Syn 2: Sex Is Syn, Love Is Pain

by J Peach

  I didn’t understand why he thought taking me to a damn gun range was a good idea anyway. “I got a taste for a big ass juicy burger,” I thought out loud, just imagining the burger. “Let’s go to Culver’s.” I was already searching for the nearest restaurant and routing it into his GPS.

  ***

  “Can I have one of your onion rings?” I asked Chris, ready to grab one.

  Chris stopped mid bite of his burger, stared at me, and then at my food. “Man, hell n’all! Yo ass got all that damn food and you gon’ ask for my shit? I ain’t fuckin’ you. Yo ass got a burger, fries, mozzarella sticks, crab cakes, and shrimp. You dead ass gon’ ask for an onion ring? Hell n’all, eat yo own shit. Yo ass eat like Parker.” He grabbed his food and moved it to the other side of him, out of my reach.

  My face scrunched up into a glare. “You an asshole. All that extra shit was not even needed, you could’ve just simply said no. Stupid ass,” I mumbled, angrily biting into a fry.

  Chris started laughing. “You dead ass mad, tho. No you cannot have none of my gotdamn onion rings,” he said as his ass reached over and grabbed a couple of my fries.

  “You get on my nerves.” I took a sip of my drink and then pointed to him. “You didn’t answer my question earlier. How long have you known Parker?”

  “I’ve been knowing that pussy ass baby since he was in kindergarten. I was in the first grade when I met him,” he grabbed his cup and took a drink from it.

  “Wait, you’re older than Parker?” I don’t know why I found that hard to believe, but I did. He just seemed so much younger.

  “Yup, by a year. And I’ve always looked out for him since we been knowing each other. So my thing with you isn’t that I don’t like you, it’s just that I don’t know you well enough. But Parker trusts you.” Again he shrugged as if that wasn’t enough for him, but he didn’t want to say that so he left it hanging in the open.

  “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Parker or mess him over. If you think that’s my intentions, believe me it’s not. I’m still getting to know him, he’s different from anyone I have ever met before,” I explained to him. “I like that, but it also makes me nervous because I don’t understand why he likes me. I have trust issues when it comes to men, I don’t trust them period and it’s hard for me to believe shit they say. Parker’s different, tho,” I said as thoughts of Parker ran through my mind. “When he say shit, I believe him. But then again, a part of me thinks it’s some type of game he’s trying to run on me,” I started to explain to him how I felt when it came to Parker. I didn’t know why, but I kind of felt that he would understand me, like he’d see how true I was and that I wouldn’t mess Parker over.

  Instead, he cut me off by laughing at me. “I can tell you this, Parker don’t play games. He’s straightforward as hell and he don’t sugarcoat shit. So if you was just a game to him, he wouldn’t take it this far. And he damn sho’ not about to let you come to his crib, let alone drive his cars. You’re not a game to him, he actually likes you, has for a real long time. And I mean years, the shit was creepy as fuck if you ask me. But he figured you wasn’t ready for him or some weird shit like that,” Chris was being honest with me. “That’s real, now if you don’t believe me or him, ask yoself what you have that he has to use you to get. What do you have that he can’t go out and get on his own? Why do he have to use you? And if yo first thought is pussy, you got to be the dumbest female alive. Parker got money, he’s a handsome mothafucka and bitches throw that shit at him on a regular. So why would he use you for that? When you get the answer, let me know.”

  I picked over my shrimp as I thought about what he said. A groan left my mouth before I ate a piece of shrimp. I shook my head as a small laugh left my mouth. “It kind of makes sense when you say it like that, I guess. But my way of thinking isn’t going to change overnight, which I have to keep explaining to Parker.”

  “You’re fuck’d up when it comes to relationships, you don’t have to keep explaining that to him. He get that, so you good. Shid, that nigga still around, ain’t he? So don’t trip off that, we all from a fuck’d up background one way or another. So you’re understood,” he shrugged in understanding.

  When he said that, it made me think about what Parker told me about his upbringing. “So you were around when Parker’s folks…” Chris’ hand waved and I shut up.

  His head nodded at my unfinished question. “Yeah, that’s why I’m so protective of him. I don’t want him to become blind to folks he cares about. Just because you have love for a person don’t mean their intentions are the same towards you. He understands that given his folks, but when it comes to you he throws all that out the window. I’m not saying you’ll be on some shit like that, but we don’t know, I don’t know. And just like then, if shit comes down to it, I’ll take care of this—” he pointed to me “—situation like I did his folks. That’s my brother, so I’ll do anything to make sure he’s good.”

  My brows furrowed in confusion. “Okay, I have slow moments at times, so I feel like I just got threatened, but I’m not sure. So I’m about to ask a really dumb question. Did you just threaten me? And what do you mean you took care of his folks?” I asked dumbly. I was quite sure he had most definitely threatened to kill me in a relaxed kind of way.

  Chris barked out a laugh. “Can’t shit get past you, huh?” He continued to laugh, hitting the table. “You know what? I think I did misjudge you. Yo ass got this naïve persona to you and it’s real cute. I kinda understand why Parker so protective of you. It’s something very childlike to you. You’re like this little girl stuck in a grown person’s body,” he laughed, nodding his head while he smiled at me. “So we good, you ain’t got to worry about me. But answer me this, why does it matter to you whether I like you or not?”

  “Because you’re Parker’s best friend and I want to be able to get along with y’all. I never want it to be a problem to where we can’t sit in the same room or have to talk bad about each other to Parker. I wouldn’t want to put him in that uncomfortable position. We don’t have to be best friends, but we have to be cordial with one another. You know?” I grabbed my burger and took a bite of it.

  “I feel you, but we good. I’mma lay off of talking shit about you.” He reached over the table and stole one of my shrimps. I glared at him. “Man, shut the fuck up. We fam now and I gotda pay for all this shit you ordered.”

  “Whatever, let me ask you something—”

  “Anybody ever tell you yo ass talk too much? You ask way too many questions. What do you wanna know now? I ain’t never talked to a female as much as I’m talking to you right now,” he ran a hand over his head while letting out a loud breath.

  “Ugh, you rude as hell. Damn. I don’t even wanna talk to you now,” I rolled my eyes at him and then finished off the little food I had left. I took out my phone and started going through my Facebook page. Every so often I would glance at Chris, the last time he caught my eyes and started laughing.

  “Man, what the fuck you wanna ask me, damn? Sitting over there pouting like a gotdamn kid. What?” He laughed at me.

  I rolled my eyes at him, but knew I was going to ask my question anyway. “Okay, what you meant by, you’ll handle this like you did his folks? Did you do something to his folks?” I asked him. I was dying for him to explain that to me.

  “We don’t talk about that, so leave that alone. I gotda piss, then we can leave.”

  “You an asshole. Hurry up so we can go,” I waved him off before I decided to call Parker, but I didn’t get an answer so I texted him.

  Your brother is an asshole. I can’t see how you deal with him.

  I put my phone in my purse when he didn’t respond right away. What the hell is he doing? I asked myself, but pushed it to the back of my mind knowing he was out here working with Jason.

  Chris returned a few minutes later and we packed up and left the restaurant.

  Chapter 7

  Angel

  Chris pulled up in front of a two-story bri
ck house with a circle driveway. Both Parker’s truck and Jason’s car was parked in front of us.

  “I’ll be right back,” Chris said before he hopped out the truck.

  I watched as he walked to the front door, then Parker and Jason came out of the house. The trio stood there talking for a minute before Parker pointed towards me. He made his way over to me and opened my door.

  “Why you just sitting in the truck for?” He asked, helping me out.

  “Chris didn’t tell me to get out, he said he’ll be back.” I looked over at Chris and rolled my eyes.

  “How you like the house?” He pointed around the front yard.

  My brows rose and I shrugged. “It’s cute. A little fancy, but it’s real cute,” I laughed, not really understanding why he cared what I thought of someone’s house.

  “It’s cute, I’ll take that. So you like it?” He asked again, making me laugh.

  “Yeah it’s cute. Who house is this?”

  Parker didn’t answer me, instead he led us inside of the house. Walking through the threshold, I saw that it was way better than it appeared to be on the outside. The living room sat off to the right side and a dining room was on the left. I walked into the gold and black decorated living room first and took in the huge, flat screen TV that sat above a big fire place.

  “This is nice.” My fingers ran over the suede material trimmed in gold. “This living room is big, I love the fire place and this couch set,” I looked at Parker and started laughing. “Don’t tell me, this is your house?” I asked. I know damn well this man did not by a house in Gary? Even though I thought that with a slight roll of my eyes, the idea of him doing that had my insides tingling.

  When he didn’t say anything, I turned to look at him. “Parker?” I couldn’t contain my smile as I said his name. What other reason would he ask me if I liked the house or not.

  “It’s for you. A couple months back, King let it slip that you was looking to move. So I figured I could find you a nice spot. I found this place, bought it and moved you in.” He held out a set of keys and tossed them to me.

  I didn’t catch them and the keys chimed as they hit the floor. I couldn’t focus on those keys, my mind was too busy trying to process what he had just told me. “Wait, what?” I asked dumbly. He did not buy me a house.

  “We’ll be outside.” Jason pushed Chris towards the front door and they left out the house.

  “You was looking to move so I found you a spot that you can stay at and a place we can chill in when I’m out here. So this work out for the both of us,” he switched it up and explained it.

  My mouth moved in the form of a fish as I tried to process what he had said and done. “You got me a house because I was looking for an apartment. But you did this on your own without even talking to me about it. Why would you make that decision on your own? How can you just up and move me into a place without talking to me, though? I let it slide in Nap because I hardly live out there but a few days out the week. So that’s a bill I don’t have to worry about but Parker, you just got me a house— why would you do that?”

  “You was looking for a crib, I needed a place I’mma lay my head at when I’m out here. If you don’t wanna stay here and you want to go out and find you an apartment, then sweetheart do what you feel. But when I’m out here, this is where I plan on laying my head at,” he spoke calmly, too calmly. “If you don’t wanna stay here that’s cool. Gon’ head and find you a place, but when I’m in Gary this is where we staying,” he repeated himself as I remained silent. “Syn, you might as well get used to me doing shit like this, especially now that we are together. It’s us,” he put his two fingers together and pointed them between us. “Remember, this is official, so it’s us.”

  He used my own words against me. A sigh left my mouth.

  “And I still don’t want shit from you but a thanks. And you still don’t have to worry about a bill. All you have to do is put food in this mothafucka, everything else is taken care of. Don’t fight with me, just let me look out for you, i’ight?” He grabbed my chin and tilted my head back so that I was looking at him.

  I wanted to be mad at him, but I just couldn’t be. If anything, I was more shocked by what he had done. I really didn’t know how to take it. Never in my life had anything ever been easily given to me, so for him to up and just do for me without my asking was simply unreal to me. He was making everything too easy.

  “I don’t know how to take you. This is so crazy. You’re doing all this for me and I haven’t done or given you anything in return. I can’t just accept this, at least let me pay you something. I can’t just take this house from you,” I offered.

  So far what I’d seen of the house was real nice and I wanted to live in it. Especially because it was a nice crib the both of us would be in, instead of my small one bedroom little place.

  Parker started laughing once again. “You wanna pay me something? Okay, we can work that out. Right now, though, I want you to finish looking around the house and tell me what you think. Oh here, this is your set of keys and yo car is in the garage. You should really get rid of that damn bug,” he joked.

  “Fuck you, leave my damn car alone. I actually like my ride, hater,” I muffed his head to the side and then looked around the living room again. “I really like this furniture. Thank you, Parker. I don’t know what else to say. I can’t believe you’re doing all of this for me. Thank you.” That was all I could think to say. “I’m about to finish looking around.”

  “Gon’ head, I’m about to go holla at Chris and Jason real fast.” He stood up and helped me out my seat.

  “Thank you,” I stood on my tip toes and kissed him. Once we broke apart, he left the house. As soon as he did, I pulled out my phone and called Missy.

  “What’s up, bitch?” She answered. “I got you on speaker, boo. Kim and Ebony with me,” she quickly added.

  “Ahhhh!” I squeaked loudly into the phone.

  “What the hell was that?” Ebony asked.

  “Y’all, this man done got me a house!” I walked into the kitchen in awe. It was huge and everything was stainless steel. I looked at a pair of sliding doors and walked to them.

  “Who got you a house?” The girls asked in unison.

  “Oh, my fuckin’ damn! Y’all, this bitch got a fuckin’ pool in the backyard. And that’s a big ass yard!” I yelled at them.

  “Angel, calm down! Now, start over. Who got you a house?” Missy asked again.

  Laughing, I went back inside the house. “Yes, bitches, Parker ass done got me a fuckin’ house, well, us a house. So when he comes down here to see me we got a spot, but I’mma still be living here when he’s gone. I sound so gotdamn stupid. Y’all, I can’t accept this house,” I said, finding the stairs and walking up them.

  “Why the fuck not? Bitch, you can fuck that man when he wants it, yo ass can take a fuckin’ house he gets you,” Kim blurted out and the girls agreed with her.

  “I agree, but y’all know how Ang is,” Missy chimed in, “she can’t just take nothing from nobody without her giving them something in return.” Missy said. And that’s exactly how I was.

  I knew nothing in this world was for free, so if a person gave me something I had to give them something in return so I wouldn’t owe them anything later on.

  “Girl, she over there fuckin’ that nigga good. Um… she’s giving a lot. Shid, I say take the house. Wait, why did he get you a house?” Ebony asked.

  “Remember I had asked King to help me find a place so Kelley wouldn’t know where I lived anymore?” They all hummed in remembrance. “Well, King must have said something to Parker about it and this nigga done got me a whole ass house. And it’s nice…” I mumbled, walking into the bedroom. “Bitches, it’s a living room in our bedroom.” I whispered to them.

  The girls broke out laughing at me.

  The bedroom was decorated in white and gold, everything was in those colors, the comforters, the couches and the dressers. The post on the huge king sized bed
was white and embedded with gold like rhinestones that sparkled in the light.

  “Hello? Angel?” The girls called out to me.

  “Y’all, this bed is amazing. I’m about to send y’all a picture of this room.,” I put them on speaker and pulled up my camera. Then I started taking pictures.

  “Syn!” Parker yelled out from somewhere in the house.

  “I’m upstairs in the room!” I responded.

  “Damn, that man sound good with his big ass,” Missy said.

  “Girl, shut yo dumb ass up.” Laughing, I rolled my eyes at her.

  “Syn?” Parker peeked inside of the room and came in. “So what do you think about the house?”

  “Why he call you Syn?” The girls asked in unison.

  I looked at Parker for a response, the girls did not know how Parker and I met. And truth be told, I still wasn’t ready to tell them about me stripping. Hell, I never wanted them to find out about me dancing ever.

  “Because her ass is a Syn, everything about her ass is sinful,” Parker told them before he walked away, going into another room. I followed behind him, walking into the bathroom.

  “Aww, he gave you a meaningful pet name. See, these niggas ain’t nowhere near as thoughtful to think of names like that. Everybody gotta be bae, babe or boo,” Ebony chimed in.

  “Bitch, shut up. Ain’t nothing wrong with those names either. I love my baes, babes, and boo’s,” Kimmy said, making us laugh.

  Parker looked over at me and laughed.

  “Let me call y’all crazy asses back later on. Okay?” I loved my girls with their crazy asses.

  “I’ight, boo, love ya.”

  “Love y’all, too.” We disconnected the line and walked over to the sink where Parker stood washing his hands. “I love that bedroom. Thank you,” I told him again.

  “You wanna go break the bed in?” He swooped me off of my feet and ran us into the room.

  “Ahhhhh!” I screamed as he tossed me on the bed. A smile covered my face as I laughed at him.