Black Butterfly (12 page)

“Daddy, I’m young a
nd I’m enjoying the single life.” I flashed him an innocent smile.

He pinched my cheek. “Aww. My baby girl is all grown up. You and your sisters make
me very proud. Seandra’s at the peak of her career and engaged. Renell’s business is successful.” Daddy stopped talking and looked at me intensely with his deep gray eyes. His next question was even more unexpected. “What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life honey? Your mother’s friend has a fashion school in New York. She was at Seandra’s party. She wants to see some of your sketches.”

I loved to design clothes and had sketches everywhere. I hadn’t done much sketching
lately because Raheem was occupying most of my time. Three months had passed by quickly and we’d seen a New Year come and go. Reco had finally stopped calling and I’d put his ring in one of my jewelry boxes.

“I don’t really know if I want to go to New York yet. I will consider it though daddy.” I really didn’t want to leave Raheem. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was falling in love with him.

My father backed down and I was relieved when he changed the subject. “Your mother’s birthday is in a few weeks and she wants a car. I saw a nice little Porsche that I know she’d love. You want to test drive it for me?” He asked.

A smile spread across my face. “Of course. What color is it?”

“It’s silver with white leather interior. There is also a black one with black leather…”
              “No, mom would love the silver one with the white interior. I can see her right now in her four inch heels and a hot chinchilla.” I smiled at the image. Mrs. Beauvois was a bad bitch and anybody could have black interior. My mother had to stand out.

My father smiled. He did love my mother and wanted to give
her the world. He was too down to earth for her though. No amount of money would ever make him forget his modest upbringing. My mother had been born with riches. “Okay, white interior it is. I will call Victor and set up a time for us to test drive it.”

I got up and dived into the pool
to swim a few laps. I was hungry and decided to eat something before Randy came over. After I jumped out of the pool I kissed my father’s cheek and headed to the kitchen.

“Hi Miss Seantay,” our butler Jacques greeted me. He was a black man who was born and raised in Paris, France.

I smiled. “Hi Jacques. How are you?”

Jacques may have been
a butler, but he was no Mr. Belvedere or Jeffrey. He was very handsome and resembled a young version of Billy Dee Williams. He had chestnut brown skin, wavy hair and light brown eyes. I was surprised that daddy had hired such a young butler, but he’d been with our family for over ten years. He was like an uncle and was very close to my parents.

“When will dinner be ready?” I asked.

“An hour or so, but I can make you a salad for now if you’d like.”

“Okay, may I have a ceasar salad please with lots of croutons? I will be down in about twenty minutes. I have to take a quick shower before Randy gets here.”
             

Jacques nodded. “No problem Miss Seantay.”

I ran up the stairs. “Thank you!” I yelled back to Jacques graciously.

*             *               *

Renell

I’d been feeling a lot more alive than I’d felt in a long time. Something had come over me and his name was Ricky. We’d been seeing a lot of each other lately and things seemed to be getting serious. We hadn’t been on many dates because of our demanding schedules, but we managed to talk on the phone almost every day.

It was almost six o’ clock on a Friday night and I was headed to the spa for a
mani and pedi. Ricky’s plane from his business trip to Dallas would be landing in exactly an hour and a half. We had plans for dinner and then a late night stroll on the beach. If I wanted to take my shoes off I had to have the toes done. Ricky loved my feet. He said that all of my toes were in perfect alignment. I smiled at the mere thought of him. My cell phone rang and the screen displayed his number.

“Hi baby,” I smiled into the ph
one like he could see me.

Hey sexy. How’s my baby doing?
” He asked sounding all sweet.

I felt
flushed all over. “I’m fine. I was just thinking about you. I miss you,” I admitted.

“You do? I guess that’s a good thing since I’m missing you too.”

“How’s your flight?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s nice. I know we’d made plans, but I don’t want to spend the weekend in Miami. I thought it would be better if we spend it in Vegas.”

“Vegas? Tonight?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes. You make me feel like a lucky man, so go with me to Vegas tonight.”

“You are a lucky man and I am a lucky woman.”

“So, are you coming with me or not? You know what? Scratch that. I will not be taking no for an answer.”

I laughed. “Let me think about it.” I was just teasing him. There was nothing else in the world I’d rather be doing at the moment. I just wanted to be with him. I didn’t care where we were.

“Damn Nell. I’ve never been able to wake up
and feel you beside me. I’m not trying to rush you. I just want to be able to kiss you in the middle of the night. I haven’t been able to think about anything else lately. Let me treat you the way you should’ve been treated a long time ago baby.”

I sighed. “Okay. I will go with you to Vegas, but it didn’t take that little speech to convince me. I was going anyway.”

I could tell he was smiling again. “Okay. I will see you soon beautiful.”

We hung up and I was smiling too. It was the same smile I’d been wearing since my second date with Ricky.

*    *    *

Seandra

Three whole months had passed since he’d proposed and Maurice still wasn’t trying to agree on a date for the wedding. I was in Atlanta with him at his sprawling 7.5 million dollar mansion. He was standing over me like I should be impressed by his home.  As if he didn’t know that this was a doll house compared to the home I’d grown up in.

“We have been engaged for over three months Maurice. When are we going to set a date?” I was becoming more and more impatient by the day. I wasn’t trying to get him to marry me tomorrow. Hell, I wanted to be sure that he was clean before we said our vows. It was just time for him to show me some kind of commitment and move the engagement forward.

He looked down at me and shook his head. “Ever since I put that damn ring on your finger you’ve been on my fucking back! I don’t feel like discussing any kind of wedding right now. Not ours, not anybody’s. And that’s that!”

“Well
, you are going to discuss it! Who the fuck do you think you are?  Like every damn thing has to be done on your time. Well I’m getting sick and tired of doing everything when you’re ready. Either we agree on a date or we are through!” I was far passed the point of pissed off with him. Why did he ask me to marry him if he really didn’t want to do it?

“Oh, okay,” he laughed. “Here we go with the fucking ultimatums again. You’re really going to leave me Seandra
? Huh? After all these years your ass is still here. You haven’t left yet. What is it? You’re all strong now? You don’t need me anymore?  So, you just want to throw it all away? Is it that easy for you Seandra?’

“Don’t turn this shit around on me
. Everything that has ever gone wrong in this relationship has been your fault. You cheat and you lie constantly. Have you cheated on me since we’ve been engaged? Tell the truth?” I made eye contact with him, but he looked away from my intense glare. The silence in the room was deafening. Seconds felt like minutes. I could see the sweat beading on the tip of his nose.

“No,” he said. He couldn’t even look at me. That was a
dead giveaway that he was telling a lie like he always did.

Letting out an exasperated breath I asked him another question that I expected him to lie about. “Are you going to give up the cocaine?”

He rubbed the sweat from his face and sighed. “I…”

“And what about the gambling? Are you working on that Maurice? What the fuck are you doing to make sure we even make it to a wedding day? Are you doing what you need to do to keep this together?”

He looked uncomfortable. I knew that was due to the fact that he hated being questioned, or, as he would say ‘interrogated’.

“Seandra, baby, I have everything under control. Trust me okay? Just trust me. Why did you accept my engagement? If you don’t want me as I am why are you still with me? I love you Seandra. I love you more than you’ll ever know. You want to give up on us baby? You really want to leave me because I won’t just hurry up and pick a damn wedding date? I asked you woman, so obviously I want you to be my wife. Don’t pressure me with a time limit Seandra. I love you and that
should be official enough for your ass right now. Vows and a piece of paper don’t change shit.” He cupped my chin in his hand and kissed me. I felt his hands unbutton my shirt to expose my naked breasts.

“I love you,” I said breathlessly. He shushed me and took each of my nipples into his warm mouth one at a time.

“I want to make babies and memories with you. You are going to be my wife and the mother of my children. Let’s just make love for now,” he said lovingly.

I let him undress me and then I undressed him.
Our argument dissolved into our heated make up session. All I felt was pure, unadulterated ecstacy.

*                *             *

Seantay

My workout was over and Randy’s crazy ass had just left. Right after my third shower of the day I heard my phone vibrating on my bed. I glanced at the caller ID before I pressed answer. It was Reba ready to tell me all about her night with this dude named Damir.

“Girl, he’s soooo fucking fine. Believe me when I say the man is beautiful. Trust me,” she said sounding like
she had been running a marathon. Her breathing was raggedy as hell from talking so fast.

“Okay, I trust you. So, tell me all about Damir.” I sat down on my bed and applied Sensai Premiere Body Cream by Kanebo to my skin. It was $400.00 a pop for what
was called “the ultimate body cream”. So far it had been working for me. Raheem constantly told me how soft my skin felt.

“He’s twenty three and he’s a
big time hustler. Of course you know I like them from vanilla to butterscotch, so he’s a redbone. You can have the chocolate. Girl, he’s got a head full of good ass hair. You know, that kind of hair that curls up when it’s wet. Like yours!”

We laughed.

“He is about 6’3 with a nice, muscular build. He looks like he should’ve been a pro basketball player. He picked me up in his burnt orange Hummer girl. I’m going to make him wait for this good pussy though. As much as I wanted to fuck his ass I had to hold out. I never give it up on the first date.” She cleared her throat.

“I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you just say
that you never give it up on the first date?” I teased her.

She laughed. “Well, I don’t anymore. We had a good time girl. Of course he took me out to some expensive Italian restaurant called Vic and Angelo’s Enoteca.  I’m sure your
rich ass has been there before. Anyway the food was defuckinglicious.”

“
Yeah, I’ve been there. So what happened after dinner? I am so surprised that you held out if he’s as fine as you say he is.”

“Girl, fucking some dude on the first night he takes me out has not secured me a
nything. What’s the first thing a man says when you tell him it’s too soon to have sex?” She made her voice deeper. ‘We’re both adults. I won’t judge you.” Her voice returned to normal. “That’s some straight up bull. He does judge you without a doubt. He really wants you to hold out, because that’s what holds his interest. Once he gets it that erases the thrill of the chase.”

My girl was talking like she had it all figured out. “Okay Dr. Reba.
You better talk about it girl.”

She laughed. “So, what’s up with you and Raheem? I think you’re falling for him.”

              “No. I’m just enjoying him. Shit, he’s the flavor of the month…that’s all. Trust me Reba. You know me better than that. Besides, we’re from totally different worlds. It would never work. We both know that it is what it is.”

             
“Okay, whatever you say,” Reba said not sounding convinced.

             
“I am so serious, but I don’t have to prove shit to you,” I said. My best friend knew me better than I knew myself.

             
“Keep on and somebody else is going to snatch his fine ass up,” she warned me.

             
“My phone is beeping. Hold on, it’s Raheem.”

             
“Go ahead and talk to him. Call me later. Oh, Tell Rah I said what’s up.”

             
“Okay girl. Later.”

             
I answered Raheem’s call. “Reba said what’s up.”