“Nokea, that’s a beautiful dress you’re wearing,” Scorpio said, staring.
“It is pretty, and sexy too. I noticed it when you got out of the car. And that color really looks good on you,” Nanny B added.
“Thanks,” I said. “Jaylin hated it, though. He complained about how revealing it is. We argued about it last night and this morning.”
“Well, I like it,” Nanny B insisted. “Turn around. Let me see how the back is made.”
“It’s nothing spectacular.” I turned around. “The color is what makes it.”
“No,” Scorpio said. “I think it’s your thin waistline and your petite body that makes it. And since it’s one of those dresses you can’t wear any panties with, I don’t quite understand why Jaylin wouldn’t like it. Any woman with that kind of dress on would be right up his alley. Since it was on you, I’m sure he was pleased.”
Nanny B pulled out a cigarette from her pocket. “On that note, I’m going to take a smoke break. Don’t y’all tell Jaylin I’m out here smoking because he will have a fit.” She laughed and walked off.
“Listen,” Scorpio said. “I didn’t mean to be so bold, but it is a nice dress. If I had it, I would definitely wear it whether Jaylin likes it or not.”
I smiled, thanked Scorpio for the so-called compliment, and went inside the house to get LJ. She followed. We walked upstairs to Jaylin’s bedroom, and heard him loudly talking on the phone, laughing. He was lying across the bed talking to Stephon with LJ sitting on his stomach, and Mackenzie laying her head on his chest.
“Man, you are a fool,” he paused. “Let me hit you back in a lil’ bit, though, all right?” He sat up.
“Come on, Mackenzie. Let’s go,” Scorpio said, holding out her hand for Mackenzie to take it. Mackenzie rolled her eyes and got off the bed.
“Why she gotta go? I’ll bring her home later,” Jaylin said, pulling Mackenzie toward him.
I picked up LJ because I didn’t want him in the middle of an argument I truly felt was about to go down.
“Jaylin, she needs to spend some time at home too. She’s over here more than she is at her own damn house.” Scorpio looked at Mackenzie. “Now, go get your things and let’s go.”
“Just in case you didn’t notice, Scorpio, this is her house too. I said I’ll bring her home later.”
Scorpio gave him a hard stare. “Playboy, don’t argue with me right now, okay? I’m bound to say something I might regret, so it’s best that you let us leave quietly.”
Jaylin laid back on the bed, put his hands behind his head, and looked up. “Well, the Playboy says she stays and if you got a fucking problem with that, too bad.” Before Scorpio could say anything, I turned toward the door with LJ. “Nokea!” he yelled. “Put my son back down. I was playing with him, if you don’t mind.”
“Mackenzie, go downstairs with Nanny B,” Scorpio insisted, and pushed Mackenzie toward the door. I moved and let Mackenzie pass.
“Jaylin, look, I’m just taking LJ downstairs out of the way,” I said.
“Put him on the damn bed like I told you to!” he yelled. I ignored him and turned back to the door. He hurried off the bed, but Scorpio stood in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. Nanny B came up the steps, her forehead lined with wrinkles. She took LJ from me.
“What in the hell is going on up in here?” she asked.
“Jaylin, I know I don’t hear you yelling at these women like that.”
“Hey, I was in here minding my own damn business, and they’re the ones strolling in here, taking my kids like I’m not even here. What kind of shit is that? So, now, fuck it! Everybody can get the hell out.” He went over to his nightstand and grabbed his keys. He tossed them to Nanny B and she caught them. “Please take Nokea and LJ home for me. I don’t want you burning all the gas out of your car.”
“Jaylin, I’ll take them home, but when I come back we need to talk. This type of behavior doesn’t make any sense and you know it,” Nanny B said, jiggling his keys.
Scorpio was so frustrated that she grabbed Mackenzie and left. I waited in the hallway with LJ while Nanny B went to get her purse. Jaylin yelled down the hallway from his room, “Nokea!”
“What?” I yelled back and went into his room.
He came out of his closet with a long white Ralph Lauren shirt and some jogging pants in his hand. “Take off that dress and put this on.”
I put my hand on my hip and shot him down with fury in my eyes. “I will never understand how you can make love to me like you did today, tell me you love me, and then come home and act like a complete idiot.”
Nanny B came into the room and took LJ from me. “We’ll be in the car waiting.” She walked out.
“Nokea, just take off the damn dress and put this on, would you?” He reached out to give the clothes to me. I snatched them from his hands and threw them on the floor.
“I will do no such thing. I’m one minute from losing my religion on you. Please don’t make me go there, okay?”
He bent down and picked up the clothes. He held them out to me again. “You’re one minute from losing your religion and I’m five seconds from snatching that motherfucker off you. So, take the damn dress off like I asked you to.”
“No!” I screamed. “For the last time, Jaylin, I said no! This is my dress, I like it, and it stays on me. If you don’t like it, fuck you!” I turned to walk away. When I reached the top of the stairs, he grabbed me from behind and pulled on the dress, ripping the back of it. He stood holding part of it in his hands. I seethed with anger, and smacked him as hard as I could on his face. He rubbed it and grinned.
“So, you got your lil’ smack, and I got what I wanted. Just don’t touch me like that again or I’ll hurt you.”
Standing there half-naked, I snatched the clothes from Jaylin’s hand and put them on.
“You are one sexy-ass woman when you’re mad,” he said, reaching for my waist.
I pulled away from him. “If you want to bring out this sexy woman you think I seem to be by cursing at you, and by putting my hands on you, please just leave me alone. My parents didn’t raise me to disrespect the ones I love. How about yours?”
“Ouch. Now, you really didn’t have to go there. But if you must know, nobody taught me shit. If anything, you should know by now that when I say something, I mean it. Next time I tell you to do something, just do it. Then, all this kind of tedious bullshit can be avoided.”
“Thanks but I already have a father, Jaylin. I’m not in the market for a new one. And if I were,” I said, walking down the steps, “it wouldn’t be you.” He stood at the top of the staircase, smiling at me like he truly got a kick out of the entire situation.
After Nanny B dropped us off, I gave LJ a bath and laid him down for the night. I checked my messages. Everybody had called. Mama and Daddy were upset with me for not bringing LJ over yesterday, Pat was cursing me out for not calling her back, and Jaylin called about ten times apologizing. I called Mama and Daddy back and explained why I didn’t come over yesterday, and then I called Pat and apologized to her.
When I told her I spent the night with Jaylin, she hung up on me. She called back two minutes later and apologized and we made plans to get together for dinner the following Friday. As for Jaylin, I deleted his messages. His mind needed some serious rest and I was in no mood to argue with him again.
Chapter 12
Scorpio
There was no doubt about it that Jay-Baby had to go. He was getting over and successfully doing so. He called and tried to apologize to me, but I wasn’t having it. I let him beg and plead for forgiveness to the answering machine and had no intention of returning his phone calls.
Going forward, all of my time was going to be focused on finishing school and taking care of Mackenzie. I wasn’t going to stop him from seeing her, but as far as I was concerned, what we had was over. I knew it would be hard for me to move on, but I had to out of respect for myself. If I ever wanted to be with him again, I had to become
some type of challenge for him. At least make him think about what he would be missing if he didn’t get his act together. Right now, I was too easy for him to get over on and he knew it. I only hoped Nokea was thinking the same way I was. She was much easier than I was and she seemed to cope better than I did with all the bullshit he put her through. I wanted to ask her if he’d made love to her the night of his birthday, but her dress and his inability to look me in the eyes said it all. I was sure that Jaylin worked her and worked her well. Besides, satisfaction was written all over her face. She had a glow about her, and it was a glow that only a man like Jaylin could give a woman after sex. Thing was, though, he didn’t even care if we knew about his little birthday extravaganza. He seemed kind of proud to be with both of us in the same night. And then, to make love to me like he did, tell me he loved me for the first time, and promised me he wouldn’t sleep with Nokea . . . Shame on me. Shame on me for letting shit go this far.
I left class on Wednesday night excited about the A I’d gotten on my algebra test, and headed to Shane’s studio apartment to thank him. When I arrived, I took the black barred elevator to the fourth floor. When I stepped off the elevator, he was sitting on a stool in the corner of the room, talking on the phone. He waved for me to come on back to where he was. I stepped over paint cans and canvasses on the floor. He had a window open to clear the paint smell, and white sheer curtains blew as the wind came in. Paintings and sketches were all over the place. The hardwood floors had paint blotches everywhere, and the entire room could be summed up as cluttered. In the middle of the floor there was a king-size canopy bed with black steel bars. It was draped with sheer white material. Clean, white cotton sheets covered the mattress. It looked odd in the center of the room like that, but I guessed there was no other place for him to lay his head.
I listened to Shane end his conversation, and couldn’t help but hear him say Felicia’s name. He hung up and asked me to have a seat on an old metal chair that was also speckled with dry paint.
“No, that’s okay,” I said. “I’m not going to stay long. I wanted to personally come over and thank you for helping me out like you did.” I pulled the test from my purse and flashed it in front of his face. “Bam! Look what I got today.”
He took the paper out of my hand and smiled. “I told you that you could do it, didn’t I?” He gave me a hug. Issey Miyake wore him well, and his scent reminded me of Jaylin. I quickly separated myself from our embrace and took back my test.
“You know, this calls for a celebration,” he said. “Why don’t you stay a while?” He sat on the stool again, folding his arms in front of him. His muscles bulged from under his white short-sleeved T-shirt, and I thought freaky things to myself. A Gucci black belt held up his dark blue wide-legged Levi’s. Since he still had on his rubber boots, I suspected he’d been for a ride on his motorcycle.
“No, really, Shane, I can’t stay. I promised Nanny B I would pick up Mackenzie by ten o’clock tonight.”
He looked at his watch. “Hmm . . . it’s only eight-thirty. You have time for one glass of champagne, don’t you?”
“Just one.”
Shane kicked off his boots and walked over to the refrigerator in the other corner of the room.
He pulled out a bottle of wine, then grabbed two wine glasses from a shelf.
Just as he headed toward me, the phone rang. He put the wine and glasses down on a bookshelf and answered it. While talking, he leaned against the bookshelf and folded his arms.
He was looking so worthy of my loving tonight, and by the way things were going with Jaylin, there was no telling what I might do. I knew it was in my best interest to exit fast. Even his freshly done twisties had me gazing at him: his hair was neatly parted with the twisty’s flowing in the same direction. His brown skin was smooth; it definitely had a shine about it, and his puppy-dog eyes had already undressed me.
I put the test paper back inside my purse and pulled out my car keys. He heard them jiggle and quickly said good-bye to the caller. He retrieved the wine and glasses from the bookshelf.
“Sorry about that. That was one of my students. I try to make time for them whenever they call.”
“Oh, I understand. But...I need to get going. Let’s make plans to celebrate some other time.”
“Okay. But it will only take a few minutes for me to pour us some wine.”
“Shane, next time, okay?” I turned to walk away and he grabbed my hand. He slid my purse off my shoulder, pulled me in close, and wrapped his arms around me.
“Why do you keep fighting this when we get together?” He looked eye-to-eye with me and moved my hair away from my face. “I’ve thought about making love to you over and over in my mind. I know you’ve thought about it too, so let’s just do this, okay?”
“Shane I—”
“Don’t reject me, Scorpio. I know about your situation and I’m just here to help.”
“What about Felicia? I heard you talking to her when I came in. Are you seeing her?”
“No. She’s a friend from the past and I’m searching for a future with a woman who doesn’t mind letting me show her what she’s been missing.”
Now, with that being said, I took a deep breath and followed Shane to his bed. I kicked off my heels and scooted back on his bed. The mattress was soft and the sheets felt like cotton balls as they touched my skin. Shane pulled his T-shirt over his head and removed his belt. He put the belt in his mouth while he unzipped his pants. I leaned back on my elbows and watched him pull them down. My pussy thumped from the nice-sized package that was about to enter it. As he walked to his dresser, I realized I had never set eyes on a more nail-gripping ass than his. He pulled out a condom, then turned to me.
“Must we?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I really don’t want to.”
“But I’m intimate with someone else right now. We don’t always practice safe sex, and you don’t want to take the risk, do you?”
He opened the package, and as he put on the condom, I watched his goods expand. He kneeled by the side of the bed and put my feet in his hands. After kissing and rubbing my feet, he eased his hands between my legs. He slid my panties down and rubbed them in his hands.
I smiled, “What are you doing?” He ignored me, laid my panties on the floor beside his bed, and stood in front of me. My legs fell apart, and before he put his body between them, he took a lengthy glance. He pulled my dress over my head and stared at my naked body.
“Turn over and lay on your stomach,” he asked politely. He scooted back so I could roll over. I knew he’d see Jaylin’s name tattooed on my ass, but he rested his body on top of mine. He whispered in my ear, “I take lovemaking very serious, Scorpio. I’m not going to fuck you because I got a feeling that somebody’s already doing so. And, I’m not going to talk to you because I don’t talk when I’m concentrating on doing something. I will tell you, though, that Jaylin’s ass got it going on. If he fail to get his shit together, just let me know.”
He placed his lips on the edge of my shoulder and kissed down my back. I was burning hot from his touch, and when he lowered himself and separated my ass cheeks, I didn’t know what to do.
My body trembled when I felt his tongue and fingers searching deep within me. I closed my eyes and squeezed my hair in my hands. When he vibrated my insides with his mouth, I completely lost control. I rolled over and put a high arch in my back as I screamed out loud.
Shane laid next to me and pulled the cover over both of us. He pecked the tip of my nose and propped his head with a pillow, smiling. I rested my head on his bicep and rubbed his admirable chest.
“You had no intention of having sex with me, did you?” I asked.
“Of course I did, until you told me you were intimate with someone else. And something about Jaylin’s name tattooed across your ass just changed the mood.”
“Shane, everybody has somebody to get down with when need be. I didn’t think it was in my best interest to lie to you. As
for the tattoo, it was a birthday present. There’s not much I can do about that.”
“Hmm . . . And I appreciate your honesty. It’s just that Jaylin and I got some unresolved issues. The last time we butted heads about a woman, I kind of got my feelings hurt. It wasn’t that I was in love with Felicia or anything, but the way things went down kind of hurt me.”
“But I’m not Felicia. I wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt you.”
“I know you wouldn’t but Jaylin has a way with women. I never figured out what it was and I just can’t believe it’s all about the sex. He once told me it was, but I think it takes more than just a big dick to keep a woman. Maybe I’m wrong, but this time, I refuse to let the big-dick syndrome stand in my way of doing the right thing to begin with.”
“So, how do you plan on doing the right thing?”
“There’s no doubt about it that I’m digging the hell out of you. The reason I held your panties in my hand is because you have an amazing scent about you. One that almost had me taking the risk of hurting myself again. But this time, I’m going to sit back and watch this one play itself out.”
I put my head on Shane’s chest, then wrapped my arms around his body. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind? I was really feeling what you were doing to me, you know.”
He laughed. “I could tell. I got a feeling that our day will come, but for now, let’s just chill. And when our time does come, I’m going to be a happy man and you’re going to be an overjoyed, completely fulfilled woman. Trust me.”
As much as I wanted Shane to fuck me, I was kind of glad that he didn’t. I was confused, and having sex with him would only confuse me more. I drove home so impressed by him, thinking about how his touch had turned me on so quickly. My short time with Shane had been an eye-opening experience; Jaylin wasn’t the only man who could make me quiver.
In the car, I reached for my cell phone to call Nanny B. She told me Jaylin had already left for my place with Mackenzie since it was almost eleven o’clock. I asked if he was upset about me being late and she said he wasn’t. But, when I turned the corner and saw his car parked in the front of my condo, I had a feeling something wasn’t right.
Naughty 2: My Way or the Highway Page 13
