seriously?â
âI donât know what to do.â
âIâll tell you what you do, girl, donât tell him.â
âI have to tell him, Tangela. Heâs my husband. I donât want to keep something like this away from him. I donât want him finding out from someone else.â
I was quick to correct Bree. âWhat if he kicks you out without a dime to your name? What then?â
âI can hear Mama Liz now: âI told you she was no good.âââ Bree got up and began pacing the floor again. âTange, what the hell am I going to do?â
âLook, ma, if you want to keep your marriage together, donâttell him shit. It was a mistake, a slip. You need to just go home to your man and forget it ever happened.â
âItâs going to eat me up inside not to tell him.â
âB, donât throw away what you two have built because of some dick.â Bree looked at me, knowing good and well that I was right. I could tell that she was taking in the advice I was trying to hammer into her cheating head. Leave it to her to fuck up a good thing.
âYeah, I guess youâre right.â
âIt was simply a moment of weakness.â
âI donât think I can forgive myself if Kashawn ever finds out.â
âHe wonât find anything out if you donât tell him.â
Bree sighed, her hand resting against her forehead. âI guess.â
âLook, girl, if you still feel torn up about it after a few weeks, come clean, but give yourself time to think about it. If I were you, I would take that shit to my grave. You know how crazy Kashawn is about you.â
âI donât want to start our marriage out with lies and keeping secrets.â
âDo you think Deanthony will say anything?â
âHe promised me that he wouldnât.â
âAre you sure you can trust him? I wouldnât put shit past that man.â
âHe told me he wouldnât say anything.â
Bree had just made my fucking up her marriage way too easy. The gears in my pretty head were already turning, trying to figure out how I could use this news to my benefit. I had to find out how Deanthony felt: if he actually loved Bree, or if he just wanted her for some booty. Either way, he was officially a pivotal chess piece in my plan. As I happily watched Bree stew in the pot of her own fuck-up, I relished in the fact that Christmas had come early for me that year.
4
DEANTHONY
I was about to settle into some porn when I noticed a black Mustang pull in front of the house. âFuck is that?â
I was butt-ass naked on Maâs sofa with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of cocoa butter lotion. Ma and Uncle Ray-Ray were out running errands. With the way him and Ma dragged around, I knew they wouldnât be back for hours. It was the first time Iâve been able to have some alone time sense Iâd left Cali. I quickly took the towel I was sitting on and wrapped it around my waist. My dick was bone-hard, poking against the tent of Maâs good white towel. I peeked from behind a sliver of curtain to see who had pulled up in the driveway. It was Tangela.
âBut nothing beats the real thing,â I said, smiling, licking my lips like I was L.L. Cool J.
I tucked the tissue and lotion under the cushions of the flower-printed sofa like they were dirty magazines and pushed the porn movie I was about to watch into a school of DVDs that were shelved on the black entertainment center. My dick was so hard, it hurt. Tangela rang the doorbell. I never considered her really my type, but pussy was pussy, and my dick didnât give a damn what cooch it was in. I went to my room and splashed some cologne on, not too much, but just enough. I gargled with some mint-flavored Listerine to wash out the oniony taste that was on my pallet after the two fried bologna sandwiches Iâd had for lunch. I checkedmyself one final time in the bathroom mirror. You