Dan took him back to WHHP and he was assigned a nice room that had a bed, desk and a private bathroom. He gave Dan a surprised look. "Sorry it's not very nice, but it's just supposed to be a way center until you get back on your feet." "No, it's…" Tears came to his eyes. "…it's nice." Troy stayed with WHHP for three months. Sensation returned to his fingers and WHHP went about helping him with the task of finding a job, but he wanted to work at the facility. Pastor Greene told him that the purpose of the program was to help him to get transitioned back into society, but when he offered to work in the kitchen for free to pay his boarding, it was an offer they couldn't refuse. He was good in the kitchen and felt at home. He got to run it the way he wanted. The church ladies used to take turns cooking, but they gladly relinquished the job to him, teaching him how to fry chicken, make greens, biscuits from scratch and the best beef stew he'd ever eaten. When he wasn't
As he slept Juicy reluctantly took care of some business, though it was hard to pull her attention from him. Using her home phone, she retrieved the messages from her stolen cell phone. She'd long since learned not to give out her home phone number to clients; learning the hard way that ignorant Negroes will call you morning, noon and night if they wanted their hair done bad enough.Sure enough, the only messages she had were from her clients and they had blown up her phone so bad that her voicemail was filled. Some had been so mad they had cursed her up one side and down the other for leaving them hanging with nappy heads. A few had sworn never to deal with her sorry ass again.She was going to have to give some free appointments off of this. She needed her regulars as they were her bread and butter. Checking her appointment book she decided to cancel the next few days of appointments and to contact the ones that had already been missed and get them rescheduled.When she explained
She closed her eyes and sighed, passively allowing Troy to kiss a path down her body. When she felt completely consumed by her own need she turned and cupped his face. She kissed him fiercely. She needed this. She needed to feel this man inside of her. "Please…" She reached down and gripped his hard cock and now he was the one that trembled. Troy slid easily between her legs and she brought them up and enclosed him against her. Why did this feel so right? His hands were planted on either side of her head, his body not quite resting on her, and he waited for her to guide him inside of her. Juicy positioned him at her opening and then he pushed forward. "Oh god…" he moaned. "Oh Juice…" His eyes closed as his lips parted. Troy pushed deeply into her and then he sought a tempo as he repeatedly thrust in and out of her. Juicy clutched him desperately, her hips matching his every move and soon their limbs intertwined; one dark, one white resembled a strange ying yang symbol.They made
The older man gave her the once over. "Someone really did a number on you, sista." She was about to say something smart when he continued. "There's been some strange white man watching the building from across the street. People have been seeing him for the last few days. I hope he ain't trying to scope-"Juicy's heart jumped. "Across the street?" "Yeah." He took her excitement as fear. Juicy hurried to the front window and tried to see out. It was dark and she couldn't see much further then the slight green space that marked the end of the yard. She rushed out of the door before she remembered the maintenance man. She rushed back and ushered him out of her apartment. She kept telling him goodbye and he kept trying to stop her from confronting the perspective burglar. Finally she slammed her door shut and hurried past him still clutching her keys. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she smoothed down the front of her shirt and opened the buildings entry door.
"Tired?""Not too tired…" she tried not to look too anxious."Not too tired for…?" He smiled slightly.Her eyes hooded and she reached beneath the covers and ran her hands over his nude body. He shivered, his eyelids fluttering closed."Ok." His sigh sounded like a purr.She pushed back the covers because she wanted to be familiar with his body. He needed a tan—no. He was pale but he was fine just the way he was. She bent down and kissed his flat nipple. Troy reached out and stroked her hair. Her warm tongue caused his nipple to perk up and soon he felt her teeth lightly grazing his sensitized flesh. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her mouth on his body. Mmm, he thought, when he felt her lips travel down over his abs. Her tongue flicked and then her teeth nipped and he shuddered. Her felt her fingers wrap around his shaft. Troy's breath caught in his chest as he arched upward."Please…" he whimpered. "Please, what?"He struggled to think of the right words."Do
"I went to my church for our weekly potluck dinner.""Oh cool. What did you eat?""Well I cooked." Juicy tried not to look surprised. He went to church AND he cooked? She was impressed. She hadn't been to church since being a little kid wearing an Easter dress. "I made chicken pot pie. I used biscuit dough for the top, instead of a pie crust. People seem to really like when I do that.""What church do you belong to?""Now I'm with Allen Temple AME. Once I told them I cooked at my last church, they recruited me to be in charge of the potluck dinners we have weekly for the homeless."She contemplated him quietly. "You belong to an African Methodist Episcopal Church? And let me get this straight; you cook for the homeless?"He shrugged. "Or whoever; the church, the homeless, guests, friends…" he sat down at the table with her. "I don't do all of the cooking myself. We have seventy or eighty people that come through. During winter or holidays it's twice that. One of the
"Juice, can I talk to you?" She had been pressing Miss Barbara Jean's hair in her small back room. Three other customers were waiting semi-patiently. Even though it had been weeks since she'd been attacked, it seemed that she was still trying to play catch-up in order to get to where she had been before her attack. She over-booked but only because people begged her to do their hair, or their daughter's hair and etc. Troy had gotten the wonderful idea to bake muffins which reduced much of the grumblings of those left waiting for hours."Sweetie, I'm kinda busy right now-" Juicy swiped at her sweating brow. Her back hurt and she still had a bandage over her head. She'd been on her feet non-stop for the last six hours."Uhm..." Troy entered the room while four sets of eyes glared at him. Having a white man breech their hair secrets was a huge no no. And though he fed them tasty baked goods, that would only get him so far.He boldly removed the curling iron from Juicy's hand and tugge
Troy sat on the Greyhound bus several hours later. He hadn't called his parents to explain that he was coming by; he hadn't wanted anything to sidetrack him…well truthfully, he just hadn't wanted to chicken out. If he was there, he couldn't just walk away if things got rough.Sighing, he reviewed the last words that he'd said to his Dad; 'I'll call you tomorrow…' And that had been over seven years ago. When the bus landed in the station he considered calling his Dad to come pick him up, but that would have been too weird. Instead he sprung for a cab, though under normal circumstances, he'd never splurge on such a thing. He stared out of the window as the driver passed familiar spots, as well as spots that should have been familiar but had changed over the years. He did not want to do this. He did not enjoy being back in this place that marked a time of his life when he had been unsure and in pain. Sure, there had been pain over the years while he lived on the streets. But i
Troy got behind the wheel and started the car. He had been seizure free for almost three years. And before that he'd had only one in the entire year. Of course he had to take his medication regularly, and if he noted that he was having any of the signals, like repetitive tapping of his fingers or feet then he anticipated one and could put himself in a safe position. There had been no need for that for several years.Jazzy had lost interest in her book in less than a minute and they were doing a sing-a-long. Soon Troy was singing by himself. He looked in the rear view mirror and his daughter was staring off into space. Her pretty rosebud mouth was slightly ajar and her body had gone slack. A few moments later her eyes blinked and she got quiet as she turned to the window to stare at the passing scenery. His lips were a grim line as he took all of it in.Janet had said that it was normal for kids to have absence seizures and that she might grow out of hers without the need for
Juicy put her hands on her hips and stretched her back. She felt it crack and sighed in relief. Oh that was good…"Mama I want pink bows.""Okay, Miss bossy." Jazzy was bouncing up and down on her butt in the salon chair. She was a bundle of energy. That girl could run from sunup to sundown. Troy was always there, running right beside her."She will tire out on her own as long as we let her run it out of her system," is what he would say when she would get tired just watching the tot run in circles. It was a good thing that the house they'd moved into had a huge back yard and all kinds of play equipment. Troy and Dad had even built her a little playhouse where no one complained if she wrote on the walls or left her toys on the floor.Juicy brushed her little girl's dark hair around her finger until they formed ringlets that touched her shoulders. Then she tied two big pink bows around each of the pigtails."Look at me Aunt Eboni!" Jazzy stood up in the chair.Ebonique re
"I'm mad at Felix, too." She nodded emphatically. "I'm mad because he was my only true friend and he…took himself away from me. He was the one person that I could turn to that understood me completely." She inhaled. It felt good to unload some of this. "That's so wrong to be mad at him. He didn't try to hurt me. It was me that let him down. He tried to talk to me and I didn't hear what he was saying. He told me what he needed and I just didn't hear.""You mean that you didn't save him."Juicy nodded after a long moment. "I'm mad at myself, too.""Why?"She swallowed past the lump in her throat. "Because I hurt people and I know that I'm doing it. It makes me feel better when I'm hurting. And I let people down…I let you down.""You didn't let me down, babe.""When you were in the hospital you needed me and I was too busy having my own pity party that I stopped caring about anybody else.""Juicy, the first step is to recognize destructive behavior, okay? And you're
Several weeks later, Juicy was burping the baby after her last bottle and Troy was lying in bed half asleep. It was just after three a.m. and it had been his turn to get up and feed her, but he hadn't been able to get that last belch to erupt from her little belly and so Juicy had finally gotten up and taken over."Where's my surprise?""What?" He yawned and looked at her with sleepy confused eyes."That day." It was now referred to as 'that day', "…you said that you were going to bring me back a surprise. Where's the surprise?"He chuckled, eyes still hooded. "I wish I could give you a surprise; a special one that's in my shorts, it's big, too.""You are so nasty.""I am so horny.""Well I have to wait six weeks, sweetie.""That's a long time, Juice.""Oh come on, you told me before that you'd waited years."He sat up, propping the pillow under his arms as he turned to watch her patting his daughters back so that she could be put down to sleep."I don't know what I was
Later, Juicy held her daughter up in the neonatal ward, and so many visitors began to stream in that she was asked to take Jasmine down into her own room. The doctor had already given the baby an examination and the youngest member of the Hyden family was pronounced able to be released the next day. They weren't so sure about Juicy. But she threatened to runaway if they even thought about leaving her in this hospital without her baby. The doctor smiled and said that as long as she stayed in bed for the next few days and took her blood pressure twice a day that he would allow her to leave with the baby.Robert and Gladys sat with them, barely leaving the little baby's side. And when the girl's from the salon drifted in they looked at the odd family that Juicy was a part of. And Miss Barbara Jean did not say one bad thing about white people and Ebonique even promised to give Gladys a free cut and dye job before they flew back to Connecticut.Troy wasn't anxious once, but relaxe
There was a repetitive sound that was just downright annoying. Was Troy playing a videogame? She had never known him to care much for things like videogames. She opened her eyes and looked around slowly. What the-?" She was not in her familiar bedroom.Her head whipped around and she reached up and ripped a tube out of her mouth. It went all the way down her throat and she gagged and coughed, almost suffocating on it. Troy's body jerked where he was sleeping in a reclining chair next to her hospital bed. He jumped up and hurried to her while she coughed and choked. "What the-?" But she had no voice. She tried again and a whispery sound issued from her lips. "What-?"Troy placed his hands on her cheeks and then he kissed her. He pulled back and then moved right back in to hug her. She hugged him back, confused eyes still roaming around the room."Thank God," he was saying. "You're awake."He released her and snatched at the call controls. He was pressing it and sta
Troy was sitting in the hospital room next to Juicy's bed. He still held the small bundle of his son, even though it had been hours since his birth. He wondered if that was the appropriate word to use when a baby was born, having already died. Birth was supposed to mark the beginning of one's life, but for him it had marked the end.They had been able to stop Juicy's labor, for now, and she had been moved to a private room, still in a coma, and heavily monitored. Janet had been kind enough to phone his family who were taking a flight in to Cincinnati.Janet came into the room and pulled up a chair next to Troy's. He didn't look at her. She looked down at the baby in his arms. "Troy. You haven't eaten and you haven't taken your medicine. You need to take a few moments to do these things.""I'm not hungry." He mumbled."I'll hold the baby for you." He looked at her slowly."You won't let th-them t-take h-him?""Are you planning to hold him forever?""No. Just until I'
Troy opened his eyes and then squinted. The difference between waking up after a horrible migraine and waking up after a horrible migraine while on painkillers was a totally different experience. Usually, he was alert and invigorated. But now he was drowsy and unclear. He looked around the darkened room, pulling himself up into a sitting position. He came to his feet and reached for the window blinds. "What the-?" He was on the fifth floor. This he could easily judge by the distance from the window to the parking lot below. Yet Tri Health Alliance only had two floors…Now that the light shining through the window illuminated the room he could clearly see that he was in a hospital room. "Shit!" He hurried to the door. He wasn't wearing a shirt and he touched his chest and suddenly looked around. His shirt was folded neatly on a small table and he quickly pulled it on and patted his pocket for his cell phone, keys and wallet. He had them. He hurried out of the room, dart
Juicy loved placing her hand on her belly and feeling the baby kicking back against it. She tried to imagine her baby but couldn't picture a mixture between her and Troy. He was tall and lanky with blonde hair and grey eyes, and she had black skin and black eyes. Their baby could be caramel, dark chocolate, even vanilla. She chuckled and thought about how freaked her mother would have been by the fact that she was in love with a white man. She quickly shook her head and thought about something other than Momma.She got out of bed and walked to the spare room. She was so anxious to decorate it. It would be a wonderful baby's room. She imagined yellow paint on the walls and pretty willowy white curtains. She had once seen a room that had pretty butterflies hanging from the ceiling with nylon wings and papier-m?ché bodies. She wanted white furniture and a princess bed. Her face slowly fell. That is what she had always wanted for herself. Instead, her bedroom had been a sag