Page 2 of Secrets of a Kept Woman

Finally, Street said, “I told him you said that ‘He could take you anywhere, and that you’d do anything for his lovin,’. Ain’t that what you said, shorty?” He mocked Shayla’s earlier words and laughed heartily at his embellishment of the truth.

“You can’t be serious!” Shayla wished she could enter into the Twilight Zone instead of having to go talk to the dude for real. Checking and admiring from the sidelines was her modus operandi, but to actually walk up to him and start a conversation was an entirely different story. School work was her expertise. Boys were more complicated.

Picking up on Shayla’s ambivalence, Michael’s voice got serious, saying, “On the real, just holler at my boy, Shayla. He’s good people.”

Shayla cut Michael an eye of disapproval for repeating her conversation with his sexy cousin, but on the cool, she was happy. Nervous, but happy to be introduced and chosen by his cousin.

“Woman up, Shayla, and go handle that,” Ronnie gave her approval and the quick sister pep talk Shayla needed to get her confidence level up. Knowing how girls could be when it came to a fine brother that everyone wanted to talk to addressing specific girl, Shayla held her head high and let her long black hair blow in the wind as she strutted to the car. As expected, eye darts from other girls in the schoolyard flew left and right in her direction. The whispers were audible, but her game face was on.

“Hey. You said you wanted me to come speak to you. What’s up?”

“Really? I thought it was you that was speaking of me,” the driver said, jokingly raising his sexy left eyebrow. A full set of pearly white teeth flashed brightly, causing her to smile.

“Well, yeah. Actually, I was talking about you when you drove up,” she admitted. “But that was between me and my girls, not for Michael to run off and tell you.”

“Is that right?” he said, sliding his pink tongue across his luscious lips once more.

Suddenly, she found the confidence that earlier was tucked away so nice and neat. “Yeah, and you must have liked what you heard and saw, because you requested my presence. Now that you have my undivided attention, I’m gonna ask you again. What’s up?” Shayla

stated cockily.

He simply answered, “You.” Game over. She was done for. Seeing her blush, he continued, “Since you’re holding conversations about me and all, without including me, that means you have to give me those digits so you can include me in the next conversation. But next time, the headliners will be just me and you.”

Right about that time, he fidgeted with his CD changer, and Tony Toni Tone’s Just Me And You played softly through the speakers. “You feel me? Just me and you…”

Oh, he was a smooth one, Shayla thought. Feeling a little heated and ready to cool down, Shayla decided to change the subject by teasing him, “I see you’ve turned your music down now. You don’t want Mr. Jackson to kick you off the campus.”

He flashed a cinematic grin and said, “Yeah, Mr. Jackson be tripping, but it’s all good.”

Just me and you, huh? She thought, as she reached into her purse and tore off a piece of paper from her note pad. She wrote her number down and started to hand it to him, but snatched the paper back before it was secure in his hands. “Wait a minute. Before I give you my number, at least tell me your name?”

“Titus, but call me Tee.”

“Okay, Tee.” She put her hand on her hip, poising herself to tell him what type of girl she was. “There are a few other things I need you to know off the top, before I even think about talking to you on the phone. One, you have to treat me like a lady at all times, because I’m nobody’s bitch or ho, and if you don’t know the difference it’s probably best…”

Titus cut her off saying, “Whoooaaa…. ! Wait a minute, babygirl. Pump your brakes. I’m just going to give you a phone call. Let’s start with that. From there, you will have plenty of time to see how well I’m going to treat you as my lady.”

Shayla’s father, Rich Thomas, taught her four valuable lessons. One, she was nobody’s bitch or ho. Two, never let a man disrespect you in any way. Three, to always think more of herself than anyone else could ever imagine. And four, trust in a higher power, and the rest will fall into place. Those lessons started when she was only knee-high and were engraved in her psyche.

Her father would say, “You ain't nobody’s ho, and I damn sho’ ain’t raising no punk bitches. If you know these things about yourself early on, you will be much better off when dealing with the no good men that are definitely out there waiting to take advantage of you.”

“We’ll see about me being your lady, Mr. Tee,” she said to Titus, cracking a slight grin. Then, she handed him the note with her name and number, placing the pen and remaining paper back into her purse.

He looked at the paper and said, “Shayla. That’s a pretty name.” He smiled, and she blushed for the second time during their conversation. “Tonight around eight, we have a phone date?”

She confirmed, “It’s a date.” On the inside, she nearly melted – not from the sweltering hot summer heat, but from the heat that radiated from his tongue as he spoke. Titus was all of that and a bag of chips to look at, and from the small talk, she could tell that he would be all of that to conversate with. She had some words that definitely fought to escape her lips, but it was too soon to be trying to get all frisky or mushy with him. Not wanting to miss her bus, or stand there another moment looking dazed and mesmerized, she nodded and parted ways.

As soon as she walked off, smiling like she’d hit the lotto, a thick, red-boned chick marched over to his car, arms crossed, and full of ‘tude. The girl’s curly black weave bounced in the wind as she rolled her neck and became locked up in an intense conversation with Titus. The unnamed bandit, sporting a floral sundress and hot pink sandals, pouted and waved her arms back and forth between her outbursts. Then, she pointed in Shayla’s direction and pouted some more. Her cute and cuddly, girl-next-door appearance did not match her disposition.

“What’s up with ole’ girl? I know she don’t want none!” Ronnie’s overprotective, always-ready-to–throw-a-couple-punches behind was rolling up her sleeves and was down for whatever if the pouty girl wanted to start a confrontation.

“Come on, Rhonda, we have to go. It is what it is,” Shayla said as she picked up her book bag, took the first step toward her public transportation ride home, and motioned for Rhonda to follow suit.

“Where is Gladys? Did her bus come already?” Shayla asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah,” Ronnie said, keeping an eye on the fuming female talking to Titus.

“Just let it go, Rhonda. Let’s go,” Shayla told her, noticing that her attention was still on the arguing couple.

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