by B. M. Hardin
He was always saying something slick and it bothered me that he wasn’t as supportive about it like I’d thought that he would be.
He was nowhere near as supportive as Polo.
It just wasn’t like him to act this way about something that I loved or something that was important to me.
Maybe another side effect to those penis pills was jackass syndrome, because that was exactly what he’d been acting like lately.
“Shut up Eddie. Have you even read what she’s working on? It’s good,” Polo stood up for me.
“Oh and you have?”
“Yep. I read some of it. She might be the next best-selling author. You just never know.”
Eddie looked at Polo and then looked at me.
His mind was racing, I could see it all over his face, but he didn’t say anything else negative.
“Hmm, maybe I will read it then. You’re right. I just never know,” he finally said.
Luckily, my mother walked in and I headed away from the tension, to meet her at the door.
My mother, Mrs. Darlene Sampson, was the best mother in the world!
She’d done a fabulous job raising me and my younger brother.
And with a Daddy like mine, that wasn’t easy.
He was dead and gone now, but he’d died doing the one thing that he loved more than his wife and kids…
Drinking.
He was nothing but a drunk and always had been.
In a way, Polo reminded me of him; and that was another reason why Polo wouldn’t have had a chance from the start.
Daddy worked and paid the bills, but his drinking was way out of control, and no one hated his drunken ways more than me.
He disgusted me and I hated the ground that he walked on.
He was so non-existent that most of the time I forgot that he was even around.
I hadn’t even allowed him to come to my wedding nor did I ever let him around my children.
I didn’t trust him, especially after Patrice accused him of touching her.
She’d stayed over one weekend and she’d said that Daddy had come into the bathroom that Sunday morning, after she’d just gotten out of the shower and she said that he touched her.
I wasn’t sure whether to call it molestation or inappropriately fondling or what, but either way, it was sick!
Patrice said that Daddy was drunk, early as usual, and said that he’d burst into the bathroom, noticed her naked body and then made his move on her.
Patrice accused Daddy of touching her teenage kitty and somewhat hunching her up against the wall, as she described it.
She’d come into my bedroom like a zombie and I knew immediately that something was wrong.
She told me and said that she wouldn’t tell authorities because she loved me and didn’t want to take my daddy away from me, although I told her to get his ass put in jail.
But she didn’t say a word except that she would never spend the night again or be in the same house as him, and she never did.
I’d told Mama and she believed that he’d done it too.
But she never left his side.
She never made excuses for him, yet she stayed with him until his dying day.
She used to say all the time that she couldn’t wait for him to drop dead, and one day, she’d gotten her wish.
He was talking to her and right in the middle of his sentence he clutched his chest and fell to the floor.
Dead.
And today, without Daddy, she was happier than I’d ever seen her before.
I’d always said that I wouldn’t marry a drunk and that I didn’t want a man who couldn’t handle his liquor.
Eddie was that man.
He wasn’t the heaviest drinker and he only drank if he was at home and with Polo; or if for some reason he talked me into having a few drinks with him.
But seriously, it was as though we kept liquor in the house, just for Polo.
Thinking about it now, Polo seemed to be going down the same path as Daddy, which reminded me that the little feelings that I had been feeling towards Polo lately were nonsense.
“Hey mommy,” I smiled and hugged her.
“How you been baby?” She asked, following me to the kitchen.
“I’ve been good. Everything is fine. I’ve been writing, so I’m excited about that,” I said to her.
“Good. Finally.”
“Yeah, finally. But Eddie doesn’t seem to like it. He’s not as supportive of it, not like I thought that he would be. Polo is more supportive with it than he his.”
“Polo?” Mama asked as though she was unsure as to why I’d even mentioned him.
Why had I mentioned him?
My mother stared at me and then she placed her hands on her hips.
“Is there something going on with you and Polo, Sassi?”
“What? No. He’s Eddie’s best friend, Ma,” I said and headed towards the back door.
She followed me.
“Don’t mess up your good marriage for some horny drunk chile. You saw what I went through with your father. And yes, he is Eddie’s best friend. I didn’t raise a slut,” she warned.
“Okay Ma. But nothing is going on between us. He’s like a brother to me.”
I could tell that she wasn’t convinced but she let the conversation go and started a new one.
I exhaled.
I had to get myself together.
I definitely shouldn’t have said that.
She talked about something random, but shortly after, she made her way back to Eddie and I.
“Eddie will come around. He loves you so much Sassi,” Mama said and then I heard her as she left the kitchen.
Yeah, I’m sure that he would.
But when?
I stepped outside to get some fresh air.
I headed to hide behind the outhouse so that no one could see me and I took a seat on the ground.
It was hotter than usual for Easter Sunday, but I was enjoying the weather and the warm rays from the sun against my skin.
I loved the springtime.
I loved the beauty of the blooming flowers and even the sound of the birds returning from the far south from the winter.
“Want some company?”
Polo scared the crap out of me.
How did he know that I was hiding behind here?
Before I could answer him, he sat down.
“Polo, just go away.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want me to.”
Liar!
I did.
Kind of.
He scooted close to me and though I wanted to put some space in between us, I didn’t.
“Polo,” I started to say.
“Don’t talk. Just listen. I don’t want to feel this way about you either, but I do. For years I tried to fight it or find someone that had all of the things that I liked about you but none of them were you. Why do you think I deal with so many women? Granted I loved women before, but the past few years I’ve been searching for an imitation of you. I’ve been searching for your replacement Sassi. But I can’t find her. I can’t find her because there is no other you,” he said.
My stomach was boiling and I felt as though I was about to be sick.
This could not be happening to me.
This had to be some kind of joke or dream that I was going to wake up from any minute now.
“Polo, Eddie loves you so much. You’re like a brother to him.”
“I know which is why I feel so horrible about the way I feel about you. That alone, and the fact that I love you, is why I drink so much. I just don’t know how to deal with what I’m feeling.”
“You don’t love me Polo. Eddie loves me.”
“And I do too. I probably love you even more than he does.”
No.
Now that was impossible.
No one loved me as much as Eddie did.
“No you don’t love me Polo.”
“How are you goi
ng to tell me what I feel?”
“Well, if you do, you love me like a sister right?”
Polo looked at me.
“No. Because I couldn’t do this to my sister,” and before I could stop him, he kissed me.
And he kept kissing.
And finally…I kissed him back.
The way that he kissed me made my insides melt.
Had it not been for the Rum and coke on his lips and tongue, the kiss would have been perfect.
My body was telling me to take it to the next level but of course my mind reminded me that we couldn’t.
Finally, after guilt started to set in and because I was becoming extremely aroused, I pulled away from him.
We both just sat there for a while and didn’t say anything.
I didn’t know what to say.
I didn’t know what to do.
I’d just kissed my husband’s best friend…
And I liked it too.
“Sassi, um, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry for what?”
My soul damn near left my body at the sound of Eddie’s voice.
I’d felt Polo’s body jump as well.
“I expected to find you hiding back here but not you Sassi. What are you sorry about Polo?” Eddie asked again.
“For giving her such an issue about hooking me up with this co-worker of hers. I was just telling her what we talked about earlier. About me really needing to find a wife and settling down. I guess I’m going to let her hook me up one last time and see what happens. Hopefully she will be the one.”
Expert liar, I see.
“Oh bro, the one will come when its time. Don’t rush it. Come on back in with me. The other fellas and I need your opinion,” Eddie said and Polo immediately got up.
“You coming?” Eddie asked me, and I shook my head.
“No, I still need some fresh air. I’ll be in soon.”
Eddie nodded and he and Polo walked away.
Oh my goodness!
Did that really just happen?
I touched my lips, trying to forget the wrong that I’d done. But it felt so right.
It felt so good.
Get thee behind me Satan!
Ugh!
I just wanted to scream.
This was not supposed to be happening to me.
I was falling for my husband’s best friend, and it was going to be harder than I thought to stop.
I sat there in a daze until I figured that something probably needed to be refilled or something, so I got up and headed towards the house.
How was I ever going to face Polo again?
Hell, how was I going to face my husband?
Entering the kitchen, I was met by Mama who was doing my job and refilling chip bowls and trays.
She didn’t say anything, so I simply joined in.
But just as she was heading out of the kitchen, she spoke.
“I won’t ask what you and Polo were doing behind that outhouse for those few minutes, but I will say this. The grass ain’t always greener on the other side. Everybody always has something to hide,” Mama said and she walked away.
Ugh…including me.
********************************************
CHAPTER 4
“Can I take you to lunch?” Polo asked as I walked to my car.
I was actually happy to see him because we needed to talk.
“Eddie already knows. I told him that I was coming to see this “co-worker” of yours that you have supposedly been trying to set me up with and I told him that I was going to go ahead and treat you to lunch while I was here,” Polo said.
Well, I guess now I had to go.
He opened his car door as I shut mine, and I got inside of Polo’s car.
I was so nervous.
I felt like I was about to lose my virginity or something.
Hell, I wasn’t even this nervous when that had happened.
We had been so awkward around each other since the kiss and I wasn’t sure that being around him was such a good idea.
We drove in silence for a while and then an old school song came on the radio.
“Um, this song always reminds me of you. Think back, this was the song that you and Eddie listened to on your first date wasn’t it?”
I thought hard.
Wait a minute…he was right.
When I got into Eddie’s car, ten years ago for our first officially date, he was playing “Every time I close my eyes” by Babyface.
“Yeah, I know it was, because I told him to play it. I would close my eyes and see your face and then when Eddie told me the next day after the night at the bar that you gave him your number, this was the song that I was listening to. And ever since then, whenever I hear it, I think of you.”
Polo, Polo, Polo!
“I’m telling you, you were supposed to be mine,” Polo said, as he pulled up at the most expensive restaurant that he could find.
I didn’t say anything.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Um, sit on that side,” I said to him as I took a seat.
“No, I want to sit beside you.”
He waited for me to scoot over in the booth and he sat beside me.
The waiter asked what we wanted to drink and to my surprise Polo ordered water.
“You’re not drinking?”
“No. I’m trying to stop.”
I just looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because of you.”
Because of me for what?
Surely he knew that my Daddy had been a drunk. I was sure that Eddie had given him the scoop a long time ago but on top of that, Polo and I had texted for about an hour about my Daddy, a few days ago, and why I felt the way that I did about him.
The conversation had gotten deep and actually Polo made me see a few things that I had never bothered to look at or consider before.
But there was no point in stopping for me.
He couldn’t have me.
Eddie already did.
“So, about that kiss,” he started.
“Polo, I don’t want to talk about that. But I will say this. That can never happen again.”
All I had been able to think about was that damn kiss and sometimes the thoughts of it made me smile.
But other times I frowned because I knew that it was wrong.
“Why not?”
“Really Polo?”
“Yes, really Sassi. I want you.”
“You can’t have me.”
“Yes I can. I don’t mind sharing you. If that’s the only way that I can have you.”
“You’re talking crazy Polo,” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Don’t call me crazy. I hate when people call me crazy. I’m not crazy for wanting you.”
“I’m married to your best friend.”
“For now.”
Was he serious?
The waiter came back with our drinks and asked for our orders.
I ordered a salad and I couldn’t even recite what it was that Polo had ordered.
“No Polo, it was a mistake,” I said as soon as the gentleman walked away.
“It didn’t feel like a mistake to me. You kissed me back.”
For some reason I wanted him to kiss me right then and there but I had to fight my flesh.
I was so confused by what I was feeling and I didn’t like it one bit.
If I was going to cheat on my husband, why not find someone else to do it with?
Someone other than Polo.
Someone other than his best friend.
This was just wrong on so many levels.
I just couldn’t do this to Eddie.
“We can’t do this to Eddie Polo,” I whined.
“I don’t want to hurt him but I can’t help how I feel.”
He touched my thigh and I shivered.
“Don’t touch me Polo.”
“Stop me.”
He slid his hand up my dress and towards my awaiting vagi
na and I squeezed my legs together.
“Open your legs.”
“What?”
“I said open your legs.”
I shook my head no.
“Open your legs Sassi,” he whispered in my ear and my legs became disobedient and they opened on their own.
I started to shake.
I wanted to just get up and run out of there but my feet wouldn’t let me.
They were frozen and they wouldn’t cooperate to save my life.
Get up and get out of here stupid!
The voice in my head taunted me but I found a way to ignore it.
Polo found the side of my panties and his hand started to roam.
I swallowed, hard, as he touched the lips of my heated puss.
His fingers found the opening to my watering hole, and my juices drowned them instantly.
“Stop Polo,” I whispered.
“Make me.”
He was so close and I wanted to suck his lips off of his face.
His fingers moved swiftly.
In and out.
In and out.
Why did it have to feel so damn good?
I felt like I was about to pass out and I was struggling to breath.
“I wanna make love to you Sassi. Just once. And I promise we won’t do it again. We won’t hurt him again. Just one night with you is all I need.”
I shook my head and it seemed to only make his fingers work harder.
He had lost his mind!
We definitely couldn’t have sex.
There was no way that I was going to cross that line.
I squeezed my eyes closed and bit my bottom lip.
“Please stop.”
“Just one time.”
I was so turned on that I didn’t know what to do with myself.
If I could take him into the bathroom and screw his brains out, I swear that I would.
See, if Eddie did random, spontaneous stuff like this, we would be okay.
This was exciting.
This is what I called keeping things spicy.
A little coochie fingering in a restaurant ain’t ever hurt nobody!
I just hoped that Polo went to wash his hands before he touched his food.
In the very beginning, Eddie was somewhat spontaneous at times, but I guess he was only doing it because Polo had told him to.
I damn near had to pay Eddie to even kissed me in public.
Something like this was definitely out of the question.
“Just once.”
“No.”
“Just once. I need to feel you just once.”
