Ladies Listen Up (8 page)

L
istening to Jacob sing made me proud. I knew one day my friend would make it big. He was too talented not to. He could play nearly every instrument in the band and could outsing most platinum artists who were on the radio.

He was singing a version of John Legend’s “So High” and making it his own with his signature riffs. My back was against the exposed brick wall near the bar as I sipped on my third glass of Absolut and cranberry juice, appreciating my homey’s gift. What I found amazing was that he could pour his whole soul into his performance even though he was going through some changes.

The spotlight was shining on his head as he stood on the edge of the small stage. Jacob almost imitated Legend’s raspy voice, yet he blended in his own smooth falsetto. As he hit the high notes his voice reverberated off the walls and seemingly penetrated the souls of everyone in the room. He held the mic and the stand as he wound the song down.
“This is how love’s supposed to be,”
he sang expertly.

Women were screaming at him and he stared into their eyes for a second or two at a time before closing his own tight and giving his sexiest soul-singer look. There was now pain all over his face as he pulled the microphone from the stand and dropped down to his knees.
“You got me up sooooooo higggghhhhh, my shooooooezzzzz are scraaaaping the skyyyyyyyy,”
he crooned. It was over as the room erupted in applause.

“Thank you,” he said. “We’re going to take a short break and be right back for the next set.”

He didn’t even see me standing in the back. When he stepped off the stage he was greeted by a girl I thought I recognized. She had a studded bandanna on and two plats on each side. Jacob smiled at her and hugged her. A second later, he looked my direction and headed over.

“What’s up? I didn’t know you were coming out tonight.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I tried calling your ass all day. I even texted you a couple times.”

“Yeah, my battery was dead and I forgot my charger at home.”

“You want a drink?” I offered.

“Not while I’m performing.”

“A Coke or something?”

He nodded at someone who spoke to him. “Yeah, that’ll be cool. With lemon in it.”

A couple more people came by to give him pats on the back for his performance and a couple of women came by hoping that he would be interested, but he showed none. All they got was “Thanks for coming out.”

“So who was that shorty with the bandanna?”

“That’s Kendra. The one I was telling you about.”

“Oh, okay. She sings with that other group, right?”

“Yeah, but tonight she came solo. We’re actually going to do one together during the second set.” Jacob told me that Kendra had shown up after school in his classroom. He’d explained that he had been really down about the whole situation going on with Anna. Of course he left out most of the truth.

He said that she’d walked in on him crying and that she had comforted him with hugs and kisses. She then offered to stay with him after the show. He’d been more than cool with it.

“She’s a cutie. I gotta say I don’t remember her looking anything like that the few times I’ve seen her,” I said, trying not to sound insulting.

“Yeah, I dig her…”

I knew him and knew that there was a
but
. “But…”

He laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the Baltimore versus D.C. thing. You know they have a whole different vibe up in B-more. I may be used to a more…I guess I wanna say…
refined
sistah.”

“So what is she, a ghetto broad?”

He laughed. “Let me go get ready to wrap this set up.” Before he walked away, he asked, with what seemed like concern, “Hey, have you talked to your brother lately?”

“Not since the other night. Why?”

“No, I mean
talked
to him. Really had a conversation. He seemed a little off the other night. Maybe it was me and what I’ve been going through, but he seemed…I don’t know. Just not quite himself.”

“Speaking of that situation—” I began, but he cut me off and kept talking.

“She didn’t come to school today and the kid, Dean, he’s out of
there. I think it’s gonna blow over.” Jacob was more hopeful than convinced, but he put up a good front.

I responded, “That’s good.”

A few moments later and he was back on the stage singing. By the time he finished with the first song, the room was packed again. “Listen up, everyone. There’s someone here tonight who’s a special friend of mine and she’s also a special performer. I would be honored if she’d come up here and share the stage with me to bless you all with a song.”

Jacob looked over and saw Kendra shaking her head no. Then he said, “A round of applause.” When the room erupted he knew that she’d have no choice. She walked toward the stage, and after she climbed up she got her footing together and punched Jacob in the arm. He feigned serious pain and rubbed his arm.

Kendra not only looked cute with the rag on her head, she had a real ghetto booty. She looked as if she belonged up there with Jacob, though he was straitlaced and Kendra had more hood flair. “So what you want to sing? Your choice,” Jacob said.

She took a deep breath and leaned in to whisper in his ear. He immediately smiled and then he turned to the keyboard player and gave him instruction. He and Kendra turned to face each other and the band began to play the music to one of my favorites, “You Don’t Have to Cry.” One couple stood up and began to dance.

Jacob began singing. As usual, the crowd was immediately sucked in to the syrupy sensuality that he gave up. The women and the men were hypnotized by him. Hearing him sing, no one would guess that the brother had a day job. He belonged on the stage and he commanded the attention of anyone who listened. Jacob had
everyone hypnotized with his voice, so much so that it was a complete shock when Kendra broke in at the top of her lungs and stole the song and the show with her verse.

It was as if she was singing for her life or Jacob’s.
“There’s someone here now, who cares about your needs. We’ll make it somehow, ’cause I’ll share your grief.”

The girl was so good that even the women couldn’t hate on her. Everyone stood as she shimmied her body and walked right up into Jacob’s face as she delivered the lyrics. When she finished with the words she grabbed him by the neck and pressed her lips against his. I was shocked to see the two of them kissing onstage like two people in love.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Then, as people began to clap, I turned to my left and saw a sistah come flying in my direction. She’d been shoved right into my arms. She pulled away and looked as if she was ready to lunge at the woman who’d pushed her.

“Bitch, I told you to get the hell out of my way,” the girl who’d done the pushing yelled. “I’m out of here,” she barked, and turned to head toward the exit.

Just then I got a chance to get a look at the girl who’d been shoved as one of her friends walked over to her. I recognized the friend as soon as she walked up. She’d been a bridesmaid at my wedding. We locked eyes momentarily and she turned away from me and focused on her friend, who was wiping the remnants of a spilled drink off of her sweater.

“You all right, girl?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what was up with that crazy little bitch. She
better be glad she rushed the fuck up outta here,” the girl said in a voice that chilled me. “As soon as Jacob kissed that girl onstage the chick started going off, talking about ‘let me by.’”

By the time she finished speaking, I placed my hand on her shoulder to confirm what I’d thought. She turned and my heart skipped a beat as nervousness, excitement, and fear all attacked me at once. All I could do was mumble her name. “Alicia.”

A
nna came back to school after missing three days straight. On the fourth day, Jacob was prepared to confess all to his principal. He figured that Anna was probably sitting at home in her room, without eating or bathing, becoming more unstable with each passing moment. If that were the case, then it was just a matter of time before she let it all out anyway.

When she rolled up into his class on Thursday, his fears were eased by her relaxed attitude. There was nothing out of the ordinary from her. In fact, her appearance was even nicer than usual. Perhaps he was looking closer than he would have normally. For one, Jacob had never noticed the eyeliner she sported, but it looked nice on her and it appeared she had on a touch of mascara. She had even changed her hairstyle. It was braided into plats, very similar to Kendra’s the other night, except Anna had a zigzag part down the middle of hers.

During class, Jacob tried not to make eye contact with her. It was hard because she was seated next to Elise, the new girl, and the two of them kept talking. They’d seemed to hit it off, which Jacob found odd. Anna hadn’t been the best at making new friends, and up until that point, he hadn’t seen Elise speaking much to anyone.

When class was over he heard Anna say, “Wait up, girl. I’ll be right there. I need to ask Mr. Marsh something.”

Already back at his desk trying to act disinterested, Jacob flipped through a catalog. “You look nice today, Mr. Marsh. Those shoes are fly as I don’t know what.”

“Thanks, Anna. You been okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Well rested. That’s why I wanted to ask you if there was any work I needed to make up.”

“No, don’t worry about it. Just the paper due a week from Monday.”

“Oh gawd. Almost forgot about that. I’ll do my best. I haven’t really been able to concentrate much lately, though, so I’m not sure how it’ll turn out.”

“Well, it’s a quarter of your grade, so definitely do your best,” Jacob returned.

Anna had a smirk on her face that Jacob couldn’t really make out. “Yeah, right,” she said as she started to walk off. After a couple steps she turned and said, “Oh, by the way, I saw you singing the other night. You were the bomb. You tore it down, but your girlfriend, man, she was the bomb. And the passion between you two onstage…mmmphh.” She fanned her face.

Jacob’s face showed shock. “What?”

“Yeah, you sounded really hot. You should make a CD or something. I would have stayed longer, but I almost had to go upside some chick’s head. One of your fans was getting a little overheated with your performance and got on my nerves.”

“Oh?” was all he could come up with.

Jacob had never mentioned where his band performed, but it wasn’t like someone who was looking couldn’t find out. Still, he never talked much about No Question at school for this very reason. He didn’t want his colleagues or his students showing up at his performances.

“Anyway, I gotta run, Mr. Marsh,” Anna said, and headed for the door, where Elise was standing. Jacob, tongue in cheek, made a face that showed his discomfort with what he’d heard. If Anna had turned around, she’d have realized what he was feeling, but she didn’t. So instead, Jacob stared her down as she walked off. He noticed the low-rise jeans she was wearing and how they exposed her almond-colored hips. They were on the list of banned items in the dress code. As she swished her ass like a streetwalker Jacob realized that she was definitely fucking with him. It wasn’t working. He had no desire to get involved with her, and even if he’d lusted after her enough to risk everything, which he didn’t, she was too damned scary. A psychotic woman in the making.

When his eyes left her ass, they panned up to see that Elise’s were glued to his. He’d gotten caught peeping and Elise smiled to let him know she’d seen him. Jacob turned away, trying to play the whole situation off. The two girls left giggling and Jacob sat there feeling violated.

He picked up his cell phone.

I couldn’t figure
out why it had taken me so long to figure out the solution. If Kenard dialed my phone, it would say the number was out of service. And there’d be no way for him to link his lady’s night out to me.

This also meant having to give my number out all over again to everyone I wanted to have it, which was a pain, but worth it if I remained anonymous to Kenard. I would also be getting rid of a few pests in the process.

When the phone went off in my pocket I figured it could only be one of a few people. I’d only had the new number for a couple days.

“Whaddup?” I answered.

“Man, you ain’t gonna believe this shit.” Jacob’s voice was a little shaky.

“What?”

“Diego, it’s like you and I have reversed roles. I’m trying to figure out where all this drama is coming from in my life.” Jacob sounded dejected.

“So what happened now?”

“The girl, Anna, finally came back to class today. She was acting completely normal. I studied her for the entire class and it was like nothing ever happened. I mean she certainly didn’t act like someone who’d been raped.”

“That’s a good thing, right? Maybe she tried to pull the same shit that girl pulled with Kobe on your student teacher, and in all actuality gave that ass up willingly after all.”

“Shit, I don’t know, and at this point, that’s not my major concern. On the real, this little broad is stalking me. Guess what she tells me?”

“What?”

“Her ass was at the show the other night. She saw me perform with Kendra onstage. The kiss and everything.”

I was quiet as I thought about it for a moment. Then I responded, “You know, that might be a good thing. If she knows you’re in a relationship, and the fact that Kendra made it look like you two are in a
heated
relationship, then maybe her little hot ass will leave you alone.”

Thinking it over, he said, “Maybe you have a point.”

“Of course, man. You can’t let every little thing she does rattle you,” I shot back. “You see, bruh…this is exactly why I teach the little ones. The high-school kids are crazy.”

“Yeah, well, you keep them little germ-carryin’ rug rats. I’ll get through this.”

“I hope so,” I said, laughing. “Jacob, there is one thing you could always try.”

“What’s that?”

“Talk to the crazy bitch. Just have a heart-to-heart and explain to her where you’re coming from. Don’t tell her that you put Dean up to trying to get with her, just that you think she likes you in an inappropriate way.”

“I don’t know. That shit would be mad awkward.”

“Well, maybe to keep shit from being awkward you could just give her the dick,” I said, and burst out laughing.

“Nigga, you sick. You probably would,” he shot back.

My door opened and one of my kids came into my room. “Didn’t I tell your butt to knock before you come in here?”

“Yes, sir,” the miniature Biggie Smalls look-alike shot back.

“Well go back out and knock.” I put the phone back to my ear. I
heard the kid begin to knock. I let him do that for a minute. “Jacob, I gotta run. We still on for tomorrow night, right?”

“Yeah,” he said. Lee had a friend from church whose sister was getting married, some girl he sang with in the choir. She was having a small gathering for her sister and wanted to get Jacob to come by and sing a couple songs. The bride was a Maxwell fan and she was paying three bills for her sister to hear “Fortunate” and “…Til the Cops Come Knockin’.” I’d convinced him to do it for two hundred. No harm in capitalism. I was something like his agent.

“Cool. After that, we’ll hit Ozio’s or something.” I waved little Biggie to come on in the room.

“All right, then.”

After work I
stopped off and got a haircut, went to the gym for a quick workout, and then headed home. I sat on the couch flipping channels for a while and watching ESPN. I would have done anything to have someone cook me a meal and serve it to me. I was so tired from all the worrying I’d been doing I didn’t feel like getting up to cook. Plus the kids wore me out day in and day out.

I scrolled through my phone, preparing to pull up the number for a Chinese restaurant to order some shrimp lo mein. The first number I saw as I scrolled, however, was Alicia’s. Home, work, cell, mother’s home.

My mind went back to the other night. Seeing her at the club had thrown me for a serious loop. She’d been looking more gorgeous than I recalled, though the first thing I’d noticed was that she’d found the ten pounds that I’d lost in the last couple of months. Stress affected us all differently.

I replayed the scene from the moment I’d recognized her. “Alicia?”

She hadn’t looked surprised to see me, yet she didn’t answer. Her friend had begun to usher her away and I’d reached out to touch her shoulder.

“Alicia…can—”

She had responded with a backhand that caught me by surprise. “Diego, get your fucking hands off me.”

Her anger had been apparent and I had no choice but to back away.

She’d stormed away, not looking back.

I still loved
her, but I knew at that moment she was never coming back. My thoughts of Alicia were interrupted by my phone ringing. I reached for the cordless. “Hello.”

“Hey, stranger,” the voice on the other end said.

“Hey…who’s this?”

“Daphne, damn. It’s been that long, huh?”

“Oh, hey, what’s goin’ on?” Daphne owned a hair salon and used to do my hair when I wore twist. We had ended up going out a couple of times, but when it came down to getting her back to my place, she always had an excuse. She knew I wanted to hit that and I knew she wanted a relationship.

When it became obvious that neither of us was interested in giving the other exactly what they wanted, we fizzled out like a wet match.

“Not much with me. I had tried to catch you on your cell, but it was not in service. My girl told me she saw you out at the Black Caucus last week.”

“Oh yeah, I did see Yvonne. I forgot she worked at your shop.”

“So, what’s good? I heard you didn’t get married.”

That struck a nerve. I wondered if she was being nosy or if she was trying to get back in the picture. “Nope, I didn’t. But, Daphne, I have someone on the other line. I’ma need to call you back.”

“Oh, okay…let me give you my—”

I hung up on her with the quickness.

I ordered my
food and called Erin. I got her voice mail off the break. I was sure that she was on lockdown now that she had her man’s attention. I scrolled down, looking at a few numbers and dialing a few. I got more answering machines and imagined that a few of the women I called were doing the same thing to me that I did half the time—screening their calls.

Then it was clear to me anyway that none of them would have sufficed. I was thinking about Alicia and she hated me. None of them would replace her anyway. The only one who even came close was Erin and she had a man. What I needed was some
strange,
meaning some new pussy.

At eleven, I was in my bed trying to blank my thoughts. I was tired of dealing with the emptiness that had been caused by her absence. Perhaps I could try a relationship and commit to someone. Someone who’d be here with me each night so I wouldn’t have to stretch out in the bed alone. It wasn’t like women hadn’t tried to give me just that, but I’d go running as soon as they were ready to commit. When it came to staying power in relationships, I was majorly deficient.

If the right woman came across my path, things might be differ
ent. She’d have to be cute, smart, funny, and a nice body wouldn’t hurt. I could see me getting along with another teacher, though we’d be broke. I would love it if we liked a lot of the same things, but above all that, she’d have to be a freak in the bedroom. Willing to try almost anything, almost.

Everything else would be a bonus. Maybe she would cook a good meal for me, and when I felt like I was feeling right now, she’d be coming out of the shower, body glistening from oils.

She’d pull the covers back and slide right under the sheets. I’d see those titties hanging and reach for them, grabbing a nipple and pulling on it. I would feel her vagina’s moisture as she slid her body along mine. When she placed her lips on my chest and sucked my nipples, sending a chill up my spine, I’d moan out to her to let her know I loved her touch.

I wouldn’t have to urge her to take me into her mouth. She’d be hungry for it, grabbing the base and making a ring around it with her thumb and her index finger as she began bobbing up and down on it.

My mind began to drift, and a few seconds later I had Vaseline on my hand, jerking up and down my rock-hard dick. My mind shifted into high gear to match my libido, and suddenly my imagination became the movie screen. Reels of kinky, freaked-out memories of bitches gone by were playing.

One wrong turn and I coulda been a porn star. Involuntarily, the faces and distinctive encounters came flooding my mind. Jeanine was my all-time favorite. Her thighs used to tremble when I made her orgasm and her pussy was incredibly good. I used to wait outside her house till three in the morning to see if she was cheating. I could see me on top of her for a while as my dick grew to full atten
tion. Then there was Tonya; met her through a friend. The brown-skinned, double-jointed sistah was worth the ride over to Minnesota Avenue. She wasn’t the cutest girl I’d ever had, but she’d put her legs behind her head like a circus act and take all the dick. Chi Chi was the first girl who sucked me off until I came in her mouth. I always remembered her lying in the bed with me, even though I had flu. The blow jobs were better than chicken soup for the soul.

Keema was the first girl I dominated. The girl was always angry when we hooked up; I used to have to cuss her out and tell her about herself before she’d let me fuck. She got wet when I told her how I was going to bang the shit out of her. I almost took that pussy from her, one freezing February night in a hotel room off Route 30 in Atlantic City. She loved it. The next morning she suggested I make her my wife. I actually thought about marrying her, because the ass was just that good.

Kim used to stop by on her lunch break or on her way home. We met in New Orleans at the Essence Fest. We knew each other twenty minutes before we were kissing on the dance floor, drunk from shots in Razoo’s. I remembered playing in that long pretty hair. She worked so hard at giving me head and she so appreciated the fact that I’d fuck her long and hard, we were reckless. She always wanted me to cum inside of her. I knew she didn’t want a baby, though. She was married.