So imagine my surprise when she snorted rudely and said, “Is that all?”
Okay, so maybe she hadn’t heard me correctly. “Mama, he’s been lying to me!”
“So what? If anything you should feel flattered that a man wants to be with you so bad he pretends to be everything you are looking for in a man.”
I never thought of it that way.
Mama was smiling. “Chile, that man loves you. You’ll be a fool to let him go.”
The look she gave me told me she definitely didn’t understand where I was coming from and never would.
“Listen, Jeremy came to see me and he told me everything, but the only thing I heard was how much he loved you.”
I stared at her for a moment. “He came to see you?”
“Yes he did.” She nodded. “Nyree, see, what you don’t understand is you and Jeremy didn’t put this together. God did!”
God?
I felt myself sitting up straight on the chair.
“What you fail to realize is… this isn’t about what you want or what Jeremy wants, it’s what the Lord wants.”
I took a moment to let her words process and what she said made sense on so many levels, and yet all it did was make me feel even more confused than before.
“Mom I understand what you’re saying, but I just don’t know. Jeremy and I are so different. If he had been honest in the first place, he and I would have never gotten together.”
“Exactly! That’s how we know you didn’t put this together.” She smiled. “God has a plan for the both of you.”
I drew out a long breath. As much as I wanted to believe what my mother said was right, I just couldn’t help but think about the way Jeremy had gone off and embarrassed me in front of his family. Was that God’s plan as well?
“Mama, I just need some time to think about all this.”
What in the world did I say that for? The smile slipped away from her lips and she glared across the table as she sneered, “Then you should have thought about that before you announced your engagement at church.”
What? Was she serious? “Mama, people change their mind all the time.”
“Not my daughter.” She spat then pointed her finger over at me. “We told you to marry Charlie and you went off and married that fool Shane, and what he do? Dog you out and bring you down! Since then all you’ve done is make a mess of your life, and your father and I are tired of it. Jeremy is a good man and he loves you.”
“But love isn’t enough.” I was pleading for her to understand.
“Well, you should have thought about that.” She reached up and scratched her chin. You have no idea how many times I’ve been tempted to grab a pair of tweezers.
Mama shook her head. “Your father and I have shelled out thousands for this wedding on Saturday and I advise you to be there.”
I lost my composure. How dare she tell me what to do? “Mama, I’m not a child anymore! I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.”
She gave this loud obnoxious laugh that sent chills down my spine. “Like I said God is in control, not you, not me.”
I swallowed and didn’t know what else to say.
Her expression softened as she reached over and patted my hand. “Marriage isn’t easy. But you’ll learn that soon enough. It takes hard work on both your parts but Jeremy is a good man… a God-fearing man.”
“If he feared God then he wouldn’t lie to me all the time.”
She waved her hand. “Like I said before, he loves you and people in love do stupid stuff. I’m sure you’ve done a few in your lifetime.”
Sure, like dating a married man even though I knew he had a wife.
“You have a lot to learn but there will be plenty of time for that later. Right now you need to get your head on right and whatever you’ve been doing, needs to stop, now!”
I tried not to flinch. How was it she always knew?
“Call your fiancé and apologize,” she ordered, then patted my hand again. “We’ll see you on Saturday.” She started for the door then swung around and narrowed her gaze at me. “And if you embarrass your father and I…, I swear you’ll live to regret it.”
With that she left the conference room with me sitting in the chair for the longest time trying to figure out how I got myself in such a mess.
38
JANELLE
I woke up in Frankie’s bed, and his arms wrapped around me. I smiled and tried to remember what happened the night before and grinned. It was one of those rare moments when you can lie beside someone and not have sex and I enjoyed it more than I had imagined.
I stuck around long enough for him to make us breakfast, then I went into work. We had several dinner reservations tonight, including the mayor and a few of his colleagues. People can say what they want, but white folks like soul food just as much if not more than us. Once the mayor got a taste of my baked macaroni and ribs, he’s been sending one of his aides over to pick him up a special order.
I parked my BMW on the street and was walking along the sidewalk when I passed Frontline, Alphonso’s store. I stopped, and did a double-take. In the display window was a slamming jeans jumpsuit with a wide belt and a plunging neckline. As much as I hated Alphonso there was one thing he offered his customer, original pieces. Meaning, if I bought something from him I didn’t have to worry about some other bitch buying the same outfit at least not anywhere else in Columbia. And that outfit had my name written all over it.
I went inside the restaurant and walked to the rear where April was sitting at a round table working on the employee schedule for the next pay period. She was better at that than I was.
“April,” I called and I strutted over to her in white pencil skirt and a yellow halter top. On my feet were neon green sandals.
“Yeah?” she answered and didn’t even bother to look up. Anyone else I would have felt some type of way.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“What kinda favor?” April finally glanced my way with her brow pointed toward the ceiling like she was expecting me to ask her to do something crazy.
“I need you to go next door and buy that jean jumpsuit in the window.” I took a seat across from her.
“You mean from that tacky store next door?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“Okay, whatever,” I commented with a playful roll of the eyes that sent her giggling.
“Why don’t you go and get it yourself?” she teased.
“You know why.” I rose and headed back to my office.
Fifteen minutes later April appeared at my door. “Al says if you want it then you need to come and get it yourself.”
I gasped. “What? You told him it was for me?”
She had the nerve to try and look offended. “Really?”
I shrugged. “I’m just saying…”
“You know me better than that. Al said he saw you salivating when you walked by his window.”
I blew out along breath and muttered, “Bastard.”
“If you want it then you better go get it before someone else does.” With that she left me to figure out what I wanted to do.
I sat at my desk until lunch time thinking about how good that outfit would look on me before I finally sprung from my chair. “Fuck it.”
I strutted over to the shop and stepped inside. Damn! He really had upgraded the place. I tried to pretend I wasn’t impressed by how upscale the store actually looked but I was. It was nothing like that little hole-in-the-wall he had on Vandiver Road.
His skinny little sales associate came over to assist me. “Can I help you?”
I nodded. “I would like to see that jumpsuit in the window.” I turned around to point at what I was talking about and gasped. It was gone.
“Oh I’m sorry. I took that down a few minutes ago. Alphonso said it was no longer for sale. But I have a few other styles on the rack near the right of the store,” she said trying to ease the disappointment.
I glared at her and wit
hout another word I headed toward the back. There was only one outfit I was interested in and Al knew it.
His door was shut but I didn’t even bother knocking. But what I stepped inside and saw, I wasn’t prepared for. He was sitting behind his desk whacking his dick to a porno that was playing on a flat screen mounted in the corner.
“Oh shit!” he hollered, jumping up from his chair.
I shook my head with disgust. “By all, means don’t let me interrupt. I just came for my outfit.”
He stood there, smiling while I watched him put his small package away. Sex with him would have truly been a waste of time. “Jae, I was just thinking about you.”
“I bet you were,” I murmured and glanced up at the actress on the screen. If her ass was bigger she and I could have been twins.
Reaching for a remote he pressed the big red button and flicked off the television. “What can I do for you?”
I stared at him. “I want to buy that jumpsuit. You know it’s perfect for me.” I kept my voice soft and even.
Alphonso was quiet for a long time as he settled back onto his chair, smiling. “Of course it is. I was wondering how long it was gonna take you to come and ask about it.”
I leaned over the desk, making sure the tops of my breasts were on full display. “Well, I’m asking about it now. How much is it?”
There was that coy smile of his. “For you it’s free.” His eyes traveled all over my body. “Damn you got some sexy legs. What time do they open?”
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I wasn’t interested in his sexual favors, especially now that I’ve seen what he’s working with. “The last shot you had of getting any of this pussy was when you decided to move in next door to me. Now it’s strictly business.”
The smile slipped from his lips. “That’s too bad. I was hoping we could work something out.” He rose and walked around his desk with his jeans unzipped.
“The only thing we can do is negotiate a deal, otherwise you can find another buyer,” I said with enough attitude I hoped he knew I was serious.
He walked up to me, crowding my personal space, and had the nerve to run the pad of his thumb across my lip. “Give me a hundred dollars and the outfit’s yours.” Alphonso was staring at me with those big eyes of his and I got so caught up in looking at him that I didn’t hear those familiar footsteps until it was too late.
“I knew yo ass was fucking around!”
I jerked around to find Kaleb standing in the doorway, chest heaving, hands balled at his side. “Oh shit!” I’m sure things looked suspicious. “Kaleb it’s not what—”
“Don’t!” he barked as he stood in the doorframe glaring from me back to Alphonso. “Don’t lie! I can see what’s going on here. This is that same mothafucka who bumped into me at the restaurant!”
This didn’t look good at all. “Baby, it’s not what you think,” I said as calmly as I could manage, although I was starting to get nervous at the crazed look in his eye.
“Who’s this punk-ass nigga?” Kaleb said and was trying to get past me so he could step up to Alphonso. But I wasn’t having it.
“Nobody,” I said hoping I could diffuse the situation with a smile and the purr of my voice. But that fool wasn’t listening.
“You don’t want none of this,” Alphonso taunted and tossed his hands in the air. I jumped between them.
“I was just leaving. Kaleb let’s go back to the restaurant.” I moved toward the door hoping he would follow, but the second I stepped away from Alphonso, Kaleb lunged forward and landed a blow at the side of Alphonso’s head. I screamed and jumped in just as Al got Kaleb with a jab in the stomach.
“Stop it!” I cried and tried to pull Kaleb away.
“I’m tired of this dude disrespecting me!” Kaleb cried as I tried to drag him toward the door.
Alphonso had the nerve to start laughing. “I don’t know what the fuck you talking about. Nigga I was getting that pussy long before you caught your first whiff.”
“Excuse me?” I said, eyes wide with outrage, and just because of his slick-ass remark, I released Kaleb’s arm. He lunged forward and grabbed Alphonso in a head lock and the two landed onto his desk and then down with a loud crash onto the floor.
“Why you gonna sit there and tell that damn lie? I ain’t never let you smell my goodies and you know it!” I yelled and kicked Alphonso in the leg with my right heel for lying.
I heard running feet and his sales clerk came rushing into the office to see what was going on. Alphonso and Kaleb both jumped to their feet. And the two of us watched in horror. Kaleb was landing punches but then Alphonso got the advantage and punched Kaleb right in the jaw so hard, I practically felt the pain.
“You bitch-ass nigga! You need to stay the fuck away from my fiancée,” Kaleb hissed and rushed Alphonso so fast he rammed him hard into the wall knocking the television off the stand and onto the floor with a crash.
“You want me to call the police?” The sales clerk looked scared to death as we both jumped out the way.
I shook my head. “No, these two will get tired eventually,” I said. “Go on back to work,” I instructed then took a seat in the chair near the window and crossed my arms. The two of them were now rolling around on the floor, like idiots.
“Do you have any idea how stupid the two of you look?” I said.
They stopped, got up from the floor, then went back to throwing punches at the sides and stomachs. Idiots.
“Enough!” I screamed and got between the two of them. Kaleb had his arms around Alphonso’s neck. I pried his fingers loose. “Stop it I said!” I guess my screaming finally got their attention.
Kaleb backed up, breathing heavy. “Why you lie to me?”
I glared at him. “I wasn’t lying. There ain’t shit going on between me and this knucklehead except that he stole my space and opened this got-damn store!” It was then I noticed the jumpsuit folded on a shelf in the corner. I walked over, picked it up and examined it to make sure it looked as good as it had in the window then I reached inside my purse and tossed a hundred dollar bill on the desk. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” Alphonso was sitting in his chair, nose all bloody. Men can be so stupid.
I turned and stormed out of his office and had just stepped out onto the sidewalk when Kaleb came limping beside me.
“You don’t have anything to say?” he asked with this incredulous look on his face. Not to mention his lip was busted and he was holding his side. He looked more pathetic than ever.
“Nope, nothing. I was in the shop buying a jumpsuit and you just assumed there was more going on. I need a man in my life who trusts me.”
“Are you fucking serious?” he said like I needed to lie.
I stopped and swung around. “Kaleb, I thought you were supposed to be taking medication?”
“I am,” he replied defensively.
“Then the shit ain’t working. So until it does, stay the fuck away from me!” I snapped, then walked inside the restaurant.
39
NYREE
“Good morning, Mrs. Samuels.”
I rolled over with a smile on my lips. “Good morning.”
It’s been two weeks since we were married and I hadn’t regretted a moment of it. The church had been filled to capacity and my parents were quite pleased. None of the Samuels’s attended. Jeremy said it didn’t matter but I could tell it bothered him. Mama made sure to fill the pews on the groom’s side with church members. We had yet to have any of them call to congratulate us. But Jeremy said, as long and he and I made it to the church, then that’s all that mattered.
“You want some breakfast?” I asked even though I already knew he did. He loved my cooking.
“If you feel like cooking,” he said and kissed me once, twice then drew back and stared into my eyes. Have I mentioned how much I loved this man?
I felt his dick harden against my thigh and being the gentleman he is, he waited for some kinda hint that I wanted to make love. I fou
ght back a groan and reminded myself I needed to continue to be patient because the more confident he became the better our relationship would be in the end. I just needed to continue showing my love with words of affirmation.
With a moan I reached down and squeezed his erection and instantly Jeremy sprang into action. I smiled and allowed him to ease my nightgown off my body and closed my eyes. Lord forgive me, but as he kissed his way down to my kitty-kat, I started thinking about Timmy pounding his dick deep inside of me. There had been nothing gentle about our lovemaking at his apartment like the stuff Jeremy was doing right now. Hell no, it had been rough, hard, and so fucking arousing! Often I found my mind drifting off. I keep remembering how good the sex had always been between us and I have even been comparing the two men. Lord, I know it’s wrong on so many levels only I couldn’t help it no matter how much I tried. Sometimes a girl just wants to be fucked. But as Jeremy slipped his dick inside and started stroking, I moaned and reminded myself this was my husband and the Lord put this together, not us. Mama had been right. Jeremy was the man God had sent to me.
I locked my legs around him and started gyrating my hips and tightened my vaginal muscles so I could feel everything he was pounding me with. Don’t get me wrong. Sex was good with my husband. I just made the mistake of experiencing something far better.
That evening I had been drinking but I remembered Timmy fucking me all over his apartment—starting at the front door and working our way back to his kitchen counter.
“I’m about to come,” I heard Jeremy hiss, breaking into my thoughts. But it was the memories of Timmy pounding me in the shower with my legs up around his waist that had me crying out this morning.
“Yesss, yesss, baby!”
When Jeremy was finished, he rolled over looking quite proud of his performance. I felt so guilty I couldn’t even look him in the eyes—so I closed mine.
Talk a Good Game Page 26