Lust And Confusion

ART: "My Protector" By Laurie Cooper

Cherry and I made love again that night in her bed and again early in the morning....we made love until we were both spent...then we slept a very peaceful sleep...The next morning, we showered together...I wanted to make love again, but she wouldn't..she said to save that energy for the next time...Just knowing there was going to be a next time...that there could be a next time went a long way to improving my mood. We held hands as we walked to the local diner (not the one where we met) and had two steaming cups of coffee, orange juice and Blueberry Waffles and sausage.. We didn't say much, we kept looking at each other and smiling like two teenagers.
I walked her back to her place.

"Cherry thanks for letting me stay last night." I said.

"Chess, I should thank you...I had been celibate, though not by choice for close to six months..
I needed that...I just didn't realize how much I did." she laughed.

"Me too...Didn't realize how bad I needed to touch a woman.." I said.

"When will I see you again?" she asked.

"Anytime you want...all you need to do is call or..I may be calling you." I said and winked at her.

She curled her lips the way I liked and smiled... and waved as I got in my car and drove off.

The next day I drove by Rell's house...I wanted to see my son. She had him ready and I took him to the Zoo in the morning and to the "Please Touch" Museum that afternoon, although at
14 months..He still was too young to really do or enjoy anything. He was asleep by the time I brought him back to his mother's house.

"Awwwl, he's asleep..." said Rell as I passed him to her.

"Yeah, saved you the trouble of having to do that " I said as I was preparing to go.

"Chess...Hold up..you in a hurry?" she said.

"No, Not really..why? What's up?" I said.

"Come inside..let me put the baby in his bed." She said.

I waited in the doorway and then just shut the door and stood at the head of the stairs.. She came running down the stairs and then looked up at me like a kid who has been caught in the cookie jar and then smiled at me warmly....

"You know, you were right about that Samuel Rasulala fellow."

"Yeah?" I said.

"He was a stone dog....He couldn't keep his hands off of me....and after the concert..I told him that I had to go to work early the next day and that he couldn't come over and he didn't take that too well. He kept trying to talk me into letting him come over for "just a few minutes" When he saw that I wasn't budging, He pulled out his Blackberry and called Shane right in front of me..Told me his time was valuable and that what I wouldn't do..a dozen other girls would do." she said.

"Yeah, so what happened next?" I asked.

"Well, let's just say he's going to need a new Blackberry and he might want to put his nuts on ice." she laughed rather devilishly...She always looked so sexy to me when she laughed like that. She knew she turned me on.

I laughed and she laughed...It was the first time the both of us had laughed about something in a
long ,long time...

"Rell, you didn't have to work the next day..why did you lie?" I asked, still laughing....

"I know...I said that to see if he was a gentleman or if all he wanted was to get into the panties..
his reaction gave me my answer...but to call another woman right in front of my face??? Awww hellll no." she said and laughed again...

I started laughing , but then I looked in her eyes and she looked in mine... I don't know who made the first move, but the next thing I knew...we were kissing each other ferociously...and tearing at each others clothes...right there in the living room.. She was wearing a baby blue t-shirt that was very tight....I lifted it up and over her head...she wasn't wearing a bra...and I massaged her breasts with my mouth...she moaned softly and I opened her tight jeans and fumbled as she eased them down and stepped out of them...I was already out of my pants and was kissing her even harder...we were both breathing deeply and sweating...as I gently laid her down on the couch and began to softly run my hands through her hair...

I entered her slowly, suddenly....she felt so good, just as I'd remembered and it felt right...even though, considering where I'd been just hours before, this was so wrong on so many levels..but we were in the heat of each others passion..and this was too good for either of us to stop right now and we didn't...not for at least an hour and a half...

We lie on the floor, totally spent...holding each other and Rell said to me-

"Chess....Chess, how long are we gonna keep doing this?"

Here it was, her you've got to go speech, we shouldn't have done this, but now you should leave speil like before. This time I wouldn't be hurt..this time it was only sex for me and I didn't care..I was prepared to leave without anger.

"I'm going,it's okay.." I said.

"No Chess..I wasn't asking you to go....This isn't your fault....I wanted you...I wanted you before,then I felt guilty...I don't know what I'm doing now..." she said.

"Well, I understand that...and when you do ...when you do know what you're doing..give me a call, but don't make me wait too long...things change everyday you know." I said.

"You have a girlfriend now don't you?" she asked.

"I wouldn't call her a girlfriend....but I met someone." I said.

"Is she nice?" Rell asked.

"Yeah.......She is...but I'm not rushin into nothin...I'm going slow." I said.

"I'm happy for you Chess, I really am...Maybe...maybe one day I'll find somebody nice too." She
said.

"Maybe you will...Rell, but you know I'll always care about you...you know that right?"

"I know you do Chess and you know that I still care about you." she said.

"Yeah, I know that...at least I know that now." I said.

That afternoon, Chris and I met at Penn's Landing and stood looking at the Boats...the river and the skyline of Camden, across the other side of the River...behind us was the massive monolith that was Philadelphia...

"So you're tellin me, you spent the night with Cherry...and then the next night, you and Rell was
gettin it on in her living room??? Hahahahaha...that's why you mah boyyyyyy....You play like Mister Nice guy, but you're a true playa for real...like Puff Daddy..." laughed Chris...

"Man...it aint that simple...I don't know which way I'm going...On the one hand...I have the beginning of a good thing with Cherry....and on the other hand...I sensed a change in Rell..
One minute, I'm sittin up in that Penthouse alone, feelin sorry for myself and now in the past
48...I done had two women...two women that I really care for." I sighed as I looked at the river.

Chris looked at me for a minute...then he busted out laughing....

"What the hell is so funny?" I asked him....

He slapped his knee, then he looked at me and said-

"To have YOUR problems....."

I looked at my good friend and for once that night ,I laughed too!


-For Ashley