Authors: Keith Thomas Walker
That was one thing Kyra found endearing about Leonard. He was as rough as they came, and h
e handled his business in the streets. But when it came to Kyra, he was always sweet and loving. He showered her with gifts, making sure she was always the best looking woman at every place he took her.
Kyra was a year into their relationship w
hen she discovered Leonard used heroin. He snorted it from little capsules that he bought for five to ten dollars.
Kyra wasn’t completely shocked when she caught him in the bathroom one day, because a lot guys in the neighborhood snorted
boy
, as it was called. Plus Leonard already drank heavily and smoked marijuana regularly. In fact, Leonard was high more times than not. Kyra was more upset because he kept his new drug of choice a secret.
“How long you been doing
that?” she asked.
“About
five months.”
“Why?”
“Just something to do,” Leonard said. He sat on the toilet with an empty capsule on the sink next to him. He wiped his nose. He was already starting to nod.
“Is that why you been looking so sleepy all the time?”
Leonard nodded lazily.
“You got to be careful with that stuff,” Kyra warned. “I heard it’ll take you fast.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Leonard said.
“Don’t be leaving none of that
mess where Quinell can find it,” Kyra said, and that was the full extent of her drug intervention. By then Kyra loved Leonard more than she loved herself, so she never considered leaving him.
Leonard continued to snort his
dope for the next year, and there were no problems. He continued to thrive in the drug game, and he always put Kyra first. Leonard was one of few dealers in the city who never cheated on his woman.
Not only did Kyra turn a blind eye to his drug abuse, but she found it beneficial in bed. Whenever Leonard snorted heroin, he developed what he called
dope dick
. The drug kept him hard and horny and unable to have an orgasm for hours at a time. Leonard was a sex machine, and Kyra was the only woman he had eyes for. She was so blinded by love, Kyra actually squealed with delight when she learned she was pregnant with Kat.
Unfortunately there’s no such thing as a functional heroin addict. Leonard’s drug use became more blatant because the only person he cared about pleasing had no problem with it. He began to lose money
as his heroin habit jumped from $10 a day to $100. As he spiraled out of control, Leonard had no desire to leave the house to generate some type of income. By the time Kyra tried to intervene, Leonard was too far gone. He had taken to shooting his dope with a needle. Kyra watched him lose everything he had, his looks and health being the first to go.
She
stayed because she loved him, and Kyra even put her family in jeopardy because of Leonard. But even today, she could not blame him fully. She understood that she made a man her whole world and allowed him to drag her all the way down with him, to the point where Kyra lost just as much as he did.
T
he worst part about it was Leonard wasn’t even a good man. He was a drug dealer with no plans for the future past selling more crack rocks than he sold the day before. Kyra threw her life away for a complete loser.
She
was mad at Leonard, but Kyra would always be more disgusted with herself.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
FAMILY MATTERS
The
following week Donovan’s Mad Stallions pulled off the shocker of the season with a win over the highly favored Seahawks from Langston Hughes High. The game was on Halloween, which added a surreal element to the bizarre night. Donovan’s iffy punt returner even scored a touchdown with just twelve seconds remaining in the game, bringing the final score to 42-13.
The
next day Donovan picked up his girlfriend and her two children for a Saturday outing that included the new Disney movie and an all-you-can-eat dinner at Don Pablo’s. The date was November 1
st
. The brutal heat wave of summer had finally given way to the moderate temperatures of fall. It wasn’t cool enough for a jacket, but it was nice to wake up in the morning and feel a cool breeze rather than the mid-eighty degree temperatures that usually greeted them at seven a.m.
Kyra received her first check from the school district
on Friday. She wouldn’t let Donovan pay for their movie, even though with tickets, popcorn and drinks for everyone, she ended up spending over fifty dollars.
“You should’ve let me pay,” Donovan told her when they settled into their seats in the darkened theater.
“I’m alright,” Kyra said. “I don’t think we’ll be going to the movies again for at least a
month
. But today I’m good. And I need to write you a check when you take us home. Don’t let me forget.”
“
Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” Donovan said. He leaned closer and kissed under her ear.
Kyra giggled and reached for his hand. Kat sat on her right, and Quinell sat on Donovan’s left.
“Just because your kisses make me weak doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget about what I owe you,” she whispered.
She squeezed Donovan’s hand, and he kissed
the side of her neck again. His kisses were ticklish and electrifying at the same time. She and Donovan hadn’t been intimate since the homecoming game last week. Kyra would never forget the feel of his mouth all over her body.
“If you write me a check, I won’t cash it.” Donovan spoke in a hushed tone.
“Then I’ll give you cash,” Kyra replied.
“I won’t take it,” Donovan insisted.
“I’ll break into your house and leave it on the coffee table.”
“If you break into my house,
I have the right to do whatever I want with you,” Donovan informed.
“What are you gonna do, shoot me?”
“No, but I might tie you to the bed,” Donovan whispered, “teach you a good lesson.”
Damn
. Kyra felt a tingle roll from her chest to below her waist. “I’m
definitely
breaking in now,” she said. “I never been tied up before.”
“I never tied anyone up,” Donovan said. “I was just kidding.”
“I know,” Kyra said. “But now you have to do it. And you can’t let me go until you’re completely satisfied.” She gave him a wicked grin and kissed him on the lips.
Donovan had to
return his attention to the silver screen. This bondage talk was turning him on, which wasn’t so cool with Quinell sitting next to him. “We’ll talk about this later,” he told Kyra.
She laughed
and then turned to offer Kat some popcorn.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
They went out to eat afterwards. This time Donovan gave the cashier his debit card before Kyra had a chance to open her purse. She started to complain when they got to their table, but Donovan nipped it in the bud, for good this time.
“
Baby, can you come here for a second?” Donovan got up and walked away from the table.
Confused
, Kyra went to see what he wanted.
“Listen,” he said
when they had some privacy. “All this talk about money needs to stop. I been telling you for a month that you don’t have to pay me back–”
“Yeah, but–”
“There’s no
but
, Kyra. I’m talking right now. You need to listen.”
Stunned, she piped down.
“I love you, Kyra. I know you haven’t said when you’ll move in with me, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re my girl for life. I don’t do things for
you
anymore. I do it for
us
. So stop complaining about the money I spent. Let it go. There’s a million things you need to spend your paycheck on, but paying me back ain’t one of them. Understand?”
Donovan never used this authoritative
tone with her. Kyra liked it. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him unexpectedly.
Donovan frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means I’m sorry, and you’re right and what you say goes,” Kyra replied.
“Really?”
She nodded. “Mmm hmm.”
Donovan
smiled. “That’s great. Makes me feel better about the surprise I have for you.”
“What surprise?”
“I’ll show you when we leave here.”
Kyra narrowed her eyes. She had no idea what it could be.
“You said whatever I say goes,” Donovan reminded. “That means you can’t complain about it. You have to shut up and take it, whatever I give you.”
Kyra smiled. “I just had a bunch of dirty thoughts about that.”
“About what?”
“About me shutting up and taking it.”
Donovan chuckled. “That’s not the surprise I’m talking about, but I got some of that in mind, too. Can you spend the night with me?”
“What about the kids?”
“Them, too,” Donovan said. He walked off before Kyra could inquire about where they would sleep.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
Two hours later Donovan pulled into his driveway with three happy guests. Quinell was smiling ear to ear. He’d been to the movies before and out to eat a lot of times, but he never did both in one day. And the good times weren’t over yet. Donovan had the best video games and consoles Q had ever seen. He hurried out of the truck and was the first one waiting at Donovan’s door.
Donovan let everyone inside, and then he went
to the den to show Q the Kinect he recently purchased for his Xbox. Kat was equally intrigued by the new device, so Donovan left her with her brother and returned to Kyra who was waiting in the living room. Donovan’s chest grew warm as he rounded the coffee table and looked down at her. Kyra looked comfortable on his sofa. She had the remote in hand, and she kicked off her pumps already.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Donovan said. “Got the kids playing in the den
, my girl chillin’ on the couch. You can’t tell me this ain’t a happy home.”
“It is nice,” Kyra said
. She knew what he was getting at. “We need to talk about–”
“Wait,” Donovan said. “Come here. I want to show you something.”
He reached for her hand and helped her off the sofa. Kyra followed him down the hall. She thought he was taking her to his bedroom, but Donovan stopped at another door. Kyra knew he had a home gym in there. But when Donovan opened the door, she saw that all of his weight-lifting stuff was gone. It had been replaced with a queen-size bed. There were also two dressers that hadn’t been there before.
Kyra looked at her man in confusion.
“For Quinell,” Donovan said. “I was thinking that when y’all move in here, this could be his room. I got another bedroom I use mostly for storage. I’m going to clear that one out, too, so we’ll have a place for Kat. As for tonight, I was thinking Q and Kat could share this bed, or he could sleep on the sofa in the den. I know it’s three of y’all in one room at your aunt’s house, so I think Q will be okay with sharing this room with Kat, just for tonight.”
Kyra’s heart
quivered. No man ever treated her as good as Donovan did. She still hadn’t confirmed that she would move in with him. She thought Donovan was being silly and spontaneous when he first asked her. But if he went through this much trouble, he had to be serious. Kyra took a seat on the bed. Donovan sat with her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“I am,” Kyra said. She looked into his eyes and smiled. It was a strange smile, because her eyes were filled with tears.
“Then why do you look like you’re going to cry?” Donovan asked.
“Because I don’t think you know what you’re doing,” Kyra said. “And believe me, this is a weird feeling, because I can always count on you to do the right thing.”
“Why do you think I’m not doing the right thing now?”
“Because we only been together for a week,” Kyra said. “If anybody else asked me to move in with them after that amount of time, I’d run for the hills, thinking they were crazy.”
“I’m not anybody else.”
“I know,” Kyra said. “And I know you want to do the right thing. But I don’t think you thought this out enough. Don’t you want me to get my own place so we can, you know, see how it goes with us first.”
Donovan shook his head. “You sound like my mama.”
“You told her about this?”
“Yeah. She thinks I’m scared
.”
Kyra’s eyes brightened.
That was news to her. “Why did she say that?”
“’Cause I’m scared of losing you,” Donovan said. “She thinks I want to hurry up and move you in and get married so that I know for sure we’ll be together.”