21
“Soho it’s time for you to go,”
I said kicking his feet off my couch.
He waved me off, “Whatever Mayne. I decided I was going back anyway. Yo ass be bullshitting,”
he mumbled.
As he rose from the couch, a knock on my door sent both our heads flying in that direction. I headed over and opened the door. When I saw Zeus standing there, I didn’t know whether to kiss him or be afraid. He glanced at me, then behind me. “What the fuck is this?”
he pointed.
“Oh shit, what’s up Zu!”
I heard Soho yell out sounding like a fucking fan.
Zeus looked at me and something flickered in his eyes, causing me to panic. “Zeus—”
He brushed past me, rushing over to Soho, punching him in his face.
Whap! Whap!
“I told yo ass Sasha!”
he yelled.
I ran up behind him, “Zeus listen to me, stop!”
I shouted.
Zeus wasn’t hearing me, and Soho wasn’t backing down as they tussled all over my living room. They went from pounding on each other to Zeus picking him up and slamming him on the ground. It was like watching WWF in person. Zeus pulled his gun from behind his back, cocking it back, sticking it in Soho’s mouth. I leaned down, “Zeus, baby, listen to me he’s from my crew. Don’t shoot him goddamnit!”
Soho didn’t even flinch as he lay there with a barrel of a gun in his mouth. Zeus hand shook and his jaws clinched. He eased his head my way. “What would you do if I pulled this fucking trigger huh? If I blew the nigga brains out? Sasha, I told you I’m not the nigga to play with. I came here to hear you out, but honestly, I don’t give a fuck what you got to say. Take yo ass back to Toussaint!”
He snatched the gun from Soho’s mouth and stood, heading for the door. I rushed behind him because things were happening so fast my brain couldn’t catch up. “Don’t leave!”
I shouted.
He stopped at the door, then turned to me. “Why?”
I wanted to say it, but my mouth wouldn’t move. Love had never been kind to me. Love was like a vice grip that strangled you and I didn’t want to be suffocated. I had so many what-ifs running through my head that one minute became too long and Zeus walked out the door, leaving me standing there.
The sound of Soho talking shit only made things worse. “I knew you were fucking with one of them niggas,”
he gritted.
“Soho please!”
I shouted as I rushed out the door, “Zeus! I love you!”
He stopped and turned to me, “Sasha, you don’t love me because if this were true you would have said it when I asked why. Miss me.”
“I want to race!”
I blurted out. “Remember how we first met?”
I told him.
I rushed down the steps toward him. “I want to race, right here, right now. If you win, I will let you walk away. I fucking swear. If I win, I want your heart. I want the Zeus I’ve learned to love. If it means me and my crew have to be here, then so be it.”
He glanced around, “I don’t—”
“Zeus please! I know you been hurt before, but I also know you feel the same way I do, and just as it is hard for you to express how you feel it’s the same way with me. Now, let’s race, please.”
“Fine!”
I turned to Soho, who stood on the balcony staring at us. “Throw me my keys,”
I told him.
He turned to go inside and came down the steps a few minutes later with my keys. “Sash show that nigga how you ride!”
Soho yelled while grilling Zeus.
I took one last look at Zeus as I got on my bike. I didn’t even bother to get a helmet because right now I wanted my man, and I knew with Zeus you had to speak his language, and this was like talking to him. He tossed his helmet on the concrete. We both revved up our bikes creating love sounds that only he and I knew how to speak. Zeus’s eyes rested on mine as the smoke built up behind us.
I love you. I mouthed.
“Sasha, let’s ride!”
he yelled and took off.
Shit! The smoke from his bike fizzled around me as I took off behind him. My heart was racing as I tried catching up. I quickly gear-switched, swerving my bike coming up on the side of him. He and I rode side by side, going ninety miles an hour. He was fast, but I wasn’t letting up. He was mine. The man I stumbled upon and fell in love with. Zeus made a clean swerve leaning his bike damn near to the ground turning around head back the other way. Shit! I was panicking. I couldn’t let him win. What if he was my person, and I let him slip away? What if, what if, what if?
Tears welled in my eyes as I tried catching up. I dipped my bike from side to side as I rode in and out of the pedestrians that were walking on the sidewalk. I was desperate. I needed to win this fucking race. Zeus popped a wheely, and when he came down, I was back on the side of him. The wind sent my tears flying backwards as my chest was heaving in and out. I took another look at him, but he wouldn’t fucking look at me. No reassurance that he wouldn’t walk away from what we had. I gear-switched one last time as I had now sped ahead of him. I did a wheely, placing my feet on the seat, then came down to Zeus now, looking at me with surprised eyes.
I could see Soho not too far away, so I sped up, but no sight of Zeus being nearby. Then I heard his bike approaching and my fucking heart felt like it was ripped out of my chest. He zoomed past me, and swerved his bike building smoke as he hit his brakes, stopping only an inch from Soho. Zeus had won the fucking race. When I reached them, I was doing my best to keep my feelings in check, but when he went to pick up his helmet, I broke.
Tears poured out of me. I walked past Soho to the steps. “Damn Sash, you crying mayne?”
I didn’t care to even talk to Soho right now. As I headed up the steps, I felt my body being lifted in the air and carried up. “Fuck is you crying for?”
I heard Zeus voice.
A giggle fell from my lips, “I-I thought I lost you.”
Zeus kissed my lips, “Nah baby you lost the race not me.”
He carried me inside the house and to the back, closing the door behind him. He put me down and removed my shirt from my body. “I want to do something different. I want to make love to you, can I do that?”
“You love me?”
“You knew that already Freckles. Big Zu loves you. I, Zeus love you Sasha,”
he said sweetly.
He pulled his shirt over his head then scooped me in his arms, gently placing me on the bed. He eased my pants off, then my panties. After he came out of his pants, he took each one of my legs, gripping my heels spreading me open wide. “I’ve never done no shit like this before,”
he whispered.
“Me either.”
He leaned forward, and for the first time when he kissed me, sparks flew. This kiss was different, so passionate. My soul felt like it had been lifted. Tears trickled down the side of my face. Although I hadn’t shared it with Zeus, the little girl whom so many men had raped and used felt something; she felt loved.
When he entered me, my mouth fell open, and my legs closed around him. I closed my eyes as I allowed him to lead me. “Ah!”
I cried literally.
His hips moved slowly, and my stomach sank. “Freckles,”
He called out.
My eyes slowly open. “You are my Zu-Topia. My place of peace and for that I love you,”
he said to me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing him closer to me, kissing him, letting our tongues fall in love with each other.
“Baby you feel so good to me,”
he moaned.
He lifted, gripping the heels of my feet with both hands. His eyes lowered as he watched me while he made love to me.
In and out.
I love you. He mouthed.
In and out.
I love you too. I mouthed back.
In and out.
His head dropped and he shook it side to side, “Pussy is so so good,”
he grumbled.
In and out.
“Big Zu feels good.”
He ran his hand down my legs cuffing my ass, picking me up, allowing my legs to rest on his shoulders until he swung me. “Yes!”
I screamed.
I sucked up my bottom lip. “Zeus!”
I screamed.
“Yes, baby?”
he asked, out of breath.
My head fell back, “I’m about to—”
Suddenly, he and I howled like two animals from the jungle during mating season. Zeus was my person, and I was happy. Not only did I, but he also let our guards down.