laugh.
Tina and I kept our composures, as did Terry and Derrek. We all just chuckled.
Terry patted Jose on the shoulder and said, “This guy is a billionaire and still chooses to do stand-up.”
We chuckled again. Jose then excused himself and disappeared into the crowd. Terry and Derrek led Tina and me over to a sitting area toward the back of the house. We walked past four big rooms, which were set up like a restaurant. There were waiters and waitresses serving the guests.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Terry asked.
“Oh, words cannot say,” I said with a smile stretching across my face.
We all sat down to have drinks and talk. I couldn’t lie: I was having the best time in my life. I actually felt like a million dollars. No Range Rovers, house payment, or shopping spree could compare to the treatment I was getting in Mexico.
“This house is huge, isn’t it?” Derrek said as he lit a cigarette.
“Yeah, but where is the living room, dining room, and kitchen?” I asked.
“On the lower level, where the main entrance is,” Terry jumped in.
“I thought those big wooden double doors were the main entrance,” I carried on.
“No, sweetheart, that was the club entrance. You know that hill we rode up when we first got here? If you were to drive down it you’d see an off-road. That leads you to the main entrance,” Terry explained.
“Damn,” I said. “That’s some hot shit.”
“Ain’t it, though. Long ways from Philly,” Tina said, taking a puff from Derrek’s cigarette.
“The man who owns this place, Cairo, his wife doesn’t want for anything and she never lifts a finger. This is the kind of life I want to give to Tina,” Derrek said.
Tina just smiled at Derrek’s comment. I didn’t think she knew how serious he was.
“You both deserve this kind of life, and you should let us give it to you,” Terry said.
July
I got back from Mexico just in time for the Fourth of July. I checked my machine and there were no new messages. That was surprising. Things were a lot different without the three dudes I came into the game with. I didn’t have anybody to chill with, and with Tina being gone I was bound to be miserable. I thought about calling Shawn, but since that incident with Tina and his bull Chris he hadn’t called me, and I wasn’t into chasing no nigga. The only other option was my new fling, Darrell. He was fine as hell and fun.
“Hello,” a female voice answered.
“Hello, uh, can I speak to Darrell?” I asked hesitantly.
“Darrell is out with the kids. Who’s calling?” the woman asked, sounding just as confused as me.
“It’s Celess.”
“Celess, I’m Rachel, Darrell’s wife. What is this in reference to?”
“Nothing anymore,” I said with an attitude.
I was so pissed that you would have thought Darrell been my man for years.
“Well, uh, what would it have been in reference to had I not been his wife?” she asked, returning the attitude.
I was in a shitty mood and this bitch wasn’t helping any, so I decided to give her what she was asking for.
“This would have been in reference to us spending another beautiful day at his beach house, and another movie wouldn’t hurt. Oh, yeah, and I would have definitely been in the mood for some of his homemade dumplings-”
She cut me off and blurted out, “Are you trying to say you fucked my husband?”
“No, your husband fucked me, even though I could have fucked him, seeing as how I have a dick,” I shot at her.
“What? Wh-what are you talking about?” she stuttered.
I calmed myself and decided I was going too far. I was only with Darrell one time and it was no reason for me to put him out there like that to his wife. It wasn’t her fault he was cheating on her, and he didn’t know that I was a man, so I damn sure shouldn’t have disclosed that information to her.
“Nothing! Never mind! I’m just pissed that he didn’t tell me he was married,” I said, trying to clean up my prior statement.
“I’m pissed too,” she said. “How long have you two been seeing each other?”
“Since April, but we only had sex once,” I admitted.
“That son of a bitch! He was with you while I was giving birth to his child,” she mumbled.
I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing by telling her so much, but it was fun airing his dirty laundry. I felt like it was what he deserved for being so stupid.
“Listen, I’m sorry about all of this. I know you must be very hurt right now. But you don’t have to worry about me calling Darrell anymore. I am through with him. Good-bye,” I said.
“No, no, please, don’t hang up.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want you to come over. Not today, because we’re expecting guests. But one day next week. I’ll call you. He’s coming, I have to go, ’bye,” she said in a rush.
I knew Darrell was too good to be true. That day at his beach house was probably something he did on the regular with a different girl every time. I didn’t know why he would give me his house number if he was married, I thought. To be so cute, he was dumb as a damn doorknob.
I gave up on trying to hook up with somebody. I figured I’d lie around the house and watch movies to pass the time. But I just got bored with myself. I was lonely, and that was something I wasn’t used to, especially on a holiday. I even thought about how nice it would have been to visit my mom. But I hadn’t seen her since I left home almost four years ago, before I started dressing up. So I was not about to go around her like this, and she wouldn’t have wanted me to either. Just when I thought I was hopeless, my cell phone rang.
“Yes,” I answered.
“What’s up, sexy?”
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Throwback,” he answered, as smooth as can be.
“Ohhh, hi,” I said, remembering the night he got that name.
“You got plans for today?”
“Hell, no,” I said.
“Well, I’m in Philly, so let’s hook up,” he said.
“Oh, sweetheart, you are a lifesaver.”
Throwback came and picked me up, but this time instead of a platinum Benz, he was in a green Mercury Tracer.
“Tina, I can get past that the car didn’t have leather seats or a sunroof. But the damn thing didn’t even have AC! It was ninety-degree weather out there! I thought I was going to die! Talking about it’s broke! I was heated! Literally! Then when I offered to drive my car, he said no!”
Laughing like she was watching an episode of
“This nigga talkin’ about it’s too flashy! He said if a girl was going to be with him she had to like him for him and ride with whatever! I told his ass that he might as well drop me back off because I wasn’t the girl for him!”
“Girl, I’m about to cry, I’m laughing so hard,” Tina said. “What did he say after you told him to drop you off?”
“Nothing. He dropped my ass back off.”
“Well, what happened to the Benz?” Tina asked, still choking on her own laughter.
“It wasn’t his from gate. It was his uncle’s. The one that live up here.”
Tina’s laughing slowed up. “Well, what about the cute boy you just met, what’s his name, David,
