URBAN: Chosen By A Kingpin (46 page)

It was Monday, and I had the day off because this was me and James’ two year anniversary. I had taken off months ago to prepare for the special occasion. We were supposed to spend the whole day together. Now I’m just using the time to relax. I got up early this morning and took a nice hot bath. Now, I was making myself a nice big breakfast. I was making me some biscuits and gravy, some cheese and grits, and a couple pieces of toast. I also had some bacon and sausage to go along with. It had been a while since I had myself a nice breakfast so I took advantage of it.

There was a knock on the door. I wasn’t expecting any visitors today, especially not at this time of the day. Everyone I knew was at work. I threw on a robe and went to the door. I looked out the peep hole to see Orlando standing on the porch. I sighed but part of me was glad he was here. I opened the door to let him in.

“Terielle,” he said breathing out a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think you were going to open the door, but I thought it was worth a shot. How are you baby girl?”

“I’m fine Orlando. Look I…”

“Say no more, I understand beautiful. It took you by surprise and you didn’t know how to handle it. It’s my fault I should have told you in the first place. Can we sit down and talk about this?” he interrupted. I nodded and moved out the way of the door way so that he could come inside. I led him into the kitchen and offered him a bite to eat. He denied saying he didn’t want to intrude on my meal, but I insisted. He took a biscuit and we sat down at the table together.

For a second we just stared at each other. Ignoring Orlando was easy when I couldn’t see him, but looking into his eyes made my heart melt, and being in his presence made me feel all warm inside. I loved the way he looked at me. Like he admired my presence and I’m sure I looked at him the same way. I was too awestruck by his presence to even speak, so he had to be the one to break the silence.

“Let me start off by apologizing, I should have told you my occupation from the beginning. It was wrong of me to keep something like that from you, but I wanted you to judge me based off of who I am, not what I do,” he explained.

I nodded understandingly. “I want to apologize as well. I should have come to talk to you instead of ignoring you. I just needed some time to think.”

“I understand. I don’t want this to come between us, you know. I’m really feeling you Terielle, more than I’ve felt for any other girl. You are one special lady and I would hate to miss my opportunity to enjoy my life with you because of my lifestyle,” he explained and reached out to grab my hand. “Tell me what I have to do to keep you by my side. To make this ok.”

I had thought about this a lot and the only thing I could come up with was for me to either accept who he was, or try to influence him to change his occupation. I knew it was going to be a long shot, but trying to get him to change his occupation for me seemed the best option. Especially if I wanted to make things serious between us because I wasn’t going to allow the drug activity to go on in my house, and if we had kids, I definitely didn’t want it around my kids.

“Orlando, have you thought about other occupational options,” I asked him. He let go of my hand and sat back. The expression on his face changed and I instantly regretted the question. His response made me realize that he wasn’t ready to change.

“I knew this was going to come up,” he said “No, I have not looked at other occupational options and I don’t plan on doing so.”

“But you’re so intelligent, and you already consider yourself as a business man. Why don’t you continue in the field of business? I mean you’ve done so well in this one. I’m sure you’ll excel in a legal business as well,” I told him. He laughed.

“Terielle, you are so naïve,” he told me. “Look, I’m not in this business by choice. I didn’t choose this life. It chose me. The streets raised me and made me the man I am today. My mother abandoned me and my father didn’t care for me. I lived with my grandmother who passed away when I was ten. The streets became my home. No one cared for my well-being. I was alone in this world and I did the only thing I knew how to do to survive. Did I try to get a job? Of course I did, but I was a street nigga, with a street mentality and that doesn’t work well in a job setting. Besides, I was used to fast, easy money and that money just wasn’t coming fast enough for me. In the two weeks I was working to get a five hundred dollar check, I could’ve been in the streets and made fifteen hundred easily and not a dime went to the government.”

“But Orlando what you’re doing is illegal. If you get caught, you’re going to jail and you’ll be in there for a long time. If you’re going to be with me, I need you here. Not locked behind a jail cell.” I told him.

“And I understand that T, but I just can’t give up this lifestyle right now,” he said. “Maybe once I make enough money to retire, or find another way to make money, but right now I’m stuck right here. Either you can accept that, or you can’t but I need to know so I’m not here wasting my time.”

I looked away from him. I knew there was no way to change his mind. Not right now. He had lived this life too long and this was now a part of him. I didn’t want to lose him though. He showed me so much attention and seemed to care so much about me. I didn’t want to let that go. I knew if I chose to let him go based off of his occupation that I would miss an opportunity to be with someone who really cares about me and I wasn’t willing to give that up just yet.

“I’m sorry Orlando, I didn’t mean to make you upset or anything. Now that I understand that this is a part of you, I am willing to accept it. Everybody has a flaw, this is yours, but the way you treat me and take care of me is worth more to me than how you make your money.” I explained. He sighed a sigh of relief and got up from his chair to help me out of mine. He then placed my arms around his neck and put his arms around my waist, drawing me in closer to him. He held me tightly against his body.

“Thank you sweetheart,” he said and kissed me on my forehead. “I promise you won’t regret your decision.”

Orlando and I have been going on strong for a month now. I’m glad I made the decision to put my view of his occupational lifestyle aside. He’s done nothing but take care of me. He continues to wow me with his morning and night texts. He still shows me a lot of attention as well and seems to care about me more than he cares about himself. We’ve gone on a number of dates since the first one. Some I would’ve never imagined going with anyone else. Especially not with the guys I’ve dated before. It seems that when he’s with me, he sets his street life aside for a moment. He enjoys his time with me and never does “business” when we’re together because he knows how I feel about it. We have been getting really serious lately, and I’m thinking maybe I’m ready to trust him completely and give him all I have to offer. I invited him over for dinner and a movie of his choice tonight. I figured since he was always catering to me, that I would do the same and cater to him. Going out to dinner and a movie was out of the question, though, because I know he would never let me pay.

I was cooking steak and shrimp with a side of pasta and broccoli. I had bought a nice bottle of wine, and romantically set the table. Everything was ready and it was perfect. He should be arriving any minute now. Dinner was at seven and it was now six forty-five, and I knew he always arrived on time, if not early. He was never late.

Like I figured Orlando arrived at six-fifty, he came in the door with a bouquet of beautiful white roses. He pulled me into him and kissed me on my forehead.

“It smells good as hell in here,” he said. “My lady threw down in the kitchen huh?”

“You know it, bae, and it’s all for you.” He followed me into the kitchen and sat the roses down on the table. The roses tied everything together. I fixed Orlando a plate and then fixed one for myself. I then poured us both a glass of wine.

“Everything looks great,” he said as he bowed his head to begin praying over his food. I did the same and we blessed the food together. Once we were done, we began eating. If Orlando didn’t like the food, he sure didn’t show it. He ate all of his food before I ate half of mine. The only time he sat his fork down was to take a sip of his wine. After he was done, he sat back with a look of satisfaction on his face. “That was delicious baby girl.”

After dinner we went into the living room and watched some movie he found on Netflix. I don’t remember what it was called because I fell asleep during the middle of it. He had me lying on his chest while he held me. I was so comfortable. Too comfortable, which is why I fell asleep. He woke me up by kissing me on my forehead. That’s when I saw that the movie was over.

“Comfortable?” he asked and I nodded. “Well you look tired so I think I’m going to head on out of here and let you get some rest.”

“No, stay.” I begged and then added “Please.”

He chuckled. “You want me to stay a few more minutes?”

“No. Stay the night.”

He stared at me. I had never asked him to stay the night. He’s been over here a lot of times and I had been over his as well but we had never spent the whole night together. Before I wasn’t ready to take that step, but now I think I am.

“Ok love, I’ll stay but let’s get you in the bed,” he said. I stood up and walked towards the bedroom. He grabbed my arm and turned me around. He looked into my eyes and then he kissed me. I knew then he was testing me. Before when he kissed me, I wouldn’t let him go any longer than a peck and I would never let it lead to anything else. This time I didn’t hold back. My body began to melt as we went from gentle kisses to more vigorous kisses. I came in closer to him and he wrapped his arms around my waist holding me tightly against his body. He then started kissing me on my neck and when he bit it I gasped. He began sucking on my neck and my eyes began to roll to the back of my head. I wanted him then and there. I brought his head back up to my face and began kissing him again. He started feeling all over my body. He picked me up and I started sucking on his neck. Then, he took me into the bedroom and laid me down gently on the bed. He stared at me again, the same way he always does.

“Are you sure you want to do this,” he asked. I nodded. He was hesitant, but he lifted up my shirt and kissed me on my stomach. He traveled up my stomach to my chest and undid my bra. Then he began to suck on my titties. I put my hand on the back of his head and held him there, telling him to keep going. He began to suck harder and faster making me want more of him. I brought his head up and kissed him again welcoming his tongue into my mouth. I held him tightly against my body and then began to feel up his shirt. He took off his shirt and I marveled at his body. I gently rubbed my hands down his chiseled chest and washboard abs. He removed my shorts and panties and then kissed me on my inner thigh. Then he started working his tongue, pleasuring me in ways no other man had pleasured me before. He made me come twice and then slid his dick into my pussy. I gasped as he began to penetrate. It felt so good to finally have him inside of me.

I can’t take it anymore. Orlando and I decided to move in together three months ago and it’s driving me insane. He’s turned my house into a drug house and has all kinds of druggies coming in and out of the apartment. Plus I can’t seem to get the marijuana smell out of my house. On top of all that, I came home the other day and saw a police car parked around the corner, with perfect view of the house. I walked into the house and threw everyone out immediately. I was pissed.

Today, I walked in and saw the same scenario. The cops were around the corner from the house and Orlando and his boys were sitting on the sofa smoking weed. I came in and slammed the door. Everyone looked at me except Orlando. I stormed to the bedroom and sat my stuff down. I yelled Orlando’s name and told him to come here. I was fed up with this bullshit and it was ending now.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked sincerely and then attempted to grab my arm. I snatched away from him.

“I want those people out of my house now!” I screamed. “I’m fed up with this. The house smells like nothing but weed. You got all kinds of people going in and out of the house. The cops are outside watching the place and eyeing me down as I get out of the car. I’m tired of it.”

“Baby, come here,” he told me grabbing my arm and stepping behind me. He put his arms around my waist and kissed me on my cheek. It didn’t help, I was still pissed off at him. “You knew what you were getting into when I moved in, love. We talked about this.”

I pushed away from him and turned to face him. “But you’re all about business now. It’s like ever since I gave it up to you I haven’t been your main priority anymore. I want my Orlando back!”

He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Baby girl, I haven’t gone anywhere I’m still here and I’m still yours. It’s just, okay, there’s two of us now and I want to be able to take care of you so I been working twice as hard. Besides, I’ve been really thinking about what you said about going into business for myself and I want to get to a place where I don’t have to worry about going bankrupt trying to start my own business. I want to get to a place where I’m making enough money that I can retire the drug business altogether, but right now I’m at the top of my game and I can’t stop now.”

I was no longer mad after he said that. I had no idea of his intentions. Honestly, I had totally forgotten about the talk we had so many months ago. He pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against his body. I laid my head against his chest.

“I still want those people out of my house. I need some rest from work.” I told him, my words muffled.

“You got it love,” he told me and kissed me on my forehead.

***

Orlando came home late that night. Way later than he normally does. He came in and kissed me on my forehead. I asked him where he was and he told me he was handling some business. I decided not to pressure him about it. I doubted that he was cheating on me. He smelled highly of marijuana and his eyes were extremely low so I assume he had been smoking. Most likely another smoke session at his boys’ house since I kicked them out of mine. The sex we had that night made up for it though. I knew one thing, sex was so much better when he was high. He could go rounds that he didn’t have stamina for when he was sober and his head game was heaven.