Push The Button (7 page)

“I’m well-aware of how Dad can be, Mama,” David replied with a sigh. “Just be happy for us, please?”

“I am happy for you, baby,” Janice said. “Nicole is a lovely woman and it’s about time you settle down and start a family of your own,” she said with her back to Him.

“Mamaaaa,” He groaned. Nicole smiled to herself, seeing a new side of her Sir that she wasn’t used to. Clearly, He was a mama’s boy, and Janice was a weak spot for Him. She didn’t mind it, though, because He’d never made her feel like she was in competition with Janice. She was getting to see how His mother, or His connection to her after all they’d been through, made Him vulnerable. She appreciated it.

David whispered in Nicole’s ear, “Upstairs, second door to your left. Now.” She excused herself a few seconds later, left David talking with His mother a bit more and made her way upstairs. The second door on the left was a nice-sized bathroom, larger than the one in their apartment. It was decorated mostly in lilac and yellow and had a large, old-fashioned, deep marble tub with claws. Nicole fantasized about how wonderful bubble baths must be in such a tub. She opened the medicine cabinet and glanced around, not to be nosy, just to occupy herself. She jumped when the door opened and David came in.

“Kneel”

“What?”

“Did I stutter?”

“David, we’re in your–”

“What did you call me?”

“Sir, I’m sorry,” she apologized looking around. “Sir, this is your mama’s house!”

“Quiet. Kneel.”

She hesitated a few seconds too long, she realized, when she felt His hand around her throat, clutching.

“I said… Kneel.”

She dropped to her knees with His hand still around her throat.

“Now… did I tell you to speak back there in the kitchen?”

She said nothing, and lowered her head instead.

“Answer me.”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“No, Sir”

“I didn’t think so.” He moved behind her and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back.

“So my bad girl thinks that because she is around my family, she can get out of line? Is that it?”

“No, Sir.”

“Well you certainly had a lot to say down there.”

“I’m sorry, Sir. I won’t speak out of turn around your mother again.”

“Oh I know you won’t,” He agreed. With His free hand, He plucked her lips three times, which was His standard discipline for when she spoke out of turn. She winced a bit, then licked her lips. Her pussy was wet.

He knew it.

“Get up.”

She stood up quickly. As soon as she was to her feet, He bent her over so she could grab the edge of the tub to stabilize herself. In less than thirty seconds, her skirt was around her waist and He was buried deep in her, His stroke frenzied.

“I swear… that woman... drives me so… fucking crazy…sometimes,” He growled while plowing into her. “I swear if she wasn’t my Mama, I’d tell her to shut the fuck up!”

Nicole said nothing. She realized this was less about her speaking out and more about Him needing to release His frustration. She, of course, was His to use as He needed. She spread her legs a bit wider to stabilize herself. He was definitely going in fast, hard, and deep. After a couple of minutes, she lifted her right leg and put it on the edge of the tub, giving Him deeper access.

“She just…needs… to let me…do... what the fuck… I want to do… with My Bitch….FUCK!!” He grabbed her waist and pulled her back onto Him, never breaking the rhythm or connection. Nicole moaned and He slapped His hand over her mouth.

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up” He growled into her ear. She was so wet and ready, she came quickly all over Him. A few minutes later, He exploded deep inside of her. Just as He was finishing dumping His load, they heard young D.J.’s voice yelling out, “Uncle Davidddddddd? Where are youuu??? I gotta pee!!!” He followed with a strong pounding on the door, which elicited a giggle from Nicole.

“You nephew has to pee, Sir,” she said, chuckling as she lowered and smoothed out her skirt.

“Ha ha,” He responded. “Just a minute, D.J.!” He called to the young boy.

“Okkkkk!” D.J. responded, sounding like he was going back downstairs. Nicole turned around and bent down to lick Him clean, but He’d already zipped up His pants.

“Fix your face, nasty girl” He said, knowing she was pouting without even looking. “Can’t have you talking to my Mama with nut on your breath,” He finished, shaking His head at her. She stood in front of the mirror and fussed with her hair, which was tussled after He grabbed it.

“You are so fucking nasty. You horny fucker!” David said.

“You like it.”

“Indeed.”

They laughed together. Nicole slipped out of the bathroom first and David waited a moment before following her. When He got downstairs, He heard new voices and went into the living room. He saw His mother in a tight embrace with an older, well-dressed man. He looked for Nicole and saw her standing, oddly still, by the entrance to the kitchen.

“Baby, come here and meet my friend, Joseph!” Janice called out, waving David over to greet her new beau. “I invited him over for dinner and he brought his son with him,” she said with a wide smile pointing towards the door. David looked over and immediately understood why Nicole stood almost frozen in the corner.

“David, meet–” Janice began.

“Marcus…” Nicole finished.

December 22, 2002 4:35 a.m.

“Annie Christian wanted…to be number one… but her kingdom never comes… thy will be done.”

David sat quietly at the deserted intersection, waiting for the light to change from red to green. He was exhausted, having not fallen asleep until after midnight and receiving an alarming phone call at 2 a.m. He’d spent most of the week working on a final project that was due today, getting little sleep, and eating even less. Graduate school was kicking his ass but it was a necessary step on his path to success. At least he’d mapped it out that way. He was 25, one semester away from obtaining his MBA, and here he was on his way to pick his father, Eric, up from some unknown seedy motel almost 2 hours away from where he stayed near campus.

He could barely keep his eyes open, so he cranked up vintage Prince on his stereo and sipped his coffee. 
I’m so sick of this shit
, he thought to himself. It wasn’t the first time he’d been summoned out of bed to help his father and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last.  Having just gotten in on the increasingly popular cellular phone trend, he found himself adjusting to being so readily accessible to everyone, especially his father. As he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, he wished he hadn’t given his father the number to his Nokia cell phone.

“Annie Christian was a whore…always looking for some fun…”

David made a right when the light changed and pulled into the motel’s parking lot. All of the slots were occupied, cars varying from high end to run down, and the curtains were drawn in most of the windows.  He pulled his car alongside a navy blue Lexus with police plates. He shook his head when he saw Eric leaned up against a large dumpster.  Next to him was a too-thin woman in a tattered silver sequined dress holding a large bottle of some sort. She was half-standing, half-leaning on his father, whose eyes appeared to be closed. David turned off the engine, shut off the lights, and took a deep breath.

“Dad. Time to go home!” he called, as he stepped out of the vehicle. He took long strides towards his father, annoyance turning more into disgust with every step.

“Dad…” he repeated. “Let’s go,” David said as he reached to help Eric stand up straighter.

“Aye, baby boy,” slurred the woman in a half-hearted attempt to be flirtatious, “You shole do get your looks from yo daddy, don’t ya?” Turning to David’s father, she continued, “Why you ain’t tell me you had a son this damned fine, daddy? Sheeeet, I might have to trade you in for a younger model!” She cackled loudly and David could smell the Wild Irish Rose on her breath from the bottle she held in her hand. He instinctively covered his nose with his hand.

“Whuuu…whut you tryna say? My bref stank?” She coughed into her hand and sniffed, backing up at the shock of what she smelled. “Oh shit, well… you ain’t nevuh lied, ha haaaaa,” she agreed with another cackle that turned into a harsh cough.

“Bitch, if you don’t shut the fuck up and leave my boy alone!” commanded Eric, eyes slowly opening, words slurring slightly indicating he’d had more than a few sips of the same drink.

“What you gonna do, muthafucka???” she asked, backing away from him and holding her arms up.

“Bitch, I will beat yo ass into next week!!” he retorted, as he reached for her throat with both hands. David lunged forward and grabbed his father’s arms before his hands could wrap around her throat. Having witnessed his father do this more than once with his mother, David knew it would get ugly really quickly. The woman yelped and turned around to run away. As David heard the click-clack of her cheap shoes against the pavement, he wrapped one arm around Eric’s back, put one of Eric’s arms over his shoulders, and practically dragged his father back to his car. He got him situated and belted in and made his way back to the driver’s seat.

When he’d turned the engine back on, he lowered the music, took another deep breath and looked at Eric, who was slumped against the back of the passenger’s seat.

“Take me to your mother’s house,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Not this time, dad.”

“Boy, I said take me to you goddamned mother’s house. What the fuck is your problem?”

“Dad, it’s almost dawn. She’s asleep.”

“She’ll be awake when we get there.”

“Dad, I’m not doing this to her again.”

“She’ll let me in. She always does…”

David sighed, knowing what his father said was true. Despite having left him and moved herself and her sons away from Eric, David learned that she still occasionally let him come to her home and spend a night or three there. She bathed him, gave him clean clothes, and fed him, probably cursing him out the entire time. But still, she let him in. Every time.

“Dad, why can’t you just leave mom alone and let her move on with her life? Why are you still trapping her with your shit?”

“Don’t you cuss me boy!”

“You wanna talk about me cursing when you’re sitting in 
my
 car, pissy drunk, unable to stand straight, and in need of a ride? Oh, oh that’s just great!”

“You better get to driving. Will take at least an hour to get to Janice’s house,” he continued, ignoring David completely. “Make sure you use that sella phone thing and call her to let her know we’re coming. She’ll have a plate ready for me. Damn, I’m hungry. Whew!”

David pulled out of the motel parking lot and began driving. He was unsure of where he was going, but he knew he was not going to take Eric anywhere near his mother. Maybe she wasn’t fully able to turn him away, and David tried to understand that connection, but he wasn’t going to enable it. He thought about taking him to his own apartment, but the rest he needed influenced the decision against that. He thought of the hotel strip a few miles from campus and figured he could get him a room for the night to sleep it off.

“Yanno, I ain’t shit.”

“Come on, Dad…”

“No, no, no, lemme finish. I ain’t shit. I. Ain’t. Shit!! Now ya mama, that’s a helluva lady there. Wheweee what a woman!” Eric paused before continuing, turning to look out of the window. He continued, quieter, “I really fucked that up, didn’t I?” He looked back at David, as if waiting for a real answer.

David said nothing.

“See, your mama is one of those strong women. She didn’t take no shit. She was a no-nonsense, go-getter type, yanno what I mean? She was about her business when I met her. Had her shit together! Was finishing school, had a job lined up, was really gonna make something of herself. I had to have her. Had to… You just don’t let a woman like that pass you by. Ooooh and she was fine as she wanted to be!” Eric paused to chuckle to himself and appeared to be stuck in a memory for a few seconds.

“That woman saved my life.”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“Just what I said. Ya mama saved my life. I wasn’t shit then. Hell, I still ain’t shit, but… for the time God blessed me with being with her, she saved me. Even when I treated her like shit, she loved me. Took me back. Fed me. Took care of me. I ain’t deserve  
none
 of that shit, ya hear me? I cheated on her. Beat on her. Gambled away all her money. My money. Everything…”

Eric slumped further down into his seat, feeling the weight of his confessions. He reached out and placed his hand over his son’s on the steering wheel. When he could have squeezed it, he pulled back, defeated. Intoxicated. Sick. Wasted. Life, wasted.

“I remember,” David said, finally.

“I… I know you do son. You and your brother. He still won’t talk to me, yanno? I tried calling him a few times but…he won’t call me back. Why won’t he call me back, son?” Eric looked caught at the intersection of sadness, dejection, and hope.

“He’ll come around, Dad.”

“No, he won’t. I don’t even blame him. Listen…you got a girlfriend yet?”

“No.”

“Well, good. Keep your head in those books. Women take a lot of out of you. They can change you, for the better if you let them. For worse if you let yourself go too far.”

“Dad, I’m not trying to have a relationship convo with you right now. I’m really not. You are the 
last 
person who needs to be doling out relationship advice.”

“Maybe you can learn from my fuck ups, son. Maybe I can be of some use to you somehow…”

David looked straight ahead and focused on driving. Eric said little for the next 20 minutes or so, and David turned up the volume on the car stereo.

“Whenever I feel like giving up. Whenever my sunshine turns to grey. Whenever my hopes and dreams are aimed in wrong directions, she’s always there, telling me how much she cares…”