Sugah & Spice (33 page)

That day was just like any other day except that Espresso felt funny dropping Charm off at school. She laughed and talked his ear off as usual, without a care in the world. They went over her spelling words and she aced them all, as usual. She sang him a song, which she always made up, that he always loved.
Singing was something they did together. Espresso remembered when he first heard her sweet little voice, and he heart ached more. That’s why he didn’t sing as much as he did when she was alive. It hurt his heart too much because it was a constant reminder of her.

Charm hugged and kissed him when he walked her into the school
just as she saw her friends. Before they gushed all over him, as most little girls and all grown women did, Charm told him to don’t be late picking her up from school. She was in a play and they had begun practicing the week before, so Espresso knew that the bastard must have been watching the school each day in order to know the daily routine of the kids he targeted that horrific day.
The holidays were fastly approaching and Mrs. Davis, who was also his fifth grade teacher, wanted to make sure the play was a huge success as always. She waved at him that day, smiling. She still looked beautiful, youthful and Espresso remembered smiling back at her like she was his next Christmas gift.

When it was time to leave school, he got stuck in traffic.
He had just started attending the local university.
People were everywhere shop
ping. The city seemed busier that day for some reason
. Espresso tried calling the school on his cell to l
et someone know that he was on
his way, but no answer. He didn’t have Mrs. Davis’s number, so he just prayed that Charm waited in front of the school, with someone until he arrived. But that didn’t happen.
The sick bastard pretended to be his friend, coming to pick her up because he was running late
, well at least that’s what they later discovered
. Charm trusted him
,
and so she
and one of her friends
got into the car with
out a second thought
.
A
lthough th
e
y
had warned her about never talking or going anywhere near strangers
, she must have figured it was okay if the man was a friend of his
.
There had also been two other kids in the car with him so Charm and her friend didn’t hesitate trusting him, they
also
later found
out.

That was the last day any of them would see the two girls alive.
Mi
nutes turned into hours, hours i
nto days and eventually an entire month passed before the two were ever found. The holidays came and went. No one celebrated because the town was saddened by the disappearance of Charm and her
best
friend Madison (Maddie). Those two were always together, inseparable. Espresso and everyone
else was sure that they were together when they turned up missing.
Although they hoped that time would be different, i
t was sad but true.

The other two kids were a few years older than Charm and Maddie and managed to escape
police told them
. Espresso wondered why they hadn’t taken the girls with them, but it didn’t really matter. That couldn’t bring them back. The other two girls told the police that they had been missing from their home, in a different state for four years. They were sisters and when the bastard
picked them up from a street corner
, late one night, he promised to keep them alive if they helped him get other children to come with him. They were afraid f
or
their lives so they did as they were told. Needless to say, several other bodies turned up after Charm and Maddie
. It was also later discovered that the two older girls hadn’t been kidnapped but had been runaways, who wanted to be with the sick son-of-a-bitch.
One turned out to be deeply infatuated with him, and dragged her sister along for the ride. Espresso didn’t have a clue that years later he would meet and fall in love with one of those girls.

The day the news came to them, Espresso was sitting in the living room with his father. The doorbell rang and for some reason, he knew that it was about Charm. When he opened the door and saw the two police officers, he could tell from the looks on their faces that it wasn’t any good news. He broke down and felt his father catch him when he almost fell. That day changed their lives forever. His family
immediately
hated him, blaming him for Charm’s death. Madison’s family tried to embrace him, but that was just too hard. Espresso eventually stopped associating with them. He got tired of all the whispers and stares whenever he went to the store, jogged at the park
, attended classes
or just wanted to leave the house. After attending Charm and Madison’s memorial services, which were held the same day and time, Espresso decided to move far away and start over.
He transferred to
an
other school, out of state in hopes to get his life back.

The person responsible was still on the loose
at the time
, and he wanted to find him before the cops did. He searched high and low, but before Espresso learned of the
news that he had been caught,
he moved away without any intentions of ever looking back.
The man turned out to be a teacher from a nearby school in the area. The other girls were finally returned home, but ended up runaways
again
because they didn’t know any other way to live
, or so he was told
. He wondered what ever happened to the two girls and suddenly thought about Mya and Simone. It couldn’t be, he thought, but they had a mystery about them that could have easily been associated with that horrible experience.

He sent cards to his parents for their birthdays, anniversary, Mother and Father’s Day and Christmas, but never included a return address. The few times he gathered enough courage to call, he hung up a
ft
er hearing either his mother’s or
fathers’
sad voice on the line. It was just too painful.
After reading in the newspaper the identity of the person behind the vicious crime, Espresso lost help in man. If someone whom they all trusted was capable of such wickedness, he didn’t want any part of it.
A teacher, someone he had respected and looked up to. Someone they all had admired and spoke highly of. Espresso wanted to kill him but what good would it do? Charm and all the other innocent children were gone and nothing he or anyone else could do to bring them back.
He closed that chapter out of his life as best he could and tried to move on with his l
ife. With Coffee and Jade being there with him
every step of the way, Espresso didn’t feel so alone. He could always count on Coff and Java
, as they now referred Jade as
. They were his family. Now that Sugah was a part of it, he knew that he had to tell her about Charm and what happened to her. And he would, just not in the moment. It was still too hard to talk about. Espresso wondered when
it
wouldn’t be.

“Hellooooo, earth to So
!
G
et your head out of the clouds, please,” Sugah said. She saw the faraway, deep-thought look on his face wondering what was going on inside his mind, but she didn’t push it. She just wanted to let him know that whatever it was, she was and would always be there for him.

“Oh, sorry Sugah, I was just thinking about something. I wasn’t ignoring you. What’s up?” Espresso collected his thoughts. Taking that painful trip down memory lane was exhausting. He was
mentally drained and ready to go home
,
but couldn’
t bail on Sugah. He felt his stomach growl but didn’t have much of an appetite. Thoughts of Charm and what happened to her had suddenly taken his need for food away. It was too late to turn back now, because they were pulling into the parking lot of Nathan’s, one of his favorite joints in the city.

“So, is this place really that great? Everyone talks about how delicious the food is here. I just hope that I am not let down, because I am starving.”

“Girl, you are gonna love it! I promise. Now c’mon, let’s go meet Moms and Mr. B
, and get our grub
on.”

Espresso looked and sounded like his usual self
.
F
or that Sugah was grateful. She wasn’t used to seeing him look so depressed, defeated, despaired. She wanted to put her arms around him and hug all the pain away, but she couldn’t. He would let her in when he was ready. She checked her lip gloss and they got out of the car. The parking lot was filling up, but there was no wait. They all were delighted of that fact. Usually after church, every restaurant in the city was packed out. They caught up to her mother and Mr. Blakemore, who were giving the number in their party and before any words were exchanged the hostess lead them to their table.

The atmosphere in Nathan’s was cozy, quaint. Sugah found herself relaxed as she followed the hostess to a nicely decorated table just off to the side of the establishment. As they were taking their seats, in walked Coffee, Java, Mocha and Latte, but no Cap. She signaled to them and they walked towards the table. Sugah made all the introductions although most of them had already met at the fashion show
to day before
.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time and just as their drink orders were being brought to the table, up walked Cappuccino, looking debonair in his freshly pressed Ralph Lauren button down shirt, and navy khakis. He greeted each of them and took his seat next to Sugah; Espresso sat on her other side, while Coffee sat right in front of her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of his lips. Oh how she loved the things he could do with those beautiful, succulent, delicious, lips. She crossed her legs under the table to keep the juices from her pussy from soaking the seat cushion. Sugah was like a dog in heat. She was hot, horny and ready to be whorish. “You are making it too obvious. Stop fidgeting and staring that man down, damn!” Espresso whispered, leaning into her ear. “Moms is taking it all in whether you know it or not.”

Sugah felt like a child about to get punished for doing something foolish when she looked over at her mother, who was piercing her face with her eyes.
She couldn’t do anything but put her head down, and take a sip from her water. Sugah couldn’t think straight with Coffee so close to her. There was this insane amount of chemistry between them. She hadn’t felt so close to anyone like that, ever. All she knew was that she liked the feeling and she didn’t want the feeling to ever end. Sugah wanted Coffee to be hers until the end of time.
And if she had anything to do about it, it would become a reality in both their futures.

Coffee smiled seeing just how hot and bothered he was making Sugah. He rubbed her foot slightly with his own underneath the table. She eased her foot into his seat and massaged his dick, soft and gentle. If she didn’t stop soon, he would cum, embarrassing the both of them. Sensing his reaction from the pleasure of her foot movements, Sugah stopped. Coffee tried to compose himself without bringing any attention to what had obviously taken place, but a few people at the table wasn’t as blind as he had hoped. Espresso couldn’t stop snickering.
Those two are a trip, he said to himself, wishing that he was the one getting embarrassed as such. He missed Mya. She always did
things like that to him. She had
even given him head underneath the table just next to theirs once upon a time when they had dinner at Nathan’s years ago. The things that woman knew how to do with her mouth should be illegal or written in a book for all women to learn.
Suddenly he felt eyes on him. When he looked over, Mocha was watching him with a sly grin on her face. His phone beeped indicating a text message. He slid his phone open and read the message: ‘Meet me in the ladies room in five minutes. I want some of that dick’

Espresso nearly choked of the water he had just taken a sip from. His dick was harder than wood. Mocha knew just how to mess his mind up and when he least expected it. He nodded his head up and down to let her know he was game. She excused herself first, and then he told Sugah that he would be right back and if his order came to cover it with his napkin.

Charlotte observed everyone at the table that day.
She saw how her daughter desired a young man
and how he desired her back
. She saw how another young man struggled with his emotio
ns. She saw the look of a woman
who
had
lost
a
child. She saw
another
woman f
i
ght her insecurities to keep it all together.
She saw a woman scorn but
who had
found her way.
She saw two people so horny they thought they were fooling everyone, when they got up and left the table minutes apart.
But the one thing that bothered her was the fact that she saw how someone
among them who
was disgusted with
or by
her daughter. Charlotte kne
w what was going on. H
ow her daughter got involved with her new friends
was still a mystery.
But she
did know one thing and that was, if anyone harmed her child, they would suffer. Having the ability to read people was a blessing and a curse. Her first marriage was ended before it even began by her constant need to tell her husband just how, what, when, and where he should be doing something.