Gets No Love Read online

  “Think I won’t?” No, I knew he would. He held the nine-millimeter steady, as his friend, who was on his feet again, screamed for him to just bust a cap in me and get it over with. I was thinking of my life just then and of never seeing Valerie’s sweet smile again.

  Someone casually whistling gave me a few more seconds on this earth. It was Akhet. He walked up on us as if nothing was happening.

  “Sup, bruh? Whatcha say, li’l man?” he addressed both my attackers. Akhet’s size intimidated the hell out of the gunman enough that he whipped around and pointed the barrel into my boy’s chest. Akhet didn’t flinch. He simply smiled and opened his mouth. “I’m bulletproof, my man. I’m bulletproof, why don’t they understand?”

  I was confused until I recognized the hook to Akhet’s latest single, “Bulletproof.”

  “Y-you’re—you’re AK! You’re A motherfuckin’ K! Oh shit!” The gunman had gone from hardened thug to gushing over Akhet like a schoolgirl. I stared in astonishment as his big friend brushed himself off and ran past me to meet his idol. I looked into the car at Kyne who simply shrugged.

  “You alright, Lance?” Akhet asked over the rapid chattering and cursing coming from the mouths of his two-man fan club.

  “Yeah, bruh. We’re alright over here.”

  “Fo’ sho, fo’ sho,” he chuckled.

  “Look, man. I didn’t know they were friends of yours, AK. I was just fuckin’ with them, y’know.” The gun was stowed back in his waistband and I was given an apologetic stare . . . for a second. He and his buddy were still tripping over themselves in the almighty AK’s glow.

  “You need to put that shit up li’l man and pick up a book, go to college like my boy Lance did,” Akhet said in his gruff voice as he motioned at me. “Too many niggas dyin’ out here as it is. Ya dig?”

  Both brothers nodded obediently in unison as if listening to a schoolteacher. They were about to kill me over some bullshit less than five minutes ago; now they were shaking my hand and apologizing to Kyne. I shook their hands, but still wanted to fuck up the little one for pulling a piece on me. Kyne refused to acknowledge the hardheads and kept her window up. I made sure everything was defused before getting in the car to take Kyne home, wherever home was.

  I didn’t understand how calm and unflinching Akhet could be in the face of a possible violent death . . . and then it all came back to me for a moment.

  3

  “Where do you live?” I asked as I left the Ninth Ward where Akhet and I had grown up. There was an eerie silence ever since our experience back at The Hole. Rob Nice was going into Raphael Saadiq and D’Angelo’s single on HOT 104.5, so I inched the radio volume up with the controls on my steering wheel.

  “Where are you staying these days?” Kyne asked back.

  “I live on the West Bank . . . in Harvey,” I answered, referring to the area directly across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans.

  “Following Valerie, huh?”

  “For someone who’s been gone the last couple of years, you sure think you know a lot.”

  “I know enough,” she said as she stretched out like a cat across the leather seat. I watched the outline of her petite, tight body under the fabric of her dress and felt that part of me that yearned for Valerie most nights come alive. I had entered onto I-10 and was driving the route I would take to go home.

  “And for the record, I’m not living on the West Bank because of Valerie. My business is there.”

  “Oh.”

  “You never told me where you live. I’m going to need directions.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Let’s go by your place. I want to see how you’re living these days.”

  “You don’t think that maybe I have things to do? It is late. And I thought you hated the West Bank.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I haven’t seen you in years.”

  “Same old Kyne. Just pop in and out of my life, will ya? Where’d you go this time?”

  “New York. Baltimore. Spending time with my mom’s people and doing some modeling. I’ve been back a month.”

  “Don’t know how to contact folks?”

  “Didn’t have your number. You moved, remember?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” Her legs looked so smooth and golden brown. Just the way I last remembered them.

  “Can I let you in on a secret?”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” I chuckled as we passed the Superdome en route to the Crescent City Connection that connected the East Bank and West Bank.

  “I was there looking for you tonight.”

  “Not the best place for someone that dresses like . . . and looks as good as you.”

  “Flatterer. I figured you and AK still shot pool in that dive. I found you, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, but you also found a load of trouble.”

  “I don’t find trouble. It finds me.”

  “Whatever. I’ve missed you, my friend.”

  Kyne brought her arm up and wrapped it around mine. “Still lovesick over her?” she asked with a sincere, caring smile, her manner softening for just a second.

  I paused, letting my ego talk to me for a bit, then replied, “Yes.” Honesty was something we always had between us.

  “Why’d she call it off?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fine,” she said, withdrawing her arm from around mine.

  “You?”

  “What?”

  “Ever been lovesick?”

  “Boy, please. Love is for suckers. You have to have a heart to be lovesick,” she cackled. “Turn the radio up. I like this song.”

  Kyne sang along with Alicia Keys to “A Woman’s Worth” up until we exited the West Bank Expressway onto Manhattan Boulevard. Traffic was heavy for a late Friday night on this end of town. The slower pace I had enjoyed since moving here was changing, and things were becoming more like the East Bank that I’d called home most of my life.

  We passed my place and stopped at the drive-thru daiquiri shop first. We laughed about old times while her Sex on the Beach and my Kitchen Sink were being prepared. The clock had turned back seven years. It was the two of us again—wild, crazy, and single. I was talking about how I was going to start my own business one day once I went to school. I had gone by the West Bank campus of Delgado Community College to pick up an information packet and was thinking about enrolling for a certificate in electronics repair. Kyne, with her typical New Orleans bias, was laughing about how there was nothing on the West Bank and I was explaining that was just what I wanted. I needed a place where my past wasn’t staring me in the face. Coincidentally, I found there was a whole lot to the West Bank. It was while at Delgado that I first met an office assistant from Marrero. Her name was Valerie.

  On the way up the stairs to my second-floor apartment, our daiquiris in hand, Kyne ditched her heels and dangled them from her slender fingers. I should have led the way, as I knew where we were going, but I chose to linger a few steps behind her. The curves of her hips were a mating call to any heterosexual brother within eyesight. I could understand why men, married and single, had done so many crazy things in an effort to get with her and why she was despised by less confident sisters. Kyne could handle hers, sometimes a little too well.

  “This is my door here,” I said, excusing myself past her to put the key in the security door. My houseplant was there on the patio, reminding me to water it in the morning.

  “Are you okay, Lance?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, turning the key to enter the sanctuary of my home. “Why does everybody think I’m so crushed over her? Shit.”

  Kyne broke out into a mad laugh. She couldn’t have finished her daiquiri that fast, I thought.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, letting my front door swing open.

  “You are bad off, baby. I wasn’t talking about Valerie.” Kyne sauntered into the apartment, her feet digging into the carpet and eyes surveying the new surroundings. She let her shoes fall with a soft t
hud. “I was talking about what happened tonight, dummy. Are you okay?” She turned to face me and ran a hand over the welt on my smooth scalp.

  “Ouch!”

  “That was very brave what you did tonight.” Kyne lowered my head and planted a gentle kiss on the sore spot I didn’t know I had.

  “You know I can’t let anything happen to you. You’ve just come back into my life.”

  “Thank you, friend.”

  “You know . . . I’ve got other sore spots on me.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” My door slammed shut.

  Kyne took another sip of her daiquiri through the straw, then entered my personal space. I could feel the cold ice from her tongue as she kissed me on my neck, just under my ear. My eyes closed as I felt chills throughout my body and I almost let my drink fall to the floor. “Here?” she asked, not looking up.

  “Uh . . . yeah. I guess it’s a little sore there.”

  Kyne took another deep sip and placed her cup on the bookshelf to the side of us. With both hands free, she pulled my T-shirt out of my pants and raised it up. I sucked my teeth as I felt soft hands slide slowly up my stomach and across my chest, followed by the icy chill of her mouth again. “How about here?”

  “Yeah. Oh yeah.” My daiquiri joined Kyne’s and I ran my fingers through her hair, pulling her head closer into me. The icy, wet kisses were now being mixed with sharp little bites across my front. The bulge in my jeans brushed up against her tight body and jerked involuntarily. It was on remote control and knew where it wanted to go—deep, deep down into Kyne’s juicy cavern. I pulled my T-shirt completely off and threw it across the room. With her turn, she backed away from me briefly and slowly pulled her dress up. I watched as her thighs came into view first, then the plump V of her swollen mound that filled the black thong and was bursting to get out. My lust-filled eyes met hers.

  “How long has it been?”

  “Too long,” I answered. “Months. Almost a year.”

  “Damn. Was she your last?”

  I drew a deep breath, struggling with the answer before saying, “Yes.” The dress was now passing that midriff she loved to show off. She had pierced her belly button. “Look . . . we—”

  “Shhh. I want to do this. Okay?”

  I didn’t answer, but began unzipping my jeans. As much playing around and flirting as we had done, I’d never had her, never tasted the goodness I knew she had whipped on others and brought them to tears with. We were friends, and there was a dangerous line we came near but never crossed. I guess she sensed I needed this before I had even realized it. I, hell, both of us could have been gone from this world tonight if not for Akhet.

  I was down to my briefs, my head popping out over the top of my elastic band. Kyne’s body was bare, bathed in the intensity of my eyes, except for her thong. She let out an almost nervous giggle at the sight of what my briefs barely held before seductively walking into my open arms. We kissed.

  “Lower the lights,” she whispered. If not for the still in the air, I would not have heard her.

  As I obeyed her wishes, she took another long sip through the straw of her drink. I wondered and couldn’t wait for what she had in mind. With my back still turned, hands from behind me slid my briefs down and caressed me up and down. As she stroked me, I was led by my dick like her slave to my couch. As good as Kyne’s hands felt I would have followed her off a cliff just then.

  She had me sit down as if on a throne with her at my feet. I shivered and almost hopped up as the cold of her mouth around my head caught me by surprise. “Damn!”

  Stopping to smile and look up, she paused briefly to say, “You know . . . I don’t normally do this.”

  “Alright! Alright!” I laughed. I was in no position to say something to piss her off. Besides, I didn’t want her to stop.

  The swirling cold gave way to a cool feeling before shifting to a warm, wet sucking sensation as her mouth maneuvered up and down. Her tongue teased and probed every inch of the way. I could feel my throbbing increasing and it took all I had to contain myself and remain seated.

  “Yes, yes, yes. D-d-d-da-yum,” I cursed as I was brought to the brink of insanity. Seeing that I was pleased with her skill, Kyne relaxed and rose to her feet. Breasts that were already ripe looked even larger as they heaved with every breath she took. Curvy hips that sprang from nowhere below her tiny waist were waiting to be grasped. A wicked smile graced her face as she slipped the thong she was still wearing down her legs and let it drop, delicate little feet stepping out of it one at a time. It’s amazing seeing something you’ve always wondered about right before your eyes.

  “You’re going to be able to take it tonight?” she said, more like giving a command rather than asking a question. I had never seen her more serious in my life.

  “Uh-huh.” I smiled, then pulled her toward me, kissing that lovely midriff and playing with her belly ring while my hands stroked the back of her calves and thighs. I stopped at the top of each leg and squeezed each handful of ass firmly. The moan she let out as my mouth trailed near her neat little pubic hairs told me what she wanted . . . and I was happy to oblige.

  As I stood up, I gripped Kyne by her ass and raised her petite frame above me. Kyne wildly brought kisses down upon my face and neck and clawed at my back with her nails. I returned her kisses passionately and sucked on those gorgeous berries of hers that I had been thinking about earlier. Her scent was intoxicating. Legs more powerful than they looked wrapped around me and tightened, bringing the warmth of her mound bucking up against my torso. I carried her effortlessly to my bedroom. No one had been in there since Valerie, just days before we were to be wed. I say this in hindsight because that thought was the furthest thing from my mind at that moment.

  4

  Kyne and I fell onto the bed, all moaning and groaning. She loosened her legs’ grip on me enough to allow me to slide up. I took the scenic route and slid my tongue along the way up, past her pendant. My face was pulled to hers where she kissed me with wild abandon, our tongues discovering each other for the first time.

  “Bring it, baby. Bring it,” she chanted. Words never uttered between us were now commonplace. “I’m going to make you forget tonight.”

  “God, I want you,” I gasped. I had slid two fingers up in her while gently rubbing her blossomed clit with my thumb.

  “Noooo, noooo. Stop. Stop. Please stop.” I knew she didn’t mean that as her body betrayed her with each plunge of my fingers and gentle brush of my thumb. “Ooooh, that feels soooo good.”

  Kyne reached down and suddenly grabbed my hand. She removed my damp fingers from her and slid them in my mouth. “How do I taste?”

  “Mmmmm. Great. You taste great, baby. I want more.”

  “Take what you want, Lance.”

  As I removed myself from her, her body relaxed, waiting to see what my next move would be. I pulled her legs up over my shoulders, and then moved further onto the bed. “You know . . . I don’t normally do this,” I echoed with a laugh. I then rolled over onto my back, flipping Kyne on top of my face in a single move.

  A startled “Ooooh, baby,” came from her mouth at the ease with which I had placed her in her position. All I heard next was her sucking air through her teeth as she began grinding her heated body down onto my face. My hands held her thighs in place through every spasm, my tongue hitting the mark as my lips smacked at the juice spurting from deep within her. Just when she couldn’t take any more and when I needed to come up for air, I released my grip on Kyne and let her slump over. “Shit, shit, shit,” was all she could say in her gasping half breaths. I took a second to catch my breath then rolled over to look at her.

  “You okay?” I asked with a coy smile.

  “Don’t talk. Fuck.” Her gusto was back. I had her on the ropes, now it was time to knock her back out.

  I wanted to become one with her just then, but paused right as I was about to penetrate.

  “What? What’s wrong?” she asked in a panic
. “I know you didn’t just stop.”

  “Fuck. I don’t have any rubbers.”

  “Huh?”

  “I told you it had been awhile,” I said in frustration.

  “Look in my purse. Hurry!”

  I ran back into the living room and found the small black bag on the floor near the front door. Out of the three-pack, there were two left inside. I didn’t care to know. I had put mine on by the time I was back to the bed. A pair of open legs eager for my company greeted me.

  I slid slowly into Kyne at first, letting her adjust to me. I wanted her to feel every last inch I had to give. Her body was glistening from the sweat that covered it as I positioned myself over her. I watched her face smile with pleasure, her eyes closed as if lost in a dream. I teased at first, moving my throbbing head in and out, then switched to deeper, stronger probes with it. With each stroke I was met with more wetness, her hips rotating as they came up to welcome me and beg me to stay. Tender moans followed, slowly at first, then got louder.

  “Da-yum,” I cursed. I had almost a year’s worth of release begging to get out.

  Kyne was caressing her nipples and I gave her my fingers to suck on. I was greedy and wanted her to share one of those nice, round titties. She obliged and pushed my head down onto it to allow me to suck like a baby as our bodies started slapping together violently. Again and again, we started pounding. My bed began creaking and I wondered if my neighbors above or below were awake and listening. The thought just turned me on more and made me go even harder. A gasp of delight was let out as she begged for more of my hard dick.

  “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” she screamed out. “That’s it! Make me come!”

  Time was lost as the numbers changed on my clock near the bed, but they failed to make sense. The only thing that made sense was making Kyne happy at this moment and that was by giving her what she wanted. It was what I wanted too.

  I rode the wave and let her take me there. I wasn’t in the room just then. I was somewhere where job, bills, money, and other problems just didn’t matter. The coming eruption inside brought me back. I gasped, “I . . . I’m about to . . .”