“Is getting married that bad?”
“It’s hectic, especially when you are marrying somebody who wants to make the shit a show. I would have been happy with goin’ to Jamaica or Mexico and getting married, but she wanna spend damn near sixty-thousand on some shit to impress her friends.”
In frustration, he shook his head and plopped down beside me on the bed.
“Sixty thousand?! Damn, I need to take you back to child support court if you’re spending that much on a wedding!”
Taij and I laughed as he quickly defended his pockets. “Shiiid, I ain’t spendin’ shit! Her father payin’ for it.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” I replied with some sadness.
Just the word father brought gloominess over me. Unfortunately, Tim had been on my mind for the past two days; which is probably why I drank so damn much Friday night.
Noticing the sound of my voice, Taij asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Been thinking about Tim and what to do.”
“What’s there to think about? You need to holla at him.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Fuck Lyric and whateva attitude she has with you.”
“It’s not just Lyric. It’s the fact that once I find out if he’s my father, then what? I’m thirty years old, Taij. I needed a father twenty years ago, not now. Knowing who my father is won’t fix the fact that I grew up without a mother and an abusive father. That’s my past and that’s my issue, not whether Tim is my real father or not.”
With a laugh, Taij told me, “You still the same ol’ stubborn ass chick from college. You ain’t changed a bit.”
I laughed as well. “Hell, can you blame me?!”
Taij looked at me and smiled genuinely, like he was smiling at someone he cared for despite all the shit that we had been through. The older DeSire got, the more Taij and I became a team that was genuinely friends because, not only were we parents, but we had known each other since we were children ourselves.
He adjusted his arm so that it was behind me and pulled me closer to him. In return, still wrapped in the covers, I buried my head in his chest.
“You’re getting better,” he told me. “I can tell.”
“Can you?”
“Yea. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.”
Even while hung over and sleep deprived, I realized the genuineness in that, and it made me smile.
“Seriously, though. You never know what kind of closure it might give you if you talk to Tim. Plus, that would mean that Lyric is your sister, and that’s something you’ve never had. That’s family that you don’t have. You need that because I’m ‘bout to get married, so I can’t be over here no more late at night talking about your fucked up life.”
Again, we broke out into laughter.
Through giggles, I told him, “Fuck you.”
That was the last thing I remembered. Next thing I knew, the sound of a cell phone ringing was waking me up. I was still buried under Taij as his cell phone sat on my nightstand ringing constantly. I peeked over and saw Kim’s name on the Caller ID. Then I looked at my own phone, saw that it was three in the morning, and began to shake Taij vigorously, who was out like a light.
“Taij, get up! Taij!”
My voice and his cell phone finally woke him up. He seemed to shit bricks as he realized that he had fallen asleep. Immediately, he grabbed his cell phone and the shitting of the bricks became worse.
“Shit! It’s three o’clock!”
He was nervous and scared, but I thought it was funny. Kim was always on Taij’s heels. She had that nigga on a schedule, so I knew she was wondering where the hell he was at.
“You in trouble,” I said with a laugh as he got out of the bed.
He ignored my teasing and continued to curse. “Shit, man!”
“You better figure something out. She will kill you if you tell her that you were over here.”
“We wasn’t doin’ shit. Hell, I fell asleep.”
“Yeah okay. She doesn’t care if we were over here praying! She is still going to be pissed.”
“Damn, she been calling me for three hours! This DeSire’s fault. That girl woke up at six this morning and ain’t stopped since.”
As soon as Taij’s cell phone stopped ringing, it began again.
We both started cracking up.
“Answer the phone, Crazy!”
“And say what?!”
I giggled as I replied, “Well, get out before that phone wakes up DeSire.”
With another laugh he said his goodbyes. “Ah ight. I’m out. See you later.”
“Let yourself out, please.”
I was back under the covers as the ringing finally stopped and he left out of the bedroom. I could hear his phone beginning to ring again as he walked towards the door, and we both broke out into uncontrollable giggles.
Four
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tricey
Vic smiled at me with sympathy as she entered the store. I was sitting in one of the chaises as I watched a ratchet ass episode of Cheaters.
When I decorated Latrice Monaè, I wanted it to have the feel of a walk in closet. I wanted the customer to feel comfortably at home. Around the store were beautiful brown Woodrow chaises. With velvet material and an exquisite jacquard fabric, on top of the plush infinity nylon carpet, they looked very expensive. And at three thousand bucks apiece, they were. The store was a thousand plus square feet. The apparel was displayed along the walls using simple clothing systems. In the middle of the floor were antique mahogany stand alone mirrors. With pieces of art from local art galleries and a glass of wine, customers felt like Latrice Monaè was their walk in closet at home with accessories and apparel that they have always wanted.
Vic sat next to me on the chaise and asked, “Has it been busy today?”
But I knew that’s not what she wanted to talk about. She knew that the store was never busy on a Wednesday.
“It’s been slow. A few regulars came in. I sold that Louis Vuitton Mini Mon Amour today though.”
Finally, Vic acknowledged the elephant in the room. “So what’s going on on the home front?”
Sunday, I finally was able to fill Vic in about Blood coming home with that gremlin. I was able to spend Saturday night with Lyric. When I woke up to thousands of missed calls from Blood, I continued to ignore him as I spent most of Sunday with Vic and DeSire.
But that night, I had to go home. I had to pick Ariana up from Amiel. Though Vic would have welcomed me into her home for a few days, I knew that I had to go home before my life really turned upside down.
As I sat with Vic on Sunday, I watched her taking care of DeSire and realized that Blood provided me with a really good life. I didn’t have the same stresses and headaches of a single woman or single mother because he took care of me. I needed to think really hard about whether my unemployed ass wanted to just pack my shit, grab my baby, and walk away from financial stability.
With a frown, I replied, “Ain’t nothing changed. He is walking on egg shells around me, and I’m not sayin’ more than two words to him.”
“And the baby?”
“What baby?”
Vic laughed. “Tricey, if you are going to be there, you cannot ignore that baby.”
“Yes, the hell I can,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “He can’t bring a baby home and expect me to just be its mother when I didn’t even know he existed!”
“The situation must be really fucked up for his mother if Blood brought him home though.”
“I don’t give a fuck if she and that baby were homeless and sleeping on curbs…”
In a warning tone, Vic interrupted my venting. “Tricey…”
“Don’t say my name like I’m wrong! Blood is wrong and you know it!”
“True, but it’s not that baby’s fault, so stop talking so bad about him. You the one chose to go back home, so don’t punish that baby by being mean to him.”
“I wouldn’t even be t
here to see that damn baby if I had a choice. But I don’t have a choice! It’s too hard to find a job nowadays, and Blood finances my everything. I basically work for him. I love him, I promise to God I do, but I only went back because he provides me and my daughter with a life that I can’t. And I believe Blood knows that. He knew when he was bringing that baby home that I couldn’t leave him, and that’s why he so easily brought him back.”
“So y’all just at home ignoring each other?”
“No, I am ignoring him and it.”
“Tricey! Don’t call that baby that! What’s his name?”
Tears instantly filled my eyes. “Nathaniel Maurice Washington. He’s a junior.”
Vic put her arm around me to comfort me. I was so stuck between a rock and a hard place. I loved Blood but he had hurt me beyond repair. There was no way that I could react how I wanted to in order to deal with the pain because I had nowhere else to go. So I had to be there with him and it.
“He looks just like him,” I told Vic as I cried.
“Wow. Does he?”
I nodded and replied, “Ariana’s birthday party is Friday, so you’ll be able to see that little motherfucka.”
When I told Vic that Lyric and Cory were on their way to the boutique, she exited stage left.
And right on time too. For years, Lyric and Vic had been missing one another by seconds. That day, as soon as Vic pulled off, Lyric pulled up. Cory was nowhere to be seen, though.
“Where is Cory? I thought he was coming with you.”
The gust of hot air that entered the boutique along with Lyric was overwhelming. It was ninety-seven degrees that day. Lyric looked hot and miserable as she strolled in wearing black shades, a high ponytail, shorts, sandals, and a basic tee while sipping on a Berry Blast Coolatta from Dunkin Donuts.
“He’s behind me. He rode with Kadeem. Kadeem wants to check out the boutique and do some shopping.”
I was glad that I was now able to see this fine specimen of a man that Lyric was raving over in her text messages earlier, after meeting him for the first time while they were having drinks up North after she got off work.
Right at that second, Kadeem and Cory approached the store. As I took in the sight of Kadeem, I let out an aggressive, “Gawd damn!”
Lyric laughed but my aggression was sincere.
No wonder Cory was going straight up cray cray. Kadeem was so damn fine that he would have my mind all wrapped up and hogtied too!
Kadeem and Cory walked in hand in hand. Cory’s smile was so big and bright, just like a woman who was head over heels for the man on her arm.
Cory was beaming as he introduced us. “Tricey, this is my man, Kadeem. Kadeem, this is my beau, Tricey.”
So, this was Kadeem. You could have knocked me over with a motherfuckin’ feather. Kadeem was gorgeous! I mean, I thought my man was sexy, but this man right here was torn from the pages of GQ or straight off of a street corner in Brooklyn. He was 6’2” with long dreads that touched the middle of his back. His build was muscular and broad with just enough muscles that peeked through the tanned skin that covered them. I could have stared at his face for hours. His eyes were beautiful and a shade of gray. The richness of his facial hair gave him so much masculinity.
It’s like he wasn’t even real. He was too fine for it to be fair! Made my man look like a booger! Now I understood why Cory was so head over heels. There are attractive men everywhere, but rarely do you see a man that is beautiful.
Kadeem was every woman’s dream. To know that he was hitting Cory from the back confused the fuck out of me!
After some brief chitchat, Cory took Kadeem towards the back of the store to the men’s section. Lyric and I watched Kadeem as he followed Cory, holding him around his waist and kissing his neck. Cory giggled like a school girl.
“You did not tell me that he looked like a Ken doll!”
Lyric snickered as she replied, “Girl, ain’t he fine?”
“Fine? He’s gorgeous!”
Just then, Cory let out a squeal. We looked into their direction to see Kadeem with his face still in Cory’s neck.
“Awww, he is so into him,” I said dreamingly.
“Yeah.” Lyric’s face scrunched up in suspicion “He don’t act like a man that’s in the closet.”
“Maybe he is just comfortable around us. We’re Cory’s friends, so who would we tell?”
Lyric stared at him critically while he was still huddled behind Cory looking at some Gucci shirts. “I cannot believe he is married. What an asshole!”
I quickly quieted Lyric. “Be quiet before they hear you.”
“Urrgh,” she said with a huff while turning her back. “I don’t like it. I just don’t like it. Something is up with that dude. I can feel it.”
LYRIC
While at the boutique, Marcel called, told me that dinner was at a lounge downtown at eight o’clock, and asked me to wear my black maxi dress with the two high splits, the black Christian Louboutin spiked heels that he bought me for my birthday, and my hair up in a bun.
He was setting his scene, so I obliged.
We met at the restaurant. When I walked in, I spotted him at a table in the corner drinking what I knew was his signature double shot of Jack. He watched my long legs as I walked towards him. I oiled them up nicely just for him.
With a smile and kiss on the forehead, Marcel greeted me and sat me beside him in the lavish booth.
We were so into one another; arms intertwined and damn near nose to nose.
“I missed you.” And I had. Because of conflicting work schedules, I hadn’t seen Marcel in three days.
It felt like three years.
“Missed you too, Babygirl,” he told me as he kissed my lips again.
The waiter came to the table and we barely noticed him.
“What are you having, ma’am?”
“She’ll take a Tequila Sunrise.”
The waiter made a small gesture in response to Marcel’s dominance. He made an attempt to hide it, but I saw the shock in his expression at how Marcel led the way and how I passively allowed it.
“Another double shot, sir?”
“Please.”
As the waiter left, Marcel and I resumed our position. Only this time, he reached for my leg that was completely exposed because of the splits, lifted it, and sat it on top of his. He began to run his fingertips all over my leg, from my thigh to beyond my knee cap.
“You look pretty,” he told me.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
And I quickly corrected myself, “Thank you, Daddy,” as his dominance made my pussy cry.
The waiter was back with our drinks and left quickly, noticing that we were much more into each other than ordering our meals. Marcel and I sipped and talked for awhile. He told me about the dinner with his mother Monday night that left him laughing his ass off. Despite being sixty years old, she wanted him to take her to the boat after dinner at midnight. I prayed that, since he was talking about his mother, he wouldn’t bring up my parents, because I hadn’t called them like he told me to. To get him off of my scent, I began to admire the light freckles on his light skinned cheeks. He smiled bashfully as he sipped from his drink and squeezed my thigh gently.
“Do you love me?”
I think I answered, “Yes”, before he finished his sentence.
He smiled in satisfaction at my urgency. “How much?”
As he waited for an answer, his hand traveled up my thigh and soon his fingers found my pussy. He tried to hide his satisfaction in finding the lake presently between my legs, but I saw his breath become short as his fingers were drenched with my juices.
“How much do you love me?”
I couldn’t answer as I tried to muffle my moans as he played with my pussy beneath the table.
Aggressively, he pushed my left leg so that my legs would spread further apart. My legs fell out of the long splits; the dress hiding his hand as two fingers slid inside of me.
Yet, before I could form any words, he told me, “Cum for me.”
I was shocked. “Here? Right now?”
“Right now.”
I was hesitant and full of anxiety because he had put me on the spot. Though the patrons around us weren’t paying us any attention, surely they would notice him finger fucking me.
“Right now,” he insisted.
However, his dominance pushed all reservation out of the window. His aggression had my mind so wrapped up that I trusted this man to do anything and take me anywhere.
With his body turned completely towards me, he kept his left hand on my thigh while the fingers of his right hand assaulted my pussy. I fought hard not to make a sound, not to allow my facial expression to give us away.
My walls locked around his fingers as they kissed my G spot.
Marcel looked me in my eyes and whispered, “Cum for Daddy.”
And that’s all it took. My body obeyed him, and I buried my face in my hands to hide my orgasm.
But he told me, “No, look at me,” as he took my chin and made me face him.
I whimpered quietly as he continued to go in and out of me. It was so hard to mask the pleasure that I damn near got teary eyed.
Thankfully, the orgasm soon came to an end and he ended his attack. His left hand stayed on my leg as his right hand joined us on our end of the table.
We laughed at how wet his hand was.
Though he used a napkin from the table to clean it, he excused himself as he headed for the bathroom. Before leaving the table, he kissed me softly and told me, “Good girl.”
I watched him walk away; admiring his massive physique and walk full of swag and confidence.
Tricey
“Excuse me.”
I was short and blunt as I walked around Blood; who was leaving the kitchen as I was entering it.
Though my condo was as big as a two story house, suddenly it felt too small and I needed space.
I brushed by Blood deliberately; like we were in high school and he was a chick that I had beef with.
Good Girls Ain't No Fun Boxed Set (The SIX romance and urban fiction volumes of the LOVE, SEX, LIES series) Page 87