His Last Name

by Daaimah S. Poole

  I found Warren and took him to the bathroom.

  “Warren, you might want to have a conversation with your friend Edwin.”

  “Why? What did he say to you?”

  “He was being all flirty and he grabbed my leg and ass!”

  “Oh, that. I’ll talk to him. I forgot to tell him not to bother you.”

  “Tell him what?”

  “Not to test you. It is something we always do, just to see.”

  “To see what? Why are grown men playing games?”

  “He has to make sure everyone is around for the right reasons.”

  “The right reasons? I don’t play games. You better be glad I didn’t smack the shit out of him.”

  “Calm down. I’m sorry; my friends are just very protective. You have to understand. Everyone is out here with some type of ulterior motive.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s not me.”

  “I know.” He called Edwin over to apologize to me, but I didn’t forgive him and knew that I didn’t like him.

  CHAPTER 47

  Shanice

  The cameras were following me around New York City again. I stopped by April’s office, then went to an audition for a national water company and landed the job. I was so excited that I had something good to talk about while they filmed me having lunch with Ashley V. Today I did forget that a camera was taping my every move. I just prayed I didn’t say anything that I would regret later.

  * * *

  One day I was in New York and the next I was in Charlotte and I couldn’t wait to get to Jabril. He went from being unsure about being with me to my full-time boo again. Yes, he was married, but so what, and with that said I ended it with Deuce. He’s a nice guy, but he wasn’t what I wanted. I felt a little bad, but I didn’t love him. I loved Jabril. The heart wants what it wants. So I told Deuce I wasn’t ready for a relationship yet and he said he understood and to get with him when I was.

  That wouldn’t be any time soon. I’d been spending so much time with Jabril I didn’t even miss Deuce. I’ve been on the road with Jabril for a few games. This week he had a few days off so he wanted me to come spend some time with him in Charlotte. My flight had just landed and I was in an Uber headed to his hotel.

  “Where are you?” Jabril asked.

  “I’m on my way, I just got in the car. You should have picked me up.”

  “Nah, I started drinking already, just hurry up. I need you, Shani. I’m in room seven thirty-nine.”

  “All right, I’ll be there.”

  We drove from the airport to downtown Charlotte and it took about twenty minutes. I was in the hotel lobby and my phone rang again.

  “Hello.”

  “Are you here yet??”

  “Jabril, I’m downstairs about to get in the elevator.”

  “Good, I need you. Hurry up.” I didn’t mind him calling me back-to-back like that. I was just so happy he was mine again.

  I tapped on the door twice and Jabril came to the door in his boxers and a t-shirt. He pulled me into his arms and started tonguing me down as we went inside his room. He pulled back and looked me over and then squeezed me again. He pushed me on to the bed and commanded me to take off my pants.

  “Can I get I get my jacket off first?”

  “No.”

  “Jabril, I’m going to use one of your lines. ‘We have all night.’ ”

  “I know, but I’ve been thinking about being in that pussy all day.”

  “How much have you had to drink?”

  “Not enough. Now get naked.”

  I began undressing as he slipped his boxers off and lay on the floral cover and began stroking his dick up and down.

  “Come here.”

  I put his dick in my mouth and began licking it from side to side, and then I slurped on his round hard tip. I took him all in, humming, sucking, and pulling on him. He was holding my face down.

  “Shit, shit, shit, damn.”

  Just as he erupted, I released him.

  He was panting and out of breath when his phone rang. Then there was a text message notification. Then his phone rang again.

  But I was ready for my turn, so I pushed his dick into me, and tightened my muscles. He fucked me back, but still managed to grab his phone.

  “It’s my wife. She keeps calling. I got to answer.” He pulled out of me and walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I pulled the covers over me and changed the channel to the E! network. I took a glance at the menu and thought about ordering something.

  Once Jabril came out I attacked him this time. I wrapped my arms around him and he pushed me off and said, “I have to go somewhere tonight, but I will be back in a couple of hours.”

  “What? Go where? Jabril, I flew out here to be with you and now you have to leave?”

  “I have to do something with my wife. I forgot about it. If I don’t show up, she is going to go crazy on me.”

  After a few hours I awoke alone and bored. I didn’t know anyone in this city and I didn’t have a car and Jabril didn’t leave me any money. I had my own money, but I wasn’t about to spend a dime.

  I took a shower and planned what I was going to wear and what we were going to do. I looked on Instagram and posted a few selfies from the hotel.

  Jabril finally texted me at seven.

  It’s so boring, Shani. I have to make it up to you. I wish I was there lying in the bed with you.

  I wish you were too!

  As soon as it is over I’ll be right there

  Ok

  I texted back. I didn’t know what to do.

  Later that evening, when Jabril came back, he was wearing a dark gray suit and a navy tie and shoes. He flopped on the bed and asked me to pour him a drink. He pulled some weed out and began rolling it. He lit the blunt and inhaled the smoke.

  “Are you okay? You seem a little tense.”

  “Yeah, I’m cool, just thinking about life.”

  “Like what?”

  “My career and my family. Just some things got to change.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. I feel tied down. Sometimes I have to ask myself do I want to be married? I got right out of college and went straight to the NBA, and then I had a girlfriend and a baby and now I’m married. Now I’m with another team where I feel useless. I didn’t have a chance to have any fun. Other people have kids and baby moms but they don’t live with them. I come home to mine and I don’t feel like she appreciates anything. All she does is come down on me all the time and I’m sick of it.”

  He exhaled and continued to speak. “Don’t get me wrong, I love her, she’s cool, but I need her to chill sometimes. Relax, don’t be all up on me. You see how we smoking. When I smoke at home, she’ll be like, ‘Jabril put that out. It stinks, the baby going to smell it.’ Then she nags and now all she wants to do is talk about church and the bible. I get it. I love God, he loves us. But not every damn day. She’s going overboard and I don’t know how much more I can take. She wants me at all these events with the church people. They are nice, but I don’t have time for them right now.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Just have a conversation with her. But you do pay all the bills and it’s your home. So you should be able to smoke in your house. She needs to make your life easy, not hard. Let you relax. It’s not that difficult. You need to be able to come home to a clean house, a good meal, get some head, and then get fucked to sleep.”

  “Exactly. See, that’s why I like your sexy ass. You get me.” He picked me up and flipped me over. “Now, take your clothes off so we can finish what we started earlier.”

  I was happy they weren’t getting along and hoped that they never worked it out, because being back with Jabril full-time is all I ever wanted.

  CHAPTER 48

  Zakiya

  “These people paid seventy-five dollars per person to hear us speak. You better get here, because I can’t be at another marriage summit without my husband,” I yelled at Jabril and then I hung up
the phone.

  I didn’t know where he was, but I was fuming mad. He agreed and then cancelled on the Married, Saved, and Blessed conference. That was okay for Arkansas but he needed to bring his lazy ass to this one. Right here in Charlotte. Pastor Richard knew his schedule and I didn’t want to lie to him. Lately, Jabril had been staying out overnight, clubbing, drinking, and smoking again. And when I say something about it, he tells me I’m overreacting.

  Within an hour he came home looking disheveled and was pouting. “I’m here. You signed us up for this shit, not me.”

  “When you were talking to Pastor Richard, you said you would do it. Now be a man of your word.” He sighed and headed for the shower. He put on his suit and we drove to the church in silence. I slammed the car door and stomped into the church. Before I hit the stage I walked into the restroom and gathered my thoughts. I had to pull this off, because after this I was going to tell Sister Elise that we could not do any more events.

  Once we arrived he was acting like the stellar husband he was not. He spoke to everyone on our panel and then grabbed my hand and listened to Pastor Richard intently. One deep breath and I pushed a smile on to my face. Jabril was pretending too well, which made me very angry.

  When it was my turn to speak, Sister Elise introduced me as a worshiper of Jesus, great wife and mother. She had two out of three right. Everyone was cheering and then I stepped up to the podium and spoke. I gave them fifteen minutes of lies and I felt horrible about it. I told them how my husband and I prayed together and our belief in God was what kept us together.

  After the panel was over, the attendees were able to come up and ask us questions. A young couple in their twenties came over and started speaking with us. “It’s so good to see a happy young couple with Jesus in their life. Can we have a picture?” the husband asked.

  “Thank you,” I said as Jabril and I stood up and smiled for the picture.

  After the couple left, a message came into Jabril’s phone. I glanced over at it, but he turned his phone to the side so I couldn’t see who he was texting. It was probably best that I didn’t see what was on that phone, because I would have kicked his ass in the house of the Lord.

  CHAPTER 49

  Zakiya

  All we do is argue and that can’t continue. I love my husband and I have to make it work. I have to save my marriage. I came up with an idea to surprise Bril on the road. We haven’t been getting along and he’s acting like he used to act when he was cheating. It was a reality check. I don’t want to go back to be where we were when I was pregnant and lost our first baby and was checking blogs to see who he was with and where he was at. So I had to do something.

  I decided I was meeting him on the road in Orlando. It was a crazy idea and hopefully it would work. And it would as long as the front desk clerks went along with it. There were two women stationed at the desk, an older Hispanic woman and a young black woman. The older woman appeared like she would follow every procedure in the book. So I put my money on the younger one.

  “Hello, my husband is checking in tonight and I arrived early. His name is Jabril Smith.”

  I handed her my credit card and she said, “This room is already paid for and reserved by a private company. And the rooms are not listed.”

  “Yes, I know there is a separate list. It’s my husband’s birthday and I’m trying to surprise him.”

  “I don’t know if I will be able to do this.”

  “I can show you my ID and I have this for you.” I slipped three crisp one-hundred-dollar bills across the counter. “I know the rules, but I’ll do anything. I can get you tickets to the game.”

  “I don’t like basketball, but I do need to pay my car note and I can give the tickets to my dad. I’m not going to check you in, but I’ll make you a key and then you can take the service elevator up to that floor, because there is security.”

  “That’s fine and thank you.”

  Jabril came into his hotel room and was shocked to see me. I was propped on his bed looking sexy as hell in La Perla lingerie.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “You must have been reading my mind, Zakiya,” He dropped his bag and came over to me and I began kissing him. “I’ve been thinking about you and Brilah all day. I know I’ve been acting like an ass and I’m sorry. Everything been crazy and I have been taking it out on you.”

  “I know, Bril, and I’m sorry for not being more understanding. I just want to be with you and our family. I’ll do whatever takes.”

  “And I only want you. And right now I’m thinking about making our family bigger. Brilah needs a brother.” He kissed me and then looked me over again. “You look good, Kiya. Can you meet me in every city? And wear this outfit.”

  He picked me up and held me against the wall. He took his dick out and inserted it in me. He pushed up and I pressed down. We made love for hours. I felt sexy and loved, like his lover that he missed.

  CHAPTER 50

  Shanice

  I missed Jabril so much. I needed to touch his skin, smell his cologne, and feel him inside me. There is only so much sexting you can do. Our schedules have been out of sync for the last few weeks and we haven’t been able to see each other.

  After taping two times a week for the last three weeks, I had an opening in my schedule so I decided to fly out Cleveland to see him. Our visit would be short, but at least I could spend some time with my boo. When I got to the hotel, he was watching a movie and smoking. I was happy to be with him, but I wanted to go out somewhere. I was tired of us just lying in the bed.

  “Did you eat?” I asked.

  “Yeah, if you are hungry, get some room service. I ordered something earlier.”

  “Okay.” I came up to him, lovingly kissing on him, and gave him a hug and he told me to chill. Didn’t he know I had been in the airport for hours and got on two planes to be with him, and he wouldn’t even give me a hug?

  “Come on, I’m trying to watch this movie. You know I’m out of here in the morning. That’s why I told you it didn’t make sense for you to fly all the way out here.”

  “I know, but I missed you and wanted to see you. I wanted to please my baby.” I got up and began searching for the room service menu. “We are wrapping up taping and I don’t know what next week is going to look like. They said soon we have to start promoting.”

  “When you are doing those interviews, just make sure you don’t mention my name.”

  “Why would I say your name?”

  “You know how they start asking you who you deal with. There’s a lot of drama associated with them type of shows. For your sake I hope it is worth it. And you’re not on there looking crazy.”

  “I won’t. Our producers are nice and they have been real cool.”

  “Come on, you are smarter than that, Shanice. Once you get on one of those shows, it is like opening a Pandora’s box. I don’t want anyone Googling you and somehow my name gets brought up. I don’t need that. I don’t think I can deal with that. We might have to fall back.”

  “So you are saying choose to promote the show or you. That’s not even fair.”

  “You just have to figure out what you want to do. You know how I feel about you. I just can’t have any extra attention on me. I have a wife and child and that’s that.”

  I was speechless. He was just talking about how unhappy he was and now he’s talking about his wife and kid. I was about to be on television and he wanted me to give everything up to be his number two.

  “Listen, Jabril, one thing don’t have anything to do with the other. I already did the show, and I want to be with you. I need to take care of my mom and daughter, and this television show and all the opportunities that come along with it can help me do it.”

  “All right, do the show, but I’m good,” he said as he blew smoke into the air. “We still cool, though, but I’m good. I am a married man. I can’t be out here all reckless.”

  “So what am
I supposed to do? Just be hidden underground with you the rest of my life?”

  “Zakiya, get out of here with that shit.”

  “My name is Shanice!”

  “My bad. Look. You know what it is with me. I may go through things with my wife, but I’m not going to ever leave her. You gotta be able to live with that or be out.”

  I wanted to leave him. I hated him right now. I hated the way he was acting like he didn’t have any emotions and was just plain mean.

  “It’s men that would love to have me on their arm and treat me right.”

  “The door is always open, Shanice. No one is keeping you here.”

  I hated when he spoke to me like he didn’t care or like I didn’t mean anything to him.

  “Then maybe I need to leave.” I got up off the bed and rolled my suitcase out the door. I didn’t really want to go anywhere, but he didn’t come running after me. I was confused about what had just happened. I came to spend some time with him and that upset him? I’d rather go home than be disrespected.

  In the airport I texted Deuce.

  I MISS YOU.

  He texted back in less than a minute.

  I can’t tell.

  I dialed his number. I felt so alone and I hoped he still wanted me because Jabril and I were over. “Babe, I’m ready now.”

  “Okay, when you coming to New York?”

  “I’m coming tomorrow.”

  I felt tears coming down my face. I was done with Jabril and going back to my teddy bear.

  When I made it back to Philly, I got in my car and drove straight to Deuce. He didn’t ask any questions. He just took me in. I went to hug him and noticed there was less of him. He had lost weight and Jabril had lost me forever.

  CHAPTER 51

  Adrienne

  I was looking for a place every day and there wasn’t anything that was nice and affordable. I didn’t want to be living in a war zone again and so Warren asked me to stay with him to save my money; plus, he liked having a live-in girlfriend. I had cashed his check and sent some money to my mom and left the rest in the bank. I decided I wasn’t going to send any to Ian or his stepmom yet. I still needed to recover my entire two hundred thousand dollars before he got anything. Plus, what was he going to do? Sue me from jail? The script was registered in my name, which meant I owned it.