by Jahquel J
“It’s Sunday, Yoshon. The bank is closed,” she got offended. Hell, TD bank opened on Sundays, I thought other banks would have followed their lead by now. “I’m going to the nail shop and then gonna check on my mama,” she informed me.
“Ight, bet. So, we’ll talk later. Let me go shower and get back in the bed,” I fake yawned and she got the hint.
“Alright. We need to chat about Valentine’s day,” she reminded me like she had been reminding me for months already.
“Yeah. We’ll do that.” With that, I quickly ended the call.
Shorty wanted to act a damn fool when I took her out and now wanted to discuss Valentine’s day. I never understood celebrating that damn day anyway. How the fuck were we celebrating love and shit when a massacre happened on the day? If you asked me, the shit didn’t make no sense to me. I put my phone on the charger and then went to shower so we could enjoy our day. Eva’s ass needed to chill and stop being all clingy. I liked her ass because she wasn’t like that, but now she was becoming the very thing that I despised.
By the time I showered, shaped my face up and got dressed, Golden and Gyan was downstairs in the living room waiting. When I came down the stairs, Gyan stood up, excited that I was done.
“About time,” he blurted and Golden shoved him. “Sorry, Mom,” he apologized with his head down.
Golden stood up, and she was dressed in a pair of jeans, Ugg boots and a sweater. It was the simple shit she wore that made me attractive to her. She wasn’t trying to stomp around a zoo in six-inch heels like Eva’s extra ass would. She was dressed casual and it still looked good on her. The way the jeans clung to her body made me shift my dick in my pants.
“How you going to wake me up and take forever?”
“You trying to have me out here looking like fucked up and shit?”
“Ugh, okay, Diva,” she giggled. “Did you want me to drive or…” Her voice trailed off.
“Nah, you can drive. I wanna be chauffeured around today. Right, G?”
“Right!” Gyan dapped me as we headed out. I set the security alarm and handed Golden the keys to my Tesla.
She hopped right behind the wheel as if she was comfortable or something. I watched as she worked the car like she been in this shit before. “Shorty, not too many people know how to work and drive a Tesla.”
“Uh, I been in one before. My cousin’s man had one,” she stammered and focused on the road. She had already put the zoo’s address into the GPS in the car and maneuvered the streets with ease.
“About last night,” I tried to bring up and she put her hand up.
“We don’t need to talk about that,” she quickly blurted with nervousness. I could tell from the way she kept messing with a piece of hair that this conversation made her nervous.
“We don’t need to talk about it right now. I’mma let you rock for now, but we finna talk about it later.”
“Yeah, if you say so,” she said, waving me off. Golden didn’t know me. If I said we were going to have a conversation, we were going to have a conversation about the shit.
Golden backed into the parking lot with one hand. Shorty was experienced with driving my whip; she acted like she been whipping this shit around her entire life. Gyan was so excited to be at the zoo that he took off running toward the entrance of the zoo. Me and Golden walked side by side. I could tell she wanted to bring something up but kept fighting with herself if she was going to do it. Smirking, I already knew that kiss was on her mind. She knew she enjoyed that kiss as much as I enjoyed that shit. If it was up to me, I would have carried her ass up to my bedroom and finished what we started downstairs. Golden wasn’t that type of woman and I realized that when she took off running to her bedroom.
“Pit Pat called this morning. She kept calling so I answered on the phone in my bedroom. Sorry, I was tired of hearing the phone.”
“Nah, you good. The house phone in my bedroom is unplugged. When Pit Pat gets to calling and playing phone tag with her sisters, that shit ringing gets on my nerves. What she say?”
“She said that she’s going to stay over your sister’s house for a few more days. I told her I would pass on the message to you.”
“Oh, word. She probably gonna be on Yolani’s nerves.,” I laughed. Pit Pat went over to Yolani’s house a few times to help clean up after her and Hazel. Between Yolani never being home and Hazel running the salon, they never had a home-cooked meal. Pit Pat took it upon herself to go over to cook, clean and do anything they needed. This was what made her happy, so she did it with a smile on her face. Not to mention, she knew she would get to spend more time than she usually did with Yolani.
“That’s cool. I know she over there treating Yolani like she’s a baby.”
“Your sister doesn’t come around or something?”
“She does… just not often. Too busy handling business.”
She smirked. “I can tell. From what her wife was explaining, I could tell that she works a lot. She do what you do?”
“What I used to do.”
“Uh huh. Where’s your mom?”
“Why you got so many questions? Where’s your moms?” I shot back as I slid a hundred dollar bill to get into the zoo. The man handed me my change and we kept it pushing. “You got all these questions, answer some of mine.”
“My mom didn’t want me. I could of sworn I told you that.”
“Nah, you told me about your grandmother raising you.”
“Oh. Well, there you have it. What about you?”
“My pops killed my moms. Yolani witnessed the whole thing and she ain't been right since she saw that shit.”
“And what happened to your pops? Is he in jail? Do you still have a relationship with him?” she continued to ask me all these damn questions.
“Can you have a relationship with someone in the afterlife?”
She looked down when I told her in so many words that the nigga was dead, and it was most definitely wasn’t from natural causes. “I’m sorry,” she apologized like it was her who pulled the trigger.
“What you sorry for? It’s life and shit happens. Tell me about his father… what kind of nigga allows his seed and baby mama to struggle?”
“He’s not in his life. It was one of those things that shouldn’t have happened, but it did. I got my son out of it, so I came out winning.” I could tell she didn’t want to get too deep into the situation with Gyan’s dad.
“Come on, let’s go look at the tiger. Mama, you think we can pet them?” Gyan stared at his mother with pleading eyes.
“We’ll see.” She smiled and allowed him to pull her ahead of us. I walked behind them and watched as he showed her the different animals and told her things about them. Gyan was smart as hell, and I knew Golden had apart in that. She was intelligent herself, so his vocabulary and maturity was all because of her.
It had been an hour since we got to the zoo and Gyan seemed to be having the time of his life. He knew so many facts about the animals that even I had to fucking google to see if what he was speaking was true. The zookeepers were showing the kids how to handle the baby ducks, so me and Golden sat on the bench while they taught them all about the different animals.
“You done running? Or you got a few miles left in you?”
She messed around with her hair and smiled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, you kissed me and then ran the fuck upstairs like I was the fucking devil or something.”
“I kissed you? Okay, someone clearly has a issue with reality, and you kissed me.”
“Ight, I can admit that. I kissed you and I liked the shit. Shit, I wanna do it again, if you would let me.”
She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Yoshon, I’m not about to go through this with you. I’m not dating right now, and if I was, you wouldn’t be who I would think about.”
“Me? Why not? I’m a good ass dude.” I acted like I was so hurt by what she said.
“You’re in a relationship and I don’t need to be dating s
omeone who is basically taking care of me.”
“I’m not in a relationship, and I’m not taking care of you. I pay your bills? Nah, you just staying in my crib until you’re on your feet.”
“Yeah, but you provide my meals, shelter and if I needed to borrow any money, you would be quick to hand it up to me. We can’t date.”
I moved closer to her and placed a kiss on her cheek. She tried to jump up but I snatched her down and pulled her on top of my lap. Placing a kiss on her lips, she allowed me and didn’t put up a fight. In fact, I felt her pucker her lips up for one of the kisses I placed on her lips. When I was done, I allowed her to sit up, and she couldn’t even get the words she needed to out of her mouth.
“When I want something, I get what I want. It don’t matter how long or what I got to do, I’m gonna get what I want, and you got my ass wanting you.”
“You don’t want me, Yoshon. I’m just a woman that don’t have her shit together, trying to piece it back together. You like the idea of me.”
“Fuck the idea of you. I want to fuck the shit out of you, then make you breakfast in bed because that’s the type of nigga I am.” She was about to say something, and I stood up.
Long as she knew that I was going to be after her ass, that’s all that mattered. Last night that kiss did some shit to me. I spent the night tossing and turning and debating if I should creep down the hall and wake her ass up. Instead, I went to sleep and prepped myself for the morning. As I neared Gyan and the other kids, I could tell she was still there stuck on stupid thinking about what I told her. At the end of the day, when I wanted something, I got it, and Golden was who I wanted. Yeah, I had the situation going with Eva, but all I needed was shorty to give me the word, and that would be a wrap.
14
Hazel
“Why can’t we just lay down and hang out? Every time I come over here, you’re trying to get me to make life-altering decisions because we fucked. It’s not fair, Denim.” I sat up in the bed naked as the day I was born.
He came out the bathroom from brushing his teeth. I admired his body and licked my lips. If I wasn’t so upset with him, I could go another round in the sheets. Each time I came over, he wanted to talk about what I was doing with my marriage to Yolani. Right now, I didn’t have all the answers he wanted me to have, and I wished I did. I wished I could tell him that I was going to get a divorce, move out our home and be alright. Those were all things I couldn’t answer right now. One day I loved Yolani, and the next day, she would come home early with flowers and wanted to cuddle in the living room while watching our favorite movies. When she did things like that, it was what made me love and miss what we had. Yolani was home a lot more, and that meant my time with Denim was more limited, which didn’t make him happy. I understood that while she was running the streets, he was the person who was there for me.
Denim was my escape and the reason I ran to the comfort of his arms when me and Yolani were on the outs. He was becoming a stress in my life with all his questions and shit he expected me to do. How did he think I could just finish a marriage just off the word of him? He wanted to be with me and he didn’t have a problem expressing that.
“Nah, what the fuck I’m not about to be is your fuck buddy. When shit gets tough at home, you come here for some dick and to be consoled. That’s not what the fuck I’m here for!” he raised his voice at me.
“You know that’s not true,” I ripped the blankets from my legs and stood up. “I come because you know I care for you.”
“Yeah, how much? Your ass only wanna be bothered when her ass dip the fuck out to check on business. Then you on my line whispering to me about how much you miss and can’t wait to see me. Hazel, you on some bullshit, for real.”
“I’m on some bullshit? You’re on some bullshit. You want me to drop everything I’ve ever known to come and be with you. In what life do people do that?”
“People in fucking love.”
“How do you expect me to pick? I love my fucking wife. She’s dead ass wrong with the way she moves, but I love the shit out of her and can’t give up on her… on her.” My chest heaved up and down because I was scared. Denim had this look in his face that told me he was fed up.
He wanted me to be flaunting my affair around like the shit was cute. When Mo told me that I needed to be careful, I should have listened to her. He cared about me and cherished me just like I wanted. Instead, I bickered and fought him over his love, and went home and tolerated Yolani’s ass. What was with us women? When we had a good man standing in our face, we continued to mess around with what we knew wasn’t good for us.
“Just like her ass swung you on the fucking floor and went out to do what the fuck she wanted. Who did you call? Who ran you a hot bath and made love to you all night? I did, Hazel. What you’re missing is that I love the shit out of you and I’ve never stopped. We were supposed to be married with a kid, not you with this chick. I gotta sit back and watch the love of my life get walked on by someone who took vows to love her. The shit ain’t fair, ma.” I tried to grab him, and he snatched his arm away from me.
“I’m trying, Denim. You’re not seeing things from my point of view. You’re not seeing that I’m the one who has to make these decisions, not you. I have to leave my wife and make sure it’s something that I can live with.”
“Make sure it’s something that you can live with?” He screwed his face up and walked out the bedroom. I grabbed a shirt and followed him into the living room.
“Yes. You don’t know how much pressure I have on me right now. I have to be the one that’s fine with ending a marriage. I didn’t get married to get divorced, Denim. What would my parents think? Did you ever think about that?”
“Stop fronting like your parents like your wife. They might throw your ass a party,” he snickered and poured him some orange juice.
“It doesn’t matter if they like or dislike her ass. I’m married to her and that would fuck with their lives too. It’s a lot that has to go into consideration, and you’re not being fair.”
My phone rang from the other room, so I went to answer it. Before I could grab it, Denim rushed into the bedroom and snatched my phone. “Tell me why I shouldn’t answer this shit and tell her that you’re mine.”
“Because I’m not yours, Denim. I’m married!” I screamed and snatched my phone. From his expression, I could tell I hurt him. He was in his feelings as he left back out the bedroom and I answered the phone.
“Yes, Yolani?”
“Why you gotta answer the phone like that, sexy?”
I blushed slightly. It had been a while since she showed me the attention that she was showing me lately. “I’m finishing stuff up at the shop and then heading home. Why? What’s up?”
“I’m wrapping up shit on my end too. I wanna take you out to dinner tonight, so go home and get sexy,” she told me.
I knew I shouldn’t have been smirking in this phone like a school girl, but I was. My wife was finally doing stuff that I wanted her to do. Was I wrong to be so excited? It made me want to work on my marriage. Yolani was flawed, and I didn’t want to give up on her, but I also didn’t want to let Denim down too. My heart was with him too. All my old feelings I thought had gone away had come flourishing back into my heart. The way he was so patient and caring when it came to me made me fall for him even more. Whenever I was around him, I never had to lift a finger. I never had to hint about wanting to go out, because he already had plans and was just waiting for me to get off work. It was night and day when it came to Yolani and Denim. Still, I loved them both, and I felt like a boulder was sitting on my shoulder because I didn’t know what to do.
“Awe, where we going, babe?” Just as I said those words, Denim walked into the bedroom and just stared at me.
“We’re going to Prime 112,” she disclosed.
“Um, babe, that’s in Miami… how t—”
“Different state, I don’t care. Get sexy because my friend is allowing me to use his jet. Don’t
pack clothes because we’ll buy clothes when we get there,” she informed me and the butterflies in my stomach was swirling.
“What about the salon and Pit Pat?”
“Pit Pat is going to stay and watch the crib, and you pay all these people to run the salon. They can handle it for a few days. We need some time away and I’m ready to have my wife all to myself,” she said all the right things to me.
“Okay, let me finish handling this, and then I’ll meet you at home.” I smiled. There was no hiding the smile that Yolani Santana had put on my face.
“Bet. I love you.” She told me.
“Love you too, Lani,” I cooed and ended the call.
I gathered my clothes and got dressed quickly. Miami was the quick trip that I needed to put everything into perspective. Holding my heels in my hand, I headed into the kitchen where Denim was sitting with scotch in a cup.
“Hey, may—”
“I’m straight, Hazel. You don’t need to handle anything. We’re good, go ahead and go home to your wife,” he told me, not bothering to even look my way.
“Why are you really being like this right now? What am I supposed to tell her? No?”
“Nah, you told her what you needed to. I got shit to do, so if you’re done I need to go shower and go handle that,” He stood up and headed to the front door. The look on his face told me that he was hurt and lashing out at me. Maybe a few days away wasn’t just good for me and Yolani, but also for me and Denim as well.
“I’m sorry. We’ll talk in a few days, okay?” I tried to reach up and kiss his lips, but he turned his head, and it landed on his neck.
“Sayless,” was all he said as I slipped my heels on and exited out the door. I hated to see that expression on his face. It especially hurt because I knew I was the one who put it there.
Soon as I got into my car, I dialed Mo’s number. She answered after a few rings and sounded like she had been asleep. “You were sleep?”
“Yeah, I was up studying all night, and I got Legend down after he spent all night with a fever. What’s going on, love?”
