Ladies Listen Up (16 page)

“Saturday after next.”

“Well, I’ll see you then.”

“For sure.”

We headed home
and I was on cloud nine. I’d always wanted to be on the radio. Who hadn’t? Now, thanks to Lanelle hooking me up, I
was headed for some really good exposure. I couldn’t wait to call Jo and tell her. I looked at my watch and thought about dialing her cell, but at midnight on a Friday, it was a tad late.

Back at my house, I took a shower, and as the water was beating down on my head I thought about how things were coming together for me. I’d cleaned up the drama from my life and good things were happening. I was really enjoying the whole Dr. C. thing. People were responding even more incredibly than I’d imagined or hoped. The readers were buying into the whole concept of having a man who was finally telling the truth.

I’d gotten at least fifteen letters from people saying that they’d been reading the magazine in a checkout line and decided to buy it when they stumbled across my column. Jonetta and the people at
Girl Talk
had gotten these letters as well, so it was obvious that they were seeing my value to the magazine.

I walked out of the bathroom butt naked, body glistening from the water. When I looked at Lanelle, who was sitting on the edge of the bed in just her panties and bra, my mind began to drift. It was time. She had to know it.

She reached out for my waist. “You’re still wet.”

“That I am.” My voice was an octave lower than usual. I pulled her up to me and our lips met. She let out a sigh.

“You’re cold,” she said as she tried to pull away.

“Well, warm me up.” I reached for her again. This time I locked my arms around her. My right hand palmed her ass and I squeezed it as if I owned it.

“Diego, I’m not even gonna front on you.”

“What?”

“I want you.”

“Well, I’m here. You can have me.” My lips went down to her neck and then between her breasts.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned. Then she huffed out, “Wait. Wait a second.”

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“It’s just a bad time.”

“Come on, Lanelle. How long you want me to wait?” My voice gave away my frustration, though I hid the disgust.

“It’s not that. I don’t want you to wait anymore, but, baby…I’m on…I’m on my period.”

Like a hot-air balloon being shot with a harpoon, the wind left my body, taking my good feeling. A brother needed some ass. I wanted Lanelle, but if she had left at that moment, I would have dug out every number in my black book. I realized that we weren’t at the level where I could ask her to give me some head for good measure and at least let me get one off. So instead, I climbed into bed and did my best to drift off to sleep.

Before I was totally out, she whispered, “Diego…”

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.”

“I promise you. As soon as I go off my period, I’ll make it up to you.”

I smiled at the thought, but was still a little miffed. “All right, It’s okay, though,” I said, then I threw a little extra on. “It’ll happen when it’s meant to.”

“Exactly.”

After drinking nearly
a whole bottle of Moët in the VIP, Jacob couldn’t find his keys. He couldn’t find them because Elise had taken them out of his pocket. He had been celebrating the great news he’d just gotten. No Question had just been offered a contract. A producer had been in the audience and had come into the lounge to speak to the band’s manager. After he heard the offer and shared it with the band members, they all agreed that it was the chance of a lifetime.

“I can’t believe this,” Jacob said, stumbling and nearly falling down the steps as he tried to exit the club. “I’m finally about to make it.”

“You’re not going to make it anywhere if you don’t take it easy. You are drunk, Mr. Marsh. Matter of fact, you’re pissy drunk.”

“Nooooooooo,” he said. “Um not.” He was trying his best to get his walk together as he headed up the sidewalk toward the direction he assumed his car was in.

When they stopped in front of Elise’s car, she opened the door for him. Jacob climbed in. They had pulled off before he thought to say, “Wait. My car. I drove here…I think.”

“Yeah, you did. We’ll come back and get your car tomorrow. I didn’t want you driving home drunk.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry. If you want, your friend Diego can bring you down to pick up your car. The promoter asked the club owner about it and he said that your car will be fine where it’s parked.”

“Okay. So do you remember how to get to my house?”

“I believe so. If I get stuck I’ll ask.”

Elise turned on the CD player. As she looked over at Jacob she began to sing Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together.” Jacob drifted off to sleep and never stirred as she cruised down New York Avenue, into Maryland, and onto the BW Parkway. Instead of waking him, she made a stop at a 7-Eleven and then she drove him straight to her apartment.

Jacob awoke, disoriented. “Where are we?”

“Come on,” she said, helping him out of the car. She handed him a container of coffee she’d bought at the 7-Eleven. “Careful with that. It’s hot.”

Jacob followed her up the steps to her door and walked in behind her. He was still tipsy but not too much to realize that he was in the apartment of one of his students. She turned on the kitchen light and it was just bright enough for him to make his way to the couch. “Put that on a coaster. I stopped off and got it for you,” she shouted. She walked back into the bedroom and came out a moment later with two aspirin in her hand.

She handed him a small Dixie cup of water and the two pills. “Take these before you sip the coffee,” she said.

Then she grabbed a lighter and went to the huge candle in the corner of the room. She lit three candles in all, and in a matter of moments the room had a mixture of smells, cinnamon being the strongest. Then she hit the remote and her stereo came on.

Jacob sat back and looked at a picture on the table. “Is that you?” he asked.

“No, that’s my mom when she was a kid. She was only fourteen in that picture, believe it or not.”

“She looks older than that here. Or I should say she looks more mature, not old at all. She was beautiful.”

“Yeah, thanks. Well, she grew up fast. Had to. A lot like I did. In that picture, she was wearing her work uniform. I think she was working for the city of Baltimore back then.”

Jacob sipped his coffee and involuntarily began to bob his head to the music playing in the background. He couldn’t help but sing to any song he knew the words to and he began to sing. “What in the world do you know about Rose Royce, young lady?”

“I know a little something.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, you could say I have an old soul.”

He nodded. “Well, show me what you know.”

Elise smiled. “You sure you ready for that?”

Jacob got a little uncomfortable with the comment. Until the flirting had gotten blatant, he’d almost forgotten that he was in the company of one of his students. Over the past couple of months, they’d become something like friends. He’d actually shared huge parts of his life with Elise and she opened up to him about her life. She had her secret—an underage teen, living on her own. And he had his—the cover-up of a sexual assault on a student. They had trusted each other and it had led to this. Elise in the middle of the floor singing for him. Him enjoying it so much he couldn’t keep the semidrunken smile off his face.

She was pointing directly at Jacob and mocked the singer as her voice fell and she almost cried out,
“Goin’ down, goin’ down, ohhhhhh bayyyyy, don’t wanna live, if I can’t giiiiivvvve, my love to you.”

Elise was like a snake charmer, her smooth, yet raspy voice, reeling him in.
“Sooorrrrry, sorry, sorry soorrry, what did I do wrong, please forgive me, and come on hooommmme.”

With that, he stood up and walked toward her. Her eyes were like those of a deer trapped in an oncoming car’s headlights. She was about to get smashed. There were only a few seconds for him to think about what he was about to do.

The next song began to play—“Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.” He recognized that he had a vacancy in his heart, just like the words of the song said. Kendra, the only woman he’d connected with in the past couple of years, was gone. All he had was his work and his music. He loved his music like nothing else, and his job fulfilled him as well, but he needed more and he’d finally begun to admit it to himself. He needed to feel the way he’d been feeling since he’d first laid eyes on Elise. Excited, filled with passion and desire.

He paused when he reached her. Then he looked down in shame. She put her hands on his face and she called him by his first name aloud for the first time. “Jacob,” she whispered. “Look at me.”

When he looked up at her there were tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I feel this way…about you.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. I know,” she whispered. “I know how you feel. I’ve felt it. I’ve felt you.”

“How, though…?” he asked. “How did you know?”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t think you’re a pervert. I’m not a little girl. I’m a woman. Look around. I take care of myself. I don’t need a little boy. I need a man. Please believe me. If it’s not you…then it will be someone just like you. You’re a good person. Strong and right. Any other person in your position would have tried me a while back. It’s taken us all this time and
I’ve
had to take my time with you.” She smiled. “I had to be sure that I could trust you and that you were the type of person I wanted to share my heart with. This means so much to me…you being here.”

Jacob breathed deep. He shook his head and asked, “Is this real?”

“It’s real. Don’t be afraid. I’ll take care of you no matter what.”

They were silent for a few seconds and then Elise leaned in and touched her lips to his. At that moment, Jacob was hooked. He couldn’t turn back if he wanted to.

“Come with me,” she said, and walked to the bedroom.

Jacob entered and his eyes were drawn to her bed. It was a platform bed with a long shelf across the head. There were at least twenty candles all different sizes and heights, lined up on a long silver holder. Only two were lit. The bed was covered in shiny sheets that looked like silk. “Nice,” Jacob mumbled.

She walked over to her walk-in closet, fumbled around for a second, and came back out. She was now standing in front of him completely naked. “Take those off,” she whispered in his ear.

He complied and began to undress. By the time he finished, she’d put out the candles in the front room and was back in the bedroom. She moved to the dresser behind Jacob, pushed a couple of buttons. Her iPod was now playing through a set of speakers.

Jacob swallowed and tried to keep his composure as she brushed her body up against his. She looked into his eyes and this time he met her with a kiss. They held their lips together for a few moments until he felt her hand wrapped around his shaft. She began to pull gently on it with one hand as she tickled the tip of it with her thumb. Jacob was ill at ease and he didn’t spring to attention the way he would have anticipated.

“Sorry, I’m a little nervous.”

“No need to be. Lay down on your stomach.”

Jacob complied and she rested her body on his for a minute, absorbing his warmth. Her next move caught him by surprise as she
began to massage him gently. First his back and then his shoulders. He could feel the knots loosening up as her hands proved to be expert beyond her years. “Damn,” he moaned out. “That feels so good.”

She just kept going. Down the small of his back until she had his buttocks firmly in her grip. He’d never realized that he could collect so much tension there, but he had or there was no way her touch would have melted him like it did.

Next, she went down the backs of his thighs and all the way to his feet. Jacob was in heaven as Elise worked his body and took the tension away. It had been so long since he’d been massaged like that. She went on for twenty minutes, until he was on the brink of falling asleep.

“Turn over,” she said as she guided him onto his back. Elise took in his body. She hid away her fears. She hoped that she could please him. She’d had a couple partners in Indianapolis, one who’d hit and run, and another who she wished had done the same. After that, she’d decided to take her time. Jacob was the next to be chosen.

Having watched many an hour of porn, she was confident that she could do something to make him feel good. She was now straddling him, her hands on his chest; they stared into each other’s eyes. Jacob couldn’t believe that this beautiful young girl wanted him. She could have had any man, he thought. At least in due time. He thought back to his days in high school. Although he’d had his share of attractive girlfriends, he’d never even dreamed of capturing a girl who was arguably the prettiest in the school. Now he had her. She was naked on top of him. Her creamy skin, full, perky, young breasts, and thick, light brown nipples were all within his grasp.

As Jaheim played through the speakers, she began to gyrate on
top of him. His penis was in between their bodies and was getting wet from her juices and at the same time had grown to full attention. As Elise continued to grind, Jacob’s mind was drifting slowly into outer space. Her lips were spread and dripping liquid all over him.

Suddenly she began to quiver and a tiny orgasm escaped her body from the grinding. She didn’t lose her focus and slid down his body. Once again she held him in her hands. But this time she had to keep her grip tighter in order to control it. It kept wanting to press against his stomach.

“Mmmmmmph” was the sound that escaped her mouth as she took the head of it in her mouth without warning. Just like she’d witnessed in the movies, Elise sucked and slurped on his dick, making all manner of sounds that suggested that she was enjoying the taste.

Jacob lifted his head off the pillow and looked down at her head and her lips.
What am I doing?
he thought. Elise was incredible. “Oh shit.”

She pulled her mouth away from the tip long enough to ask, “You like this?”