Thicker Than Water

by Takerra, Allen

  She had promised her girls that she wouldn’t see him anymore, and she hadn’t for the past month. In fact, she had told him to go home to his white wife and stay the fuck away from her. But the truth was, she missed him. She would even go as far as to say that she loved him. They had been messing around for about as long as he’d been married—three years, since she was only sixteen and he was twenty-seven.

  She knew it was wrong to get tangled up with him again, especially knowing it hurt her self-esteem as a woman every time he went home to white wife. But the truth was that she missed him, he missed her, and shit, they were both horny.

  She opened her bedroom door and heard her mother snoring down the hall. Shutting it back, she went back to her bed, picked up her phone, and dialed the numbers that she knew a little too well. After the third ring she thought to hang up, but then . . .

  “Hello,” a voice answered on the other end. Kim froze up.

  “Hello. Hello. Who is this?” the voice asked inquisitively and a little upset. Kim hung up. The sound of his wife’s sleepy voice reminded her that she was dead wrong and that she really didn’t want to go there with him again. I should just go to bed. Just when she started to take off her bra, her phone rang.

  “Hello,” she answered, ready to go off if it was his wife.

  “Hey, baby girl,” a sexy whisper came from the other end of the telephone, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.

  “Oh hey, Blair, what’s up?” She tried to sound unfazed but her heart was beating through her chest.

  “Don’t oh hey me . . . You know we better than that. Listen baby, meet me at the spot.”

  He wasted no time. Blair was always up front, never beating around the bush, just like Kim.

  “No, Blair, I’m not driving. I’m drunk, and you’re married,” she reminded him, with her ghetto boldness.

  “Ssh. If that was the case you wouldn’t have called. Be dressed in fifteen minutes, I’m coming now,” he whispered.

  “No, Blair, we stopped this. I can’t keep going through this bullshit wit you. I need a nigga that wants me,” she said, really on the verge of tears, but in no way showing it.

  “We’ll talk about it when I get there, baby.”

  And with that he hung up. Kim sat on her bed for a minute looking at the dead phone. Why the fuck am I so stupid? She could feel the tears coming on as her face became hot, and before she knew it they were rolling down her cheeks. She knew he had some type of hold on her because Kim didn’t cry for no one, not her mama, not her punk-ass daddy, and especially not for any man. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, for the first time in a long time, she really looked at herself. What am I doing with myself?

  Then like clockwork, she gave a shrug, wiped her tears, washed her pussy, and went on the front porch to wait for Blair.

  Once they got inside the motel room, it was on as usual.

  The ride there had been completely silent but now it was time to release all of that built-up and long-suspended tension.

  “I missed you,” she whispered while unbuckling his pants.

  She threw him against the door and got down on her knees. Taking him in her warm mouth, she worked his thick snake back and forth, then took it out and jerked it while she sucked on his balls.

  Her head game was off the hook and she was determined to make him love her. She licked, and slobbed, and moaned for about fifteen minutes straight until she could feel him throbbing, on the brink of climax.

  “Damn, girl, that shit feel so good,” he moaned.

  He then picked her up off the floor and placed her on the dresser while licking all over her neck and breasts and describing all of the freaky things he wanted to do to her.

  She encouraged him thoroughly.

  “Fuck me, daddy!”

  “You already know,” he responded with a smile, before throwing on a condom and turning her around to face the mirror standing up. He rammed inside of her and pounded her like a drum, gripping her hips and beating into her with power.

  “Oh daddy, oooh, I’m gonna cum!” she screamed out in ecstasy.

  They stayed in that position until she could feel another buildup.

  He felt so good to her, she wanted to cry. She wanted him to be hers. She wanted . . . to cum again.

  “Here it comes, baby!”

  “You cummin’?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Aaah!”

  “Yes!!!”

  “Ohhh!!! Fuck!”

  They came one after the other and screamed together as they released. Another session followed until they couldn’t stand or move anymore, and all of their sexual frustration was gone.

  Afterward, the room was a disaster and there was an awkward silence that lingered. The two of them sat on the bed and couldn’t even look each other in the eye. This had been going on for months.

  She walked over to the air conditioner and turned it up a notch, then slid back into bed, getting comfortable in the paper thin motel sheets. She studied his muscular back as he remained turned around, not facing her.

  She wondered when he would finally acknowledge her.

  “We gotta stop this shit, Neli,” he finally spoke to her.

  “But you wasn’t saying that five minutes ago!” Neli shouted with an attitude, filled with hurt.

  Calming down, she proceeded in a much sweeter tone. “I love you, Chauncey.”

  She waited for a response, but didn’t get as much as a glance.

  Chauncey sat smoking a cigarette. He knew he had to end this. He missed Sasha so much and he never wanted to let her go, but Neli had him right where she wanted him. Now the girl was starting to catch feelings and he knew how she got down. The girl was definitely off the chain, and it was only a matter of time before everyone else would find out.

  Chapter 2

  Growth

  10:21 A.M. Saturday morning

  Sasha jogged on her treadmill with her television on MSNBC. It was something that Chauncey had her in the habit of doing, he often said she didn’t know enough about what was happening around her. In all actuality, everything she did was a habit influenced by Chauncey.

  Working out, eating good, waking up early, and even watching the news, that was all Chauncey. She missed him.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by her ringing phone.

  “Hello,” Sasha answered, sort of out of breath.

  “Hey, kid. Doing that daily routine, huh?”

  She recognized the voice immediately.

  Oh shit, I done went and thought this nigga up.

  “Hey, Chauncey,” she replied, stepping off the treadmill.

  “You know I gotta stay fit for my new man,” she teased, fishing for a reaction.

  Chauncey loved her Southern drawl, and he loved the way she tried to make him jealous.

  He just loved that girl. That’s why he had to leave her alone.

  “I hear that hot shit, ma. So when can I come get my stuff? Cuz you know I wouldn’t want ya new man to see my shit all around and get all tough guy. Then I gotta go and fuck him up,” he joked. Sasha just rolled her eyes and smiled.

  “Boy, what you doing?” she asked, getting comfortable on the couch. Talking to Chauncey was like talking to her best friend. In fact, he was her best friend.

  He knew everything about her. And she knew everything about him.

  Almost.

  “I’m at IHOP,” he answered.

  “With a girl?” she asked, her heart pausing.

  “Alone,” he answered. Her heart beat again.

  “See, if that chick you got was me, you wouldn’t be at IHOP ’cause I would’ve had ya food ready, hot, and waiting. But you know that.”

  This was true. Sasha cooked, cleaned, and even did Chauncey’s laundry. Wherever he was, she was. She took care of him.

  “Yeah, you right, ma. I told you already, you too good for me.”

  There was a silence and Sasha wanted so badly to blurt out
that she missed him and that she loved him, but her pride wouldn’t let her.

  “You can come get your stuff now,” she suggested, changing the subject and a sudden sadness filling her.

  She could almost feel the mood shift to a cold one over the phone, and he replied in a distant tone.

  “Nah, I changed my mind. I’ll send E to get it. He in the area anyway.”

  He paused and then added, “I’ll get up wit you, kid.” Then he disconnected the call.

  “Fuck!” Sasha screamed, throwing the phone in anger. She didn’t understand him. Why did E have to come instead of him? She didn’t understand why Chauncey didn’t want her anymore. He didn’t want to be around her, he didn’t even want to talk to her. She didn’t understand why he left. He said he needed space, needed room to breathe. She thought that she did something wrong. She didn’t understand that it was him, and that he loved her more than life itself. She didn’t understand.

  Neli looked up at the run-down clock and realized that it was only 10:30 in the morning. Where did Chauncey go? She climbed out of the motel bed and searched for her underwear. She and Chauncey had gone at it for hours last night. She hobbled into the bathroom with a sore coochie and glanced in the mirror. She couldn’t even look at herself. This was the first time that she had real friends and she was executing the ultimate betrayal: she was sleeping with one of their men. She loved Sasha too. In fact, Sasha was her favorite of everyone. She was perfect to Neli, and that’s what made Neli want what Sasha had. Neli had moved to Jersey three years ago; her family still resided in LA. She always wanted to live on the East Coast, anywhere near New York. So on her eighteenth birthday, she bought a one-way ticket to Newark Airport, after realizing that living in the city was an arm and a leg, but living in Newark was a lot cheaper and a short train ride from the Big Apple. A little after getting settled she met Tatum and the rest of the girls. And then she met Ray.

  Ray was persistent at getting Neli, and when it became hard to pay the bills on her daytime waitress, nighttime bartending salary, she moved in with him. She tried to will herself to love Ray, but being with him was all for the convenience. He was the only man who would put up with her partying, not paying bills, and hardly fucking him, just to be in her presence. She couldn’t wait to get on her feet and get her own place. What the hell am I going to tell Ray? I wish I wasn’t with him. I wish I was with Chauncey.

  Neli had been attracted to Chauncey from the moment Tatum introduced Neli, Sasha, and Kim to him two years ago.

  Word around town was that this New York nigga was down in Jersey and him and his team were taking over everything. He was supposedly some gangsta-type hard-knock and he just so happened to be childhood friends with Tatum’s brother. He just so happened to also be fine. He was 6’2”, over two hundred pounds of lean muscle, dark chocolate, intimidating, and sexy to the bone. Everybody wanted to be near him, niggas and females, but he wanted to be near Sasha.

  Neli quickly dressed and left the key at the motel’s front desk. She called a cab and stepped out into the sunlight. The morning sun hit her pretty freckled face at the right angle that if anyone would have seen it, they could have appreciated her unique beauty. Her perky B-cup breasts and small waist fit her tiny frame perfectly and were fitting attributes to her face. She was like a doll.

  I gotta find me a man to take care of me, only me.

  Hopping in the cab, Neli checked her cell phone one last time for a call from Chauncey. Nothing. I gotta get it together.

  Kim and Blair lay in the bed entangled in each other. They had hardly gotten any sleep. Kim was still pondering on telling Sasha that she had seen Chauncey at the motel that she and Blair were now nestled in. Kim didn’t get a good look at the girl he was with because the girl had waited in the car while Chauncey checked in. She finally decided against it, figuring the chick was most likely Tasha from Eastwick anyway, since that was who he had been spotted with the night before. She had no clue that it was their very own friend.

  She ran a tongue across Blair’s nipple while he cupped her ass. He loved it; it was something that his wife lacked. He loved grabbing a hold of it while they sexed.

  “You know, Kim, I really missed you,” he admitted, looking down at her. He was horny again and ready to go another round.

  “Really, you missed me, huh? Let me ask you something . . . Do you love me?” Kim asked, almost childlike. She never had a man say he loved her before, only something about her, her body or something, but never her. It would be nice.

  “Maybe,” he responded, looking into her hazel eyes and wondering if what he had just said might be true. She was beautiful in the morning, except for that damn head scarf.

  “Why don’t you take that scarf off?” he asked, twisting up his face. “Maybe I’ll love you more,” he joked.

  “Excuse me, I gotta keep my doobie wrapped, homie. Sorry I ain’t got silky white-girl hair flowing down my back, getting lice and shit.” He had to laugh at that, he loved her attitude.

  “Just shut up, and roll up, Kim,” he demanded with a chuckle. He loved that he could smoke with her and call her a bitch during their sexcapades, and he loved that she knew how to ride, and roll a blunt. There was a part of him that he could simply be himself with Kim.

  “So I got another question for you . . . Why didn’t you marry me?” she asked, becoming very serious all of a sudden. He laughed at her. When he realized that she was serious and was expecting an answer, he chuckled again before responding.

  “Aw, c’mon, baby girl, now you and me both know you’re not the marrying kind . . . But listen, I still take care of you, right?” He lit the blunt she had rolled and grabbed her ass again, not knowing that he had crushed her with his answer.

  They passed the weed back and forth without speaking for a couple of minutes.

  “You ready?” he asked, placing the blunt in the beer bottle next to him. Kim’s feelings were hurt and she wanted to leave. But she knew the moment that she left she’d wish she had stayed. She looked him in the eyes seductively while holding back her tears, and whispered, “I’m ready, daddy.”

  After a long slow kiss she got on all fours and she began dripping because she was so hot for Blair. He took his hands and placed them on the cheeks of her ample behind.

  “Damn,” he whispered. She cracked a smile. He always said that about her ass. Blair could feel himself getting hard as he caressed Kim. He licked her from head to toe, every part of her body, giving special attention to her backyard area. Kim closed her eyes and enjoyed getting her salad tossed. This was as close to love as it got.

  Tatum lay in her bed thinking about Respect. She couldn’t get the man out of her head, it was like he had rented space there. She had only met him eight hours ago and he was occupying all of her thoughts. Whatever. She pushed it to the back of her mind and tried to concentrate on the more pressing matters. She had a paper due on Monday and today was her only day off. This shit is kicking my ass.

  Tatum hadn’t had it easy since her parents died in a car crash four years ago. She was merely eighteen when it happened, but the sting of the memory made her feel like a little girl all over again. It had hit her so hard when it happened that she postponed college for a couple of years. During that period she worked full-time at Sapphire’s Beauty Salon. She started out washing hair and sweeping floors but then became licensed, and now she was nice with the clippers and combs, hooking up weaves and waves all through Newark. A few months ago she started taking classes in journalism and prayed that she’d write a book one day.

  She heard her brother downstairs talking loud with one of his friends. He had recently moved in with Tatum after his daughters’ mother left him with their two daughters; she had an addiction and it wasn’t long that it overcame her desire to be a mother. Soon after that, Tatum stepped in as that female figure for them and had grown to become the most important person in their lives. Tatum loved her nieces to death but she couldn’t help wonder when her brother would move out and find
his own place. The extra money he gave her for rent didn’t hurt, though. Thoughts of Ree began to cross her mind again.

  I won’t call him until tomorrow. I can’t call him the very next day. God, why did I take his number? I should have given him mine, trying to be difficult. I just made it harder on myself. Whatever.

  She picked up the phone and began dialing.

  “Hello,” Sasha answered, sounding pitiful.

  “Hey Sash, what’s wrong with you?”

  “Hey Tay, nothing. Chauncey sending E over here to pick up his things.”

  “Why he can’t do it?” Tatum asked, perplexity wearing her.

  “I don’t know, ‘cause he stupid,” Sasha said, trying to mask her pain. “Anyway, what was up with your girl last night, she was tripping!” Sasha was trying to change the subject, quick.

  “Neli, right? I know, she was bugging,” Tatum added, really not knowing what was up with Neli lately. Although she had always been quiet, she seemed extremely sensitive.

  “For real, Tay, you know I never said anything, but she really starting to let that hate seep through. She was talking about how pretty Tasha is and how Chauncey dissed me for her, how he ain’t no good for me. What was that all about?”

  “I know, I peeped that . . . but on the flip side, Sash, maybe she’s just looking out for you. You do get a little blinded by emotion,” Tatum stated, while taking out some clothes to wear for the day.

  “Yeah, I know,” Sasha whispered softly. She hated when Tatum preached to her.

  Tatum could feel Sasha’s discomfort. She hated to have to preach to her. She proceeded a little softer.

  “Listen, I know Chauncey loves you, and I know you love him, but maybe he did you a favor, Sash. Maybe he’s not ready for the shit that you are, you know how serious the man is about his money. Maybe he just wants to focus on that right now.”