White Lines (39 page)

Dorian came home and smelled the scent of breakfast wafting through his home. Sunny was cooking! He walked into the kitchen, and saw a sight for sore
eyes.
Sunny was as naked as a newborn child, except for a white apron tied around her slim waist. She looked delicious. He smiled wide, and took the hood off his head. Dorian walked over and covered her mouth with his, as the turkey bacon sizzled on the stove. He tossed her small body up on the countertop, and put himself between her legs.

He didn’t enter her immediately. Instead, he rubbed his dick against her warmness, and teased her as he kissed her. Sunny sucked on Dorian’s lips as she kissed him, and then she felt him inside of her. He held her bare ass in the palms of his hands, and stroked her with such perfection that she called out his name. Sunny moved with him, and they were one, as they breathed heavily, thrusting. Dorian sucked her neck, ever so softly, and held her so perfectly. She loved the way he handled her, and he loved the way she responded to him. Dorian didn’t stop until the last bit of his seed was spent. He stared into her face, still standing between her legs, as she sat atop the counter. Then he kissed her again, softly. Sunny took Dorian’s face in her delicate hands.

“I’m pregnant again.”

Dorian smiled from ear to ear. But he could hear the fear in her voice. He kissed her lips, long and firm. He took off the apron tied around her nude body, and he kissed her belly. It was flat against his face, and he kissed it again for good measure. He looked at her abs, wondering how small his child was at that moment, loving the fact that his seed was growing inside of her womb.

“Hold tight, little one,” he said to his unborn child. “I want to meet you in nine months. I want to see your beautiful mother holding you in her arms. So be strong.” He stood back up, and faced Sunny. She threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly to her. She kissed his face, his neck, and hugged him, elatedly crying. She had never been happier in all her life.

Sunny stayed drug free. She was adamant that this baby would live. This one would survive. She did everything right, getting the proper rest and eating the proper food. She took all the vitamins, went to every appointment, and prayed every single day. Sunny’s crazy lifestyle was replaced by a calm one, and Dorian was at home with her every night, happily awaiting the completion of their family.

Jada, meanwhile, was at a crossroads. She no longer had what Sunny stole from Dorian to get her high. She had to find her own cocaine. She had a serious habit by now, and an expensive one, but no money. So now
she had a problem. She had never listened to Sunny and saved for a rainy day, though this wasn’t the kind of rainy day Sunny had been talking about. Besides, anyone she bought it from would surely tell Born, and then Jada’s secret would be exposed. She had no choice. She started stealing from Born.

She knew that he kept meticulous count of the drugs he kept at home. He still counted and recounted his money and his drugs before going to sleep at night. After dealing with an addict all his life—his father—he knew that the temptation never leaves. Born was too smart for her to go that route. She couldn’t take it from him outright. She found another way. Jada stole the keys to Born’s stash house in Park Hill, made a copy for herself, and replaced them without him noticing.

Jada began to head to Park Hill every day. She would park nearby, and wait until she saw the workers leave to make deliveries. Once they were gone, she would go inside and take the drugs she needed. She was careful not to take too many at one time. She didn’t want to set off any alarms. She was now doing the one thing that she had sworn she’d never do. She was stealing from the one man who had ever truly loved her. She kept getting high to get away from the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she came down.

Jada still spoke to Sunny, but not nearly as frequently. Sunny was pregnant, and Jada was happy for her. At least when she was high, she was happy for Sunny. When Jada wasn’t high, she would depress herself by dwelling on the fact that she wasn’t the one starting a family and getting her act together. Sunny was getting help, and Jada was falling deeper into her addiction.

By her fourth month of pregnancy, Sunny was nervous. This was the point at which she usually miscarried. But this time, it was different. She didn’t have any trouble holding this baby, and her doctor told her that everything was pointing toward this being a successful pregnancy. Sunny was relieved, and Dorian was over the moon with excitement and joy. He’d seen a change in her. He knew that having the baby made it easier for her to stay clean. He liked her like this, and Dorian was determined
to spend the rest of his days happy with his princess. He was oblivious to Raquel, silently seething on the sidelines.

Raquel believed that Dorian had tossed her aside because Sunny had forced him to. She didn’t see that it had been her own actions that had made him leave her. It was her own fault that the man no longer had words for her, no more sex for her. Raquel was consumed with jealousy and hatred toward Sunny, and she couldn’t control her rage. She followed Sunny and Dorian when they went out, watched them when they had no idea that she was anywhere around. She was obsessed, and her son, D.J., was caught in the middle of it all.

Whenever he came back from spending time with his father, Raquel questioned him, and dug for information about what was going on in Sunny and Dorian’s home. D.J. loved Sunny, and was excited by the idea of having a little brother or sister. When he spoke about his excitement to his mother, Raquel got so angry that she yelled at him.

“I don’t want to hear that shit!” she screamed.
“Fuck Sunny!
” Her voice bellowed, and D.J. stepped back, afraid. He was only four years old, and he was frightened by seeing his mother unraveling as she was. Raquel threw the brush in her hand, and it shattered the lamp on her living room table. She was enraged by this, and she cursed crazily to herself as she stormed out of the room. Raquel was out of control. “I hate that
bitch\
I fuckin’ hate her!”

D.J. ran to his room and shut the door. He couldn’t wait until his father sent for him, so that he could get away from his mother. Even at his young age, he could tell that she was slowly losing her mind.

On the day of Sunny’s baby shower, during the eighth month of her pregnancy, Sunny was concerned that she looked like a monster. Her perfectly shaped nose had spread out, and now looked like she had Michael Jackson’s original nose on her round face. She felt fat and unattractive, and she couldn’t figure out what to wear to make herself look like the Sunny everyone knew and loved. There wouldn’t be a sexy dress on Sunny at this party! She was in her walk-in closet trying to find a suitable outfit, when Dorian walked in, beaming with pride.

He looked at her soft, light legs as she stood with only a shirt and panties on. Sunny thought she’d lost her sex appeal, but Dorian found her to be more beautiful than ever. He loved her more than he ever had before, and was praying for a girl with Sunny’s face and Dorian’s mentality. He wanted their daughter to be the perfect blend of the two of them.

“What are you doin’ in there?” he asked, smiling, as he watched Sunny dig through all her maternity clothes to find the perfect outfit for the occasion. “No matter what you put on, you’re still gonna be the prettiest girl in the place, so what’s the problem?”

Sunny turned around and smiled. “I don’t want to look fat,” she said, laughing. She rubbed her big round belly for emphasis.

Dorian walked over and kissed her bulging tummy. “You don’t look fat, princess. You look pregnant. And I’m so fuckin’ proud that you’re pregnant with my baby.” He kissed her on her soft lips, and slapped her playfully on the ass.

She smiled. “You say all the right things.”

Dorian pulled out a blue denim maternity dress, and held it up. “Why don’t you wear this? It’s sexy.” It was anything but. Sexy would never be a real term used to describe that dress. He grinned, playfully, and Sunny snatched the dress from him.

“You play too much.” She held it up, and looked at it. “You think I should wear it?” It was a knee-length denim dress that hugged her pregnant belly, and it fell just below her knees. She liked it.

He nodded. “Yup. Put that on, baby. That’s what Daddy wants to see you in today.”

Dorian walked downstairs, leaving Sunny to get dressed. Sunny’s mother, Marisol, along with Jada, Sunny’s friend Olivia, and about four other women from the crew were all downstairs, decorating the house with pastel-colored streamers, balloons, and signs. Olivia laid out favors shaped like baby rattles with soft green ribbons attached. Jada hung a sign over Sunny’s shower chair that said
CONGRATULATIONS
in big lettering. Marisol was in the kitchen with the other women making all sorts of food for the occasion—Spanish and soul food dishes. Dorian felt like an
outcast in a house full of women. He went back upstairs and found Sunny preparing to get into the shower. He snuck up from behind and put his hands on her breasts, startling her.

She spun around, and slapped him, jokingly. “What are you trying to do, scare me to death?”

Dorian silenced her with a kiss, and then scooped her up in his arms and laid her on the bed. She giggled, as he ran to lock their bedroom door, and then began to take his clothes off. “We can’t have sex with my mother right downstairs, Dorian!” Sunny protested weakly, as he undressed her.

He smiled a naughty smile. “Why not? It ain’t like she don’t know that we be doin’ it.”

Sunny giggled. “But she’s here!”

“So?” He kissed her to silence any further protests. Coming up for air at last, he said, “She won’t hear you. I promise.”

Dorian smothered her in kisses, and made love to Sunny slowly. He kissed her from head to toe, and he handled her body so delicately. Never in her life had Sunny felt love like this. She forgot about all the guests arriving downstairs, and which outfit she would wear. She was in harmony with the man she loved, and it was heaven.

When they both lay breathless, staring into each other’s eyes, Dorian shook his head. “I’m a lucky man,” he said. “You know, the first time I saw you I didn’t think you’d even talk to me. You’re so beautiful, and I figured niggas tried to holla at you all the time. So when I stepped to you I was half expecting you to shut me down. But you didn’t. I remember being so happy when I walked away with your phone number. I felt like God was smiling on me. And even with all the problems we’ve had, I still feel like he smiled on me the day that I met you. That day in the mall, I think I was meant to meet you. I was waiting for you, Sunny. This relationship, this baby… it’s all that I need. I’m completely happy now. I really love you.”

Sunny smiled, her cheeks pudgy and cute in her pregnant state. She whispered, “I really love you, too, Dorian.”

He lightly pinched her nose, and grinned. “You better get downstairs
and explain all this to your mother. I’m gonna tell her how you seduced me.”

Sunny swatted at Dorian, and he ducked playfully. He sat up and helped her roll up out of bed. Then she got dressed, while he went downstairs to see who had arrived. The first face he saw was Born’s, and he smiled. He was happy to see him, and greeted him as he came down the stairs.

Born was already chewing. “Yo, they got the fuckin’ arroz con polio up in there, D. That authentic Puerto Rican shit, too. Not that other bullshit Jada be—”

“Keep talking, and you won’t eat at home for months,” Jada remarked snidely, as she walked up on him. She batted her eyelashes. “Wassup, Dorian?”

Dorian laughed at the two of them, and said, “Jada, girl, I know you can burn. I don’t know what your boy over here is talking about.”

Jada chuckled and walked away, scowling at Born. He looked at Dorian and said, with his mouth full of food, “How you gonna sell me out like that?”

Dorian laughed at him, and they followed Jada into the spacious kitchen. Sunny’s mother was still cooking. She cut her eyes at Dorian, and set her lips tightly. Dorian didn’t have to ask what was wrong with her, because it wasn’t long before she spoke her mind. “While you two are up there
getting it on,
and shit, Dorian”—her Nuyorican accent was priceless—“you got people out there waiting to eat. Wash your hands, and bring some of this food out there for everybody.” She rolled her eyes, and grabbed a dish towel. She wound it up, and playfully swatted him on his back.

Dorian tried to mask the grin on his face, until Born said, “Nasty ass!”

Jada, Marisol, and all the other family members moving about the kitchen laughed at Dorian’s expense. Dorian shook his head, and grabbed a platter of fried chicken and brought it out to the living room. He looked around and saw that his two brothers had arrived with their wives. He walked over and greeted them with hugs and smiles. Sunny’s
two brothers had also come, along with her father, Dale, and several of Sunny’s friends. The doorbell was ringing steadily. One of Sunny’s friends greeted guests at the door, and hung up their coats. It was January 1998, and the temperature had plummeted to twenty-eight degrees. The door-check girl hung up one fur, leather, or shearling after another. Dorian knew that this was only the beginning of the onslaught of guests he was expecting. They were going to pour out the world to Dorian, Sunny, and their baby. His happiness was beyond measure. Born followed him, and pulled him to the side.

“Yo, I’m not staying for long, D. I ain’t sitting up in here with all these women with all them presents to open.” Born pointed to the dining room table already loaded with boxes large and small.

Dorian frowned. “You think I’m sitting in here for all that gift opening and shit? Hell no! I’m gonna open up
the crew’s
gifts with her. Now, the rest of that shit? Hell, no. I got the men set up in the basement with the game on. The bar is downstairs, so you know that’s where I’ll be.”

Born thought about the big pool table in Dorian’s basement, and immediately nodded. “Oh, aiight. That’s more like it.”

Sunny came into the living room amid gasps and smiles. Everyone complimented her on how stunning she was. Knowing how vain Sunny was, no one mentioned her spreading nose and her pudgy face. She still looked radiant. Those who were close to her knew that she had struggled to have a child, and they were thrilled for her and Dorian. She had a glow that was unmistakable, and Dorian was all over her. He came up behind Sunny, his hands encircling her wide waistline. He rubbed her stomach, and Sunny smiled happily. Cameras flashed across the room. Everyone began snapping pictures. It was a Kodak moment, for sure.