Trust in No Man

by Cash

  I stripped down to my Phat Farm boxers and sat down to enjoy the amateur show.

  Angel appeared to be nervous. Keisha seemed turned on.

  “Put on a good show and I might make both of y’all mine.” I knew they’d be game for it. They wouldn’t care how many women I had, they just wanted their slice of the pie. Once they got in, they could always play for the whole thing, even if they had to cross one another out.

  They were breast to breast, belly to belly, arms around each other’s shoudlers.

  Outside, it was thundering and lightening as if the sexual electricity in the suite had ignited the skies. Keisha gyrated her pelvis against Angel’s and stared her in the eyes. She was clearly the aggressor. But Angel didn’t retreat. Instead, she closed her eyes.

  Maybe savoring the female contact. Maybe wondering how in the hell did she get herself in such a predicament.

  “Kiss her Keisha,” I instructed.

  Keisha complied with my instructions, but Angel didn’t reciprocate. The station went to a commercial and the girls broke their embrace.

  I said, “Look, Angel, you’re with a big-time nigga. If you wanna be down, you’re gonna have to do big girl things. If you got a problem with it, I can call you a cab.”

  She seemed to think it over for a minute.

  Then she said, nervously, “I ain’t ever done anything like this before.”

  “I haven’t either,” Keisha proclaimed. “But, girl, there’s a first time for everything.” She took the words right out of my mouth.

  I had Angel sit on my lap when the music came back on and told Keisha to give us a private dance. Keisha moved slow and seductive, rubbing her nipples against Angel’s then her steaming body against her friend’s nose. All the while, I was rubbing Angel’s thighs. I soon felt her juices flood my fingers.

  After the sexual fury simmered, I watched both girls to see how they would react to the aftermath of lesbian sex. As I expected, Angel averted her eyes away from both Keisha and me.

  I could see that Keisha was still excited, her passion not yet relieved. I told her to get on top of Angel and fuck her.

  “Oh!” Angel gasped, spreading her legs wide apart.

  Keisha was on her faster than the thought. She quickly rubbed her body against her friends’, all the while kissing Angel’s lips. The contact caused an involuntary spasm to run throughout Angel’s body.

  “Ah—Keisha!” she moaned. Then she began thrusting her body upwards to meet Keisha’s thrusts.

  Angel must have came five times, back to back. She came once so violently her head lashed from side to side and her body went into convulsions. All I could see were the whites of her eyes. Then Keisha gripped her strongly and began furiously rubbing her body against Angel’s, until they both screamed in sexual release.

  Finally, they were spent. They looked at each other and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked either of them.

  “Nothing,” said Keisha

  “I never thought I’d do something like that,” Angel said, “especially not with her!” They looked at one another and giggled like schoolgirls.

  We lounged around, naked, smoking blunts and waiting on the Philly steak and cheese sandwiches to be delivered by the late-night deli near the airport.

  After we had eaten, the three of us showered together and retired to the bedroom to resume our threesome.

  “I wanna get on top and fuck her, this time,” Angel whispered in my ear. No longer the shy girl.

  I told Keisha to lie down. It was Angel’s turn to please her.

  Angel attacked Keisha’s nakedness, without hestitation. She touched and licked her friend in the most delicate places, behind the ear, the side of the neck, the shoulders, nipples, navel, thighs and finally, she kissed the center of Keisha’s wetness.

  “Aww—shit!” Keisha panted. “Eat all of me!”

  Angel brought her to a climax. My dick was stiff as a board! I put on a rubber and crawled in bed between them.

  CHAPTER 34

  The next morning, I was awakened by the sound of my pager vibrating on the nightstand. I crawled from between my two naked freaks, sat at the foot of the bed and used the telephone on the nightstand to call Juanita back.

  “Whud up, Miss Thang?”

  She answered, “I was calling to invite you to breakfast. I’m cooking.”

  I told her I was tied up at the moment, but I could probably come by around noon.

  “That’s cool. I won’t go to work, then.”

  “Don’t let me stop your hustle,” I said.

  Juanita ignored my remark. “What time can I expect you?” she asked.

  “Twelve, twelve-thirty.”

  “I’ll see you, then.

  “Peace.”

  I dropped Keisha and Angel off in Englewood, promising I’d come through and holla in a few days. Then I dipped to my spot to shower and change gear.

  Some nigga was standing outside of my door, knocking, when I pulled up. I got out of my whip and pounced up the steps in two strides.

  “Who you looking for, my man?” I asked dude.

  With a Hatian accent, he said he’d just recently moved into the complex and was wondering if there was any chance he could use my telephone. I told him I didn’t have a phone inside and directed him to the pay phone near the manager’s office.

  Cheryl was at the door as soon as I opened it. “You know that fool?” I questioned her.

  “Naw,” she swore, “I saw him moving in a few weeks ago. I don’t know nobody in this complex. I rarely come out of the house.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t let nobody in here, to use the phone or nothing!”

  “I ain’t,” she promised.

  The crib was clean and none of my shit appeared to have been disturbed. The safes were locked and too heavy for Cheryl to move around. My freezer stash was proper, though. I could tell she had come across it while searching the freezer for food to cook. Boxes and freezer bags had been rearranged but my dough was straight.

  Cool. Because if it wasn’t I would twist her goddam wig, I said to myself as I closed the door and walked out of the kitchen into the bedroom.

  I showered and changed into some fresh gear. Before I bounced, Cheryl told me she had put in an application for Section 8, and she showed me a brochure from a beauty school.

  I told her to let me know when everything was set and how much it all would cost.

  “I’ll take you furniture shopping once they give you an apartment.”

  “I’m gonna try to find a Section 8 house,” she said.

  “That’s cool.” I then dipped before Eryka woke up and starting having a fit when I tried to leave.

  I zipped over to Inez’ to see what was shaking. She was weighing up ounces of dro and then separate ounces of regular weed. I grabbed an ounce of ‘dro and put it in the inside pocket of the jacket I was wearing.

  “Touch up my braids for me.”

  “So, I can assume you’re just making a pit stop you ain’t staying long?” she assumed correctly.

  “True. But I’ll be back later,” I promised.

  I was again pushing the Benz drop, decked out in MECCA gear, head to toe. Not much bling on but an earring and a watch. A young, thug millionaire with nothing to do all day but shine and figure out which bitch to fuck with.

  Soon I would start looking for a condo to rent, somewhere on the outskirts of the city, where my whips wouldn’t cost more than my crib. But that could wait until Cheryl was out of my hair.

  I was also contemplating opening a nightclub or a restaurant. Too bad Blue had killed the Ribs Lady, she and I could’ve opened a chain of Rib Shacks.

  Speaking of Blue, Keisha and Angel had told me the fool had been buying bundles of crack from niggaz in da hood. He’d been seen with wads of money, only hours after the Ribs Lady body had been discovered. Somebody dropped dime on him, and the police picked him up and questioned him. They matched his fingerprints to those discovered on the bloody alum
inum bat found next to the Ribs Lady body.

  The police interrogated Blue until he confessed. Then they charged him with armed robbery, murder and attempted murder.

  They hinted if the little girl recovered well enough to identify Blue as the perpertrator, they would seek the death penalty. I figured if the girl died, they would surely seek it.

  Juanita must’ve heard me whip into her driveway ‘cause she was standing with the door open as soon as I reached her porch. We spoke, then I handed her the teddy bear I had hidden behind my back. Most women love stuffed animals. I guessed it played into their desire to always be daddy’s little girl.

  Juanita squealed with genuine delight and hugged the teddy bear to her bosom.

  “Lunch is ready,” she said, escorting me into the dining room. “I hope you’re ready to eat.”

  We ate grilled chicken strips and pasta, cucumber and lettuce salad and nibbled on low-fat cheese crackers. Juanita drank bottled water, but served me imported beer that was the best I’d ever tasted.

  I had fresh peaches and French ice-cream for dessert, Juanita had frozen yogurt. I guessed that was how she kept a perfect figure.

  I watched her as she cleared the table. The cotton sweatpants couldn’t hide her perfect ass, plus her walk was jaw-dropping! She wore a T-shirt, tied in a knot above her sexy navel, with the words Good Girl emblazoned across the front. Her hair was in feathers down past her shoulders and her nails were painted rainbow.

  She flashed me a smile that was accentuated by the two open-faced crowns in the top of her grill. A diamond centered both crowns.

  Pressed to make a comparison, I’d have to say that Juanita resembled a younger Lisa Raye.

  We moved into the den and I fired up a blunt. Juanita didn’t mind, so she said she just turned on the ceiling fan and busied herself until I was finished blazing. Then she snuggled into my arms and put her lips up to be kissed. One kiss leads to another and then another. But she drew back before things got too hot. I wasn’t trippin’ it, I was fucked out!

  “How long do you plan to be in the streets?” Juanita suddendly asked.

  I told her I really couldn’t say. Shit, the streets were in me.

  Juanita began telling me her goals and dreams, stating that she had no more time to waste. She planned to quit her job at The Gentlemen’s Escape, sell her house and move away. She said she had some money saved up, enough to live off of while she went to college and pursued her dream of becoming a surgical doctor.

  “If my student grants run out, I may eventually have to get a part-time job to help pay for classes.” Juanita had it all planned out.

  She told me that she could see herself falling in love with me, even spending a lifetime with me. But not if I stayed connected to the streets.

  “The streets is all I know, shawdy.”

  “But it’s not all you can learn. Don’t limit yourself like that. Why be one more hustler, when you can be so much more?” she challenged.

  She told me I could go back to school and then on to college. Or I could open my own business, she’d help me every step of the way.

  She said we could get married and be a team, legitimately, no crime.

  “I’ll love you and only you, forever,” Juanita claimed. “Just say yes. Really, I’m a good girl, you’ll see. I ain’t ever cheated on no man I ever had.”

  She said the streets were killing brothers and sending a record number of them to prison, leaving behind broken-hearted, lonely young women.

  Tears were in her eyes.

  She said, “I’m—not—gonna let the streets claim me by proxy and they do, every time they claim someone I love or care about. And they’ll claim you, too, if you don’t let go.”

  I reminded Juanita that she couldn’t love me, we had no history together. Her response was that she liked me a lot and would grow to love me if I chose to move away with her. She claimed she didn’t want just any man, she wanted me. It made a nigga feel good ‘cause I knew Juanita had plenty suitors.

  Like the time before, all types of thoughts were jostling in my head when I left Juanita’s crib. She’d given me one month to reach a decision. After that, she’d be moving away and starting her life over.

  How could she expect me to just up and leave my seeds, even if they could visit me wherever we moved to. Didn’t Juanita know the streets had just as strong a pull as she did? She didn’t know I was sitting on a mil’, enjoying my ghetto fame. If she had, maybe she wouldn’t have suggested I walk away from the shine. Shit, I had been down too long, not to enjoy my sudden wealth and fame.

  CHAPTER 35

  I hadn’t talked to or seen Toi since that day at the food court in Greenbriar’s Mall.

  It was Saturday morning and pouring down raining as I waited impatiently inside of the Waffle House for my sister to show. She was already a half hour late. I’d wait another few minutes, though. I played with a patty melt and hash browns while I watched the parking lot for her car.

  A Cadillac SUV drove up and I saw Toi hurry out the driver’s door and dash inside of the small restaurant. She shook the rain off of her umbrella, closed it and walked briskly over to the booth where I waited.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said, out of breath. “I had to drop Glen off at his physical therapist. I can’t stay long. I told him I had mistakenly left something cooking in the oven.”

  “This won’t take long,” I assured her.

  She began drinking my cup of coffee, warming herself. I told her I missed her and it was too bad we weren’t as close as we used to be.

  Toi said we were still close in her heart, we just couldn’t see each other often. For obvious reasons.

  We talked for twenty minutes, catching each other up on what was going on in our separate lives. She told me she’d page me when she could get away for a few hours, ‘cause she wanted to see my kids, especially the new baby.

  She wanted to know if I planned on taking Chanté by Mama’s.

  “You know I ain’t got no mama, as far as I’m concerned. But let’s not go there.” I reminded her.

  A few minutes later, Toi said she had to go. I walked her out to the truck, both of us under her umbrella and slipped a wad of money in her lap.

  “What’s this?” she asked, surprised.

  I told her it was ten grand. “Don’t tell Glen about it,” I cautioned her. “Put it away, in case you ever decide you’re tired of his shit. And I’ve got plenty more where that came from.” Toi hugged me and promised she’d put the money some place Glen couldn’t find it. Then she tried to tell me that he was really a decent man. I didn’t wanna hear it, though.

  “Why didn’t you ever ask me what I’d did to make Glen hit me?”

  “‘Cause it didn’t matter,” I simply said, and meant it.

  “I gotta get going. Bye. I love you.” A tear rolled down her face.

  “I love you, too.”

  My heart ached as I watched her walk outside in the rain, climb in her ride and drive off.

  Why did things have to be so murky? I asked myself.

  I placed a tip on the table for the waitress and then walked out in the rain, not even bothering to shelter myself from the downpour.

  My mood was somber when I reached Inez’ crib, and it remained that way until I feel asleep next to her in bed that night.

  Sometime in the middle of the night, Inez awakened screaming and sweating like she’d just ran the one-hundred-meter dash. I sat up in bed and wrapped my arms around her until she came out of the nightmare.

  She’d been having nightmares since our ordeal in Kentucky. I’d taken her to a doctor, but he couldn’t help much since she lied about the ‘cause of the bad dreams. Nor could the doctor prescribe valium or any other medicine to help her sleep through the night, for fear that the medicine might harm the baby inside Inez’ womb.

  She would have to tough the nightmares out. I constantly reassured her that they’d soon cease.

  “You okay?” I wiped her forehead with a cold tow
el.

  “Mmm-hmmm,” she mumbled, leaning back against my chest.

  “I keep seeing his face,” she said after a while.

  “Let’s not talk about it, boo.”

  I massaged her shoulders, all the while wondering if she was gonna nut up and leave me no choice but to plant her in dirt. I didn’t wanna have to do that, but I’d do so before I’d let her send me back to prison. I wasn’t letting anything separate me from the million dollars I had stashed away. I had caught lightning in a bottle. I planned to keep it trapped.

  For the next couple of weeks, I spent an equal number of nights at my apartment as I did at Inez’.

  At home, I enjoyed my two little princesses, but mostly ignored their mother. Eryka was crawling around, getting into everything! I was loving every minute of it. At night I’d usually fall asleep with Chanté on my chest and Eryka hugged to my side. Cheryl slept on the couch whenever I was there all night.

  At Inez’, I slept light, not because of her nightmares, but due to the fact she still sold weed to a select clientele. I was a robber, paranoid by trade. I decided that once I moved into a condo, I would not spend nights at Inez’, she’d have to come spend the night with me.

  I went by Juanita’s house to visit a few times, and even stopped by the club once as a surprise. She was always happy to see me and stopped whatever she was doing to pay attention to me.

  Shawdy was working on my resistance, something serious! I could see the wisdom of her plans and goals. I just couldn’t see how they were compatible with mine. She probably didn’t know it, but I was thirsty for her.

  Maybe I wanted what I couldn’t have? At least, I couldn’t have Juanita without giving up the streets, Inez, and all that I felt comfortable with. I wasn’t ready to do that.

  On one occasion I was over Juanita’s house watching her do aerobics. She quickly concluded her workout, then she took a quick shower, returning to me in nothing but a silk wrap-around robe and a towel wrapped high around her head. She looked like an Egyptian Queen, beautiful, sexy and divine. Damn! Away from the club I would’ve never guessed she was a stripper.

  I proposed, “Let’s make love one time, to see if our attraction to each other is real or just lust.”