The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love) (17 page)

The whole experience was somewhat surreal.  Jayne had never spent the night with a man, let alone took a bath with one. Toshi had introduced her to many firsts last night. The three consecutive orgasms were amazing, but the connection between them was mind boggling.  She had never felt so unencumbered and free with her body.  The soak in the tub had helped to loosen the sore muscles, but the after effects of his lovemaking covered her like a shroud.  She needed to get moving, but if this was what a love hangover felt like, then she was going to become an addict. She definitely wanted a second and third dose.

It was nearly one o’clock when she arrived at The Boll Weevil to meet the girls for lunch. The shroud billowed behind her as she took a seat in the chair and ordered an unsweetened ice tea.  Rashunda was the first to notice. “About damned time!”

Jayne only smiled, with a slight blush creeping up her neck, warming her face, but she was not going to bite. Although Toshi had left several marks all over her chest and neck. Jayne turned her head to see where the waitress had gotten off to, when Tamika noticed the very large hickey on her neck.

Tamika, completely overdressed as usual for the casual lunch, asked, “girl, did he make love to you or try to eat you?”

Jayne opened the collar of her blouse and showed them the teeth marks, the hickeys, and a few bruises. “All of the above. I wish one of you had told me how good sex really was….Lord Hammercy!”

The girls broke out in laughter except Brionna, who only made a face. “So you and Mr. Miyagi finally got down to it, huh?”

Jayne was not amused at the reference. “Bri that is a racist comment!”

“Oh so now you have a streak of yellow running up your slit, you want to be all politically correct?” Brionna said with an upturned mouth.  Jayne was a bit taken aback by the sudden hostility. She had supported Bri’s decisions to date some of the most unsavory characters without any backlash.  She wasn’t going to allow her friend to believe this was going to be okay with her.

“Have I ever made any disparaging remarks about any man you have dated? Not even when you brought that big ass Grape Ape to meet us,” Jayne said as she leaned forward on the table.  Rashunda and Tamika both dropped their heads to hide their laughter, especially considering it was the label they both had given to Tyrone.

Tamika played peacemaker. “Jayne, you never did say what Toshi did for a living.”

Jayne was all smiles as she told them about his job at the university.  It took a concerted effort to not seem boastful as she spoke of how neat his office was in comparison to any professor she had. As well as their work on the comic book. Rashunda reminded her to get everything in writing before they went any further.

“Girl,” Jayne said. “You know me better than that.  My cousin is a lawyer who drew up all the paper work, filed for our LLC, set up the accounts and everything. So, regardless of what happens, we have the option to buy each other out, or continue on.” The waitress had returned with their drinks and took their lunch orders.

Tamika was smiling. “You seem so happy Jayne.”

“I am.  I really am.” She stuck out her tongue. “I felt like Goldilocks last night, ya’ll.”  She started to giggle. “I’ll tell you the truth. The first one I had, was way too small and I was a virgin.” Her friends chuckled as she went on. “The second was way too big!”

“Ain’t no such thing as too big. You need to speak for yourself,” Rashunda said as she crossed her legs.

Jayne shook her head. “Oh yes it is!  I am a petite woman and I was not about to let that fool ruin my reproductive system and have my pocketbook looking like an over worn turtle neck sweater!”

Tamika asked, “so I guess that means Toshi was just right?”

Jayne was nodding her head up and down like a bobble headed fool. “It was so fantastic, I had to stop him and ask him if it was supposed to feel that good?”  Laughter was filling the air, but something was amiss with Brionna.

“Yes, you’d better enjoy it now Jayne.  They may sleep with you, but he isn’t about to take you home to meet his folks,” Brionna added as she twisted in the seat, looking for the waitress.

Jayne watched her face closely as she shared the next bit of information. “I met his parents last night.  You will never guess who his father is…” She paused for affect. “Hirishito Yamaguchi! He owns Hirishito’s.” Rashunda commented how she loved the food there.  Tamika was complementary on the sushi bar and wine selections.  Brionna seemed to fill up with rage.

“Oh, aren’t you the lucky one?”

“Bri, is everything okay with you?” Jayne asked.

“Yes,” she said as she snapped at the waitress for being too slow. “I’m just saying, all of a sudden, you go all interracial, when there are good black men out there who work hard to provide for their families.  Good black men who are looking for a good black woman.”

“They are so hard to find Bri.  I know what you are saying and I agree, but this man makes me happy.” She looked at each of them. “I love him.”

“Yeah, but does he love you back Jayne?” Tamika wanted to know.

The internal smile that she woke up with now radiated through her pores. “He presented me to his parents as the woman he has chosen to share his life with.” The waitress returned with their orders. Brionna snapped at the server again. “I expect you to take 10% off the checks for your slowness.”

“Calm down Bri. What is going on with you?” Jayne was truly concerned now and wanted to understand what this was all about.

Brionna stabbed a piece of chicken in her salad with the fork. “Ain’t a damned thing wrong with me!  I am just wondering what the hell is wrong with you! An Asian man, Jayne! Really?  You sit here and rub it in our faces that his father is wealthy and he is a professor. Like what our men do isn’t good enough!”

For Jayne, this was entirely too much. Especially from a friend that she had supported unconditionally through years of bad relationships. It was one of those rare moments in her life when she truly wanted to curse a bitch out. She was going to, just in her nice nasty way.

“Surely, you must be joking Brionna! After years of parading homeboy after thug in front of us as your next project in the black man renaissance?”

“Black man renaissance, Jayne? Don’t make me start cussin’!” Brionna said as she picked up her iced tea, splashing the brown liquid on the table.

“Cuss all you want to, but it isn’t going to change shit. Not now, not tomorrow, or next year,” Jayne said as she pointed her finger at her.  Rashunda and Tamika’s eyes got wide.  “It is your choice of who shares your life Bri and we have been supportive.  Don’t get mad at me because my man works behind a lectern and yours behind a garbage truck!  You sat with us, talking shit and bragging about him going places on his job and moving up. Hell, he has nowhere else to go but up! If he went down, he would be working at the dump site.” 

Tamika’s eyes were wide and Rashunda put her hand on Jayne’s arm, shaking her head at her as if to scold her. “Don’t try to scold me like I’m a child Rashunda!  The man works in my grandmother’s neighborhood and has for the past five years.  Everyone in the neighborhood knows him. If you want to scold anyone, you should be scolding her for not being honest. He’s going places my ass!  He sure is! Around the next corner to pick up a load of someone’s trash!  We don’t judge you! Why the hell are you judging me?”

Brionna reached for her purse to get up and leave, but Jayne was galloping at a full sprint and headed for home plate. “Sit your silly ass down!”  Brionna jumped at the harshness of the tone that came from Jayne.  “I am your friend and you are mine.  You will either tell us what is bothering you or if you walk away, you can forget calling me with your sad ass apology for being such a witch.  Now, what is this all about?”

Brionna, now in tears, held her head low. “Tyrone dumped me!  He said I was trying to change who he was and that if I couldn’t accept him as he is, then he wanted nothing else to do with me.”

The circle of trust was reopened as Jayne, Tamika and Rashunda encircled their friend, showering her with consolations. Words of encouragement were issued as the four put their heads together to come up with a plan to help her win back Tyrone.

Toshi arrived at Farmhaus Burger’s on Broad Street to meet the guys for lunch. The turning of his stomach and the unsettled nerves put him in an odd mood, which his friends immediately picked up on. 

“I am not sure what is going on with me guys, but I think I need all three of you to go with me to the jewelry store.”

P
hở
wanted to know why and a wide eyed Toshi answered. “I need you guys to make sure that I don’t buy everything up in that motherf…..”

“Whoa,” Raheem said, cutting Toshi off.  They were more surprised by his use of language, since he rarely if ever, cursed. “Is it that serious?”

Toshi’s head hung low. “The flame burned hot and it burned true. It even burned blue. I am so in trouble. Man, she had to make me move off of her.”

Raheem laughed. “Were you squashing her, or just didn’t want to let go?”

Toshi, almost ashamed admitted. “No, I just wanted her to hold me.”

Laughter went around the table for their friend, who still had not raised his head. “I am thinking about going to the bank on Monday to get a loan.”

Felix piped up. “How big of a ring are you planning to buy her, four carats?”

“No and what… make her a target?  Have you seen her hands?  Jayne is a small woman. What would she do with four carats?”  He paused for a brief second to collect his thoughts. “I want to buy her a house with a painting studio,” Toshi said softly without barely believing he was uttering the words.

He looked up at his friends. His face riddled with confusion. “What is wrong with me?  I feel all funny inside, guys.”

Raheem answered somberly. “You, my friend, are in love.”

His eyebrows shot up, his forehead crinkled, and his nose snorted contempt for Raheem’s words.  “Is that what this is? This feeling that has been hovering over me all morning?”

His friends bobbed their heads as if the Dali Lama had just spoken an absolute truth. Felix asked, “You are serious about buying her a house?”

“Yes. I want to fill her and the house with beautiful Blasian babies.” He dropped his head again. “Does this feeling ease off any?”

Felix added, “no. It only intensifies especially when you find out your wife is pregnant and you are going to be a father.”  Everyone at the table looked at Felix who was smiling and handing out cigars from his backpack. The mood was high and festive as the group celebrated Felix
’s great news.  The mood got even brighter as Toshi shared the comic books, showing off the collaboration with his beautiful Jayne.

The light mood was still surrounding him when Jayne arrived at five, to work on the next steps. He greeted her at the door with a light kiss. “How was your day?”

“It was odd, but good,” she told him as she made her way to the office.

“Pretty much the same here,” he said as he watched her remove a few more copies of the comics from her bag. “I have been thinking about the future.”

Jayne turned, without any expression on her face and looked at him. Asking, but not asking.

“Even after the Anime Expo in July, there are other cons, more costumes, and we have a minimum order on the comics, right? So we have to buy at least 5,000 copies of each?”

Still uncertain of where he was going with this. “Yes, not to mention the following editions.”

“We need more space Jayne. We need to start looking for a house.” He handed her a red marker and took a seat at the desk. “With maybe a second building or a third floor or something.”

“Uhmmm, okay,” she said, accepting the marker and getting to work.

“I will call an agent on Monday,” he told her as he opened the first page of the first edition. “Starting in the upper left quadrant, panel by panel. Let’s review.”

That was it
. Wait. 
That was it?
  Jayne tried hard to focus, but did he just say he was going to buy a house for them? For the business? For himself? Toshi said nothing more as the next four hours sped by. The review of the comics were complete.  Jayne’s neck was tight and she felt like she wanted to run away.

“I am really sore and stiff,” she told him as she packed up her belongings.

“Start the shower and I will join you in a minute.” His focus was still on the third edition. “I think this cover should be orange, instead of this red.”

She chuckled a bit. “I’m heading home Toshi.  Yes, I think a tangerine color would make it pop more.”

“Give me a minute to pack a bag and I’ll be ready to go as well.”

“Toshi, you….” She started but wasn’t sure what to say to him. “I’m not sure….ahhh, I….”

He set down the markers and took both of her hands into his. “Jayne, I don’t care where we sleep as long as I wake up next to you.”

“You do realize you said that out loud right?”

“I know exactly what I said,” he told her as he pulled her into his arms. The kiss was intended to ignite her flame but instead, acted as an accelerant. Jayne felt like a hussy as she pulled him into the bedroom, yanking down his pants while tugging at her own. One leg was still on as she climbed on top of him and guided him inside. She raised and lowered her hips as if she was setting a horse into a canter, pulling at him while setting an even rhythm.  He called her name as he ripped open her blouse. His lips and tongue kissing, licking, and suckling at her skin.  Toshi didn’t even bother to remove her bra but pushed it above her breasts instead as he took one of the creamy mounds into his mouth. The pace intensified as she came upon her release. “Toshi!” She cried out, throwing her head back, bucking her hips furiously, and howling as if the moon was changing.  She found her release, but he flipped her to her back as he began to work on his own.

Gentle words of encouragement were whispered into her ear as he plunged deep inside her. Whispering her name and telling her how good she felt surrounding him. Her hands felt like magic under his shirt as delicate fingers ran over his skin, sinking in. “Oh, Oh, Oh!” She cried out. “I’m ready again Toshi!” This caused him to thrust harder. Each movement had meaning and purpose as he brought them both to climax. They collapsed together in the bed, holding each other in a mass of tangled clothing, sweaty bodies and wrinkled bedding. 

“Toshi, you make me feel so good, but this is scaring me a bit. I feel like a wanton woman.”

As much as he hated to admit it. “It’s scaring me a bit too Jayne.” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her on her nose. “I am so in love with you that I am willing to tackle any and every thing that comes our way.”

“I think I can live with that,” she said with her voice full of laughter.

“But it also means living with me.” The words came forth in a soft caress as his hands rubbed at her back.

“One step at a time okay? You have yet to meet my family,” she told him as a gentle reminder that they were not ready to set up shop.

“As long as we stand together, I think we will be okay.”

Those words were easier said than held.  Toshi hadn’t met Grandma Pearl or Grandpa Joe.
Those two characters could test the patience of Job.