If You Don't Know Me (9 page)

“Y
ou know the routine,” he said citing my inmate number.

They'd left me in a holding cell for hours. How did he remember that? Maybe he looked it up while I was waiting. Wasn't like I could leave but I wanted to go home and get in my bed.

“Step into the cage and put this on,” he said handing me shower shoes, a tan uniform, brown underwear, and the same color socks. “I knew you'd be back, black. You're almost done processing in.”

I felt like an animal. Not the kind that would pounce on a pretty girl and give her my hard wood. I felt like a dog locked in a kennel. I was loyal and that was my fault. No matter how long Madison disowned me, I would always love her.

The small fenced-in area didn't have any privacy. They'd already taken my cell phone, keys, wallet, and my cowboy boots. I removed my jeans, shirt, and underwear. Let my big dick hang low. I made it swing side to side before putting on the boxers they gave me.

He opened the gate. I gave him the clothes I'd taken off. “I ain't donating nothing. I want everything mailed to my brother.”

Guess I was familiar with the process. My stomach growled. This was a fine time to get hungry. I couldn't buy any snacks. Had no book for Beaux to put money on yet. Wasn't asking my cellmate for shit. Wasn't getting my shit packed while I was in here either.

“Walk this way,” he said leading me to a small intake room.

I sat in the small plastic blue chair. He sat at the rectangular steel desk.

“Here's your blanket, black. Kept it warm for you.” He slid it across the desk.

Hardy har har. How dare dude call me black twice like he was my friend. If we were outside and he didn't have on that uniform, his mouth would be shut or I'd shut it for him.

“What made you so sure? My being back behind bars isn't my fault,” I said dropping the brown rolled-up blanket to my feet. Before he answered, I told him, “I should've left town after I won my case, huh?”

The only persons keeping me from moving to Louisiana or California were Zach and Madison. What was California like? Did LA really have that many beautiful women? All the ones I'd seen on them reality shows seemed more high class than Madison.

Maybe I'd find me a Southern Barbie doll, marry her, then move to LA. Like my chicken, I only ate dark meat. I frowned; Madison would get jealous and take my son away from me if I did that. I loved my brother but I could live in a different state and not miss him the way I would my woman and my kid.

Interrupting my thoughts, he said, “Most of the guys come back because they're stupid. They violate parole, commit the same crimes, or they're selectively institutionalized. You can't reform stupidity. You. You're ignorant. That can be changed through proper education. There's hope for you if this is your last time in here. But you're also back due to that thing called karma.” He shook his head. “Just because you weren't found guilty doesn't mean you're innocent, black. You deserve life at state. You know that. Plus, you shouldn't have smirked at that female the judge sentenced to thirty days for perjuring herself during your trial. Judges hate when you disrespect them.”

I frowned at him, then shook my head. He wasn't at my hearing. These workers in the courthouse needed to sign agreements to keep their mouths shut about my personal business. What else did he know? I squinted and tightened my lips real hard.

He laughed. “Ain't nobody scared of you.” This time he called me by my number. “You don't get it. Women never forget. Loretta will probably hate you the rest of your life. Why did you violate the protective order?”

He knew her name. “I wasn't trying to see her. I'd broken up with her almost a year ago. I was going to see my kid.”

Loretta must've gained at least twenty pounds since I let her go. All that sitting in the window keeping watch over Madison made her lazy. She was probably waiting to get a glimpse of Chicago. Nursed him back to health and he still didn't want her. Hell, Loretta probably didn't want herself.

“That's not the way the police saw it and it sure isn't the way to comply with an order.” He stared at me. “You serious. You really believe this kid is yours and not Chicago's?”

Was that a trick question? I didn't think so. He didn't have to ask that but I was glad he did. He had my respect now.

“I know he's mine.”

“How?”

Hunching my shoulders, I hung my head, then told him, “Just do.”

“If you want to stay on the other side of these cement walls, keep away from that woman and
her
kid.” He cited my number again.

I'd talk to him as long as he wanted. I was in no hurry to return to Unit Six on the sixth floor. That was where I was the last time. It was the only male unit that was directly across the hall from the only female unit. But I could end up in one of the other five units where they housed the men.

“How long I'ma be in here? I can't afford to lose my job.” Shit! I'd forgotten about my promo. “Can I get out on good behavior? I gotta go to work tomorrow.”

“You should've thought about that before you ended up back in here, black.”

I looked up and saw Nyle Carter on the other side of the door. I stood.

“Sit, dude.”

I pressed my face against the glass to be sure it was him. “He can't leave. He still has more than two years. Plus, that's my inside attorney. I'm going to need him for advice.”

“Sit down, I said!” he shouted standing up to me.

I frowned at him again, then sat in the chair. “Am I going back to Unit Six?”

I asked but it didn't matter. My former cellmate, No Chainz, had been released. We kept in touch while he was on the inside. I put money on his books. After his release, I hadn't heard from dude. He probably had enough sense to leave town. I couldn't care less about making new friends in here. I wasn't staying long. How was Nyle being released at night? Something wasn't right. I had no way to get in touch with that Charles dude. If I did, that'd be my one call.

“Stay to yourself if you don't want to end up in state. I know you haven't heard the latest but it's rumored that you're planning on trying to kill Chicago.”

My jaw dropped. “Where the fuck you hear that?” That Charles dude had set me up. Or was it Nyle? Or were football fans guessing? Maybe someone had started a social media lie on purpose.

“Why the fuck didn't you deny it?” he asked reciting my number.

I swung hard. Left. Right. Left right. One punch after another I threw blows to my face. “How could I be this stupid!”

The intake guard opened the door, shoved me to the floor, then clamped my wrists together before locking on handcuffs. “Fifty-one-fifty!”

Several guards rushed me. I was already down. What's wrong with them? I should've decided to shut up an hour ago.

“Take him to twenty-four-hour suicide observation and keep him there until he goes before the judge.”

Just like that. Dude had turned on me. I hadn't touched him. My head was hard as a rock. Beaux and I exchanged blows all the time. I barely felt the punches I'd landed to my face.

I yelled, “I'm not trying to kill myself. I'm upset.” I cried like a baby, “All I wanted to do was see my son.”

If the police believed that rumor about my trying to kill Chicago, I might not get out of this hellhole.

W
aking up with Sindy in my arms was comforting.

A man needed a woman to lay her head on his shoulder. Literally and figuratively. I wanted to protect Sindy from the bad people in the world, from anything that might break her heart, or upset her.

As I stroked her hair, the ache inside me was a good pain. A welcome discomfort. I was definitely getting her the ring. I'd call my jeweler later today. There was no way she'd say no when I knelt before her, held her hand in mine.

Wow. I recalled her looking up at me last night with her beautiful lips wrapped around my engorged head. This woman was incredible. Why hadn't some man snatched her up?

Her naked flesh next to mine felt better than pure silk. It was like she was coated with that liquid body glide Madison had introduced me to. Tilting her head, she gazed into my eyes.

I whispered, “I want you soooo bad I'm about to erupt like a volcano.” I swept my finger over her nipple in a featherlike motion. God knew my needs.

The way her stare lingered made my dick harder. I squeezed my head to reverse my blood flow. The more pressure I applied, the longer my shaft grew. Sindy was a woman filled with unspoken challenges. I liked that. Her silently letting me take the lead was a test I was not going to fail.

I exhaled imagining turning her on her back, spreading her thighs, and giving her all of my erect manhood. Eating her pussy for the first time under that table was sweet but I was trying hard to be a gentleman and not allow my urge to have sex control my actions. If I just wanted pussy, that wasn't a problem. Sindy was different. She'd earned my respect by withholding sex. Whatever move she made was what she wanted. I'd wait a moment and follow her lead.

On our first date, she compared playing chess to the mentality of men. I was not a man chasing pawns. I wasn't a rookie or a disillusioned knight. I was a king with character, discipline, and patience.

Slowly she peeled back the cover exposing my excitement. “Nice,” she said straddling me.

Finally. I'd waited long enough to experience what she felt like on the inside. Was she tight? Could she make her vaginal walls pump my shaft like Madison? My heartbeat raced. My dick pressed against her vagina.

“Keep him right there,” she whispered. “Don't penetrate me.”

Gently grinding her opening against my head, I had to exercise restraint not to thrust my throbbing erection deeper. Focusing on her, I saw that Sindy was flushed. I frowned. Concentrated on her surface movements.

No way. There was no way my head was hitting a barrier to the opening of her vagina. I wanted to ask but didn't.

Touching herself, then me, she said, “I'm going to take care of this.” Lightly she scratched her nail along my shaft.

When she raised her butt, I wanted to grab her hips, and pull her pussy back onto me. Her hand caressed my dick. “Lay back and relax. I want to take things slowly.”

We'd done that last night. Oral was amazing but I wanted in.

The heat of her mouth, moisture of her tongue, cupped my nipple. Precum oozed from the tip of my penis. She sucked my erect nipple, gradually increasing the intensity. I wanted to stroke my shaft with the rhythm I knew would make me ejaculate. I wasn't in the mood for foreplay.

Her fingernails teased my other nipple. Twirling and squeezing one side, she licked and sucked the other. Gradually, the combined stimulation created a lump in my throat.

“Baby, I want you,” I moaned eager to release a load.

Condoms. I didn't have any. The risk of impregnating Sindy wasn't worth a few seconds of climactic bliss. I hadn't had intercourse since before Madison gave birth. I inhaled through my nose, then opened my mouth. As I exhaled, she covered my lips with hers. Her pussy was sweet, soft, hot, and juicy.

She lowered her clit closer to my tongue, then moaned, “Roosevelt, don't stop baby. I'm cumming and it feels cool like a waterfall.” She glided her pussy back and forth occasionally thrusting, pulled back then glided again, as she stuffed my mouth.

I started stroking my erection. More precum seeped onto my head. I wanted to fuck Sindy. Getting her pregnant while I was married to another woman . . . I massaged the slipperiness of my semen onto my frenulum then slid my hand down my shaft to my balls and squeezed real tight.
Oh, my, God.

Fornication was one thing. Adultery.

As she eased her hands between her legs and peeled back her labia, I suppressed my guilt when Sindy moaned, “Keep your tongue right there.”

She was engorged, almost the size of her pinky finger. Raising up a little, she rolled her hips forward, lowered her clit on my palate, then slid back. A trail of her juices coated my taste buds. Repeating the motion, she increased her pace as she grabbed the headboard.

“You, are, the, best, I've ever had . . . Oh, my, God . . .” She'd spoken what I'd thought as her head leaned so far back her long cinnamon hair covered my dick.

Her back was arched. Her protruding shaft had turned from pink to a blushing red. Grabbing her hips, I sucked her pussy into my mouth and started bobbing my head until . . . she exhaled “Roosevelt” long and slow.

Sindy lay on her back, propped a pillow behind her head. “Get up here. Straddle my face. Bring me my dick now. I've got something special for you, baby.”

She trailed kisses from my head to my balls and back up. Circling the tip of her tongue underneath the circumference of my head, she stopped. Devoured my erection in one gulp.

I came instantly.

Sindy eased out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

My cell phone vibrated reminding me I'd put it on
SILENCE
. I started to press
IGNORE
, then decided to answer, “Hello.”

“Hey, Chicago.”

Wishing I hadn't answered the blocked call, immediately I regretted hearing her voice. “What's up, Loretta?” She hid her info because she knew I wouldn't have talked to her.

“You got a minute?”

I hesitated. I could hear the water running in my shower. I said, “Not really.”

“Congratulations on your win,” she said sounding cheerful.

It was too early for this shit. Was she ignoring me? “What's up, Loretta?”

This chick was predominantly responsible for Madison fucking Granville. If she'd never made that bet with Madison and introduced Madison to that deranged dude Granville, I'd be a happily married man.

“It's about Zach,” she said then became quiet.

I grunted with anger. “What about
my
son?”

“Calm down. Madison won't let me see him.”

And that was whose fault? “If that's why you're calling me, I can't help you.”

Quickly, she said, “That's not why I'm calling,” as though she anticipated my ending the call.

The water in the bathroom stopped running. “Then, what's up, Loretta? I gotta go.”

“I just thought you might want to know Zach isn't your son. That's all,” she said, ending the call.

That woman was bad news. The only one who could help her was God and I was beginning to doubt He was willing to save Loretta from herself.

I wasn't falling for Loretta's jealous shenanigans. Test results didn't lie.

Loretta was not squashing my orgasmic high. Sindy was the one.

I texted my jeweler: Need to see you soon. Real soon.