she walked down the hall, Keith picked up his phone again, wondering if Cameron had called or texted him back. I’ll try her one more time later on and that’s gon be it, shit, Keith thought to himself before he started making calls to check on his product. As soon as Phebe left, he was about to go ahead and make some moves. Time was starting to move pretty fast because it was almost ten o’clock already. His right hand man, Luke, was going to be out of pocket today, so Keith knew he really needed to gather himself and bust a move.
Phebe walked back to the front about thirty minutes later wearing a Bergdorf Goodman sundress and sandals. Keith could smell the Chanel Number 9 fragrance before she even made it into the kitchen. She had her face beat to perfection in just that small amount of time and Keith couldn’t help but to wonder just what else she had planned for the day. Knowing what she was walking towards him for, he told her to grab two hundred dollars from the top cabinet. She looked like she wanted to protest, but decided to just leave it alone because she really didn’t need the money anyway.
“Where you going after you finish with your hair and shit?” he asked.
“I’m gonna ride with Keisha to Tupelo. What do you have planned?” she asked.
“Just the usual. You know how it goes,” he replied while sending text messages to his workers.
“Well, I’ll see you later. I love you,” she said while walking towards the door.
“Love ya,” Keith replied. She almost turned around to confront him about that because she hated when he said love ya, instead of I love you, but she had a very eventful day planned and needed to get going. If Keith would have been paying attention, he would have noticed that her nails and toes were already done.
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About an hour later, Phebe was leaving the hair salon and heading to meet her ride. She was in and out because her beautician loved her and she tipped her very well to keep from having to wait all day and night before getting hooked up. Getting her nails and toes done yesterday had saved her about an extra hour or two today, and she needed all of the time she could get because she was ready to relax and have some fun. Hearing a text message alert coming from her phone, she grabbed it, read the message, and replied that she was almost there and to give her five minutes. She was really ten minutes away, but it was all good. It would be worth the wait.
Pulling into their meeting spot, she noticed the white Camaro that was waiting for her. She grabbed her Gucci bag and shades, checked her makeup one more time and noticed that everything was still intact, then got out of her car. After hitting the lock, she headed towards the ride that was waiting on her. “When did five minutes change to ten?” the voice asked. She didn’t even give the comment any thought; sh
e simply responded by leaning over and kissing those sexy lips that were calling her name.
“You know it’s always worth the wait,” she said when she finally pulled away from those lips that she loved oh so much.
“Aight, you gon start something you can’t finish.” Hearing those words made Phebe think back to how it all began.
We had been flirting around with each other for quite some time, but neither of us really wanted to cross that line because we knew it was wrong. We finally crossed the line one night after a party and there was no turning back. I had actually gone to the party with one of my home girls, but she saw her lil jump off and dipped on me with the quickness. I couldn’t blame her though; he was fine as hell. When I looked across the room and spotted a familiar face, I made my way over with my drink in my hand. He was actually drinking some pineapple Cîroc straight from the bottle, so I took the bottle and downed some myself.
“You better take it easy lil mama,” he said. I told him I got this and drank some more. I asked him to dance with me because I was starting to feel good and he said he wasn’t a dancer. I wasn’t gonna take no for an answer, so I started grinding on him.
“Hmm, looks like I have someone’s attention,” I said, referring to his hard dick that was pressed against my ass. After dancing to about three songs back to back, I noticed someone staring at me and taking pictures. It was Keith’s side bitch who acted like she was the main bitch, Cameron. I was about to head her way, but I was pulled back, so I let it slide for the moment.
As the party was coming to an end, I saw the bitch again and screamed at her. We had been in several altercations before, but there was always something or someone standing in the way. This night was no different. Security intervened before I could get her like I wanted to. Being thoroughly pissed off at Keith, I turned around and asked ol boy to take me home after texting Keisha, telling her that I was good. When I made it to his car, I was still pissed the fuck off. I initially thought about calling my friend, Mark, but I needed and wanted some sweet revenge and it was staring me directly in my face.
I leaned over and grabbed his dick and started massaging it through his pants. “Come on ma, you know we can’t do this,” he said.
“And why not? He’s fucking that bitch probably every single day and I’m tired of looking like a damn fool. Fuck him.”
He was trying his best to say no but when I pulled his dick out and deep throated him, all of his senses were gone because he was a sucker for some good head. I was in love with his dick instantly. Keith’s dick was big and good, but he had Keith by about one and a half inches. I couldn’t wait to feel him inside of me. I licked and sucked his dick so good and I had him gone when I swallowed every drop of his cum. We headed straight to the Marriott after he regained his composure. Once we made it up to room 5914, he took complete control and I let him have his way. We both stripped out of our clothes as we headed to the king size bed.
“So, you sure this is what you want?” he asked me. I simply leaned up and kissed him, letting him know that I was sure and I was ready. My pussy was throbbing and I wanted to feel him inside of me so bad. He had other plans first though. When I felt his tongue on my clit, I almost lost it. He was eating me so good; I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. As he entered me, I lost it. To say his dick game was A1 would be an understatement. He grabbed both of my hands and put them above my head, looked down into my eyes, and told me I better take the dick like a pro. With a hard thrust into me, I screamed out in pleasure and pain. After a few minutes, I was able to throw it back at him and he seemed impressed. When he flipped me over and started pounding me from the back, I screamed some more and the people next door started banging on the walls. We both laughed, but we didn’t let up. I lost count of how many times I came that night and there has been no turning back ever since.
“Now you already know that anything I start, I can most definitely finish, Luke,” Phebe said.
Chapter 8
Cameron didn’t start to get tired until she saw the Welcome to Mississippi sign about two hours ago. Her mom had slept the entire ride back, just as she figured she would. Mrs. Miller did wake up once and offer to drive, but Cameron told her she had it because she was still pumped from the energy drinks and snacks she had consumed. She was beyond elated when she finally turned onto Miller Avenue after almost seven hours of driving. She looked over at her mom, who was still sleeping peacefully, and wondered how in the world she stayed with her dad and raised his child as her own for all of these years. “It couldn’t be me. Hell nah,” she said to herself while shaking her head. Mrs. Miller felt the car slowing down and she started to stir in her seat. She looked up and noticed that it was almost seven o’clock and asked Cameron why she didn’t wake her up to help her drive. “Mom, you were tired and I had it; we’re here now anyway,” she replied, as she was just about to turn into the driveway.
“Whose car is that mom?” Cameron asked.
“I have no idea, but I hope we left all of the drama in North Carolina. It’s probably one of your dad’s buddies that flew in or something; I see it’s a rental,” her mom said, pointing to the Enterprise sticker on the window. After they got out and she grabbed her bags, Mrs. Miller asked Cameron if she had her key to their house and, with her hand, she showed her that she did. “Good because I don’t feel like digging down into my purse,” Mrs. Miller said. Cameron turned around before she made it to the front door because she wanted to grab her phone. Keith hadn’t replied back to her, but she didn’t want to miss his call or text if he decided to do so. She handed her mom her key and went back to the car.
Mrs. Miller walked in and smiled at the sight of her husband and grandbaby lying on the couch sleeping. The tv was on, which meant they had fallen asleep watching it and left it on all night once again. For the moment, she had forgotten all about being mad at Charles, but that would be short lived. The smell of coffee filled the air and she wondered who was in the kitchen, since Charles was still sleeping, when she heard someone shuffling with the pots under the cabinet since. Just as she was about to head that way, Mr. Miller started to stir and woke up.
“Hey honey, what are you doing back so soon? Is everything okay? I called you a couple of times, but you didn’t answer,” he said.
“It’s a very long story, but who is in kitchen, and whose car is that outside?” she asked while continuing to move towards the kitchen. Mr. Miller jumped up and told her to hold on a second with a look of shock on his face.
“I need to tell you something,” he said, but before he could say anything else, Crystal appeared in the doorway holding a cup of coffee.
“What in the hell are you doing here? Did you stay here?” Mrs. Miller asked while staring at her sister with rage in her eyes.
“Granny, she was crying and Paw Paw felt sorry for her, so he let her stay. We slept on the couch, so don’t be mad. Paw Paw made her sleep in the guest room,” Kingston said innocently, as he walked up and wrapped himself around his grandmother’s leg. Neither of them saw him wake up. They only heard when he started talking, as if he was trying to keep the peace.
“What’s going on in here? Why are you yelling mom?” Cameron asked, as soon as she walked in the house. When her eyes landed on Crystal, she asked, “Who are you?” Cameron was looking at Crystal, then scanned the room while looking into the faces of each of the three adults.
“That’s Crystal mom; she was sad and crying, so Paw Paw let her stay,” Kingston said.
“You’re Crystal? Crystal as in Charlotte’s mom that left her? Well, isn’t this just great. We drive all the way to North Carolina to find my husband with YOUR daughter, only to come back home to find YOU here with my dad. This family is some kinda fucked up. Did y’all plan this shit? Never mind, don’t answer. Come on Kingston, let’s go,” Cameron said.
“Cameron, watch your mouth young lady. And what happened in North Carolina?” Mr. Miller asked.
“No, what happened here is what I need to know?” M
rs. Miller asked while trying to walk with Kingston dragging on her leg.
“Crystal stopped by to talk to both of us, but, of course, you were gone. Wait, where the hell is Malcolm? Did you say you caught him at Charlotte’s house? Where is she? Are you okay, Cameron?” Mr. Miller stopped explaining himself and asked. He knew that nothing had happened between him and Crystal, so his concern shifted to his children. He wanted to choke Malcolm now more than ever, but the urge would become greater at a later date. The room fell silent with everyone having their own personal thoughts. The silence was broken when Kingston said he was hungry and asked for some cereal. No one moved or said anything for about forty-five more seconds until Cameron told him to go and fix himself a bowl.
“Crystal, did you come here because you knew I would be gone? Charles, what would make you think it was ok for her to stay here without me being home, considering your history together?” Mrs. Miller asked.
“Please let me explain, Carla. Just hear me out, please. I know this is a bit awkward, but nothing happened. Absolutely nothing at all,” Crystal said.
While Crystal was talking, Carla stood there and started thinking back to the last time she saw her sister. She had put hands on her after finding out she had slept with her husband and really could have killed her that day if Charles wouldn’t have pulled her off of her. Now, here she was again after all of these years, in her house and had been there overnight with her husband. ALONE! Mrs. Miller’s hands started sweating and she started shaking. All she could see was herself choking the life out of Crystal. Just as she began to move forward, she felt some sharp pains in her chest; she screamed out in horrific pain, then everything went black.
Chapter 9