Gate Wide Open

by M. T. Pope

“Baby, you had your own problems and your own life. Jesus has it all in control, baby.” Mama went into another coughing fit, which sounded as if it was getting worse by the minute.

  The words your own problems echoed in my ear like I was in an enclosed room. I was selfish and angry—Those were my only problems—and I let them rule and ruin my life.

  “Hold on one sec, Mama.” I fell forward onto the steering wheel and cried some more. A heavy, uncontrollable cry. After a few seconds I got back on the phone with her.

  “Jerry, I gots to take this medicine them doctors gave me.” Mama went into another coughing fit. “I’ll give you a call back later on. I need to take a nap too.”

  “All right, Mama. I’ll call you later. I promise.” I hung up the phone and started my car, whimpering the whole time.

  First, a stalker, and now the news of Mama being sick. I needed to slow down. Things were starting to get to me.

  I pulled off the parking lot and made my way toward Wallace’s house. I had to admit, he was a good lover and a helluva fucker. I enjoyed spending time with him. I truly didn’t deserve someone like him. I was just wondering how I fell for this nigga so fast. It’d only been a couple of days, and we were all over each other most of the time. It had always been this way with me. I fell in love easily. I got attached to people too easily, and then they always ended up handing my heart back to me cut into pieces.

  I decided to give him a call and see if we could set up a play date or something.

  “Hey, baby,” Wallace said, his voice sending chills all over my body.

  I could picture his hot sweating body as he spoke through the phone. “I was wondering if we could hang out at your spot today.” Yeah, I was falling for this nigga, and my ass knew better than to trust a no-good man. They all dogs, whether they gay or not.

  “I’ma be out here on the block for a minute, so you go ahead and let yourself in the apartment. I’ll be home, and we can play house when I get there.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said a little disappointed. “I can’t wait, baby.”

  “Muthafucka, I said wait!” he yelled into the phone.

  “Excuse me?” I said, a little thrown off.

  “No, not you, baby,” he said to me now in a calm tone. “These muthafuckin’ crackheads is pushy as shit. I’ma holla at you later.”

  “All right, baby,” I cooed into the phone.

  I still couldn’t believe he was so tender and calm when we were alone. I placed my phone on the passenger seat and proceeded to make my way toward Wallace’s house.

  As I was driving, I was listening to one of my favorite singers, Jennifer Hudson, rock her classic song, “Spotlight.” It was old, but I was loving it.

  I felt so free and happy, knowing I was finally getting a good man. My ass should’ve known better, from the first bastard that screwed me over, but I was going to take a chance on Wallace. Still, I was going to keep my eyes open, just in case this nigga tried to flip the script on me. You know what they say, Believe half of what you hear, and none of what you see.

  I hopped on I-695, cruising to the sweet melodies playing in the car, thoughts of affection and adoration playing in my mind.

  Wham! Wham!

  “What the fuck?” I yelled, turning around as a truck behind me slammed in the back of my SUV with tremendous force. The truck behind me was tinted, and I couldn’t see who was driving.

  Wham! Wham!

  The driver slammed into the back of my car again, causing my car to swerve.

  I gripped the steering wheel and tried to maneuver myself back into a good position. My temperature raised. Whoever was behind me was surely trying to harm me. Cars passed me by ignoring the fact that a crazy muthafucka was purposely trying to take me out. That’s Baltimore for you. These nosyass people were watching this bastard try to kill me, and they did nothing. I tried to speed up to get away, but my assailant sped up right along with me.

  Wham! Wham!

  This time my car went careening across two lanes, and I barely missed a semi-truck by inches.

  I tried to reach my phone, which was on the floor of the passenger seat, and not crash into anything. Luckily, just as I reached for my phone and positioned myself upright, the SUV pulled off at an exit, leaving me distraught and fearful.

  I pulled over to the side of the road in the emergency lane to get myself together. I just couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Well, it wasn’t like I didn’t deserve it. My ass was definitely not in denial. I just didn’t need this shit right now. I rested my head on the steering wheel and breathed a sigh of relief for escaping with my life intact.

  My mind flashed to Shawn and his promise to get me for murdering his father. The truth was, I didn’t murder his father and didn’t know who did. How did they know my number? Were they following me? I didn’t have answers to none of my questions. I know I had fucked over a lot of people in my past, and all of them had a reason to want to hurt me, but I just couldn’t figure out who.

  I got out of my car and walked around to the bumper to see the damage inflicted on my car. “Muthafuckin’ coward-ass bastard!”

  My shit was royally fucked up, and it was going to cost a grip to get it fixed. I stormed back to the front of my car and got in. I reclined my chair back and closed my eyes as a single tear slid down my cheek. I was more angry at myself for letting this shit get to me than at the damage to my car.

  After about another ten minutes of resting, I cautiously got back on the road and proceeded toward Wallace’s house. I almost didn’t go because I wasn’t sure if the person was still following me. I wasn’t a punk bitch, so I pressed my way and decided that whoever was trying to take me out was going to have to bring it and bring it hard.

  I pulled up to Wallace’s place about fifteen minutes later and hurried my ass indoors. A little apprehensive about this stalker shit, I wished the coward would have just come to me and meet me face to face.

  Anyway, I walked straight to the kitchen and pulled me out a bottle of champagne, the name of which I couldn’t even pronounce. I downed about three glasses as I lounged in the huge spa-type tub with candles flickering all around me. I had Anita Baker playing on the entertainment center.

  My mind drifted off to my checkered past and the next person on my shit list. Keisha must’ve been thinking her ass got away with what she did to me, but I was gonna pounce when she least expected it. Her ass probably knew I was out of jail, but was too wrapped up in her life to give a rat’s ass about my whereabouts. Her ass won’t forget me when I come at her. I’m gonna leave a lasting impression, for sure.

  I got out of the tub after finalizing my plans of revenge and went to the bedroom to watch me a flick and wait for Wallace to come home. I ended up falling asleep totally nude.

  I was awakened by Wallace licking my inner thigh. “Ahh,” I cooed as he made his way up my chest and then to my neck and lips. Folgers coffee ain’t got nothing on this. I liked to be awakened by a man suckling on my various body parts. I moaned and panted as he licked the outer rim of my ear, making me tingle and twitch with pleasure.

  He was naked, and his dick was rubbing up against me as he continued to lick me down. Then he started deep-throating my meat like a pudding pop.

  “Right there, baby. Shit! Gotdamn!”

  I grabbed his head and pushed it down, jamming my meat down his throat, lifting my hips off the bed to make sure he took it all in. He was moaning. I was moaning. And I could see him tugging at his own meat at the same time.

  He pulled off and walked over to the dresser and pulled out a condom. He seductively walked back over to me, got down on his knees, as I was now sitting on the edge of the bed. He unwrapped the condom and slowly placed it on my dick with his mouth.

  “Ahh, yeah,” I moaned.

  He pushed me back on the bed aggressively. “You ready?” he said, looking me in the eyes, placing my dick at his awaiting asshole. Then he slowly eased down, taking me in all the way.

  His dick was now hard an
d slapping against my stomach with every thrust. He quickened his pace as I jerked his dick. He was a pro, and he was putting his ass on me better than I’d ever had it.

  The bed shook and squeaked as I flipped him over and fucked him with his legs on my shoulder, pounding him with all of my might. Both drenched in sweat, we climaxed at the same time. Collapsing side by side, we struggled to get our breaths once again.

  We woke up about an hour or so later to replenish our famished bodies. Wallace could burn in the kitchen, which was no surprise to me, because he was so good at everything else.

  I still couldn’t find any flaws in him, though I knew he had some. I just didn’t know what they were. He was a loud snorer, but that wasn’t what I considered a character flaw.

  I sat at the table with a plate of shrimp and fettuccini and a side of steamed vegetables, totally trying to figure this dude out. He was so good to me. Almost too good.

  “Hey, baby.” He looked at me from across the table. He had a napkin in his collar, to protect his designer sleepwear. He was so adorable, I almost couldn’t stand it.

  “I saw your bumper was smashed in when I pulled in. What happened?”

  “Some crazy muthafucka wasn’t paying attention when I was driving here, and crashed into the back of my car.” I lied, not too sure how he would handle me telling him about somebody being after me for some shit I did in my past. I also felt, the less he knew about my past, the better. He didn’t need to know about all that. So I screwed over a couple of people. Who didn’t?

  “Whoever it was hit my shit and sped off like a bat in hell. I didn’t bother calling the police because I knew it would be a waste of time, because whoever it was probably didn’t have any insurance.”

  “Oh, okay,” he said, a smile on his face.

  “Why you smiling?” I wasn’t sure if he was smiling at my misfortune, or if he could tell I was lying.

  “Well, I’m not happy this happened to you. It’s just that I was going to surprise you and give you my new car and buy me another one.” He was now up and cleaning off our empty dishes, loading them up into the dishwasher.

  I peeked at his nice ass as he bent over.

  “How would you like that?” He came over to me as I was getting up out of the chair, embraced me from the front, and passionately kissed me with his butter-soft lips. “I can’t have my baby riding around in a beat-up ride.”

  My baby! I thought. This shit was moving too fast, but I had to say it just felt right here with him.

  “Well, I guess—”

  He placed his finger to my lips. “I won’t accept no for an answer.”

  I thought Wallace was a bit possessive. Usually I normally didn’t let any niggas dictate to me, but he did sound sincere. And his baby-soft lips pressed against mine made me melt.

  “Oh, and one more thing.” He pulled away from me.

  I had an instant flashback of when Kenny had threatened me. I was hoping he wasn’t another nutcase as well.

  “I don’t think it’s best for you to be living across town when you can be living here. So I was hoping you would move in with me…if that’s okay with you.”

  Before I could blink, I had said yes, and asked him if my cats could come as well. He agreed, as long as they were declawed and neutered.

  I drove home happy and elated that I was moving on up as The Jeffersons said it. I decided to keep my apartment as a precaution. I still had my plans that included the Black family and my children. I was just going to have to modify my revenge agenda a little.

  When I got home, I checked my mail and saw that I’d received a letter requesting my presence at some kind of hearing for Carl Black’s estate.

  Chapter 22

  Shawn

  Thy Will Be Done

  November 30th, 2018, 12:35 P.M.

  It was the Thanksgiving holiday, and Mona, my mom, and I made our entrance into the office where my father’s will was being read. I didn’t have turkey on the brain either. I was wondering how all of this was going to affect me.

  We walked into the mediation room and gathered into our seats. Mona and my mom had looks of sorrow on their faces. I, on the other hand, had a look of “Let’s get this over with.” I really could care less what my father left me. He had passed this homosexual demon to me. Now I was sitting here, my mind clouded with anger and resentment. I wanted the shit to be over and now.

  “Hey, all,” I heard out of nowhere.

  I was broken out of my trance by none other than James Parks. I sat up straight and looked at Mona, and we both had the look of, “Not today” on our faces.

  “I said, ‘Hey, all,’” he repeated with a little more force.

  Sometimes he seemed to be so gay, other times you just couldn’t tell. There was united silence in the room as we all pretended he wasn’t there.

  “Well, fuck y’all too,” he said with a happy-go-lucky look as he sat back in his chair and crossed his legs.

  I was wondering why the mediator hadn’t entered the room yet. I wanted out of here fast.

  I had to admit, knowing his ass was under investigation for my father’s murder, James was holding up well. He looked good in his navy blue Gucci velour sweat suit though.

  The bastard was sitting across from us glowing, not a hint of remorse on his face. He musta thought he was going to get away scot-free.

  “So, Mona, baby, how are my kids?” he said, looking at her.

  She just stared at him as if he wasn’t there.

  “I know they missed their father.” He paused. “Oh that’s right. They still think my old lover over here is their father.”

  I was fuming and ready to explode.

  “Hey, Aunt Jemima.” He snickered. “How you doing over there?”

  I assumed he was talking to my mother. I wasn’t going to let him sit here and degrade her right in front of me. “Look mutha—”

  My mom put a finger over her mouth, cutting me off. “Don’t pay him any mind, baby,” she said, rubbing my back. “He’s not worth it.”

  I hated that she could be so calm with this homewrecker sitting across from us. I wanted to…to…jump across the counter and kiss him square in the lips. His ass was turning me on, and I wanted him badly.

  How in the hell can I hate someone and want to sex them at the same time?

  It was official. I was crazy for even thinking about his ass in that way again. After all that he put us through, I should be putting a hit out on his ass.

  The mediator walked in. “How is everybody this morning?” he said, all seriousness on his face.

  My mother, Mona, and I just solemnly nodded, but James just had to be James.

  “I’m doing fine, Mr. White-man, sir.” He smiled and rocked in his chair. “And they should be too, because I brought sunshine to their dull little lives once again.”

  All of our mouths dropped open, except for the mediator’s, who didn’t look happy with the Mr. White-man comment at all.

  “My name is Mr. Whitman.”

  “Whitman, Whiteman, potato, patata—That shit is all the same to me,” he snickered.

  Again the mediator didn’t looked pleased.

  “Can we get this show on the road? I got places to be, and people to do.” He glared over at me and smiled.

  Oh, man! His ass was pushing his luck!

  After a couple seconds of shuffling his papers, Mr. Whitman got down to business. “First, I would like to convey my condolences to your family for your loss. Mr. Black was a great asset to his community and a well-loved man.”

  What the fuck? Asset to his community? Yeah. Fuckin’ right! This muthafucka must be reading from some kind of script or something.

  “Well, let’s get right down to business. I’m going to be reading Carl Black’s last will and testament: I, Carl Black, of sound mind and body, hereby leave my wife, Brenda Black, the property at 2356 Wilshire Lane. I leave to my only son, Shawn Black, my car note, mortuary cost, and other unpaid debts.

  “What the fuck!”
I yelled out loud banging my hands against the table and standing up in an outrage. My nose flared, I felt like I was going to breathe fire at any moment.

  “Shawn, baby, let him finish,” my mother said, standing with me.

  Mona got up as well, trying to console me, but I was as done as a turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

  I glanced over at James with disdain and pure hatred. “This is your muthafuckin’ fault, bitch!” I yelled, pointing at him. I could care less that my mother was there at all. I couldn’t believe this shit.

  James just shook his head from side to side.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Black, but I need to finish the will before I can close this case.”

  I looked over at the wrinkled-ass white man staring back at me. “Fuck you!”

  He immediately lowered his head back down toward the will, waiting for me to finish.

  “Baby, please.” Mona wiped away a tear that slid down my face as I took my seat, my head lowered in defeat.

  “Can I continue?” the mediator asked, a look of fear on his face.

  My mom and Mona nodded in approval.

  “Finally, I leave the love of my life, James Parks, my insurance policy cash valued at one hundred thousand dollars.”

  Before I knew it, I had jumped out of my chair and clear across the table on top of James, knocking him out of the chair and on to the floor. Amazingly, my mom and Mona stayed seated as I tried my best to strangle him. It was like they wanted me to beat his ass.

  Two security guards rushed in and started pulling me off James.

  “That’s a good idea, Shawn. Give the white man something else to talk about us for,” he said, getting up off the floor, and straightening up his appearance.

  The guards ushered me outside, with Mona and my mom trailing me. I was fuming. The rational me was gone. I wanted to kill my father again and bury James with him.

  I walked to my car with a quick pace, not caring if my mom or wife caught up to me. I sat in my car as they got in and buckled themselves in.

  I sped off and quickly dropped my mom off at her home. She kissed me on the cheek and told me to go home and rest. She said that God had it all under control and to leave it in His hands. I didn’t disagree with her. I just didn’t want to hear that at that moment. I wanted revenge now.