The Widow Of Magnolia Lane

Part 26

Rasheeda heard Akoni's Escalade ease into the driveway.  Quickly, she took off her multi-colored bonnet to expose her $400 Brazillian weave, flipped her hair back, and settled back on the couch in a provocative pose.  Her red silk robe opened narrowly at the top exposing the cleavage of her full breast and toned stomach.  She propped her leg seductively on the coffee table.  Long chocolate limbs, that were freshly shaven and moisturized, swayed slightly to allow air to cool off the fire burning within.  She craved Akoni in every way a woman could crave a man.  His gentle touch, his soft lips, his strong voice, and his scent stayed with her hours after he had left.  

She had wanted him since the first day she saw him.  On that hot summer's day, the streets, vivid and loud, felt the wrath of the heat. Her aunt Rhonda, because of a broken air conditioner, had every window in the house opened, allowing the heat to permeate and swelter in the small rowhouse. She sat on the couch, too hot to move, reading a magazine until she heard  Akoni's name being called from every direction of the corner.  Rasheeda had heard of Akoni but had never laid eyes on him. She heard the rumors of how handsome he was, how tall he stood, and how he climbed the ranks in Baltimore's drug cartel. 

 Startled by the noise of quick thumps, she turned to see her cousin Keisha run down the steps and out the front door leaving it wide open.  Fear of hearing her aunt yell and out of pure curiosity, she went to close the door and saw him.  He glistened in sweat as his white tank top clung close to his body showing off his chiseled abs.  Akoni stood midway of the old porch as Keisha lept from the top steps into his arms.  She wrapped her body around him crossing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.  Pushing the door halfway closed, Rasheeda breathed in his beauty before shutting it completely.  Catching a glimpse of her over Keisha's shoulder, he gave her a broad smile defining the deep dimples in his cheeks before winking at her.  Rasheeda was smitten.

Rasheeda had heard of Natalie a year after she had first seen him.  Keisha talked about Natalie every day with despise and hate as though she was a dark shadow following her step to step, kicking her ankles along the way.  She listened as they argued, fretted as her cousin slapped him, cried when Keisha had him set up.  Once in jail, he was no longer tethered to her cousin.  He became fair game.  Rasheeda visited him in the correctional facility, paid his commissary, and wrote him letters.  She was determined to make him hers.  The only thing that troubled her was the same nuisance that troubled her cousin.  Natalie, though engaged at this point, was still a threat.  Rasheeda could hear the sadness in his voice when he found out Natalie was getting married.  She saw the pain in his face from the loss of her when she visited him in jail.  There was nothing more in the world that she hated more than Natalie.  And now that her husband was dead, she was damned if Natalie was going to get her claws in Akoni again.

Akoni walked through the door laughing and talking to St. James.  Rasheeda, seemingly unfazed, flipped carelessly through the television as though she never heard the door open. 

"Rasheeda, has the cops been by here?"  Akoni asked coming through the door.

"No.  I don't think they are coming.  It was hours ago since I talked to them."  Rasheeda continued to flip through channels.

"Well damn!  What have you been doing since I been gone? Thinking of me I hope?"  Akoni grinned once he noticed Rasheeda's attire,  he walked over slowly approaching the sexy woman on the couch.

Rasheeda smiled and glanced sweetly rolling her eyes at Akoni.

"You been waiting for me, baby?"  Akoni sat beside her placing his hand on her stomach while nibbling gently on her neck.