With the blade in Kelsa’s hands, he noticed the knife was far larger than it looked at first. Slowly and quietly at first, the crowd cheered her on. Confused, but more frightened than anything else, Clarke tried to keep his eyes on Kelsa, and that knife. He tried to block out everyone else.
Before he could figure this all out, Kelsa made one quick practice movement. It was almost graceful. She reached from behind her ear and swooped down toward his crotch. Incredibly, his dick was standing stiff, pointing straight ahead at full attention as if it knew it was the target. He couldn’t control it. He wanted it to go limp. Maybe that would change the crowd’s mood.
His eyes followed the blade as it quickly came close to his skin. It was all he could do to hold his bladder.
When Kelsa’s eyes connected with his, he didn’t know what that meant.
"The next time, it won’t be a practice swing," she said. His eyes grew wide as he watched her reach from behind and look as if she would bring the blade down with even greater force.
Clarke held a pregnant breath.
~ Persha
She wasn’t sure whether it was going to work, but it was her last hope. Persha wanted to give Clarke one final chance to be a part of her and their child’s life. It was no accident that she picked Maggioni’s restaurant. She was positive he wouldn’t act up in the elegant Italian restaurant.
She looked at her watch again. She had already given the waiter her order for Raspberry Iced Tea and waited for Clarke to show. If he didn’t, then she’d be forced to face the truth. An entire 30 minutes had passed since he was supposed to be there, but she was willing to give it another few minutes. After all, their future was at stake.
Another 15 minutes had passed before she finally decided to leave. She felt defeated and discouraged before she decided it was hopeless to keep trying. He obviously was not interested in her or the baby, so she’d pay for her two glasses of Iced tea and leave.
Just as she was about to step into the revolving door, she saw him on the other side and her heart simply melted. A part of her knew he’d show up, and she was happy. That meant he wanted to work things out. Finally! she thought. Persha stepped back and waited for him to step through the revolving doors.
Immediately after coming through the door, Clarke reached down and kissed Persha on the cheek. Good sign, she thought as she slightly turned her head to accept his greeting. He looked good too. Persha was suddenly proud to be in his presence. She was so glad he came.
Back at the table she had abandoned only minutes before, Persha couldn’t wait for the waiter to return. She was hoping he hadn’t noticed that she was gone.
Sitting across from Clarke, she was still mesmerized by him. As they sat across from each other, she wanted so much for their relationship to work. But when the words fell from his mouth, she wanted to back up and start all over.
"Damn you big," he said easily, picking up the menu as if he’d just dropped a compliment.
Persha frowned, then struggled to find her barring. He simply could not have said what she heard. Wasn’t he there to talk about their future? Didn’t he want to work this out? What about the baby? she wondered.
The waiter appeared, interrupting Persha from asking Clarke what was on her mind. Persha sat like she was studying the menu, but she was still reeling from his comment.
After the waiter left, Persha folded her hands on the table and sighed. "Well, I wanted to see if you had changed your mind about us." She looked down at nothing on the table. "And ah, all I’m saying is, I think we should try to work this out."
Her gazed reached up to his. Unable to read his eyes, she glanced away.
"I just wanted you to tell me face to face that it’s over for good. And if it is, we need to talk about the baby," she said softly.
Clarke reached for her hands across the table. Persha felt somewhat at ease by his touch. It was nice. But she didn’t want to get too excited too soon. She’d hear him out first. That’s what she’d do, listen to what he had to say and then take it from there.
"I, ah, Clarke…" Persha started.
When Clarke’s finger left her lips after silencing her, she locked her stare into his. It was a moment of great intensity for her. She knew this was the defining moment of what would be their relationship, and she didn’t want to miss a moment.
She wanted to remember how she was feeling; what he looked like, his expressions, every movement, every sound, and every gesture he made, but nothing could prepare her for what he was about to say. Fearing the venom from his words, she choked back tears and tried to calm her breathing. She knew what was coming, so why was her heart tripping? Maybe because deep down inside, a part of her wanted something other than what she was expecting.
"I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit," Clarke started. "Actually, a brotha’s been trying to make plans about the future. Since my attorney says he’s got it all under control with Kelsa, I’ve decided I need to move on. Now I know you said your place isn’t all that big, but you’re still expecting that insurance money right?" He reached for her glass and took a sip of her Iced-tea. "So I figure I’ll move into your place now, then when the money comes in we can go in together and buy a house."
Persha stared blankly at his face. She saw his lips moving. She even noticed when his expressions changed, but out of everything he said, only one word stuck out in her mind. Clarke said ‘we.’ And with that one word, he had changed her life in a matter of mere seconds.
Immediately her posture changed. Her vision seemed suddenly better and her heart rate was back to normal. Did he say ‘we’ as in ‘we’ together? As in a couple? Persha thought. Did he mean he’d thought about the future as in her and him, together?
She blinked a few times, then cleared her throat. Before speaking, Persha wanted to make sure she understood him correctly.
"Lemme’ get this straight," she said, shaking her head. "I thought I had ruined your marriage. I thought you weren’t sure what you wanted right now. What’s changed since the last time I saw you? You do remember slapping me so hard that I felt like I had fallen into next week right?"
Clarke held up his hands in surrender. He leaned back a bit. "Whoa! Hold up a sec. I thought this was what you wanted."
"I do, but this… It just wasn’t what I was expecting. You slapped me Clarke," she whispered.
"A brotha’s sorry for that. It’s just at the time so much was going on with Kelsa. I didn’t know if I was coming or going. But like I said, I’ve had time to think this thing through, and with the baby and all, I just think it’s the right move."
"But how do I know this is really what you want? I don’t need a man because I’m about to have a baby. You said some pretty hurtful things back then."
"Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry for that, but understand a brotha was under an incredible amount of stress. But now that I’ve had time to talk with my attorney and he’s told me that everything’s straight, I’ma sit back and let him handle his biz. That is what I’m paying his ass for."
Persha decided to back off for a moment. She was unable to truly grasp all that Clarke had said. She had done it. She had single-handily reclaimed the love of her life. And he made it clear that the divorce proceedings were going full blast. He even insisted that he’d asked for it finally, just like he said he would all along. She’d be satisfied when he made it official, but for now, she could work with the progress. She felt really good, she’d finally gotten information on the mix-up that had caused the delay in her insurance payment and things were finally falling into place.
Nearly two hours later, Persha and Clarke were in the restaurant’s parking lot.
"Where’d you park?" he asked her.
"Oh, I’m near the back," she answered. "It was crowded when I got here." She turned away from him.
"Well, Shorty, I’ll walk you to your car, then I’ll drive around and meet you here."
Persha stopped. "Okay. Are you coming over to see the place or something?"
Clarke cast a suspicious glance her way. "Haven’t you heard a word I’ve been saying all this time?"
Persha didn’t want to get him upset. Lord knows she was thrilled things had turned out the way they had, but she also didn’t understand what he was talking about. She shrugged one shoulder and looked at him for clarification.
"Shorty, I said I’m moving in with you. Dang, girl. Now where do you live?"
"Ah, oh, yeah. I live off Westheimer. I knew you were moving in, but quite surely you didn’t mean right this second. Don’t you need to go get your clothes and stuff?"
"Ah, girl, I told you, a brotha’s been thinking. I got that all under control. My stuff is in the trunk. I just need to pull around so I can follow you to your spot."
Persha held her tongue. She had tons of questions, even wanted to know why the hell he was driving around with all of his belongings in the trunk of his car, but then thought better of it. She didn’t want to make any waves. She’d simply go with the flow. The important thing was that he was going home with her… For good!
"So is this cool or what?" he asked.
"Yeah, like lemonade in the shade on a Texas summer day." She smiled.
Persha couldn’t wait to get in her car. She wanted to be alone so she could pinch herself and make sure this was not some crazy dream. It had all happened far too fast, and way too easy. She swore to herself she’d keep him happy at all cost. And there was no way she’d go out like Kelsa. None at all. She’d know where her man was at all times and what he was up to, and more importantly, she’d take care of all his needs.
"Persha?" Clarke called to her. She looked up to see Clarke staring at her. "Shorty? Whassup? You day-dreaming on a brotha or something? I was talking to you."
"Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you."
"I said, we need to stop at Wal-Mart before we get to the house."
"Wal-Mart? What for?" She asked, trying to ease herself behind the wheel gracefully.
"Well, a brotha needs a key to the crib right?"
With her mouth-hung open, she looked up at him. "Ah, a key? Yeah, right, right. You will need a key."
"I’ll follow you to Wal-Mart first then," he said over his shoulder as he strolled away.
Could things finally be falling into place? Had their time finally come? She wondered as she watched him walk away.
~ Clarke
With his feet propped up on an old coffee table, Clarke looked around at what had become his home. He started thinking about how Persha had helped rekindle his relationship with his pops.
At first, he was mad when he found out what she'd been up to, but then as they started talking, he realized just how much he missed his old man. Persha had even told Hudson Senior about the baby, and the three had made plans to meet Saturday night for dinner. Pops was planning to drive down from San Antonio.
In the few weeks he’d been at Persha’s place, she’d done everything she could think of to keep him happy and that’s the way it should be. A woman was supposed to take care of her man. But no matter how hard she worked, wobbling most times to pick up after him, or to have dinner ready, she still wasn’t Kelsa. Lately, Clarke had been missing so much about Kelsa that he thought he’d die.
Clarke never realized just how much freedom he had with Kelsa. Most of his evenings were spent doing whatever the hell he wanted, if anything at all, because she was at work. And her salary allowed them to live in a certain way that was appealing and pleasing to him. Looking around the room now, there were no plants, no fresh flowers, and the place actually looked a little gloomy.
"I wonder what Kelsa’s doing anyway?" Clarke said to himself. He sucked his teeth and leaned back on the sofa. There was no way in hell he should’ve been thinking about Kelsa while he was all up in Persha’s place. He knew that, but damn, how he missed Kelsa’s ass.
The more he thought about finding an excuse to go over there, the more he talked himself out of it. All it took was him remembering what happened the last time he was there. He had busted up one of those passion toy parties. Male dancers even showed up. What the hell had Kelsa been thinking?
It pissed him off just to think about what could’ve happened. It looked like an orgy was about to go down up in there. The women who had been up in there bad mouthing him and other men suddenly changed when the brothas burst into the house. The women suddenly turned sweeter than sugar. In the middle of all that was going on, one of the strippers untied him. They must’ve thought he was part of the entertainment.
Once the angry mob saw all the g-strings and bare asses, they behaved worse than men. That gave Clarke the chance he needed to sneak upstairs amid all the groping and dancing and carry out some of his personal belongings.
Rubbing his crotch, he closed his eyes to be closer to Kelsa. The irony didn’t miss him one bit. When he was with Kelsa, all he could do was think about Persha and that tight pussy of hers. It always greeted him wet and hungry.
But now that he had Persha right there, every damn day and night, her pussy was still sweet, but now Persha had picked up a few pounds with the baby and all. Her ankles and legs were all swollen, so was her nose and her neck. The shit wasn’t cute, so when he fucked her, he couldn’t help but think of Kelsa.
If he was pressed, he’d admit he missed the way she’d sway with his hips when he was giving it to her, and how she’d dig into his back at just the right time.
In the midst of his thoughts, he realized that he hadn’t talked to Antwone in weeks. But that didn‘t keep him from thinking of how to bring his ass back down to earth. So there he sat with limited ass and no head. Clarke tried not to waste too much time or energy on things he could no longer change, but he had plans for Antwone and those plans included a reality check with wifey, Michelle.
When the phone rang, Clarke bolted up off the sofa. Looking around the room, it took him a minute to realize just where he was.
"Shit! A brotha was cold knocked out," he said, wiping his mouth and trying to find the source of all the damn ringing. By the time he got to the cordless phone in the kitchen, it had stopped ringing.