Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
CASSIE
I thought the competition would be boring. It was the total opposite for me, at least while Kendrall was out there. Seeing how low his horse got to the ground to keep that cow away from the herd was interesting to me. I’d never seen a horse with fancy footwork like that in person. Of course, in the age of TikTok, one could see it all, but in person, it was totally different. It was like I could feel the adrenaline. I knew that had a lot to do with who was competing.
My man was on one. Watching him talk to his horse and the horse obviously executing the way he was supposed to was exciting as hell. When he was done, I left my seat to go find him and hop into his arms. I knew he’d done well, simply by the fist pump he’d done while still in the arena. I didn’t have the slightest clue where I was going, but I had to find him.
When I did, he was just as excited to see me. The way he hugged me tightly and kissed my lips was something I’d never tire of. I’d been loving him a long time, and sometimes, I hated that it took him all this time to see it. Then I would chastise myself for thinking that way, knowing that things happened in their own timing… when they were meant to.
Our excitement went to higher heights when Kendrall won first place. Seeing him at the height of his career meant the world to me, but it also reminded me of how my career could be in jeopardy. I hadn’t heard from Mesani because he’d broken my phone. I had to transfer everything to my new phone, and he didn’t have that number.
As we headed back to Kendrall’s house, his phone rang. He frowned as he looked at the number on his radio screen. “That’s the same number that called me earlier, before the competition. Hello?”
I just knew he was going to make the call private, but he answered through the Bluetooth. When the voice on the other end came through, I nearly stopped breathing. “I know she’s with you, because where else would she be? She can come get her things. I called a realtor about selling the house, unless she wants to buy me out.”
Kendrall glanced at me. “Anything else?”
“It would be nice if I didn’t have to go through you to communicate with her. Tell her to call me so I can have her number.”
“Naw. This way is perfect. Again, anything else?”
“Yeah. I don’t think you should be in the middle of?—”
He ended the call in his face then glanced at me again. “If you want him to have that number, it’s up to you. I don’t mind being the middleman.”
“What do you think I should do? I mean, he could still press charges.”
“You don’t have to kiss his ass. If he wants to press charges, he’s going to do that shit anyway. I’ll be around Nome for an entire month. I have nothing but time, space, and opportunity. I’ll go with you to get your things Monday, if you want. We can hire a moving company, or I can rent a box truck and pay some niggas from around Nome to get your shit out of there.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble, because I know he’s going to say something that will cause you to hand his ass to him.”
He shrugged as I slowly shook my head. This man of mine. He was going to compete at the national championship. There was no way I would allow him to do something to risk not being able to compete. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I love you, Kendrall, and I’m so proud of you.”
“I love you too, baby. You know you mean more to me than that competition, right? I know what I’m risking. There is no way I would ever allow you to be in a position to be disrespected. He can fuck around and find out if he wants to. So are we going Monday?”
I smiled slightly. “Yes.”
He nodded then started making calls. I slowly shook my head as my phone chimed with a text from Ebony. Your man fucked those white boys’ heads up, sis! You could see it on their faces. They were pissed that a nigga swept that money up.
I chuckled. She was right though. Kendrall ‘KJ’ Henderson was the only black man competing today, and he showed his whole ass. I loved every minute of it. I responded to her. Hell yeah, he did. That’s my man, my man, my man.
She sent back the laughing emojis as I smiled. I brought my left hand to the back of his head and massaged his neck then played in his hair. When his skin reddened, he looked at me. “We gon’ have to go home first if you keep that shit up, Cassie.”
I totally ignored what he said and continued massaging him. Taking off my seat belt, I went to my knees and leaned over the console to apply more pressure and to further tease him. Imagine my surprise when that nigga whipped his dick out. I glanced down at it as he asked, “We have an hour before we get home. What’chu gon’ do with it?”
I gave him a small smile and lowered my head to it, licking it at first. When he grabbed my hair and pushed my mouth on it, I nearly threw up on his ass. I liked his aggression in this moment though. I was fucking with him, and he knew it. That was his way of putting a stop to it immediately.
After gathering my composure, I began sucking it slowly, giving him all the technique he could handle while driving. When I hummed on the head of his dick, I felt the truck swerve a bit. Releasing it, I stared up at him. His eyes were on the road, but he said, “I’m cool. Come on.”
I returned to what I was doing, deep throating him as soon as he entered my mouth. The way his dick pulsed in my mouth, I knew he was extremely turned on and was probably about to nut. He brought his hand to my ass, bypassing my skirt and underwear, and fingerfucked me into oblivion. Thankfully, I saw him wash his hands before he got inside the truck after dealing with his horse. My mind would have gone into OCD mode.
I rolled my hips against his fingers and kept sucking his dick, leaving saliva all over the place. When I felt him hike my skirt up over my ass, I released him. The last thing I wanted people to see through the window as they passed us was my yellow ass. I was in for a rude awakening though when this nigga pulled me to him.
He kissed my lips, then grabbed my leg and pulled me across him. I knew I had to be hyperventilating. “KJ! Oh my God! You are going to get us into an accident!”
“Calm yo’ ass down, Cassie,” he said in a nonchalant ass voice.
He lifted me and slid me on his dick. I didn’t know what the fuck he was thinking. I tried to get up, but he held me in place. “You fighting this shit is going to get us into a wreck. Just sit here and take this dick like I’m giving it. Fuck who might see. This about us. Now you gon’ relax or what?”
I took a deep breath, and the minute that I relaxed, I came all over him. My eyes fluttered as they rolled to the back of my head. I leaned over his shoulder to be sure he could see, then began rolling my hips, riding the fuck out of him. I never thought I would ever do something as reckless as this shit. How would my family explain how I died? Oh, she was riding a horse and got into an accident.
I couldn’t even concentrate on that, though. Kendrall’s dick was soothing all my fears, and I nearly forgot where we were. “Fuck, Cassie. Fuck yo’ dick, baby.”
“Ooooh yeeesss, Kendrall. This that championship dick.”
“Hell fucking yeah. This pussy ain’t nothing to shake a stick at either. The fucking best I ever had. I love this shit, Cassie. Fuck!”
He smacked my ass, and it was like that was his command for me to cum again, because I did… all over the fucking place. I knew it was because of the risk. It seemed the riskier the sex was, the more turned on I got. His talking dirty to me didn’t help. His voice wasn’t terribly deep, but it was deep and heavy enough to not even mistake his voice for a female’s.
“Fuck, girl! That shit splashed in my face. Shit! Fuck yo’ dick!”
He rarely yelled during sex. He was always the calm one, saying shit in my ear. He had me on one, and I didn’t know how we would make it for the rest of the ride to Nome. We were definitely going to have to go to his place to clean up before going to his family’s barn. There was no way I could go there with my legs sticking together.
“Cassie, I’m about to nut, baby.”
He bit his bottom lip, and I swore he drew blood as he emptied his seed deep within my walls. I couldn’t even get up right away. My rugged breathing was consuming me. I just wanted to lay on him and go to sleep now.
Finally, I slid my big ass across the console. I heard a slight crack as I did. I cringed then looked over at him. He had a slight smile on his face as he tried to stuff his dick back inside his pants. He was still hard.
“I’m sorry. I may have broken your console.”
“Girl, fuck that console. I thought you were gonna break my dick. That would have been a fucking problem. Damn, that shit was good.”
I chuckled. “It was good as hell. You had me nervous, though. What if you would have lost control of the truck and trailer?”
“Mm hmm. You saw what happened when you relaxed though. Released a fucking tsunami. And secondly, after today, you should know that if I can handle that horse and all the shit he be doing, then I can handle this truck… and that pussy.”
I slowly shook my head as my face heated up. He made me blush all the time. I never felt shy with anyone, but when he complimented me, I felt just that. It was like his words of admiration and encouragement touched my innermost feelings.
“Why you blushing, Cassie? You acting like you don’t know you the shit. You do know that, right?”
“I do, but to hear you say it makes me want to straddle you all over again.”
“Shiiiid, you ain’t said nothing but a word.” He pulled his dick out all over again and said, “Come saddle up, cowgirl.”
The minute we walked in the door, Karima ran to us, jumping in Kendrall’s arms. I smiled as I watched them congratulate each other. They were like six years apart, but I loved how close they always were. When he released her, she smiled at me. “Hey, Cassie!”
I smiled big and hugged her. She was still small in stature, like she was as a kid, so I had to lean over to her. My height of five feet eight inches made me look extremely tall standing next to her. She couldn’t have been much over five feet.
When she released me, she glanced between Kendrall and me. She smiled big then walked away. I looked around the barn and could appreciate the improvements they’d made since the last time I’d been here. Kendrall grabbed my hand, and I thought he was about to escort me to a seat. However, whenever I saw one of his uncles headed our way, I chuckled.
I couldn’t remember his name, but I remembered that he was rude and somewhat mean. When he got close to us, he just stared at Kendrall with a frown on his face. I looked over at him, because this entire moment was awkward to me. Apparently, Kendrall knew what his deal was because he smiled slightly. He extended his hand to him, and said, “I apologize, Uncle Mayor.”
I frowned again, trying to figure out what I missed.
“Uh huh. You ain’t gotta butter my fucking biscuit. That shit got so much butter on it it’s jacking up my blood pressure.”
Kendrall laughed as his uncle pulled him in for a hug. When he released him, he looked over at me. “So this must be the one-hundred-twenty-five-horsepower tractor.”
Kendrall laughed and said, “Unc, this is Cassie. Cassie, this is Uncle Storm.”
He frowned at me. “Cassie as in Price’s daughter?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. How you kept this shit under wraps?” he asked, turning to Kendrall. “I can usually sniff out a bell pepper in a barrel of onions. I must be losing my touch.”
I giggled. He seemed to have loosened up over the years. I didn’t remember him being funny. He grabbed my hand and said, “You grew up to be a beautiful woman. I’m glad you put this nigga out his misery.”
“I was miserable, too, so I’m glad everything worked out.”
“Unc, I’m gonna need you Monday.”
“What time? Jacob and I have business to tend to Monday morning.”
“Just whenever you have time.”
I already knew what he needed him for. He would be perfect to take along. He would be able to distract the hell out of Mesani. He’d probably intimidate him even more. Kendrall was about six two, but his uncle was tall as hell… at least six six, maybe taller.
When they finished talking, Kendrall led me to a table where Christian and Rylan were seated. They stood as we approached, along with another guy. “Cassie, what’s up, girl?” Christian said.
“Hey! Long time no see.”
I hugged him, and he introduced me to his wife, Mya, and their baby, Cadence. I did the same with Rylan. He introduced me to his wife, Angel, and their son, Renzo. Their families were beautiful. When the other guy stood, I squinted as I stared up at him. He looked so familiar.
“Cassie, you remember Jakari, right?”
“Oh, yes! You didn’t come around as much as those two.”
“Yeah, I’m older than them. I didn’t want to be tied down to watching them. Whenever they went to Uncle Kenny’s house, I took the break for what it was.”
He chuckled, and I did too as he hugged me. He introduced me to his wife, Yendi, and their son, JJ. That lil boy was barely still enough to speak. When they defined the word rambunctious in the dictionary, his picture had to be right next to it. I thought we would be sitting with them, but Kendrall pulled me toward another table with his parents, Karima, and his brothers. My family was seated there as well.
I noticed Ebony was seated next to King. She was acting like she was uninterested while he was talking, but I knew on the inside, she was hanging on to his every word. That was something I was never able to do. If I was feeling someone, they knew it. It was hard for me to hide it. Without me even saying so, they could tell, because I either wanted to be around them all the time or I stared at them too long.
With Kendrall, I eventually just asked. We’d already kissed… my very first kiss from a boy. I was so hooked after that. To go cold turkey was hard as hell, especially when my parents were always going out there to hang with Mr. Kenny and Mrs. Keisha.
“The two of you make a gorgeous couple, son. I always thought you would,” Mrs. Keisha said.
I smiled and slightly leaned against Kendrall. He smiled too and said, “Thanks, Ma. You should have knocked me over the head when I was a teenager so I could have seen it back then.”
She chuckled as I slid my hand over his. “I told you, it happened when it was supposed to.”
He leaned over and kissed my lips, and I nearly got lost. I couldn’t and refused to get enough. Someone cleared their throat, and I pulled away from him. It wasn’t like we were tongue kissing or anything. We just tended to get lost in each other. I looked up to see my daddy frowning. My face heated up tremendously until he laughed.
“Y’all look like me and Kendall when she finally quit teasing me.”
She shoulder bumped him as he chuckled. Before I could get caught up in the man next to me, Mr. Kenny said, “Karima and KJ, I need y’all up here.”
I turned in my seat. I had never noticed that he’d gotten up. Lawd have mercy . As Kendrall stood, he grabbed my hand, pulling me from my seat. I was not liking this. I wasn’t used to being the center of attention. My face was probably red, and I was trembling. He squeezed my hand and when we got to the small stage with Mr. Kenny and Karima, KJ squeezed my hand again, trying to soothe my nerves, I supposed.
Mr. Kenny smiled, and he said, “Both my babies did the damn thang today! I’m glad y’all have been supporting them, but I didn’t expect anything different. We’re Hendersons, and that’s what we do.”
“You muthafucking right,” one of Kendrall’s uncles said.
Everybody chuckled. “Milana and Rylan, y’all come up here too.” As they were walking up, he said, “Milana won first place in barrel racing, and Rylan won first in tie-down roping. These people gon’ learn that they can’t fuck with the Hendersons. Carter Legend won first place in bull riding, and Lil Red won first in steer wrestling. They are like family as well. I’m sure Legend and Red had their chests stuck out and were talking plenty of noise.”
The last two he named weren’t here, but the crowd of family applauded like they were. The longer we stood here, the more uncomfortable I got. I could see people staring at me, like they were trying to figure out why I was up here and who I was.
“I would like them all to say something, if possible. I know baby girl has an announcement to make to the family, and I want to believe KJ does too. It doesn’t matter who goes first.”
He stepped away, and Karima timidly went to the mic first as everyone applauded. “Thank y’all for your support, especially my parents, brother, and Aunt Tiffany. My immediate family, for obvious reasons, but Aunt Tiff for giving me the knowledge I possess about riding and the business in general. You poured into me, and I plan to pour into others. I was umm…”
She swallowed hard. “I was offered a position teaching girls how to ride at a private school in Nashville. The contract is for three years. I accepted.”
It was like the crowds’ faces dropped. I didn’t understand what the big deal was, because that was amazing news. However, what she said next made me understand. “I know the Hendersons typically stay in Nome. This move isn’t intended to be permanent, but I have to see what’s out there for me. I love y’all so much.”
The tears were falling down her cheeks, and Kendrall’s hand was trembling. He released my hand and went to his sister, pulling her to him, hugging her tightly. Finally, Mr. Storm stood and clapped for her. Before long, everyone followed suit. Mr. Kenny took Kendrall’s spot, holding Karima in his arms. Kendrall extended his hand to me, and we went to the mic. My nerves were even more on edge.
“Thank y’all for this.” His voice was trembling somewhat. His emotions were at the forefront because of Karima’s announcement. “Karima, I love you, and I’m so proud of you. That’s an esteemed honor. We’re all just in shock that you’re leaving. I know you’ll visit and shit, but it won’t be the same without you being next door. You best believe we’ll be visiting to make sure everything’s on the up and up, and let those people know the Hendersons don’t fuck around.”
“Hell yeah!” one of his aunts said.
Everyone clapped, and when they calmed down, he continued. “This was a big win. This cemented my place to compete in the championship. This wouldn’t be possible without my dad. That man taught me everything he knew about the sport and found me the perfect mean ass horse. I have to thank Mister Zayson for training the fuck out of him too.”
There were a few to agree with him, but when he turned to me and licked his lips, the trembles took over my entire body. “Today, I had even more encouragement. It came from my childhood friend, Cassie. I want y’all to know that we are much more than friends now.”
“No shit,” Mister Storm said.
Kendrall rolled his eyes. “This is my baby, y’all. Mister Price is her father. I know y’all know him because of our business dealings. Welcome Cassie to Nome, and eventually, you’ll be welcoming her to the family. I’m not proposing yet, but I had to put it on your minds. She ain’t going nowhere if I can help it.”
He hugged and kissed me in front of everyone, and it was like they all disappeared. Kendrall Henderson was just the man I wanted. He’d matured into the man I didn’t even know I needed until now. He was right. I wasn’t going anywhere. Nome would be my home, and the Hendersons would be my family.