The Lies: The Lies We Tell About Love, Life, and Everything in Between

by Christina C Jones

  I shook my head, and chuckled. “I don’t have women at my place like that, for those exact reasons, but what I do with them doesn’t have shit to do with you,” I told her, wrapping both arms around her waist. “So… what’s up? My place this time, right?”

  “I can’t,” she said. “Zion is at my mother’s, and you know the routine with that. She brings him by early, to get ready for school, and I need to be there.”

  “Okay. I understand that.”

  “But you can come to me,” she offered. “You know that. But… it’ll be late, after I’ve had this time with my girls. And you’ll—”

  “Have to leave early,” I finished for her. “I know. Hit me up when you’re ready for me.”

  That choice of words made her grin, and press closer to me. “I’m always ready for you.”

  I groaned, sliding my hands down to cup her ass. “Aiight, now when your ass can’t walk tomorrow, understand it’s because of you saying shit like that to me.”

  She giggled as she maneuvered out of my grasp, and was about to say something when I heard my name.

  “Kyle! Have you seen—oh, there you are!” Gia spoke to Brandi, then turned to give me a quick hug. “I’ve been looking all over for y’all, nobody was answering the phone,” she said, and a moment later, Iris appeared on her other side.

  “I was just looking for you guys,” she said, looking between me and Brandi. “What are y’all over here doing?”

  Brandi smiled. “The usual. Kyle trying to talk me into coming to his place.”

  Gia and Iris both laughed, and Iris shook her head as she grabbed Brandi’s wrist. “Flirt all you want, sir, but I’ve told you these two are off limits,” she playfully scolded, and it took everything in me not to burst out laughing at the look of amusement on Brandi’s face.

  “She told you,” Brandi teased, sticking her tongue out at me as Iris led them away. Luckily, Gia’s interruption had made my dick go back down, so I was good to go back to the table to finish out my own night.

  There was no doubt in my mind that I would hear from Brandi sooner than later.

  &

  Brandi’s insecurity about those stretchmarks hadn’t lasted long.

  She’d been a little skittish about complete nudity with me at first, apologizing for this or that about her body, which pissed me off, but now, I don’t think it crossed her mind at all. Instead of lying in darkness, I got to experience the visual of my fingers roaming over her soft skin and plush thighs, watched them wrap around the perfect handfuls of her breasts. Got to see her body swallow me over and over, got to watch the changes in her face as she rode me like this was the last chance she’d ever get.

  “Hell yes,” I growled as she leaned forward, planting her hands on my chest. I reached for her, gripping her ass, but not restricting the blissful things she was doing to my dick. “B, goddamn.” She opened her eyes, grinning at me as she ground down onto me, taking me as deep as she could, circling her hips before she raised up again, then repeated that little move, over and over.

  “Have I told you I love how vocal you are during sex?” she asked, in a sexy, breathless voice that I swear made me even harder.

  “Nah. What’s special about it?”

  She sat back, keeping me buried in her as she rocked back and forth. The view was… magnificent. “It’s just… sometimes men act… I don’t know. Afraid to make any noise, like it makes them less manly or something.”

  “I’m supposed to have you on my dick and just be quiet about it?”

  She let out a sound that was half-whimper, half-laugh as I pushed up into her. “No, I’m not saying that. Like I said…I love that you let me know I’m feeling good to you. Some men act like it’s a problem to moan.”

  “Should I whistle like a train instead?” I asked her, and she laughed. “Do you remember that night on twitter, when everybody was talking about this?”

  “I do,” she giggled. “So tell me… are you a Jamaican airhorn kind of guy, or a wolf howler?”

  “I was actually thinking I’d do Usher’s “nayhoo” from the beginning of “You Got it Bad” when I come this time,” I said, and she let out a choked laugh as she fell onto my chest. Just for that moment, sex was forgotten as we laughed. Her body molded so perfectly against mine I didn’t even want to move – I was good just laying there like that, still inside of her. Then she raised up, a little smile at the corners of her mouth as she looked at me. I grabbed a handful of her braids, bringing her mouth to mine.

  Then, we were back into it.

  All the way into it until the next morning, when I woke up alone in her bed, in the full light of day. Confusion swept through me as I sat up, realizing the room was empty. Brandi was usually diligent about making sure I had my ass out of there in the early morning hours if Zion was at home, with limited exceptions to that rule.

  For some reason… today was one of those.

  A glance at the clock told me it was past the time that school started, so I climbed out of the bed, found my boxers and sweats, and slipped them on to go find Brandi. As soon as I stepped out of her room, I was greeted by the smell of coffee and bacon, which made my mouth water.

  I found her sitting at the counter in her kitchen, attention focused on her phone. She was wearing the “Ballistic” tee-shirt I’d worn over the night before, and presumably nothing else. With all of her braids pulled over one shoulder, and the natural light from the window streaming in, creating a glow on her bare face, the only word that entered my mind was… beautiful.

  Not fine, not bad, not sexy, even though she was definitely all those things too, but… damn. This was something else.

  She glanced up for a second, doing a double-take when she saw me standing at the entrance from the hall. That smile spread over her face again, and she sat up a little straighter.

  Fucking beautiful.

  “Good morning,” she said. “I was wondering when you’d wake up. I hope you didn’t have anything pressing this morning.”

  “Nah.” I pushed my hands into my pockets, and rested against the wall. “I didn’t have anything. But uhh… I’m surprised you didn’t wake me up to get my ass out of here.”

  She shrugged, then climbed down from her barstool. “I wore you out, so you were sleeping pretty soundly. And I felt bad asking you to leave so early when you came over so late. So… I figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to give you a little time.”

  “Oh, you wore me out, huh? That’s how it went?”

  “That’s how it went,” she nodded, then bent over to open the oven, giving me a peek of the puffier-than-usual perfection between her thighs, which told a different story. I watched her pull out a pan of nicely browned bacon, using oven mitts to put it on the stove. “I was hungry,” she said, turning to face me once she’d tossed the mitts onto the counter. “But Zion wanted to eat at school, with his little friend-girl, so I waited to fix myself something. Figured you’d probably be hungry too. And there’s coffee pods in the drawer, if you want some.”

  “Okay.” Her arms went around my waist as I approached her, backing her up against the counter. “What are you doing tonight?”

  “Hanging with Zion. He leaves tomorrow, to spend Spring Break with his father. He’s taking him to go meet his cousins and all of that, from his side of the family.”

  “Whoa,” I said, eyes wide. “You good?”

  She nodded. “Surprisingly so. My baby can handle himself, and despite my personal reservations about Scott… I fully believe he’ll protect our son if needed. But, I’ve got my brass knuckles and money set aside for plane tickets and bail if I need to go set anybody straight.”

  I chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  “As you shouldn’t. But anyway, why’d you ask?”

  “Oh, no big deal. I just thought maybe we could hit up a comedy show, grab some dinner or something…”

  “Ooooh!” she smiled. “Maybe tomorrow night? That way everybody has a little time to plan, get their outf
its together, all that.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Everybody? Who is everybody?”

  “Rob, Iris, Derrick, Gia, our little crew…”

  “I ain’t said shit about them, they aren’t invited,” I chuckled. “I was talking about me and you. Just us.”

  “Oh! Duh, Brandi,” she laughed. “But… do you think that’s a good idea? I mean… people seeing us out together like that, you know it’ll have people talking. We don’t want to set the impression that we’re together when it’s not like that, right?”

  “What do you mean, “it’s not like that?””

  “You and me. They’ll swear we’re on the verge of marriage and a baby, when that’s not even remotely true. We’re friends. Friends who are intimately acquainted with each other’s anatomy, but still… friends. Right?”

  Right.

  She was right.

  I knew that, but knowledge didn’t help the fact that the words didn’t sit right with me. No, we weren’t “together”, but hearing her go on and on about us being “just friends”… anger didn’t quite fit, and neither did hurt. It just didn’t feel right, regardless of the fact that it was.

  Right?

  “You know what,” she said, moving her hands up to my chest. “From the look on your face, I can tell that I am overthinking this. Opposite sex friends kick it together in public all the time, with no problem. And besides that… I don’t think I actually give a shit what anybody else thinks, so… yeah. Let’s make this friend date official.”

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, right,” I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get together on the plans. We’ll get it worked out.”

  “Perfect.” She turned back to stove. “Now that that’s settled, let’s put together this breakfast.”

  “Yeah, lets hit it,” I agreed, stepping back to give her space to move. I’d go along with it because of the effort she’d already put in, but… I suddenly didn’t have an appetite.

  {seven} her lies

  “Would you—just – ugh, lean down, let me fix it!”

  “Damn, mom. Thank you. Can I get back to the game now?” Kyle asked, scowling through the sweat dripping down his face before he wiped it away with his arm. I scowled right back, annoyed that he was out here on the court in the first place, getting his locs all sweaty. It wasn’t really my problem, but there was no way the retwist I’d done for him a few weeks before had locked yet, and he was playing with his hair pulled into the loosest possible band now that it was out of the last actual style I’d done for him. The sight made me a little ragey.

  So I called him over. Talked him into letting me at least put it in a bun, which hadn’t done well with the vigor of his intense three-on-three game. Then, he had the nerve to act like I was annoying him when I insisted he let me fix it – a little fact that made me roll my eyes.

  “Sure, Mr. Ungrateful,” I hissed, but my anger melted instantly when he winked at me before he went back to start up a new game. I shook my head at myself.

  Good, consistent dick had me all out of character these days.

  “What the hell was that?” Iris called, reminding me of her presence as I headed back to the stands. Rob and Derrick were both out there on the court with Kyle, for their friendly game with some other neighborhood guys. “Did you… did you just fix his man-bun?”

  “Is that a big deal or something?” I asked, lifting my eyebrows.

  “It’s not not a big deal.”

  “It totally is.”

  “It definitely isn’t,” Iris insisted, frowning at me as I took my seat again.

  “Right, so we’re on the same page. It definitely isn’t a big deal.”

  Iris sucked her teeth. “Brandi…”

  “What?” I asked. “Yes, I fixed his man-bun. I’m the one who put his hair in the man-bun, before you got here. You know I touched up Kyle’s locs for him, and I’ve styled them before too.”

  “Him sitting in your chair at the salon is not the same thing as you tenderly making sure his hair is in place while he’s playing basketball.”

  “Ugh,” I groaned, looking past her to where Zion was playing with his friends. I was only here at all because he’d just returned from his trip with his father, and was missing his little homeboys after being with the bougie side of his family for a week. “Iris, lest you forget, I was crazy protective about your locs too.”

  She waved that off. “Yeah, but we’re besties. We have a bond, my locs were your locs. You and Kyle don’t even know each other like that. We actually have like, a real for real relationship. You and Kyle don’t.”

  Instead of responding to that, I twisted the top off my water bottle and focused a little harder on Zion, who’d just made a three-pointer. “Go baby!” I shouted for him, laughing at the embarrassed grin he shot in my direction. But, I could feel Iris burning a hole in the side of my face with her eyes, so I took a deep swig from my water bottle, then turned to her as I put the cap back on. “What?”

  “I said… you and Kyle don’t really have a relationship, other than the flirting you two do with each other… right?” she asked, and I bit the inside of my lip.

  “Oh, uh, yeah. Kyle and I are definitely not in a relationship.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Oh my God. You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

  “What?” I asked, shrugging. “What’s the problem?”

  “You’re lying to me!” she hissed, tossing up her hands. “We’ve known each other since we were teenagers, you think I can’t tell?!”

  “I—um – I’m not lying!”

  Iris’ nostrils flared as she scowled at me. “Brandi Ellis, you know exactly what you were doing with that specific ass “definitely not in a relationship” answer. So what is going on with you and Kyle?”

  I groaned, rolling my eyes up to the ceiling. It was a miracle that it had taken this long for it to be figured out. “I… we…” I pushed out a sigh, and Iris folded her arms.

  “It’s a simple question. Are you screwing him? Was it once? Twice? All the time? Are you fuck buddies or something now?”

  “I would… I would say friends with benefits,” I explained, keeping my voice low. “We’re friends. Actual friends. Who… have sex sometimes. A lot.”

  “Wow,” Iris said, followed by a dry, humorless laugh. “You and Kyle are friends. Who sex each other. And you just… what, just didn’t want to tell me? I thought we were friends. Best friends.”

  Shiiiit.

  “We are, Iris, don’t even play like that.”

  She sucked her teeth. “Me?! I’m not the one who didn’t tell my best friend I was sleeping with her man’s best friend. Why would you not tell me that?!”

  “Because I didn’t want it to turn into something it wasn’t, you and Gia playing matchmaker or making wedding plans or pumping Rob for information about him, none of that. I just wanted it to be whatever it was, for as long as we wanted it to. It seemed like less chance of drama and bad feelings and all that if we decide to stop, if we were the only ones who knew.”

  “Girl are you crazy?” Iris asked, eyes wide. “You have to be, if you think that is what my reaction would be to you sleeping with him.”

  I frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I see how this is going to go. Kyle is charming, and sexy, and if the way KJ’s mother can’t seem to leave him alone is any indication, the sex must be amazing. You are going to get wrapped up in him, and he’s not going to be wrapped back, because he is not the “one woman” guy. We just laughed about this in the bar a few weeks ago.”

  “He’s not the guy he’s made out to be, and more people would see that if they actually knew him.”

  Iris laughed. “Derrick and Rob know him very well.”

  “Yeah, well, sometimes even your friends can miss things, misunderstand you. Just because someone is your friend, doesn’t mean they get it right all the time.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means whatever the hell you think it
means, Iris. I’m telling you the Kyle I know is different from the ex-athlete hoe stereotype that he plays along with.”

  She huffed. “And how do you know? Because that’s what he claimed over pillow talk?”

  “Wow.” I shook my head. “So, what… I’m just some lonely, naïve single mom who believes anything whispered in my ear?”

  “That it is not what I’m saying.”

  “But it’s certainly how you’re acting.”

  “I’m trying to protect you,” she insisted.

  I looked her right in the eyes as I asked, “From what, exactly?”

  “From getting your heart broken by your “friend”. You’re sleeping with him, what would you say, consistently? And I know you, so I know it’s exclusively. You’re going to keep doing that, it’s going to start feeling like something it’s not, and as soon as he realizes it’s feeling like that to you, your “friendship” will be over because attractive single men aren’t on this exclusivity thing until they just are. We talked about this, remember? It’s not saying they’re bad guys, just that they’re… hoes.”

  I scoffed. “Right, just like your man was, before you, right? Or am I just imagining that more than one jealous bitch on social media has been in your inbox trying to cause drama? Putting pictures he sent of his dick before he even met you, in your private messages, trying to make it seem like it was something it wasn’t? Not to mention, I went allll the way back on his Instagram that first day we found him on there, being nosy. He’s deleted them now because of you, but there were a ton of different women, all over him. Mr. Mason got around.”

  “Brandi, this is—”

  “Mean and unfair to bring up? Yeah, it is. So maybe you should think about that before you throw accusations around. Rob was one thing before – now he’s another.”

  “Fine,” Iris gritted out. “Are you done?”

  I crossed my arms. “No, I’m not. Despite your impressions of him, Kyle is a good friend to me. Great listener. Amazing sex. I am more at peace than I have been in a long time, and I am happy with the state of our… whatever. I know exactly what this is, and what it isn’t. I’m not catching feelings, I’m enjoying myself, which I deserve to be able to do without my friend shitting on it.”