Denise gripped Lena around her ass and pulled her closer to her. She indulged in her sweetness. It had never been that sweet before. Lena continued to grind her pussy against Denise's tongue. Denise was impressed.
Lena's body jerked as she moaned, climaxing from the intensity of Denise's mouth and lip action, but this time Denise wasn't finished.
Denise stood up and placed a condom on her manhood. She prepared to enter Lena when Lena, stopped her.
“No, let me.” Lena stood up and pushed Denise on the bed.
Denise watched in excitement as Lena mounted her. She slowly straddled the strap, beginning by slowly grinding. Lena slowly increased her speed.
Denise bit her lip. She had never been so enticed by a woman in her life. Lena definitely knew how to ride. The grinding against Denise's pussy caused her legs to tense up. Denise wrapped her hands around Lena's ass as Lena body-worked the strap.
Lena's breasts bounced up and down as she got more and more into it. She threw her head back and moaned. She wanted more. She took more. Denise tried to maintain, but let out moans of ecstasy. Denise rose up as Lena continued to work her. She licked the sweat from Lena's stomach. She planted kisses all over Lena until they both could not take anymore and came.
Denise and Lena got in the shower together. The warm water hit their heads as they kissed and rubbed each other. Denise had to taste her again. She picked Lena up and placed her on her shoulders.
Lena placed her hands against the top of the ceiling as Denise penetrated her again with her tongue. Lena's legs gripped Denise's head as she came.
“Shit, Lena!” Denise yelled. “You cutting off my circulation.”
They both laughed.
Denise put her down gently.
“My bad.” Lena wrapped her arms around Denise and kissed her again.
They dried each other off and got into bed. Denise wrapped her arm around Lena's naked body. Neither of them needed clothes.
Denise kissed the back of Lena's neck. “I could lay like this with you forever,” she whispered in the sleeping Lena's ear.
Slowly, Denise fell asleep.
Lena placed her hand around Denise's hand. “I could too,” she whispered.
Chapter 37
Denise stood in front of the crowd of high-school seniors. The college was hosting a women's high-school basketball camp. Denise loved working with the young women trying to make it to where she was. She listened to her coach talk about how different college basketball was from high school. The coach called Denise to the front. Many of the girls' eyes widened, staring at Denise as though she was some sort of star.
“I prefer to answer questions, so feel free to ask,” Denise said.
The young women's hands flew into the air. They started with the question everyone wanted to know: Was she going pro? Denise evaded the question, stating that she hadn't chosen what option she wished to take at that time, but that she was happy she had options, due to getting a college degree. She used that to begin talking about how important college is. Most of the women listened, but there were a few who were uninterested in anything besides the hope of going pro.
The side gym door opened. The bright light coming in made it difficult to see who was entering. Denise continued to talk until the focus was no longer on her, but on the tall pro basketball player that entered. The girls whispered and screamed as Brandon walked closer.
The coach, very surprised to see him, gave him a hug and introduced him to the crowd.
Denise headed to the bleachers next to Michelle.
“Guess you can't compete with that,” Michelle stated since the girls were no longer interested in hearing from her.
Denise took a sip, trying to ignore Brandon, who was talking to the girls about the exact same thing she was just saying. She thought about Lena. “Nah, I think I can take the dude.”
“Dig that then.” Michelle laughed.
Just then the coach called for Denise to come over. Denise knew trouble was ahead.
“Yeah, what's up, coach?” Denise said. She tried not to make eye contact with Brandon, but could feel him eyeballing her.
“Nothing much. Brandon wants to speak to you, so y'all can take my office.” The coach smiled.
Brandon and Denise headed into her coach's office. Denise watched Brandon sign autographs and take pictures with a few girls. He quickly excused himself and headed toward the coach's office. Brandon gave her an evil look as he passed her.
Denise shook her head.
Here we go
.
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Two days had passed before Lena finally decided to check her voice mail. The messages started out calmly and ended horribly.
Hey, baby, I'm on my way home. See you soon, boo. Lena deleted the first message.
Brandon seems shocked in the second message. Bae, where the hell are you, and why are most of your things gone? Why the hell aren't you answering your phone? Lena, what the fuck is going on!
Lena could hear the baby crying in the background. Brandon was panicked now.
Lena
,
baby
,
I know you are pissed, but please come home and let me explain. Baby, don't do this. I'm so sorry. Just please answer your phone. Please. I need you, please, baby. I'm sorry!
Lena started to feel worse with each passing message. Brandon sounded like he was completely distraught.
Baby, I'm dying without you. I can't eat. I can't sleep. I'm not whole without you. Baby, please.
That message broke Lena's heart. She began to cry, wondering if Brandon was all right. She turned around and looked at a picture of Denise. She began to feel guilty. She knew she was no saint. She fell for Denise and let her have her body. She knew it wasn't as bad as what Brandon had done, but one sin isn't worse than the other.
She looked down at her ring. “For better or for worse.” She knew what she had to do.
Lena heard the front door open.
“Knock, knock.”
Carmen and Misha walked into the house.
“Hey, girls,” Lena said as she hugged both of them.
Misha hugged Lena. “I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. When Carmen called me, I took the first flight I could get.”
“It's OK. I'm going to be OK.”
Carmen poured them some wine. “Yes, we are all going to be OK.”
Lena looked at Carmen. “Are you OK?” Denise had informed her of the situation with Nic.
Carmen sighed. “I'm great. Nic told me everything. She's such a strong woman. I don't know how she held all of that in for so long. But we're going to be just fine, and we are going to make it. Have you talked to Brandon yet?” Carmen said as she and Misha looked at Lena.
“No, I haven't talked to him. I know he is freakin' out right now. I just can't talk to him right now.”
“I feel you on that. Fuck him. Make his ass sweat,” Misha responded.
“Lena, what do you think you want to do?” Carmen said as she handed Misha a bottle of water. “I mean, are you going to get a divorce?”
Lena stared at the wall. “Why does this have to be happening to me? I never thought I would be considering divorce, especially not this early. I haven't even called my mother. She's gonna flip out, but I know she's gonna tell me to stay.”
“Why do you think that?” Misha said, disgusted by the thought of a mother telling her daughter to stay in a bad marriage.
“Because that's what high-society wives do. They turn the other cheek. Hell, I've been turning the other cheek for years now.” Lena looked at Carmen and Misha. She knew they both knew she was telling the truth.
“I always knew that Brandon cheated on me. I knew the whole time I was in Atlanta and he was here that he had to be getting it from someone. I know that on the road he's probably meeting a groupie or two, but I was content knowing I'm number one. But to know that this was an ongoing relationship, he was treating her like a girlfriend, not a groupie. He had a child by someone other than me. I've lost out on the chance to have his first-born because he already has a child.”
They sat in silence thinking about the situation. “You know, back when I found the picture of the little boy, he could have come clean then, but he lied. I would feel ten times better if he would have just told me then.”
“Well, we are here for you, no matter what you decide to do.” Carmen placed her arm around Lena.
“Yeah, if you want me to get some homies from the neighborhood to kick his ass I will,” Misha joked.
They all laughed.
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Denise made sure to keep her defensive stand just in case Brandon wanted to get out of place with her. She could tell Brandon had been going through it. His eyes looked completely worn out.
“Denise, where is my wife?” Brandon said calmly.
Denise looked through him.
“Denise, tell me.”
“I don't know,” Denise lied nonchalantly. She could tell Brandon was close to blowing.
“Look, I already called Carmen and got cursed out a few times. I know she isn't in the dorms. No one has seen her. Now the only place I haven't checked is your place, and I just bet that's where I will find her.” The aggression was present in his voice. “Now are you going to tell me where to find my wife, or am I going to have to do it the hard way?”
Denise felt herself becoming angry. “Man, don't come to me like that. You fucked up, and you have the nerve to come threaten me? You really have lost it.”
Brandon slammed his hand against the coach's desk. Denise didn't flinch.
“Damn, Denise, I'm losing it. I need to talk to her. She isn't answering my calls. Now her voice mail is full. I just need to talk to her and work things out. I love her.” Brandon sat down in the chair.
Denise could tell he was seriously hurting. “Look, Brandon, I don't know where she is for this very reason. You're predictable. She knew you would come here looking for her.”
“Really? I wonder why she figured that. Y'all think I'm some sort of fool!” Brandon knocked over a chair and ran up to Denise.
They were standing face to face, but Denise didn't back down.
“Oh, is that right, huh? You men are all the same. You want to look at me âcause ya girl left. Look at your muthafuckin' self,” Denise said gravely. “You fucked up, not me!”
Brandon turned around and put his shades on. “I know the deal on you.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Denise questioned.
Brandon turned back toward her. “I know you've always wanted her. If I find out you had your dyke-ass hands on her, I'm going to kill you.”
It took everything in her not to hit him. “Is that the best you can do, Brandon? You think a threat means anything to me? You're pathetic. You're married to a fuckin' diamond, but you go around fucking glass-ass girls. But you want to threaten me? Get the fuck out of my face.”
“Yeah, well, it's my diamond. I can wear it. Hell, I wear it out nightly.” Brandon smirked as he opened the door. “You'll never have it.” He walked out the door.
“That's what you think.”
Denise grabbed her things and headed out of the gym. She looked at her missed calls. One of the numbers looked very familiar. She called it back.
A young woman's voice answered, “St. Francis Hospital. How may I help you?”
Chapter 38
Rhonda peeked around the corner to see if anyone was coming. She walked in the back door and quickly ran up the dorm stairs. She was lucky. There was no one out on her floor. She quickly opened her door and went in.
“Bitches,” she said as she noticed people had been in her room. Her bed didn't look the same. Nothing looked out of place, so she just let it go.
It felt good to lie in her dorm bed again, but it didn't have anything on the bed in the hotel she had been staying in for days.
She picked up a picture of Denise. “Oh, baby, I miss you. I know you have to be missing me.” She planted a kiss on the picture. “We'll be back together soon.”
She slowly drifted off to sleep.
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“What's going on?” Cooley asked Dayza.
“Shhhh,” Dayza hushed Cooley and pulled her into the room. “She's back.”
“Oh, really?” Cooley felt the anger rising in her. “That bitch is about to pay.”
“No, Cooley, you can't do it like that,” Dayza said, grabbing Cooley's arm. “They will know I was involved. It can't be now. And how you expect to get those pill bottles back in there now with her there?”
“Look.” Cooley pulled out her wallet. She handed Dayza one hundred dollars. “I need you to put these back whenever you know she's left. If by any chance she tries something, I got you.”
“I don't give a fuck about her. I can take her in my sleep. I'm worried about getting kicked out of school.”
“Day, you're a senior. You'll be out of school in another week,” Cooley said.
Dayza realized she was right.
“Trust me, that bitch isn't going to get wrong with you.”
“I got you.”
They shook hands and Cooley left.
Cooley looked at Rhonda's door. She fought the urge to knock on it.
In due time that ass is mine.
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Denise got out of the elevator. This scene had become old to her. She made it to the nurse's station. “I got a call. My name is Denise Chambers.”
The nurse's facial expression said it all. “I am sorry to inform you, but your mother has passed away.”
“I figured that much.” Denise was sad but didn't cry. “What do I need to do?”
Denise spent the next hour filling out paperwork.
“This was in your mother's room.” The nurse handed Denise a bag of her mother's possessions.
Denise noticed a thick envelope addressed to her. Her heart began to beat quickly when she saw her grandmother's attorney's name on it.
Denise opened the package and found information alerting her about her mother's insurance policies. Mema had taken out three life insurance policies on Tammy years ago and had them paid up when she died. All together, the policies left almost $70,000.00 dollars to Denise.
There was a letter addressed to Denise. She sat back on the couch and read it.
Denise,
There are so many things that I want to say to you that I just don't know how to. If you are receiving this letter I have finally left this earth. I know that I have never been there for you, and hopefully I can make up for it when I get to heaven, if I go to heaven. I have always loved you and only hoped I did the best thing for you. I wanted you to grow up in the most loving environment possible, so I left you with Mema. I don't regret that decision when I see the woman you have turned out to be. My only dream is that I could have lived to see all of your dreams come true. I have messed my life up and hope that you will never follow in my footsteps. I just hope that you realize that I always did love you, and that never will change.
When I met your father he was a wonderful man. He got me back in school and helped me graduate. But then I was introduced to crack. He tried to get me off of it but I was hooked. He couldn't take it and so he left. I was so angry with him for leaving that I changed your name back to Chambers so that you wouldn't have his last name. That is a decision I have regretted till this day.
I am telling you this because I was so angry that I told you that he walked out on us. He didn't leave. I made him leave. He wanted to be there for you, and I wouldn't let him. You have every right to never forgive me for that. I wanted you to know that you are not an only child. Your father had a son before he met me. His name is Tony Matthews. Last time I checked he still lived in South Memphis with his family. His phone number is 901-311-1242. I encourage you to meet him. I hear he has a child.
I hope that time will heal all your pain that I have caused you. I hope that you will get any and everything that you ever want in life. I love you, Denise.
Your mother.
Denise closed the letter and held it to her heart. She decided that she was going to give her mother a small memorial service.
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“I think I have decided to go home,” Lena announced as the credits to
Imitation of Life
rolled.
“Damn.” Carmen wiped a tear from her eye. She always cried on that movie. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Lena, there is no need to rush the decision,” Misha added.
“Ladies, you know I'm not innocent either. I've been having sex with Denise. That's cheating too. If Denise was a boy we could have ended up in the same situation. I love Brandon, and if anyone is going to be there, it's going to be me. So tomorow I'm going home, but I'm going to make him sweat for the rest of the day.”
They all laughed.
“That's so wonderful. I think that Brandon has learned his lesson. Poor boy sounds a mess on the phone. I say hold out until you get a rock like Kobe's wife,” Misha said. “All of us are going to get exactly what we want. You and Brandon are going to be OK, Nic and Carmen are going to get married, and I am going to be paid in Atlanta. Give me some more wine.” Misha held out her glass. She still hadn't told them about Patrick.
Carmen poured more wine. “Girl, I swear this drinking wine totally helps with my cramps.”
“Shit, what day is it?” She looked at her calendar, gasping.
“What's wrong with you?” Carmen said, taking another sip of her wine.
Lena looked at both of them. “I'm late.”
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Michelle walked out of the gym and headed toward her dorm. She heard someone beep a horn at her. She turned around to see a white Mercedes. She pointed at herself, wondering if the person was honking for her.
Brandon rolled down the window and nodded.
“Hey, Brandon, what's up.”
“Nothing much. Your name is Michelle, right?”
“Yeah.”
Brandon nodded his head. “Yeah, I've seen you play. You got skills, yo'.”
Michelle smiled. She took it as a major compliment coming from him.
“Look, you know Dee, right? I just got the good news from her that she's going pro.”
“Word! Dee didn't even tell me that,” Michelle smiled.
“Yeah, I want to deliver a gift to her, but I forgot to get her address. Do you by any chance know what apartments?”
“Yeah, of course.” Michelle wrote down the address and some quick directions.
“Thanks for this.” Brandon handed her some folded bills.
Michelle smiled at the three one-hundred-dollar bills. He drove off before she could thank him.