The Wild Child

by Nicole Jackson

  I gazed down at him, as he closed his eyes. “Are you serious, right now?”

  He placed his hands behind his head. “Yep.”

  “Boy, you got me fucked up,” I fussed, as I straddled him, wearing a nightie with no panties.

  “You and that mouth is gonna get you in trouble.”

  “Nah, I don’t think so. But yours will.”

  He gazed up at me. “How is that?”

  “You hurt my feelings,” I pouted, poking out my bottom lip.

  “Girl, watch out.”

  “No, I’m serious,” I insisted. “You’re riding my case, like I be worried about these other boys. I don’t see anybody but you. On God. And it hurts when you believe anything differently.”

  He chuckled. “Girl, get the fuck outta here. You trying to finesse me?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I’m serious. I thought that you knew me.”

  “I do.”

  “Then you should know what I would and wouldn’t do. You should know my heart.”

  “I know your heart, alright. That’s why I’m here with you, but I also know what you do to these niggas. I know what you do to me, and Ion wanna share that. I don’t want nobody even thinking that it’s up for grabs.”

  “Okay, I get that, but my feelings are still hurt.”

  “Well, that’s my bad, then.”

  “Umm-hmm. Now, you have to make it up to me.”

  “And how can I do that?”

  Placing a finger up to my lips, I smirked. “Hmm, let me show you.” I crawled, until I was straddling his shoulders.

  “Man,” he dragged out.

  “What?” I peered down at him. “I thought that you were down for making me feel better.”

  Lifting my nightie, he rubbed my ass. Sensually, I wound my hips, until I felt his tongue connect with my clit. He then flicked away. His tongue was sending jolts of electricity throughout my body, as my toes involuntarily curled. His mouth being there was special to me, because I knew that he’d never done it to any other girl. Together, we’d been exploring everything forbidden, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. With the flick of his tongue, he could make my knees weak, which is what I believe opened the door to a life long addiction.

  Chapter 8

  Almost two years later…

  Jhyrah

  “Usually, when two people are together…for a long time, things seem to change. It’s been said that nothing good lasts forever, but this love gets better every day. Now, I still get all excited inside, every time that we get alone. And he still got love in his eyes. And I still got love in my soul,” the gorgeous Tamia sang beautifully.

  The scene was utterly breathtaking. White orchids and crystal were the theme of the elaborate décor. Clear chairs were perfectly lined on the lawn, leading up to the floral arch. Our backyard had been transformed into something right out of magazines. A scene that some girls could only dream about.

  I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my daddy had somehow gotten one of my mama’s favorite singers to come out and perform one of her favorite songs for their vow’s renewal ceremony. The lengths he’d go to make her happy made me fall deeper in love with their relationship. My daddy literally loved her dirty panties and anything that came from her. I guess that’s why he loved us, his children, so hard. I could only pray that I’d one day have the same thing.

  “Still…Feels like the first time we met. That I kissed, and I told you I love you. We still, yeah, run around like teenagers even though we’re grown and married with kids,” Tamia belted, as my mama and daddy stood in front each other, gazing into each other’s eyes, I’m assuming seeing forever.

  Keeping it sassy, my mama wore a short, strapless, white, sheer, floral printed, custom-made Vera Wang dress, which dipped dangerously low in the back. Her crystal studded Giuseppe sandals brought flare to the look. Her face was beat to perfection, while the dramatic curls in her long hair cascaded down her back. My daddy’s swag was on one thousand as he wore a white blazer by Tom Ford, a button down underneath, which was slightly opened, exhibiting his glistening piece and chain, white distressed jeans, along with platinum spiked Christian Louboutin sneakers. Fuck ghetto chic. They were simply fly, and I’d never been prouder.

  My stomach did flips as I felt eyes on me. Glancing to my left, Jeremy was sitting with his parents, but was openly staring directly at him.

  Acting silly, I tilted my head to insinuate that him staring was annoying. He merely blew me a kiss before cracking a gigantic smile. My heart fluttered like it was my first time encountering him. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the ceremony.

  “Now what’s sadder than an argument, is the thought we may have never been. He's my lover, my baby's father, my lifetime partner and my friend… Still the man of my dreams. And he's still the man for me. And I'm still in love with him, so deeply,” Tamia crooned.

  After Tamia stopped singing, the preacher said a few words, before my parents recited their vows. Of course, my mama spoke first.

  “Yall, I know that yall probably think this whole thing was my idea,” she slightly giggled. “From the marriage to this moment, right now. Most of the time, women ideally want this…but this was all Jahrein. He’d tell me when I was barely fifteen years old that I’d be his wife. I used to brush him off, because, honestly, I thought that he was just sweet-talking me. Growing up, getting married wasn’t the cool thing to do. All we saw was dysfunction, so we didn’t know what we were doing, but Jahrein kept his word. He made me his wife the minute I was legal…even though we were three kids deep by then.” she made everyone outside laugh, including me. “Again, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing, so we made mistakes. Bumped our heads. Jahrein’s heart was good, but he had to learn how to love me properly. As a couple and as individuals we had to find our way. We grew together. Made better choices and grew to be better examples for our children. Two imperfect people came together perfectly in love. At this point in life, I feel so safe with Jahrein. I can trust him freely with my heart and that kind of confidence is something money simply can’t buy. He’s the love of my life and my best friend. If I died today, I’d die a fulfilled woman who has been loved properly. And I know that this thing between me and Jahrein is for life and an eternity after.”

  My eyes welled with tears, as I clapped, hearing the words from my mama’s heart. After the crowd settled down with the oohs awws my daddy spoke his piece.

  “Yeah, it’s true. All this was my idea,” my daddy admitted. “From the kids to this day, right here. The moment I laid eyes on you, bae, I knew that you’d be my wife. I was determined to make that happen by any means necessary. I knew that we’d be married, but I didn’t know much else. Being with you has been a learning process. I wanted to be everything to you, but I didn’t know how. My cluelessness has brought us down some mighty dark paths. We’ve had some huge hurdles, but you remained by my side. For that, I’m forever thankful. You gave me eight beautiful kids and help raise another like he’s your own. Thank you for our newest addition, Reagan. But most of all, I wanna thank you for your patience. Thanks for loving me when I didn’t deserve to be loved. Thanks for believing that I wasn’t who people thought my bad choices made me. Thanks for being the nurturer, giving me and the kids all the love we need. And lastly, thank you for loving me unconditionally.”

  A tear slipped from my eye, as I clapped again. Glancing around, there were several people drying their eyes, including my grandma Tisha. I smiled, seeing her there, happy for my mama. I could recall the times when her and my mama didn’t see eye to eye, but now they were closer than close. My mama would always tell me that she’d learned from her mama what not to do with us, because my granny Tisha and my pawpaw Ray-Ray had made a host of mistakes.

  My parents had the wildest story ever. My mama met my daddy when she went to live with Ray-Ray. Ray-Ray and Tisha had made my mama when they were teens and were no longer together at this point. Oh…and my Auntie Raquel is my granny Tish
a’s best friend’s daughter and her and my mama were born on the same day, but that’s a completely different story. Anyway, my mama and my granny Tisha had fought, leading my mama to run to her daddy. Ray-Ray had recently moved in with Red, who is my daddy’s mama. Yep, that’s right. My mama and daddy met through their parents. My mama moved into Red’s home, where she and my daddy sneakily made my brother Little Jahrein. Then their journey officially began.

  We have the weirdest family around. My pawpaw Ray-Ray was my daddy’s step father, therefore, my mama and daddy both shared him as a father figure. Unfortunately, it took Ray-Ray a while to realize that he was a role model, whether good or bad. Putting it plainly, my pawpaw was a street cat and a male whore. My daddy’s mama, Red, has been with Ray-Ray for years, putting up with his constant infidelities. Then the fact that my daddy saw Ray-Ray as a father as well as a father-in-law further complicated things. Over the years, we’d all been programmed to mind our business, even down to the fact that out of all the women my pawpaw had been with…he seemingly loved Raquel’s mama the most. Auntie Raquel’s mama, Roz, was a just like a grandma to me. Although she and my grandma Tisha has once been at odds over Ray-Ray, they’d grown past that and were now friends again. Therefore, on any given day my mama, granny Tisha, Roz, and Auntie Raquel would be off having lunch somewhere together. We’d all become family, and sadly the only oddball was my granny Red.

  Granny Red was with my pawpaw and accepted his foolishness. She really wasn’t the type of grandma to babysit or anything, because most of her free time was spent chasing my grandpa around. In fact, I’d overheard my daddy discuss how she flat out refused to take JJ in before he moved in with us. It was my daddy’s hope that she'd step in, until my mama was completely comfortable with the situation. However, granny Red claimed that she simply didn’t have the time to care for a child, although she doesn’t work. This was no surprise to me, though, because even when she would keep us, she never actually watched us. Her love life or lack thereof was seemingly her only concern.

  For years, Ray-Ray would play house with both granny Red and Roz. Eventually, Roz cut him off, and my pawpaw hadn’t been the same since. Instead of my granny Red letting him go, like my parents and their siblings had all suggested on numerous occasions, Red blamed the women for Ray-Ray’s actions. That meant that Roz was public enemy number one in her book.

  Personally, I knew the situation closely enough to have an unbiased opinion, which helped me to understand how my parents had gone wrong back in the day. Ray-Ray definitely still had some learning to do and had been a poor example for my parents. His relationship with my granny Red was a mess, and I only really saw him light up when Roz was around. So, I knew that he wasn’t a man who’d followed his heart. Outside of that, Ray-Ray loved his kids and grandkids, but he was a horrible spouse. So, after being guided by him, it was a miracle that my parents had found peace within their union. This is also why we were all teary eyed, laying witness to their growth.

  Shaking my head, I realized that my pawpaw Ray-Ray had slickly sat next to Roz and Little Ray-Ray. Little Ray-Ray was Roz’s youngest son, and my uncle, although I was nearly a year older than him. Little Ray had been conceived while Ray-Ray lived with Red, but none of us viewed Little Ray as an outside child. The reason being, Roz had always been in the picture because she and Ray had Raquel together, which was before my granny Red’s time. Roz had Little Ray years later, but from what I knew, it was no secret that Ray-Ray was seeing her. Red accepted it. He’d even rotate nights at each of their homes. They shared him…openly. This went on for years, and on any given weekend I could be with any one of my grandmas, including Roz. Sometimes when I would go to granny Roz’s with my cousins Keyasia nem, Ray-Ray would be right there. He’d lived with Roz too. Then when I’d see him at granny Red’s, we’d all just pretend that he didn’t have a separate life at another house. We were all welcomed into all homes. However, I’d learned over the years not to address this around granny Red. She’d get all bent out of shape, like she didn’t know that my pawpaw wasn’t exclusively her man. Even if they were legally married. My pawpaw always swears that she’d conned him into marriage, saying that he was drunk that night in Vegas. And I think that he left it that way because Roz had broken things off with him. Currently, Roz was in a relationship with someone else, and it drove my pawpaw insane. He’d literally get mad if he’d hear about any of us being friendly with Roz’s boyfriend, putting us in the middle of his bull crap. And now, he’d use any social or family gathering as an opportunity to sniff after Roz. All the while, granny Red was passively sitting on the front row, pretending that her husband wasn’t pushing up on his ex. Knowing her, she’d probably popped a Xanax or two and was completely zoned out.

  I was still trying to figure out if witnessing all of this was a gift or a curse. I’d definitely learned what I didn’t want and wouldn’t accept, as well as seen things that I prayed my relationship consisted of. Either way, I’d learned plenty and was naïve to nothing. I knew that the world wasn’t peachy, but I’d seen enough light to still vehemently believe in love.

  “Alright, that’s enough,” Jahrae blurted as our parents shared a passionate kiss in front of everyone.

  “I bet their freaky asses can’t wait to get to a room somewhere,” my cousin Keyasia tittered, causing me to cut my eyes at her.

  Keyasia was Raquel’s oldest daughter. In fact, she was Ray-Ray’s oldest grandchild, period. Then of course, my brother Little Jah was next, followed by me. Keeping it real, although some labeled it arrogance, all the females in our family were the shit and Key was no exception. Several people would mistake us as sisters, as we favored a bit. Keyasia’s hue of caramel brown was warm, while mine was a tad lighter. She was three years older, in college, and had one of the biggest mouths in the family.

  “Bitch, don’t be looking at me like that.” Keyasia rolled her eyes at me.

  “Whatever, hoe. Just stop hating. Don’t nobody say nothing when we be catching Kevin and Raquel fucking in the bathroom,” I referred to her mama and daddy.

  Knowing I had her, all she could do was laugh. “Fuck you.” she gave me the finger. “With ya little freaked out ass. You can’t even pay attention to what’s going on, cause you’re too busy giving the twin google eyes.”

  Being that we were all rather close, Keyasia was always around me and Jeremy and she’d picked up on our vibes. For the longest, she’d accuse us of messing around, until she finally caught us one night, when we all spent a night over at her parents’. Thankfully, although she talked shit, she’d never exposed my hand. However, she did take every opportunity to tease me about my low-key scandalous ways. But it didn’t matter now, because the cat was completely out of the bag.

  A little while ago, me and Little Jahrein exchanged words, and things got heated. My brother’s crush on Josairah had turned into reality, as they started secretly dating her senior year. Unlike me and Jeremy, they’d started off at ages where they shouldn’t have to hide anything. Josairah was a senior while my brother was a junior and I doubt that our parents would’ve offered any objections. Josairah was just super-sneaky and liked the idea of being able to fuck freely without any scrutiny from our parents. Therefore, she’d come over and screw my brother. Eventually, she found out about me and Jeremy and kept our secret. By then, yes, I was a few years older, but nothing had changed about my daddy’s overbearing nature. I could openly date Jeremy, but I knew that there’d be too many restrictions, so we maintained a low profile.

  Everything was cool, until Josairah and Little Jah’s relationship became complicated. People didn’t know this about my brother, but he could be jealous as fuck, when it came to Josairah. Anyway, he somehow thought that I knew of Josairah flirting with one of Jeremy’s football friends, because by then, the twins were out in Cali with Josairah in college. Little Jah had recently visited and found out about me and Jeremy while there. He didn’t really trip and couldn’t really snitch because I had dirt on him and Josairah. N
evertheless, me and my brother got into an argument, after he accused me of withholding information. Once things escalated, his dumb ass blurts out that me and Jeremy are going together. My daddy overheard it, so my shit was completely exposed. Thankfully, my daddy still didn’t have any disparaging details, other than the fact that we hadn’t told him about us dating. Therefore, he only got on our asses about keeping secrets. He called Jeremy to lecture him, and Jeremy angrily told my parents about Jah and Josairah. Only Jeremy never actually used Josairah’s name, out of guilt of dry throwing her under a bus. Anyway, not wanting to have people look at Josairah differently, because Jeremy had delivered some very scandalous details, Little Jah lied, claiming that Jeremy was referring to Nancy.

  As fucked up at it may have appeared, my brother was only trying to protect Josairah. He understood like nobody else that our fathers had double standards when it came to their daughters, and hearing about Josairah fucking and sucking in her parents’ home wouldn’t be a good look. Because he didn’t care about Nancy, he was cool with my mama banning her from our house. However, because my mama didn’t care about Nancy one way or another and Little Jah was practically grown, she merely brushed it off, accepting Nancy as my brother’s girlfriend without much fussing. My mama did have a conversation with Nancy, though, and half way through it, Nancy realized that there was no way that Jeremy had been talking about her. Still, Nancy went along with it, thinking that it would bring her closer to Jah. It was basically like she was black mailing him with the threat of telling the truth and exposing Josairah.

  Unfortunately for my brother, Josairah caught him with Nancy and assumed that he was just flat out cheating on her. Now, I can’t say for certain that my brother didn’t slip up and knock Nancy down, because she was obviously assessable at the time, but he wasn’t worried about her. During this time, I was still pissed about my brother telling my business, so I didn’t try to clear things up with Josairah for him. In hindsight, I wished that I had, because it would have prevented so much bullshit.