The Preachers Son (9 page)

“Ma, we were just kissing. Anita’s exaggerating. It wasn’t like we were doing anything X-rated.”

My mother gasped. “Don’t get fresh with me, young man. We may have guests but I’m still your mother, and you still live under my roof.” Now that was embarrassing. I could see Reverend Reynolds trying to hide a smirk.

Dante sighed but kept his mouth shut.

“Now, you need to thank Anita for bringing this to our attention. If you’re going to be a minister, you’ve got to watch these fast women. They don’t care about you, they—”

Dante cut her off. “Ma, she’s not fast.”

“Oh no? Well, it doesn’t sound that way to me.”

My father finally spoke up. “Son, how a woman presents herself is very important and is a direct reflection on you. Isn’t that right, Deacon Emerson?”

“Your father’s right, Dante. A woman can make a man or break a man.” He wrapped his good arm around Anita and beamed with pride. She had a smile on her face, but I knew that inside she was smirking. If only her husband knew what kind of woman she really was.

“What are y’all sweating me about?” Dante’s brow furled. “She wouldn’t have even been at the church if Donna had shown up for Bingo like she was supposed to.”

I kicked Dante under the table. Of course, now Mom turned her attention to me and pointed. “And you, I don’t even wanna talk about. What were you thinking last night?”

I heaved an exasperated sigh. “I said I was sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“It better not.” My mother turned back to my brother, never missing a beat. “Dante, we’re not trying to sweat you, as you put it. We’re just concerned. You’ve got so much potential. I don’t want to see it all go down the drain for a fifteen-minute thrill.”

“I know, Ma, but you and the bishop gotta trust me because I really like this girl.” I was the only one who noticed Anita rolling her eyes after Dante’s statement.

“Well, if you really like her, maybe we should meet this girl. When are you going to bring her by?” the bishop asked.

“Soon, I hope.”

“Why you so quiet?” Dante whispered in my ear.

I looked back at him and smiled. We’d just had dinner at Umberto’s, a seafood restaurant on the water in Bayville, Long Island. After we finished eating, we left the restaurant, walked over to the beach, and climbed up onto one of the lifeguard chairs. I was sitting between Dante’s legs and he had his arms wrapped around my waist as we gazed at the moonlight reflecting off the water and listened to the crashing waves. It was the most romantic moment I’d ever had, and I was utterly speechless.

Not that I’d said more than a few words since we arrived at the restaurant anyway. For the first time in my life I let someone else do most of the talking. In all honesty, I was afraid I might open my big mouth and say the wrong thing. I’d already done that once, right before we arrived at the restaurant, and I had no plans of making the same mistake twice. Especially since Dante had worked so hard to make sure everything about this evening was perfect. Now it seemed so stupid that I had gotten an attitude earlier when he told me we were going to Umberto’s instead of Red Lobster. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain before I started rolling my eyes and mumbling under my breath about how I hated cheap-ass niggas. I know I was acting ghetto, but at the time I was really looking forward to going to Red Lobster. Besides, I’d never even heard of Umberto’s. Not to mention the fact that I promised my mother I’d bring her home one of those fancy glasses Red Lobster gives you when you order one of their tropical drinks.

For a minute I was so angry I contemplated getting out of the car and telling Dante to shove Umberto’s up his ass, but in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t. Once we pulled in front of the restaurant, it didn’t take me long to figure out that Umberto’s was a big step up from Red Lobster and that the first thing I should order off the menu was some humble pie. Not only did they have valets who opened our doors like we were VIPs, but Dante had reserved a table outside overlooking the ocean. And the food—oh, my God, the food was
da bomb.
Dante even ordered a bottle of Moët and you know how much that must have cost him. If that wasn’t enough, the restaurant had a man playing the violin who went from table to table to serenade the customers. I’m not into that classical music stuff, but holding Dante’s hand, sipping on that expensive champagne, and hearing that music made me feel real special, like I was Julia Roberts in
Pretty Woman
and not just a girl from the projects. If this was what it was like to be Dante’s girl, then I knew why that chick Anita was fighting so hard to get him back. Not only was he cute, he had a lot more class than any man I’d ever dealt with.

“Hey, you okay? You’re not still upset about not going to Red Lobster, are you?”

I wasn’t sure if he was joking or not so I took hold of his arms, pulling them gently until he got the hint that I wanted him to hold me tighter.

“No, I’m not upset. I’m not upset at all. I’m just savoring the moment.” I hesitated, trying to find the words to express my feelings. “This place, this night…it’s perfect. I know I’m not supposed to say things like this but I like you, Dante. I like you a lot and I don’t think I ever want this date to end.”

“Good, ’cause I like you too, Tanisha, and believe me, this is just the beginning.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.” I smiled, leaning back in hopes that he might kiss me.

“I hope you do.”

He pressed his soft lips on mine. I damn near melted in his arms when his tongue entered my mouth. If this was just the beginning, I was afraid to think of what he had planned next.

“Come on, let’s go.” He playfully nudged me from behind.

“Where we going?”

He kissed me again quickly then stood and jumped off the six-foot-high lifeguard chair, looking up at me when he landed on the sand.

“Come on. You’ll see.” He encouraged me to jump down. “I told you before, this is just the beginning.”

Just the beginning. Just the beginning of what?
A thousand things ran through my mind but one stuck out. Did his words mean what I think they meant? Was he insinuating that we were going to make love that night? That he was gonna give me some of what my dreams had been filled with the past few nights? Well, if he was, then I was down for that, except for one problem. I was on my period.

Then again, maybe that was an omen. I had promised myself that I wasn’t gonna give him any for at least two weeks. I had a rule that if a guy stuck around two weeks, he was probably gonna stick around at least two more. There were exceptions to the rule, of course, but it had worked pretty well for me in the past. The way Dante was making me feel, though, I was gonna be hard-pressed to hold out the two weeks. And after all the money he had spent on our date, I doubted he planned on going home to take a cold shower. I can’t say that I blamed him, though. Anyone who’d gone to this much trouble to set up a date deserved to get a little somethin’.

“You coming?” he shouted up at me again.

“Yeah, but you have to catch me.” He opened his arms and I leaped. He caught me, and our lips met as he lowered me to the ground. Within seconds his hands were easing their way down my back to massage my ass, and his passionate kisses were making my knees weak. At that point, my monthly visitor was the only thing keeping me from climbing back up on that lifeguard chair and getting busy right there under the stars.

“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered between kisses.

“Aw’ight, but there’s something I need to tell you before we go,” I whispered back.

“What’s that?” he asked, kissing my neck. I could feel his hard penis rub up against me and that just made matters worse. I wanted him more than I ever wanted any man before in my life.

“I hope this doesn’t mess up your plans, but, but I’m…I’m on my period. I can’t do anything tonight. I mean I want to, but—”

“What?” His neck snapped back and he immediately stopped caressing my ass and dropped his hands to his sides. It was obvious that he was disappointed and that I had done exactly what I said I wouldn’t do. I had opened my big mouth and ruined our date. I wanted to smack myself. Why the hell did I have to tell him that? I could have come up with some excuse about my period just starting when we got to his place. But now I was in trouble, ’cause if what I knew about men was true, he was about to make an excuse to take me home, and that was the last thing I wanted him to do.

“Please don’t be mad, Dante. I can still take care of you if you want.”

He had this bewildered look on his face and a twinge of confusion in his voice. “Take care of me? Take care of me how?”

“You know. Take
care
of you?” I raised my eyebrows a couple of times then smiled bashfully as I twisted nervously in front of him. Can you believe he still didn’t get the hint? I stepped closer to him and placed my hand on his waist as I stared into his eyes. “What I’m trying to say is that even though I’m on my period, this date doesn’t have to end. I like you, Dante, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy.” I gave him a wicked smile. “And believe me. I know how to make a man happy.”

He took another step back, tilting his head as he studied my face. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Thank God he was finally starting to get the hint, but both his expression and his words told me he wanted it confirmed. Why, I don’t know. What did he want me to do, spell it out for him? Did he actually want me to just come out and say that I would suck his dick? What the hell was this, some type of test? I glanced at him and he still had this look of uncertainty on his face. I knew it was a front, but I finally said to myself,
What the fuck. If he wants me to say it, then I’ll say it. I ain’t got no shame to my game.

“Look, Dante, I’m not stupid and neither are you. I know you spent a lot of money tonight trying to impress me so you could get some ass. Well, I’m impressed, and although I’m on my period, I’m going to give you the best blow job you’ve ever had. I know it’s not the same as getting some, but I’m pretty good at it. Shit, I’m better than good,” I bragged with a smile. “I’m da bomb.”

There. I’d said it, but instead of him smiling or looking happy or even grateful, he just shook his head and tried to hide a smirk. I’m not gonna front; that shit pissed me off. I mean damn, I did just offer to suck his dick, and now he was looking at me like I was a ho. I was no longer feeling like a pretty woman.

“What the fuck is so funny?” I snapped.

He stopped smirking and stepped closer. He even tried to grasp my hand, but I pulled it away. “Tanisha, I wasn’t planning on having sex with you tonight. Look, this is only our first date. I respect you too much for that.”

“You respect me too much?” I just stared at him, thinking,
This motherfucker is gay. Don’t no straight man say no to me
. “You expect me to believe that you spent all this money and you wasn’t planning on getting some ’cause you respect me too much?”

“Yeah, it’s the truth. I was planning on taking you to Coney Island to see the fireworks, not to a hotel.” I was starting to feel sick.

“So you had no intentions of getting any tonight?” I wanted to call him a liar, but the last time I did that, he proved me wrong.

“None,” he said in this sincere voice that made my stomach turn. “I didn’t think sex was something we’d get into until at least a couple of weeks down the road.”

“And you don’t want me to go down on you?” I was starting to feel like I was shrinking in front of him.

He hesitated for a second to think, which told me he wasn’t gay, but I still didn’t like his answer. “Nah, it’s too soon.”

Can you say
fool
? That’s how I felt: like the biggest fool in the world. His facial expression was so serious I had no choice but to believe him. I swear if I had a gun, I would have shot myself for being so damn stupid. I’d never been so embarrassed in my entire life. How in the world could I be with him after this? God, why the fuck did I just tell him I would suck his dick? He must have thought I was a straight-up ho, and the way I was feeling, I couldn’t blame him.

I was so embarrassed I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t think I could ever look at him again, so I just said, “Dante, can you please take me home?”

“Take you home for what?”

“Because I wanna go home,” I snapped with attitude. At that moment all I wanted to do was get home and as far away from him as possible.

“Come on, Tanisha. Don’t be like this.” He tried to kiss me and I pushed him away.

“Look, I said I wanna go home, aw’ight?” I turned and started walking toward the car.

“What about the fireworks?”

“Like I give a shit about some damn fireworks now.”

I pulled my truck in front of Tanisha’s building and turned to her, hoping I’d find the words to make things right. She’d barely said a word during the ride home and in truth I was afraid things between us were over before they had begun. All this because I didn’t have the common sense to smile and say yes when she offered to go down on me. Things were going so perfectly. If I had just stopped trying to impress her by being Mr. Respectful, I’d probably be on the beach at Coney Island watching the fireworks, having who knows what done to me. Damn, of all the times in my life to let my big head take control from my little one.

“Bye,” Tanisha said, emotionless as she leaned over and kissed my cheek, a telltale sign that things between us were truly over.

“Call you tomorrow?” I tried to make it sound like a casual question, but it was actually a plea to give us one more try; a plea that I knew was painfully rejected when she glanced at me coldly and stepped out of the car. I called her name, but she closed the door like she hadn’t heard a word I said. I knew that she had, and as much as I liked her, I was starting to get sick of her childish behavior.

I was about to pull off, but my heart and conscience just wouldn’t let me. There was something about her that captivated me, and it wasn’t just her body. Childish behavior or not, she intrigued me like no other woman I’d ever met, including Anita. I knew if I drove away now, I would probably never see her again, and that just wasn’t something I was willing to take a chance on. I opened my car door and called out to her again. This time she stopped, turning only her head toward me.

“What you want?” she huffed, sounding like I was grinding on her last nerve.

“I don’t know why you’re acting this way,” I said boldly. “If you were any other woman, I would have let you go down on me!”

She whipped the rest of her body around, pointing her right index finger at me and placing her left hand on her hip. That’s when I realized what I was trying to say hadn’t come out the way I had wanted it to.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It was supposed to be a compliment,” I answered, swallowing hard.

“It was?” She gave me a doubtful look as she raised her eyebrows. “Well, then let me apologize,” she continued sarcastically, “ ’cause I feel a lot better now knowing that you don’t even think I’m good enough to suck your dick.”

Oh, Lord, now she’s blowing things all out of proportion. Damn, what is it about this girl? Can’t she tell when a guy really likes her?

“I didn’t mean it that way, Tanisha—”

She cut me off before I could explain. “Oh, yeah? What the fuck did you mean?”

When I didn’t answer fast enough, she shook her head and turned toward her building. I stepped out of the car and sprinted toward her, trying to get my thoughts together so I could convey exactly what I really did mean into words. When I caught up to her, I stepped in front of her, hoping to give the respectful answer she deserved.

“Look, I don’t know how this happened, and I admit at first I was just looking to have a good time, but after you showed up at the church the other night and we had a chance to talk, this stopped being a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am thing for me. Like I said before, I like you, and for the first time in a long time I’m looking long-term. I don’t want this to be about sex. I want this to be about us. So before we get intimate, I wanted to get to know you better. Is there something wrong with that? I thought that’s what you women want.”

She stared at me blankly, and for a second there I thought I saw a glimmer of hope, but slowly a smirk crept onto her face and she started clapping her hands. “Bravo! Bravo! You know, I really didn’t think you had it in you. You really know how to run game, don’t you? That was one hell of a performance,” she told me, “but now that I’ve seen the show, there’s no need for me to stay. Now can you get out my way so I can go upstairs?” She tried to push her way past me.

“Performance? You think I was acting?” I let out a frustrated laugh.

“Now I see why you’re by yourself. That sounded like some corny-ass shit I read in a romance novel. I’m looking for a man, Dante, someone who’s gonna keep it real like I do. Not some fake-ass Goody Two-shoes.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Here I was pouring my heart out to this woman and she thought it was a corny act. Well, I was about to act all right. I was about to act the fuck up!

“You know what, Tanisha?”

“What?” She smirked again. She was daring me to match her funky attitude, and I was about to take that dare. I didn’t like to act this way, but I could when I was being pushed, and she was pushing me to that point.

I put my middle finger in her face. “Fuck you!”

“Fuck me?” She snapped her head back in disbelief like she wasn’t sure the words had come out of my mouth.

“That’s right. Fuck you! I pour my heart out to you, tell you how I feel and how much I respect you and that I don’t wanna use you for your body, and then you treat me like this. You know what? I should’ve let you suck my dick, ’cause if you ain’t got no respect for yourself, then why the fuck should I?”

“What you trying to say? You think I’m a ho or something?” All of a sudden she was on the defensive.

“Nope, I think you’re a beautiful black sister with a fucked-up attitude who can’t see a good thing when he’s standing in front of you.”

“You ain’t all that.” She showed me that damn smirk again.

I turned my head away from her then snapped it back, looking her dead in the eyes. She jumped a step back. I’ll tell you this much—it was obvious she suddenly had more respect for me. My sister had always told me that women hate soft men, so from this point on, that Mr. Respectful shit was out the door.

“No, you’re right. I’m not all that. But as far as me keeping it real, I was keeping it real. I’m a nice fucking guy, but baby, I ain’t nobody to play with, especially when it come to my feelings.” I stepped out of her way and started walking to my car. “I was really feeling you, Tanisha. We really could have had something special. It’s too bad you couldn’t see that.”