Candy Licker (23 page)

I
followed him to his building and we weren't even in his apartment good before I knew Knowledge was large. The neighborhood he lived in was funky and live and swarming with all kinds of high-rolling people. His building had one of those doormen who wore a real uniform, and there were fresh flowers and all kinds of pretty plants in the foyer. I figured Knowledge was probably paying just as much to live in a crib in this neighborhood as Hurricane was paying for the spread he had out on Long Island.

The building was tall, and my feet were so swollen I didn't think I could walk up too many stairs.

“You can make it. I only live on the second floor,” Knowledge explained. “Our apartment got set on fire when I was ten, and I had to jump out the window. Heights don't scare me, but I don't trust them either. Anything higher than the second or third floor is usually too high for me.”

“You jumped out a window? Uh-uh,” I said. “I couldn't have done that. I told you heights freak me out.”

He shrugged. “Those flames eating up the skin on my back
gave me a lot of motivation. These days if I'm not on the ground I try to make sure I have a plan B backing me up.”

My feet were past swollen. Pain had crept all up my calves, and even my back was throbbing.

“This is where I rest,” he said, unlocking a door that was a few steps down from the staircase. I stepped inside first and was surprised to find semi-cool air waiting for me.

“Ahh,” I sighed gratefully. “It's cool in here.”

Knowledge closed the door behind me, and I saw we were in a loft.

“Yeah,” he said. “I keep the air conditioner on even when I'm gone. It stayed pretty cool in here since everything was closed up and the blinds were down.”

He pointed at the soft suede couch and invited me to sit down, then went over to the window and pulled up the blinds to let in the last bit of daylight.

“You want something to drink?” he asked.

I shook my head. There had been boo coo vendors out there hustling cold water. They had their coolers set up and had scrounged up some ice from somewhere and were selling regular-sized bottles of water for five dollars each, and guess what? People were so hot and thirsty they were paying that shit! I know Knowledge did. He'd gotten us two bottles each, and now it was time for me to let at least one of them back out.

“Can I use your bathroom?”

He pointed me down the hall and I went in the bathroom and did what I had to do. While I was in there I admired the surroundings. He had good taste and everything about his place was perfect. I wondered if he had hired an interior designer to hook him up or if he'd done it all himself. Nah, I decided after
a minute. He'd hired somebody. This shit was just too laid. It was even tighter than Hurricane's mansion, although on a much smaller scale.

I looked in his linen closet and got a thick towel, then washed my hands with the warm water from the tap. When I got back to the living room Knowledge was lighting candles. A whole shitload of them, and the flickering of the flames and the near blackness that was seeping in from outside capped off the whole atmosphere.

I sat back and closed my eyes for a second, and the next thing I knew he was lifting my sore feet into his hands.

“Here,” he said, lowering them into a pail of warm, soapy water. “It's not as hot as it could be because the hot water tank is off, but it's not too bad.”

I pushed my toes down under that water and I could have hollered it felt so good. But then it got even better. Staring into my eyes, Knowledge got down on his knees and plunged his hands under the soapy water. He started massaging my toes gently. Rubbing them with his fingers and bringing them back to life.

He was even nicer to the rest of my foot. His hands were easy but relaxing as he worked the pain and tension out of my feet and left them feeling light and tingly I moaned out loud as his wet hands crept up my calves. Sliding over my skin and cupping my muscles with tenderness. He took care of my ankles, my shins, even my knees, and by the time the water started getting cold, everything on me was fire-hot.

I closed my eyes as Knowledge lifted my right foot from the bucket and dried it with a soft towel. Then he lowered it gently to the floor and dried my left foot. But this time he didn't
put my foot down. Instead, I felt moist heat on my big toe as he sucked it between his chocolate lips and licked it like it was something sweet.

I moaned as his tongue flickered and darted between each of my toes, sending tiny chills up to my crotch. He licked the entire bottom of my foot, then kissed it like it had a cherry on the top before setting it down on the towel and touching my thigh.

“You wanna take a shower?”

I nodded because I damn sure couldn't talk. A shower would be right on time 'cause after all that good old toe sucking I wanted to see what else old Knowledge could do with his tongue.

“Cool. Everything you need should be in the bathroom. There's not a whole lot of warm water left, but it should be enough to make you feel good.”

I nodded again. I already felt so good I wanted to melt. No man had ever sucked my toes before. I didn't even know that shit could feel so good! I took a candle and hobbled back down the hall to the bathroom, my feet aching and feeling delicious at the same time.

I stripped out of my sweaty clothes and folded them before stepping into the shower. It was one of those big old jammies with frosted doors and a bench inside. Even in the candlelight I could see how expensive the fixtures were. Boo had laid out some cash for this nest.

I turned on the hot water tap and stood under the flow. The water was still pretty warm, but I definitely didn't need to add any cold to the mix. I let the jets stream over my hair, then poured some of his shampoo over my head and rubbed it around. I had just washed my face and rinsed out my hair and
was soaping up my body when I heard the bathroom door open.

I didn't say a word as I saw him enter holding a candle of his own.

I watched him set it down on a shelf and take off his clothes. He stood out there naked for a good minute, and I knew he was thinking hard on what he was about to do. Finally he stepped closer to the shower door and opened it to our naked bodies.

We couldn't take our eyes off each other. I stared at his perfect build. Muscled all the hell up, but naturally. When my eyes dropped down to his manhood I had to reach for the walls to keep myself from falling.

“Goddamn,” I said, staring at that thick, and thank-God
long
black dick. “What took you so long?”

He chuckled and stepped inside with me. “I'm here now, baby. I'm here now.”

K
nowledge took his sweet time with me.

He soaped my body and got to know me, and I gasped as he rubbed bubbles all over my round breasts. He turned me around slowly and took a few moments to admire my ass in silence. “Damn,” he said under his breath. His dick was pressed against my thigh as he used the cloth to drip bubbles down my back. “You sweet for real, baby girl.”

He licked my earlobes and sucked the back of my neck as the candles made orange shapes on the walls and I moaned into the darkness and pressed my hand to my slit. Juice leaked from
me immediately, and I reached back and offered him my fingers, which he licked one by one. “I been wanting this,” he whispered between licks, “so damn bad.”

I turned around and kissed him, tasting myself in his mouth, and he slid two fingers inside of me as he sucked gently on my tongue. Then he left my lips and bent slightly. He got to licking on my breasts like they were lollipops. My pussy was on fire. I grabbed his dick and started stroking him, faster and faster. He took it as long as he could, then he moved my hands and cupped my ass, guiding the head of his dick to my opening and sliding himself up in me with one good long stroke. He pushed as deep as he could go, like he wanted it to come out of my throat, as if he knew that was just what I needed. There was still some of him left outside of me and I tried my best to use my muscles to suck it in.

I reached between our bodies and grabbed the base of his dick. I was amazed at that inch or so that just wouldn't fit inside of me. I was almost in shock. My pussy was filled to the brim and I wanted it to stay that way forever. I vibrated all over that dick. Clenched its thickness with my walls. Savored the sensation as it slammed all the way to the very back of my pussy.

Knowledge reached for my titties and squeezed them. “Strawberry,” he panted, taking my left nipple between his lips and biting it gently. It was rosy and swollen, reaching out toward him. “I changed my mind. My favorite flavor is strawberry.”

I was busy humping and grinding. Getting fucked thoroughly and taking advantage of it. The more he stroked and bit down on my nipple, the hotter and wetter my pussy got. “Don't stop,” I panted rapidly. His tongue circled my nipples
and made my whole body tremble. “Oh …,” I whimpered, grabbing hold of the towel bar. Tears were coming out my eyes he was fucking me so good. “Oh …” I threw my head back and moaned. And then my whole body fell loose. Every muscle in me spasmed and shook as I screamed and then came, pussy squirting, bouncing up and down on those nine thick inches and yanking that towel bar down from the wall.

“I'm not gonna come,” he whispered, and pulled out of me. I came back to reality and felt a little guilty. I'd gotten down with him without any protection, which I knew wasn't smart at all. Good thing he had major dick control. If he'da gotten me pregnant I woulda never been able to blame it on Hurricane. The only way that niggah could put a baby far enough up in somebody's pussy was with a slingshot and some supersperm.

We dried off sharing one towel. Knowledge carried the candles and took me into his room and pulled back the covers on the bed. His area was simple but nice. The furniture was expensive and solid, but there wasn't no whole lot of shit in there just for show. The best thing was, there were no goddamn animals up in his crib, and I smiled to myself as I slid under the sheets and enjoyed the remnants of the thumping he'd put on my pussy.

We lay there talking and kissing under the candlelight, and I realized that this was the very first time I'd lain in a bed with a man and just cuddled. Knowledge held me in his strong arms and it felt so good I didn't know how to act. I couldn't believe how much tenderness was in his hands when he touched me. His fingers were strong and hard-core, but unlike Hurricane's there was no pain in them. No punching, no pinching, no punishment. There was nothing but love in my boo's hands.

I made sure there was love in my hands, too. I touched his back and felt his burned skin, and I wanted to kiss every inch of it away. I liked what Knowledge was doing for me. He was giving up tenderness. Straight tenderness. That was something that Hurricane had never learned. How to be tender with a woman.

I fell asleep with him holding me, and when I opened my eyes again, the candles were still lit but now the radio was playing. That let me know the power was back on, and so did the smell of something cooking that was in the air. I sat up on the side of the bed and tried to figure out what to do. Should I get my wrinkled, funky clothes out the bathroom and style them, or should I walk into the kitchen butt naked and surprise him?

Before I could decide, Knowledge was back. He was carrying a tray, which he set down on the bed beside me.

“Hungry?” he asked. “I ran downstairs and got some grub while you were sleeping.”

I grinned as I looked at the spread. This mug had done made a sistah a fried baloney sandwich on Wonder bread. I lifted the bread and saw he'd put mustard on it and the meat was even split in the middle to keep it from bubbling up.

“Boy!” I laughed and punched his arm. “What you know about a fried baloney sammich?”

He bit into his and shrugged. “I used to fix them all the time when I was little. Shit, we was so poor, baloney was like steak to us. We ate it every day.”

I thought back over my life with Mama. We'd been poor too. I knew hunger like the back of my hand. Wet cornflakes had been my steak.

I found myself sharing that part of my life with Knowledge. Even the parts that were most painful to me. Running drug money Caramel's shooting, and Mama's death. It was like I'd held so much of it so deeply inside of me that it came unstuck from my heart and just poured out my mouth. My words were heavy with guilt and Knowledge picked up on that.

“Don't walk around feeling bad about the past, Candy,” he said, holding my hand. “It'll only hold you back. The best you can do is concentrate on your future. When life fell apart for me, I chased down my future until I caught it. You can do the same thing, baby girl.”

I touched the stump of his missing finger.

“Is that how you got this? Chasing down your future?”

He frowned and shook his head slowly. “Nah, baby girl. I lost my finger running away from my past.”

“Tell me,” I said softly, praying that he would trust me as much as I trusted him. “Tell me what happened to you.”

He looked at me and sighed, and then he did.