Chapter 2 #2
I focused on the others in the room and noticed my god kids settled at a table.
I was one of the few members of S.O.E that didn’t have children, and being in the company of my brothers with their families didn’t entice me to have my own.
I will admit that seeing them in action restored a bit of faith I lost a few Christmases ago.
“What’s good, brodie?” Shiloh walked up beside me.
“You tell me. It looks like you’re running a day care center in this bitch, and most of the kids are yours.”
“I ain’t ashamed, nigga. I’m trying to convince Blue to give me another one. I’ve always wanted a big family.”
I cut my eyes at my best friend. “Nigga, get a damn dog, and let that woman breathe.”
“Loso, you got some fucking nerve. All you’ve done in the last four years is stay on top of a bitch you don’t want and don’t want to know. That shit doesn’t get old?”
“Not really. I tried to do shit the right way. I failed.”
“She failed,” he debated. “You were solid back then. Now, you’re a fucking dog. Don’t you realize we’re getting old, nigga? One of the broads you mess with is gon’ rob you blind when you’re too old to see.”
“As long as my stomach is full and my balls are empty, my little sugar baby can have what she wants.” I laughed and looked toward the women my brothers had fallen for. “Maybe I’m not meant to be with one woman. Maybe y’all took all the good ones.”
“Maybe. Just don’t look at mine too long, nigga.” He knocked his shoulder against mine then walked over to his wife. He whispered something in her ear that made the sweet lady blush as she moved to the center of the room.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Stevie started, yet her voice got lost in the noise.
I watched a grimace overpower Shiloh’s mug as he stepped next to his better half. “Aye yo! I need everybody quiet. My wife is speaking!”
The bass in his voice sparked a peaceful calmness to sweep the room and urged Stevie to kiss his cheek.
“Thank you, baby.” She grinned then faced her audience. “I won’t keep you guys long. I just want to go over how we’re going to handle the toy drive. I have confirmed that the event will take place at the Silk Hills Country Club, and I’m asking everyone to wear an ugly Christmas sweater.”
“Oh, fuck no,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Since we’re partnering up with the Silk Hills basketball team, we’ll be providing Christmas gifts for nearly two-hundred kids instead of our usual hundred.
When I pitched the partnership, I also mentioned that each member of the club will donate money to a chosen family, so the team is giving season tickets to whoever writes the biggest check. ”
A few hoots and howls interrupted her speech. The club had been working with local women’s shelters for years, and every quarter, we did something special for the residence. Though I wasn’t a big fan of Christmas, I enjoyed giving back to the community.
“Gentlemen!” Stevie exclaimed. “Please keep things cordial. Last year, y’all treated the giveaway like a competition. I still can’t believe a fight almost broke out.”
Shiloh’s gold grin beamed from across the room. “And I’ll do it again. These niggas better put their money up if they want to win those tickets.”
Side conversations sprouted around the room after Shiloh started talking shit. Just about every member of S.O.E could easily purchase the prize that was up for grabs, but being known as the nigga with the heaviest pockets was the real victory.
The meeting went on for another thirty minutes then folks started to disperse. Some members went to the main floor for a drink while others slipped out the back exit with their family. I planned to sip on something before I hit the road, yet my party planner caught my eye.
Essen leaned against a wall in the corner with her legs crossed at the ankles.
A tailored blazer that stopped in the center of her thighs framed her bowed hips, and the white-collar shirt and black tie completed her look.
Her hair was pulled up in a nest of curls that gave her pretty, round face room to breathe.
Oblivious to my eyes on her, she didn’t pay me any attention as she wandered over to an empty seat.
Attached to whatever was on her screen, I was able to creep up and snatched her phone from her grasp.
“Hey!” she yelled, snatching it back. “Don’t come over here messing with me.”
“Who are you talking to that got your nose deep in that phone?”
She batted her lashes. “My business. Something you don’t need to worry about. Your focus needs to be on the competition. You heard Stevie. May the best man win,” Essen declared, raising a glass of something white.
“Ugh. Is that eggnog? That shit is nasty.”
“Hush your mouth. It’s a tradition to have a little eggnog and something brown in the winter months.”
“That’s silly. Just like the concept of giving someone else a gift on Jesus’s birthday.” I shook my head. “I still don’t understand why I have to do that.”
“I don’t understand why not. You do everything else without too much explanation,” she teased. “What happened? You didn’t get the little, red truck you asked for one Christmas?”
Her sarcasm washed the grin off my face. “Yeah. Something like that.”
I could tell my honesty knocked her off her square when she broke eye contact and sipped from her straw.
“Come with me to the bar.” Essen’s voice returned. “This nog needs more cognac.”
I grinned while taking her hand and guiding her from her chair.
“Just say that shit is nasty, Essen.”
She snickered. “I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.”
When we stepped onto the main floor, I saw the club was starting to fill up, and the DJ was in position. Our clubhouse wasn’t open to the public, but for a fee we welcomed people to chill for the night when we wanted to.
At my side, Essen rose to her tippy toes to flag down the bartender. Every time she moved, her honeyed scent massaged my nostrils.
“Damn. You smell good,” I muttered.
Her head hit a swivel as she shimmied her shoulders. “That’s good to know. I thought someone else would be complimenting me on it.” She rolled her eyes. “I appreciate it, though, Loso.”
The way Essen forced out a heavy exhale, I started to ask her about the problem.
Then again, I knew when a woman was hung up on a nigga.
I didn’t want to hear her talk about someone that probably didn’t deserve to smell her ass let alone make her worry.
She spun around and relaxed against the bar, and her growing frown caused me to face the crowd.
“What’s the problem?” I asked, already following the path of her scrutiny.
“There isn’t a problem . . . yet. You better check your girl about staring me down.”
It took a few seconds, but I peeped who Essen was referring to. Just like she said, the pecan-colored brickhouse who liked to deep-throat my dick snarled at us.
“Melli is harmless.” I shrugged. “She’s probably just jealous.”
“Of what? I don’t want you.” Essen snickered. “You have a lot of growing up to do.”
“I’m grown, woman.”
She lifted a brow and traced me with a humored countenance. “Barely.”
“Whatever. Melli isn’t my lady,” I responded, changing the subject. “I wish you would stop staying that shit. The last time you made that announcement, my other bitch was close enough to hear you.”
“Eww. You are disgusting.”
“I’m honest. They know what it is.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“Yeah, but it makes a difference,” I suggested. “Yo’ ass loves worrying about everybody else. Where are you sneaking off to after this?”
“I don’t like that word.”
“That’s what I think when I see your chocolate ass.”
“You believe all women are sneaky. I’ve listened to you speak on it for years. Someone broke your heart, and now you move like she made you a ho.”
My top lip got sharp on the end. “Now I remember why I don’t talk to you for too long. What happened to the holiday cheer bullshit?”
“Whaaa?” She played shocked. “Maybe I should’ve said, ho! Ho! Ho?”
I tried to stay firm, but when Essen giggled, my frown dropped to my feet.
“When can we meet about the party?” I asked when I saw Melli wandering in our direction.
“I’m ready when you are. You know I love your parents. Their love reminds me that good things do last.” She threw back her drink then slammed the glass on the wooden surface. “Send me a copy of our dinner reservations once you have them set in stone.”
I watched Essen until she only left her sassy strut in her wake.
I saw a few members of S.O.E in my mix, but I played it cool.
I tried to harden my expression, hoping it would dismiss the idea that I was eye fucking my best friend’s sister, but I didn’t have faith it worked when Junior shook his head.
I flipped him off, then started to face the bar, yet a pair of hands slithered up my sides.
“It took you long enough to come see me,” I commented.
Melli eased to my side and placed her hands flat on the bar top. “Don’t act like you don’t know why I waited. You were talking to Essen’s stuck-up ass.”
“Watch that sly shit, Melli. You think Essen is stuck up because she’s selective. Don’t be mad because she doesn’t play about her pussy or reputation.”
She tossed her long, blonde weave off her shoulder. “A pussy you’ll never get, so stop drooling.”
“Knock it off. Essen is family.”
“Ha! I’ve heard that before. Unless you two share the same blood, you can share a bed.” She connected her hip to my side. “Enough about her. Are you ready to get out of here?”
I fucked with different women who hung at the clubhouse, but Melli was my favorite. She had been around the Sons of Eshu since we purchased our spot, and though we weren’t in a relationship, everybody in our circle knew her pussy belonged to me when we were in the same room.
“Let me run to the bathroom, then we can head to the hotel.”
“I’ll go with you.”
With no shame, she trailed me into the men’s bathroom. No one was inside when we entered, but knowing Melli, it wouldn’t have made a difference. She had always gotten a kick out of doing freaky shit not knowing it only confirmed my decision to never commit to her.
“You came in here trying to get dicked down, but I really have to pee.”
She leaned against the door, watching me with narrowed eyes. “That’s all right. I’m going to clean you up once you’re done.”
Like an obedient lover, Melli waited near the door until my dick was in my pants.
However, the second I finished drying my hands, she was on me.
When she tried to touch my face, I checked her.
When she tried to kiss me, I directed her lips to my neck.
I wasn’t a fan of kissing, especially a woman who would suck my dick right after I took a piss.
Trained to go, Melli dropped to her knees.
She purposely gagged on my dick until her mouth was dripping wet.
Even though she didn’t need any help, I palmed the back of her head and encouraged her to pick up the pace.
I wasn’t the type of nigga to rush a good head job, but I didn’t want anyone to walk in on us.
“Aww, fuck. Do that shit!” I glanced down and caught the sight of her long tongue swirling around the head of my dick like it was a popsicle.
She repeated the motion, sending my head into the wall behind me.
“Give it to me, baby,” she demanded with my hard on in her mouth. A few pumps later, a grimace overpowered my face, and cramps tightened my gut.
After I sent my seeds down Melli’s throat, she bounced to her feet as if I had brought her to an orgasm.
The glow in her eyes made her look like an addict who just got their fix.
There was no humiliation in her demeanor when we returned to the bar area to say goodbye to the people who mattered.
A few times, she dabbed the corner of her mouth as if to confirm what a lot of people already knew about her.
As soon as we got in my truck, Melli started sighing and fidgeting in her seat. I knew she wanted me to ask what was on her mind, but I wasn’t the man to solve her problems. She was a fun time and a pretty face, and that’s where it started and ended.
“Baby. What are you getting me for Christmas?” she finally asked.
I lifted a shoulder. “After the way you squeezed the nut out of my balls, all you have to do is send me a list, and it’s yours.”
“Hm. What if I said all I want is you?”
I groaned and retrieved a half-smoked blunt from my middle console. I hated smoking in my truck, but I would rather pay to have it cleaned than listen to Melli with a clear head. Over the last four months, she picked my brain about us being together, and my answer hadn’t changed.
“Do you want to grab food now, or would you rather order room service?” I asked, ignoring her question.
“Why do you always do that, Loso?”
“Do what?”
“Shut down when I talk about us being together. It’s not the worst idea in the world.”
“For you it isn’t,” I replied. “We vibe well together, but I think you forgot how we started fucking around. I slept with you and your homegirl before y’all did the same shit with one of my club brothers.”
Melli slammed her back against my passenger seat. “I remember that night. Me and my homegirl weren’t the only ones being passed around.”
“Hey, I’m not judging you. I just can’t wife you.”
“Fuck this,” she spat out. “Take me home, Loso.”
“Say less.” I checked my rearview mirror then merged off the freeway.
As I sped to Melli’s house, I turned up my radio and ignored the deep exhales she set free.
I didn’t engage since I couldn’t give Melli what she wanted.
I wasn’t running down her past to shame her.
I just wanted to remind her that our foundation would never be solid enough for longevity.
“So, you’re coo’ on the Christmas gift?” I wondered aloud.
Venom soared from her pointed stare. “Boy. Fuck you.”