Nasty (23 page)

“Now that I’ve seen him, spoken with him, and even understand him a little, I can honestly say that I’m really glad we had a chance to hook up.”

“Maybe. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to go with you and meet him.”

“Sure, but we better go soon. I don’t think he’ll be around much longer. Hey! No beer, Carlos? When did you start drinking sodas?”

Not wanting to reveal the trouble he was having with dreams and voices and Nicola’s disappearances, all Carlos said was, “Man, I’m watching my waistline. Just like you should. You got to look good in those videos, man. The young girls like to see a six-pack. Know what I mean?” They both laughed.

But for Carlos the laughter was empty. It had been a week and he still hadn’t heard from Nicola. Where was she? He couldn’t stand not knowing. She was driving him mad. If she loved him, she had a funny way of showing it.

A
fter Tarik’s visit, Eli’s condition deteriorated. He was so weak, Ophelia had to hand-feed him the soup she made. He refused to go to the hospital. He did not want to die there. A week later, Tarik brought Carlos, Jonathan and little Javon to meet with him. He brought his guitar and spent the entire afternoon singing songs. It was a party.

Eli was delighted by the visit. Little Javon, who remembered Pops, could not understand how Tarik had two fathers and exclaimed, “Are you my daddy’s daddy? Really? He has two daddies?”

They tried to explain it to Javon, but it would not stick. He finally threw his hands up in the air and said in an exasperated, high-pitched, little boy voice, “Okay…okay he has two daddies. I have two daddies, too.”

Eli laughed. “He’s a delightful child, Tarik. I’m so glad you brought him today.”

When it was time for everyone to leave, Eli’s strength had just about disappeared. He could barely raise his hand to wave. “Good-bye, everybody. If you only knew how much joy you’ve all brought me today.”

“Don’t talk, Dad. Save your strength. See you next week.”

With that, everyone left except for Ophelia. She closed the door after them.

“Did you hear what he called me, Ophelia?”

“I heard it, Eli.”

“Funny. It’s only one word and I so don’t deserve it, but I sure loved the sound of it.”

Ophelia returned the next day. She had only planned to stay a few hours. Later that afternoon was Jonathan’s final basketball game and she did not want to miss it.

She knocked on the door several times, calling out his name. Eli did not answer. Ophelia then knew something was very different about this visit. He always yelled back at her with some cute comment. Ophelia’s heart pounded rapidly in her chest. She instinctively knew that doom would greet her on the other side of the entrance.

She used her key, pushed the door open, and discovered why he had not answered. There lying on the bed was Eli, gasping for air. She ran to him and cradled him in her arms. He breathed a little easier. “Eli, let me call the paramedics,” she begged.

“No…Let me go. I’m ready. I’ve seen my son. I’ve seen you, the love of my life, and now I’m ready.”

He had signed a paper refusing treatment. She couldn’t force him. Tears flowed down Ophelia’s cheeks. She knew he was right. “Ophelia, play his music for me.” She popped one of Tarik’s tapes into a cassette player. “Ophelia…I…I…love you, baby.”

“I always loved you, too.” Ophelia rocked him in her arms for what seemed like an eternity. They sat in silence listening to their son’s music. By nightfall, Eli had stopped breathing.

N
icola felt guilty about the way she had been treating Carlos. She threw him a bone and dragged him out to her beach house in the Hamptons for the weekend. Except for the nightmare he’d had the previous evening, he was delightful company. Carlos and she were driving back into the city later that evening to catch Jonathan’s final basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Nicola, surprised by how much she was actually looking forward to it, was eager to see her young pupil “shoot the hoops.”

Carlos was downstairs preparing breakfast for them. He had bragged so about his prowess in the kitchen, she had given him the opportunity to prove it.

Sitting on her chaise lounge in her bedroom, she oiled her new micro-locks hairdo, marveling at how simple it was to care for short hair. She thought about all the time she wasted sitting in beauty parlors with stylists, caring for her thick usually unmanageable waist-length hair.

“What the hell!” The sound of metal crashing against cement startled her. Dropping the bottle of Clara’s Grandbabies scalp oil, Nicola rushed to the window and peered through the luxurious silk bedroom curtains made from material she and Harrison purchased on a business trip to Lagos, Nigeria about
two years ago. What she witnessed brought a smile to her lips.

“The boy has finally lost his mind,” she whispered to herself. In the midst of her Asian-themed beachfront patio, amongst bamboo trees, rare exotic plants and a Jacuzzi, Carlos rummaged through her garbage cans like a homeless man looking for his next meal.

It’s got to be here. I know someone’s been with her. I know it…I just know it.
Carlos looked up at Nicola’s bedroom window. He thought he saw the curtains move. He couldn’t let her catch him spying. Shame pushed aside the insane waves of jealousy that fueled his search. He looked at the nasty piles of garbage scattered around the trashcans and wondered how he, a man that never gave a woman a second thought after he fucked her, had sunk so low.

None of Carlos’s thoughts resided in sane territory. Try as he may, for the past few weeks, he could not shake the feeling that someone else was in the bed they shared. He felt for the gun in his shoulder holster. The moral caution that prevented him from fully stating to himself, or to others, what he would do if his suspicions were accurate, was quickly evaporating.

The comfort he derived from the cold steel assured him, on a deeply visceral level that, if challenged, he would use the gun to protect his property. Nicola was his and only his. He would teach whoever violated their relationship a lesson they’d never forget. He clutched the gun tightly, affirming that nothing in this world could keep him from crossing the line if he discovered someone with Nicola.

Continuing his search, he quickly learned that Nicola was a meticulous shredder. If there were proof of another lover, he’d never find it amongst the tethered strips of paper neatly arranged in bundles.

“Looking for something?” Nicola’s seductive voice broke Carlos’s train of violent thought. Busted, without a single word he could create to defend himself, he spun around and faced the most beautiful woman in his world. Nicola wore a fuchsia-colored, Ophelia Reed outfit that hugged the dangerous sexy curves of her body. Completing her designed-to-kill look were purple-beaded, five-inch spiked pumps that perfectly matched a beach bag Carlos had purchased for her in Southampton.

She was a vision. All thoughts of her infidelity temporarily fled out the door. She was his. All his. He greeted her with a deep tongue down her throat, and held her so close she gasped for air. Pulling away, trying to catch her breath, she could barely whisper, “Take it easy, baby. You trying to kill me? I don’t want to miss little Jonathan’s last basketball game…okay?”

Following her back into the house, Carlos was taken by the rear view of her perfect body. He knew other men, as he was now doing, lusted after her. He wished he could turn her into a Muslim woman and have every body part covered, except for her eyes. But he knew that outfit would not hide her beauty, especially since it was those very eyes that vexed his soul at night.

Before she could enter the house, he grabbed her again, pulling her close, and whispered, “You stay next to me during the game, you hear?”

Amused by his attempts to possess her, Nicola chuckled to herself. Playing along, she looked up at him, and in her most sincere voice replied, “Whatever you say, baby.”

S
weat poured from every orifice of Jonathan’s hot, muscular body. With only fifteen seconds left on the clock, there were no timeouts remaining for either side. Though he was the highest scorer, his team was still behind by two points. The visiting team possessed the ball. The forward that Jonathan guarded, dribbled the ball toward the net, positioning himself for a lay-up. If successful, the team’s dream of a win would end. Never ready to call it quits, Jonathan took advantage of the three inches that separated him and his opponent by smacking the ball out of his hands and throwing it down court into the waiting hands of one of his teammates.

With ten seconds left, Jonathan ran to join his teammates. The player who caught the ball missed the hoop. Another teammate retrieved the loose ball and tossed it to the only man who had a three-point court advantage...Jonathan. Of all his skills, the coveted three-point shot was his weakest.

Heart pounding in his chest, Jonathan caught the ball, leaped into the air and threw it, praying it would make the net. As the ball sailed toward the hoop, he dropped his head, afraid of the outcome. A thunderous burst of applause confirmed he had made the shot. The bell rang. The game was over. His team was victorious.

His teammates lifted him up and carried him off of the court, cheering. As he traveled past the stands, he shot a look over to see Tarik, Sherry, Carlos, Javon, and especially Nicola. As were most folks in the gym, she was standing and cheering as loud as she could. Jonathan smiled. It made him feel good to see her get excited about something other than the sex they shared. The only sad moment of the entire evening for Jonathan was realizing he and Nicola would never “know” each other again. He was leaving for college in the next few days.

The locker room quickly filled with coaches, the press, and family members. All were gathered to cheer the winning team. Jonathan was so happy about his achievement, that for a moment he totally dismissed the guilty feelings he nursed whenever he was around Carlos.

“You were phenomenal out there!” Carlos hugged him tightly.

Tarik joined in the bear hug, too. “I knew you could play, man, but what you did out there tonight wasn’t just playing…you were like…like…Jordan, man.”

Not to be left out, little Javon mimicked his dad and yelled as loud as his little voice would allow. “Yeah, Jordan…just like Jordan, man!” He then added, “Uncle Jonathan, Uncle Jonathan…lift me up to sky…all ’da way up!”

Jonathan lifted up his little nephew and put him on his shoulder. Javon squealed, “Ooh, I’m the tallest boy in the world!” They all looked up at Javon and laughed.

“No, Javon…tonight
I’m
the tallest guy…and the happiest!” Jonathan meant it. He had never felt as much joy as he did at that very moment, surrounded by family, friends and an adoring crowd.

Taking a shower in the gym after the game, Jonathan replayed the night. His body was wet and sticky from all the Gatorade
and champagne fans and teammates had poured over his head. It was the best time of his life. The only other moment that could compete was his first love session with Nicola. Scenes of her licking his extended manhood up and down flooded his mind’s eye as he lathered his private parts.

He smiled to himself. They had said their good-byes Friday afternoon, right before she and Carlos left for her place in the Hamptons. She had given him a blow job that she promised would last the rest of his life. She had delivered the goods indeed. He’d shot so much hot bubbly juice into Nicola’s mouth, he had to perform a Heimlich maneuver just to keep her from choking to death.

Dressed and ready to meet with his family, Jonathan burst into the lobby only to discover Tarik and Carlos wearing grim faces.

“Hey, guys, you act like you just lost your best friend.”

Carlos was the first to speak up. “Uh…Eli passed. Tarik just got the call.”

“
N
icola, girl, you got to slow down.” Carlos, exhausted from her insatiable demands, collapsed on the bed. “I need a little recoup time. We been doing it all morning long. I am not a machine!”

“Oh, the big bad Carlos can’t handle little old Nicola. Oh, poor baby.” She licked his earlobes ever so softly. Distracted and concerned about their future as a couple, he squirmed in response. “It’s not just that. It’s...”

“We’ll make it in time for the funeral, don’t worry. I’ll just lick your entire body clean; you’ll be very presentable.” She continued to lick every muscle on his body.

“Nicola, baby, I love the loving, but well, we never talk.”

“What you want to talk about, sweet thing?”

“I want to talk about us; our future; relationship stuff. I thought you ladies liked that kind of talk?”

“Us is good. Us is
real
good.” Nicola gently stroked the entire length of Carlos’s manhood. She never stopped marveling at the glorious nature of his dick. Whoever said size didn’t matter, had never met Carlos Singleton. Responding to Nicola was the only thing Carlos could do, “Oh, baby, you do have a touch. But, I’m serious about you. I mean, us.”

Stroking him even more, Nicola suggested in a raspy voice, “And I seriously want to go for round two.”

“It’s more like round five, but who’s counting.” He sat up on the bed and looked at Nicola. “I enjoy our lovemaking, but I just want to know. I want to hear it from you. How do you really feel about me? About us?” Carlos pulled himself away from Nicola’s touch. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a velvet-covered jewelry box. He returned to the bed and presented the box to Nicola.

“I wasn’t going to give you this until dinner tonight, but… well, I hope you like it.”

Nicola opened the box and pulled out a pair of beautiful diamond earrings. They were identical to the one he wore in his ear. She put them on and rushed over to sit at her vanity. She admired the exquisite jewels in her mirror. “Jonathan…I mean…I mean, Carlos, they’re…”

“Jonathan? Damn. You keep calling me Jonathan. That’s the third time this morning. Why you got him on the brain? What’s really going on here, Nicola?”