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  “I’ll do my best,” Lanelle said with a straight face.

  “I’m serious. These little jokers will cheat their tails off.”

  She laughed.

  I looked over at Grump, who seemed like he wasn’t planning to go anywhere. I recognized that he wasn’t going to waste any time trying to put his bid in, so I said, “Mrs. Harris…is it Miss or Mrs.?”

  “It’s Miss.”

  “Okay, well, come on over here with me. I’m going to give you some of the things out of my sub folder and also put a few things together in case you come back on Monday.”

  “Okay, great. Mrs. Knight told me that she wanted to talk to me about that after school.”

  I nodded and we left Grump sitting there looking stupid. Once we were in my room, I quickly ensured that she had a handle on what she needed to do workwise, then I casually asked a few questions.

  She was dressed in a black cashmere sweater, some gray pinstriped slacks, and I could have sworn I’d seen Alicia in the same boots before—Gucci. She had an expensive-looking watch, so it had me wondering. What the hell was she doing subbing? Of course I didn’t comment on that, but I did ask her what made her want to sub.

  “That’s a good question. I actually want to run a school, a charter school. Me and three of my sorority sisters are in the process of choosing a location. We already have a grant in place. We are going to take about nine months to put everything together so that we can open in the fall. I actually have a business background, but I decided last month to do some substitute teaching. I wanted to get in touch with the kids of today. No better place than to meet them in their educational setting.”

  I was blown away and instantly I was no longer worried about her falling for Grump. Now I was worried about whether or not she’d be interested in a guy like myself. “That sounds really deep.”

  “What about you? What are your plans for the future?” she asked, as if my teaching job wasn’t a career. I immediately thought to myself, Bitch, ain’t you got some nerve.

  I wasn’t really sure, but it wasn’t like the idea of doing something to make more money hadn’t crossed my mind. But I didn’t want to say that, so I told her, “Well, I’m in grad school. Getting my master’s in child psychology. I want to become a school psychologist. There are not enough of us in that field to deal with our children. We need more than medication, ya know?” I offered. When I saw her eyebrows rise, I knew that I had her interested, so I figured just a little more wouldn’t hurt. I’d just heard a cat in the barbershop say some impressive shit, so I decided that I could use it. “In addition, I’m putting together a consortium. Trying to buy a couple of apartment buildings in some depressed areas of the city.”

  “Now, that’s a great idea. I own a couple myself. It’s a lot of work at times, but worth it.” She looked at her watch. “What time do we pick the kids up from lunch?”

  I looked at the clock and said, “Shit. We gotta go.”

  She scurried out in front of me and I watched her hips sway back and forth in slow motion as she moved with the grace of Tyra on the runway. I wanted to fuck her for certain. I wondered if I would ever change. Why couldn’t I look at a woman like this and see quality? Why couldn’t I see that she was girlfriend or wife worthy?

  I thought again about the words of the old man: Get your own woman, one that ain’t got no boyfriend, no husband, and slow down. With that I took my eyes off of her ass and decided to respect her. I didn’t know if she had a man, but I knew she didn’t have a husband and that, at least, was a start.

  This was the fifth e-mail and Jacob was tired of living his life on edge trying to figure out how far the girl was going to go. As far as it looked, Anna was fine now that Dean was gone. He even began to wonder if a rape had actually occurred. He sat at his desk reading another love letter. Each letter had gotten more bold. This one had been sent at two-thirty in the morning. He’d read it three times already.

  Jacob,

  I’ve been lying in this bed thinking about you for the last couple hours and I can’t take it anymore. I can’t wait until the time is right for me and you to be together. I’m just not sure that you can handle it yet. I know in time you’ll be so happy with me. It’s so hard watching you, knowing I can’t have you yet. Believe me, though, when the time comes, we’ll be together. I promise that I’ll please you like you’ve never been pleased before. I’ll swallow every drop of your love, make you shiver and moan. You might even cry like a baby. I’ll give you every part of me. I’m tired of little boys. I need a real man. Jacob, I need you. I’m about to play with my pussy and cum while I imagine your handsome face between my thighs. And when I climb on top of you, I’ll be the one hitting the high notes just for you.

  Until then,

  [email protected]

  Now that the kids were gone, he replayed the entire day. As usual, Anna had sat in front of him and her constant glares had made him uncomfortable. But the letters were too much. This time it made him hard. Even imagining Anna’s crazy ass at home typing them couldn’t keep him from getting excited.

  He hit the print button, grabbed the letter from the tray, and packed his things up to head for home. He had a date tonight. He was taking Kendra out to dinner and to the movies to see The Gospel. Things between the two of them hadn’t gotten to the point where they’d be categorized as serious. The distance between their apartments kept them apart except on weekends, and because of it, they surprisingly hadn’t had sex yet. Not that Jacob hadn’t wanted to take it to that level with her, but a period here and a broken date there, and here they were, a couple on the verge. Tonight, though, Jacob had sex on the brain. He didn’t want to admit it might have been the letters, but deep down inside he knew that it was.

  Kendra dialed his house from her cell right around the time she was supposed to show up. Jacob figured she needed directions as usual when he saw her number on the caller ID. “You lost again,” he said gregariously.

  “Nah, nigga. Open the door.”

  He looked out of his window and saw her car. “Hold up. I just got out the shower. I don’t have on any clothes.”

  “I’m not trying to hear it. It’s cold out here.” It was still wet from a rainstorm earlier that afternoon and a cold front had come in. “Let me in and then go put your clothes on.”

  “Okay.” He sped down the steps in his towel and opened up the front door.

  When he looked out at Kendra his jaw dropped. She stood there on his front porch. There was no trench coat. Instead, in the middle of November, in forty-five-degree, damp weather, this girl was clad only in a pink lace bra and matching lace boy-shorts.

  Her nipples were rock hard from the cold, and as she stepped past him he struggled to regain his composure. He glanced around to see if any of his neighbors had seen her. Not a soul appeared to be paying attention, but as soon as he closed his door the headlights in a strange car, just across the lot, came on and the vehicle screeched out into the street.

  “Oh, now that’s better,” Kendra said. She placed the shopping bag that she was carrying on the floor. “So are you just gonna stare, or are you gonna hug me?”

  Jacob wasted no time giving her a hug. Then he found her lips. As their lips began to lock, their hands began to explore each other. Her skin was still cold from standing outside. His warmth comforted her as well as turned her on. She rubbed his chest, which was still moist from the shower. He didn’t know it, but this was her first time with a man in almost three years, so her responses were even more heightened. She had been in a relationship with another female and hadn’t considered being with anyone else during that time. After going through the same changes with her domineering mate as she had experienced with men, Kendra had decided it wasn’t worth it. She was ready to try a “normal” relationship. She wanted a family and someone whom she could build a future with.

  Jacob fit the bill. He was smart, talented, handsome, and they had so many of the same interests. It hadn’t taken her too long to realize
that he was the one for her. Now she was ready to give herself to him totally. Her hand reached his waist and yanked his towel. As it fell to the floor Kendra found herself with a handful of his manhood. Instinctively, she began to pull on it, trying to make it come to full attention.

  “Uhhh,” he moaned. Her hand warmed up quickly and he was ready to take her right there. He backed away to take her in. Her cinnamon-colored skin, her firm, perky breasts, and her doe-shaped eyes all made her look the part of some tempting seductress. She looked like something he’d seen on the Internet. Their eyes were locked on each other as she continued to stroke him.

  “Nice,” she said as she held him in her hand. He was at full attention now and she was pleased with what she saw and felt. He wasn’t small, but he wasn’t going to kill her either, and she was happy about that. The idea of being pounded by a Mandingo had never appealed to her. In truth, the whole idea of sex never really got her wound up. She was into Jacob, though, as a man and that was what provided the potential for her reaching unimaginable heights of ecstasy. “What do you want me to do?” she whispered.

  “Huh?”

  “Do you want me to suck it?”

  Unaccustomed to being asked, Jacob was stunned. It was all he could do to avoid sounding goofy as he said, “Yeah, please do.”

  “Come here.” Kendra led him up the steps, past his living room, and took a seat in one of his dining-room chairs. He made his way toward her and she reached for him. She kissed his belly twice and then swirled her tongue in his navel. Her next move sent a sensation from his head to his toes. Jacob looked down and saw her head completely covering his manhood and felt her tonsils tickling the tip of his penis.

  She proceeded to give him the blow job of his life, slobbering heavily all over his shaft as she jerked him off. She kissed the tip and licked the underside until he felt like he was about to lose control.

  Jacob closed his eyes and enjoyed the ride she was taking him on. Kendra sensed that he was about to cum and pulled her mouth away. She would gladly finish him off, but she wanted to feel him inside of her first.

  She stood up and leaned up against the table. They began to kiss passionately as Jacob reached his fingertips into the cups of her bra. He pulled her nipples out and began to lick them. She moaned and sucked air through her clenched teeth.

  He kissed her neck and unhooked her bra expertly. She didn’t wait for him as she yanked her panties down to her ankles and stepped out of them. Then she turned her back to him and leaned her upper body onto his dining-room table. It was a move she’d done a hundred times, but usually before her girlfriend dove into her with a strap-on.

  “Come on,” she whispered. “Put it in.”

  “But I don’t have—”

  “C’mon, Jacob. Fuck me now,” she insisted.

  Hard dick, wet, inviting pussy a foot away, and Jacob eased up to her like a mummy in a trance and placed the head of his dick at her entrance. She was tight and he had to push past the opening.

  “Awwww, ahhhhh, owwwwssssshhhhh,” she murmured. “C’mon, push it in.”

  By the time she finished, he’d sliced into Kendra and slammed his dick all the way in, eliciting a grunt that made him wonder if he had the wrong hole. Then, instinctively, he began to move slower until he found a rhythm that brought the most response from her. She seemed to like his pounding her in short rapid strokes.

  He looked down at her back and her round ass as he stroked her. “Fuck me. Fuck me,” she cried out. He responded by hitting it even harder. He stroked and banged repeatedly with all his might until everything seemed to become a blur. He lost track of time and space and relished the fact that he had his dick inside of Elise’s tight young pussy.

  “Fuck me, Mr. Marsh,” she begged. “You feel so good.”

  Hearing this girl, who he’d stared at day in and day out for the past month, drove him over the edge. No longer could he deny what he’d tried to hide even to himself. He wanted one of his students. Now, as he caused his dining-room table to rock, he could feel her finally. Kendra’s body, but Elise’s spirit. With that realization, he felt the rush and came deep inside of her.

  “Ohmigod,” he cried out, and stumbled backward out of her body as some of his semen dripped out of her onto his carpet.

  Kendra’s breathing was still labored and he waited for her to stand. When she turned around he looked into her face, astonished. He’d actually imagined it was Elise. Kendra cracked a naughty smile, happy that she’d pleased him. Not knowing the half of it.

  Jacob stood there, still in shock. Neither of them said a word, but Kendra approached him and was reaching out to kiss him when they both jumped as they heard a crash. Jacob looked to his left and saw the rock that had just been hurled through his window.

  “What the hell…?” Kendra asked, panting in fear, her eyes glued to the rock and glass that lay on the carpet.

  Jacob’s heart was beating so hard it felt like it might burst through his chest. He looked at her, shaking his head. He was silent for a moment as his mind searched for an explanation.

  “I need to tell you something,” he said, with some hesitation in his voice. “First, let me call the police.”

  It was over. He was going to the principal to confess the first thing Monday and he was about to do a practice run on Kendra.

  14

  Don’t Push Me

  Jacob lost his nerve when Monday morning came. After explaining the situation to Kendra, he’d got the feeling that she was a little turned off. He’d called her the entire weekend, at least fifteen times. Every single time, her voice mail picked up. Finally, late Sunday evening, she called him back.

  “Yo, Jacob, I got to tell you, I really enjoyed the time that we’ve spent and I really, really respect your talent, but, dude, you got some serious issues on your plate right now. I’ma have to step back a little and let you handle whatever it is that you got going on. I just got out of a drama-filled relationship and I can’t really see getting back into another situation.”

  Jacob was more shocked at how he felt than at her statement. He felt abandoned. He really did feel like they had a connection through the music, but she was walking away so easily that his head was spinning.

  “Well, if that’s how you feel, then I have to respect that…” He wanted to sound unbothered, but his voice gave him away. “I mean…”

  “Thanks, Jacob. Take care of yourself,” she said as if they’d never shared a moment or as if the sex had never happened.

  When Monday came, Jacob walked into the building and headed straight for the principal’s office, where he promptly lost his nerve. All he could think about was the disapproving look he was sure to receive and the repercussions that he would have to face.

  As he made his way toward his classroom he began to swallow repeatedly. He then noticed that it was hard for him to breathe. As he passed colleague after colleague he felt warmer with each step. The school and his job were suffocating him, he felt. “Good morning, Mr. Marsh,” one teacher said. Jacob forced a smile and said good morning back.

  It was all he could muster. Finally, when he reached his classroom door, he felt a sense of relief. He had thirty minutes during which he could panic in peace. He had a tiny refrigerator near his desk where he kept his lunch. Grabbing a bottle of water and unscrewing the top, he realized that his hands were trembling.

  He needed something to calm himself down. He sat down at his desk and placed his hands over his face and realized that he couldn’t take it much longer. There was too much pressure already, with the band and the upcoming competition that he was due to start practicing for in two weeks. Now, with being stalked on top of the possible exposure of his involvement in a student’s rape and a cover-up to boot, he was close to the edge.

  Just like that, it came to him. He jumped up from his desk and headed across the school to the phys-ed department and found Willie Hargrove. Jacob and Willie had been cool for almost five years. The two never hung out other than at work, for
the obvious reasons: Willie was the junior-varsity football and girls’ basketball coach and a sports extremist. He respected the fact that Jacob won competitions, but not the fact that it was for the band.

  Jacob enjoyed Willie’s “I don’t give a fuck” attitude about everything in life that you’re supposed to give a fuck about—sometimes. Other times, he found it plain-out ignorant. When Jacob walked in, he found Willie at his desk eating out of a McDonald’s bag.

  “Jaaaycob. What’s up, dawg?” he belted out in a deep voice that matched his face. Some of the other teachers called him “bowling ball” behind his back. Willie was big, round, and black like one of the balls you get from the alley when you don’t have your own.

  “Nuttin’ much. Just trying to maintain.” Jacob knew exactly why he’d come down to see Willie and it was just a matter of time before things fell into place.

  “Me, too, bruh.” Willie put the last of the food from his bag into his mouth. He then turned on his CD player behind him. Russ Par was on the air acting a fool. “He cracks me up in the morning. I miss the chick—Olivia. They were funny as hell.”

  “Yeah, they were.” Just as Jacob was about to try to cut to the chase, Willie cut him short.

  “Listen, you know me, man. I got like twenty minutes before those little bastards get here and I gots to get my head right. Ya feel me?”

  “Willie, you know something? I might join you today, with all the stress I been under.” Jacob had long known that it was part of Willie’s daily ritual to get himself a nice buzz. He was high off of something when school started nearly every morning, and was usually high when the day ended as well.

  A look of someone who was pleasantly surprised appeared on Willie’s mug. “Well, come on wit’ it, then.”