Carmen

by Nako

  He wasn’t just Mahogany’s husband and was sure that this nigga didn’t want to be referred to as just Nia’s nigga.

  “What up bra?” Porter always saw him at the games, but he normally sat courtside.

  East nodded his head and held out his fist for a pound.

  He was extremely quiet, and it made him wonder how he considered himself a rapper or whatever the heck he was doing at one time in his life.

  “Not much, came up here to get some food. I heard this where the good shit at,” East let him know.

  Porter smiled like a Cheshire cat, “Oh yeah, I love game days. I can have my people hook you up.”

  East was high as hell.

  “Do that for me, bra.”

  Porter was on it.

  They went back to his private suite and East said, “I gotta get one of these…”

  It was nice as shit. The room was way plusher than those tight ass seats on the wood.

  Each suite came with a full bathroom, two couches, a fully-stocked fridge, kitchen island with bar stools and three rows of seats to enjoy the game.

  “Can you smoke up here?”

  P told him, “If it’s dark, I will but not like this with all the lights on.”

  East loved it.

  “Yeah, I want one of these.”

  “It’s a write-off too, business entertainment,” he schooled him.

  The food arrived, covered as Mr. Bavay requested.

  “Thanks Stephanie.” He planned on tipping her next time because he didn’t have any cash on him.

  Eastland pulled out a fifty-dollar bill from a LV money clip and told P’s favorite waitress, “‘Preciate it, lady.”

  “Thanks!”

  “Mr. P let me know if you need anything else,” she told him before exiting the suite.

  They ate in silence while barely watching the cheerleaders move around the floor. It was seven minutes left in halftime.

  “Is Ramone going to go to the Hawks?” P asked since he knew that East was really close to him.

  He shook his head, “Man, hell nah.”

  Ramone was good where he was.

  “I don’t want him to go there anyway. We need him here,” he said.

  “Exactly, he feels like he carrying the team.”

  P agreed there, “It’s the coaches… they need to put Lewinski in the game.”

  East felt the same damn way, “Yo, I been saying that all season!”

  Finally, someone understood where he was coming from.

  Porter laughed, “I wanna sit all them old niggas down.”

  East shared with him, “After every game I tell my nephew, like son…you gotta speak up. Tell the coaches let me help y’all out just one time,” he shook his head.

  “I be seeing you, damn near on the court.”

  He started cracking up, “It’s hard keeping your cool down there. I like this up here. It’s too much extra attention on the wood,” he mumbled.

  Porter understood him completely, “That’s why I’m up here. I watch the game, slide out. Go home. Keep my face out the blogs,” he said.

  East needed to start doing the same.

  “You think these sold out? I’m ready to switch it up.”

  Porter told him, “Come up here anytime. I’m always alone.”

  He would definitely take him up on his offer.

  “Cool.”

  The game started back up and as always, Ramone brought the city another W.

  Porter clapped his hands excitedly, “Good game. Good game!”

  “I’m about to get out of here,” he said to East.

  “Me too. Thanks for looking out homie, I’m going to come up here more often and kick it with you.”

  Men becoming acquaintances were so awkward.

  Women were different. They connect easier.

  If this was two chicks that realized they had something in common, they would have exchanged contact information, took a selfie for the gram, made a billion posts and boomerangs and plans would’ve already been made for the next outing.

  Porter and East dapped each other up and went their separate ways.

  When Eastland made it home, he showered and rolled him up a few blunts and sat down in the front of the TV to watch Sports Center. The chef made dinner, which was perfect because after he smoked he would be hungry again. The food at the game was good as hell though, P wasn’t lying about that.

  His cell rung and judging from the time, he knew exactly who it was.

  “Yo, yo.”

  Nasir King greeted him the same in return, “Yo, Yo, what it do? The game was crazy tonight! What was my boy saying?” he asked, excitedly.

  East paused the television and puffed on his blunt.

  “You know him, chill as shit. Acting like it’s just another win. I’m like young blood you killed them out there tonight.”

  Nasir was so proud of the man he’d become.

  “Humble and hardworking, gotta love it.”

  He was right about that.

  “I think him and Sara are coming your way this week,” he let him know.

  Nasir loved his children and even being imprisoned hadn’t kept him from being an important person in their lives.

  “Word? Okay, good. These kids don’t tell me nothing these days. Guards just be like, King, you got a visitor.”

  East wished that his brother was home, only God knows.

  “How is everyone doing?”

  He filled him in, “I’m here by myself. Nia is in Italy. Edy is with her. Ethan is at school,” his son recently got into Howard University, so they rarely saw or heard from him. He swore college was lit…whatever the hell that meant.

  “Peace is real, dude.”

  Nas believed that East was lonely and low-key creeping back into depression, but he hadn’t said anything yet.

  “I’m good… went to the game tonight. Kicked it with P, you know him?”

  Nasir did.

  “Yeah, I do… how was it? He’s a cool cat.”

  East nodded his head although Nas couldn’t see him, “Yeah, may kick it with him again at the next one. I don’t know, we’ll see.”

  He wouldn’t put no pressure on it.

  Nas wanted East to get out more. Men had feelings too. Men were human. They dealt with shit…in private.

  “Live your life, you only get one,” he reminded him.

  They wrapped up the conversation and East went back to smoking and watching the Sports Center.

  His eyes kept landing on his pistol, and he knew that he was tripping.

  East wasn’t about to off himself like a sucker.

  He had a good life… right?

  He was rich…right?

  He had the baddest chick in the game…right?

  His kids were healthy…he was technically, good.

  East took a deep breath and turned the television off.

  Leaving the gun downstairs, he went to bed. Not sure where those thoughts crept up from out of nowhere, but he knew it wasn’t the first time and that’s what worried him.

  Fourteen

  If you believe in me, prove it – Big K.R.I.T

  Xscape once sung about not knowing whose arms to run into and Carmen belted out every line from the top of her lungs as she drove down the interstate, clenching the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles were turning an ashy white.

  It was raining hard as hell and with every drop that hit her window she sung louder and louder.

  Why did she think she could pop up at her son’s birthday acting like Mother of the Year? Who did she think she was?

  Not once did she weigh her options.

  She shouldn’t have been lurking Kniko’s page anyway but couldn’t help herself.

  Her baby really had an Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. He had a social life.

  He had friends.

  His grandmother let him get a bottom grill and so he made sure that in every picture he was looking like a lizard with the golds in his mouth.

 
Carmen got the details of his party from his social media, the caption said, “Pull up and fwm!”

  And hell…that’s what she did.

  She stopped in Saks Fifth Avenue and bought him every shoe that Gucci had in his size. She hoped that he still wore a nine and even if he didn’t, he could exchange them.

  She walked into his party at the skating rink with black signature bags. Carmen should’ve known that a few designer items wasn’t going to make a year’s absence with no communication go away.

  He looked at her as if she was a stranger.

  Kniko smacked his lips and walked off with his friends.

  When someone asked who she was...he mumbled under his breath. “Nobody….”

  He was pissed. He didn’t want to see his momma. He hated her.

  Carmen’s in-laws had the nerve to show their asses and today, they were in for a treat because she showed her ass right back.

  “It’s enough kids out here with no mother and y’all are literally turning mines against me.”

  Kniko’s aunt shook her head, “No, boo boo. You did that yourself.”

  Carmen was full of shit if you asked her. Always had been from the beginning.

  She was spoiled and made excuses for every mistake she made.

  She didn’t have any sense of responsibility or accountability.

  No one could tell her that she didn’t provoke her brother. Her brother was a saint. They were in complete shock that he’d shot her.

  No one wanted to admit that he wasn’t the same ever since he came home from the war.

  Post-traumatic stress syndrome was real, and her ex suffered from it deeply.

  More conversations needed to happen about black men and mental health.

  Carmen wanted to run up on this hoe, but she didn’t.

  She gave them her two cents, whether they wanted to see their wrongs was up to them. In her heart, Kniko wrote her off when she made it through all those surgeries. He was never on her side.

  Carmen watched him skate for a few minutes although she’d been asked by his family and an old fake ass Robocop to leave.

  She said, “I’M NOT BOTHERING NOBODY.”

  “That’s my son,” she began to sob.

  They were doing her wrong and it wasn’t fair.

  “Ma’am, I don’t want to call NYPD, please leave.”

  She went on and left and it killed her to do so.

  With nowhere else to go, she made her way to Nehemiah’s place. She parked her car illegally across the street. Not caring if she woke up the next morning and it was towed.

  She prayed that he was home and allowed her back in. Him blowing her up the other day gave her a tad bit of encouragement that it was okay to pop up.

  She needed him. Currently.

  He opened the door, appearing half-sleep.

  When he spoke and she heard his groggy voice she knew that he’d been knocked out.

  “You okay?” he questioned.

  In one hand was his gun and the other held onto the door.

  Carmen wiped her tears away, “No…”

  He was a patient guy. He waited on her to tell him what was wrong.

  “Today was my son’s birthday and I showed up and he turned…his back on me… like I was a stranger,” her bottom lip trembled as she gave him a short synopsis of her fucked up day.

  She cried, hysterically in the hallway of the building where he lived.

  He brought her into his place and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  With one of his legs, he slammed the door. Neezy tossed the gun on the couch and thankfully, it landed.

  “It didn’t go well? What did he say when he saw you?”

  She was still crying profusely.

  He told her to get it all out while leading her to the couch. He went into his room and turned the fan off. He grabbed a bottle of water from the floor and the remainder of the blunt he was smoking on before he fell asleep.

  “My mother loved me…I love my son…this not supposed to be my life right now,” she admitted to him.

  He hadn’t seen her in so long and even though she looked a lil’ throwed off he was still happy to see her.

  “It’s going to work out. He has to get a lil’ older and think for himself,” he promised her.

  She shook her head, “I’m supposed to wait until he’s grown? I can’t give up on him or fall back.”

  That wasn’t a good game plan.

  Neezy decided to be quiet. The conversation would be a difficult one no matter how it went.

  Kniko loved his father and he blamed his mother for his sudden departure out of his life. Unless his Pops magically got out of prison and convinced his son to talk to his mom he didn’t know what else to tell her.

  She leaned her head on his chest as her breathing finally returned to normal.

  “I’m sorry I just barged over here,” she finally said something about her sudden arrival.

  “No big deal…I missed you anyway.”

  Carmen forgot that she was mad at him for kicking her out.

  “I’ve missed you too,” she admitted.

  The young couple spent the rest of the night catching up on life and engaging in foreplay. Makeup sex was on a whole ‘nother level.

  Hours later, all he saw when he walked into the meeting was…

  NEHEMIAH VS. NEEZY.

  That was P’s brilliant idea and he hated it.

  “I was thinking something like, From The West Side of the tracks.”

  Porter shook his head, slowly.

  “This isn’t a basement production. We’re spending millions of dollars here. No. The fuck.”

  Tracks and the West side? Not happening.

  Neezy took a deep breath, “I’m not doing that versus shit. I don’t even want no one to know my real name.”

  It was reserved for his boo…

  The other night was mad wild. In a weird, toxic, not toxic, attached and unattached way, he was turned on seeing her in distress.

  The running eyeliner, titty about to pop out her dress, hair disheveled, the semi-musty smell coming from her underarms…it made him horny.

  He was so turned on.

  Taking care of her was a privilege.

  Nurturing her made him well.

  She needed him and he needed her.

  He had a way of making everything okay.

  Even if it was an illusion.

  Even if…he really didn’t know how it would come together. His words and energy made her feel that way.

  The reassurance.

  He was so good to her.

  From the way he held her and whispered words of affirmation in her ear.

  What nigga you knew reminded you of your worth while his hands made their way into your panties?

  He licked all over her face in such a nasty way that she was almost certain cream was pouring from her pot.

  “Let me wash you,” he asked her kindly.

  Well, told her but it came out as a request.

  She’d had a long day and the scent wasn’t a pleasant one. For him, to fully enjoy her since it had been so long, he wanted to wash her.

  Bathe her body.

  Cleanse her mind.

  Purify her soul.

  She got up and followed him into the bathroom. She sat on the toilet while he filled the tub and added a shake or two of Florida Water.

  It was used for spiritual cleansing and he knew she needed it. He felt her heaviness as soon as she ambled through the door.

  “Come baby…”

  He motioned for her to get in once it reached halfway. The water continued to fill as she stepped in and sat down.

  Kneeling near the tub, he picked up a black soap bar and brushed it against her skin.

  Taking his precious time with her…was a memory she would never forget.

  He bathed her all over and dried her as well.

  Once he got to her lady parts, he nudged her thighs away from each other so he could pat her there.

 
After he inhaled her essence, he stuck his tongue inside of her and kissed her clit passionately.

  The meatiness of that small piece of flesh was one of his favorite features on her caramel body.

  Carmen held onto her weight by grabbing the sink. Panting loudly as he feasted on her.

  She came.

  Her body shook as he lugged his lips from her pussy, smacking loudly in satisfaction at the meal he’d just devoured from the bottom up.

  “Wow,” that was all she could think to say.

  It casually fell from her lips again, “Wow.”

  He took his time eating her.

  Groaning.

  Moaning.

  Sucking.

  It was all too much and yet, she wanted more.

  Anything he would give her, she’ll gladly take. Including his dick deep down her throat.

  He didn’t have to imply that he wanted his dick sucked. She already knew.

  Carmen dropped to her knees and yanked his shorts and draws down to his knees.

  He was already hardened and glistening from droplets of pre-cum.

  Neezy watched her take him into her mouth. He could barely fit, yet, she was a big girl, she tried anyway.

  She blew through her nose as he slid his penis in and out of her mouth.

  Spit seeped out of the corners of her lips which excited him.

  He pulled his dick out and slapped it against her lips.

  “Make it wet baby,” he commanded.

  Carmen hawked up as much gob as she could muster and landed it right on his mushroom shaped head.

  Once it was sloppy and nasty looking enough, he gently eased back in her warm and hot mouth.

  Fucking her throat up with little to no remorse.

  He then slowed down and tilted his body wanting the sides of his dick to hit every corner of her entry.

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” he felt himself about to erupt and he wasn’t one to cum quickly. Yet, he was on the verge of cumming. It was Carmen. He blamed her for doing that shit exactly how he wanted. No instructions were needed. She knew what to do and when to do it.

  She took her hands and placed them near his waist, forcing him to fuck her mouth. Literally.

  Carmen wanted to return the favor. She was always disrespectful when he was eating her pussy. The only place she’d ever came was in his mouth.

  She was like a sweet lemonade that he often divulged in.

  His toes curled and his ass cheeks tightened as he nutted all in her mouth.