Prologue
PROLOGUE
CASSIE
PART TWO (THREE MONTHS LATER)…
W hen I got home, all I wanted to do was have a glass of wine, take a bubble bath, get fucked, and go to sleep. I’d been working late for the past four days, but today, I was able to leave a little early. Being that I didn’t have class on Fridays made it even sweeter. I’d met Kendrall at the store to help him shop for Mr. Kenny’s birthday present. We’d had a great time as friends, although I knew I was gonna have to back off. My feelings were getting the best of me.
When we were looking at a design for a belt buckle, we ended up staring into each other’s eyes for far too long. I nearly succumbed to the pressure he was applying. I couldn’t do that to Mesani. He’d been good to me. We’d moved in together one month before I saw Kendrall at the gas station. He wined and dined me constantly, bought extravagant gifts, and catered to me in ways I’d only dreamed about.
I refused to betray him any further than I had already. Fantasizing about being Kendrall’s would eventually catch me slipping. Just my luck, I’d end up talking in my sleep and mention Kendrall’s name. That man was my first love, and it felt like I still loved him. That shit wasn’t fair to Mesani in the least bit. I didn’t know how I would effectively pull away from KJ, but it was something I was gonna have to do.
Mesani was already home, so I was excited that we would actually get to spend more time together today, instead of waiting for tomorrow. He worked so hard at his job and with his online classes, but he still made time to cook dinner when I was running late.
As I entered the back door, the smell of food hit my nose. I smiled and closed the door, prepared to go straight to the stove until I heard a slight moan. I frowned and made my way toward where the noise came from. When I got in front of his office door, the noises were a little louder. Either he was watching a porn, or someone was in there fucking.
“Oh fuck! I’m about to nut all in this pussy, baby.”
My eyebrows lifted. That was Mesani’s voice. Surely, he wasn’t… no. I opened the door and saw him sitting in his office chair with a woman on top of him. Both their backs were to me, so neither of them had even heard me enter the room. My insides were on fire. I grabbed the hard plastic vase from the table by the door and crossed the room and threw it at his head.
He yelled loudly as she turned and saw me. She hopped off his dick, only for me to see he wasn’t wearing a condom. My heart was racing, and I couldn’t slow it down if I tried. While he was trying to gather his bearings after the blow, I snatched that bitch by her hair and punched her in the face. She fell to the floor, and as badly as I wanted to dive on top of her, I concentrated on him. I punched him next.
“Cassie! Please! I’m sorry!”
I couldn’t formulate words to respond to him. I was just swinging and letting the blows land wherever. When he finally subdued me, I noticed the woman was gone. He had a huge knot on his bald head with a little blood coming from it. I was doing my best to escape his grasp, but it was of no use. When I had to stop struggling, I crumbled. I wasn’t a crier. I’d been through so much pain in my life until I’d learned to deal with it and move on.
I hadn’t cried over what someone else did that affected me since I was teenager. I vowed that same day that Kendrall kissed me that I would no longer give people that much power over me, especially my biological mother. She was a trash ass individual, and it was in my best interest to move on and accept that we would never have the relationship I desired.
But here I was… crying over what Mesani had done to me. I was blindsided. I’d never seen this coming. He loosened his grip, and I quickly escaped his grasp. “Cassie! Baby, please wait!”
I ran out of there, grabbing my purse and keys on the way out the back door. By the time I hopped inside my vehicle, he was at the door, begging me to hear him out. He could go fuck himself. There was nothing I cared to hear him explain. I started the engine and put it in gear, threatening to run his pathetic ass over before he got the hell out of my way.
I found myself at Madison’s, downing drink after drink while a band played live music. I hadn’t been able to stop the tears. The alcohol probably wasn’t making it any better. It was only allowing me to feel every ounce of vulnerability. I wanted to call my parents, but I didn’t want them going after him. Price Daniels didn’t play about me… ever. He would kill Mesani if he knew.
Instead, I called Kendrall. The phone rang a couple of times before he answered. “What’s up, girl? You miss me already?”
“Mm hmm. What’chu doin’?”
He was quiet for a second, then he asked, “You drunk?”
“Naw, nigga. Why?”
“You drunk, Cassie. Where you at?”
“You coming meet me, baby?”
“Yep. You drunk as fuck.”
I frowned, trying to figure out how he realized that. My speech didn’t sound slurred to me at all. Shit! I called him baby. As I struggled with what I wanted to say, he said, “You ain’t gotta tell me. We share locations, remember? I’m on my way. I can’t have you fucking up that G-Wagon or that pretty ass face. Stay put.”
He ended the call, and I noticed my nipples were hard as hell. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to calm my nerves, then opened them and downed the rest of my lemon drop. When the waitress appeared, she asked me if I wanted anything else. Since Kendrall was coming to get me, I supposed I could get another drink. I got another lemon drop and started to groove to the music. I didn’t know what the hell they were playing, but that didn’t matter.
By the time she came back with my drink, I saw Kendrall approaching my table. That was fast as shit. “Damn, did you fly here?”
He slowly shook his head and sat across from me. “I was going to meet Jacob at The Park on Calder when you called. I came through Sour Lake because I had to go to the feed store. You caught me right when I was crossing Major Drive. So I was right there. Na, why you in here getting fucked up?”
I downed my drink like it was a shot as he stared at me. “We’ll talk about that outside.”
I quickly asked for one more as the waitress was passing and told her to close my tab afterward. Giving my attention back to Kendrall, I said, “You look good as hell. Who were you going to meet besides Jacob?”
He chuckled. “Shiiid, apparently you. But I don’t go nowhere half stepping; you know that shit. I could have met my future.”
I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit.”
He frowned slightly. “Why you say that?”
“Because you want me to be your future. Until you can let go of that shit, no one you meet will be good enough.”
The waitress set the drink in front of me, along with the receipt for me to sign, and wished us a good night. I downed that drink and signed the ticket then tried to stand from the chair. Kendrall stood as well, making his way to me before I busted my ass on this floor. I bit my bottom lip as I stared at him, but he quickly looked away and helped me out of Madison’s to his truck.
After helping me inside, he walked around to the driver’s side and got in, immediately turning to me. He glanced at my cleavage then asked, “What’s up with you? Where I’m taking you?”
“Take me to your house, and I’ll tell you.”
“Cassie, don’t fucking play. I know you drunk, but I’m the type of nigga to take advantage of that shit.”
I could no longer hold in my cries at that point. I was fucking with him because of how I was feeling. I was out at a bar, with my shirt unbuttoned halfway down, to show off my amazing cleavage and to seek attention from the opposite sex. I didn’t need validating, but I supposed at this moment, I did. I needed to know that I wasn’t lacking.
“Fuck. Baby girl, what’s wrong?”
“I walked in on him… fucking somebody else. How could he fucking do that to me?”
He sat back in his seat and started his pickup. I sucked up my emotions before I threw up all over his truck. I didn’t need to start feeling sick, adding to my grief. As he drove, I glanced over at him. “Kendrall, what makes a man cheat?”
“Immaturity, baby. Greed, and the ease of it. Some niggas just wanna do shit ’cause they can.”
“It’s fucking stupid.”
“It is.”
“What is it I’m lacking, though? You think maybe I wasn’t giving him everything he wanted? Am I not enough?”
He bit his bottom lip as he drove, but he didn’t answer me. We remained quiet all the way to country ass Nome, with me occasionally wiping tears. I was pretty sure my makeup was smeared all over my face. I not only felt like a clown, but I probably looked like one too.
After pulling into his garage, he got out and walked around to help me out. I’d come to his house one day last week, so I was somewhat familiar with just how beautiful it was. The outdoor and indoor balconies were the most amazing part to me. I always liked balconies. Instead of letting me walk, Kendrall lifted me in his arms, cradling me. I laid my head against him, letting him show me tenderness… something I was desperately craving right now.
Once inside, he locked the door then went to his oversized couch. After laying me on it, he said, “Don’t worry about shit. You ain’t lacking a muthafucking thing. I’m gon’ show you just how enough you are.”
A shiver went through my body at the possibilities. He walked away, and I watched him until I could no longer see him. What in the fuck am I doing? I shouldn’t even be here. I was just thinking that I needed to pull away from Kendrall. Was I going to hear Mesani out? Was I going to allow him to explain, or were we done? I needed to figure out the answers to all those questions before I allowed this to go where I thought it was headed.
When Kendrall came back, he was shirtless, and I was in fucking awe. His light brown skin was addicting. He only adorned a couple of small tattoos, but he had a plethora of bulges and ripples. Those abs probably led to the strongest muscle of them all. My eyes fluttered shut as he knelt in front of me.
“Open your eyes, Cassie. Come take a shower. I need to get you cleaned up, baby.”
I frowned slightly, but I allowed him to help me from the couch. He led me to his bedroom, and my lips parted slightly. Everything about it said master suite. I didn’t have time to admire it before he pulled me to the bathroom. He turned to me and finished unbuttoning my shirt.
“Kendrall, I can’t do this.”
“Why not? I was respecting your relationship because of you. I don’t give a fuck about that nigga, never have. Let me give you what you in need of right now. I ain’t asking you to make no decisions. Just relax and let shit happen.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I allowed my shirt to fall off my shoulders to the floor. When I felt him unfasten my bra, I opened my eyes. He slid his fingers over my hard nipples then lowered his head and sucked them in his mouth. I grabbed ahold of his hair, threatening to fuck up his twists.
“Oooooh, shit.”
He slid his hands over my ass then released my nipple and pulled my pants and underwear off. “You fine as shit, baby. Damn.”
He pulled off his pants and drawers and my eyes zeroed in on that beautiful ass dick that bounced out of them. This man’s body was a fucking masterpiece… all six feet of it. He immediately picked me up and lowered me on his dick. There was no preparation, no foreplay, no talking. “Yeah, shit,” he voiced.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I let his dick validate me… make me feel like I was the total package. I knew this was temporary and that I would probably sink all over again tomorrow, but having what I’d always wanted, even if only for tonight, felt like a dream. He lowered me up and down as my pussy unleashed its satisfaction all over him.
“Fuck, Cassie. This gon’ be my pussy. You know that, right? I don’t give a fuck what you say. This shit belong to me… whenever I want it. You hear me?”
I remained engrossed in the moment, but I whispered out, “Yes.”
“Naw. Say that shit where I can hear it, Cassie. Fuck!”
“Yeeeesssss, Kendrall. Yeeeeeess.”
“Yeah, baby. That’s it. Let this dick take you down, because this some good pussy.”
Kendrall grabbed my hand as he walked to the vanity. He lowered me to it, continuing to fuck me, and yanked that ring off my finger and dropped that shit to the floor. “Fuck him. You don’t need that nigga. I got’chu.”
I grabbed his twists and held on for dear life, hoping I would be able to live with myself in the morning.