"Aren't you gonna sit?" Pops asks while taking the lid off his breakfast plate.
My ass hurts badly because of Elio. The sex was far from gentle; he fucked like some rabbit in heat and I had to grit my teeth in bear with it and the nigga kissed me passionately afterward--just thinking about it makes the palms of my hands sweat and I wipe them on my jeans.
"Nah, ain't staying long. I just came to check on you."
"You ain't gotta check on me Everest, I'm fine." he smiled. "But how are you? How was Yemaya's funeral?"
"Sad?" I gave a nervous smile.
"How her momma and daddy holding up?" He eats a fork of scrambled eggs that looks unseasoned.
I shrugged. "Okay, I guess? I mean they just buried their only child."
I was thinking of going by checking on them, maybe taking some food but I'm sure their friends and family brought them tons of food they probably wouldn't eat.
"Give them my condolences next time you see'em," he said.
I stepped out of my pop's room to go to a vending machine to get a cold drink. A Nurse passed by me smiling just being friendly asking me how I was doing. And I don't know why this lump suddenly formed in my throat and I choked back the unwanted emotion of grief. Doing fine. That was what I could say — but I felt like a hurricane was inside me.
Pops was already knocked out when I came back. I tried to sit down in the chair by his bedside. I shift a little to get comfortable. The room door opened and at first, I thought it was a nurse. Then it closed and opened again so I turned around in the chair.
"Mr. Jensen?" Mikhail was confused when he saw me and I was confused too.
"Hey, What's up?" I laughed. "Small ass world."
"Wrong room, I see." He looks down at a paper he's holding. "Help?"
We went to the nurses' station to get some help. The room he was looking for was back on the second floor. This was the sixth floor. Mike asked me if I would walk with him so I did. He looks sharp today in his long black overcoat. We talked a little; he asked how my hand was, and I showed him.
"It healed up pretty good," I said.
Mike grazed the palm of my hand with his fingertips. "Very nice."
We get to the room and stand outside for a bit. "Work today?"
"Nah."
Elio told me he wouldn't call me today to give me a chance to rest up after the sex. I didn't take him to be the aftercare type of person after sex, cleaning me up, making me drink water, making sure I was okay (which I fucking wasn't).
"Lunch?" Mike asked. "Me and you?"
Some nurses walk by us gawking at Mike and smiling at them, making them giggle. He turns his attention back to me.
I was hungry as fuck.
"If you let me pick the place then yeah." I shrugged.
Mike smiles at me. "Just give me a second." He opens the room door and goes in. I could hear a man ask why he was here in a terrified voice before screaming for a nurse. I leaned against the wall and my phone buzzed with a text.
Elio: How are you doing this afternoon, Mr. Jesnen? Do you want me to order you something to eat?
I ignored his text. Mike comes out of the room, slipping off a pair of black leather gloves he wasn't wearing before.
"Any place in mind you want to eat?"
"Wingstop."
"Is this Wingstop, very good?"
"Fuck, yeah," I said.
We take my car. Mike had two of his men following behind us. The radio feels the silence in the car. 97.9 The Box was playing a mix. When we get to Wingstop I put Mike on to the lemon pepper wings and mango habanero wings. He looks at the mango habanero wings and picks one up examining it before taking a bite. His men sat at a table behind us both sitting to where they could see who was coming into the Wingstop. Mike and I talk in between bites of wings.
"Elio pays well?" Mike asked.
"He pays for my pops treatments so the money I would be making goes to that no cash touches my hand."
"You work for me? I pay cash. A grand every week?" Mike picks up a lemon pepper wing and takes a bite. He makes a face, chewing, before throwing the half-eaten wing down.
"Man, That shit would be great. But Elio, he's already doing this stuff for my pops, so I can't just switch up on him like that." I take a bite out of the mango habanero wing.
"Your loyalty lies with him. I understand. But I can do what Elio does for your father." Mike eats no more wings. He wipes his fingers on a napkin and picks up his cup taking a sip of his water. "But you think about it."
I didn't like how he said my loyalty lies with Elio. It didn't...but until my pops finished his treatments, I was practically bonded to Elio, and even though I could switch up on him and start working for Mike, I just knew that outcome wouldn't look nice for me or my pops.
"Yeah, I'll think about it."
"I have a club downtown. Club Urban. You come tonight?"
"I ain't into clubbing," I said, picking up my Coca-Cola. But that little bit I just said was a lie.
The first time I met Elio was in a club and look what that got me drugged. Then the second time I was in a club having fun, Elio showed up and Maybe Mike could see my thoughts, or I wasn't good at hiding what I was thinking.
"Scared of Elio?" Mike chuckled.
"Ain't nobody scared of his ass."
"Then come to club? Have fun?"
"Fine nigga."
***
I took a sip of my Henny, its smooth warmth caressing my throat, as I allowed a random lady with a BBL to grind her ass against me. The pulsating beats of Baby Tate's song, "Slut him out," reverberated through the air, intertwining with the passionate screams of intoxicated women, who freely sang along word for word.
The waitresses, dressed provocatively, moved gracefully through the crowd, their trays decked with shimmering drinks and enticing shots — the atmosphere was thick with a stale mixture of sweat, vomit, smoke, and hairspray, creating an almost tangible haze that hung in the air, clinging to every breath.
Mike was engaged in a heated dance with a woman nearby who was barely wearing anything. Amidst their dancing, his gaze unexpectedly met mine. Suddenly, he firmly grasped her hair, pulled her closer, spat his liquor into her mouth, and kissed her, their tongues intertwining.
My dick hardens at the sight. I look away from Mike and focus on the lady now twerking on my crotch. Mike comes over to us, standing in front of the woman--He pulls out some money and gives it to her and she moves away from me. He puts something in his mouth and sticks out his tongue; it's some kind of small pill.
With a gentle kiss, he cunningly concealed the pill in my mouth. I don't protest or spit it out but wash it down with my henny. He smiles at me and walks off.
It's as if my body has become lighter, almost weightless, and the rhythm of City Girls Rodeo makes me vibrate and my heart quickens. I see a rainbow of colors moving through the dance floor of people -- I throw back the last drip of Henny and move through the crowded dance floor trying to go after Mike, but he gets further and I'm moving backward.
"Nigga what the fuck are you doing?"
"What?"
"Elio is going to kill us."
"Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm you, nigga."
I rubbed my eyes and there I was standing in front of me and laughter bubbles in my chest.
"You are me?"
"Who else would the fuck I be, Nigga?"
"Damn, I don't fucking know. I need to find Mike's ass."
Myself placed his hands on my shoulders stopping me from going anywhere.
"No, the fuck you not. You need to get your ass out of here for Elio get yo ass."
"Nigga, you my daddy or some shit? Get the fuck out of my face."
Myself gave me a look shoving a finger into my chest. "You ain't learn shit, did you?"
"Man fuck you."
"Fuck me? No, nigga fuck, you."
I started to feel weird and the me I was looking at faded in front of me and I was blinded by this bright-ass light. It smells like fancy cigars and I hear women laughing and lots of hands touching all over my body. Right now I couldn't think, my brain felt like it stopped working. Just buffing.
"Took you long enough." Mike's voice tickles my ear. "Show me how good you can fuck?"
When I look down, a lady was sucking my dick, she took me down her throat. I rested my head back on Mike's shoulder, letting out a moan. Shit. Her throat was so fucking good. Mike held me talking me through my climax. My heart felt like it was going to explode.
I'm falling and falling until I land on something soft. It takes a second for my eyes to focus as I prop myself up on my elbows. Mike was sitting in a chair and a woman was between his legs, sucking his dick. And myself was standing beside Mike's chair.
Two women appeared beside me, kissing and then sucking on my neck. Mike was watching us intensely.
"Guess you betta start picking out yo pops casket." Myself said to me.
"Mike...Mike..." That's all I could say. Because all my words start to disappear out my mouth.
I panic seeing Elio.