“How’d that happen?” I asked, as I stood from the bed and walked over to him in my bra and nothing else. I hadn’t taken my shower yet, and it looked like that was going to have to wait, too.
“I was standing in that shower thinking about you and your ass.”
I dragged my tongue up his wet chest and wrapped my hand around his shaft. “Is that right?”
He sucked in a breath. “Yeah...”
As I slid my hand up and down his erection, I asked, “What were you thinking about me and my ass?”
“Hmm, about how tight you are, and how hot and wet you get, and about how I like to smack you on that big, round ass.”
“Really? You are so nasty,” I said, lowering myself to my knees and coming face to face with his shaft. As I glided my tongue up and down his penis, wrapped my mouth around the head of it, and gently sucked, he whispered, “Oh, shiiiiiiiit...”
“Mm-hmm,” I said, my voice muffled by a mouthful of Hasaan. I licked and sucked while sliding my hand up and down his stiffness until he stumbled a little and backed away from me. “Why you running?” I asked, using his words. “Stop running, baby.”
He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. “I need to feel your heat, baby. You know how I like it.”
I kissed him. “Then lie down, baby.”
Hasaan lay on the bed and watched as I straddled him backward, facing his feet and giving him a full view of my full ass. As I grabbed his shaft and guided it inside of me, I gasped and released an, “Ooooooh!” as he filled me to capacity and then some. It took a second to adjust to him. It wasn’t that he was unfamiliar to me, but in this position, I took in his full length, and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to that. Hasaan was packing for real.
“Take your time, baby,” he said, as he alternated rubbing and gripping my butt cheeks, “I’ma just enjoy the view.”
I finally lifted up from his body and slid back down, trying my best not to scream since we weren’t the only ones in the house, but shit! I just couldn’t help it. I slid up and down at a relatively slow pace at first, but soon sped up my ride as Hasaan began smacking me gently on the ass. He knew not to hit too hard, because the one time he did, I reflexively slapped the shit out of him and asked him how it felt. Hell, I wasn’t Christian. I didn’t like that kind of pain, and evidently, neither did Hasaan. Anyway, I settled into a good rhythm, and once I had completely adjusted to him, started grinding my pelvis against his, my clit grazing his shaft with every stroke. He felt so good that I threw my head back and closed my eyes, releasing a moan.
“Yeah, baby. Just like that. Ride that thang just like that,” he said huskily, as he squeezed both of my butt cheeks.
“H! H! H!” I screamed, as the tsunami inside of me swirled around and around. “Shit, baby! Damn!”
“Shh, baby. Shh,” he said, even though he knew I wouldn’t stop. He didn’t want me to, either. But I think he liked pretending he wanted me to be quiet.
When the damn inside of me finally broke, I let out an, “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” and collapsed onto his legs and tried to catch my breath.
“Lie down, baby,” he commanded. “On your stomach.”
I did, and closed my eyes as he glided his tongue over my right, then my left butt cheek. “Mm,” he murmured. “Every part of you is delicious, girl.”
“You…too…baby,” I purred.
He rolled me over on my back, and as I lay there beneath him, he entered me again. I sucked in a breath at the reintroduction of his shaft.
“Damn, baby, you feel so good,” he murmured.
I moaned in response.
He rubbed my face and kissed me and sucked my neck while telling me over and over again how much he loved me as I wrapped my arms around him, feeling the pressure build inside of me again. He thrusted harder and harder, faster and faster, deeper and deeper with sweat pouring from his body and dripping onto mine. Before long, we were both screaming as we climaxed together.
The men woke up early and fixed breakfast the next morning while us ladies slept in. I was sitting at the table, enjoying what Hasaan and Derek admitted Nyles had basically cooked by himself while they watched, when I felt eyes on me. I looked up, and sure enough, everyone was staring at me and Hasaan. Hasaan and I glanced at each other, and I said, “What? Why y’all not eating? Something wrong with the food?”
Greer spoke up first. “Nah, I was just sitting thinking that you really like the letter H. You kept screaming it last night. Derek and I thought someone was trying to recite the alphabet and could only remember one letter. I was like, did Denise have a stroke or something? Is she calling for help and can’t get past the H?”
My mouth fell open.
Hasaan muttered, “I told you to shush.”
“Yeah, we heard that, too. You didn’t think you were whispering, did you, H?” Trevia said.
“I can’t stand you two bitches,” I mumbled.
“Damn, were we really that loud? My bad, y’all. Did we wake you up?” Hasaan asked, sounding extremely embarrassed. “We didn’t mean to disturb y’all.”
“Hell, naw! Don’t apologize to them!” I said. “Y’all heifers stop hazing my baby. I bet my last dollar they were in their rooms screwing, too, H. Nyles and Derek, y’all better get y’all’s wives.”
“Well, I know one thing, y’all ain’t disturbed a damn thing in our room. You’re right, Denise. We was getting busy, too!” Nyles shared.
After Trevia popped him on the arm, he added, “What? It’s the truth!”
Hasaan started grinning and stood from the table to shake Nyles’ hand. I shook my head at them.
Trevia sighed, and Derek interjected, “Yeah…so were we.”
All three of the men jumped up and started talking over each other and patting each other on the back.
Greer gasped, and I fell out laughing. “Look,” I said, “I know I can get loud. I’ll try to keep it down as long as we’re under the same roof, but I ain’t promising y’all shit.”
Trevia’s eyes were glued to the table as she said, “I was actually afraid y’all would hear me.”
Greer slowly rose her hand. “Me, too.”
There was a second or two of silence, and then all six of us fell out laughing.
31
It was hot as hell in Virginia, so when we all climbed into the limo that Saturday morning, I was wearing a pair of denim short shorts and a Nyles Speaks tank top. All of us were wearing a variation of that t-shirt in support of Nyles’ performance that day. I even planned to buy a couple more of them from Nyles’ booth after his performance. I styled my box braids in a top knot and filled a cute pink water bottle I’d bought at the festival the day before with ice water. With some money tucked in my bra, I was ready for the day’s festivities.
“You ready to hit the stage this evening, Nyles?” Hasaan asked.
“Shit, I was born ready. Just ask my baby here.” Nyles leaned in and kissed Trevia, who rested her head against his with a smile on her face and nodded in agreement.
Greer was all hugged up with Derek, and Hasaan? He spent most of the ride to the park where the festival was held licking and sucking on my neck. I almost asked the driver to take us back to the house, because I was pretty moist by the time we made it to our destination.
We perused the vendors as a few up-and-coming artists took to the stage and provided the entertainment. But the real treat would come later on, when Nyles worked his magic, and shortly after that, Miss Jilly from Philly was set to rock the place. Jill Scott was one of my absolute favorite artists, and I loved watching Nyles perform, so I was stoked about the second day of the festival.
By the time Nyles hit the stage around six that evening in his tight white pants and white Nyles Speaks t-shirt, I was full of ribs, some bomb deep fried Oreos, water, and one wine cooler. As I sat on a blanket next to Hasaan with Greer, Trevia, and Derek right next to us, I was feeling pretty mellow and very happy.
After Nyles was introduced and our crew finished y
elling and screaming for him, he did that thing where he closes his eyes right before he begins to perform. There was recorded music playing instead of the usual live band that accompanied him, but the vibe was still nice. Then he opened his eyes and began to speak:
“Good evening. I’m Nyles Adams, my heart belongs to Trevia Adams, and I’m blessed to be here this evening to share what’s in my heart and mind with you folks. This first piece is something a friend of mine asked me to share. It’s entitled, Denise.”
My eyes widened as I looked at a grinning Trevia and mouthed, “What’s going on?”
She shrugged. So, I looked from her to Hasaan, who was smiling with his eyes glued to the stage.
“Hey, Denise I bet you didn’t know that my man over there got this thing for you. It’s something like a jones,” Nyles began. “And I bet you never realized that the first time he looked into your eyes, he got lost, had to hold the walls and feel his way back to reality. See, you were his fantasy. Something too good to be true, but real nonetheless. I bet you didn’t know that the first time he touched you, he wanted to pinch himself, that he thought he was dreaming. He didn’t realize the face he’d seen floating before him when the stars and moon had their time in the sky was real, no longer an illusion, or that her kisses, so sweet, were tangible to him now. No longer something he hoped for, but something that had come to be. His faith had been rewarded so beautifully.
“Denise, did you know that he missed you before he knew you? Did you know he was calling for you long before he knew your name? Did you know that there is a place in his soul that was empty before you? That he was not a man until you became his woman? That’s some real shit, Denise. That shit is real.
“And so is his love. He said his love is as deep as that waterfall. You know, the one that goes nowhere. The one that has no bottom. The Minnesota Waterfall, that’s what they call it. That’s how deep his love is. Ain’t no bottom or end to it. It’s infinite, it’s eternal, it’s real. His love is real, Denise. His love is real…and so is that ring in his hand.”
The crowd around us erupted in a chorus of “ohs,” and “ahs.”
“Baby…” That was Hasaan. The only way I knew that, was because I knew his voice. I couldn’t see him from the tears blurring my vision.
“Baby, look at me,” he said.
I shook my head and swiped at my eyes. Someone shoved some Kleenex at me. To this day, I have no idea who it was. I mopped my face and turned to look at him. He was on one knee next to me, smiling widely and holding a ring out to me.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
“Baby, I love you so much, and I know I said I wanted us to move in together, but shit, why play around? Denise, will you marry me? Will you let me change your last name, baby?”
I hiccupped and sniffled and tried to stop the tears that were streaming down my face, and finally said, “Y-y-y-yeeeeeessssssss!”
He slid the ring on my finger, and I grabbed him and pulled him to me. We held each other, and I cried throughout the remainder of Nyles’ performance.
When Jill Scott finally took the stage, I had composed myself enough to dance and enjoy the show. She’d been up there thirty minutes when she said, “I heard someone named Denise got engaged tonight. Well, Denise, this is for you and your man.”
I squealed, and when she began singing He Loves Me for us, I wrapped my arms around my man, and got lost in her words.
32
“To Hasaan and Denise!” Derek shouted, as we all held up glasses of champagne. We’d made it back to the house and were all in a celebratory mood.
“Hear, hear!” everyone shouted.
“Hey, Hasaan! Welcome to the family, man!” Nyles said, gripping Hasaan’s hand and pulling him into a hug at the same time.
They patted each other’s backs, and Hasaan said, “Thanks, man.”
“That’s right, man. Welcome!” Derek reaffirmed, as he and Hasaan shook hands and hugged, too.
Greer and Trevia hugged me at the same time, with Trevia bawling like she was the one who just got engaged.
“Hasaan, you better be good to our girl,” Greer warned him.
Hasaan pulled me from their grip and kissed me deeply. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ma make it my business to make this woman happy the rest of my days.”
“Me, too,” I said as he hugged me tightly. “And thanks for that poem, Nyles. It was beautiful.”
Nyles raised both of his hands. “Hey, I just used the words Hasaan gave me this morning and put my spin on them. I was mainly just the messenger.”
“Appreciate you, man,” Hasaan said.
Nyles smiled as he wrapped his arm around Trevia’s shoulder. “Anything for family.”
Later that night, as we lay in bed with me in his arms, Hasaan asked, “So, when you wanna get married?”
I rubbed my hand across his chest. “When you wanna get married?”
“Yesterday.”
I laughed. “So you’re ready now, I guess?”
“Absolutely.”
“Yeah...me, too.”
He craned his neck and looked down at me. “For real?”
“Yeah. I already did the big wedding thing. Shit, me and Kevin had two weddings, a traditional, American one and a Nigerian one, and we see how that marriage turned out. So, I don’t need all that. Let’s just do it, baby.”
“Hell, yeah!”
I laughed. “Wait, I need for two things to happen before we get married, though.”
“Aw, shit. What?”
“Well, one, I need to meet your folks.”
“Nope.”
“Hasaan, I’m not marrying you without meeting your parents first.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll call my mom and set something up. Shit. What’s number two?”
“Number two, we gotta find a place.”
“I can handle that.”
“I want to buy a house instead of renting an apartment.”
“Hmm, well, I’m not sure if we can afford one right now. You know, we’d need a down payment, and—”
“H, I have money. I have a lot of money.”
“You got some kind of settlement from the bank, right? I kind of figured that since you got a new car after you lost your job.”
“No...I got it from my ex-husband.”
“In your divorce? I thought you said he couldn’t hold a job? Didn’t he mess your credit up and you had to move in with your mom?”
“He...he won the lottery recently and he sent me some money, I guess as restitution for the money I had to spend to clean up my credit.”
“Baby...how much?”
“A million dollars.”
“Shit! What?!” he shouted.
“Shh, they gon’ think we in here having sex again.”
“Like you care.”
“Yeah, I really don’t…”
“Baby, you got a million dollars?”
“Yeah, I have some of it invested. Haven’t spent much of it, because I’m honestly afraid to.”
“Hell…me, too. Um, okay...”
“Does this change things? I mean, do you still wanna marry me?”
“Of course I still wanna marry you. I love you. I just...I don’t feel right with you buying the house with your money alone. How about you pay down on it, and I handle the note?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Sounds perfect.”
33
I smiled as I watched Denise’s mother wipe tears from her eyes. We were on our way to have dinner with my parents and Rafiq one Sunday afternoon, and we decided to stop by her mom’s house to show her the engagement ring.
“Girl, you done hooked him, huh?! I ain’t a fan of marriage, but hell, I’da been trying to hook this fine thang, too!”
I laughed and shook my head as she damn near yanked me into a hug. “Come here, son-in-law!” she yelled in my ear.
I thought about how Denise once told me her mom had a crush on me. I was beginning to believe she was right. Denise must’ve rea
d my mind, because she stood behind her mother, and mouthed, “I told you.”
About an hour later, I was pulling my truck into my parents’ driveway. I killed the engine and sighed.
“H, I’ve got the craziest mother in the world. Your parents can’t be that bad.”
I lifted an eyebrow and stared at her. “They’re my parents. I think I’d know.”
“Okay, look...It’ll be okay. I mean, Rafiq is here. I see his car. At least maybe you two will get to talk. I know it’s been awhile.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. Just remember one thing: this is his territory.”
“Huh?” she asked, looking and sounding confused.
“You’ll see.”
My parents lived in the same home we moved into when we first came to Dallas from Ludlow, a really nice, four-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood. Two-car garage, manicured lawn, the works. I had already given Denise the rundown on them. My mom was a retired social worker, and my dad still ran his own auto repair shop where he specialized in foreign cars.
Working parents with two sons. From the outside, things looked normal, but they were anything but.
I knocked, holding Denise’s hand as we waited for an answer. It was Rafiq who came to the door, looked both me and Denise up and down, and then backed out of the doorway to let us in.
Since he didn’t have enough sense to speak, I did. “Wassup, Rafiq?”
“’Sup, H. Hey, Denise,” he mumbled.
I glanced at Denise, who gave me an encouraging look before I stepped into the house. The smell of garlic greeted us, and a feeling of familiarity hit me. Garlic had to be my mom’s all-time favorite ingredient to cook with.
We made it to the living room, where my father sat watching TV. He was about my height, and Denise’s mouth fell open when she saw him. I guess I was used to the fact that he and I looked so much alike and Rafiq looked like our lighter-skinned triplet. He stood, and I extended my hand to him, surprised when he pulled me into a tight hug.
“Hey, son!” he said into my ear. “Been a long time since I’ve seen you other than you dropping Rafiq off.” As our hug ended, he added, “Good to see you!”
Real Love Page 13