Roscoe watched as the two women got into Tori’s mother’s Chevy minivan and drove away. He went back into his lonely, quiet room and slammed the door. He had to restrain himself from not pulling the 9 mm silencer from under his T-shirt and killing them both. The chance of one day getting Tori back is what had kept them alive today.
Roscoe sat down on the sofa and let the tears fall from his confused eyes. He could tell that Tori was hiding something from him, and he was determined to find out what it was. As anger clouded his thoughts, he sat back in tears. He knew that no lies last forever, and once the truth was revealed, someone would pay severely for all of his pain.
* * *
“Hello, Gloria, what’s up?” Ricky said after checking the caller ID on his cell phone before he answered.
“You, as always. How’s my young black lover doing?” she asked.
“Tired as hell!” he answered.
“Don’t burn yourself out, lover boy; then I won’t have no more use for you,” Gloria joked.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t I always come through?” Ricky teased back.
“Yes, you do, and I have no complaints at all. How’s the little one?”
“She’s fine. I went to see her this morning before she and my parents went to church,” Ricky said, looking at pictures of him and Asia up on the mantle.
“Gloria, can I ask you a question?”
“You always do, and I always answer truthfully.”
“Why don’t you and your husband have any children?” Ricky asked seriously. The question had caught Gloria completely off guard. For a few seconds, the phone went silent. “Gloria, you all right?” Ricky asked in a concerned voice.
“Yes, Ricky, I’m fine. You just hit me upside my head with a boulder I never saw coming,” she replied.
“I’m sorry, Gloria. You don’t have to answer that question.”
“No, Ricky, I enjoy our open, honest relationship. That’s what makes you stand out from most men. You’re a genuine, compassionate man who truly cares about the people in his life. Anyway, I can’t have children, Ricky. I’ve had that unfortunate problem for a long time now. My husband and I tried everything, but nothing worked. Adoption was out of the question. If I was gonna take care of a child, I wanted it to be my own.”
“Well, what’s the problem?”
“It’s hard to explain, Ricky. Many years ago, I had an affair on my husband. We had only been married a year. I got pregnant by my lover and had an abortion without my husband knowing. After the abortion, something just didn’t feel right. My mind and body weren’t the same. Each time my husband got me pregnant, I lost the child. It felt like I was cursed by God. Not only did I commit adultery, I had murdered an unborn child, a child that never got a chance to cry, smile, to play, or live. On the day I had that abortion, I played the role of God. And by doing what I did, God cursed me to never have children and to never be satisfied with my marriage,” Gloria said in a sad voice.
“Gloria, I’m sorry to hear that,” Ricky said sincerely.
“Thank you, Ricky, and I believe you. Just never forget how blessed you are to have that beautiful daughter. If you ever find that true soul mate, do her right. Learn from the mistakes of others, and you will avoid many of your own.”
For the next hour, Ricky and Gloria talked on the phone. Many times they would confide in each other about their problems. From the outside, they were two people who had it all: looks, money, and success, but inside them, both had a plethora of unwanted confusion.
Later that night
After India had hung up the phone with her new best friend Asia, she walked back over to the living-room table to where Nancy was sitting.
“Who was that?” Nancy said, counting a stack of hundred-dollar bills in her hand.
“A friend,” India said, grabbing a handful of money from the table and helping her count.
“Male or female?”
“Does it matter, Mom?” India said in an irritated voice.
“Damn right it matters! You ain’t been with a man since you came home from college, and I’ve been wondering—” Nancy began.
“Well, you can stop your worrying, Mother. All a woman can do for me is my hair, nails, and toes!” India said in a serious voice.
Nancy smiled. “Just wanted to make sure.”
“I’ll be fine, Mother, and besides, I have my eyes set on someone, and I know that he feels the same way about me.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Nancy said, putting a rubber band around the money stack. India stood up from her chair. She looked straight into her mother’s eyes and said, “The problem is that there’s another woman coming between us. For some strange reason, she won’t let us have our happiness. One thing I learned about life is that when something is inevitable, there is nothing or no one that can stop it from happening,” India said, turning and walking away.
* * *
“Mr. Orgasm! Mr. Orgasm! Mr. Orgasm!”
“What’s my name?” Ricky asked as sweat covered his entire naked body.
“Mr. Orgasm! Mr. Orgasm!” Tori cried out as another orgasm exploded within her trembling body. Ricky was standing up in front of the mirror, with Tori’s arms around his neck, and her legs wrapped around his waist. “I’m coming again! ‘Mr. Orgasm,’ you’re making me come again!” Tori cried out in pure pleasure. “Oh my God!” she screamed slumping down on his shoulder.
Ricky walked over to the king-size bed and gently laid her down. Tori crawled up on a pillow and got in the fetal position. Her body was shaking and trembling with pleasure.
Ricky grabbed a dry towel from off the headboard and used it to wipe the wetness from between her thighs. He folded up the towel, then started wiping off her whole body. He used another towel to wipe himself. When he climbed in bed with her, he cuddled her in his arms. He looked into her face and saw the look of a satisfied woman. He pulled the silk sheet over them both. It felt good on their skin.
“What you do to my body should be outlawed,” she said softly.
“I can’t do it without your participation, pretty,” Ricky said, rubbing his hand across her body. “Rest up, pretty, ’cause we still got a long night ahead of us.”
“Okay, just let me sleep for about an hour.”
“How do you want to be awaken? With my warm tongue or my love stick?” he asked.
“Surprise me,” she said as she dozed off.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Only God Knows
Monday afternoon
“Did you enjoy the CD I put together for you?” Twist said, riding in the passenger seat of Ricky’s BMW.
“A classic!” Ricky said satisfied.
“Ricky, now I need a big favor from you,” Twist said.
“Name it and you got it,” Ricky replied, driving his car along the Schuylkill Expressway.
“I wanted to know if I could borrow your car Friday night.”
“What’s the special occasion?” Ricky asked, turning off the expressway and driving through the beautiful Fairmount Park.
“It’s Kim’s birthday. I just wanted to take her out to dinner and a movie in style.”
“Yeah, no problem. You can borrow it. I have a date with the winner of the ‘Mr. Orgasm’ Number One Fan Contest, but I’ll have a limo pick me up and my lucky date for a night out on the town,” Ricky said with a smile.
“A limo?”
“Yeah, India put it altogether. The limo and dinner at a five-star restaurant for me and the lucky contest winner.”
“What does the girl look like?” Twist asked.
“It’s a blind date. I have to wait and see.”
“Man, I know India don’t like that. She can’t hardly watch you give out yellow roses after you perform,” Twist said.
“Well, the contest wasn’t my idea. It was Nancy’s. I think there were some other motives behind it,” Ricky said seriously.
“Why do you think that?” Twist asked curiously.
“I think she set up t
he Number One Fan Contest because she knew I had thousands of female admirers.”
“That’s a good thing, ain’t it?” Twist asked confused.
“Not if she’s trying to turn her daughter off from me by putting her in charge of the contest. Letting India see all of my fans and go through all the e-mails they send me. The contest was just another one of Nancy’s schemes to keep me and her daughter apart.”
“I still don’t understand why Nancy don’t like you. And why wouldn’t she want you and India to get together? It just seems like y’all two are perfect for each other. What’s the real deal between you and Nancy?” Twist asked looking at Ricky while he continued to drive. Ricky pulled his car over to the side of the road. He turned down the radio and looked straight into Twist’s face.
“Me and Nancy once had an affair.”
“What! You and Nancy?” Twist asked in shock.
“Yeah; it was awhile ago. Right before her husband Richard was robbed and killed.”
“Oh, this is before I got the DJ job there,” Twist said.
“Yeah. Way before you arrived and many months before India graduated from Howard University and came back to Philly to help her mother run the club.”
“You and Nancy had an affair?” Twist said again in total disbelief. “So what happened?”
“I broke it off. I just couldn’t do it anymore! One minute I’m smiling in Richard’s face, and the next minute I’m fucking his wife inside a suite at the Holiday Inn,” Ricky said seriously.
“I just told Nancy that I couldn’t do it anymore. She got angry with me, but I ain’t care. My conscience was killing me.”
“So that’s why she treats you so bad. That’s why she don’t want you and India to be together,” Twist said, putting two and two together.
“Yeah, but that ain’t all, Twist,” Ricky said.
“There’s more?”
After a long sigh, Ricky said, “I think Nancy wanted me to kill her husband.”
“What!” Twist shouted.
Ricky turned the radio off, sighed again, and said, “One night after making love, we were in bed talking. She asked me would I kill a man for $20,000.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, and I had a feeling that she was talking about me killing her husband, Richard. I told her no, that I would never kill a man for money. After that night, I ended our affair. I knew she wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t care. I knew she wouldn’t fire me from the club because I was the club’s main attraction. She needed me. A few months after she asked me if I would kill a man for money, Richard was robbed and killed inside his office at the club. It was easy to put it all together at that point. Shit, she probably would’ve hung my ass up to dry for that murder.”
“Do you think Nancy had something to do with it?” Twist asked.
“I honestly don’t know, but that’s a strange coincidence, wouldn’t you say?” Ricky asked.
“Maybe Nancy got someone else to kill her husband since you wouldn’t do it,” Twist said.
“But she never asked me to kill her husband. She just asked would I kill a man for $20,000,” Ricky said.
“Yeah, Ricky, but there has to be a reason for a woman to ask her young lover a question like that. A few months later, her husband ends up robbed and murdered? Something just ain’t right,” Twist said.
“When the police interviewed everyone at the club right after the murder, I didn’t say nothing about what Nancy had said to me about killing a man for money.”
“Why not?” Twist asked curiously.
“Because I didn’t want to expose our secret affair, and plus, I didn’t want my family, and especially my daughter, getting involved in it. So I told them that I didn’t know anything, because it was best to keep myself out of it,” Ricky answered.
“So that’s why you avoid India and you hardly ever speak to her in front of her mother? You’re protecting India from the truth,” Twist said.
“Yeah, I guess you can say that. Plus, Nancy has threatened me and told me to stay away from her daughter, or else,” Ricky said seriously.
“Or else what?” Twist said becoming angry.
“Or else I would end up like Richard!” Ricky muttered.
“She told you that?”
“Not in those exact words, but I knew what she meant.”
“Man, this is crazy! Maybe Nancy told India to stay away. Why else would she have to sneak over to your parents’ house to take out your daughter?” Twist asked.
“I don’t know if she did or not, but, Twist, I’m not gonna lie to you. Every time I look into India’s beautiful face, my heart feels like it’s melting inside my chest. The first time I saw her, I was blown away by her beauty. I’ve had dreams about that woman! I’ve even made love to other women, closing my eyes and imagining them being her, just so it can help take my mind away from India!”
“Does it work?”
“Only until I see her beautiful face and that perfect smile again,” Ricky said sadly.
“It’s crazy that you can have almost any woman in the world—except the only woman that you truly want.”
“Tell me about it,” Ricky said, shaking his head. “There’s another thing about India that I learned not too long ago,” he said, pulling his car back on the highway.
“What’s that?”
“I found out that India and Asia’s mother, Cheryl’s, birthdays are the same exact day. They are both Cancers born on June 28. Exactly six years apart, and that’s the same age that Asia is now. And now India is involved in her life, and the two of them can’t get enough of each other.”
“Man, that’s freaky!” Twist said. “Do you think that India is Cheryl reincarnated?”
“No, I wouldn’t go that far, Twist,” Ricky laughed. “But I will tell you this: when God takes away, he gives back to all of those who truly deserve it. He doesn’t give us what we want, but what we need. He knows out hearts better than us. He knows our intentions, desires, and fears. He knows out wrongs and rights. He already has our soul mates prepared for each one of us. If all of these signs mean something, and India is the person that God wants in Asia’s and my life, then it will happen, and nothing can stop it from happening. A lot of people on earth play God, but our God is a jealous God. None of them will go unpunished.”
Ricky parked his car in front of the club; then he and Twist grabbed their bags and went inside. As soon as Ricky entered the club, India was right there to greet him. All he could do was shake his head.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Killing Me Softly
Monday night
After the showstoppers had performed their twenty-minute exotic dance routine, each one of the dancers did their solo performance. Once again, Thunder, Neo, Flex, and Mr. Orgasm had all done their thing. Three hundred screaming female fans had gotten their money’s worth. Ricky had come out on stage in a blue policeman’s uniform, with all the accessories: badge, handcuffs, nightstick, hat, and dark shades. He slid across the stage on his knees, swung all around the pole, flipped, flexed, and even snaked his gorgeous body across the lighted stage. He performed his fifteen-minute erotic performance to Ginuwine’s classic “Pony.”
While Ricky was onstage doing his thing, DJ Twist was inside the DJ booth mixing and scratching the song throughout Ricky’s entire solo performance. After Ricky tossed all his clothes and accessories into the boisterous crowd, he jumped off the stage and into a large crowd of swarming fans. India was standing on the balcony enjoying Ricky’s entire show. But when she saw Ricky walk through the crowd and give an attractive-looking Puerto Rican woman one of his signature yellow roses, India had to force herself to control the tears that welled up in her eyes.
A few feet away, Nancy was watching India’s every move with a big smile plastered on her face.
After Ricky and the beautiful Spanish female walked upstairs into one of the private, cozy, chitchat rooms, India eased out the side door when no one was looking. She climbed into her Range Rover,
put her head down, and finally released the tears of sadness and pain from the confines of her eyes.
* * *
Roscoe and Damon sat inside the Escalade watching as the swarm of excited women started exiting the club. Cars and trucks were lined up and down the street, while music and marijuana flooded the air. When Roscoe spotted Tori and Malinda walking out of the club, he quickly got out of his truck and approached them. Both women were looking good, each dressed in the latest designer fashions: Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton.
“Tori, you got a minute?” Roscoe asked, looking into her beautiful light-skinned face.
“Roscoe, please don’t start. I told you already that if you still would like to stay friends, then that’s fine, but the relationship is over. Now, I don’t want to fight with you, and I’m telling you this, not to hurt your feelings. I just made my decision, and I’ve decided to move on,” she said seriously.
“So just like that? You saying fuck me, huh? After all I done for you!” he said angrily.
“She’s not saying fuck you, Roscoe—” Malinda started to say.
“Bitch, shut the fuck up! I ain’t talking to you, whore!” Roscoe yelled angrily. Tori saw the rage in Roscoe’s eyes and just shook her head.
“I don’t believe I was actually going to marry you! Now I see that women ain’t nothing but bitches and whores to you. You disgust me, Roscoe!” Tori said walking over to her mother’s parked car. Roscoe followed behind her and grabbed her arm. She pulled away and said, “So, now you grabbing on me, huh? First you call me a bitch in the apartment, and now you’re calling Malinda a bitch and a whore, and pulling on my damn arm like some crazy-ass psycho,” Tori said, upset.
“I just came over to talk to you, that all.”
“What do we have to talk about, Roscoe? It’s over! And why would you want to marry a bitch anyway?” she said opening the car door. She popped the lock and Malinda opened up the passenger door and got inside.
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry Page 16