Chardonnay: A Novel Read online

  “I wanted you to clear the air and make him fess to his shit! Not give him a doggy treat until the next time he roams and finds a new home.”

  “Why can’t you just be happy for her?” Katura asked Konstance.

  “All an illusion. But...if this is—”

  “Denim is no saint either! At least my man is trying!” I said cutting Konstance off.

  “Trying? If this is what you call it.” she said then did and about face and walked out the room.

  “What’s her deal? Konnie, baby, they got some whiskey if you need a wine me down.” said Fianna.

  I threw a croissant at Fianna.

  I’ll be your groupie ba’be, cause you are my superstar. I’m ya’ number one fan, gimme your autograph, sign it right here on my heart.’

  I sang along with Usher as Myron danced with me, looking in my eyes. Everyone was tow back, doing their own thing. Mystro was trying to sing over Usher. Didn’t sound as good as he usually did drunk. Katura giggled at him as he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. The ecstasy Denim had brought along with him was taking her over. Fianna was doing the MC Hammer and going back in forth between that and the Whop. Girl was stuck in the wrong damn century dancing. Dancing too fast for the song anyway. Jaydee and Denim kept laughing at her. Mystro dropped Katura flat on her ass. She busted out laughing instead of crying. Fianna was now working on the Roger Rabbit. X was no joke. Konstance sat over in a chair in a corner. She wasn’t laughing at anything. Not kicking it with us like she used to. I didn’t take anything either. Just had one too many drinks in my system; the room was moving. I laid my head on Myron’s chest and he looked at me.

  “You cool?”

  “Yeah, need to lay down.”

  Katura took her jeans off. Running around the room in her thong. Mystro took his belt off and started chasing her.

  “Come here girl! Let daddy tap dat ass!”

  Konstance shook her head, and Denim looked back at her.

  “Loosen up, baby. Need to chill wit us.”

  “De, I’m tired. ‘Bout to go lay down.”

  “But you can’t leave Myron and Nay...fuck, I guess this is their enga...what’s that word again?”

  “Engagement!” Jaydee said, like it was the million dollar question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

  “Yeah...baby they engagement party.”

  She tisked and said, “You’re drunk, fucking drunk. Got me down here in Saint Louis drunk! Get us our own room Denim. Can you do that?”

  Denim glanced his drunken green eyes at her. They changed to a light hazel sometimes, but for the most part they were green. He was roughed out in a sexy way. Skin was lighter than day.

  “Fuck! Women! Y’all cost too damn much. Jay, man, you help a brother out?”

  Jaydee was a man who looked like his momma. All feminine features. Creamy Belgian chocolate skin like Slim’s. Brother looked tasty. He nodded and said,

  “Yeah man. Let me hit this real quick.” he smoked in the joint and passed it to a dizzy Fianna. Her throwback dancing ass was still full of energy. She said,

  “Jay baby, you wanna dance? Come dance with me.”

  “Girl, I just wanna chill. Aye, yo’, My!”

  Myron looked over from dancing with me and said,

  “Sup?”

  “Gonna get another room.”

  “Alright.”

  He looked back at me and took me to the room. We laid down and made love again. The commotion died down. Mystro and Katura were in the room on the other side of the suite. They weren’t loud. I assumed they were sleep. Myron was sweating hard as he worked me. Kissing me. No sheets. Both of us naked. Moaning like he was dying in my pussy. Then we heard some commotion going on. Sounded like it was coming from over us. They would get a room over us and make loud ass noises.

  Myron got up and removed hiswarmth from my skin, sliding his big dick from my wetness, as my body hung hostage from his jilted seduction. He paced his beautiful structure across the room and to his personal cell phone, placing a call to Denim.

  As he waited for an answer I studied his thick backside, the muscular along with the curves and dips; the way his ass was as firm as a Lawyer and soft as plush cashmere. He slightly turned his head looking at me. For a second our eyes connected while disconnecting and I wondered why. He looked away and sat his cell back on the lounge seat. Denim didn’t answer. Myron walked towards me pacing quickly, his dick hung, still full of sex, galloping hard up and down in a steady rhythm. He grabbed his robe off the night stand, whipped it around his body, threw on some fresh jeans and headed for the door, barely saying,

  “I’ll be back.”

  I didn’t think anything of it and fell off to sleep.

  * * * *

  Morning.

  The light shinned in from the tall window. I looked over and Myron still wasn’t back. I got up and put on my oriental robe with real gold threaded through the silk fabric he bought me. I opened the door. Mystro and Katura’s room door was closed. I didn’t want to wake them so I called Myron. No answer. I opened the door leading to the hall and looked out, baffled that he left me alone all night. I went to Mystro and Katura’s door and knocked. This was an emergency. Mystro opened the door half naked, itching his balls.

  “Sup Nay?”

  He was definitely not sleep deprived. His breath told that story. I moved back and peeked in to see if Katura was in the room. She was in the bed. The white sheets half covering her showing the dark contrast of her skin.

  “You saw Myron?”

  He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. Definitely Myron’s little brother. Reminded me a little of Myron when he was fifteen. Mystro still had a baby face.

  “Nah, the last I seen of both of you was last night.”

  “Uh, alright.” My head went down and I leaned up against the wall. Where ever he was, I knew he had broken his promise once again.

  “Nay, baby, you cool?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mystro closed the door behind him as he stepped out the room. He looked at me, giving me a worried stare.

  “You all he talks about. Whenever he calls or I call him. We talk about other things but...don’t know why he doing this.”

  “Don’t know why y’all all do it.” I snapped referring to his creeping with my little sister on my best friend.

  He touched my elbow in a tempt to calm me and whispered,

  “I love your sister...I just don’t know how to tell Katura that. It’s hard.”

  “Well you need to speak up before you end up where your brother is about to be an afterthought.”

  “I’m immune to such a thing.” he said with a smirk.

  “Oh really, well you got about five seconds to fix that shit fore I squash it.”

  He bit down on his bottom lip and nodded his head.

  I turned away from that nuclear bomb ready to explode and walked to the room on the opposite side of the suite. I put on some clothes and went out the suite door. I took the elevator to Denim’s room and knocked on the door. It slowly opened by itself. The room was trashed. I walked in deeper and a bedroom suite door was open. From where I was standing I saw feathers from pillows everywhere. I walked closer and saw Fianna and Jaydee laying on the feather filled bed. I walked in deeper and dropped my mouth. Denim was in the bed too. There was a porno on the t.v. still playing. Black Mandingo sticking a Latina woman in the worse way. Where was Konstance? There were condom wrappers everywhere. So many of them. Blown up condoms trashed the floor. Who was so drunk they blew up ten condoms? I walked back out and went to the other room. Empty. Where the fuck was Konstance? Where the fuck was Myron? I was tired of looking for people who didn’t want to be found. I closed the door on my way out and went back down to the room. When I opened the door Konstance was sitting on the couch. My heart felt right again.

  “Where the hell you been?” she asked.

  “Looking for you. Well, went looking for Myron first, then went up to the room and didn’t find you.�
��

  “You see that shit?”

  “Yeah. Did you—”

  “Don’t even ask me that shit. No.”

  “Denim was—”

  “NO. He can do whatever he wants.”

  “Then why you with him?”

  “Same reason you’re with Myron. Oh and he told me to tell you he was going down to the continental breakfast.”

  “When did you see him?!” I said shocked she was just now saying something.

  “About an hour ago.”

  “He stayed up there all night?”

  “Most. Stuff got wild and he left.”

  “Hmm.”

  The lock in the double doors turned and clicked, and Myron walked in the door. He paused when he looked up and saw me. Saw the anger.

  “You up?” he asked.

  He moved around me and glanced over at Konstance.

  “Where you been?” I asked with my arms folded.

  “I told you Nay.” said Konstance.

  “Umm, I love you and everything cuz, but shit’s counterfeit around here. Need to hear it from my man. Nothing against you, just... would you want Denim getting up in the middle of the night and not call to tell you what’s up?”

  “I get it.” she said grabbing her pillow and key card, and then stormed out. Felt bad for going off on her, it wasn’t her fault I was pissed and I shouldn’t have taken it out on her. So I looked at Myron as he looked up at me from the couch. His eyes were black, that cold black, and they drew no emotion. Knew exactly where they stopped. I swallowed and said, “You promised.”

  “Haven’t done anything. I had to clear my head, and think about everything.”

  I left him alone, but wondered what the hell he had to think about. Everyone collected their belongings and headed for home. While on the drive home, the car was silent except for the vibes of Usher’s song Burn. Myron was definitely feeling the song. He was holding back tears. I wondered what happened between the night we showed up in Saint Louis and made love and this morning. Twinkle wasn’t in his eyes anymore. I noticed he had put his hand on my lap. He looked over at me worried. We pulled over to a diner. Denim and Mystro honked their horns telling us they were staying on the road to the west. I knew something was wrong. His breathing was off. He caught it after taking in a few deep breaths into his inhaler.

  “Okay. What are you panicking about?” I asked.

  “Love fucking hurts,” his tears rolled.

  “Too much to bare at times. Especially when you can’t forget the past...no matter how much you try to erase it and start over.”

  I sat uncomfortable and removed my seat belt. Wanted to crash out that windshield like Joss Stone. The twinkle in his eyes spoiled me. I started to feel the burn. Not the seat belt, but the fire ball of love and agony we were in.

  “Char? You know I love you right?”

  Felt it drop, the fire, leaving me lifeless. Spirit only left and even that was scarred. Spirit had to find a way to oxygen. I couldn’t breathe.

  “Yes Myron, baby. What are you saying?”

  Wanted to beg him to go get the water and douse me with it. Save me again. But I couldn’t fight the wind.

  “I just think that maybe we should be alone for a while. Just to clear our heads.”

  No.Wanted to say no.

  “What was the fuckin’ continental breakfast for?”

  He didn’t answer. Now. I wanted to know again. Where the fuck was he?

  “If it’s meant to be, we’ll be together in the future.” Burnt to a crisp. Damn Usher.

  8

  Do What I Do

  June brought a crisp breeze in the air along with a turbulent rush of wind into my life. Zasmyth’s house was preposterous when I got back from the dysfunctional Saint Louis field trip Myron schooled me on. Linen was sprawled along the floors in every room, clothes were on the floor as well and few were in the laundry basket when I went to the messy bath room. I would later find out that was actually their clean clothes/dirty clothes system, clean clothes being the ones in baskets. The kitchen was nasty as all get out from what I was able to see from the door way due to the notion that I could not step on the crusted and sticky floors. She walked through the house as if nothing was wrong however. I pondered why the single family house that was in good condition from the outside was so stale, dank and moldy on the inside.

  By this time Zasmyth noticed my precariousness since I was still holding on to my luggage Myron thoughtfully dropped off on the curb. She clicked on the television and looked at me like I was an annoyance.

  “Girl make yaur self at home!”

  She took my bags from me and threw it in a corner. I tip toed over to the sofa that needed to be dusted and pillows flipped three thousand years ago sitting slowly down.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Um ya! Dag, y’all don’t clean around here?”

  She looked around her house and flopped her hands on her thighs.

  “Me mother works two jobs—what am I to do?”

  “Clean! No wonder our dorm room looks like it does if I don’t straighten it up! Damn Zas!”

  “Well I don’t clean and my sister doesn’t either. We were raised not to touch a thing.”

  “Well, I was as well but I know how to do it. I’ll help you get this together so Ms. Aunjadae can come home to a clean house when she gets off from her night shift at the hospital.”

  That evening I helped Zasmyth clean her mother’s home. We mopped the kitchen floors along with the two bath rooms, cleaned every room speck and span, dusted and swiped down every lamp and window, and washed every load of laundry, folded it, and put it away. That house was spotless. We were so tired we didn’t even remember when we fell to sleep, but we remembered when we woke up.

  Ms. Aunjadae came in at about six in the morning from her overnight shift. A sheer shriek version of Zasmyth’s name was yelled. We both jumped up including Zourtni, Zasmyth’s little sister.

  “Get yaur blood clot ass dow here!”

  Zasmyth motioned for me to stay in her room and she and her sister ran down the stairs. I was scared straight, for what I didn’t know.

  I could hear the commotion down stairs.

  “Who done this! I know it was you two! I have told ya time aftah time no to touch me things!”

  “Ma, we just wanted you to—”

  “AAHHHH—What happened to me kitchen! Where are my seasons?”

  “Ma, we’re sorry!”

  “Ya gone be sorry alright—no one told you to touch my house!”

  Needless to say I was going out the back window.

  Zasmyth came back in the room before I could make the get a way.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Back home...I don’t know.”

  “Girl forget her. She’ll be over it in the morning.”

  “It is morning.”

  “Well, she leave back out at eleven, so chill.”

  “Your mother works like that?”

  “Uhn huh, how do you think she keeps us in nice schools or in this neighborhood?”

  I shook my head.

  “I’m not ever going to work like that,” Zasmyth went on to say.

  “That why I work with what I got to get where I want to go.”

  “You seriously believe stripping is going to make a difference for you?” I asked in wonderment.

  “Yeah, if I work it right. Let’s take you for instance—your family has a grip of money, but they stopping the money trucks on you. Where you gone get the cash?”

  I sat and thought to myself. Zasmyth continued with, “And Myron don’t give a fuck about you...you have to find away somehow. My situation ain’t no better, girl.”

  She made some valid points to me.

  She looked me in my eyes and said, “You’re my girl, and I only want to see ya do good. Stripping is the key to unlock doors that you can’t even phantom you would have the key to.”

  I shook my head saying,

  “I don’
t know why you doing strip clubs anyway you’re too pretty for that.”

  “Chardonnay, sweetie, no one evah does it ‘cause dey too pretty. You know how menti bad ass chicks strip, makin’ dem ballah’s loose dey minds?! Shit, for real I do it because mi genuinely likes it. Plus, I don’t have anyone who loves me. They make me feel good. Feel wanted. It’s a high I get from being on stage. I can’t explain it.”

  Zasmyth looked full of energy. She was radiant and beautiful. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t find the love she wanted. She could have any man she wanted, but Gehvoni was her only choice. Could have been prochoice but was prolife about their non-existing relationship.

  “Ever since Voni left you, you’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places.”

  She got silent.

  “You’ve talked to him?” I asked.

  She sighed and shook her head.

  “Ain’t even called me, girl. Hate to think of the reason why. He called mi two weeks ago and told me he had something to tell me.”

  She looked uncomfortable whenever we talked about Gehvoni. Southern boy, buttermilk corn bread fed. Born in ATL and raised there until the age of eight. His father moved up to Kansas City with his sister (Myron’s mother). Gehvoni still had that thick accent from the South but it danced with his Korean father’s language. Husky, but he had a runner’s body. Zasmyth fell in love at first sight with him when she met him at the Abasi-Lim family reunion I dragged her to three years ago. Saw him running down a field with Myron and some of their other cousin’s playing football.

  “When was the last time y’all had sex?” I barked out.

  “Umm...five months ago.”

  I gave Zasmyth a yeah right look and twitched my mouth to the side.

  He wasn’t her first love, but he was the first boy to ever change her ways, then make them grow back.

  “Really?”

  “No. I lied. A month ago.” she shook her head then changed the subject form her imperfections to mine,

  “You hear who drafted Myron?”

  “No. I really don’t care.”

  “I tink you do. You’ve two been together too long Nay for you to just do him dis way. Regardless of what he’s done... you should still want to see him successful.”