“You just…I love you.”
“Then marry me.”
“Marry you?”
“That’s what I said.”
This was crazy. I mean, it took Saul seven years to propose, seven years, five miscarriages, a ton of side chicks, and so many lonely nights I’d lost count. It took me cutting the pussy off and basically ignoring him for him to propose, and the kicker? The main reason I stopped having sex with him is because the one time I gave him some after being with Jah, I barely felt his dick. Saul didn’t seem to notice the difference, but I did. Jah’s humongous dick had stretched my pussy to where it was molded for his dick and only his dick after one time. Well, actually one night, because we screwed until we were too tired to screw that first night.
Those thoughts flowed into others, like the way me and Jah got together and how wrong it was. Wouldn’t that doom us? Weren’t we destined for trouble? I’d never step out on Jah and I knew it, not because he was…him, but because my heart beat for him. But what if he cheated on me? When Saul did it, it had hurt, but if Jah did it? I didn’t even want to think about the pain that would cause, and I knew he had cheating partner contenders. I also knew why. Once you got a taste of him, you were instantly an addict. What Jah brought in the bedroom was rare and hard to find, plus he oozed protectiveness, and with every corner of my heart, I knew he adored me.
“Jah, are you serious?” I asked, pulling myself out of my thoughts.
“Deadass.”
I sighed and blinked back tears. Was he crazy? Scratch that—I knew he was crazy, but this crazy?
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll marry you.”
His eyes went from soft to savage in a second flat, and the next thing I knew, his mouth was on mine, kissing me like the damn barbarian he was.
And I loved it.
I loved every second of it.
After we made it back to Set’s and Kareema’s, we celebrated our engagement until we both collapsed into an exhausted sleep.
A part of me wanted to tell Kareema about our engagement, although I had no ring to flash yet, but another part of me wanted to keep it between me and Jah, despite the fact that he was probably telling Set at that very moment. Now I understood why Kareema kept what she and Set were doing private for so long. There was something almost magical about two people loving each other for each other without outside interference. Right or wrong, we were doing what felt right for us. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought, and we were fortunate that there were no prying eyes, nosy ears, or loose lips around to taint what was pure—strange, unconventional, maybe even wrong, but pure.
Me and Jah had a love. A real love.
Awhile after we finished breakfast, I was in my temporary room, smiling at myself in the mirror because I was just so fucking happy, when the doorbell rang. Less than a second later, I got a text from Kareema: On the toilet. Can you get that?
Me: Yep.
So I left my room, still smiling. At that point, I didn’t think anything could wipe that smile off my face. That is, until I opened the door to find Saul standing on the other side.
“Where is he?!” he barked, pushing past me into the house.
“Saul? What the hell?!” was my response.
“TK’s mom called me talking about you and some nigga being all hugged up at some damn step show. Where the nigga at?!”
“Damn, you’ve been fucking TK’s mom, too, haven’t you? I knew it!”
“I ain’t here to discuss who I am or ain’t fucking! Where he at!”
“You know what? We ain’t discussing shit! You need to leave. Now! It’s really not a good idea for you to be here, and how the hell did you get this address anyway?”
“Tracked your phone.”
“What?!”
“I pay the damn bill, so I tracked it.”
“Shit.”
“Look, you need to come on home with me before you really fuck things up.”
“I broke up with you!”
“Yeah, whatever. Go get your bags. We’ll talk things out. You want a new house? A puppy? Another car? The ring I bought wasn’t big enough? What? I’ll do it. Just come on!”
He looked so…broken. I’d broken him and I felt like shit. Yes, he’d been a horrible boyfriend, but still, I didn’t mean to hurt him although he’d hurt me again and again.
“Saul, I’m sorry. I’m—”
“Who was it, Tri—ohhh, shit.” That was Kareema, who entered her living room with wide eyes. “Uh, Saul…you might wanna leave.”
“No disrespect, Kareema, but I ain’t going nowhere until Trish stops tripping and brings her ass home.”
“I’m not leaving, Saul,” I informed him.
“Yeah, you are!”
“No, I’m not! You need to leave! We are over and nothing is going to change that! Nothing!”
The next thing I knew, Jah and Set were in the house and Jah had knocked Saul to the damn floor.
Jah
Now…
How the fuck didn’t I know that Saul Sharpe was her man? She’d been with him for seven years? How was it that I’d never seen them out together? I mean, I wasn’t the most sociable motherfucker in the world, but I went out from time to time—bars, clubs—and I’d run into Saul a few times, always with a woman but never with Tricia. How was this shit possible? How was it possible that the whole time we were fucking around, I was helping her cheat on Saul Sharpe?
Sitting on the side of the bed, I started calculating shit, trying to figure out how this got by me. Seven years ago…that was right around the time I quit working for Sharpe, so I wasn’t around him like I had been. Plus, not only had I never seen them out together, but Sharpe had never mentioned he had a main woman, which Tricia obviously was. It was always other women who brought his cars to be fixed, or, a few years back when I still did a little freelance ass-kicking for him, it would be a male employee of his who gave me the message. Tricia always came to me when we did our thing. I never went to her. It never came up, but I wasn’t the type of nigga who’d disrespect a man like that anyway. I’d taken his pussy, snatched it right from under him. That was enough of an assault. I never felt the need to do it in the man’s house.
My mind was all tangled up, foggy as hell. Nothing made sense, and I didn’t know what to do with this information. Sharpe and I weren’t BFFs or anything. Hell, I couldn’t tell you his current address or his damn birthday, couldn’t tell you the last time we had a conversation, but we were friends. I didn’t do shit like this to my friends, and one thing I despised was a woman who’d fuck a man’s friends. Me divorcing Genesis and never looking back was evidence of that.
14
Tricia
Saul finally regained consciousness and left about an hour after Set dragged Jah off of him and out of the living room. I’d cried and lamented and beat myself up, and now I needed to leave Kareema’s comforting presence to see what was on Jah’s mind besides his next attack on Saul.
The door to his room was ajar enough for me to get a glimpse of him sitting on the side of the bed, facing the window. I knocked on the door and waited for him to acknowledge me. Instead, he sat still, remaining in the same position.
“Jah, can I come in?” I softly asked.
“Yeah,” he barked, making me flinch.
So I eased into the room, and rather than sitting beside this angry giant, I opted to sit at the foot of the bed. “Jah, I didn’t know you and him were friends. He doesn’t really bring his friends around me. I literally only know a couple of the guys who work for him. That’s it.”
“He never took you out?”
“He did from time to time. He’d take me to these really fancy restaurants mostly. Or shopping, but only after he failed to keep his hoes in check and they called me or something.”
“He kept you hidden because of the shit he was doing, the other women.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“Yeah. I was feeling guilty and shit about what we were doing, thinking he’d
changed, but he hadn’t changed. I was a fool to think he would.”
“He ever hit you?”
I frowned. “What?”
Silence.
“Once,” I said, “but I hit his ass back and that was the end of that.”
Glancing over at him, I saw a smile play at his lips. “You still love him? You wanna go back to him?”
“No, I love you. I’m where I want to be. I just hope you still want to be with me.”
He didn’t respond, and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. “Jah, um…I’ll understand if you want to end things. I’ll—maybe I need to be alone for a while. We were moving too fast anyway. I mean, I’m sure I love you, but if you need—”
He reached for me, easily dragging me to him, and fixed his eyes on mine. My heart was hammering furiously from the unexpected action, but I still tried to read what was in his eyes. If he was doing the same, he should’ve seen fear. Not fear that he’d physically harm me, but fear that he would break my heart.
Just as suddenly as he’d dragged me to him, he stood from the bed, eyes still on me. Then he was climbing on top of me as I involuntarily laid back on the bed. His face hovered over mine as he stared into my eyes again. All I could do was stare back until his eyes left mine as he slid down my body, lifted my skirt, worked my panties down my legs, and buried his face between my thighs. My back lifted from the bed as I clutched the comforter underneath me and sucked in a breath. I wanted to scream, but I also wanted to cry, and at the same time, I wanted to interrogate him, to find out if this meant we were good or if this was a departing, mercy pussy-eating session.
While in my head, I must’ve tensed up, because Jah used his big hand to spread my thighs wide open, never missing a beat of sucking on my clit.
“Shit!” I hissed.
He squeezed my thighs in his big hands while continuing to lick and suck, and suck and lick as the pressure in my core reached its pinnacle. Then the best feeling in the universe hit me. My breathing halted, my body stiffened, and my entire pelvic region pulsated as my whole body was inundated with an overwhelming orgasm. My eyes were closed as I softly whimpered and resumed breathing. I couldn’t move. Well, I could move my tongue, because when Jah’s mouth found mine again, I eagerly put it to work, relishing in the taste of me.
We kissed for what felt like hours, and then he rolled over onto his back, pulling my body against his. Exhausted with emotion and satiation, I soon fell asleep.
About an hour later, I woke up alone. After I got my bearings, I noticed my phone was lying next to me instead of where I’d left it in my room, and on it was a single text message from Jah: Got a meeting. Be back.
Jah
The only thought in my mind was how good the lobster was in this place. The steak wasn’t half bad either. The beer was nothing to write home about, though.
When he finally arrived, I wiped my hands and gave him a nod, thinking, Damn, I really fucked his face up. Dude had knots everywhere.
“The food here is good. You want something?” I offered.
Sharpe shook his head. “Can’t chew too good right now.”
“Yeah, look, I would apologize for that shit, but you called Tricia a bitch. So on the real, it’s your fault I fucked your face up.”
He just stared at me for a second before finally saying, “She cheated on me.”
“You cheated on her, but she didn’t call you a bitch.”
“You know that ain’t the same. There’s levels to this shit. I took care of her, gave her everything she wanted. All her ass had to do was be loyal to me.”
I dunked some lobster meat in butter and shook my head. “That’s backwards as fuck. You didn’t give her everything she wanted, nigga, because I’m sure she wanted your loyalty. And if you wanted her loyalty, you should’ve worked to earn that shit a long time ago.”
“I didn’t earn yours?” he asked.
I shoved the lobster in my mouth and chewed before finally saying, “If I’d known she was supposed to be yours, I never woulda touched her.”
“Now you know.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“And, nigga? Now what? You done kicked my ass, and by rights, I should put one in your damn head, but I still see you as a little brother, so I can’t.”
I sighed. “And…I ain’t gon’ be able to let her go. I can’t. I need her, just like you must need my fucking ex-wife. How is you messing around with Genesis any different from me being with Tricia?”
“Because you broke code! I was still with Trish!”
“Shit, ain’t not fucking with your boy’s ex a part of the code, nigga? You broke that muhfucka too.”
“You don’t even want Genesis! Trish is my main woman! My main one!”
“She’s my only woman. All I need is her, and shit, this ain’t a damn car we’re talking about. She don’t want you anymore. You can’t have someone who’s done with your ass.”
I guess he didn’t have a rebuttal for that, because he just sat there and stared at me. I stared right back at him.
“Shit, man…I can’t go out like this. How is it gon’ look for you to be with my woman?” he finally asked.
“Like I said, with me is where she wants to be, so it’ll look like she moved the fuck on. Everybody knows about all those other women you got. Hell, I didn’t even know she was with you. I doubt if many other people know.”
He just shook his head.
“Sharpe, I know this seems fucked up, and maybe it really is, but I love her, so if you can’t deal with me and her being together, you might as well shoot me now, but your ass better not miss. You ain’t the only one with a gun, not that I’d need one.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “She means more than all these years I had your back?”
“I had your back, too, and you fucked Genesis.”
“She’s just a woman. Just like Genesis. They ain’t shit for us to be beefing over.”
“Then let her go.”
“I can’t.”
“Neither can I. So, let’s do this.”
Sharpe sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“Just a second,” I said, pulling out my phone to text Tricia.
15
Tricia
I love you.
I read that text message about ten times. I could feel Jah’s love through those words, but I also felt something else—a sense of finality that made my blood run cold.
I didn’t know all the ins and outs of how Saul made his money, because he made sure I didn’t, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew it wasn’t all legal. I knew he was feared by many. I knew he wasn’t a nice man, and I knew he had guns, lots of them, not that I believed he flew into Vegas with one of them. He also had connections and a bottomless pit of money. If he wanted someone dead, he could easily have it done, and everything in me told me he wasn’t going to rest behind this thing with me and Jah, and I felt like kicking my own ass for putting Jah in this position. He’d beat Saul’s whole ass. There was no way Saul wasn’t going to retaliate.
I read the message once more before dialing his number.
“Hello? Trish?”
“Don’t you do it,” was how I responded.
Silence
“Saul, if you ever loved me, you will not harm a hair on Jah Mitchell’s head.”
More silence.
“You want me? Fine. You can have me, but you have to leave him alone.”
“I thought we were over. I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” he finally said.
“I don’t want you, but I can’t let you hurt him.”
“Trish, I know I fucked up a lot, but I really do love you.”
“Okay.”
“You ain’t gonna say it back?”
“I will if you promise to leave him alone.”
“Damn, really? You love him for real, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do,” I said softly.
And then Saul hung up on me.
*****
I locked myself up in my ro
om and laid in the bed with the covers pulled over my head. I’d tried and failed to get through to Saul, and now guilt had a tight grip on my neck, slowly, steadily squeezing the life out of me. I’d miscalculated, thinking Saul’s constant cheating and neglect meant he wouldn’t react badly to my cheating, and maybe he wouldn’t have had I not cheated with someone he considered a friend. Then again, I was attributing a level of maturity to Saul that he didn’t possess. What I should’ve done was left him years ago instead of sticking around for the lifestyle. I should’ve never dragged another man into this mess, especially not Jah.
Not my Jah.
I couldn’t cry, although I wanted to. I—
The doorknob jiggled, and figuring it was just Kareema checking on me again, I didn’t move a muscle. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone.
“Trish, open the damn door!”
Was I hearing shit now? “Jah?” I called from my spot on the bed.
“You expecting someone else?”
I hopped out of the bed, unlocked the door, and swung it open. There he stood, all big and powerful and beautiful, those eyes narrowed at me. I didn’t care about his mean ass scowling. I wrapped my arms around his neck and jumped on him, wrapping my thick thighs around his waist. That made him smile.
“Damn, you act like I been gone forever,” he quipped.
After I kissed him, I said, “I thought you were! I thought—never mind. I’m just glad to see you!”
“Yeah? Then why didn’t you text me back?”
In response, I kissed him again, then said, “My bad. Carry me to my phone so I can do that.”
He did, dropping me on the bed and making me giggle. As he stretched his body over mine, I grabbed my phone from the bed and texted him back: I love you too.
16
Jah: A Novella (Them Boys Book 2) Page 6
