“You got to love him, though.” Rasheem started shutting off the lights.
“Yeah, like a venereal disease.”
They both started laughing as they exited the store and headed to Liana’s place.
***
“Okay,” Rasheem said, hitting the ENTER key on Liana’s computer. “This TurboTax program is what’s up.”
“Business must be good for Indio to be opening a clothing store way up in Buffalo,” Liana said, trying to make small talk, as she stood behind Rasheem.
“Yeah, he’s definitely selling his old contacts on this franchise thing.”
“Old contacts?”
“Everyone you meet in the drug game isn’t a drug dealer,” Rasheem said matter of factly.
“Umm, hmm.”
“You got those who stay just on the rim. You know, wanting to be seen with certain people, wanting to be respected by certain crowds, but never directly involved in anything illegal. So, now that Indio is legit, these investors want a little piece of the pie.”
“And you’re sure that Indio isn’t using his stores as fronts for illegal activities?”
“I’m positive.”
“And how can you be so sure?”
“Because I wouldn’t be working for him if he was.” Rasheem turned the chair around to face her. “Let me tell you something. I’m no angel, I’ll be the first to admit that. I sold drugs for a long time for Indio, since we were in our teens, but I got out the game. I took my money and I invested it in an education. I obtained my Bachelor’s in Business Management from the University of Maryland. My first job was at a rinky-dink sneaker store in Maryland. As General Manager, I tripled its sales in six months. Six months later, I had athletes, urban authors, rappers, and anybody who was somebody coming through. Indio peeped my skills and decided to invest into a clothing store that was going out of business and have me run it. And here we are three years later with two stores up and running, and about to open a third.”
“Wow.” Was all Liana was able to say.
“Indio knows that if he sold so much as a bag of weed out of any of these stores, or if I even suspected that he was using them for something illegal, I would be out. There’s too much legit money out here to worry about some petty drug money that’s not worth the headaches.”
“I had no idea, Rasheem. I mean, I know you’re good with numbers and running the business and all, but a Bachelor’s?”
“I don’t talk about it much, because… well, because nobody’s really interested.”
“I’m interested.”
Rasheem blinked. Is it me, or did her voice take on a sexy tone?
“Maybe one day, we can sit down, and you can tell me some more things about you that I don’t know.”
Rasheem turned the chair back around to face the computer screen. “The feeling’s mutual.”
“Before you get back into accountant mode, I need you to step out of my room for a minute.”
“What I do?”
“You didn’t do anything. I just can’t stand wearing street clothes in the house. I feel like I’m suffocating, and I have to get out of these clothes, like, right now.”
“Oookay, I’ll be in the living room.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not crazy.” Liana pushed him out of the room.
“I didn’t say you were. And don’t touch the computer—”
Liana shut the door and stepped out of her clothes. She put on a tank top and a pair of sweatpants. “God, this feels so good.”
Rasheem heard her from the living room and arched his brow. Maybe I should get comfortable. He unbuttoned his shirt, but stopped. He didn’t want Liana thinking he was trying to pull a fast one on her.
“Something popped up on the screen,” she said through her bedroom door.
“Don’t touch anything.”
“I’m not. You can come back in, now.” Liana opened the door.
Rasheem walked in and almost stumbled over his tongue. “Damn, girl. You trying to test a brother’s will power?”
“Shut up and finish doing what you got to do so you can leave.”
Rasheem walked toward the computer while his eyes walked up her body. He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was imagining her without her sweats or tank top on.
Liana put her hands on her hips. “Will you hurry up? I don’t have all night for you to be messing around. I’m trying to go to bed.”
Rasheem sat down and focused on the computer screen. “Okay here we go.”
Liana stood behind him, looking at the screen.
“All you got to do is key in the numbers that each line asks for and then boom.”
“Boom?” Liana mimicked.
“Boom.” Rasheem winked.
“Let me see,” Liana said, leaning down to enter her personal information. Her cheek was so close to Rasheem’s that she could feel the razor stubble on it. Rasheem sat stiller than a statue. He figured if he moved, she would move back a little, and he didn’t want that.
Rasheem was inhaling her so deep through his nostrils that he could smell the Tommy Bahama perfume Liana had put on early this morning. With each inhalation, he savored her fragrance, swishing it around his frontal lobe until his eyelids dropped half-mast.
“You’re right,” Liana said. “Boom! That easy.” She turned to look at him and was pulled into the gravitational pull of his eyes. Her eyes automatically closed when his lips touched down on hers. His lips were soft. He gently touched them against hers and traced her lips with his tongue over and over, as if he was executing some kind of secret code to gain entry.
Liana parted her lips, and allowed him to taste her tongue. Without losing contact, she straddled him.
Rasheem palmed her butt as she dry humped him. Liana’s aggressiveness brought out the beast in him as he broke the lip lock and started sucking on her neck.
“Umm, yes,” Liana moaned, unsnapping her bra from the back.
As the last snap came loose, Rasheem removed her tank top and bra in one motion. His erection started to throb when he felt her nipple stiffen in his mouth.
Liana stood up and grabbed him by the waist of his pants. Rasheem stood and followed her toward the bed. Those ten steps felt like ten miles. It seemed as if everything slowed to a snail’s crawl. He stared at her seductive, swaying hips, and then dropped his eyes to her jiggling booty.
When they got to the bed, Liana pushed him down onto it. That’s when everything sped up. They were both naked, Liana straddled him, whispered in his ear what she was going to do to him.
“Fuck!” Rasheem shouted as he stopped Liana from grinding on his thigh.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“I don’t have any condoms.”
“Humph, just like a man,” Liana scoffed, as she got off the bed and reached for her purse. “Never prepared.” Liana crawled back onto the bed and kissed him. “Now handle your business before I change my mind.” Her words came out in a whisper, but Rasheem could taste the lust on them.
He ripped the condom pack open and rolled it on, as Liana rolled onto her back and opened herself up to him. Rasheem crawled in between her legs and sucked on her nipples again, working his way up to her neck, and then to her mouth.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m going to make this a night you’ll never forget. Umm, the things I’m going to do to you is going to—”
Liana put her finger to his lips. “If I would’ve known you were this talkative, I would’ve bought some duct tape while I was at the drug store.”
Liana’s forwardness was an aphrodisiac to Rasheem. He kissed her, while putting her right leg on his shoulder. When the tip of his penis brushed against her clit, Liana’s heart fluttered. Her body tensed as flutters started in her stomach. Her legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they tried to clamp themselves shut.
“You okay?” Rasheem asked, panting.
“I’m fine,” Liana said in a shaky v
oice.
“Relax, baby. I got you.” Rasheem kissed her gently on the lips.
Liana closed her eyes and tried to relax as Rasheem tried to push himself in, but just like that, she was drier than a desert.
“Damn, girl, you were soaking wet a minute ago,” Rasheem said, straining to work his way in.
“I can’t,” Liana heard herself say.
“Huh?” Rasheem said confused.
When Liana opened her eyes, Vince was staring at her. Too shocked to move, she tensed as he licked his fingers and then began playing with her opening. “Stop acting like you don’t want it bitch.”
“No!” Liana screamed, striking Rasheem’s chest and neck.
“Liana… what… the… fuck.” He jumped off the bed and stumbled back into the couch against the bedroom wall. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Liana brought her knees up to her chest and was shivering. “I’m so sorry, Rasheem.” She rocked back and forth. “I don’t know—”
“You don’t have to explain. I’ve been through this before, remember? I used to go out with a girl who was raped.”
“Rasheem—”
“I kind of knew that’s what that letter to the Parole Board was about.”
Liana was too exhausted to convince him that he had it all wrong. Saliva began to pool in her mouth as Vince’s devilish grin crept back into her mind. She hopped off the bed, walked quickly to the bathroom, and threw up. She got on her knees and held on to the rim of the toilet as she vomited again, and again.
Embarrassment and rage filled her heart as she emptied her guts. I can’t get this motherfucker out of my head. Then she began to cry. Is this how it’s going to be every time I’m with a man? God, please don’t do this to me.
Liana got to her feet, still feeling faint, and washed up. She grabbed her robe and put it on before walking out of the bathroom. When Rasheem saw her, he jumped to his feet. Liana looked down at the rubber that was hanging onto his deflated manhood, and had to laugh.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” Rasheem asked, starting to laugh along with her.
Liana stared at the scratches on his chest and neck. “Rasheem, please forgive me.”
He walked up to her and gently kissed her on the lips. “No matter how long it takes, we’re going to work through this. You are definitely worth the wait.”
Liana hugged him and felt him stiffening against her.
“I have to go.” He started getting dressed.
“You can stay the night if you want.”
“Nah, I need to get my shit off.” He stopped fumbling with his shoes. “That didn’t come out right.” It wasn’t supposed to come out at all. He was so focused on getting to Marissa’s, his sons’s mama, so she could finish off what Liana started that he just blurted it out.
“Do what you got to do,” Liana said, trying to hide her hurt.
“What I meant was—”
“Don’t.” Liana cut him off. “I’m a big girl; you don’t have to lie to me.”
Rasheem didn’t look at her the whole time he got dressed. He finally looked at her when she walked him to the front door.
“I was serious about what I said earlier. No matter how long it takes…”
“See you Monday.” Liana closed the door behind him and plodded back to her room where she fell onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. She needed to call somebody and talk about what just happened. It was some scary shit and she wanted to know if there was something wrong with her. Did Vince’s attack damage her worse than she thought? After all, he didn’t actually penetrate her. So, why did her body react the way it did? And the sudden dryness. She rolled over, picked up the phone, and dialed.
“Hello?” the groggy voice on the other side said.
Liana hung up.
“Hello?” the groggy voice said again.
“Who’s that?” Wayne said, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
Tammy laid her head back on his chest. “Whoever it was hung up.”
Liana laid her head on her pillow. Everyone was happy: Jenna, Reese, Elizabeth, Wayne, everyone, but her.
“God, what did I do that was so unforgivable?”
CHAPTER 15
Wayne moaned when the alarm clock went off again. He thought about pressing the snooze button, but he already did that a few times. He slid his hand over to Tammy’s side of the bed and felt nothing but wrinkled sheets. She had already left for work. He opened one eye to peek at the alarm clock, thinking it had to be about seven-fifteen. When he saw eight-thirty on the face of the clock, he jumped up.
“Shit!” He stuck one of his legs into a pant leg, while hopping to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He hopped back into the bedroom while he slipped his other leg in his jeans. He snatched his cell phone off the nightstand, checking to see how many times his father must have called. How could I not hear the phone? To his surprise, his father didn’t call at all. He sat at the foot of the bed putting on his socks and boots, bracing himself for the curse out he was going to get when he went to pick up his father for work.
He started the truck up, and then ran across the street to his parents’s house. He cocked his head when he turned the knob and realized the door was locked. He rang the doorbell. No answer. He looked at his watch and then knocked. His sister answered the door with an attitude. She rolled her eyes at him and walked away.
“What’s wrong with you?” Wayne asked as he stepped in.
“Go ask you mother.”
Wayne rushed toward the kitchen, putting two and two together. His father didn’t call him this morning because he was locked up. He prepared himself to comfort his mother, and tell her that everything was going to be okay. No preparation in the world could remove the shocked look on his face when he walked into the kitchen.
“Ma!”
His mother looked at him, and immediately put her hand on her cheek to try and hide the hand print. “It’s nothing. We had an argument,” she said with a sad smile.
“It’s nothing?” Wayne moved her hand away from her cheek. “Where is he?”
“He left last night, to cool off.”
“To cool off?”
“I’m out, Ma,” Alisa said, heading toward the front door. She had on a skin-tight, mini dress that was so short her panties were peeking out.
Wayne’s face turned red. “Where do you think you’re going dressed like that?”
“You want to be my daddy, too? Go fuck yourself.”
“What the f—” Wayne grabbed her by the arm. “Who the fuck you think you talking to?” That’s when he saw the red marks on her neck that she was trying to hide with a silk scarf.
“Get off me” Alisa broke free of him. “I’m tired of people telling me how to live my life. Motherfuckers want to run the streets and do whatever the fuck they want, then go to jail, and then want to come home and tell everybody what they should and shouldn’t be doing? I’m tired of the ‘do as I say and not as I do’ bullshit.”
“You calling Dad a motherfucker?” Wayne barked.
“Dad is a hypocritical, jail bird, loser-of-a-father motherfucker!”
“You ungrateful little—” Wayne shoved her against the living room wall. Alisa bounced off swinging.
Julie got in the middle of them. “Go!” She said to Alisa. “Get out of here!”
Heaving, Alisa picked up her purse and left.
“You’re just going to let her leave like that?” Wayne huffed.
“She’s not a little girl anymore. You and your father have to get that through your thick-ass heads. She’s eighteen.”
“She just turned eighteen.”
“It doesn’t matter. Fact is, your father hasn’t been able to stay out of jail long enough to celebrate one of her birthdays. She turned eighteen last week, and he didn’t even know it.”
Wayne looked at the mark on his mother’s face, and Alisa became the last thing on his mind. “What happened last night?”
“Alisa came stumbling in here at twelve
o’clock, drunk, and your father lost it. Alisa didn’t start going off until your father tried to ground her for the rest of the summer. That was it. She started ranting about how she was eighteen years old. Your father squinted at her and had the nerve to ask her since when? Then your sister stumbled off mumbling about he should try and stay out of jail long enough to remember when her birthday was. That’s when I ran into the dining room, because I knew your father was going to try and kill her. As soon as I ran in there, your father already had his hands around her neck, choking the life out of her.”
His mother’s eyes began to tear up.
“I pried your father’s hands from around her neck, and we started arguing. He told me it was my fault that she didn’t respect him, then he called me a poor excuse for a mother. That’s when I smacked him. And Nevel, being the man he is, smacked me back,” Julie cracked a smile, but she was far from happy.
Wayne held his head. “And you have no idea where he is?”
“Probably lying up with one of his women.”
Wayne couldn’t take it anymore. “Why do you stay with him? I mean, I can understand sticking it out when Alisa and I were young, but we’re grown.” Wayne raked his hands through his hair. “I mean, damn, Ma, he goes back and forth to jail, and for the little time that he’s free, he doesn’t treat you right.”
His mother’s words came out in a whisper. “He’s my husband, baby, and I love him.”
“You love him?”
“He’s trying, Wayne. He’s been out for a whole year now, and he hasn’t picked up a gun or a package of drugs.”
“So you just ignore that he almost strangled Alisa to death and smacked you?”
His mother caressed the side of his cheek. “When you love someone, you have to take the bitter with the sweet. No one’s perfect.”
Wayne looked at the bruise on his mother’s cheek. “Are you going to be all right?”
“Of course I am.” His mother turned around and walked back in the kitchen where she went back to cutting up her vegetables.
Wayne kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll call you later. If I come across Dad, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, baby.”
Soul Dancing Page 17
