The One He Craves

by A Marie Johnson

  “Yes, he has. Britton’s been blowing my phone up like nobody’s business, girl. My mother even said he popped up over to the house, and my father had to force him to leave. I don’t understand what he’s so hurt for, Bria. It’s not like he doesn’t have another woman to fall back on,” I said with a careless shrug.

  “Girl, you know men hate when you’re the one to break it off with them. Getting broken up with negatively affects their pride. They’ll start to feel like you’re the woman who got away, and that makes them want to chase after you.”

  “Yeah. I guess that does make sense and you’re right. But still, he needs to get over himself and move on. There’s no way I’d ever go back to him.”

  Bria sat her wine glass down and relaxed against the fluffy couch pillows.

  “Oh, I know. You don’t have to tell me that. You’ve been waiting long enough to leave, and I know you didn’t plan on leaving him yesterday, but I’m glad you did. That deadweight is finally off of your shoulders, and I know it has to feel good. Plus, I always told you that you should come live with me, anyway. I’m happy to have you as my roomie.” She smiled and grabbed one of my hands.

  “Thanks again, Bria. I would’ve had to move back home with my parents if it weren’t for you and your new apartment.”

  “Girl, stop thanking me. You know I’d do anything for you. Now, let’s talk about what you’re going to do if you see Andretti again?”

  Before I could answer her, my phone vibrated on top of the coffee table and I was completely shocked by the name flashing on the screen. I hadn’t heard from the person in years. Seven to be exact.

  “Bria, why is Emani calling me?”

  “Who?” she asked, and I could tell she was genuinely confused.

  “Emani! My cousin. The one who…”

  “Ohhhh…” Bria’s voice dropped a few notes, and her eyes widened. “What the hell could she want? With her ho’ing ass. I still wanna beat her up for what she did to you.”

  Emani played a big part in the betrayal I experienced dealing with Exon. She was supposed to be my best cousin and one of my dearest friends, but she stabbed me in the back when she allowed him to take her virginity while he and I were dating. And although I’d long been over what they did to me, I hadn’t spoken to either one of them since it happened.

  I truthfully started to get a bad vibe from Emani way before the incident occurred and was going to be done dealing with her anyway. She was fashioned after her uppity mother, and as we developed into our teenage years, she started to act as if she was better than everyone around her – much like her mother always had. Her father was my father’s brother, and according to my parents, when he married rich he started to change. He and his wife never really came around my family much, but when they had Emani, they relied a lot on my parents for help with taking care of her while they worked long hours. Growing up, she spent the night over my house almost every weekend up until I found out about what she and Exon had done. After their secret was revealed by a neighborhood friend of mine, I cut her and him off and never looked back.

  “She’s calling you again, Nim. Are you going to answer?”

  Watching the phone ring, I debated with the decision to answer or not. After a few seconds of seeing her name come up on the screen, I decided to decline the call. I wasn’t in the mood to hear whatever she had to say. Not at the current time in my life.

  “Oh my God, Nim. She won’t stop. Somebody might’ve died or something. You might wanna answer that,” Bria said with a nervous smile.

  I didn’t mean to laugh but I couldn’t help it.

  “It’s actually not her this time. It’s a text message from Steeze, the rapper I told you about earlier.”

  Steeze: What’s good, ma? I was wondering if you got a chance to get ahold of one of the DJs I told you about? I’m looking to pay on everything else needed for the party ASAP.

  “Oh shit!” I screamed, and Bria jumped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, but I totally forgot to reach out to the DJs Steeze wants to hire. I’m slipping so bad right now.”

  It wasn’t like me to forget to do anything when it came to a client, and an anxious feeling started to creep over me. Breaking up with Britton last night completely threw me off of my schedule and knocked me off of my square. I couldn’t stand to feel like I was losing control over things I planned and my palms began to sweat because of it.

  Bria picked up on my anxious behavior and grabbed one of my hands again.

  “Nim, it’s going to be OK, honey. You are not losing control over your life again. Stop worrying and just give one of the DJs a call. I promise everything is going to be fine.”

  I gave Bria a weak smile and nodded.

  “You’re right. Let me calm down and find their numbers.”

  Scrolling through me and Steeze's text thread, I found the numbers for DJ Hitta and DJ Quick. DJ Hitta’s number was typed up first, so I tapped on it and waited for someone to pick up. The seconds seemed like hours as the line rung, and I was almost certain I was going to get the voicemail box until he answered the phone.

  My God…

  He answered the phone!

  “DJ Hitta speaking. What’s good?”

  My body stilled at the sound of Andretti’s voice, and I was rendered speechless until I remembered how rude his ass was to me the last time I saw him. I cleared my throat and rubbed my hands down my jeans to help steady my voice.

  “Andretti, this is Nim and…”

  The incredibly sexy, sweet, and deep voice I’d been approached with the night I met him rumbled lowly in my ear.

  “So this is Nim’s beautiful ass, huh?” The smile I heard in his voice unwillingly made me smile too. I hated how easily he was able to control my reactions and emotions. “I take it this is business and not personal then?”

  “Uhhh…” I stammered. Trying to remember why the heck I called him in the first place. It was too easy for Andretti to have my mind gone too. “Mmm… yes. Yes. This is about business. I have a client who would like you to DJ at his mansion party, and I’m wondering…”

  “I don’t do business over the phone, baby. I’ll text you the location to my office, and you can meet me there on Sunday because I’m not available tomorrow. Is that cool with you?”

  Swallowing back the lump in my throat, I nodded my head yes thinking he could see me, and Bria slapped me hard on the thigh.

  “Ah!” I yelped. “I mean, yes. Yes. That’s cool with me.” I hurriedly tried to clean up my earlier outburst.

  Andretti’s loud chuckle thundered through the phone and it made me giggle at a time I probably should’ve felt embarrassed.

  “Cool, cool. I look forward to seeing you, Nim. Be easy until then, mami.”

  I tossed the phone onto the other couch as soon as he hung up and screamed into one of Bria’s pillows, wondering why the hell I couldn’t shake this fine ass man from my life or system.

  8

  Andretti

  “Yo! You got trouble coming your way, brah. And shit, you might need the strap with the way she’s storming over here,” Keyon yelled over the loud music we were spinning.

  I looked in the direction he was pointing to and saw Emani power walking toward the DJ booth in a pair of too-tall, black heels. Exon’s party had surprisingly been going on for the past three hours with no issues. Keyon and I gave a slight head nod to him and his crew when we arrived at Rhythmz Lounge, and they’d been in the VIP section chilling since, but of course, anywhere Emani was present trouble followed behind her. The way she wobbled up the stairs, and her low-lidded eyes, let me know she was most likely drunk and high as hell.

  When she made it up to the booth, she shot Keyon a nasty look before she turned her attention to me and pushed one of her fingernails into my chest.

  “Bit—” Keyon started to say something to Emani, but I stopped him.

  “Chill, Key. Remix what you’re playing right now with that Tory Lanez “48 Floors” joint while I talk to her.�
��

  His ass was high, and low-key drunk too, and it wouldn’t take long for him to have Emani crying and trying to fight both of us. I pulled her off to the side of the booth and folded my arms across my chest, hoping whatever she wanted to say would be quick.

  “What’s good, Emani? What you need?”

  Emani used all of her strength to push my folded arms and glared at me.

  “What do I need, Dretti? Are you serious right now? I need you to stop acting like you don’t fucking know me! Like you weren’t just in my bed Monday night, nigga!”

  “First of all, ma, you gon’ watch yo’ mouth around me and keep your goddamn hands to yourself. You know I don’t do well with disrespect and that handsy shit.”

  The cold eyes I gave her made her step back a little bit, but she was still too close to my damn face.

  “You ain’t shit, Dretti! I don’t even know why I still like your dumb ass because you stay giving me reasons not to! I needed something really important from you, and you wouldn’t even hear me out about it!” Emani screamed with tears forming in her eyes.

  Fuck! Something told me not to give her wild ass the dick. I didn’t have time to deal with the type of bullshit that came along with messing with her.

  “Look, Emani. I don’t know what you got going on right now, ma, but it really doesn’t concern me, and I’m tryna work right now so…”

  Emani began raining small blows against my chest as she yelled at me. “I hate you, Andretti! I fucking hate you! I swear I can’t stand to fucking look at you!”

  “Aw hell nah!” I heard Keyon yell from the booth.

  Everything going on transpired too fast, and I didn’t have any time to react. One minute Emani was punching me and the next Keyon was rolling up on her and her homegirls as they pulled her off of me.

  “Y’all need to control y’all drunk ass friend!” he yelled at the two women and mugged Emani up and down. “And you need to keep yo’ muthafuckin’ hands to yourself before I have one of my homegirls in here handle you! Get the fuck on somewhere with all that rah-rah shit. Niggas are in here tryna work, and you’re causing unnecessary drama. Damn! You better learn how to let go, Emani. This shit you’re doing ain’t cute, ma!”

  “I’m so, so sorry,” Teesha, one of her friends, apologized. “We didn’t know she had come over here until we heard her yelling. You know me, Dretti, I don’t do that drama shit. We’re about to take her home now.”

  “You’re good. Y’all be safe,” I told Teesha with a nod. “Emani, get yo’ shit together, ma. Stop moving so reckless out here.”

  Emani shot me the bird and yelled, “Fuck you, Dretti,” as her homegirls dragged her into the large crowd.

  “Yo. You really need to stop fucking around with her wild ass, Dretti. That shit she pulled could’ve went left real fast. She’s the type of woman that’ll have you up under the jailhouse if you’re not careful.”

  “You don’t have to say no more, Key. I’m past done with her.”

  Keyon patted me on the shoulder and motioned toward the bar area of the club.

  “Go get yourself a drink, brah. I know your nerves gotta be hot. I’m about to spin these last few tracks before they shut the party down. The crowd is starting to get rowdy, and I wanna be out the way when shit pops off.”

  I dapped him up and nodded.

  “Cool. Ima do that, and I’ll be back up here with you.”

  “Word.”

  After the stunt Emani pulled, she was cut off for life, and Keyon was absolutely right. She was the type of woman who would put you in a situation that could land you in jail if you didn’t react with a leveled head. I didn’t know what the important thing she claimed she needed from me was, and I didn’t even care. I knew she wasn’t pregnant because I never smashed her without a condom, and anything other than a circumstance like that one was irrelevant to me. Emani could take whatever she needed to say to the grave with her, and I would never wonder what it was.

  Once I made it through the crowd and to the bar, I whistled at the first available bartender and shot her a smile.

  “What’s good, ma? Can I get a Henny and Coke, skip the rocks?”

  “Of course! I’ll have that right up for you.”

  I pulled my phone out while I waited for the woman to come back with my drink. I stored Nim’s number in my personal phone after she called me about a DJing opportunity and had been debating between texting her tonight or waiting until tomorrow night when we met up to speak to her. If anybody had anything important to say, it was most definitely me. I owed Nim too many words after the way I spoke to her at Longhorn Steakhouse.

  “Here’s your drink.” The bartender slid my drink to me and smiled. “I was told it’s on the house too so enjoy.”

  “‘Preciate it.”

  As I stood up to make my way back to the booth, I heard two familiar voices rise in the crowd. Two voices that I knew for damn sure shouldn’t have even been speaking to each other, let alone arguing with each other.

  “I can’t believe you told me I couldn’t come to this party just so you could be around a bunch of bitches!” Aniya yelled at Exon, and my feet couldn’t have moved any faster.

  My heart was beating a thousand miles per hour as I pushed my way through the crowd, and I knew the look in my eyes had murder written all over them. The devil was working overtime tonight because I was liable to go to jail for real if Aniya was messing around with Exon’s dumb ass.

  “Ma, you need to fucking relax! I told you to stay your ass at home because you’re steady nagging a nigga to death. Chill out sometimes, man.”

  The little cool I had left in me was lost the second I saw the tight grip Exon had on my sister’s arm. There was no time for him to react or let go of it when I rocked his head with my fist. He stumbled backward gripping the side of his face, and Aniya stumbled off to the side of us. I grabbed him up from the floor by the collar of his T-shirt and sent another blow to the top of his nose. Exon tried to punch me back, but his big homie, Domo, snatched him up quickly. I almost lost it again when I felt someone come up from behind me and pull me back by the neck, but I heard their voice at the perfect time.

  “The fuck is going on over here, man? Dretti, you good, nigga?” Keyon asked and kept his arms tight around the front of my chest. “What the fuck happened?”

  “I swear on my life, y’all need to get that nigga the fuck out of my face before I dead his muthafuckin’ ass!”

  “We don’t want no problems, Dretti. I know that’s yo’ sister and—” Domo’s reply was cut off by Keyon.

  “Wait a muthafuckin’ minute. Exon, I know yo’ grown-muthafuckin’-ass is not messing around with Dretti’s baby sister?”

  “Nigga, what I do doesn’t concern you or yo’ homie,” Exon said as he wiped the blood running from his nose, and if Keyon’s arms weren’t wrapped hella tightly around me I would’ve bloodied it again.

  “You better be lucky I have a little respect left for yo’ big homie because he’s the only reason I didn’t kill yo’ dumb ass!”

  “Dretti! Stop!” Aniya screamed, and I could tell she was crying by the shakiness of her tone, but I didn’t bother to look her way.

  I couldn’t. As mad as I was, I was liable to kill her right now too. The reason she’d been moving shakily lately became too clear. She was hiding her relationship with Exon from me and our family because she knew good and well she shouldn’t have been dealing with him.

  “Domo, you approve of this shit, nigga?” Keyon asked with disgust. “She a fresh fucking eighteen. That nigga is going on twenty-six, and you know the family she belongs to. Mannnn…” He let out a long, heavy breath and shook his head. “The game has really changed because that shit should be unacceptable. I don’t even give a fuck that this is his party, get that disrespectful nigga up out of here before I let Dretti loose.”

  The ride to my father and Bebe’s house had been silent for the past fifteen minutes until Aniya decided to say something she knew would get un
der my skin.

  “He’s just like you and Daddy.”

  I don’t know why she insisted on continuing to try her hand with me tonight. I had to walk away from her after Domo drug Exon out of the club because she wanted to argue with me about why I wouldn’t let her go with him. If it weren’t for Keyon, I would’ve yanked her up against the nearest wall and whooped her like our father should after I drop her off at home.

  “He isn’t anything like us, Niy. We may have been involved in the same things, but he is nothing like me or our father, and don’t ever let some shit like that come out of your mouth again. Exon is a snake ass nigga, and you gon’ get bit rolling around with his ass.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw her fold her arms across her chest and pout.

  “You’re not my father, Dretti,” Aniya muttered under her breath.

  “You’re damn right I’m not, and I don’t wanna be because if you were my daughter I’d whoop your ass. How do you think our father would feel knowing you’re out here moving around with a reckless nigga?”

  “Just stop talking to me, OK!”

  I gripped the steering wheel tightly and chuckled. I’d been around the block long enough to know once a good girl got a taste of a hood nigga the only person who could make her leave him alone was herself. There was nothing I could say to keep her from messing around with Exon, and the things I could physically do to stop it would land me in prison.

  “You know better, Aniya. That’s all Ima say. I still can’t believe nobody told me you’ve been messing around with that nigga of all people.”

  “They didn’t tell you because they knew you’d blow up as you did at the club! I’m a grown woman, Dretti! You can’t stop me from being with who I want to be with.”