********************
"Please."
My pathetic plea made a wolfish grin appear on his face. There was something about his facial expressions that was very intoxicating, it was almost on par with his ministrations.
"You like that, don't you?" A moan escaped my gaping lips while my brain tried to register his enquiry. It was hard to think when my brain was hazy with lust. What was his question again? Did I like what he was doing? My body knew the answer too well and I nodded frantically. "Words, Debbie."
If I wasn't experiencing a surge of dopamine hormones coursing through my body, I'd have scowled at the man and probably even given him the middle finger. Who did he think he was? Regardless of my pride, I did his bidding. "Y-yeah, yeah I do."
His tongue swiped the outer shell of my ear for a couple seconds before his teeth replaced it and pulled my earlobe in the most sensual way. The gentle assault on my ear rivaled the frenzied activities of his fingers between my legs. His whispers of filthy words increased my heart rate to the max. I wouldn't last long if he kept that up.
"You're a nasty, little girl, aren't you?" He trekked down my body slowly with his lips and I whimpered. It was getting out of hand, I was already on the brink and he was trying to push me over the edge. "Look at you, soaking up my bed. You should be ashamed of yourself, pretty." He sneered his derogatory words and I whined when his fingers left my heated core.
"Please." His mocking chuckle floated in my ears before his teeth tugged my still-tender nipple. I tried to rub my thighs together, maybe I'd be able to relieve some tension that way. However I couldn't do that because his thigh was between mine. I usually loved how he tortured me, but sometimes it was too much. "P-pl-please."
"Since you asked nicely." His wet tongue drew a lazy line in my flooded centre and I let out a sigh of relief. Finally. "I love when you beg, Debbie." His dentures grazed my clitoris and a string of profanities flew out of my lips. "It makes me want to do terrible things to you. Things that'll make you beg again." My hand left the duvet and settled in his silky hair. "You want me to do those things, don't you?"
"Y-yes. Yes, please." I hated how pathetic I sounded but I couldn't help it, I was at his mercy and he wasn't being very merciful.
He clocked his tongue in derision and I shuddered in anticipation of the scornful words that were sure to come. "You're such a desperate, little thing." His warm breath against my pussy made me shiver in ecstasy. "You're wetter than a loofah right now, I don't need to wait any longer to fuck you. That's perfect cos my dick is so hard, it's starting to hurt."
His dick prodded at my hole and instinctively, I clamped around him. "Fuck, don't do that. I won't last long if you grip me that tight." I nodded like a submissive girl and released my pelvic muscles.
He tried again and started moving at a steady pace. Hard and slow. His deep grunts, my high-pitched moans, the wet squelching sounds from where our bodies joined and the headboard whenever my head hit it, they all formed a mesmerizing symphony that echoed in the room.
"Say my name, Debbie. I want every fucker to know who's fucking your brains out." I gasped when he hit a little harder. "Say my fucking name."
"David."
A smack on my tits and I whimpered at the delicious pain. "Again."
"David."
*******************
I woke up with a start. My heart was pounding hard against my ribcage and my body was sleek with sweat. "Oh, God." I muttered as I looked around disoriented. What the hell was going on? My eyes narrowed in the semi darkness as fragments of my dream came to me.
"Fucking hell." One of my fingers penetrated my genitalia and came out wet. Just as I thought. "You've got to be kidding me." I murmured in annoyance and a little self disgust as I got out of Mikayla's bed. With heavy steps, I trudged to my bathroom and ran my loofah under the running tap. "Nice way to start the morning." My complaints as I cleaned the wet spot on my daughter's bed, ricocheted off the walls and returned to my ears.
I tried to forget about the incident by immersing myself in house chores. That was pretty easy to do since it was a Saturday morning, I had laundry duties anyway. Soft music blared out of the boom box and my hips wiggled to the beat. I washed, I cleaned, I mopped, I scrubbed and by the time Mikayla had woken up, the whole house was as pristine as a crystal.
"Mama, bake some bread for breakfast."
I almost gave my daughter the stink eye for that request for although I was still walking straight, it felt like I'd lost a couple screws in my waist. There was no way I could stand for an hour to bake nothing because my body was really hurting. "Baby, we gon have to eat out this morning cos I'm super tired. I could pass out if I tried to cook anything at all right now." She chuckled at my extravagant display of pain and I offered silent thanks that she was so compliant about it.
"Should we order in or go to Groochies?" Groochies was a local diner not so far away.
I shrugged as I stood to turn off the music. I winced as pain shot up from my lower back and released a truckload of endorphins in my body. It was easier to justify Nelly's laziness and slobbery at moments like that. "Sweetie, we can do whatever you want."
"Let's go to Groochies!" I nodded with a small smile on my face at her unbridled enthusiasm. Nelly was my therapist and her happiness was my therapy, she was the reason I didn't need the services of companies like WeCare Inc.
My phone rang out as I was about to step in the shower box. I debated ignoring the call but thought against it when it rang again. I started the laborious task of walking back to my room, my legs felt like they weighed 80 pounds apiece.
"Nelly, you better have a really important reason for disturbing my peace this morning." I drawled into the mouthpiece.
"Good morning to you too."
I removed a lint from my bedsheet and dusted the bed lightly with my hand. "Too? I don't remember wishing you that."
Her haughty chuckle made my nose flare in slight annoyance. Nelly had a way of crawling under my skin. "Somebody apparently has her panties in a twist. It's way too early for that though. Aren't you supposed to be sleeping right now?"
I let out an exasperated sigh before massaging my temples with my pointer finger. "Nelly, what do you want please?"
"To come over."
I raised my brows in question before remembering that she couldn't see it. "Why?"
Her scoff pierced the static and I already knew she'd misconstrued my question. "Oh now you asking me why I gotta come over? Because you didn't go to your silly job, I'm now a stranger? That's how it's going to be now? No hay problema, just know I'm going to ask you the exact same thing when you ask me to come over on Monday morning because estás loco."
Times like that made me question my best friend's sanity. "No, estás loco. What are you even saying, ma'am? I asked why are you telling me you want to come over because you don't ever do that. You just barge in like you own the place and leave when you want to so pardon me for wondering why today is different."
"Ohhhh." A silent pause. "That's what you meant?" I rolled my eyes and hissed in frustration. "Well, Mikayla told me y'all are going to the park today and I'm not with the house key. I had to be sure y'all are still at home."
I glanced at the wall clock in my room. "Lee, it's barely 10:30am. How could we have gone by now? I'm not even sure the park is open by this time."
"Oh, it is though. It opens by 6am and closes 12 hours later."
I narrowed my eyes in slight confusion at the very useful piece of information. "Okay?"
She shouted at someone in the background and I chuckled at the amount of Spanish curse words she spewed within seconds. "What time are y'all leaving?"
"Maybe 3."
I stood up as she replied. "Aight, I'll see you then." I quickly took a shower and met Kayla prancing around the living room. She was a fireball of energy and bounced down the stairs to the car.
"Groochies! Groochies! Groochies!" Her excited chanting made me laugh till my belly muscles started to protest. Within minutes, we arrived at the diner and Mikayla ordered the king of the menu. Chicken & waffles. "Mama, you need to order that too."
By noon, we were already back home with our bellies filled with the wonderful breakfast. I wasn't a big fan of Belgian waffles but something about the one I took at Groochies felt just right. "Kayla, go inside and do your homework. If not, we not going to no park."
Alone on the couch, I started to drift off when my phone screeched again. I offered a quick prayer and let out a sigh of relief when I saw it wasn't Nelly again. There was something about that woman that made me want to hide sometimes. I put the speaker to my ear and a silky voice floated through.
"Dee."
I closed my eyes and reveled in the familiarity. "Ma."
My momma huffed in the reciever and I knew it was time for some motherly scolding. I was long overdue for it. "I'm so hurt right now. So if I didn't call you today, you wouldn't do that either? I trained you better than that, Dee. You don't even care if your frail, old ma is still breathing. You don't love me anymore?"
I gulped down the exasperated sigh that wanted to leave my throat. Momma was a handful, more than a handful actually and sometimes it was hard to keep up. "Of course not. You know I do."
"I don't."
I shook my head in humor. The woman was petty as fuck. "Alright. Now you do though." My momma always said she wished she had a more affectionate daughter and it was quite difficult to decide if I should be angry or amused at the wish.
Her exaggerated sniffs wafted into my ear and I rolled my eyes at her antics. Between I and my mom, anyone would think I was older. Her childish nature and petty gimmicks made sure of that. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she birthed me and not the other way round. "Anyway, that wasn't why I called." She muttered something in the backyard and judging from how soft her voice was, it was probably her pet cat. "Bobby has been kinda fussy for a few days, I'll take him to the vet tomorrow." I nodded in agreement even though she couldn't see me. "Like I was saying, guess who came back?"
"Grandpa?" Even without being with her, I knew her lips would form a scowl but still twitch at the edges. My momma grew up without her father because the man packed his bags one day and never came back. My mom was 6 then. Granny Tricia had to take care of her 5 kids all by herself and that was one of the reasons I really respected the 76 year old woman. I also respected my mom because over the years, she got over it and started to even joke about it.
"That wasn't a very good joke."
I bit the inside of my cheeks to prevent the cheeky grin from appearing on my face. "You sure about that, Ma?"
A couple seconds passed before her girly giggles filled the air. "Nah, I'm just fucking with you. It was." I joined in the laughter, albeit a slightly deeper voice. My mom's voice was as high-pitched as a bell. "Your guess was totally wrong but I'll tell you who came though." I wasn't very interested to be honest but I hummed to let her know I was paying attention. "Deshae."
My ears perked up and I sat upright in the couch. "Deshae?"
"Mhmmm." Her hum sounded a bit smug and she probably had a smirk on her face. "He just got back from Britain and he came over to ask about you." She reduced her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and I strained to hear her. "He speaks with a bit of an accent now and it's so sexy to listen to."
"Ma!" She chuckled at my whine. "Stop saying stuffs like that, it makes me want to barf all over myself. You are old enough to give birth to Deshae."
"Sweetheart, he was your highschool boyfriend. Of course, I can give birth to him but then, I didn't. So I can say whatever I wanna." I grunted in displeasure and she laughed even harder. How come everybody loved ticking me off? "Anyways, he came over and was so eager to know how you've been all these years."
I nodded absentmindedly. "Ohhh, really? That's uhm, quite thoughtful of him."
"He was so surprised, or will I say shocked, when he heard you had a kid." She chuckled softly. "I can't lie, the look on his face was priceless."
It took me a couple seconds to digest what she said and when I did, I was a little livid. "Ma, why did you have to do that? That shit you did was unnecessary, you couldn't hold in that piece of information? He didn't need to know that."
She scoffed and my frown deepened. "Why? He didn't look bothered in the least. In my opinion, he's still enamoured by you."
"Ma, I don't care about that."
Her huff of disapproval was sliced the thin air. "What in the feminist shit are you talking about? Sweetie, you need a husband and you and Deshae have some lovey-dovey history. I don't see the problem here."
Kayla strolled out of her room and I got distracted for a bit. "Ma, the problem is I don't want Deshae. I'm not against remarrying but I just don't want Deshae. He's in my past and he's there for a reason. I'm not trying to start a new life with an old flame."
A pregnant pause settled for a while before she disrupted it. "Ohhh, I see now. Your reasoning is quite logical."
Kayla seemed to have some difficulties with her homework so I raised my hand to signal her to give me a little time. "Good we got that cleared up. You told him about Mikayla and that was all, yeah?" My eyebrows raised slightly when she didn't answer at once. "Ma?"
"Uhmm, I might have also given him your number."
I smacked my forehead in exhaustion. "You might? Ma, did you or did you not give my number to Deshae?"
"I can't remember, sweetie." Her saccharine voice made my eyes narrow in suspicion. "I'm already old, my memory can't be as active as yours. I can't even remember what I ate this morning."
My lips tugged at the ends. My momma was some funny woman. "Ma, you're 52. That's really far from old."
Her superficial giggle scratched the insides of my ear and I cringed at the sound. "You think so?"
"Of course, you're not old yet. Believe me or not, I'm taking you to Florida the moment that happens."
Her gasp could be heard from a mile away. "You're not doing that."
A bored yawn left my lips. "Oh, I am. I'm so doing that."
"You're not taking me to a retirement home, Dee." I chuckled at her frazzled tone. "You know what? We done. Get off my phone right now."
"Bye Ma. I love you." She said it back and the call ended.
There was a rumble in the clouds and in a couple minutes, it started raining. Damn, I couldn't possibly go to the park with Kayla anymore. She looked at the dark sky outside with a forlorn expression and snuggled up against me on the couch. We laid in that comfortable posture while she told me stories about her school.
"Who's there?" I called out as a knock sounded on the door.
"Open up, vampiro." Nelly breezed inside the house with that authoritative air she always carried about. Kayla's squeal of delight reverberated in the room and she jumped into Nelly's open arms. It was obvious they had a tight bond. "How are you doing, princesa?" Her eyes met mine and a mocking smile formed on her face. "Payaso."
I rolled my eyes at her greeting. "Seriously? Clown? You need better words."
She put Kayla down and patted my head like a pet. "Nah, I'm quite satisfied with the ones I've got." She pointed outside. "Y'all can't go to the park today. You can go tomorrow."
I nodded in agreement and scooted to the side so she could also sit. The couch was her favorite seat. "Yeah, we'll do that." I gave her a slow once-over. "It's raining outside. How are you not wet?"
I regretted the question immediately the last word left my lips. "Oh, I am. Just in places you can't see right now." Her crude comment made me remember the morning incident and the heavy feeling I'd been trying to chase away all day descended on me.
"You need to stop doing that." Her snicker made Kayla laugh and I sighed in exhaustion. It was hard to deal with two kids.
"Never, Dee. You can ask for something else though." She turned to my daughter who was scribbling on a piece of paper. "What did y'all eat today?"
Kayla looked up from her activity to reply her."Waffles and chicken."
"You made waffles?" I shook my head at her question. "You went to Waffle House?"
"Mummy drove to Groochies and then we ate chicken and waffles there." Kayla looked at me and smiled sheepishly. "Mama, I'm hungry." I nodded quietly and left both of them in the living room.
I didn't put much thought as I set out the ingredients I needed, my mind was someplace else. I made the pie in silence and didn't even taste the meringue like I always did, it was almost like only my body was active. When the oven timer went off, I took plates of pies to the duo waiting for the meal.
"I can't even front, you make the best foods. This lemon meringue pie is 100% percent gold." I resisted the urge to warn Nelly to desist from talking to me when her mouth was full. I nodded wordlessly and smiled when Kayla gave her compliments.
Even though I didn't look up from my plate, I could feel Nelly's stare. I knew she was itching to interrogate me and was probably just waiting for Mikayla to get busy with something. Her opportunity window opened when my daughter went to her room to take a nap.
"Hey, what's up? You good?" I nodded in affirmation and she kept pressing on till I snapped at her.
"Leave me the fuck alone, I said I'm fine. What is wrong with you?"
She raised an unimpressed brow and I looked away. "That's what we doin now, chica? Jungle mode? Mob style?" She scowled and went to the fridge. " I should remind you that you can't jump me. And you can't outshout me either so you better know what you're doing."
My lips twitched and I could feel bubbles of laughter floating in my throat. After a moment of guilt, I dropped the plate I was holding and gave her a remorseful look. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just a little-." I searched in vain for a word to qualify the way I felt. "I just don't feel so good."
Nelly wasn't one to keep a grudge and she just shrugged in nonchalance. "What happened?" I let a sigh and she quirked her right brow. "You got another ticket?" I blinked in confusion but she misinterpreted my reaction as agitation. "That's not a reason to be sad although it really does suck. But then, you're a bad driver, it shouldn't be a shock to you."
What the fuck did she mean by that? "I'm not a bad driver."
Her scoff of derision made my blood boil a little. "Well, the dents and scratches at the sides of your car seem to disagree."
"That proves nothing."
Her eyes widened a fraction and she crossed her arms. ""Oh really? What about that one time close to the frat house in college? And the drive-through episode? Oh and that pretty convertible you bashed?" She snickered and I already knew the next thing she'd say. "And best for last, Mr Jones?"
I pouted and looked away. "It was an accident."
Nelly shrugged and chugged down the content of the soda can in her hand. "Of course it was an accident. Nobody actually plans to hit a 65 year old in a parking lot. It was an unplanned event, that's why it's called accident."
I glared at her for a few seconds. Damn, I really was a bad driver. "You've made your point and I'm still not a bad driver." She nodded slowly and I wanted to chew off her head for the disrespect. I let out a deep sigh before continuing. " It happened again. This morning." She looked genuinely lost and I had to elaborate. "I had sex in my sleep."
"Oh." She made a tsk sound. "Your incubus. What's his name again? Dennis? Damon?"
The name tasted like bile as I spat it. "David."
"Damn, I really want to make a mean joke right now but I feel like you're not in the mood to appreciate my hilariousness." I scowled at her callousness and she sniffed the air with little concern. "Your loss, in my opinion." She cleared her throat and I eyed her warily. "But why is it such a big deal to you? It's just a dream."
I shook my head. "No, it always feels so real."
"You said so but then, it's been going on for a long time. You should have gotten used to it."
Nelly came over to hold me and I leaned into her for a while. "These dreams started right before Diego died. Probably a few hours before and that's why it terrifies me, Lee."