“Are you sure about this?” I was still a little hesitant after her Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde act. One minute she’s with the program, the next she’s not; then all of a sudden she’s with the program again.
“I swear, Dylan. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life. Just bear with me and everything is gonna be fine.” She crawled off the bed and walked to my night table. She gave me a nervous smile and picked up a box of matches to light some candles. I guess we were both feeling a little strange now that this was finally happening. I know I was nervous like it was my first time.
“Turn the radio on,” she whispered as she turned out the light
I did as I was told and watched her sway to the smooth rhythm of Usher’s “U Remind Me.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more erotic sight than Jasmine dancing in that candlelight. Ever since that night at Joe’s, I knew she had a nice body. But the way things went down, our clothes never fully came off. So I didn’t know just how nice it really was till then. She did a slow, seductive striptease that had my heart racing and my brow sweating. When she finished, she was wearing nothing but a thong, and I was rock-hard.
“Come ’ere,” she called. “I wanna show you something.”
I stood up. She reached for my collar and started unbuttoning my shirt. When the last button was undone, her fingers went to my belt buckle. My pants fell to the floor. I closed my eyes and let out a soft moan when her fingers reached into my boxers and wrapped around my manhood.
“Lay down, Dylan,” she whispered, still holding onto the elastic of my boxers. I gladly did as I was told. She removed my boxers and my socks, and I was completely naked, ready for whatever she had to give me. Jasmine crawled on top of me and rubbed her hands over my chest as she placed long, slow kisses around my face. The kisses went lower and lower until she had covered every inch of my torso and found her final destination.
“My, my, my. Aren’t you a big one?” She smiled. Of course, I was beaming with pride. If there’s one thing we men like to hear, it’s a compliment about the size of our dicks.
Jasmine wasn’t just down there to compliment me, either. She had other things in mind. Very pleasurable things. And without giving it a second thought, she swallowed half my manhood. I moaned my appreciation. That shit felt so good. It had been a long, long time since someone had done this for me, and I’d forgotten just how good it could be. During the six years we’d been together, Monica wouldn’t even discuss the subject. She always complained that it was nasty and unsanitary. Although she never seemed to have a problem when it came to me doing her. She was just selfish that way.
“Oh, God. Oh, God. Ohhh, my God.” I was gasping for air as I held onto the sheets with all my might. I was making a conscious effort not to grab hold of Jasmine’s head, because someone told me once that women hate that. That was easier said than done. My natural instincts were telling me to hold her head and make sure she didn’t stop.
“Damn, baby, if you’re trying to get me open you’re doing a damn good job. You really got skills.”
I think my words must’ve invigorated her, because she started to work even harder. If she kept it up, it wasn’t gonna be long before I erupted. At least until I heard the doorbell and lost my concentration. I tried my best to ignore it, but whoever it was kept on ringing.
“Hold on a second, Jazz.” I lifted her head.
“What’s the matter? Was I doing something wrong? Don’t you like it?” She sounded disappointed.
“Oh, no, baby, I liked it. Shit, I loved it.” I told her with excitement.
“Then, why’d you stop me?” She looked confused. “Sounded like you were enjoying it.”
“I was. Trust me. The only reason I stopped you is ’cause someone’s at the front door. Didn’t you hear the bell?”
“The doorbell? You stopped me from going down on you because you heard the doorbell ring?” Now she was definitely insulted. “Just pay attention to what I’m doing. They’ll go away.”
She lowered her head to finish what she’d started and I lay back to enjoy it. She was right. Whoever was at the door would go away. All I had to do was concentrate on her and the phenomenal job she was doing down there.
Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to concentrate. The unknown visitor didn’t seem to be getting the hint. They’d stopped ringing the doorbell and started banging.
“Goddamn it!” I yelled. “Let me go see who the hell that is. It’s probably Joe’s stupid ass. He’s the only one who’d come knocking on my door at this time o’ night.”
“Whatever,” Jasmine whined as she lifted her head. She rolled her eyes at me and I knew I was in trouble. She was obviously losing her enthusiasm quickly.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be right back.” I bent over to kiss her, but she backed away with an attitude.
“Just hurry up, okay? My jaw’s starting to hurt. You seem to forget I don’t do this very often, Dylan.”
“I know, I know. Please don’t be mad. I’ll be right back. I promise.” I got up in a hurry, grabbed my robe, and headed down the stairs. Joe was about to get cussed out, even though I couldn’t wait to tell him who was upstairs waiting for me.
“You know Joe, you got the worst fuckin’ timing in the world,” I swore as I swung the front door open. When I saw who was there, I gasped, immediately closing the door without a thought. It wasn’t Joe at my door. Oh, no. Not by a long shot. It was Monica, and she had the nerve to be holding a suitcase. I was so puzzled by her sudden appearance that I just stood there like a fool until she knocked again.
“Monica, what’re you doing here?”
“Freezing my ass off. Can I come in?” She was clutching her suitcase and shivering. Just looking at her made me tighten my robe to protect myself from the cold.
“Why? What d’you want?” I eyed her suspiciously.
“I wanna talk to you, Dylan. It’s important.” She tried to step around me, but I blocked her. For the first time in five months, I was eye to eye with the woman I thought I knew better than I knew myself. That is, until she abandoned me for Jordan. I studied her. She looked the same except for a slight weight loss and a fucked-up do. The Monica I knew never went anywhere without every hair being in place.
“To be honest, Monica, tonight really isn’t a good time.”
“Well, make it a good time. What I’ve got to say is important.” Her demanding tone hadn’t changed a bit, and it made me cringe a little to remember just how often she’d used it on me.
She gave me this innocent-yet-determined look that under normal circumstances would’ve melted me. But tonight was not normal circumstances. Tonight I was gonna make love to Jasmine, and there was no way I was gonna let Monica or anyone else screw it up. Sure, there were plenty of things I still wanted to talk to Monica about, but it would have to be another time. I’d waited five months to find out just why I wasn’t enough for her, so I could wait a little longer. I had better things to do tonight than dig up that past. Much better things.
“I can’t talk. I’ve got company.”
I don’t think she heard a word I said beyond “I can’t,” because all she did was suck her teeth as she dropped her suitcase on my foot. When I reached down to pick it up, she pushed her way past me and entered the living room.
“Goddamn it! Why the hell you playin’ games, Monica? You know I didn’t invite you in.” I said it loud, just in case Jasmine was listening at the top of the stairs.
She ignored me as she walked around the living room, sighing every time something nostalgic caught her eye. She was taking her own personal trip down memory lane. I almost felt sorry for her. It was actually looking like she regretted the day she walked out on me for Jordan.
“You haven’t changed anything since I left, have you?” she asked.
“Nah, not really.”
“I figured you would have gotten rid of all this stuff and moved some woman in here. I guess I was wrong. No woman would let you keep this.” She picked up the picture of the two of us standing in front of the house. “We really had some good times in this old house, didn’t we?”
“We sure did,” I smiled. “I thought we were gonna spend the rest of our lives in this house.”
“So did I,” she said sadly. “I love this house. I love you too, Dylan.”
“Monica, why are you here?” Her confession came totally out of the blue, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for it. My mind was still on Jasmine, waiting for me upstairs.
“Well, to start with, I wanted to say I’m sorry.” She walked up to me and touched my robe. I took a step back, trying to be subtle so I wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Sure, she’d ripped my heart out, but I’d loved this girl too much to do it back to her.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Dylan. I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just mad. I wanted to get married.”
“Oh, so you thought Jordan was gonna marry you?” I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh.
“Jordan’s an idiot.” She pouted. “He doesn’t care about me. He never cared about me. He was just using me.”
“You know, Monica, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.” There was silence between us for a few seconds. I guess Monica was digesting this huge slice of humble pie. I couldn’t believe I was actually hearing her admit she had been wrong.
“You were right. I was a fool to think I could have with him what I had with you.” She straightened out the collar on my robe. “I know I did you wrong, Dylan. I’m sorry about that. Can you ever forgive me?”
I sighed loudly.
“Yeah, I’ll forgive you, Monica, but I won’t forget. You don’t know how much you hurt me. How much you embarrassed me. We weren’t even broke up twenty-four hours and Jordan was driving by my store in your car, blowing the horn.” I was starting to get emotional and tears were welling up in my eyes. I needed to get Monica outta there before I started crying. “I was in love with you, Monica. True, deep love. I never felt that way about anyone else in my life. So yeah, I’ll forgive you, but don’t ever ask me to forget.” I handed her the suitcase. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Jasmine must have been listening, because at that moment she yelled down the stairs like she’d been cued. “Dylan, is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine. I’ll be right up!” I turned to Monica, who was staring at me with a jealous, flabbergasted expression. Now she looked more like the Monica I remembered.
“Who the fuck is that?”
“I tried to tell you I had company.”
“Dylan, are you sure everything’s all right? You been down there an awfully long time.” Jasmine walked down the stairs. She was wearing only my shirt, and looking mighty good in it if I do say so myself. I just prayed she wasn’t gonna have an attitude when she saw Monica standing in the living room. I figured that was too much to expect, but she surprised me. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she placed her hand on my shoulder, all cool and calm, kissing my cheek and smiling at Monica.
“Hi. How you doin’? I’m Jasmine.” She extended her hand. I was so proud of her. What a classy way to handle a bad situation. Unfortunately, Monica didn’t show nearly as much composure.
“Didn’t I buy you that shirt?” Monica’s voice was cold as she glared at Jasmine, then at me.
“Oh, excuse my manners,” I said. “Monica, this is Jasmine. Jazz, this is Monica. My
ex
.” It was quite obvious by her expression that Monica did not like the way I introduced her. But that was her problem. My problem was getting rid of her and getting Jasmine back upstairs to finish what we’d started.
“So, Dylan,” Monica hissed, “I guess Jasmine’s your new girlfriend now, huh?”
I placed my arm around Jasmine to reassure her. We hadn’t discussed where our relationship was going or what our status was, but I wasn’t about to make her look like a fool in front of Monica.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” I shot back with a little sarcasm of my own.
“Yeah, I guess she is. Look, Jasmine, is it?” Monica eyed her competition from head to toe with a sneer. “You don’t mind if I talk to Dylan alone for a minute, do you? I have something very important to tell him.”
“Sure. Go right ahead.” Jasmine gave a condescending smile, like Monica was some beggar off the street. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” Jasmine kissed me, then patted my butt, her eyes on Monica the whole time. “Try not to be too long, Dylan. You haven’t finished unwrapping your birthday present yet.” She winked at me before she turned to the stairs. I grabbed her wrist before she could take a step.
“Hold on, Jazz. You don’t have to go upstairs. Whatever Monica has to say she can say in front of you.” I wasn’t sure this was the best move. God only knew what Monica was about to say to me. I just figured it would be better to have Jasmine witness it, so there would be no misunderstanding later. I turned to Monica and yawned.
“It’s getting late. If you have something to tell me, spit it out. I don’t keep secrets from Jasmine.”
“Oh, isn’t that special?” Monica cooed sarcastically. She stood up. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. I just need some money.” She stuck her hand out.
“Money! I’m not giving you no money. You better go ask your boyfriend Jordan.”