Alexis didn’t even know that, and it sounded crazier by the minute.
“Will you excuse me?” Mrs. Paul said, and walked away briskly like she had something in her pants.
Alexis blasted Rasheen with a cold air. “Why did you have to tell her all that? Now she’s gonna start telling people I’m dating a man who belongs to some cult!”
“The Five Percenters are not a cult.”
“I know that, but she doesn’t.” she said, her arms tightly folded. “It’s my name, Alexis,” Rasheen said, his voice tight. “Maybe if you had introduced me, you could have made up something corny like John Brown. Does that sound less ghetto?”
“You didn’t even give me a chance to introduce you!” Alexis said. “Alexis!” her mother called from across the lawn. Her mother waved at her.
Alexis and Rasheen waited until her mother reached them. Alexis hoped he’d finished eating his messy barbecue by then.
“My precious sweetie, so glad you made it,” she said, kissing Alexis on both cheeks.
“This is Rasheen,” Alexis said, as she introduced the two. Her mother stepped back, took one look at his cornrows and tattooed arms, and said a dry “Hello.”
“How you doin’, Ms. Wheels? The barbecue is good. You’ll have to taste mine one day.” He grinned.
“Of coourrse,” her mother said with a long drawl. She stared at his mouth like he had a fungus growing on it, not just stray barbecue sauce. “So, Rasheen, what do you?” she asked.
Alexis began to answer, but Rasheen took over.
“I’m a brick mason. Basically, I work on all the buildings you see around you in the city.” He nosily sucked barbecue from his fingers.
“So you’re one of those street workers?”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said, biting another rib.
Alexis stepped forward. “He works on a lot of the major city contracts. Didn’t you work on one of Trump’s buildings before?”
“Nope,” Rasheen said with a mocking smile.
There was no way she could glamorize construction, Alexis thought.
“Well, I just had to come right over when Mrs. Paul told me you are with some guy who thinks he’s God. Any man who thinks he’s God expects you to treat him accordingly,” her mother said, fanning herself from the summer heat. “Isn’t that right, Raymond?”
“It’s Rasheen,” Alexis said through her teeth. “And he doesn’t think he’s God. Tell her Rasheen.”
“Well, I do think we are all gods. I am a god. So is the black man,” he said, pointing to his chest.
Alexis waved him away like it wasn’t that serious. “Mommy, it’s really complicated.”
“No, it ain’t. Those are my beliefs.”
“I find it delirious and psychotic, frankly.” Her mother laughed, and so did Alexis. Rasheen stood there straight-faced, waiting for Alexis.
“Mommy, Rasheen is not psychotic. Delirious, maybe,” Alexis said, laughing with an uncomfortable grunt here and there. She wanted to make her mother like Rasheen and she thought she could deal with Rasheen liking her, later.
“So now I’m delirious?” Rasheen stared at Alexis, while her mother watched with a smirk. “I think I better excuse myself.”
“Perhaps,” Alexis’s mother said, fanning herself like she was bored. Alexis didn’t say anything.
Rasheen took a few steps toward the door. “You coming?” he asked her.
“I gotta stay, but you go ahead,” she said, immediately wanting to run out with him. She wanted to be with her man, and tonight she was forced to choose.
“Yeah, I’ll do that. I’m gonna go waaay ahead.” With a slow easy swagger, Rasheen walked up to Alexis and said, “Yo, it’s over. Now how delirious is that?”
“Good,” Alexis’s mother said, putting her arms around Alexis as they watched Rasheen walk away. “Now we don’t have to hold on to our purses so tight. And I hope he doesn’t think he can leave here with that plate of food he’s carrying.”
But Alexis felt as hard as a stone, and even more alone than she had before Rasheen walked into her life.
__________
ALEXIS MET DIEDRE for dinner the next evening at Ida Mae’s and broke the news to her. “I broke up with Rasheen.”
“He opened something in your name? Prince tried to pull that shit with me once. I told him I’m not the one,” Diedre said as she sipped on a red wine.
“He killed somebody,” Alexis revealed, her shoulders slumped. She didn’t want to admit the truth about embarassing him in front of her family.
“Who did he kill?”
“He told me he was arrested at seventeen for a petty misdemenor. Now he tells me he stabbed a man to death.”
“Why?” Diedre seemed unmoved. “It must have been something horrible for him to do that.”
“There is no excuse for taking someone’s life.”
Diedre stopped chewing. “Honey, what happened?”
Alexis closed her eyes. “He said he killed his mother’s drug dealer because he was raping her and he was about to rape Rasheen too.”
Diedre reached for her full glass of water and finished it. “My God, Alexis, he was a teenager defending his family. I would think that is more commendable than deplorable. And drug dealers who rape women and children aren’t exactly on the top of my favorite people list.”
Alexis shook her head in frustration. “I don’t know what to make of it. My mom even asked me if he killed anyone. She sensed something about him. She thinks he is just bad news. One way or another, I don’t think Rasheen is for me.” Alexis dabbed the corners of her eyes.
“That is your mother talking, honey. You have to live for you. So you dump Rasheen, and then what? Please your mother? You are almost thirty; you can’t live your life that way. Your mother can’t even please herself,” she said, holding Alexis’s hand.
“I miss him so bad,” she said.
“I think you should first decide if you just miss having him around or if you can really see yourself married to a man like him,” Diedre said as she passed Alexis some tissues.
Alexis responded with a shaky laugh. “I know he is trying to show me how committed he is. I’m just scared. I don’t want to be alienated from my family.”
“When a woman or man marries, he forsakes all others. That is because at some point you gotta be like, ‘Fuck it, it’s time to do me.’ You betta go call that man and work it out. You both may be a little different, but I think you can both feed off each other and be better people.”
Alexis smiled underneath her sadness.
A MONTH LATER, Rasheen showed up at Alexis’s apartment with his Home Depot uniform and open arms. “It’s all or nothing and I want all of you,” he said at the doorway. “Boy,” Alexis sighed. “You done wore me down already,” she said wrapping her arms around his neck. “This time, I’m not gonna just walk away,” he said. He also insisted on paying the utilities with his part-time job as a sales clerk for Home Depot. She loved and respected his independence. With his new job at Home Depot, he bought some supplies and built extra shelves in her kitchen. Nothing had changed from before, except the sex. It had reached a deeper level of intimacy to wake up next to him every morning, see the crust in his eyes, and the feel of his breath on the back her neck.
Soon after, Rasheen moved in. To celebrate their new live-in status, Rasheen surprised her one Tuesday evening at home with Mrs. Shirley’s fried chicken and waffles. Alexis was glad that Rasheen went out his way, or back to his old way, to surprise her with her new favorite meal.
“Has your mother called you back yet?” he asked, spreading some butter on his browned waffles.
“I called like five times, and one of them I told her you had moved in. So I know she is pissed off. I’ll give her a few more months before she knocks on our door.” Alexis fed him a piece of chicken.
“Is that how often you see her usually?” he asked.
“Yes, if she’s not in France or Italy working with art galleries there,” Alexis
said.
“I would really like to get to know her. I doubt she has a good idea on what I’m about.”
“Trust me, she does. That is why she is keeping away. My mother is not the most open-minded person.”
“I’m glad you are,” he said. “Or we wouldn’t be here, right now.” Alexis realized how close she was at losing out on her first meaningful relationship with a man. She didn’t run away like she usually did. She was proud of the two of them for facing a difficulty and getting past it. Sometimes, she wished her parents could have done the same.
Rasheen smeared some syrup on her lips and sucked it off. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too,” she said, and silently thanked herself for growing up. No amount of money or expensive dinners or steamy sex could make her as happy as she was now with Rasheen, sitting on the living-room floor and eating fried chicken and waffles.
Turn the page for an exclusive look at
No More Playas by Brenda Jackson
Truth or Dare by Delilah Dawson
Dirty Little Secrets by Joy King
and Marry Your Baby Dadfy by Maryann Reid
No More Playas
by Brenda Jackson
AVAILABLE NOW FROM ST. MARTIN’S GRIFFIN
Lance crossed the room when he saw Asia and the woman she was with heading toward the door. He made it to them before they got there. “Good evening, ladies.”
If looks could kill, he’d be a goner.
He met Asia’s eyes. “I was hoping that you would dance with me before leaving, Asia.”
She took a step back. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you were hoping wrong because I—”
“I think the two of you should dance together.”
Asia turned and narrowed her gaze at her sister, who merely dismissed the look with a chuckle. “If the two of you haven’t noticed, you’re about to cause a scene. It’s not often you can get two well-known adversaries in the same place. I’d say in a few minutes, the two of you will start getting hounded by reporters, who’ll start asking questions—and they might be questions neither of you want to answer right now. So maybe it’s not such a bad idea to get lost in the mist of the other couples on the dance floor for a while. Besides, I see someone I know over there, a guy who went to college with me at Georgetown, and I want to scoot over and say hello to him, so don’t think you’ll be deserting me, Asia.” Claire walked off, leaving her sister alone with Lance Montgomery.
“Come dance with me, Asia.” And before she could decline, Lance took her hands in his and led her toward the dance floor.
__________
THE MOMENT LANCE took Asia into his arms, she whispered, “You, Lance Montgomery, are an arrogant ass.”
Lance was not stunned by her words, nor was he surprised. “And you, Asia Fowler, are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting.”
She glared up at him. “I’m sure you said the same thing to Rachel Cason that night.” The moment they left her lips, Asia wished she could take back the words. The last thing she wanted was for him to know how much his actions that night had hurt her.
“No, I didn’t tell her that. In fact, I asked her to leave seconds after you did. The only woman who shared my bed that night was you.”
“Am I supposed to believe that?”
“I’m hoping that you do, since it’s the truth. I wronged you, and I want to apologize—”
“Spare me any explanations, and there is no need to apologize. Your true colors came out that night, Lance. I was operating with blinders on, but now I see clearly. All I was to you was a conquest, a challenge, someone you wanted to bring down a peg or two. Well, now the game is over, and I hope you got all the satisfaction that you wanted, and I pray after tonight we won’t ever see each other again. In fact, I’m going to make it a point that our paths don’t cross again.”
She’d stopped dancing and had started to walk off. The only thing he could think about was that she was fighting him, putting distance between them, and he refused to let that happen. With a mixture of panic and desperation, he took her hand in his and quickly led her off the dance floor, to a deserted area outside the hall. He pulled her beneath an empty stairway.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked when they came to a stop, snatching her hand from his. “How dare you—?”
His mouth swooped down on hers, seizing it in a sensuous assault, grinding her lips apart, forcing them to open to him. At first she resisted, as he had expected, but soon he felt the fight leave her, and her mouth slowly opened beneath his. Moments later, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his.
He deepened the kiss as his mouth moved urgently and greedily on hers. He would melt her defenses and put a crack in that wall she had erected.
Lance lifted his head. When he looked down at Asia, her eyes darkened in absolute passion. Then when it hit her what they had done, she stared up at him in seemingly stunned anger. She raised her hand and slapped him. “You had no right to do that,” she said in blazing fury. “I am an engaged woman,” she said, backing up a step. “How dare you continue this game!”
Something snapped within Lance. He recovered the distance. “This is not a game, Asia. I love you.”
“Love!” she choked out the word. “Give me a break. You wouldn’t know the meaning of the word if it came up and bit you in the ass. I hate you,” she all but screamed, not caring who was around to hear her words. Her chest rose and fell in sharp, fuming breaths. She took another step back. “And I’m warning you not to ever come near me again, Lance. If you do, you’ll be sorry.”
She turned and quickly walked away toward the ballroom, but not before Lance saw her tears.
For more visit www.brendajackson.net
Turth or Dare
by Delilah Dawson
AVAILABLE MARCH 2006 FROM ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS
I dare you to kiss me. Right here, right now—”
Kai sucked the last word right off her lips, his tongue delving against hers, her breath trapped. She instantly reacted by clutching him and responding.
Her weak moan drove him to sink his fingers into her hair with one hand and pull her closer to the planes of his body with the other. It was an effort to try to get a grip on his desire and set the pace.
She tasted even better than he’d imagined … wine and melon, heat and need. It was like tasting something forbidden. The world receded until he couldn’t hear anything but her single soft moan, could feel nothing but her subtle surrender, until time whirled around them and they were both gasping for breath. A slight tremor transferred from her body to his, settling into the tightening, hard weight of his arousal.
“Oh my …” She blinked dreamily at him, a drowsy drunken expression on her face.
Kai closed his eyes and tried to force the blindsiding passion from searing through his remaining logic.
Attraction or not, he wasn’t about to take advantage of a drunk woman. He was willing to be her stud provider, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to cross the line and take advantage of her this way. If she were much more sober, he’d have no problem, but she was completely lit.
Her other arm was still around his shoulders and the sex-crazed part of him knew that in a few calculated moves, he could have her dress up, his pants down, and be buried deep inside her… .
He bit back a groan.
She reached up to kiss him again, but he avoided her.
“What?”
“You’re drunk, honey.”
Sonya immediately tensed, her expression changing to cool indignation and embarrassment.
“Nope. Jussa a little tipsy,” she said quietly. “I feel fine. Honest.” The devil in Kai was continuously smacking its forehead against a granite slab. “Honey, you feel so much better than just fine, but we both know you’re not.”
Sonya eyed his lips, her own still puffy from the hard kisses. “But—”
Kai touched a finger to her lip
s detaining her from her mission. The contact was warm and her remaining words trembled there.
He pulled his hand back. “I started this, and I intend to finish it. But you made the rule about respecting each other and we agreed to play by the rules.”
An icy trickle of guilt came at him from nowhere. The words “Truth or Dare” mocked him.
“I guess this is goodnight then,” Sonya said.
Kai ignored the parts of his body that screamed for reprieve. He regretfully looked at her lovely breasts, then adjusted her clothes into some semblance of propriety. “Yeah.”
He rubbed his jaw, the sensuous taste of her still lingering on his tongue. Their eyes met again and he held it, reveling in the sweet need there.
Sonya blushed and looked away, panting quietly, with such polite restraint that it tied him up in knots.
One last kiss, he told himself. One last one to let her know he hadn’t lost interest. He brushed her lips again, just long enough to hear her sigh of longing. The very tip of her tongue flicked over his bottom lip, starting to pull him under again.
It wasn’t until she’d disappeared into her room that he deciphered the words she whispered before the mind-altering kisses.
Carpe Diem.
For more visit www.delilahdawson.com
Dirty Little Secrets
by Joy King
AVAILABLE JUNE 2006 FROM ST. MARTIN’S GRIFFIN
Hi Mark,” I said, trying to sound cheerful although I was be—Z L coming increasingly miserable.
“Listen baby, I know you’ve been working hard and might be feeling stressed.” That was an understatement, I said to myself.
“I’m taking you to dinner tonight, so you can relax and discuss the plans I have laid out for your future. I’ll pick you up at eight.” Dinner sounded nice, but I would’ve preferred an all day spa pass. Sitting with Mark discussing my future as a rap star wasn’t exactly appealing to me. Maybe tonight I would use this opportunity to Explain that to Mark. I hadn’t signed anything and the lawyers were still working out the terms of my contract for the label, which all seemed suspect to me. When Mark originally introduced me to the attorney he hooked me up with, he was rushing me to sign the papers without explaining shit to me. I opted to go with an attorney Ella was dating, and he basically told me my deal was garbage and I would be signing away my life and my first born. I heard Mark’s specialty was fucked up contracts and I told him to forget it. He tried to pacify me, so my attorney and the label’s attorney have been in heavy negotiations ever since.
Mr. Satisfaction Page 25
