Never Keeping Secrets (22 page)

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Authors: Niobia Bryant

BOOK: Never Keeping Secrets
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“So I'm never keeping secrets, and I'm never telling lies . . .”
 
GIRL TALK
 
2000
 
The steady thump of the bass seemed to hit the walls of the gym of University High as the last party of the school year raged on. The DJ mixed in DMX's “Party Up” just as Q-Tip's “Vibrant Thing” faded out.
“Y'all gone make me lose my mind up in here, up in here . . .”
Latoya and Keesha sat on the other side of the wall separating the gym from the locker room. There were just enough flashing lights streaming through the glass squares at the top of the double doors to keep them from being in total darkness.
“Here, Latoya. Hit that.”
Latoya looked down at the blunt Keesha tried to hand her. “After I just sat and watched you lick it to roll it. No thanks,” she said, turning up her nose as they sat on a wooden bench with their backs to the wall.
Keesha shrugged and took a long drag. The fiery tip of it burnt brighter in the darkness.
“Where are they? This place stinks,” Latoya complained, as she rubbed her sweaty palms on the jeans Monica let her borrow.
“You'd stink too with all the funky asses that floated through this joint through the years,” Keesha said, dropping the last end of the blunt under her foot to put it out before lobbing it into the trash can in the corner by the row of lockers.
The rear door squeaked as it opened and both girls leaned to the side to look down between the long rows of lockers to see Monica walking toward them. “They're coming,” she said softly, stooping down to hide with them. “Keesha, you smoked a whole blunt by yourself?”
Keesha giggled. “It's like Lay's, once you take one hit you just can't stop.”
Monica sucked her teeth. “Shut your high ass up.”
“For sure,” Keesha said with emphasis.
“Are we doing the right thing?” Latoya whispered, feeling her nerves cause definite bubbles in her guts.
Monica nodded. “Yes,” she whispered back with emphasis, turning to look around the lockers at the closed rear door.
Keesha raised one arm in the air and partied in her seat to the sound of the party just outside the doors. “Y'all gone make me act a FOOL up in here, up in here.”
Monica and Latoya eyed her before they both rolled their eyes.
“So we should let that little nerd get away with the little stupid pranks he's been pulling on Danielle because she wouldn't go to the junior prom with him?” Monica whispered.
Latoya thought of how long it took Danielle to be able to sit down without it hurting from the thumbtack Xavier slid in her chair. “It was so cute how he asked her to go with his balloons and teddy bear,” Latoya said, making a sad face. “He had to build up all his little courage to even try Danielle.”
“She didn't mean to laugh,” Monica said.
The rear door squeaked again and they all became silent, moving further back into the darkness enough to hide.
“Nobody will bother us in here,” Danielle said, pulling Xavier's hand to step a few feet back from the doors leading into the gym.
Xavier was tall and thin. The oversized clothing he had on looked more like he was wearing someone else's clothes than trying to be in style. He was an okay-looking boy but his square fade that resembled the father's on the TV show
Moesha
and his acne just messed his entire game up.
“You know I really like you, Danielle,” he said, his voice awkward and stilted and filled with the nerves he was feeling.
“Aw that's so sweet, Xavier,” she said before she stepped close to him and leaned in to kiss him.
Xavier roughly grabbed at her butt as he released his tongue and swiped it across Danielle's mouth.
Keesha, Latoya, and Monica all covered their mouths not to make a noise as they looked on. It was not a pretty sight to see Xavier awkwardly kissing Danielle with such wet, slobby noises that echoed in the locker room.
His penis got hard and stuck out like a straight arrow against the zipper of his jeans.
Danielle stepped back from him. Around her entire mouth it felt sticky and wet but she smiled at him softly and reached behind her to pull the peach T-shirt she wore over her head. “Take your clothes off,” she said, dropping it to the floor.
“Oh shit,” he swore, his eyes getting big as he stared at Danielle's breasts in the black bra she wore.
He was out of all his clothes in no time.
The girls tried not to laugh as he almost fell trying to pull his denims over his sneakers. He finally kicked the shoes off and rushed out of his jeans and boxers.
Everyone's eyes got big at the size of Xavier's dick, including Danielle who stared at it for a few seconds with her mouth open in surprise. It was large and thick and hung from his thin body like it was heavy.
“Uhm uhm uhm,” Danielle said, still eyeing it. “Well damn, Xavier.”
He smiled and wrapped his hand around it to wiggle at her.
Keesha started to giggle but Latoya reached out to cover her mouth with her hand.
Xavier turned his head to look toward where they hid but Danielle stepped up and turned his face back toward her. She pushed him back against the door gently and pressed her lips against his again as he dick-pressed into her stomach.
That was the sign.
The girls all rose up and stepped out of the darkness just as Danielle reached and opened the door leading directly into the gym. She stepped back and all four girls pushed him out into the party. Danielle closed the door and locked it.
Soon the music stopped.
They stepped back just enough to still see into the party but not have their faces seen through the windows in the doors.
Xavier stood there in shock, dick hard as jail and naked as the day he was born. The crowd nearest to him backed away and formed a semicircle around him.
“Damn, big boy, what you up to?” the DJ joked on the mic, drawing more attention to the spectacle.
Everyone started laughing and pointing.
His hard-on disappeared and he peed himself.
Pure chaos reigned after that.
Xavier turned to try and open the doors, all of his shame so clear on his face as he banged on the doors.
The girls stepped back even farther into the darkness.
“He got a mark on his ass, y'all. Look,” someone screamed loudly.
“We gotta get out of here,” Keesha said, bending down to scoop up his clothes and sneakers. She dumped them into the trash can and raced down the length of the locker room and pushed through the rear door.
Seconds later the other three girls followed.
Chapter 25
Monica
8:59
P.M.
 
“I
cannot believe that my entire relationship might be fucked over something we did in high school?” Monica said, breaking the silence as they all sat at one of the tables of the hotel's restaurant.
“My marriage too,” Latoya admitted.
Keesha said nothing and just nervously bit at the acrylic tips of her nails.
Danielle turned to signal for the waiter. “Another glass of red wine, please,” she said as soon as he appeared at her elbow.
Monica leveled her eyes on her. It was Danielle's third glass in just the minutes since they left the ballroom and the now annoying refrains of Babyface's “Never Keeping Secrets” behind. “Is it okay for you to be drinking, Danielle?” she asked.
Danielle leaned a bit out of the waiter's way as he sat the glass of wine before her. “Yes, I'm fine,” she said, picking up the goblet and taking a deep sip.
Monica opened her mouth to protest but then she pressed her lips closed. They hadn't been friends in five years and Cristal had walked away from it, ignoring their calls and putting plenty of the distance she obviously wanted between them. Monica wasn't holding a grudge, she just had her own problems to worry about.
They all did.
She took a sip of her own glass of wine and glanced at Latoya. She couldn't believe after watching Keesha struggle to get clean from dope that Latoya the church mouse was popping pills.
She had God more than any of us. So why get high?
Monica's eyes dipped down to Keesha's stomach. She was not at all surprised that she was fucking two men—and cousins at that. Although she'd forgiven Keesha for sleeping with Rah behind her back she had never really forgotten it. Her lips were as loose as her pussy. Running back and telling Rah during the sex and drug haze that Monica was cheating on him led to him beating her and breaking her leg in two.
Nope, I ain't surprised at all.
She picked up her iPhone from where it sat on the table next to her glass. No calls from Cameron.
Was that good or bad
?
“Am I the only one scared to go home?” she asked.
No one answered her as they all shifted in their seats. Their silence was telling though.
“It's weird that we let our friendship go and forgot all about our history together since high school and this vindictive asshole swoops right in and exploits our separation to destroy us,” Monica said with a sarcastic half-laugh.
“That's for sure,” Keesha agreed, pushing yet another piece of gum into her mouth to chew. “I thought he was my gay next-door neighbor but come to think of it I never even been inside that motherfucker's house.”
Latoya shook her head. “Well now I know why he never came to church every week, he was off playing dress-up with the three of you,” she said bitterly.
“And plotting to take us the fuck out,” Keesha added around the wad of gum.
“And the big dick son-of-a-bitch pulled no shots because I've known him as the manager for Kelson Hunter,” she said. “Oh shit, I forgot about Kelson.”
“The actor?” one of them asked.
Monica barely heard them as she snatched up her phone and walked outside the restaurant located just off the hotel's lobby away from the table. She dialed Kelson's cell number, pacing as it rang.
“Hello,” he said.
She paused at the coolness in his voice. “Kelson, hey this Monica—”
“Look, Monica, I'm not going to change my mind.”
She frowned in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Look I appreciate the work you've done for me already but I shouldn't be harassed for deciding to have my investments handled by another firm.”
“What?” Monica snapped, drawing the many eyes of people in the lobby.
She held the phone away from her face and bent over to grip her knees as she forced herself to breathe. “Kelson,” she said, pressing the phone back to her face. “Are you saying you fired me?”
“Are you saying you didn't get the certified letter I sent?” he asked. “It was signed for today.”
She massaged her forehead. “I wasn't in the office all week. My assistant must've signed for it.”
“It's just business, Monica,” he said.
“No, that's more than fine,” she assured him. “I'll get the letter when I go in Monday.”
“And this is not because you picked Usain over me either.”
That bastard told Kelson
. She shook her head and punched the air. “Kelson, where did you meet Usain?” she asked, coming to a stop.
“He's an associate with XXL Entertainment,” he said. “Why?”
“You're still with XXL?” she asked. “I assumed you left them to work with Usain.”
“Nope, they sent him to me, wanted someone to work more closely with me, like a liaison between the company and me,” he said.
“Did you ever meet with him at his office?” she asked.
“Nah, we usually did lunch or dinner meetings and he always paid so I was like cool, you know.”
Monica nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her.
“I hope the next one is as cool as Usain.”
Monica arched her brow. “What's that?”
“He resigned this morning.”
Had he ever worked for XXL or had he conned Kelson just to get close to her? Or did Xavier Long own XXL?
“All right, Kelson, I'll see about the transfer of funds and a full accounting report of your investments first thing Monday,” she said, switching into business mode. “You have a good weekend, okay?”
“Seriously, this is not about—”
“Bye-bye,” Monica said, sounding robotic as she ended the call.
She pulled up her contacts and her thumb floated over Cameron's name. She just wanted to know what she was going up against when she went home.
No, not yet.
When she got back to their table Danielle was already halfway through another glass.
“Well, at least you didn't fuck him,” Danielle said, her voice sounding tired and slightly slurred as she sat with her chin in her hand on the tabletop.
Monica slid back into her seat. “Or let him eat you out,” she added as she slid in on the end of their conversation.
“Do you think we can press charges?” Latoya asked.
“For what, being stupid?” Keesha snapped, picking up her vibrating cell phone to check the caller ID before setting it back down.
Monica glanced at the screen and saw Corey's face. “Congratulations on your books,” she said, seeing how Keesha looked worried as hell. She was going to bite straight through one of her acrylic tips.
Keesha actually smiled a little. “Thank you.”
“You got your book published?” Danielle asked.
“Actually my third one comes out next year,” Keesha said.
They all looked surprised at seeing Keesha's bashfulness.
“I have to buy a box and see if I can get it on the show some way or at least tweet something,” Danielle said, her eyes a mix of sadness and happiness all at once.
“And congrats on your TV show,” Keesha said. “Kimani told me about it. She is so proud and went to school and told all her friends.”
“You're on TV?” Latoya asked, reaching over with the hand not clutching her purse to squeeze Danielle's hand. “What show? What are you doing on it? That's great, Dani.”
She smiled and took another sip of her wine. “Doesn't really matter now does it?” she asked, looking down in the depths of wine left in her glass.
Keesha bit at her bottom lip. “I could seriously hurt Xavier for this shit he did to all of us. I cannot go through this pregnancy—my life—without Corey. I know I fucked up but damn like . . . like what the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“You go home and you talk to him and you beg him for his forgiveness,” Monica said, leaning forward to lock her eyes with Keesha's. “It's hard but people do have the capacity to forgive. Trust me.”
“Xavier didn't,” Latoya said, taking a sip of her water as she kept one hand resting atop her purse on the end of the table.
“If he's this fucked up in the head about it, thank God he didn't have a small dick,” Danielle said with attitude.
“Chile please,” Keesha said, releasing a heavy sigh before she went back to chewing on her nail.
“I am not done with Xavier Lofton,” Monica said, her eyes glinting with just as much anger as Xavier had held in his own when he glared at them.
They all fell silent. All were lost in their thoughts. In imagining the worst and hoping for the best. In dreading going home to face the havoc wreaked on their lives.
Latoya stood up suddenly. “Excuse me,” she said, walking away from the table.
Xavier Lofton had played with them all like pawns on a chessboard, sitting back plotting every move and laughing at every turn. For years his hatred and need for revenge had festered until he had nothing but darkness and evil to put back out into the world. Nothing good had come from it. His revenge—his hatred—of them had tarnished his life for well over a decade.
Monica wondered just how the effects of his game would overshadow their lives as well.
She closed her eyes as she tapped her finger against the screen of her phone. Sitting there and not knowing if the man she loved had been delivered a bomb that would completely tear down the foundation of their relationship? Not easy. Not easy at all.
And if Xavier Lofton thought he got to piss over their lives and walk away to enjoy his without a care in the world then he was sadly mistaken.

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