Ladies Listen Up (9 page)

Tionne, Pam, Shawn, Lupe…all in my hall of fame. I couldn’t shake any of their images. I could hear all of their moans collectively as I stroked.

As the tingle began, I wanted to cum hard. So much that I’d fall right to sleep and wouldn’t have to think about the emptiness.

I thought of Dana, a beautiful caramel sistah. She told me that
she was Dominican, but the bitch was as black as me. When we met she’d been high on E pills, and she loved rolling off it when we fucked. She was slim, with a really small frame and a tight, hot pussy. She always talked about having threesomes and one night we let her sister watch us fuck. I thought about calling her now, but I didn’t want to stop. I heard her asking, “Diego, why…are you…fuggginng…meeee…sssoooo…good, iyyeeee, iyeeee, ahhhh…” My mind had my body convinced that she was right there and that it was her pussy I was wrapping around me and not my hand.

Finally, as my balls tightened up and I felt the rush of sperm about to shoot, my movie went blank and I saw Alicia’s face, her breasts, and her ass as I bent her over the steps. I saw the sweat on her back, and I began to cum. The first jet landed on my thighs, the second on my hands, and the rest poured out.

As I wiped myself off enough to pull my underwear up, Usher’s song “U Got It Bad” came to mind and I admitted that very fact to myself.

I
woke up with a new attitude. The sun came bursting through my windows and I was ready for the day. Today was going to be the first day of the rest of my life. Thinking clichés like that didn’t seem as corny as if I’d actually said them aloud. I jumped out of bed and hit the shower. As the hot water beat down on me I felt as though I was being renewed. Yeah, I’d done plenty wrong and I’d hurt people, but I wasn’t going to let my whole life come to an end because of the stupid decisions I’d made.

As the aroma of the soap went up through my nostrils, I imagined me scrubbing away the old me. The me that had no self-control, the me that thought only of himself. I held out hope for myself and decided that I would make an effort to do, or at least say, something positive each day, something for myself
and
something that was a blessing to someone else.

Thinking these things and believing that I could make these changes, I felt something come over me right then and there. I
climbed out of the shower and got dressed. It was Friday and I decided to dress down. I threw on my favorite black Izod shirt, a pair of Hugo Boss jeans, and my all-black Adidas Samoas.

I grabbed my wallet and a small stack of bills from my dresser. I was thrilled that it was payday and was going to call in a few of them during my lunch break. My house phone rang as I was leaving and I thought about going back to get it, but decided against it. They’d leave a message.

When I jumped in my car and started to back out, my cell rang. It was my brother, Lee. I adjusted my earpiece. “What’s up, big brother?”

“Nothing much. I was just thinking about you this morning. I had you in my prayers. I have a feeling that things are going to start happening for you. I know you’ve been down about how…well, I assume you’ve been hurting over the whole thing with you and Alicia, but rest assured, things will work out.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I must have really been on your mind for you to hit me first thing this morning.”

“Absolutely.”

“I heard the phone ring as I was leaving out the house, but I’m glad you called me, because—”

He cut me off. “Nah, this was my first time calling you. I got you on the first try.”

“Oh?” I wondered, then, who’d called my house at seven-fifteen in the morning.

“Well, anyway. I just want you to stay focused and just look to the future.”

“No doubt.”

He was about to hang up when he caught himself. “Diego, man,
by the way, whatever happened with the situation with the girl…was it Gina? The one that the little hellion said you had pregnant.”

“Oh, well, that…It didn’t pan out. Kristen was making up all of that to stir up shit. My bad, stir up stuff. I think it’s her ex-boyfriend’s kid.” Truthfully, I didn’t know what was up. I had tried reaching Gina a couple times at her job. She worked for Verizon. I called up to her job and they said she’d taken a leave of absence. I drove past her house, but her car was never there. I didn’t bother knocking on the door. Didn’t know who’d be up in that camp.

“That’s good. Because that’s nothing to take lightly.”

“Oh, no doubt,” I replied. “Look, though, I’m almost to work and I need to call and check my messages real quick. I think Com-cast is about to cut my cable off.”

He laughed. “All right, let me know if you need some help, little bro.”

“Thanks, I’m good, though.” Lee was a good brother. Ever since he’d gotten married, he’d changed quite a bit, but it was all good. I chalked it up to him growing up.

I hung up and dialed my answering machine at home as I turned the corner near my job and saw a couple children on their way. They were the ones parents rushed out of the house twenty minutes early, rain or shine, every day. I pressed in my code and the messages began to play. “You have four new messages.” I pulled past the crossing guards and waved. First message, my mother calling. I’d already spoken with her, deleted it. Second message: “Good evening. My name is Vern Saban. I’m calling from Gateway Resorts in Hot Springs, Virginia. We got your—” A time-share…deleted it. I backed into an empty spot. Third message, a hang-up. Fourth message: “Diego, he knows everything…I don’t know how he found
out…For some reason, I think one of my friends…” It was Erin and she sounded panicked. I punched in the button: message dated 7:14
A.M.
today.

“I don’t believe this shit” was all I could mumble out before I heard a crash as the window next to my face was shattered and a brick landed in my lap. I quickly dusted off the shards of glass that were on my cheeks. Stunned, I looked over and there was Kenard, standing, fist balled up, ready to attack.

“Step on out this car, muthafucka. I’ma beat that ass,” he yelled, and then banged his fist on the hood of my BMW. It sounded like he’d dented it. My ride was ten years old, but I still took pride in it. I knew I had to do something to keep him from trashing it.

As I contemplated my options he snapped me out of my thoughts, yelling, “I’ma beat that ass, you bitch nigga. You wanna fuck my girl, huh?”

Disbelief could hardly describe my state at that point. I was almost in shock. I thought to pull off, as my engine was still running. I wasn’t sure if it was anger or self-preservation, but when I saw him step toward my window, leaning forward, with his fist in the air, I slammed my door open in an effort to climb out.

I couldn’t have planned what happened next if I’d tried. As he lunged forward the corner of the door caught him in the forehead and eye and created a gash. His face became a bloody mess on contact. I climbed out of the car in a trancelike manner. I could see a few people in the background, but it felt more like I was watching the drama than participating in it.

“Ohhhh shiiiit,” he yelled over and over, holding his eye. “Motherfucka, I can’t see. I’ma kill you.” He began to moan in agony.

At this point I wanted to get away from him, but he obviously
took my swinging the door as an act of violence. When I moved in his direction, he obviously thought that I was preparing to attack him, so he charged me. All I saw was the blood that he had all over his face and hands and I definitely didn’t want it on me or my clothes, so I sidestepped him and swung my foot, trying to keep him away. My foot happened to catch him in the kidney. He moaned like a wounded bear and fell to the ground. Again, if I had tried to do it on purpose, I wouldn’t have been able to knock his ass down onto the big chunks of glass that he landed on. He began rolling around in agony; glass was stuck to his pants and sticking out of his leg.

The school guidance counselor, who’d seen the beginning of the attack, ran into the building to call the police. In the age since 9/11, the police come quickly for threats on school grounds. Kenard couldn’t have picked a worse place to come for revenge.

Ten minutes later
and he was being hauled to Hyattsville to lockup. Prince George’s County Police had shown up five cars deep. One stayed behind to interview me and the counselor who’d called. I painted Kenard as some psycho jealous boyfriend who’d reacted on ridiculous suspicions.

I headed off to my class and was able to beat the children in. I wasn’t there for more than ten minutes when my principal, Ms. Knight, showed up. “Mr. Christian, can I speak with you for a moment in the hall?”

The school secretary was with her and Ms. Knight ushered her into my room to cover the class for as long as our conversation would take. I cleared my throat once we were in the hall.

“Diego,” she said, “I hope you understand how serious this is. Because I don’t think you do.”

“Well, I, um…”

Ms. Knight’s face showed her tension. She was tight with a capital
T
behind this. At five-six, she wasn’t the biggest woman, but when she became furious she seemed to stand at six-foot-five. “I have a television crew on the way up here and the
Gazette
is all over this. The phone has already started ringing with parents wanting to know if we had to evacuate the building.”

“Evacuate?”

“Yes, evacuate. It’s not every day you see ten police cars racing into the parking lot to start the day.” She was exaggerating, but not by much. “So would you like to tell me the story behind this, because I’m sure I already know.”

“Well, I’m not really sure what this guy’s problem is—”

Shaking her head no, she cut me off. “Let me explain something to you. I’m heading down to make a couple of calls. I am within my legal bounds to have you removed from this school, if your presence is going to put my students in any type of harm’s way. I’d appreciate it if you got your car, with the busted-out window, out of my parking lot, take the rest of today off, and I’ll call you at home on Monday to let you know what’s what.”

“Am I being charged leave for this?”

Her eyes squinted. “I’ll let you know.” With her teeth gritted, she said, “You know you seriously injured that man. I got word that they had to take him to PG Hospital for head trauma. So the police haven’t even gotten a chance to question him. Why don’t you focus on the drama you’ve caused our school today instead of your leave. Grab your things and have a nice day.”

When I reached
the parking lot, I saw the custodian sweeping up the last of the glass. “I swept your car out, too, Mr. Christian.”

“Thanks, Mr. Waverly,” I said as I placed my briefcase in the backseat.

I looked down on the pavement and saw the blood on the ground and it turned my stomach a little.

“Mr. Christian?” Mr. Waverly said as I climbed into my car.

“Yes, sir?”

He moved slowly in front of my window and placed his hands on my roof. He leaned in a bit, and in his gruff voice he said, “Son, I hope you don’t mine me sayin’ this to ya. You need to slow down and get control. All this craziness, it ain’t good for you. It specially ain’t good for someone around kids all the time. You got to set an example.” He stepped back and spread his hands to present my car as Exhibit A. “This right here is the same things they see at home. Fighting and craziness. You better than this, and with a name like Christian, you need to act like it. Those kids look up to you.”

I sat there silent as I listened to the old man speak. He was beginning to strike a nerve, but it was okay, I needed it. “It don’t take a scientist—hell, it don’t even take a science teacher—to figure this out. You been messin’ with that man’s woman. Now you, a nice-looking young man, you need to go out and get your own woman, one that ain’t got no boyfriend, no husband, and slow down. If I was you, I’d get one that ain’t got no babies, but that’s neither here nor there, son. If you keep this up, you won’t make it to…how old is you?…’bout thirty, I suppose.”

I nodded. He went on: “Well, you won’t see thirty-five if you keep this up. Mark my words.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Mr. Waverly.”

“Do or don’t, choice is all yours, but I seen a lot come and a lot go. I’ll say this for sure ’cause I seen it proved true: ‘In his day of fury, a jealous man will show no compassion.’ The Bible says that. Think about it.”

I nodded again and put my car into gear. As I pulled out of the lot I saw a cameraman and a reporter packing up in front of the school. As I drove out the entrance one of them pointed in my direction.

“Four hundred dollars.
That’s how much that shit cost.” I was complaining to Lee as we sat in Ruby Tuesday’s eating lunch. I’d just hung up the phone with my boy Nick from over at Safe-Lite Auto Glass.

“Man, you need to count your blessings. It could have been worse. It could have easily been you in that hospital. God is trying to tell you something.”

“Yeah, that I need a better-paying job. Hell, I’m broke again till payday.”

As we drove to pick up my car I took notice that Lee hadn’t taken off his sunglasses the entire time. “What’s the deal with those dark-ass glasses?”

“Bruh, could you calm down with all the foul language?”

“My bad. I just noticed them things. You look like something out of the eighties.” I laughed. Lee had never been the most fashion
conscious dude, but the shades and the sweater he was wearing were both a little wack.

“Thanks, man.”

He let me
off and I paid for my car with nearly the last of my dough until the next payday. As I drove I tested the window. It worked perfectly. I was really lucky to have gotten it fixed so quickly. I hit the Beltway and headed home. I thought about Kenard and wondered what kind of shape he was in. I decided to call Erin for the fifth time. I’d been pissed with her all day because she hadn’t returned any of my calls.

This time she answered. “Yes.”

“Didn’t you get my calls?”

“Yes.”

“Well, why didn’t you call me back?”

“Because I’ve been at the hospital and then to get a bail bondsman for Kenard.” Her tone was very sharp and biting.

“Why does it sound like you have an attitude with me?”

“No reason…Except maybe you tried to kill him. What was all that about?”

“Kill
him
? Are you crazy? He came to my job—”

“To
talk,
Diego. He just wanted to know if it was true.”

“Talk, my ass. He threw a brick through my window. People saw him. I can’t believe you bought that shit.”

“Well, all I know is he needed nineteen stitches and he has a possible retinal tear. You really messed his eye up. He also was on dialysis until last year. I told you that, and still you kicked him in the kidneys?”

“How the hell was I supposed to remember that?”

“You’re crazy. You need help.”

“You’re the one that’s fucking crazy. This fool comes onto school property to attack me and you are defending him.”

“Yeah, well, my son won’t be coming back to your class or that school.”

“C’mon now, Erin, aren’t you going overboard?” No response. “Hello.” No sound. “Hello?” I put my phone down. “I’ll be damned,” I mumbled.

I didn’t care
what I drank. I just wanted to get a buzz. All I knew at that moment was that I was glad that I’d convinced Jacob to do the bridal shower. The sistah who had put the party together for her sister obviously had money. Her home was laid out. She had at least six thousand square feet in the six-bedroom house. Original paintings and candles burning throughout the place gave it the original eclectic feel that you only seem to see in magazines or in movies. There was one room with nothing but huge throw pillows all over the floor and a smoked-glass coffee table in the center.