Ladies Listen Up (7 page)

When I finished speaking there were tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

She loved my advice and began to say “thank you” over and over again. “You’re right. In fact, no one’s ever been more right, as far as I’m concerned.” She waved to the waiter. “I want to pay this, please,” she said, waving the small tray with the check when he came over.

“You know, I’ve
never been unfaithful to my husband. Not once since we’ve been married.”

I don’t know why she said it at this point. We’d kissed in the elevator on the way up like two teenagers and now she was lying back on her bed with nothing but her bra on. She hadn’t worn panties with the dress. I didn’t reply because I didn’t know what to say.
Congratulations,
I thought.

My shirt was now off and I slipped out of my pants to reveal my
erection making a tent out of my underwear. “Mmm, wow,” she said. Even in the dark, she could see that I was blessed. “Let me see it.”

I moved toward her and pulled my underwear down. She reached for it and began to caress it. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered. She was still really tipsy. I was drunk, but still strong. My body was used to performing while drunk and I moved closer and pulled her head slightly toward my dick. “Kiss it.”

She looked at me in shock. For a moment I thought I’d gone too far. This woman was classy and professional, and here I was, about to treat her like a whore. I really didn’t have another mode. Either I didn’t know how to make sweet love to a woman or I’d convinced myself long ago that women didn’t really want that. That shit was for the movies.

To my surprise, Jo opened her mouth and took me inside. Her mouth felt good the second she began to suck. When she began to use her tongue on the tip, a shiver went up my spine. I wanted to lie on my back. I said, “Hold up.” Before I could climb on the bed, she stopped me.

“Do you have a condom?”

“Of course,” I said calmly, and reached into my pants and grabbed my wallet. I pulled two Lifestyles out and climbed onto the bed. Jo guided me onto my back and dove right back to feasting on me. I could make out her face in the bit of light that crept in through the curtains. She had gotten sexier as the night’d gone on. Her skin was the color of light chocolate and her short hair felt like silk as I ran my hands across it. Her mouth fit my penis like a glove. Any bigger and I imagined she wouldn’t have been able to fit it inside.

Now she was on her hands and knees. I thought about our evening and all that we’d shared up to this point. How it always led to this.

“You like that?”

“Oh yeah,” I responded. She gripped it tight and flicked her tongue over the tip and then massaged the head with her wet lips. “Don’t stop.”

She didn’t and I began to feel that tingle. I rode it out for a second or twenty. Feeling like I was going to shoot, I pushed her back. “Let me do you.”

“What’s wrong?”

I shook my head while I caught my breath. “Nothing, just not ready for you to make me cum yet.” She smiled. “Take your bra off and get on your back.”

Kissing her stomach, I could taste the sweetness of her skin. The subtle scent of her lotion mixed in with the slight moisture on her belly made me want to lick her more. I caressed her thighs and rubbed the insides of them while I kissed her. Her skin was well cared for, soft like a baby’s. When I got a handful of her breast I was greeted with her thick, rock-hard nipples.

I slid my body down hers and she whispered, “You don’t have to do that.”

I ignored her and planted my lips on her midsection and slid right down into her pussy. “Ohhhh shit, uhh, uhhh,” she panted out. Her body jerked and she arched her back. “Yessss, ahhh yesssss.”

She was really appreciating my art and I began to pull out all my tricks. I took my index finger and began to trace circles along the base of her vagina all the while sucking gently on her clit. When she moaned even louder I stuck that finger inside of her and pressed
against the bottom wall of her pussy to open her up. More sucking and then I slipped two more fingers inside of her. I was surprised at how tight she was. For some reason, I expected a woman over forty to have a looser booty. “Oh, Diego. It feeeels sooo good.”

I pulled her lips slightly with my teeth, and when I had her clit in my grasp I increased the flickering of my tongue. “Oh, bayybeee,” she screamed. “I about to…uhh…I…uhh, uhhh.” She let out one grunt after another as her hands dug into my scalp. Her legs wrapped around my shoulders, locking my face in her lap, and she came all over my face.

She panted heavily as her body recoiled. Fine beads of sweat coated her. I reached for the condoms and slid one on. As I was about to enter her she tensed up. “Diego, I’m not sure…”

I knew where it was headed. She was about to let the guilt overwhelm her. She knew she was wrong and this was the last chance for her to catch herself. If in fact she wasn’t lying about never having committed adultery, she was about to cross a line that she could never return from.

I pretended I didn’t hear her and slammed all nine inches of meat into her. “Owwww, ohhh shit,” she screamed. That was all she wrote. I banged her for thirty minutes straight. The liquor.

I’m good for ten or fifteen minutes on the first round usually, but the cognac had my senses dulled. “I never…I’ve…never been fucked like this,” she said. I had her ass in the air as she rested with her face in the pillow. She came twice and never got dry.

She climbed on top of me and humped me like a woman in heat. She leaned over sucking my nipples while reaching back to massage my balls. She was so horny that I was enjoying the show she put on. “Get on your back again.”

She obliged, and when I entered her she began rubbing her breast with one hand and her pussy with the other. When it seemed as if she was about to have another orgasm, my own excitement took me over the edge and I began to fuck her harder until I tensed up and filled the condom with my sperm.

Atlantic Star’s “Am
I Dreaming?” was now playing on Majic 102.3 as I lay in her bed. She was sleeping soundly next to me. It was surreal. She had pleased me and I had done the same for her, yet I was in her bed now wide-awake, thinking about Alicia and my life.

I left my information on a piece of paper and got dressed. It was almost 4
A.M.
and I didn’t want her to feel awkward when the morning came. Once I made it to my car, I thought about the things I’d said to Jo. Then I wondered if she would actually take my advice, or if all the good I’d set out to do had once again been undone by a fuck.

J
acob waited anxiously as the minutes ticked away at second period. He was halfway hoping Anna wouldn’t show up for class. She was never late for his class; his students knew he didn’t tolerate it. The circumstances were a little different today, though. It was Monday and the first day of school for students since she’d shown up at his door after the incident. At a quarter to ten he thought,
Maybe she isn’t coming
. Then, as he dimmed the lights and prepared to put in a videotape on music from the Harlem Renaissance, the door to his room opened.

Jacob strained his eyes a bit to see who was coming through the door. He breathed deep and prayed that it wasn’t Anna followed by members of the board of education, coming to haul his ass off. He didn’t recognize the girl who entered and cautiously made her way toward his desk with a piece of paper in her hand. She was tall, maybe five-eight, and a redbone. He’d never seen her before, even in
the hallways. She was gorgeous and had a quiet but commanding presence. He would have remembered her.

“Hello, Mr. Marsh?” She had a very low voice for a girl. She almost sounded hoarse.

“Hello,” Jacob said with a nod.

“Um…my name is Elise Jackson. This is my first day here.” Jacob nodded again as he looked at the paper. “I’m in your class. I was also told that you are the head of the marching band.”

“That I do. You play?”

“The piano. I’m also a vocalist, mostly jazz, some R and B. I know that doesn’t help in the marching band. But I also am a choreographer.”

“A choreographer?”

“Yeah, I used to help my old instructors with our band. I just moved out here from Indianapolis.”

“Nap-town. I’ve been out there a time or two, the Black Expo.” Jacob brushed off the subject and then explained quickly the assignment as he reached into his file cabinet and grabbed a syllabus for her.

“Oh yeah, it’s a huge event in Indy, growing every year.” She smiled. “I’d like to get some more information on the band if I could.”

“Okay, we’ll talk a little more later. You can take that seat right there.” Jacob pointed to the empty desk just in front of him.

“Okay, thanks.”

Jacob watched her take a seat. She was wearing a loose pair of jeans that were fashionably ripped and a snug-fitting hooded sweatshirt with
JUICY
written across the chest. As she sat and crossed her legs like a real lady, Jacob tried to ignore how attractive
she was. It was a task he’d grown used to. There were so many attractive and sexy young girls in the school. Silly as they were, there wasn’t much difference physically between them and a grown woman. So, as usual, he took one last glance at this Mya look-alike and made the decision to never again pay any attention to her beauty.

As the tape concluded Jacob instructed the students to write a summary of the career of one of the musicians from the tape. He quickly scribbled five topics on the chalkboard on which they could write. Then he took his seat at his desk and logged onto the Internet to check his e-mails. After he clicked on his in-box he scanned over the subjects. Irritation set in immediately when he saw two e-mails with forwarded messages and then one advertising hot sluts yearning for rough treatment. Then he scrolled to the next one and saw an unfamiliar address: [email protected]. The subject read
Mocha Dreams
. Jacob peeked his head up and looked around the room before clicking the mouse.

Jacob read the
e-mail three times and bit his bottom lip. He began to think that he had really made a mistake letting Anna spend the night. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure that she had written it, but if she hadn’t, then it had come at the most inauspicious of times.

When the bell rang he breathed a sigh of relief as the kids scurried out the door, all except the new girl.

“Mr. Marsh?”

“Yes.”

“When would be a good time for me to speak with you about joining the band?”

Jacob had a whirlwind of emotions going through his mind. He was trying hard not to make eye contact with Elise. Staring into her eyes for some reason reminded him of what he’d done with Anna.

He did his best to look interested solely in what was on his monitor. “I didn’t know you were interested in joining the band. We don’t do any singing. Perhaps you might want to join the chorus. Mrs. Caruso is right up the hall. She’s the—”

“No, I’m not interested in that. I really wanted to be a part of the band. I had a chance to see you perform a couple years back in New Jersey at the Battle of the Bands, and I remember your performance. You guys were great. You came in second to Gatewood out of Houston. The only reason they won was because they had a more advanced step routine.”

Just like that, she had his attention. “Is that so?”

She nodded. Then she said, “Last year, my high school beat them in a similar battle held in the New Orleans Superdome. I choreographed the whole routine, with a little help from my instructor.”
She reached into her shoulder bag. “This is my reel. Check it out at your convenience. If you think I can help a good band get even better, let me know. I’m sure I can help you get your band to do everything that you see on that reel. All I’m looking for is the credit on my résumé.”

Jacob took the DVD from her and placed it on his desk. “I’m impressed. I’ll take a look at it.”

“Okay, great. Let me know when you’ve seen it.” She smiled again and Jacob noticed that she had beautiful eyes, but they had the sleepy look. “Thanks, see you tomorrow.”

Jacob finished the
day without seeing so much as a trace of Anna. As relieved as he was to have been able to avoid her, he couldn’t help but worry about how she was doing. He began to wonder what he should do about the whole thing. Perhaps she had broken down and told her mother, or even worse, the police.

His fears got the best of him and he found himself in the teachers’ lounge dialing the number he had on record for her home. He let the phone ring six times and was about to hang up when a groggy voice answered, “Hello.”

“Hello, um…this is, um…Mr. Marsh, calling from—”

“Hey, Mr. Marsh,” she said in a whisper. “This is me, Anna. What’s up?”

“I was just calling because I didn’t see you today…and—”

“That’s sweet of you to call,” she said, sounding too mature. “Yeah, I was really tired today. Haven’t really been sleeping well the last few nights.”

“So, are you okay? I mean, I know it’s been rough, but is there anything I can do?”

“Funny you should ask. As a matter of fact, there is, but I’m really tired right now, so how about I call you later?”

“Well, you tell me when you’d like me to call you back…” He paused. The line was silent. “Hello…hello,” he repeated. Anna was gone.

He returned to his classroom and gathered his belongings. He couldn’t find his keys and began to search for them frantically. He’d left them on his desk. They’d been there all day and now they were gone. He panicked. Had Anna stolen them? No, she’d been home all day. He’d just spoken with her. He was losing his mind, he thought, behind all of the madness. He sat down and took a deep breath and tried to remember where he could have put them. Just then he looked on the floor by his feet and there they were. He laughed at himself for a moment.

Jacob was puzzled by his own paranoia. He was wondering what he’d gotten himself into. He was thinking that it was time to go to his principal, which would probably get him fired. Then he thought about calling the teachers’ union to get a lawyer through the NEA, but it might turn into a full-scale scandal.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t know what to do. The fear of losing his job and his reputation sent him sinking into a deep depression. As his imagination began to run away with more dire possibilities, he felt a lump in his throat and his eyes began to water. He tried to close his eyes and regain his composure, but it was too much. He began to cry at his desk, softly.

“Excuse me, Mr. Marsh. You okay?”

He looked up and saw her staring at him. He felt like dying.

Lisa came through
my door like the fire department bursting into a burning building. I looked up from my desk. “What?” I asked.

“You got drama.” My look told her I needed her to continue. “Some black motherfucker is down in the principal’s office cussing Ms. Knight out. He’s screaming that you’ve been fucking his wife.”

“Get the fuck outta here. You serious?” I stood up and looked out my window. I could see the parking lot and I looked for a strange car.

“Hell yeah, I’m serious. I think he’s going to kick your ass. Maybe you should leave out the back.”

Now I was nervous as hell. Shit was popping off. It had to be Kenard. I wasn’t afraid of a fight. I didn’t want to lose one at my job, though, and I was afraid of getting killed. I’d played out this whole scene a couple of times over the weekend and still couldn’t calm myself down. “All right, all right. Okay.”

Lisa was just standing there with a wide-eyed expression on her face. “Do you want me to call the police?”

I hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah, um…but if he comes up here before they arrive, that won’t do me any good…” I paused for a second, then I went to my backpack and started digging around. Lisa was shocked when I pulled out a tall can of pepper spray.

“What the hell? What are you doing carrying that shit?”

My breathing was getting labored as my adrenaline began to rush. “For shit like this.”

“Are you serious? That shit is only good if the nigga wants to rape you. What if he has a gun? You gonna Mace his ass before he can get a shot off. You’re fucking nuts. I love you, boo-boo, but I’m
out.” With that, she quickly headed for the door. No sooner had she stepped out of my classroom than she jumped back in. “Oh shit, here he comes.”

Panicking, I said, “Cut the lights off. You go in the bathroom. Hurry up.” I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to her.

She didn’t put up a fuss. I quickly moved behind the door and got ready. I heard the footsteps outside the door and braced myself. Just then my door opened up. I jumped from behind the door, and Mace in hand, I yelled, “Freeze, nigga, or I’ll burn your eyes out.”

“Oh shit,” the custodian yelled out, and put his hands up to cover his face. As I peered into the face of the seventy-year-old man, I heard Lisa in the bathroom dying of laughter.

I looked at her and was fuming mad. I came that close to emptying a can of Halt into the old man’s face and getting myself fired for sure. “Aw, man. Mr. Waverly, I’m sorry to scare you like that. I thought you were someone else.”

“Oh, okay,” he huffed, looking confused.

I patted his shoulder. “Really, I’m so sorry.”

He nodded and took a deep breath. “Mrs. Llamar waved me in. Is she in the bathroom?”

Lisa poked her head out. “Yeah, Mr. W. I just wanted to ask you when you guys were cleaning my carpet so I could move my furniture back against the walls. I didn’t mean to rush you down here.”

“Oh, okeydokey. We’ll get it done this coming weekend.”

“Thank you,” she said. Then she added, “Ignore Mr. Christian. He’s crazy.”

“I see,” the old man said, and headed out the door.

“I ought to kill your ass. You know I almost Maced his old ass.”

She smiled and laughed. “You need help. You really do. Listen, I got to run. But let me ask you: Did you have fun the other night?”

“Oh yeah, it was cool.”

“You disappeared. I heard you went out like the man whore that you are.”

I laughed and thought about the night. I hadn’t heard from Jo, and I figured she was back in New York by now being a devoted wife again. Lisa left and I went back to my desk to finish up work.

It was well past four o’clock and nearly every teacher had left the building, since the kids left at two. We were only required to stay until two forty-five. I usually tried to grade all of my papers from the previous week and have them ready to go home with the kids on Tuesday, so I was used to working a little later on Mondays.

Most Mondays I would meet Jacob for a bite to eat around five before he went to play with his band at a club on U Street. I’d tried calling him five times earlier in the day, but his phone had been turned off.

I put a CD in my computer and turned the volume in my speakers up.
“Tell me what kind of man would treat his woman so cold. Treat you like you’re nothing when you’re worth more than gold.”
I sang the lyrics along with Joe, and as they sank in, I could hear someone singing them to my Alicia. It was so strange. Now that she was gone, and wasn’t coming back, I could truly appreciate her. And deep down inside, I knew I didn’t deserve her, but that didn’t stop the longing or the pain I felt with her absence.

I imagined a conversation between her and me. “Baby, I still love you,” I say.

She gleams at me with her eyes half-closed, letting me know that she doesn’t believe me, and then says, “You don’t know the meaning of love. You’ve never loved anyone. Not even yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have no self-love. If you did, you wouldn’t behave the way you do. You wouldn’t have thrown us away.” With no response to her truth, I sit there looking dumb. “Diego, the only thing you’ve ever loved was your own dick. It’s all you’ve got.”

She’d be right. Even amid all the pain I’d gone through and caused, I still couldn’t stop seeking out more women, more sex. I thought about the temporary escape from the pain I felt when I was with Erin, and the other night with Jonetta. Then I thought about all the women,
all
the time. Even before Alicia. In that moment of clarity, it dawned on me that perhaps on those occasions I’d been trying to escape. I just didn’t realize at the time that the escape had been from myself.