Say You Do

by Serenity Jackson

  Excited that she could possibly have the opportunity to expand her business to the west coast, she still felt uneasy about him keeping Nate’s mom’s passing from her.

  “Oh, baby that’s great I’m so excited, but there is something I need to talk to you about.”

  Nervous and hesitant he sits on the stool in front of her vanity and braces himself… “sure baby what’s up?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Ms. Ingraham’s passing? You know we were really close, and I can’t believe you would keep something that important from me.”

  Relieved that it wasn’t about his infidelities he exhales and proceeds to say:

  “Babe I didn’t know how to tell you. I wanted to tell you this morning, but you were in such a great mood I didn’t’ want to ruin your day. But your right I should have told you and I’m so sorry baby.”

  He then kisses her forehead softly and proceeds to walk away but she signals for him to join her. Knowing that he had just been intimate with Porsha he knew that Shantel would smell her scent on him, and he could not risk her finding out about his disloyalties. So, he tells her he’s going to call and check up on Nate and before she could say another word Brandon was out the door.

  Celebrate the ones you love because there will never be another and tomorrow is not promised.

  Mrs. Ingraham’s Homegoing

  Today is the funeral of Ms. Ingraham and Shantel being full of emotions. She waits in her living room for Brandon, who was supposed to arrive thirty minutes ago to drive her to the church. “Where is this man of mine?” she says to herself while pacing back and forth. Tired of waiting Shantel jumps in her car and drives herself to the church, she calls Brandon multiple times but receives his voicemail so she leaves him a message, “Brandon, today is an important day and I hope you show up not only for me but for Nate. I don’t know what could be more important than Ms. Ingraham’s funeral but you better be there.”

  Shantel pulls up to the church and spots Nate and his girlfriend Estelle.

  “Hey, I am sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”

  “It’s okay Shantel I’m just happy you’re here. You remember Estelle right.”

  How could she forget the one woman that has occupied Nate’s time and attention for the past few years?

  “Yes, I remember how are you holding up Estelle?”

  “I’m hanging in there Shantel thanks for asking.”

  They entered Christ Chapel Baptist Church, walking into the church that Ms. Ingraham spent a lot of her time felt so unreal without her sitting on the front row singing her favorite hymns.

  They took their seats as the pastor began Ms. Ingraham’s homegoing service in prayer:

  Dear Heavenly Father,

  We come to you today to celebrate the life of Isabelle Margaret Ingraham

  We ask that you open the flood gates of heaven and welcome

  Ms. Ingraham with open arms. May she live the rest of her days in

  bliss and in happiness….

  Shantel eyes filled with tears as she struggles to keep her eyes closed in prayer. She feels someone ease beside her and grab her hand, she looks out of the corner of her eye and see’s Brandon.

  In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen

  Although she would love to ask him where he’s been, Shantel is just happy to have her future husband by her side during her time of need. After the funeral, Nate’s friends and family heads over to his home for the repass. Brandon on the other hand has plans of his own. He suggests to Shantel that they should spend some one on one time together rather than go over to Nate’s home. Shantel agrees, she says her goodbyes to Nate and heads home to meet up with Brandon. She runs her a warm bath and soaks away her pain, she cries until she is all out of tears, and she continues to replay the funeral over and over again in her mind. After Shantel finishes bathing and getting herself together she realizes Brandon is once again nowhere to be found, but given that she has had such a stressful day she is okay with some alone time.

  Touch me where I hurt the most. Touch my heart and show me what a restored soul feels like. Ease my pain and give me consolation that you can revive me. Allow our temperaments to entwine. And blow my mind, leaving me pleading for your ardor

  Power in The Pussy

  A few days has passed now since Shantel attended Ms. Ingraham funeral and she is still trying to wrap her head around it all. In need of a break from work, she picks up her phone and dials the one person she knows that can pull her out of her sorrows.

  “Hello”

  “Porsha, I need a girl’s moment are you free?”

  “For you of course, Heaven’s Oasis Spa?”

  “You know me so well; I’ll see you in about an hour.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll see you there.”

  Shantel hangs up, grabs her briefcase, and prepares to head down I-75N. With all calls from work being forwarded to her assistant, she could finally breath and enjoy something other than meetings, conference calls and worrying about everybody else but herself. Shantel decided that today would be her day to do whatever it is she wanted to do without any interruptions. She placed her Versace black aviator shades over her oval shaped brown eyes, turned up Chrisette Michelle “Unbreakable”. Which was playing though the Bluetooth speakers in her car and to add a little diva to her day she let the top down on her Mercedes.

  After agreeing to meet Shantel for some much-needed girl time, Porsha rolls over in bed and kiss Brandon softly on the lips.

  “Baby I have to go.”

  “Nooooo, where are you going?”

  “I’m going to meet your soon to be wife.”

  Porsha was beginning to get jealous of Brandon and Shantel’s relationship, even though it’s a hoax for them, she knows that Shantel has more than enough to offer Brandon or any man for that matter. She was smart, beautiful, confident, wealthy, and most of all she was a WOMAN. Porsha could never be Shantel.

  Porsha’s body got her what she wanted and where she wanted to be in life. She dropped out of college her freshman year because she was pregnant by a married man twice her age and when he refused to leave his wife, she got an abortion and never told a soul. After that she vowed to treat men just like they treated women, but it did more damage to her then it did to the men she dated.

  “Why you said it like that?” Brandon asked

  “I’m just ready for this to be over that’s all.” Brandon knew where this conversation was going, and he was going to stop it before it went there.

  “Baby remember it’s you that I want, not her. How about we go to LA for a week? I told Shantel I had some business to handle in LA so we can use that as a much-needed vacation.”

  “Hell yea!!!” excited Porsha jumps on Brandon and begins kissing him slowly and passionately. Forgetting that she was supposed to be meeting her friend she whispers “I love you” in Brandon’s ear and straddles him. She then reaches under the covers and locates his erect shaft then carefully places him inside of her, his eyes roll in the back of his head and she slowly and seductively starts to ride him. Moving back and forth placing her hands on his biceps to steady herself she begins to pick up the pace adding her own rhythm. Feeling every inch of him inside her made her juices flow more and more, Brandon grips her hips and allows his hands to move to the rhythm that she created, feeling all her juices flowing on him he becomes progressively turned on. Increasing her rhythm, she continues to hit her spot over and over and, in that moment, they both let out the loudest moan. Him exploding inside of her and she’s releasing her juices all over him, they experience an amazing orgasm.

  Waiting patiently at the Heaven’s Oasis Spa, Shantel grows extremely frustrated with her friend. She has called Porsha several times and still no answer, not even a simple text message saying she’s not going to make it. This was not like Porsha and Shantel knew that something was different about her.

  “Hey beautiful, funny running into you here.”

  Headed towards the exit she heard that sexy deep voice
that always sent chills up her spine she knew instantly that there was only one man who words were so soft and gentle just like his touch.

  “Hey Nate, what are you doing here?’

  Hugging him and smelling his sensual aroma, Shantel knew that she had to release him before her hormones sends her into a frenzy. She’s always looked at Nate as a friend but deep down inside her mind began to wonder, What if?

  “I come here from time to time to release some stress and to clear my mind, what about you? What brings you here on a weekday?”

  “The same. I was supposed to meet Porsha here, but it looks like she stood me up which is not like her.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, well you can hang with me until she shows up, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about some new business ventures I’ve been working on.”

  Not even thinking she agreed and proceeded into the Sauna. After a back massage, foot massage and spending an hour in the rock & salt steamy hot sauna, Shantel felt like a new woman. She and Nate talked about work, life, and everything in between, he was good company a great listener with a great sense of humor.

  “So, Nate… How’s Estelle?”

  “Ugh, we broke up right after the funeral. She wasn’t my type of woman; she was self-centered yet beautiful on the outside but ugly on the inside.”

  They laughed but she wasn’t surprised, he was too good for her.

  “She wasn’t your type anyway. I’m sure there is a woman out there waiting to make you happy.”

  “What is my type Shantel?”

  He stopped walking and grabbed her hand they starred at each other for what almost felt like eternity. His eyes spoke more to her than his words could ever speak. Her heart started racing, palms sweaty she had so much to say but her mouth wouldn’t speak. He pulled her closer and gently removed the hair dangling over her face. She wanted to be one with him, her soul wanted to be unified with him, her body belonged to him. And ever so delicately and so moderately he whispers….

  “I respect you; I respect your mind because it’s beautiful and it works off your heart which will always hold your truth. Your body because it’s so sacred, precious, and voluptuously tantalizing. And finally, your soul, your soul holds the key to your divine decree. But I also respect your relationship and I will never put you in any situation that makes you feel uncomfortable or that threatens our friendship but I will say this, I never want to see you with anything less than a smile on your face and if Brandon is not making you smile then he needs to move to the side so a real man can step in and make your face glow.”

  Nate kissed her on the cheek, paid the cashier and left Shantel standing there with her mouth hanging wide open hitting the floor. She was horny, angry and confused all at the same damn time. When she went to cash out the cashier stated that the gentlemen already covered her $365.00 bill, which made her heart melt. Shantel has been engaged to Brandon for a year and she can’t remember when was the last time he picked up the tab or even brought home flowers. In the beginning things were great, he did everything to keep her attention and now she can’t even pay him for some attention. Nate was right she needed to be treated like a woman and if Brandon was not going to man up then he would need to move aside. Shantel rushed home, took a shower, and hopped back in the car to make it to Bible Study. She knew that God was the only one that could help her figure this out, not to mention her and Nate went to the same church, so she was guaranteed to see him there but this particular night he was a no show.

  When a man feels threatened by a woman, he struggles to overpower her to show that he is still virile, but he always neglects to cogitate just how formidable a woman really is. Never underestimate a woman’s mentality!

  Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don’t

  Packing for his trip to L.A, Brandon’s mind started racing, he knew that the plan he had with Porsha would either go really good or extremely bad. Brandon’s original plot was slowly crumbling. Porsha has completely lost sight of her role in their plot to drain Shantel of all her riches, instead Porsha is fighting for a man that doesn’t belong to her or Shantel. As Brandon continues to throw clothes into his Gucci suitcase that was given to him by his fiancé on their one-year anniversary, he realized that he needs to leave home before Shantel returned from work. Throwing his bags back in the closet he figured he would just buy him a wardrobe once his plane touched down in Los Angeles. Before he could make it halfway down the stairway Shantel was coming thru the door. With the week before and Brandon not being around lately, she just needed someone she could talk to.

  “Hey babe, I was hoping we could talk before you head out.”

  “Umm, sure I have a few minutes to spare for my future wife.”

  Shantel leads Brandon into their family room, which they rarely use. The white plush $5k mink rug followed by an all-white sofa and love seat that was custom made for her when she visited France a few years ago, was too elegant to be touched. Before entering the room, she removed her black stiletto Louboutin’s looking back at Brandon she noticed that he decided to pull up a chair to keep from having to take his shoes off.

  “Baby, what are we doing? I barely see you and when I do your rushing out the door. The spark is gone, the love is nonexistent. So, what are we doing?” She asks with a concern look on her face, not sure if she is ready for the answer that he is about to give.

  “Honestly? We are building an empire. Baby everything, I do is to make sure our legacy lives on, I need you more than anything please don’t give up on us.” Knowing that he will need to do a little more than feed her a bunch of bullshit in order to keep the relationship alive, Brandon kicks off his shoes and removes his shirt, then proceeds to unbutton his pants slowly removing them and his briefs.

  “Brandon you don’t have to….”

  “You’re my future wife and I’ve been neglecting my husband duties, so let me show you just how much I want this relationship.”

  Brandon caresses Shantel’s face so gently then he proceeds to kiss her lips so delicately and, in that moment, all her worries and insecurities about their relationship had disappeared. She yearned for him, his affection, his attention and now he was giving her that and more. Their kisses grew more intense catching their breath on occasions, he then begins to lay her down on the all-white Versailles sofa removing her all black Versace dress and matching bra and panties set; (Brandon loved that about her, she always wore matching lingerie). After she became unclothed, he caresses her 40DD breast licking and teasing her left nipple while massaging her right nipple with his fingers he then switches from breast to breast teasing her until she is erogenous. She moans and caresses the back of his head as he moves to her belly button kissing every inch of her while continuing to caress her breast slowly. He spreads her legs wider and before he kisses her sweet spot, he hears his phone ring, remembering that Porsha is waiting for him at the airport. Afraid that she will pop up at their house, Brandon apologizes to his future wife, jumps up grabs his clothes and proceeds to redress.

  “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?”

  “Baby I completely forgot about my flight; I am so sorry I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  “Really Brandon, you can buy a new ticket; hell rent a jet if you have too but don’t leave right now, I need you, I want you.”

  “Baby I wish I could, but I told the investor that I’ll be there by 7:30pm and I can’t keep them waiting. I promise you on everything I love I’ll make it up to you.”

  And just like that the door slams behind him. With tears streaming down her face Shantel gets up and runs her a warm bath. Her emotions are running wild leaving her feeling perturbed and distraught, Shantel turned on her playlist and let the melodies of Olivia- (Where do I go from here) play through her speakers and she releases the loudest cry that she’s cried in her life. Never did she think that a man would make her feel flawed and unwanted especially the man, she planned to spend the rest of her life with. After soaking, crying, and praying for over an hour she finally mustered u
p the strength to get up and dry off while moisturizing her silky-smooth skin she whispers to herself…...

  “Shantel you are enough! Don’t ever let a man make you think anything different.”

  She then smiles at herself in the mirror and proceeds to dress. Brandon had awakened a beast that he was not ready to face and without warning Shantel called the CEO of Ruby Ent.

  “Ruby Enterprises, this is Nicole.”

  “Hey, it’s me Shantel from Lavish Lovely’s……”

  “Oh, hey I just told my assistant that I needed to call you, I’ll be in ATL for a few weeks and I wanted to talk to you about a business venture.”