RedBone

by Styles, T.

  On many occasions he helped rescue his family, like when he was ten years old and an unstable tree fell on Knox’s legs after a rainstorm. Slade was able to move the tree enough so his brother could free himself. Although his wrist broke, even the doctors said it was amazing what he was able to accomplish. But Slade never considered the condition a blessing and because of it, he focused on the negatives.

  Like when he accidently broke his baby cousin’s hand while helping her out of the car on Thanksgiving. Slade was beside himself for two months afterward and visited her every day to wait on her hand and foot. It didn’t matter that his family told him it was a mistake, and to be easy on himself. He was overwhelmed with guilt. Then there was the time he saw an elderly woman crossing the street while a car moved speedily in her direction. Trying to save her life, he rushed toward her to push her out the way. The woman’s head slammed against the concrete, and her blood spilled onto the pavement. Although she was alive, the once-independent lady was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

  Finally there was the day he’d never forget, when he moved to hug his mother, to tell her how much he loved her, only to crack her rib cage, resulting in the signature limp she possessed to that day. After that, he vowed never to touch another woman, even in pleasure, and he hadn’t broken it since.

  Shannon moved her tongue like a snake along his dick, as she gave him the best head game known to man. Her pink tongue seemed to glisten as she ran it around the tip and sides at least fifty times. Repositioning herself, she devoured him whole and his eyes popped open. Slade didn’t imagine that he’d be in for such a treat. She was a pro, who seemed to love what she was doing. Moving her neck up and down like a crane, she was on a mission to make Slade think of her long after she was gone. As he looked down at her pretty face, he wondered what life served her that she would be so great at pleasing a man that way. She was young, but her fuck game was old and long, like she did it for a living.

  “Right there, ma.” Slade’s heart rate sped up as he battled with whether to touch her to keep her in place. Sex was the only time it was hard to keep his vow. Having to explain to women why he couldn’t touch them had become a work of art. He knew the right things to say and how to say them. For most women he came into contact with, this quirk gave them a challenge and, as if it were even possible, made him more desirable.

  He was almost there and imagined how her long hair would feel wrapped around his fingers as he pushed her head down farther on his dick. “You not gonna touch me yet?” she cooed, as her mouth made sloppy noises. “Even”—slurp—“while”—slurp—“I’m handling my business?”

  He didn’t respond and that seemed to do the trick, because Shannon immediately refocused. “Keep it like that, baby. That shit feels so good.”

  When Shannon made her mouth hotter and wetter, Slade could feel a strong nut coming his way. Out of respect, he was about to warn her, but she was looking directly into his eyes and virtually begging him to bring it on. “It’s okay,” she mumbled. “I want to taste you. All of you.”

  Without another word, he released his cream into her mouth, as his fingers dug into the fabric of the recliner. Cum oozed along the sides of her large pink lips and she slurped it back in before swallowing every drop. “How you like that?” Shannon said, licking her lips. “Was I good enough for you to touch me now?”

  Slade smiled, knowing full well she already knew the answer. He was just about to congratulate her on the performance when the front door to the apartment flew open. Slade reached for his weapon preparing to fire, until he saw it was his cousin Markee.

  “I thought I told you niggas not to bring nobody in my house!”

  Chapter 28

  “Whenever you ready, bitch. Whenever you ready.”

  —Farah

  It was Farah’s first time hanging out with Lesa and her crew and already things were not going as planned. Her car wouldn’t start after making a stop, so she had to catch a cab. After spending fifteen minutes in a cab so funky she held her nose the entire way, she was surprised to see the line to E.A.T. wrapped around the corner. As Lesa promised, when Farah called she came outside to greet her. Once inside, she didn’t understand why it wasn’t filled to capacity.

  “Why they not letting people in?” Farah asked, yelling over the music. “It’s a nice crowd in here, but it’s not packed.”

  “That’s a promotion move,” Lesa said. “To make people passing by want to get inside.” Then she looked at her face. “What’s that red stuff on your lips?” she asked, preparing to wipe the mark away.

  Farah slapped her hand and glared. “Don’t do that.” Then she spit on her finger and wiped the corner of her mouth. “Sorry ... I just don’t like people touching my face. I break out easily.”

  Lesa leaned back and said, “You know what, I’m not even doing this with you tonight. If you want shit all over your face, so be it. I was just trying to help. Anyway ... come on.” She turned around. “We over here.”

  As Farah followed Lesa to their seats, she was pleasantly surprised to see hand-blown chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and large plush sofas with cherry-wood tables in front of each private section. In the middle of the floor were large beautiful tables with hand-carved wooden chairs. Toward the back was a dance floor where the DJ was set up, playing the old-school classics. “This is nice as shit!” Farah said, observing her surroundings. “I shoulda worn my other dress if I knew it was gonna be like this.”

  “You fine, girl,” Lesa said. “I’m sure niggas gonna try to holla left and right. Good thing you single because you gonna meet some moneymakers tonight. Instead of that bamma-ass nigga Gary you bought to the house.” Farah was starting not to like Lesa, but she was gonna let her live, because she had a feeling her attitude was because her sisters moved in. Farah only wished she had more time to ease her into it. She knew Lesa could be territorial over her things and her sisters respected anything but people’s possessions. She already got into an argument with her when Farah borrowed her shoes one day without asking, even though Lesa said she could help herself to anything she owned.

  Farah’s phone dinged with a text message from Randy:

  Farah I haven’t talked to you. Where the fuck you at?

  She hated having to answer to anybody, especially a person she didn’t want to be with, so she didn’t respond. All he wanted her to do was come over and get dick beat ... she just knew it.

  When Farah and Lesa were seated in VIP, Courtney walked up to them and said, “Juice said our spot is over there. We in the wrong place.” She pointed to a section with two couches and a table marked RESERVED. The girls swaggered over to the table and took their seats, and Farah bopped her head to the music.

  Everyone looked so sexy that she wanted to have a picture, in case she got up with Coconut again. When a beautiful white waitress with long red hair came over to serve them Farah said, “Ooh ... can you take our picture please?” Farah waved her cell phone and handed it to her. “Thank you!”

  “Not a problem.” She smiled.

  Farah awkwardly moved in the available space between Courtney and Lesa. “Can you see all of us? If you can’t let me know now so we can move closer together.”

  “Yep, I see everybody.” She smiled. “Say cheese.”

  Lesa looked at Courtney and Lady, who were visibly blown by the way Farah was acting. She tried to calm down, but this was the first time she hung out with girls who appeared to be upscale. “Cheese!” Farah sang, while the other girls remained silent and stone faced, not a cute picture at all.

  Handing back Farah’s phone, the waitress asked, “What can I get for you ladies?” A sincere smile dressed her face. “Juice said anything you want is on the house, and I’m here to see that you have a great time tonight.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” Farah said, trying to give Lesa a high five, who left her hanging. She put her hand down in her lap, and tried to play it cool like the other girls. “That was real ni
ce of him.”

  “Why was it nice?” Courtney pronounced with an attitude. “He supposed to treat us like this.” Farah had never been in VIP so to them, she was acting inappropriately for the crowd. Lesa and her friends were used to this sort of treatment and wished she just slowed her roll.

  “Bring a bottle of Ketel One and some Red Bulls. That’s what we usually have,” Courtney said to the waitress. She looked at her friends with a nod of approval. “That’ll be all ... Thank you.”

  “Actually,” Farah said, stopping her. “I’d like something different. Can you bring a bottle of Patrón, too? Since he said we can get whatever we want!” She yelled to be heard over the music. “Thank you.” The waitress, seeing nothing wrong with Farah’s request, walked away to fetch their orders.

  “Farah, we usually drink Ketel One,” Courtney said, her brow creasing. “I mean you think you that thirsty, where you gotta drink a whole bottle of Patrón? All you doing is wasting liquor and shit. That’s so stupid.”

  Farah looked at Lesa, Courtney, and Lady. She hadn’t been there for fifteen minutes, and already she was getting on everybody’s nerves. No matter how hard she tried, tonight she was doing all the wrong things. “I can go tell her never mind,” Farah said, not wanting to leave a bad taste in their mouths. “It’s just that I don’t normally drink Ketel One. It always makes me sick in the morning. I can just get a soda.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” Lesa said, looking at Courtney and Lady. “Juice said we can get what we want, so I say we get what we want.” Lesa taking up for her finally made her feel at ease. “You cool, Farah.”

  Sitting back in her seat Courtney said, “So what’s up with your new roommates, Lesa? I thought it was gonna be just you and Farah. It looks like y’all have a full house now. What y’all about to do, film some reality TV show or something?”

  “At first it was gonna be just us.” Lesa’s eyes rolled over Farah. “But they staying with us for a little while until they find another place to live. Right, Farah?”

  “Yeah. They just staying for a month. And when my brother gets home they probably gonna leave sooner than that.” Farah crossed her legs, and wiggled her shoe. “I think the three of them are getting a place together but I’m not sure.”

  “Where your brother at now?” Courtney persisted.

  She stiffened up. “He in college.”

  Courtney didn’t believe her because of her body language. “The college of life or education?”

  “What’s the college of life?” The girls laughed. “Did I miss something?” She was sick of their sidebars. “What’s so funny?”

  “Is he in jail or in college, Farah?” Lady interrogated. “Do you understand now?”

  “He’s in college,” she lied. “He’s graduating soon ... with a master’s degree and everything.”

  “Really?” Courtney leaned in. “I know you’re happy and your mother too.”

  I hate this bitch. She gonna make me hurt her if she keeps pushing me. “Everybody’s proud of him.”

  “So what’s he taking up?” Courtney continued, nudging Lesa’s leg.

  Farah could tell she didn’t believe her, so she decided to shut her down. “Law. He’s gonna be an attorney.”

  Courtney and Lesa doubled over in laughter, as if she were Kevin Hart. “Let me stop fucking with this girl,” Courtney said. “Because it’s obvious she’s a fucking liar.”

  Farah uncrossed her legs, leaned over, and said, “What the fuck is up with you? All night you been tripping for no reason.”

  “It’s nothing wrong with me. She grinned. “So what school is he in?”

  “Harvard,” she said flatly.

  Courtney looked at Lesa and back at Farah. “You a bigger liar than I thought, if you think somebody gonna believe that shit. What happened to you as a kid? Were you too weird to have friends or something? You was stuck in the house all day? What?”

  “Courtney, please shut up!” Lesa said.

  “Answer the question, Farah. What made you such a liar?”

  “Can I talk to you in the bathroom alone?” Farah said, running her tongue alongside the blade inside of her mouth. She was going to deliver her. “Please.”

  “Let’s go.”

  She was about to get up when Lesa said, “Just drop it, Courtney, damn.”

  “There Juice and them go right there!” Courtney said, waving her hand wildly to get their attention. The waitress brought the drinks to the table and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Courtney’s antics didn’t work, because every time the men took a step, someone else would pull them.

  “Damn, bitches on them hard as shit!” Lady said.

  “Right,” Courtney added, feeling dumb. “Give ’em room to breathe, damn! They ain’t going nowhere.”

  When the men finally moved toward the table, they were with someone who took Farah’s breath away. Although they were all dressed in designer jeans and shirts, one of them stood out in the pack. Wearing a pair of black-rimmed Gucci shades, his button-down shirt was rolled up at the elbows, exposing his slightly hairy forearms and tattoos. For a moment Farah forgot how crazy Randy could be, because he looked like money.

  “Damn, the nigga Juice gets finer by the day.” Courtney licked her lips. “All of them for that matter! I wish he didn’t look at me like a little sister.”

  “Bitch, you betta slow your roll before Don breaks your back in.” Lesa laughed. “He know every last one of them.”

  “I said he looked good, I didn’t say I wanted to fuck him, Lesa.”

  After the men said their hellos, they finally approached the VIP table. Randy was so caught up in sexy Lesa, Courtney, and Lady that, at first, he didn’t see his fiancée sitting next to them. When he saw her, the sly grin was removed from his face as he approached. “I just texted you and I didn’t get a response. Why you in here being a whore?”

  Farah readjusted in her seat. “It’s not like that.” She looked at Lesa. “I was just hanging out with my friends.”

  “Well, how come I haven’t been able to reach you?” He walked up to her, and the girls moved out of the way so he could sit next to her. “I just hit you.”

  Farah tried to choose her words carefully, knowing he would snap if he didn’t get the answer he wanted. “Randy, I been kinda busy with my—”

  “You don’t live with your mother, do you?”

  Farah looked at Lesa, Courtney, and Lady, who were all looking in the opposite direction. This was the worst time for this to be happening.

  “I stopped past your mom’s house a few times and you weren’t there. I’m gonna have somebody in front of your building every night to make sure you go in and don’t come out until the morning.”

  “Randy, you gotta trust me, baby. If you do shit like that, we not gonna work.” She smiled. “I do live there, but I might be gone when you come by.” She looked at everybody and felt relieved that they were heavy in conversation. She touched his hand. “Stop trying to catch me in something. I belong to you since the day I eased into the back seat of your car and you got me away safely.”

  He looked at her fingers. “Where is the ring?”

  She snatched her hand away. “Somebody robbed me. I was too afraid to tell you because I know how you can get.” At this time Lesa and her crew were waiting for Randy to get out of Farah’s face, so that they could meet him. “I was going to call you so I could come over tonight. So I could tell you. Plus I miss you ... a whole lot too.”

  “You coming with me tonight. We’ll talk about it then. Turning his attention away from Farah, he looked at the other women. “What’s up, ladies?” He extended his hand to all of them and they shook it softly. “I’m Randy and I see you all came out looking very luscious tonight.”

  While he was talking, Farah saw Coconut and Nova, and she wondered where Shannon was. Ignoring her, she placed a fake smile on her face and looked at Lesa and her friends, to pretend she was having the best time. Every so often, she would glance in their di
rection, but they were having too much fun to pay her any attention.

  “Hello,” Courtney said, showing too much teeth. “It’s nice to meet you, Randy.”

  “Calm down ’fore my nigga Don beat that ass, Courtney,” Juice added, stealing a few looks at Farah between his mild talk. For some reason he wanted her bad. “You already know how he go.”

  “I know ain’t no nigga putting they hands on her sexy ass,” Randy said, as if he didn’t smack Farah around in the bedroom for fun.

  “Look at this old chivalrous-ass mothafucka,” Juice said, digging into the bottle of Patrón. Farah smiled, because he’d chosen to sip the drink she ordered. “Always trying to steal all the bitches. You ain’t no playa, nigga!”

  “Why would you say some bamma shit like that in front of my girl? I’m taken so it ain’t even like that.” He rubbed Farah’s thigh.

  “Boy, shut up!” Courtney said, hitting Juice on the arm. “I’m out here by myself tonight, and it ain’t like you don’t have a bitch at home too. Randy can be nice to me if he want to.” She made it known that her legs could open for business if Randy chose to enter. “Anyway it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Courtney Love.”

  “Get the fuck out of here!” Randy laughed. “Your name Courtney Love for real?”

  “Yes, and she loves every bit of it too!” Lady said. “I’m Lady, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Lady, huh?” Randy loved being in the spotlight and stealing shine from other niggas. The look on Juice’s face showed he was tired of his game show antics. “Well, you certainly are a woman.” He turned his attention to Lesa, who didn’t seem as wild as the other girls, even though she was just as beautiful. “And you are ... ?” Farah would not have minded his performance, if he didn’t make it known that they were supposed to be together. Now he was playing her in front of everybody and making the situation worse.