by Wahida Clark
TRAE
When I saw the look on Tasha’s face it was priceless. She was smiling and glowing. The sound of her girlish giggle accompanied with the way she sung out my name made me smile from the inside out. I knew that I was making her happy and that’s all that mattered to me.
I had the whole room filled with vanilla scented candles. The bed that was strategically placed in the middle of the cabin was covered in red satin sheets, with white rose petals sprinkled all over them. I was planning to lay her sexy chocolate body over the petals and take some pictures for my stash. The soft music played in the back as I watched Tasha’s eyes dance around the room.
“You gonna just stand there?” I asked as I watched her frozen in place.
“Awwwwww babeeeee,” She cooed as she closed the door and placed her bag on the sofa.
“Come here.”
As Tasha walked over to me I watched the way her hips swayed in those tight jeans and fuck me stilettos. My dick rocked right up. Shit was getting ready to jump off and a nigga was ready to put in major work. I hugged her tight and allowed my hands to glide down her back and settle on her ass before placing my lips on hers and kissed her gently. The increase in her breathing and the precision of her touch gliding over my arms and back caused my body to heat up. I pulled her tighter pressing that steel up against her clit. Shit had went from zero to ten in seconds. I had to slow it down because I had some things I needed to say to her. I had to make our shit back tight again.
“Hold up ma, I need to do something first.” I broke our embrace.
TASHA
When Trae pulled back I didn’t know what to think. He reached over and grabbed a velvet bag that was sitting next to a bottle of wine and two glasses. I watched as he reached inside and pulled out a small box. My eyes lit up when he lifted the top and there lay the biggest, prettiest diamond I had ever laid my eyes on.
“Tasha, I know we’ve been through a lot of shit. But tonight I need for us to put all of the mistakes, drama, hurt and pain behind us and start over. Right here, right now, today, I recommit myself to you, to our family and to our bond.” He said as he took the ring from the box and began to slide it on my finger. “Baby, you know damn well that there is no me without you. I don’t just want you in my life, I need you in my life. And you will always be a part of me. I don’t want nothing or nobody to come between us ever again. I don’t want you to ever again regret that you fucked with me. I want to thank you for giving me three strong sons that I get so much pleasure from.” He paused, looked me in my eyes and continued. “Again, I am asking you to allow me to honor, cherish and love you for the rest of my life.”
Tears had started streaming down my checks back when he said start over. I looked down at my hand and then back up at him. I said, “Trae, I never stopped loving you, and I never will. From this moment forward I promise to honor you, respect you and love you for the rest of my life.” I leaned up and kissed his lips.
He led me to the couch, poured us both a glass of wine and we toasted to life, love and our new commitment. The one that we both vowed to let nothing or no one come between.
Once the last sip left my lips, my husband was all over me. Quickly he relieved me of every piece of clothing I had on. As he laid me so tenderly across the satin feeling rose petals, his lips danced all over my skin sending chills all over my body. His touch was firm and gentle at the same time. It was like he was touching me for the first time.
“Open your legs.” He commanded. And I submitted.
I inhaled deep as he positioned his body over mine. The intense passion rose off of us threatening to set the room on fire. Slowly, he began to slip into my wetness. When his soft tongue began to pleasure my nipples I grabbed him tight, inviting him to go deep and he complied with long deep strokes that ignited my soul. His dick was calling my name and I answered by throwing the pussy back at him just the way he liked it. The soft moans left his lips accompanied by, “Tasha, I love you.”
“I love you too.” I replied as my body moved in sync with his.
“You are my world. Nothing can ever come between us again,” he whispered in my ear.
“Never again.” I agreed.
With that, we made love, we fucked, I cried and we made love some more, until we both were satisfied. Afterwards, I lay next to my husband, wide awake, watching him sleep peacefully. I ran my fingers up and down his arm. We had just sealed the deal on our new union; however, all I could do was pray that the universe would show the same forgiveness. Only time would tell.
TASHA
We were in the backyard. I loved the California weather; even though it was eighty-three degrees, to me it felt like seventy-five. The kids were splashing around in the pool, while Trae and I were relaxing in the lounge chair watching them. I was sitting between his legs while he was massaging my neck and shoulders. We had just come home the night before from our little romantic getaway. Just as I began to relax into my massage, my cell started ringing. I looked and I saw that it was a 718 number, meaning New York, and of course, I tensed right up.
“What’s the matter with you?” Trae picked up on my tension immediately. “Who is that?”
“I don’t know. I don’t recognize the number,” I admitted.
“Answer it,” he told me. But I was too late. Whoever it was had already hung up. As soon as I let out a sigh, it rang again. Shit. “Answer your phone, Tasha.” His tone was laced with suspicion, and I didn’t like it.
I pressed the speaker button. “Hello.”
“Is this Tasha?”
I looked at my phone as if it had a virus. An unfamiliar voice asking for me using my first name? “Who is this?”
“This is Mari. I’m actually trying to reach your husband. I don’t have his number. I only have yours because it was saved in Kyron’s phone.”
Oh, okay. Kyron’s woman. Yeah, I fucked her man, got pregnant by him, and lost the baby. But I think it’s a little too late for her to be trying to call my husband. Especially since shit’s already on the table. Between her and Kyron . . . the pregnancy . . . Trae fucking that bitch Charli Li, it didn’t look like the madness was ever going to stop haunting us.
“Why are you looking for Trae?” I moved his hands from my shoulders and sat all the way up.
“Were you aware that he stabbed Kyron in the throat and that he’s in critical condition? There’s a strong possibility that Kyron could take a turn for the worse.”
“Who the fuck cares?”
“Hear me out. I was calling to say that they plan to serve street justice on your husband. Me? I’d rather allow the appropriate authorities handle him. I’m simply reaching out before I turn him over to the law. Is he available? It’s important that I speak with him.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“To you, yes. Is he available?”
“First of all, bitch, speaking to me is speaking to him. And do yourself a favor, and don’t ever call my phone again. You need to be glad that he didn’t stab your ass in the throat . . . just because. So my advice to you”—I paused to make sure she got my point—“is stay in your fuckin’ lane.”
I hung up on her and went to stand up. Trae grabbed me and hugged me tight. “I wonder what that was all about?” he had the nerve to ask me. I couldn’t believe my ears.
I turned around and looked at him as if he had sprouted two heads. “You heard the entire conversation, just like I did.”
“What’s the matter with you?”
“You stab a nigga in the throat, his bitch knows that you did it, and you’re sitting here wondering what it’s all about? Did you really just say that? Or did I hear you wrong? And on top of that, I’m still trying to figure out why I gotta hear shit from everybody else except from my husband. I asked you about this several times, and you never had anything to say.”
“And I still don’t have shit to say. It is what it is, Tasha.”
“Trae, she is the second person to tell me that you stabbed Kyron. She’s ta
lking about turning you in. What if she does? What if they come and arrest you? Don’t you think I need to be up on what’s going on?”
“No, you don’t need to be up on this bullshit. I got this.”
“Fine.” I stood up. “But I tell you this, if your ass gets locked up, I promise you, I won’t be the one coming to see you.”
“Oh, yes, you will.”
“I bet you I won’t.”
“Excuse me.” Aunt Marva interrupted our argument. “There is someone at the door. I think you both need to get up here.”
“Who is it?” I asked her. My defenses were already up, so I knew that some more bullshit was about to go down. Once again, the madness appeared to haunt us.
“Who is it, Auntie?” Trae asked her.
“I’ll stay out here with the kids. You two go let him in.”
Him? I panicked but just as quickly relaxed, because it couldn’t be Kyron; he was in the hospital. Now I was curious, and I guess Trae was, too, because he jumped up and grabbed my hand. When I tried to snatch away, he pulled me close and hugged me around the waist.
“Get off of me, Trae. I am not feeling you right now.”
“Well, I’m feeling you,” he said as he kissed me on the neck.
“Get off me.”
“Why do you have to trip, Tasha?”
“Because we made a promise. No more secrets. No more lies. And it seems like I’m the only one keeping the promise.”
“What do you want to hear me say? Fuck it! I’ll say it. Yeah, I stabbed the nigga in the throat, because he talks too much shit, and he needed to die for fucking my wife! Now, does that make you feel any better? Hell, no, it doesn’t, because you already knew that. You know me, Tasha. And you knew I was going to get him, and if I missed this time, I promise you I won’t miss the next. Now what, Tasha? What else do you want to know?”
“How about if you get caught? What if you go to prison? What do you expect me to do? Ride the bit with you? I can’t see myself going to see you in nobody’s prison. I’m not doing that shit again.” We were slowly walking through the house.
“You know better than I do, I can’t let that pussy live, Tasha. I mean that shit.”
“Baby, what’s more important? Your freedom and your family or your pride and your ego?”
“The nigga disrespecting me by fuckin’ my wife. So yeah, my principles are real important. Some shit you can’t let ride.”
“See, that is just plain stupid. Downright ridiculous.”
“Call it what you want.”
“I’m calling it as I see it. Trae, you really need to grow up. I think you are too old to be still trying to live by some little boy’s creed. We both did things that we shouldn’t have. But I think it is going too far.”
“Nah, it went too far when the muthafucka got you pregnant.” His nostrils flared. I could tell he was about to go off so I let it go. But I wanted to say, “It went too far when you fucked that bitch and got her pregnant.” But I didn’t go there. It was as if we didn’t just spend four nights together recommitting ourselves to each other.
We arrived at the front door, and Trae mumbled, “Oh, shit! What the fuck?”
The three of us stood there looking at one another.
I broke the silence. “See, I told you. I told you I wasn’t crazy. I told you I saw him at the restaurant.”
We stood staring at the one and only King Rick. Finally, he said, “Y’all gonna let me stand out here while the mosquitoes eat me up, or are you gonna let me in?”
“Only if you’re ready to put in some work, nigga. Just because you went on hiatus don’t mean shit changed around here.” Trae was smiling from ear to ear as he unlocked and opened the screen door. As soon as Rick stepped inside, they hugged as if they were long-lost brothers.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time. You know how I gets down. Just tell me when and where.” Rick told him.
“Ain’t this some shit! I don’t believe it.”
“Man, you got a lot of shit with you! I remember crying over your dead body. I mean, what the fuck?” Trae wanted to know.
“Shit, the government kills people off, will give you a mock funeral and a whole new identity. They do that shit all the time,” Rick said, and turned to me. “And you?” He hugged me and said, “You are still the finest chick I know.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in a safe house or something? Not back to the same streets where you did your dirt?” I asked him. I had some reservations about Rick’s sudden reappearance.
“You watch too much television! For us low-life, real niggas, ain’t no such thing as a safe house. We on our own. Plus, I’m retired. I can go wherever I damn well please.”
“So what brings you here on my doorstep? I know it’s something. And don’t tell me you miss a nigga or that you are trying to get your ex-wife back,” Trae told him.
“This is my second time here. The first time I stopped by, y’all wasn’t home.”
“So what are you doing here? Are you trying to get back with your wife?” I wanted to know.
“Hell, no, she likes pussy more than I do. Plus, I have someone new and a baby on the way. But as fate would have it, just when I thought I was in a place that I was comfortable with, I got thrown a curve ball. Guess who I ran into right here on your doorstep? And I suggest you sit down, because if you don’t, this is going to knock you down.”
“Please, all the shit we’ve been through, I’m sure we can handle it,” I said as I looked at Trae and rolled my eyes.
“Trust me. This is more powerful than me running into you in New York.” He looked me up and down as if he knew something no one else did.
“Oh, so now you’re gonna snitch me out? What if I didn’t want Trae to know? I see who your loyalty is with. So go ahead and share your ground-breaking news. I’m all ears!” Trae and I sat down on the sofa.
He looked over at Trae for approval. Trae nodded and then Rick continued. “I found Kyra, man. She was right there on your front doorstep.”
There was silence in the room as we wrapped our ears around what we were just told.
“What do you mean, you found Kyra on our doorstep?” Trae asked.
“Yeah, what does that mean? And if that’s the case, then where is she now?” This sounded like some bullshit to me. I know I said I could handle anything but this was not funny. Nor did I need for it not to be real. He was talking about my friend, my sister, my girl. He had to be fuckin’ with us. Maybe it’s like his funeral . . . all a lie. But at the same time, I hoped it wasn’t.
“She’s at the hospital. She’s blacking out, having severe headaches.”
I jumped up and went over to Rick. “Rick, don’t fuckin’ joke with me like this. You talking about my Kyra? First you, now Kyra? Rick, what kind of head games are you playing? Trae, I suggest you get your boy.”
“I told you, you weren’t going to be able to handle it. How do you think I feel? Can you imagine what went through my mind when I saw her sitting on your porch? I keep thinking that I am going to wake up and that it is all a dream. I thought I saw a ghost.”
Damn. He did have a point. Just like the rest of us; we thought she was dead and that Marvin killed her. My mind was flooded with questions like, how? Who? What? When? But Marvin never did really say what happened. And we never knew anything about a funeral.
“Y’all wasn’t home, and I saw her sitting on the front porch. When she saw me, she fainted. I put her in my car, and when she kept saying her head was hurting, I took her to the hospital, and they kept her. I went through her things and found her nurse. I called her and she had been with her since she was first admitted to the hospital. She brought me up to speed on everything that happened with her. She lost her memory y’all. All of this time she was right near me, in Phoenix, Arizona. So for the last two days I’ve been staying at the hospital with her, but I had to come by and let y’all know what was happening. They may let her out tomorrow. I was going to put her up in a hotel, but I figured I
better check with y’all first.” Rick was talking a mile a minute.
“Oh, my God.” I grabbed my chest, sat back down, and laid my head back on the couch. I tried to control my breathing as a million and one questions flooded my mind and rolled off of my tongue. “How is she? What is she saying? I gotta see her! Trae, please take me up there.” I stood up, not even waiting for Rick to answer my questions. Then I realized I didn’t even know what hospital she was in. “What hospital?”
“Baby, calm down. I’ll get you up there. But let me talk to Rick first.” He kissed me on the forehead, and then he turned to Rick. He had this no-nonsense look on his face. “Man, let’s go down in the basement.”
“Just like old times.” Rick chuckled.
“For real, Trae? Y’all gonna do this shit right now?” I was standing there with my hands on my hips, ready to throw a tantrum.
“Just chill for a minute, Ma. Get yourself ready, and we’ll be right back. I gotta talk to Rick.”
And just like that, those rude niggas left me standing there. I knew Trae needed to talk to Rick, but damn. Just like Rick was his boy, Kyra was my girl. I could tell that Trae was glad to see him. Trae had saved his life one night when he was out terrorizing the streets being the dirty cop that he was. He had ended up becoming like family, and he treated Trae like a little brother. After that, Trae couldn’t get rid of him. Despite him being a cop and Trae being a street nigga, they became thick as thieves. Trae says that he was loyal and that was all that mattered.
But later for him; right now, I had bigger fish to fry. I couldn’t think about them right now. What was I going to tell Aisha? Oh, my God. How would I break the news to her? How is she going to react once I tell her that her mother is coming over? I had to call my girls, even though I was mad at them for not coming to see me. I bet their asses would come now. I went into the kitchen, grabbed the phone, and dialed Angel first.
