At Last (24 page)

“Hey baby.”  I said smiling before kissing him.

He pulled me close and ran his hands all over my body. I was ready for him. When we stopped kissing he spun me around towards the towel rack while placing kisses from my collarbone to my neck, he gripped my body tight and placed his index finger in my love canal.

“Damn baby, you wet as hell.” He whispered in my ear. I let out a moan as I extended my arms to the wall to give myself balance. I knew what was next. With one swift stroke, he entered me from behind. He must’ve really been feeling it because he stood there for a moment motionless.

“You feel so good Keish, damn.”  He said as he pushed himself as deep as he could inside me. I couldn’t help but cry out in ecstasy and he pumped in and out of me gripping my hips tightly.

“How it feel?  ” He whispered in my ear while stroking me and licking my earlobe lightly.

“Oh, it feels so good.  I love it.” I cried out as Cliff continued to grind slowly. I used one of my hands to grab the towel rack and began to bounce up and down on him, milking his manhood within my walls.

“Just like that, baby.” He ordered palming my backside. Soon he let out a low groan and I could feel him explode. He then grabbed me and held me close as the water began to turn lukewarm. He sucked tenderly on my shoulder blade before kissing me on the cheek.

“Come on. Let’s get out before the water get cold.”

“Alright.”
I replied still trying to catch my breath.

After cleaning up we both exited the shower and dried off. He sat on the toilet seat and I sat on his lap facing him. He kissed me on the forehead and patted me on the butt to get up.

“So where we going, Cliffy?”
I asked.

“Just out.”
  He replied smiling.

I put on a black sweater that stopped at my waist. It was fitted and buttoned in the front. I also had on a pair of tight True Religion dark blue jeans.  I then put on my pair of black Donna Karan ankle boots with a tall and skinny heel.

Clifford just looked at me and shook his head, “You take tours in those boots?”

“Why not?”
I asked with a smile.

I put on the pair of diamond hoop earrings Cliff had bought me and grabbed my Dior lip gloss. I looked in the mirror as I painted it on while Cliff watched. I knew he liked watching me put it on.

“Freak.”
I said with a smile puckered my lips.

“So.”
He replied simply before throwing on his white t-shirt, navy blue jeans, his gray hoodie and Knicks baseball cap. He slipped into his gray and white Nike Dunks.

We walked towards the front door and two women walked through it. They looked like night and day. One was light brown with sandy-brown long hair that she wore pulled back into a ponytail and had hazel eyes. She was small at the top, but thick on the bottom and wearing a white t-shirt with light blue jeans with a pair of white Air Force Ones on her feet.

The other woman had a Hershey’s dark chocolate complexion. Her skin was beautiful.  Her eyes were dark brown and her hair was jet black and fell to her shoulders.  She was thin, with a small frame. She was
wearing a fitted black long-sleeve shirt, a short blue jean skirt and a pair of black knee boots.

“Hey, C.J.
I guess you wasn’t gon’ let me know that you was in town.” The light skinned woman said rolling her hazel eyes at him.

“Chill out, Carm.
You knew.  Momma said she told you about dinner last night. You said you
was
busy.”

“So this must be your new friend?”  Carmen said completely disregarding what Cliff had said. I didn’t like her attitude. I was starting to see what Cliff meant in the truck already.

“Yeah this is Keisha. I’ll holla at you.” Cliff said motioning towards the door.

Carmen walked up towards me staring me up and down. I stood there unfazed looking her dead in the eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Carmen.”
I said with the fakest smile I’d ever put on. It was
fake
enough for her to know I wasn’t to be messed with.

She smirked, “Damn C.J, you let her wear cornrows? You used to dog Ing out when she wore ‘em.”

Let me?
I needed to get out of this house soon.

“Yo, shut da fuck up Carmen.” Cliff barked.

“Fuck you, Cliff.  It ain’t like I’m lying.  He used to talk mad shit didn’t
he
, Ing?”  She said looking directly at the other woman.

“He wasn’t that bad.”  She said softly, “He just didn’t like how they looked on me.  Maybe he likes how they look on ol’ girl.”

“Everybody can’t wear everything.  It was a pleasure meeting you both,” I said with a smile before walking towards the car, “I’ll be waiting outside, baby.”

“Aiight.”
  Cliff said.

I stood outside watching the city move. Cars ran up and down the street, people moved up and down the
sidewalk. It was familiar yet very different. I could still hear Clifford and Carmen bickering.

“Why don’t you fuckin’ chill?” Cliff asked.

“I ain’t worried bout that girl. Go and do whatever it is y’all
was
gonna do.” Carmen said.

“Don’t fuck with her while
we
here. I mean that shit.”  He said opening the door.

“Whatever nigga.
Bye!” She said mockingly.

“Fuck outta here.” He said with his back turned to her as he approached me, “Come on.”

I got in the truck and Cliff was visibly upset. He started the truck up and pulled off. I began to rub his knee.

“Yo, I’m sorry ‘bout that.” He finally said.

“You can’t help what she does.”

He didn’t reply. It was silent for a while.

“So what’s up with you and Ing?” I asked staring out of the window.

Cliff sighed before gripping the steering wheel tightly, “Me and Ingrid used to kick it.”

“Y’all had a relationship?” I asked looking for clarification.

“Yeah.”

“How long ago?”

“A while ago.
 
Her
and Carmen are best friends.”

I fell silent. I mean, I felt bad because my emotions were going against what my mind thought. Clifford couldn’t help that he’d had another relationship, but the fact that he didn’t think to ever tell me hurt.

We were riding towards the Brooklyn Bridge when his phone rang.

“What’s poppin’, playboy!?” He said with a smile on his face, “Man I just got in last night…she with me right now, we ‘bout to hit the city up and shit. Aiight, I’ma holla at you, baby.
Yeah, yeah, one.”

“Was that Jay?” I asked.

“Yeah, we gon’ kick later on tonight.”

“That’s good, baby.” I said.

“Baby, I’m sorry I never told you bout me and Ingrid. It was a long time ago. I never meant to make you uncomfortable.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it.” I said still feeling a certain way about things. What was a long time ago for him? How long had they been together? Why’d they break up?

Our first stop was the mall.  We’d been there for nearly three hours.  Cliff was so ready to go, but he hid his feelings.  I dragged him to a dress shop and he waited patiently as I tried on dress after dress.

“What’s takin’ you so long?” I heard from outside of the dressing room. Cliff entered with an annoyed look on his face until he saw me wearing a tight, low cut, short, black dress.

“Cliffy, what you doing in here?”
I asked with a smile.

“I started off tryin to see what’s taking you so long…” He said before chuckling.

“You like it?”  I smiled turning around.

“I like it if I’m around you while you wearin’ it.”

“Whatever.”  I said walking up to him and stroking his face slowly.

“Can I have it, Cliffy?”

“You can have whatever you want, Ma.”

“Thank you.”  I said running up to him in my black lace bra and panties and kissing him on the lips.

“Hurry up.  We got other stops we need to make.” Cliff said before leaving the dressing room.

After Cliff bought me the dress, we left the mall with a ton of bags. The next stop according to him was Central Park.

Now I’m a city girl through and through.  Growing up in Detroit, I was used to city life.  But New York was something on such a grander scale. There were people everywhere with something to do. 
             
Everyone seemed to be in a rush, but I liked the vibe.  Even though Cliff was laid back I could tell that the city was written all over him.

There was so much to do so much to see.  I could really see myself in a place like it.  It was the center of it all. 

And Cliff seemed to be so at ease.  My baby could be so serious at times, but
him
being home really gave me another look into him and I liked it.

In my mind, Central Park was just going to be a trip to the park. Well, it was a park, but it was beautiful.  It was jewel in the midst of so much motion. First we rode on the Central Park Carousel. It was so pretty and for the first time in a long time I felt carefree.

When I’d went to Vegas with Durran I fought it all the way, but in the back of my mind I was waiting for something to happen.  But with Cliff I felt at ease.  He was exposing me to whole other part of his life.  And I could tell that he was having as much fun as I was.

We even went on a carriage ride.  The whole time he kept asking me, “You good baby?” or “You having fun Ma?” It was perfect. Before the tour was over, he took me to the Botanical Gardens, Times Square and to Junior’s for a slice of their famous cheesecake.

“You have fun?”  He asked as we rode through Brooklyn.

“Of course I did.  I had a great time.”

“Good.”  He said glancing at me with a smile.

“Are you going to see your father while we’re here?” I asked.

“Maybe.”

Chapter Nineteen

Once we got back to the house, Chanel asked me if I could braid her hair. Of course I couldn’t turn her down. She sat between my legs while I sat on the loveseat in their living room.

“Thank you so much, Keisha.”

“Girl, no problem.
This is what I do.”

“So how you like it so far?”

“It’s nice.  You and your mom have been so nice to me.  I really appreciate it.”

“It’s easy. You’re a nice girl. You seem good for C.J. But shit, anything is better than Ing’s ass.”

“Oh. We met today.” I said nonchalantly.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Carmen and Ingrid are best friends. They’ve been tight for as long as I can remember.  She’s actually tighter with her than she is with me,” Chanel said with slight resentment. I didn’t reply. I kinda didn’t know how to, “You got a sister right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Y’all close?”

             
Awkward.
I didn’t want to make Chanel feel bad, but I didn’t want to lie, “Yeah, but you know, my dad passed when we were younger, so it was always just our mother and us.”

“I guess so. Our parents got divorced a while back and Carmen took it real hard. She was a Daddy’s girl. 
Me
and C.J had always been closer to my mother though.

After my parents split, C.J became the man of the house. I don’t really speak to my father much nowadays.  If I have a problem or need to talk to someone I call C.J I hate that he lives so far away.”

“He means a lot to you, huh?” I asked.

“I love C.J to death. He’s been there for me when no one else could be,” She explained. I smiled thinking about the conviction Chanel spoke with,
             
“You know, C.J moved to Detroit because of Carmen.”

“Really?”
I asked almost afraid to hear the story.

“Yeah, back in the day Carm used to date this guy named Sean.  They were really serious, but they used to get into fights. It started off with them just arguing and her calling C.J to pick her up, but eventually it got to fist fights.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.
So one night they got into it bad and he really hurt her.  C.J went to pick her up and beat his ass. Sean ended up in the hospital. After that, Carmen moved back home and everything was cool for a while. That was until C.J saw Carmen and Sean out again. He flipped out.”

“What happened after that?”

“C.J had his gun,” Chanel said stopping mid-sentence, “He threatened Sean and told him if he saw them out again, he’d kill him.”

I was in disbelief, “Damn…”

“He told Carmen to come with him, and she just ignored him. She stayed with Sean and acted like nothing had happened.

“Then one day C.J was at a friend’s house with Jay, and some guys ran up on them trying to rob them. C.J had his gun and shot and killed one of them.”