Never Again, No More 4

by Untamed

  “Yes, I’d do anything for you and Lexi.” I stared into her eyes with sincerity. “I love you and my family with my whole heart. Your happiness always comes first.”

  She smiled brightly, then lifted herself up on her tiptoes and hugged me tightly. “Aw, baby. I knew you couldn’t be as terrible as it sounded.”

  “Never.” I kissed her. “I just don’t want to lose you as my wife. We took vows in front of God and our children, right?”

  She looked at me and confirmed, “Right.”

  “That means you’re my wife, and I’m your husband. Forsaking all others until death do us part, right?”

  She paused for a few moments and then finally conceded. “Yes, those were our vows.”

  I pulled back and looked her in her eyes. “And I’m keeping them. Are you?”

  She swallowed hard, and I could practically see the turmoil churning inside of her from the seeds that nigga Lincoln had planted in her head when he told her all I’d done. But I knew Charice. Whatever inner demons she was fighting, she’d overcome them. She was loyal, and her sense of right and wrong won out every time, just like it would this time. No matter how she was feeling about what I had done or what she felt about Pretty Boy Floyd, one thing guaranteed that it wouldn’t matter—the vows. No matter why she had married me or what I had had to do to get that ring on her finger, she was my wife now. Period.

  She finally closed her eyes, exhaled, and nodded. “Yes, I’m keeping them.”

  I smiled and kissed her forehead, then hugged her.

  Checkmate. Game over.

  Chapter 12

  LaMeka

  After the entire thirty minutes the police spent at my house, taking statements and pictures of Gavin’s car, they informed us that since the perp never identified who had told him to come over and vandalize the car, they couldn’t do anything to Tony. Well, I sure as hell could, so I hauled ass to his house. Tony and his parents thought they were slick. His mom played me to the left with some old bullshit lie, talking about Tony was gone with his dad. Now, I might have believed that if I hadn’t just seen his dad up the street at his neighbor’s house, and Tony wasn’t with him. I didn’t argue with her, though, but now I knew what time it was on her ass.

  I thought that maybe his dad would be different, so I called him, and he had the nerve to tell me that Tony was at the hospital. I went there, thinking he could be telling me the truth, but Tony’s physical therapist said he wasn’t scheduled until the next day. Slick bastards. They knew he’d done something, or they knew exactly what he had done. After all the time, love, and care I had put into nursing their son back to health, they did me that way? It was all right. I had my time for all of them.

  So guess what? When they called in the future and asked about the boys, those boys would always be gone somewhere with Misha, my mama, Lucinda—any and everybody—because neither they nor Tony was going to see them, not while they caused drama in my life or for my man. Not at all. Hell, none of them were supporting the boys anyway, so I didn’t owe them shit. I was tired of people taking advantage of my kindness and mistaking it for weakness. I had sacrificed myself and my happiness for so many people, and now that it was time for me to be happy, the world wanted to be against me. Fine. I had no problem with it being Gavin and me against the world. If Tony thought his little bitch move was going to draw me and Gavin apart, he had another thing coming. If anything, it had drawn us closer together, because now I was riding hard for my Gavin. Now go run and tell that.

  I’d been so stressed out that my mom suggested that Gavin and I go out and have a little fun, and she even volunteered to watch the boys for us. I was all for it. It’d been forever and a moon since I’d gone out, and as an added bonus, I convinced Lucinda to go out with us. She definitely needed the breather too, with her recent breakup with Aldris and everything else going on in her life. We decided to go out clubbing together at the Velvet Room, one of our favorite old hot spots. We decided to meet up at Mike’s house so we could all ride in his SUV.

  “You are sexier than a muthafucka,” Gavin said, walking into the bathroom. “You are working the hell outta them shorts and heels.”

  A blush reddened my cheeks as I finished putting on my earrings. “Thank you, baby. You look hot too.” I cut my eye at him and admired his light tan slacks, which matched his peach-colored button-down shirt perfectly.

  He walked up and grabbed me by my ass, then pulled me into him. “It’s a good thing we are taking this back to my house after the club, because I got some thangs I need to handle,” he whispered in my ear and then kissed it.

  My knees buckled. That man knew he had an effect on me. “Don’t make me skip this club altogether.”

  Giving me a nonchalant glance, he shrugged. “I don’t care if we do or not. It’s your choice.”

  Biting my lip, I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Lucinda better be glad I love her and that I haven’t hung out with her in a long time. Let’s go before I change my mind.”

  After checking on the boys, I grabbed my ID, and we jumped in Gavin’s corvette, headed to Mike’s. When we got there, Mike answered the door.

  “’Sup, y’all?” Mike greeted us, hugging me and one-arm hugging Gavin.

  “Hey, Mike,” I said, walking inside.

  “Ooh, pimpin’!” Gavin said, admiring Mike’s outfit. “I ain’t got nothing on you pimpin’.”

  Mike laughed.

  “Okay, where is my girl, since y’all doing this male bonding?” I said.

  “I’m in the back,” Lucinda yelled.

  “Once you reach the back, hook a left,” Mike said, directing me.

  I walked into what was clearly a little girl’s room. “I love what you’ve done with the place,” I teased as Lucinda rushed over to me and hugged me.

  “Shut up, fool,” she said as we giggled. She stepped back and admired my outfit. “Girl, work that shit. Gavin got that nose wide open now. You ain’t never been so free with showing your body.”

  “That’s what happens when you have a man who loves and takes care of it the way that Gavin does.”

  “I hear that,” she said, high-fiving me.

  “You talking about me? Look at you.” I admired her ensemble, in awe. Her black, one-shoulder minidress and platform stilettos had her looking smoking hot. “That dress barely covers your ass, and you know you ain’t lacking in that area, either.”

  “Ay, that’s right, Mami,” she said, doing a shimmy while she pinned up her curly hair. “But you know how we do it when we do it.”

  I leaned close to her. “But my question is, who are you doing it for? Be real with me. Are you and Mike . . . you know . . . kicking it?”

  “No, Meka. Mike and I are just friends. In fact, I have a condo a few blocks from here, and I’ll be moving shortly.”

  “So, why did you stay here in the first place?”

  “I told you about my mom and Emilio,” she said, spraying her perfume.

  “Mm-hmm. I feel you on that, I do, but . . . Never mind,” I said, not wanting to start an argument.

  “No. What? Say it. He’s Aldris’s friend?” she asked, cutting her eyes back at me.

  “That and the fact that you two seem really close lately, and you don’t seem to mind all too much. I don’t want to see you jump into something else when your heart isn’t healed, especially with Aldris’s homeboy. That’s just not right.”

  Lucinda spun around, with her hands on her hips. “I told you. We’re friends. That’s it. We’re close because he’s been a really good friend to me, and he understands best, because he’s friends with both me and Aldris. Now, I really don’t want to go out to have to talk about Aldris all night. Besides, you need to worry about your situation with Gavin. Tony is not done with you all, and I’m not one to play the race card, especially being the only Hispanic chick in the group, but this is the South, baby girl. He ain’t the only one who’s gonna take issue with you being with the ‘Cablanasian,’ as you call him.”
r />   That was Lucinda. A hotheaded Latina. I was used to this behavior from my friend, so I didn’t take offense. I knew that I’d overstepped, so I pulled back. I didn’t even take offense at what she’d said about Tony and Gavin, because she was right. My situation was real and present. Hers was just speculation. If she said they were friends, who was I to question it? Therefore, I left it alone and focused on my issues.

  “If you say so, it’s all good. I won’t pressure you,” I conceded. “As for the race thing, we’ve dealt with that a little bit already. You know I get the stares from the brothers when I’m out with Gavin, but my heart can’t help who it loves. Besides, not one of those niggas giving me the evil eye would be worth my time or energy, so I don’t know why they trippin’. As for Tony, I have my time for his ass. Believe that.”

  She lifted my hand and held it in hers for comfort. “They trip for the same reasons sistas trip on me about being with black men. I ain’t black, and neither is Gavin.”

  “Hell, you’re blacker than most sistas.”

  “Maybe.” She shrugged. “But on that issue, personality doesn’t matter. Color does.” She turned to apply her lipstick.

  “You’ve got a point. You ready?”

  “Yep,” she said before popping her lips and turning to face me again. “Well, you know I’m in your corner, because if anybody understands, it’s damn sure going to be moi.”

  “Thanks, hon.”

  We hugged and then walked out to the front to join the fellas. Mike’s eyes widened when he saw Lucinda.

  Friends, my ass.

  “Damn, Mami—” he blurted, then cut himself off. “You look real nice, Lu.” He stood and shook it off.

  “You do too.” She smiled coyly at him.

  Gavin and I looked at each other. Mm-hmm.

  “Come on, Mike. Let’s step back and let the red-carpet couple go first. They doing it celebrity style,” Lucinda said, breaking up the moment between them.

  The entire ride to Velvet, we were straight turned up. We laughed, joked, and rapped with songs on the radio, getting pumped to go in the club and have a good time. We knew a couple of bouncers, so we managed to get in for free, and we even managed to grab a couch.

  “What are you ladies drinking?” Mike asked us.

  We looked at each other and said in unison, “Cîroc and lemonade.”

  Once Gavin and Mike were on their way to grab our drinks and were out of earshot, I addressed the issue of Mike with Lucinda. “Girl, you can say what you want. Mike is feeling him a little Spanish fly. I saw how he looked at you.”

  She giggled and hit me. “Stop, girl. No, he isn’t. I have on a minidress, and I have a butt. What man ain’t gonna look at that?”

  “True. But it was the way he looked.”

  “What other way is there to look at a fine-ass woman with a big ass?” she asked, rolling her eyes at me. “Trust me. Mike is not interested.”

  I eyed her suspiciously. “Is he gay or some shit? Spill it.”

  She nudged me playfully. “Hell no.” She sighed, realizing I wasn’t dropping the subject. “Let’s just say he had ample opportunity to go for it, and he didn’t, because of our friendship and my ex.”

  I gasped. “You ho,” I whispered jokingly. “I knew you were trying to seduce that boy.”

  “No, I wasn’t. I swear it. We only kissed, and he immediately backed me up. It was a moment where I was vulnerable and weak, and he was there like he always is. Girl, I won’t lie. It’s so hard not to be attracted to the man he’s become. I’m fighting it hard, Meka, because when I think about Aldris, my heart breaks, and that’s how I know I’m not over him.”

  “Honey, any man on their grown-man tip is attractive. Believe that. Most of these fools in the world ain’t worth the time it took to print out their birth certificates. I’m telling you, birth control needs to be the hottest commodity on Earth.”

  “You are a mess. But the sad part is that you are so right.”

  Just then, this guy approached us. “Hey, ladies,” he said, smiling at me. “Miss Lady, I’ve watched you since you came in, and I was just wondering if you’d like to dance with me.”

  “Naw, I’m good.”

  “Aw, come on now—”

  “We’re here with our men,” I interrupted him.

  He looked around. “So where they at?”

  “Minding their business, Casanova. Look, Papi. My friend is here with her man, and she turned you down real easy. You may have missed it, but it did happen. Please move along, because you surely interrupted our very private conversation,” Lucinda interjected, annoyance written all over her face.

  “She’s back,” I teased, referring to how Lu used to act a fool.

  “I could’ve sworn I was talking to your friend,” the dude said with an attitude.

  I nodded. “You were, but my friend pointed out what you obviously missed. That little n-o ended the conversation. Keep it pushin’. Thank you.”

  He rolled his eyes and walked off. Lu and I looked at each other.

  “Dude, was relentless, wasn’t he?” I groused.

  “He was about to get his feelings hurt is what he was,” Lucinda said, rolling her neck. “Talking about he saw you when you got here. Well, if he did, he saw you had a man. Ol’ loser-ass fucker.”

  Just then, the fellas walked up with the drinks. “What’s going on?” Gavin asked.

  Taking my drink from his hand, I waved off the incident. “Some dude tried to holla at me, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer at first.”

  “Who?” Gavin asked, looking around.

  “We’re here to have fun. Let that mess go,” I insisted.

  “These nigg . . . I mean dudes, be trippin’ up in here sometimes,” Mike said.

  Gavin laughed. “It’s cool, man. Don’t change the way you speak around me because I’m white. I’m not here to offend you, and I don’t get easily offended.”

  Mike chuckled before drinking a sip of his Hennessy. “You just can’t say what I can say.”

  We all laughed as Gavin nodded and gave Mike pound.

  We all sat there until we finished our drinks, enjoying one another. I noticed that the more comfortable Mike and Lucinda got with the drinks, the more comfortable they got with each other. I’d catch them leaning on each other as they bobbed their heads to the music and joking with each other in their own little world. As a friend, I wanted to step in and pull my girl, but the devilish side of me—which was pissed off, along with her, about the men who pissed on us—was like, “Go ’head, girl, and get your flirt on.” Ain’t nothing wrong with browsing if she ain’t buying.

  Once our glasses were empty, Gavin and I left them on the couch and descended onto the dance floor. I swore God dipped him in the wrong gene pool, because he could boogie too. I’d made up in my mind that Gavin was just bright skinned. Ain’t no way he was white, with all those qualities. Once we were breathless from dancing, we eased over to the bar so that we could sit and rest a bit and so that Gavin could order another Hennessy. As we sat there, I gazed out at the dance floor and saw Lucinda and Mike dancing together. I could tell by their eyes that the liquor was saying what they didn’t have the heart to say to each other. They were good and tipsy, and that action on the floor surely proved that. It became apparent that I was going to have to do a little intervention before the night was over.

  “Your girl is gonna do what she wants,” Gavin whispered in my ear, breaking my thoughts.

  “Huh?” I refocused my attention on him.

  “I know you, baby. You’re looking over there at Mike and Lucinda and wanting to pull her from jumping into a messy situation. I feel you. That’s what friends are for, but tonight is for you to relax. Don’t take on that problem, because Lucinda is clearly going to do what she likes. And if they like it, you love it,” he said, then kissed my ear.

  I turned to face him. “I know. I’m so protective of everyone. I know this ain’t her, and she needs to slow it down, because she’s taking he
rself to a place that she’s not serious about going. Mike is a good dude and shouldn’t be played. He truly cares about her. I see it.”

  He nodded. “True. He does care about her. I can tell how he treats her and responds to her. He wants your girl, but he’s holding on to his loyalty to his friendship with Aldris. You have to stay out of it because they need to work through that on their own. I’m sure you’ve said your piece to her already. She’s grown, Meka.”

  He knew me too well. Begrudgingly, I relented. “I’m focused. Me and you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

  “That’s what I’m talking about.” He kissed me again.

  “Wow. That slave mentality is taking over our black women now. This broad dissed me for a white boy,” I heard someone say beside me.

  Gavin and I turned to see the dude who had approached me earlier talking to some dudes about me, close enough to us that we could obviously hear him.

  “Yo, my man. Are you talking about my lady?” Gavin quickly defended me with an attitude.

  “Oh, man, and he’s a token white guy too. Not secure enough to be white and not black at all to be acting black,” the dude joked to his boys, who laughed at his antics.

  “Aye, yo, pah’ner,” Gavin called out. “You can say whatever you like to your little boys, but you better not disrespect my lady. For real.” Gavin pointed at him.

  “Gavin, baby, don’t trip. Let’s just go dance or go back to the booth. We don’t want no problems.”

  “And I ain’t bringing none, and I ain’t lettin’ nobody else bring none, either,” he said. “Muthafuckas just can’t take no.”

  “Baby, let it go,” I pleaded and tried to pull him away.

  Mike and Lucinda walked over just then. “Is there a problem, Gavin?” Mike asked.

  “Now the field nigger and the house nigger done ran over to check on the boss,” the guy sneered, and his boys doubled over in laughter.

  Mike looked at them crazily. “Yo, what the fuck is your problem, man?”

  Lucinda put her hand up. “That is that fucker who approached LaMeka. Obviously, he’s giving all of us a hard time since he found out her man is white,” she explained. “Y’all, let’s just go sit down.”