Get Somebody New

by Lewis, Michael

  It was my responsibility as a man to deal with Elias, so I did. He was introduced to my fist! My first punch landed in the middle of his face, causing blood to gush from his broken nose and the more I hit him the more I wanted to. Rachel’s moans brought me back to my senses.

  I picked her up and carried her to my truck just as a police cruiser slowly turned the corner. If I hadn’t turned back, that bastard Elias would have probably killed her by the time their late asses got there. I took her to the hospital where she was admitted immediately. I called Zeke to tell him what happened.

  “Hello, Zeke?”

  “Hey Alton. Your voice is trembling what’s wrong?”

  “I’m at the hospital.”

  “What did Nadiah do?”

  “It’s Rachel. Her husband beat her up. She looks bad man. I tried to kill that bastard for what he did to her.”

  “Oh my God! Which hospital are you at?”

  “At DMC-Promina.”

  “Okay. I am leaving right now.”

  The doctor came over to me.

  “Hello, I am Dr. Steinberg.”

  “Hi Doc. I’m Alton Allen.”

  “Mr. Allen. We got Mrs. Richards stabilized. Her injuries are serious but not life threatening. She has a concussion and quite a few contusions so we want to keep her under observation to make sure she doesn’t develop any blood clots. We gave her a sedative to help her relax so she will be a little drowsy, but you can go see her.”

  “Thanks doctor. The police will probably come looking for me because I beat the hell out of her husband once I saw what he did to her.”

  “I’ll let you know should they show up.”

  I went into the room with my eyes closed, afraid to look at her. I opened my eyes slowly but she didn’t look as badly as I thought. They’d cleaned her up and bandaged her eye and head. I stood there looking at her and holding her hand when she spoke groggily,

  “Alton?”

  “Oh, I woke you up. I’m sorry.”

  “Alton you saved my life.”

  “I should have never let you go back to that house. I feel like it’s my fault.”

  “No, Alton it’s not your fault that he is crazy.”

  “I’m not leaving your side.”

  “You are such a sweet man. Thanks Alton.”

  I held her hand until she fell asleep. Seconds later Zeke and Jazz came in.

  “How is she?”

  “The doctor said she’d be okay. She has a concussion so they want to keep her under observation.”

  “I should have dealt with her punk husband when he hit her the first time.” Jazz fumed.

  “I messed him up pretty bad.” I commented.

  “Good! Any man who beats up on a dime piece like Rachel needs his ass handed to him on a plate.”

  “I tried to break every bone in that bastard’s face. I expect the police to come looking for me any minute now.”

  Just as I got the sentence out a policeman showed up at the door. I didn’t even try to explain. I just walked out of the room and put my hands behind my back.

  “Mr. Allen I presume?”

  “Yes sir. I take full responsibility for my actions.”

  “I am not here to arrest you. I just want to get a statement from you.”

  “But, Elias?”

  “Yeah, you beat the hell outta that guy, but you’re not under arrest. Mrs. Richards was on the phone with the 911 operator the whole time so there’s a tape of what happened.”

  It was a relief to find out I wasn’t going to jail. I didn’t feel bad for beating Elias’s ass either. Actually, I regretted not killing him. When I went back to the room Jazz was consoling Zeke. He was holding Zeke’s head to his chest as he softly caressed the side of his face. It was surreal to see the tenderness Jazz displayed because it was so opposite his normal hard personality. I was anxious to hear Zeke’s explanation about that!

  Around 3 A.M. Zeke said since he was free the next day, he would stay with Rachel so I could go on to work the next day. I felt OK about leaving with Zeke there. If anything happened I was only a phone call away. Jazz left with me so I could drop him off on my way home.

  “I’m sure Zeke told you about how I flipped out on him last week.” Jazz said matter of factly about 10 minutes into the ride.

  “Yeah he called me crying.” I responded dryly.

  “I know you probably think I am a horrible guy now.”

  “I don’t think that at all. Are you a horrible guy?”

  “Nah, not at all. What else did he tell you?”

  “He hasn’t mentioned anything, so I figured you guys had worked it all out.”

  “We came to an understanding that night.”

  “An understanding?”

  “Yeah, that I’m in love with him.”

  “You gotta be shittin' me? You?”

  “Yeah. That’s why I was so mad when I saw that dude kissing him because I felt that should have been me.”

  “I see.”

  “I know you two are real close and you care about him a lot. I didn’t want you to think bad things about me. I care about Zeke a whole lot. I’d never do nothin’ in the world to hurt him. I kinda feel like I’m supposed to protect him, ya know? I feel a deep bond with him. It’s a feeling I can’t describe. We can communicate without even saying a word and fully understand each other.”

  “I feel the same way about protecting him. He’s my little cousin. I’ve always had his back and I’ve never been more than a phone call away. When Zeke was upset he still didn’t talk badly about you. He just wanted to understand what was going on. That indescribable feeling you mentioned is simple to explain. It’s called being in love.”

  “Alton, I ain’t ever had feelings for a dude before but I got deep feelings for Zeke. I’ve had em all along. I’ve just been fighting em, making excuses and shit. That night I couldn’t make any more excuses. I’ll just have to take it one day at a time and figure this shit out, but I’ll do it. I won’t hurt him.”

  “I’ll take you at your word. Just know that if you do hurt him, you’ll have to deal with me.”

  “I gotcha and with both of us having his back, I think he’ll be alright.”

  Jazz was still trying to keep that hard edge, but he had love written all over his face. He’s a good guy; I just didn’t want him to take Zeke through a lot of drama and heartache trying to find himself. He was clearly in love though.

  When I got home I dreaded going inside because I wasn’t in the mood for Nadiah to say anything to me. Before I went to bed, I went to get some discs I needed from the second master bedroom where Nadiah was.

  When I entered the dimly lit room, I thought I heard a moan but wasn’t sure. I continued to the dresser to retrieve the discs and I heard another moan. When I looked in the mirror I knew my mind was playing tricks on me because I saw something that had to be an illusion, but the sight was real, indeed.

  Nadiah was on her back, her head tossed back, eyes closed, knees up, and someone’s head was between her legs. I squinted to focus and recognized the person between Nadiah’s legs was Ingrid. Nadiah’s moans and Ingrid’s sensual smacking grew louder simultaneously. I opened the top, right dresser drawer and pulled out the .38 caliber handgun I kept there and walked to the bedside. Neither of them had heard or seen me yet. I placed the gun to the back of Ingrid’s head and whispered a simple instruction,

  “Don’t Move.”

  Nadiah turned on the bedside lamp, creating a spotlight on her fearful face.

  “I’ve forgiven you for many things, but this is too much. I can’t believe you brought her into my house, in my bed. Nadiah how could you?”

  “Alton what are you doing here?”

  “I live here! I should shoot both of you skunk bitches dead right now!”

  “Alton, I…”

  “Nadiah shut up! I don’t want to hear your fucking voice.”

  “Alton you know your sorry ass ain’t gonna …”

  I cocked the gun, roug
hly grabbed her by the hair, and pushed the barrel of the gun between her eyes and spoke slowly,

  “Another word from you and I swear your brains will have to be scraped off of the fucking walls. Test me if you want to.”

  I stood there trying to convince myself not to shoot them both.

  “You got 5 minutes to get your grimy, gutter, hoodrat asses out of my house!”

  As she bent to pick up clothes from the floor, I stopped her.

  “Leave them right there. The only thing either of you might leave with are your lives and you better be thankful for that.”

  “You can’t put me out of my house. Who in the hell….”

  “You should be walking not talking.” I said as I aimed the gun at her face.

  I followed them out to the garage where Nadiah went to get in the brand new Red on Black Cadillac XLR-V I’d purchased for her birthday. One of the many material things I mistakenly threw at the problem of my doomed marriage.

  “You don’t seriously think I’m letting you drive out of here on that bitch’s tail in the $100,000 car I bought?”

  “This is my car. You bought it for me!” She screamed.

  “Exactly, I bought it!”

  “Girl he can’t put you out and keep everything. You’ll get your car plus some. If he calls the police, they’ll let you take the car.” Ingrid chimed in.

  “Call the police and they’ll be removing two dead bitches out of my garage!”

  “Call me another bitch! Go ahead!” Ingrid challenged.

  “BITCH!!! Now do something! Short hair doesn’t make you a man. Step to me and you’ll get your ass kicked like the man you want to be.”

  “Nadiah forget this country, collard green and ham hock eating bastard. He ain’t worth it.”

  “Fuck you, you rug munching bitch!” I retorted.

  “He can talk big but he ain’t about to do shit.” Nadiah mistakenly predicted.

  Nadiah had false confidence as I stood there calmly with my arms folded. I let her get in the car and as she started it up, I calmly grabbed my sledgehammer from behind my tool chest. Her eyes got as a big as saucers when I swung it over my head and hit the windshield over the driver’s side. Next was the driver’s side window, and then I went around the whole car and shattered every window. Nadiah turned the car off but was afraid to get out. She probably thought about all she had done to make me to go crazy on her.

  “Still think you’re leaving in my car? Think again!” I said before I quickly shot out all four tires.

  “Okay you can go.”

  Nadiah jumped out of the car, her chest heaving as she huffed and blew like one of the three little pigs and made a move toward me. My glare caused her to freeze, do an about face, and get into Ingrid’s car.

  “Whoa, wooooah, uh uuuuhn. Gimme my damn keys!” I said snatching the keys out of her hands.

  It dawned on me….. I’d given them 5 minutes to get out but 25 minutes had already passed! Up went the sledgehammer high over my head and came to rest on the hood of Ingrid’s Toyota Corolla. That hood damn near folded in half with a loud crunch. Ingrid was dumbfounded for a few seconds before she reacted. By then I was standing on the hood plunging the sledgehammer straight down through the sunroof.

  “Who do you think you are you country bastard, a lumberjack?” Ingrid shouted.

  “Call me John Henry. Timberrrrrrrrr! Bitch!!!” I shouted, as I brought the sledgehammer down a second time on the roof of the car. The garage door was up only halfway but still low enough to get her car out. Instinct told me she would try to back up with me standing on the hood so the garage door would hit me in the face and knock me off the car. When she threw it into reverse, I jumped up and caught onto an exposed ceiling beam then pointed my finger at her and laughed as I mocked her while swinging on the beam with one arm. She stopped at the end of the driveway and shouted,

  “This ain’t over!”

  “Don’t bring your ass back!” I said as she backed the car out into the street and drove away.

  I locked all of my doors, took a shower, and went to bed. Nadiah was gone, so was any leftover love I had. She and I were officially over.

  Six

  Ezekiel Nelson

  After Jazz admitted his attraction to me things became awkward. He acted like he had to conform to some stereotype. He became overly and unnaturally affectionate, always kissing or touching me. He acted like he was trying to follow some imaginary gay handbook.

  “Zeke let’s talk.”

  “Sure, Jazz.”

  “I’ll be blunt. Zeke I don’t know how to do this.”

  “How to do what?”

  “You know… this… us. Be… um… g-g-ga-uh… um.”

  “Oh gay?”

  “Yeah that.”

  “You are making it too complicated Jazz.”

  “Sorry Zeke, I just want to do this right. I want to make you happy.”

  “There is no “right way to be gay”. You may or may not even be gay. I know I am. You on the other hand may not be gay but bisexual. You have been trying too hard to fit into some role you think you are supposed to play. I don’t want you to be anything or anyone but Jazz.”

  “Zeke, I am not attracted to men. I am attracted to you. I love you more than anything in the world, but I mean nothing about me is gay or at least gay as I know it.”

  “Jazz you are trying too hard to label yourself. If a label fits a person, that’s fine. You don’t conform to a label. The label has to fit you. Labels are for other people anyway. We rarely label ourselves. When everything is labeled, people aren’t forced to think. It’s how stereotypes are perpetuated. With labels no one has to take the time or effort to see a complete person, they can just hate them from jump.”

  “I see what you mean. No matter what I identify with, other people will call me what they have labeled me. So in other words, don’t let other people and what they think define me?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Zeke, this is all new to me but there is one thing I am sure of.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That I want to make love to you”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah and that I’d never hurt you.”

  “Is that a promise you can keep?”

  “I’m pretty sure I can.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because I love you and seeing you hurt would make me hurt.”

  “Jazz there is something I should have told you the night we had that argument.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Jamal and I came close to getting busy, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  “Word? Baby you were really thinking about me?”

  “Yes, he was kissing me and I called out your name. That’s why he left.”

  “When I wanted you with me, you wanted to be with me too, huh?”

  “Wanted? I still do.”

  “Baby we ain’t gotta wish no more.”

  “We don’t?”

  “No, cause I’m right here and I’m ready.”

  “Do you know how much I’ve fantasized about you?”

  “Show me how much. Show me how bad you want to play some Jazz baby.”

  Jazz followed me into my bedroom. I am not sure which of us was more nervous. He felt like he needed to impress me. I was afraid I would pop my cork too fast. The bedside lamp provided an intense red glow over the room as we undressed each other. Jazz kissed me passionately as he let his large right hand slide between my thighs. I spread them apart slightly, allowing his hand to caress the growing bulge in my thin underwear, which hardened in response to his firm touch and ached to be released from the cloth bondage of my underwear.

  “Zeke you gotta be patient with me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “There are no set rules. Just do what your body tells you to. There’s no hurry, I’m yours all night long.”

  “Okay, that sounds good, but I want you to be mine fa-evah, not just all night ba
by.” Jazz commented before he licked his full lips seductively.

  Jazz slid his long, nimble fingers down my back and into the waistband of my underwear and slid them off slowly. At the limit of my patience, I kissed Jazz intensely as I rubbed my trembling hand along the thick, throbbing firmness that lay against his muscular right thigh. His breathing increased as I placed my hand inside the strained boxer briefs and grasped his large dick. I couldn’t remove the cloth barrier standing between me and the object of my desire fast enough.

  “Lay back.” I commanded.

  “Ah-Aiight” He said, with his deep voice quivering excitedly between his gasps.

  Gripping his long, ample hardness, I licked slowly across the large head and he moaned my name lustfully. Working my way down the rigid column of his generous manhood, I caressed each inch of him with my wet tongue. He’d been teased long enough so I took him into my warm mouth, slowly working the dark caramel-colored shaft into my throat. Jazz reached down and caressed my face softly.

  “Zeke that feels so good, baby. You make it hard to hold back.”

  Sensing his rapidly approaching climax, I increased the pressure in my throat and pressed my tongue firmly against the underside of his violently throbbing dick. Jazz’s body grew more rigid by the second and he emitted a low sexy moan, signaling his approaching climax. Just as I prepared to stroke him to orgasm, his copious eruption began. Two warm, sensual blasts landed on my cheek before I could move.

  “Oh, baby I’m sorry. Looks like I got you a couple of times.” He said apologetically.

  “It’s okay. The freak in me kinda liked it.”

  “Oh you like that huh? I’ll make sure to catch you with the next one too then.”

  “Only if I let you catch me.”

  “That was just the warm up. Now it’s time for the main event.” He said as he grabbed my hand and placed it on his unyielding erection.

  I grabbed a condom from the nightstand then turned to face him. A sensual charge ran through me as Jazz slowly stroked the deliciously large, phallic manifestation of his desire, which throbbed in anticipation between his thighs.

  “Hold up, I gotta do something first baby. Lay your sexy ass back and let me earn that ass!”