The Man in 3B (8 page)

One thing I knew for sure was that my father wouldn’t back down. I took a deep breath, then straightened out my back, holding my head up high. “Look, Leroy, I’m sorry, but I made up my mind. I just can’t come through for you on that, man.”

Every muscle in my body was tense as I waited for him to react. At first he stood there and stared me down. It probably surprised him when that wasn’t enough to make me change my answer. He glanced at Muscles, who looked like he was about to rip my head off, and then back at me. I nearly pissed myself when he roared out in laughter.

“Do you hear that, Muscles? Benny here is a riot.” The veins in his neck seemed to throb with each wave of laughter. “He’s a straight-up comedian. He’s got his chest all pumped up, talking about he’s made up his mind.”

Muscles joined in the laughter for a second, and then just like that, Leroy stopped. He glared at me and said, “You know, you might be real smart with computers and shit, college boy, but you ain’t as smart as I thought you were. ’Cause if you were, you’d know that I do all the thinking around here.”

Muscles took a step closer. He looked like he was itching to kick the shit out of me.

“Let me make myself clear,” Leroy continued. “I wasn’t asking you a damn thing. I was telling you. Now, get your ass in the car before I put my foot in it.”

I took a breath, then let it out slowly, trying to keep my composure even though I felt like I was ready to pass out. “Look, Leroy, I really do appreciate you guys including me in your plans and all, but I’m not getting in your car or robbing no jewelry store with you.”

“Who said anything about you robbing a jewelry store? You just gonna be the lookout after you disable the alarm system,” Leroy explained simply.

Knowing I was somewhat of an electronics whiz, Leroy and his boys had approached me a few months back about this alarm system they were supposedly buying. They said they were going to open a bodega and wanted to see if it was a reliable alarm system. They had the model number and the whole nine. Stupid, naive me looked at it as a challenge to see if I could disarm it. It turned out to be a simple system. I told him he shouldn’t buy one because a guy like me could disarm it in a heartbeat. Stupidest thing I’d ever said.

That’s when Leroy told me about his real plan. They were going to rob Goldberg Jewelers, the biggest jewelry store in Queens, and I was going to disarm the alarm system for him.

“Nah, man, I’m sorry, but I can’t be a part—” Before I could finish my sentence, I felt the full force of Muscles’s huge fist in my gut. I doubled over and struggled to catch my breath. I’d had my share of school yard scrapes, but I’d never been hit that hard in my entire life.

“Dammmmn, that shit hurt, didn’t it? I know that shit hurt,” Leroy mocked, grabbing his stomach. “Now, if you don’t get your ass in the car, I’m gonna have my man Muscles do more than that to your face.”

“I bet you don’t.”

I’d like to say that I’d found the courage to speak those words, but they didn’t come from me. They had come from behind me.

Muscles and Leroy turned toward the voice. “Oh yeah, and who the hell are you, his daddy?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” Pop responded as he made his way out of the apartment building and onto the stoop. All he needed was some theme music, and he would have looked like Shaft in a wife beater and jeans. “And now that you know who I am, who the hell are you?”

“We’re a couple of your son’s buddies from high school. Isn’t that right, Benny?”

“Buddies? I don’t think so. I know all my son’s friends,” my father
said, “and trust me; you’re no friend of Benny’s. Now get the hell away from my kid!”

“Sounds like you calling me a liar, old man, and I hate being called a liar.” Leroy took a few steps toward Pop as I felt Muscles grab the back of my neck, jerking me straight up.

Pop stood his ground. “I don’t care what you like. I want you to get the hell away from my son and get the hell outta here.”

“You hear that, Muscles? College boy’s daddy wants us to leave,” Leroy said with a smirk. “I guess we better go then.”

Muscles let go of my neck, and for a split second, I thought they were actually going to leave.

“You okay, son? I was looking—” Pop never finished his sentence because he was damn near knocked off his feet by a haymaker.

“Pop!” I tried to run to his aid, but Muscles slammed me down on the concrete. He kicked me in the ribs a few times to make sure I stayed put and then went to help Leroy stomp the shit out of my father.

I was struggling to get up, praying they weren’t going to kill my father, when out of nowhere, Daryl appeared on the scene. He spun Muscles around and punched his privates like they were a speed bag. Muscles doubled over, and Daryl planted a foot in his face so hard that Muscles fell right to the ground. It was like watching a superhero take out the villain in one of those comic books turned into a movie.

Once Daryl finished with Muscles, he turned his attention to Leroy. He pulled the Thug Master off my father and slammed him to the sidewalk so hard that he had to have seen stars. Down but not totally out, a bloodied Muscles came charging at Daryl like a bull; but just like a matador, Daryl managed to move quickly to the side and get the raging bull in a headlock.

“If you don’t get out of here and take your friend with you, I’m gonna break your fucking neck,” Daryl seethed through gritted teeth.

Muscles wasn’t about to give up that easily. From his bent-over position, he was able to get some leverage and started lifting Daryl off the ground. Daryl still wouldn’t release Muscles from the headlock. He started pounding his fist into Muscles’s face.

They tussled to the ground, where Muscles tried to pull out a gun. Things could have turned tragic in a heartbeat, but instead, Daryl quickly wrestled the gun away from Muscles and turned it on him.

Daryl aimed the gun at Muscles, who still looked like he was going to try to jump bad again.

“I wish you would,” Daryl spat. “ ’Cause to the cops, this ain’t gonna look like nothing but self-defense.”

I don’t know if it was his words, the menacing look, or the gun in Daryl’s hand, but Muscles stopped dead in his tracks.

“Obviously y’all don’t know who you’re fucking with, so you might wanna ask somebody.” Daryl threw up something that looked like a gang sign, and Muscles’s eyes became large. I couldn’t be positive, but he almost looked like he had a little fear. “Now, like I said, you might want to get your boy and get the hell out of here.”

Muscles helped Leroy up off the ground, and they leaned on each other as they limped to their car.

As we watched them drive away, my father said, “Daryl, I don’t know what to say except thanks.” His face was bruised and he probably had a few broken ribs, but thank God, he was alive. “You saved me and my boy.”

“Don’t thank me,” he replied. “That’s what neighbors are for.”

From that moment on, Daryl Graham was no longer just my neighbor. He was my new hero.

Wow!
was the only thought that ran through my mind as I tried to savor the last spasms of the best orgasm I’d ever had. Of the many, many orgasms I’d had that day, it was hard to pick the best, but yeah, I’d say this one was it. Daryl had always been good in bed, but he’d actually taken things to the next level this time. There’s something to be said for reunion sex, I guess.

I exhaled slowly, then looked down to see him sliding up from between my legs until his lips met mine. I could taste myself as he kissed me, and I bit his lower lip. My hands roamed over the array of tattoos along his muscular shoulders and back. The feel of his Adonis-like body pressed against me sent mini-tremors down my spine… and to that special place that he’d so masterfully pleased with his lips and tongue only a few moments earlier.

I gasped as he positioned himself between my legs, sliding into my slippery canal with ease. He was my own personal Kryptonite, making me weaker the further he pushed himself into me.

We’d barely even said hello earlier. He kissed me at the front door of my vacation rental and then swept me off my feet. I didn’t protest at all when he carried me into my bedroom and undressed me. The way he looked at me, I felt like I was the most precious thing in the world, and I belonged to him and only him. He kissed me from head to toe, paying extra-special attention to all my erogenous zones.

And to think I was scared to death of how he would react when I first opened the door.

Truth be told, I almost hadn’t recognized Daryl at first. He’d filled
out and gained a little weight, not to mention the fact that he’d gone from cornrows to a faded haircut and beard. Not that I’m complaining. He looked sexy as hell with a beard.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re the greatest lover ever?”
And that your dick is the absolute perfect fit for this pussy?

He moved his hips and hit that spot inside me, making me gasp and jump. “Yeah, just one that I can remember.”

“Who was she?” I asked, suddenly feeling a little jealous.

“It was about five years ago,” he answered without missing a beat with his gyrations. “Fine little thing. A college girl, if I remember. She kinda reminds me of you.”

I finally caught on. “Well, dammit, she sure as hell didn’t lie.”

He kissed me gently and then pushed up on his arms. I looked up into his eyes as he hovered above me, grinding his hips to get even deeper. I smiled when I saw the Jewish star pendant hanging from a chain around his neck.

“Is this the one I bought you? I can’t believe you still wear it.” I reached out and touched it, running my hand along its edges.

“It sure is.”

He stared at me with this adoring expression, as if there was more he wanted to say but couldn’t. I knew how he felt. I also had a lot on my mind, remembering how the whole world seemed to fade into the background whenever we were together.

How did I ever give him up?

I spoke to him in a whisper, looking deep into his eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. If I could do it all over again…”

He shook his head, then placed his lips over mine, kissing me quiet. “I know. It’s okay. I forgave you a long time ago.”

“How?” I asked. How could he forgive me when I’d committed the worst of sins? This man, this wonderful man, had saved my life, gotten me off drugs and back in school. Meantime, I had taken away the one thing, the only thing, he’d ever asked me for without even giving it a second thought. You don’t forgive a woman who does that, and you damn sure don’t forgive a woman who aborts your child against your wishes. Do you?

I didn’t even know I was pregnant at the time, but it didn’t take Daryl long to figure it out. He knew my cycle like clockwork, and when I didn’t have my period on time, he made the declaration that I was with child and needed to take a pregnancy test. When I protested and said it must be something hormonal and I was probably just late, he went right down to the drugstore and picked up a First Response test kit. You should have seen his face when he saw the double pink lines—like he’d won the damn lottery. He was too hyped to even notice my disappointment.

“This doesn’t scare you at all?” I’d asked.

“No. You’re gonna be a great mom,” he kept repeating. “A great mom.”

What Daryl didn’t know, or perhaps wasn’t ready to hear, was that I wasn’t going to be a great mom because I wasn’t going to be a mom at all. I didn’t want or need a baby then or now. I wished I could sue the damn pharmaceutical company that made my birth control pills, because I’d followed their instructions to the letter and they’d literally ruined my life. Hell, I was only twenty-one and had finally gotten back into school. I couldn’t have a baby—not then.

A few weeks later, I pretended to go to class when actually I was going to a women’s clinic in Long Island to have an abortion.

I knew Daryl would never be able to forgive me, so I had my lie all planned out. I told Daryl I’d had a miscarriage and we’d have to try again; meanwhile, I started taking a stronger birth control pill. He was pretty devastated, but things finally went back to normal—until my credit card bill came in and he questioned the charge to Planned Parenthood. I’ll never forget the look of hurt and pain on his face. I was sure he’d never forgive me when he walked out that night and didn’t return.

And now here we were, making love again.

“Do you really forgive me?”

At first, he didn’t give an answer in words. He just kept kissing me as we made love. Finally he said, “I forgive you because I love you.”

“And I… love… you,” I moaned as I savored the feeling of him deep inside my walls.

“Besides, we can always make another baby, right?”

He gave one final thrust that hit the right spot, and I could barely breathe, let alone speak. A beam of bright sunlight danced through my mind as I arched my back and exploded in ecstasy.

When the waves of pleasure finally subsided, I lay there with my eyes closed, spent. I felt happier than I’d been in a long, long time until I realized Daryl hadn’t collapsed in exhaustion beside me. In fact, I felt him still hovering over me. I opened my eyes and saw him staring down at me with a less than satisfied look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said.

“What question?” I wasn’t being facetious. In the throes of passion, I hadn’t really been concentrating on his words. I was too busy enjoying the way he made my body feel.

“I said we can always make another baby. I want to know if you agree.”

Talk about killing that after-sex glow. “Daryl, do we have to talk about this now?” I didn’t want to think about a baby. I wanted him to make love to me over and over and over again.

He rolled off of me and looked up at the ceiling. “Yes, I think we should talk about this now. I mean, you said you love me, and I told you I love you, which means we never really stopped loving each other. And we only broke up because you had an abortion. I need to know if there’s a future in this or if this is only a onetime thing. If it is, I’m cool with that, but I need to know.”