Never Again, No More 4

by Untamed

  Squaring up, I cleared my eyes of the tears, and I looked at Mike. I shot a searing glare at him, with a stern finger point. “This ain’t over. Trust me. I’ve got my time for you, muthafucka.”

  With that, I walked up to Lucinda, kissed the side of her head, stroked her hair, then turned and left.

  Sitting in my car, I could do nothing but cry. I’d lost Lucinda. I’d lost everything. The only person I had in this world now was Jessica. I willed myself to go home so that I could try to get myself together for her sake. When I arrived home, Jennifer was in my driveway.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, walking past her as she got out of the car.

  “I don’t know. I felt it in my heart that I needed to come by.”

  “Well, feel it in your heart to leave.”

  She put her hand on my arm as I went to unlock the door. “You don’t have to be mean. I’m so sorry about what I caused to happen, and I wanted to check on you.”

  “I’m fine,” I hollered. “I just want to be left alone.”

  Jennifer sighed, folding her arms. “She won’t come back, will she?”

  Her words were another reminder of what I’d endured at Mike’s, and I began to cry again. After I opened my door, Jennifer followed me inside. Leaning against the inside of my front door, I continued to weep, unable to move.

  Jennifer hugged me. “It’s okay.”

  The next thing I knew, she reached up and kissed my tears as they ran down my cheeks, my forehead, my nose, and finally my lips.

  “Jennifer, no.”

  She stood back from me. A few minutes passed before I looked up, and when I did, I saw that she’d stripped down to nothing. “Let me help you to make it better,” she said, gliding up to me.

  I stood there looking at her and then decided, Fuck it. Lucinda didn’t want me, and since I couldn’t get back the woman I loved, I thought, What the hell? If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with. Jennifer took my hand, laced her fingers with mine, and I allowed her. As she guided me through my house, I picked up the bottle of rosé. Then I allowed her to lead me to my bedroom.

  Chapter 18

  LaMeka

  Ever since Tony, or whoever he had ordered, had torn up Gavin’s place, I’d begged Gavin to stay with me. He hadn’t wanted to at first. He had felt like he was being a bitch and running scared. He had felt like no man should run him away from his house. Typical dude. To me, it wasn’t about feeling like a bitch or protecting his manhood. It was about me having the security of knowing he was safe, so he moved in with me for a while to appease me.

  Now our issue was, How in the hell were we going to tie all this activity to Tony? When the police did a sweep, they didn’t find any fingerprints—of course not, not when the perp had gloves on—and since nobody around saw anybody break in, they had no suspects. But we all knew who was behind this foolishness. I’d talked to Tony’s parents, and they felt like it was absurd that I believed Tony would do something like that. However, I had kindly reminded them that they didn’t figure their handsome, straight As–having track-star son would end up with nothing more than a high school diploma and turn out to be an ex-junkie with HIV, either.

  I hadn’t said that to dog him out, but the truth was the truth. Tony Light’s life hadn’t amounted to shit, and the only good thing that had come from his existence was Tony Jr. and LaMichael. Of course, after I’d said that, they had asked me to leave their house and had told me that I wasn’t welcome back. Fine with me. I’d been on my own with the boys without any of their help for so long that it didn’t faze me if they were around or not. I knew one thing: Tony wasn’t gonna keep bothering Gavin. Sooner or later, his lucky streak was gonna run out.

  Despite Tony and his antics, things between Gavin and me were still amazing. The kids and my mom loved him, and he had stepped into the family-man role rather nicely. He always spent time with the boys and made me happy, both in the bedroom and outside of it. I’d never known love like this before. Gavin was my heart and soul, and my only regret was not realizing it sooner. Aside from Tony, everything in my life was perfect.

  I hit the alarm clock, sat up, and stretched. I’d had the most amazing dream. I’d dreamt that Gavin was lying next to me in bed and that we’d made passionate love until the wee hours of the night. Then I looked to my right and realized it was true. He was curled up on his side of the bed, with only his boxers on. Leaning over, I kissed his cheek.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” I said to him.

  He stretched and smiled. “Good morning, baby.”

  “The alarm went off a few minutes ago. We have to get up,” I reminded him, begrudgingly getting out of the bed.

  He sat up. “Can I lie here a few more—” he was asking when suddenly I heard both of his feet hit the floor, and he dashed into the bathroom behind me.

  Turning around, I laughed. “Damn. That was a change of heart.”

  “I saw all that luscious booty going in here, so I wanted to go wherever it was going,” he joked.

  I playfully nudged him. “Damn clown!”

  Gavin went into my closet and grabbed two towels and washcloths while I turned on the shower. “A set for you,” he said, handing a towel and washcloth to me, before we both stepped in the shower.

  Gavin eyed me like a puppy waiting on his treat. He tried his best to behave, so I gave him the permission he so desperately wanted. “My mom got the boys ready for school, and she’s taking them to school today.”

  No further words were needed. Gavin backed me up to the wall of the shower. “Good,” he said as we began to kiss.

  This man was certified hell when it came to lovemaking. You’d think that we didn’t make love until two in the morning. I didn’t mind, though. With loving like that, how could anyone resist? I held on to Gavin for dear life as he slowly rocked me back and forth against the shower wall. With every thrust, he brought us both closer to a completion that could only be described as electrifying.

  As my completion neared, my moans got louder and I bellowed out, “Gavin! Baby! I swear, I’ve never felt like this.” When I exploded, my release was so intense, it felt as if a bomb had detonated.

  Laser-focused eyes were trained on me as Gavin dove deeper, chasing the finish line. “Meka, baby, ooh,” he moaned. “I love you,” he groaned as he came.

  I was so shocked that afterward words eluded me. Realizing what he’d confessed, he turned his face away from me, but I turned his face back toward me.

  “Did you mean it? Do you love me, Gavin?”

  Gavin’s head leaned forward, and we touched forehead to forehead. Holding me in his arms, he drew circles behind my neck with one hand as he held me tightly about my waist, pressing me against him. His labored breathing returned to normal before I felt his head gesture up and down. When his eyes focused back on me, they revealed his innermost secrets. “Yes, Meka. I do. I love you so much.”

  Cloud nine transported me to euphoria at his admission. I leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. All my pearly whites showed as I admitted my innermost secret to him as well. “I love you too.”

  For a few moments, we held each other as the water continued to cascade down our bodies. Standing there, holding my man, I knew that our relationship had come full circle. He was mine, and I was his, and I knew without any more doubts that Gavin and I were meant to be together.

  After a few more minutes of bonding, we actually showered and dressed. When we finally walked into the kitchen, Misha was sitting at the island, eating a bowl of cereal.

  “Good morning, Misha,” we both said in unison.

  “I’m sure it was for you two.” She laughed. “Just in case you didn’t know, your shower has a tendency to echo and carry. You know for future reference.”

  I gasped. “Oh God! Was Mom—”

  “Her and the boys left before your festivities began.”

  My hand covered my heart. “Oh, thank goodness!”

  Gavin laughed. “My bad
, Misha. I’m sorry.”

  She put her hand up. “Don’t apologize to me. It’s her house. She can do what she wants. I’m asking to maybe not hear so much of it next time, ’cause y’all two jiggas was gettin’ it in.”

  “Well, there won’t be too many mornings like this, I guess. You know I’ll be moving back into my house soon,” Gavin said to Misha.

  “Aw, bro-in-law, we like having you around. You should consider staying.”

  “That’s what I said,” I threw out, cutting my eye at him. “He feels like he’s mooching off of me if he stays,” I whispered to Misha, loud enough for Gavin to hear me.

  “Exactly,” Gavin said. “Misha, please don’t start her up on that topic.”

  Misha lifted her hands in surrender. “I ain’t in it.”

  I turned to him. I felt the need to state once more my position on him staying with us versus moving back to his house. “Gavin, I don’t see the issue with—”

  “Look at the time,” Gavin interrupted. “Time to get to work. I don’t want to have to write you up for tardiness,” he said and kissed me on the forehead. “Let’s go.”

  He was lucky that it actually was time to go and that we were driving in two separate vehicles since he had to work extended hours and I didn’t. Lucky ass. Gavin was so traditional about certain things. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was actually staying with me, we probably still wouldn’t have had sex while the kids were in the house. While he was there, he footed all my bills, along with the bills at his place. He had a serious complex about feeling like a woman was taking care of him. I tried to be understanding about that traditional side of his, because in essence, he was right. I’d rather a man want to be the provider than sit on his ass, acting like a bitch. But it was hard to convince him that I didn’t mind, because I knew he was good man, without sounding hypocritical at the same time. He felt like I shouldn’t be so gung ho about taking care of a man, especially after everything I went through with Tony, but for me, it was more about enjoying having Gavin around so we could be a real family.

  An hour later, Gavin walked up to the nurses’ station, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Good morning, ladies.”

  “Good morning, Gavin,” we said in unison.

  “Tracy, can you refill the main supply room for me?” he asked.

  “Sure thing,” Tracy said and left.

  “Okay,” he said, looking at the board. “Let’s see what our patient load looks like this morning.” He looked over everything and assigned us our particular duties for the day. “Brianne, I want you to partner with Jeanine. LaMeka, you partner with Sara. And, Alison, you’re with me,” Gavin ordered.

  My face turned up, and I peered at him strangely. He had put the white chick with him. When he was chasing me, he always put us together. Now he was with the white girl. What the hell?

  “Any questions?” he asked.

  I spoke up. “Um, I have one.”

  He motioned for me to follow him. “Sara, wait here for LaMeka. Alison, I’ll be right back. LaMeka, walk and talk with me.” He walked away from the nurses’ station, and I followed.

  “So, what happened to us partnering?”

  “We’re a couple, LaMeka. Not to mention, I’m staying with you. I don’t want there to be any confusion and conflict. I don’t need anybody saying that either one of us was being unethical,” he explained with a straight face.

  “So you choose the white girl?”

  He chuckled. “Would you rather I had chosen Brianne?”

  Brianne was black, and black women were his preference. He had a point. Still, who cared about what they thought? Most of their nosey asses knew about us or speculated anyway. “No, it’s just that most of them know we’re dating, and they haven’t said anything.”

  Taking a deep breath, Gavin leaned close to me to limit the ear hustling of passersby. “I have to devote my time between the three of you. Don’t you think it will look unethical if my attention is constantly on my girlfriend?” he asked in a whisper.

  He had a point, but I still felt slighted. At least he could’ve told me his intentions beforehand. Since he had put it that way, I backed down. Although I felt slightly defeated. “Okay.”

  “Baby, I’m not trying to not be with you, but I have to balance my time. I can’t let our relationship affect the fact that you’re also a student.”

  I guessed he was right. Well, I knew he was right, but he was still my man now, so hell yeah, I was jealous that another female got to spend the time with him, even if it was job related. Before I could speak, one of the doctors called him.

  “Tell Alison I’ll be right back. We cool?” he said to me.

  “Yeah.” I turned and walked back to the nurses’ station. “Dr. Wilson called Gavin. He told me to tell you he’d be right back, Alison.”

  She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him for you.”

  The other nurses giggled at her comment.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, catching an attitude.

  Jeanine looked at me. “Girl, you know we know you ran over there to ask him about why he didn’t choose you. We all know Gavin is tapping that ass.”

  I was offended. “He’s not tapping this ass, as you say.”

  Brianne fanned me off. “Just tell us. Can the white boy really jump?” She laughed.

  “Go ahead and let them know, Meka. There are some white guys who can put it down just like a black man,” Alison said, hitting my arm. “And the way Gavin looks . . . mm-hmm . . . I know he can definitely put it down.” She high-fived Sara as they all agreed.

  “Well, she doesn’t have to tell us anything. We already heard that Gavin is the shit,” Jeanine said to Sara.

  Sara laughed. “What’s his nickname again, Jeanine?”

  “King Dingalang,” Jeanine said with emphasis. “They said the boy so good, he needs his own slogan.”

  “Go see the king and get crowned with the best service,” Sara announced, making up a slogan.

  “That was pretty good.” Jeanine laughed, as did the others.

  Were those hoes serious? The only reason I didn’t go and chin check any one of them was that it would impact my enrollment and my employment. I couldn’t believe they had the audacity to disrespect me in my face, discussing my man as if he were solely there for their entertainment. True or not, the only person discussing my man’s dick size and stroke was me to him. Nasty hoes.

  “I don’t feel comfortable discussing my private life with any of you. Let’s drop the subject, because I’m not disrespecting my relationship.”

  Jeanine and Sara looked at each other. “She really thinks she has a relationship with Gavin,” Sara said to her.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Jeanine leaned in close to me. “Let’s just say Gavin is the ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ type.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  Sara eyed me skeptically. “Okay. Whatever you say. We know what we’ve witnessed,” Sara said, looking at Jeanine.

  “What’s that?” Brianne asked, stirring the pot.

  She and Alison waited anxiously to listen. Nosey bitches.

  Jeanine explained, “Let’s just say that Gavin has a thing for big-booty black women. It’s all good at first, but after a couple of months of loving . . .”

  “He leaves them,” Sara said, finishing for her. “So your time is probably winding down in a few weeks.”

  “Say what you want. Gavin is not like that with me. I know him,” I said with confidence.

  Jeanine and Sara laughed. “You haven’t met his brother or father, have you?” Sara asked.

  What the hell did his brother or father have to do with anything? I’d wondered why I’d never seen him around his brother or been introduced, especially since they had been raised together, but I had had no idea Gavin interacted with his dad. I had assumed he didn’t know him or didn’t talk to him, since he had never mentioned him. As for his brother, I figured that would come up so
oner or later.

  “No. Why?”

  Sara and Jeanine looked at each other and laughed. “Uh-huh.”

  “Come on, Brianne. Let’s go,” Jeanine said. Then she patted my shoulder. “Poor thing.”

  We all dispersed, and I followed Sara. “What were you and Jeanine talking about?” I asked.

  Sara turned to face me. “Just don’t get comfortable being his woman. Gavin means well, but your relationship is not gonna last. Believe me when I tell you that. Anything else you wanna know, ask your man,” she said as she handed me a chart. “Time to get to work, Meka. Gossip time is over.”

  All day I went about my work, with what Jeanine and Sara had told me on my mind. I’d managed to keep my thoughts contained so that I could remain focused on the patients, but I was bothered by their comments. They’d worked with Gavin for years, so I was sure they had seen and heard a lot more than I had. Part of me was unsure if I should believe them, because I knew a lot of women liked Gavin and wanted him for themselves, but still, there was truth in a lot of what they had said. Gavin did like black women with big butts, he could put it down in the bedroom, the nickname King Dingalang was well deserved, and he did tell me he’d dated a couple of women in the hospital. The way Jeanine and Sara had put it, it was like he’d run up in every black woman who was willing and able to get down. I wanted to brush that off, but that bothered me. If they were on point about all the rest of the stuff, couldn’t they be telling the truth about that? And one thing they’d said was most definitely the truth: I’d never met Gavin’s family. The fact that they were so positive that I hadn’t damn sure made me put more stock into what they’d said, instead of chalking it up to water-cooler gossip.

  “Hey, you,” Gavin said, walking up behind me as I sat outside, eating spaghetti. He sat down beside me on the bench and turned to face me. “Can I get a bite?”

  “I made you some. Did you bring it?” I asked, not looking up from my bowl.

  “Yeah, babe. I don’t have the time to eat. I have some paperwork to do. I saw you out here and decided to come and speak to my baby,” he said before leaning over and kissing my cheek.