Black Sheep

Black Sheep 5

Blacksheep5

"He's lying," I tell Keon, "You have to believe me.  Brian was having sex with Jamison."

We get out of Keon's car.  We are walking to his apartments but I stop him.  We had to leave Jamila.  My father was pissed when I left.  He said that he didn't want to see me again.  He is probably looking at me like I'm sort of manipulator.  Now he believes that Jamison is actually straight.   He believes that I came in here to sabotage their lives. That wasn't the case.   She was too passed out to bring with us.  We are sitting in his living room right now.  Keon is smoking a cigar.  He probably needs to relieve some stress after everything that happened.

Keon shakes his head, "It doesn't make sense man."

"That Jamison is gay?"

Keon stares at me, "can see Jamison being gay.  He clearly is real homophobic and most of the time those are the ones who got something to hide."

"So if you believe he's gay why don't you believe he is having sex with Brian."

"You don't have to convince me man.  I'm not in this."

"I need you to stop looking at me like I'm a liar."

"Why do you care what I think?" Keon asks.

"I just do."

I don't know why.  For some reason Keon's opinion mattered.  My family had turned on me so many times and Keon was the only one who stuck by my side and took up for me.  The fact that he didn't believe me now hurt.

Keon confirms it, "No.  I don't believe you.  I'm sorry Joshua.  You're not innocent in this.  You want me to believe you actually just wanted to show up at Jamison's wedding?  You wanted to come to his wedding even though you guys never got along.  Clearly you two are still hostile to one another so it's not like you were trying to make up.  You had bad intentions."

I remember how Keon was acting when I told him why I was at the wedding in the first place.  He didn't trust my intentions.

"I didn't pay Brian."

"But you knew he was coming."

"Yes."

"And you planned it?" Keon asks me.

"Yes."

"But you didn't pay him?" Keon asks shaking his head, "Man I don't know how I can trust you in this.  I just think that now that Jamison's come out with his version of events it's convenient you want to change it."

"I need you to believe me," I tell Keon.

"You should have been honest from the get-go," Keon explains to me, "It was suspicious and now it just confirms it.  You're lying."

"Play me."

"What?"

"Let's go to the courts.  Play me."

Keon rolls his eyes, "How is that gonna prove if you're lying or not."

"When we were younger we used to do it," I state, "We used to go to the courts and who won was right."

Keon shakes his head, "We not kids anymore.  It's the middle of the night man.  Ain't nobody got time to be playing no games."

"You scared to lose. You scared to be wrong..."

"Bro... you can't beat me."

"Then play me.  And believe me."

Keon stops for a minute.  He thinks about it.

"You going to wear that suit?"

~

The courts are empty.  It's the middle of the night.  No one is out.  It's just me and Keon.  We used to do this when we are kids.  Keon has jeans on.  He has a button up shirt.  He takes his shirt off.  I have slacks on and shoes but I take my shirt off as well.

"Is that a little bit of a gut I see," Keon asks, "We should switch nicknames."

"I just ate man."

"So did I."

"Just pass the fucking ball..."

Keon laughs through his teasing.  He passes me the ball.  He always used to let me get the ball first because I was smaller.  That's how it is where we are from.  I haven't played since those days though.  I hold it for a minute.  I start dribbling.  I start towards the hoop.  I slide a little bit and he steals the ball from me almost immediately.

"Your shoes are slipping.  Come on.  Let's switch."

"I don't need your help."

"We wear the same size and you suck.  Let's switch," He tells me.

We switch shoes.  I take his Jordans and he takes my Oxfords.  We start over.  It's my ball.  I am dribbling.  I back up away from him.  I'm driving towards the hoop.  I get close.  I hit a lay-up.  One point.

He checks me the ball.  I attempt to do the same thing.  This time when I get close to the hoop, he steals it.  He heads back to the three-point line and shoots.  SWISH.  Nothing but net.  I give him the ball.

As soon as he gets it he hits another one from where he's at.

Swish.  I pass it this time.  Same results.

"You cheating," I state.

"How the hell am I cheating?" he asks, "I don't know why you want to play me.  You weren't playing ball in your fancy board meetings."

He gets the ball.  Keon is feeling himself at this moment.  He has to be right.  We start playing again and this time I'm the one cheating.  I hold onto him, grabbing him and pulling him to the ground just to get the ball.  That's the only way in hell I'm going to beat Keon and I'm OK with that.

As revenge Keon does the same when it's my ball.

"Two can play that game," he warns.

His arms grapple around my hips.  He pulls me into him making it impossible to dribble the ball.  I hold onto the basketball for dear life.  I press my butt up against his torso in order to keep him away from it.  He attempts to swipe it away but I'm holding on for dear life.

I push out my butt a little bit more attempting to add even more space and more space.

Then I feel it.

I feel his hard dick pressing up against me.  At first I don't think he notices that I feel it.  It isn't until I utter a quick, "You trying to turn this into Love and Basketball: the boy version."

I think he realizes what I mean by that.  He releases his arms off me at that moment.

"Oh damn, my bad." 

I turn to him.  He's embarrassed.  He's standing there.  The dim streetlight is the only light that we see from the courts.  It reflects off his abs, his powered up chest, his long thick neck, his broad shoulders and the sweat dripping down his body like morning dew.  The tent in his pants is clear.  It's an impressive size and he turns to the side as though thinking it would help conceal it.  It only makes it more clear.

"Control your body," I tease him.

I continue my teasing dribbling backwards into him.  My butt acts like my main blocker.  He seems so distracted that he doesn't even attempt to guard.  He just keeps his hands up as though trying to figure a way out of this.

I get to the hoop.

I score.

"My point," I state.

"That's not fair man," he tells me, "You keep backing that fucking truckload into me.  You gained weight Skinny."

He stares at the ground and laughs.  He's trying to make it seem like nothing by his comment but I can tell that he probably doesn't want to play this game anymore.  He hasn't even run over to get the ball.  It's still rolling up to the nearby fence.

"You calling my butt big?" I ask him.

"Yo I didn't say that."

"Is it big to you?"

"Skinny---"

"What?  Answer the question," I ask him.

He laughs, "Direct as always.  That's what I love about you Skinny.  Yes, you got a big ol' butt.  Is that what you wanted me to say?"

I walk up to him.  I push him.   It doesn't take much effort.  I'm backing him up into the fence and he seems to be moving away from me the whole while.  He might be trying to roll this back and pretend like this is just old friends playing ball but that isn't the case and he knows it.  He's hard.  His body is giving him away.

I have him up against the fence.   We stare at each other.  It's dark outside.  We are completely alone.  His breathing gets heavy.  Mines does as well.  My eyes wander to his chest where I've rested my hand.  It's right over his nipple.

His eyes close for a second.  I can see his big Adam's apple go down for a minute.

"What are you doing?" he asks me.

He asks it almost in a whisper.  His eyes are still closed.  Sweat is still dripping down from his forehead and his head is leaning up a little bit as though completely engulfed by his own thoughts.

"I had you like this before, remember?" I ask him, "Remember when I kissed you.  And you didn't want it."

His eyes open.  He's used to how forward I can be but this may be even a little too forward for him.

"Skinny you a trip," he states.

He laughs as though trying to dismiss this moment as nothing once again.  I don't give him the chance.  As soon as he opens his mouth to laugh my tongue is down his throat.

This time isn't like before.  This time he doesn't stop me.  This time he kisses me back.

This time his tongue is deep in my mouth and he turns me around to slam me up against the fence.  He's kissing me harder and harder.  He lifts his hands up and pins me to the fence.  I hold onto his back pulling him into me, feeling his hard dick pressed up against mine.  The friction between us comes to a head.

Then he stops.
Just like that.  He doesn't look at me.  He doesn't comment on the kiss.  He doesn't even acknowledge that it happened.

"What's wrong?"

He doesn't reply.  He just goes to grab the basketball and leaves.

~'

When I get back to the apartment Keon has his bedroom closed.  I think about knocking on it and addressing what happened at the park but I don't.  Maybe he just needs to access it.  For some reason he stopped the kiss.  Still...for some reason he engaged in it as well.  I had to admit my attraction to Keon was something else.  I loved his personality when he was fat.  Now that his insides matched his outsides I was definitely realizing that I'm falling for this guy.

I lay up.  His couch smells like him.  Why can't I get him out of my mind?

I dream of him that night.

The next morning when I wake up, I get the confidence to go knock on his door but he's gone for the day.  I check my phone but there is no message from Keon on why he left so early.  The only thing that I see is a text from my brother Joyous.  He tells me to meet him at the Marchioness for a business meeting.

I get to the club.  It is so messy that Jamison has on a goddam scarf over his face when I get there.

"You're late," Jamison tells me.

He's starting with me already.  I look over at Joyous.  There is no Jamila here even though the group message had her number.  I was pretty sure Jamila's phone was one of the most useless things she owned.

"That kind of what happens when you schedule a meeting the morning of," I tell him.

"Where you coming from?" Joyous asks me.

"Why you grilling me?" I ask.

"I want to know where you staying.  Is that so wrong?" Joyous asks, "You my little brother.  It's my responsibility regardless of how old you are."

All of a sudden it's his responsibility.  I can tell someone has been getting in his ear.  I take a look to my right and see exactly who the snake is.

"Word on the street is he's been staying with Keon," Jamison replies.

Fuck.

Joyous gives me a hard look.

"What is that about?" Joyous asks.

"He offered me to stay with him," I stated, "I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before."

Joyous wonders if that is the case for a minute but turns around, "I don't like that shit."

"Because I'm gay?"

"Because I don't like that shit," Joyous states, "Move out."

I roll my eyes, "Whatever man.  Weren't we here to talk about business?  Of course neither of you would know much of anything about business..."

"Which is why we should sell it," Jamison argues.

"We're not selling it," Joyous states, "Word on the street is that Sosa is going into the club business with the Asians."

"That's why you want to do this?" Jamison asks.

I didn't care why Joyous was on board with this.  It was just clear now that Jamison wanted nothing to do with this.

"You can sell your quarter to the rest of us," I tell Jamison, "You can walk away."

Jamison sits there and thinks about it.  I honestly hope he'll take the bait here.  To be honest it would be so much easier to work with Joyous who was kind of easy to manipulate and Jamila who would never show up for anything than do this with Jamison.  Jamison was opinionated.  He was all fucking evil.  So yeah...I preferred for him to walk away.

"Pops told me yesterday that he didn't want you ruining Big Mama's legacy," Jamison states.

"He told you that."

A smile spreads across Jamison's face.  I want to slap it right off of him.  He knows just what to say to get underneath my skin.  My father may have had issues with my lifestyle.  He may have even believed that I am some con artist who was trying to make his favorite son Jamison into something he wasn't.  Jamison telling me this even went further than that.  My father thought I was such a fuckup that I would do damage to something my grandmother worked so hard to help build.

That shit hurt.

There was almost a physical pain at that moment.

"Sure did.  The last thing he wants is the Marchioness to become some Drag club.  So yeah.  If we are keeping it then I'm involved," Jamison explains.

I'm so angry that I'm shaking.

"You might have convinced some people that you aren't a faggot, but I know you just got your boyfriend to lie for you," I tell him.

I want to hurt him just as much as he hurts me.  I realize the only time Jamison seems flustered is when you bring up his sexuality.  He takes digs on me about my sexuality as though I would care.   None of that bothers me.  I think he must feel like being gay has to be the very worst thing the son of a pastor can be.

"ENOUGH!" Joyous screams out, "Both of you before I beat both your asses."

He puts us together as though I'm the one that is starting with Jamison.  I lean up against the wall.

Jamison smiles as though attempting to take the high ground, "I am willing to put my issues with Joshua aside for this.   Peace?"

I look at his hand.

"Man get that shit the fuck away from me," I state turning away from him.

Jamison looks over at Joyous, "I tried..."

Joyous gives me a hard look, "Joshua."

"He's fake as fuck," I argue.

"You need to stop with the attitude.  Jamila is the girl in the family," Joyous snaps on me.

Joyous then goes on to pat Jamison on the back.  He's comforting Jamison because Jamison has this disappointed look on his face.  It's fake.   That doesn't stop Joyous from giving him props.  Somehow Jamison always has a way of making me look like the rude one who always is off the handle.  He always has a way of making it seem like I was the bad one.

"First thing's first," Jamison says, "We need an interior designer.  I know a guy from West Hollywood..."

"Too expensive.  I can fly Marcella back out here," I reply.

"I'd prefer a professional," Jamison responds.
"We are on a budget."

"We have 500,000."

"You have no idea how much it takes to fix this do you?" I ask him.

He's such an idiot.  I swear he thinks that money is probably enough to create the best club in Los Angeles.  He has no idea what he's getting into.  We still have to hire staff.  We still had to promote.  We still had to maintain.  Jamison is way over his head and for some reason he has Joyous in here nodding in agreement to everything he's saying.
"The interior designer I know is a good friend of mine," Jamison states.

"Sounds a like a job a lot of gay guys would like.  You fucking him?" I ask.

That's when it happens.

Joyous backhands me.

He backhands me straight across my face.  It burns like shit.  I snap my head back and ball up my fingers.

"Do it and I'll drag you all over this club," Joyous warns me.

"I'm not allowed an opinion?" I ask, "I am a part owner of this club."

"Not when you are going out of your way to be nasty and stop us from doing business," Joyous gives me a real hard look before turning to Jamison, "Either help us or get the fuck out."
"Fuck ya'll."

I turn at that moment.  I start leaving.  A part of me wants to be petty and just leave them this fucking club.  If Joyous wanted to be just another flunky for Jamison, then he could have it.  I get out of the club however and I see a few of Joyous's guys just hanging out of the club.   They are just in the parking lot.  One of them is smoking with Migos playing through the base speakers from the trunk.  This is exactly what I didn't want this club to be like.  Knowing the kind of crowd that Joyous hung out with I knew that this was what my father really should be concerned about.  Yet somehow he thought that I would be the one to ruin the Big Mama's reputation?

I don't pay any attention to them until I notice that someone's approaching me.  It's Keon.

"What happened to your lip?" he asks me.

"You care?"

He had kissed me and just left.   I still felt some type of way about that.  I would have expected us to at least have a conversation of what that kiss meant.

"Don't be like that," Keon tells me stretching a little bit and putting his hand on my shoulder, showing the slightest bit of familiarity, "Every time I see you, you looking like you got attack.  I need to know if I should be concerned."

"It's not your concern," I respond, "I'm nothing to you Keon."

"You my best friend."

"Best friends don't do what we did yesterday."

He stops.  He wasn't ready for that.  I could tell.  He looks back again at his boys. They are loud and ratchet when a couple of females in a Buick stop at a traffic light on the main road from the club.  They aren't paying any attention to me and Keon at all.

"I wasn't expecting it.  That was all."

"You kissed back."

"I'm not arguing this with you," he explains, "You think I'm arguing this with you?  I ain't arguing this.  I kissed back.  Yeah.  I did.  What's your point?"

"So you enjoyed it?" I ask.

"Things are complicated right now.  It's not what you think it is though," he tells me, "I wasn't expecting what happened and right now I just am not sure I want to go there with you."

"You flirt with me...all the time."

"I'll stop."

"No you won't."

"I'll try," he promises shaking his head.

"I don't want you to stop," I tell him.

"Joyous is coming out.  We all hanging out for a little bit."

I think he's trying to avoid the conversation but he's right.  Joyous is coming out.  I know that if Joyous ever finds out that something is going on between me and Keon things are going to get ugly and they are going to get ugly fast.

"I know you said things are complicated.  Or whatever.  But I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since last night."

"Joyous---"

"I don't give a fuck about my brother," I tell him, "I'm pouring my heart out to you."

He stops looking so eager to escape all of a sudden.  He takes a deep breath.  Joyous walks past us.  Joyous gives us a weird look.  I can tell Joyous doesn't like us talking.  I'm even more surprised when Keon just doesn't roll over and get out of my face at that moment.  He shows some balls here.

"What the two of you always doing these 1 on 1 talks?" Joyous asks.

"He's my friend," Keon states.

"Let me holler at you for a second, Keon.  I need to make a few things very clear," Joyous states.

Joyous doesn't like it.  He doesn't like us talking.  Keon holds out his hand separating Joyous from me.  I'm really shocked when he does it.  His hand is standing there all stiff.

"We having a conversation."

Joyous

"Can we talk about this tonight?"
"About what?"

"Us..."

He smiles a little bit.  I'm actually surprised when he does.  Even through all this confusion he smiles.  He actually leans over and puts his hand on my neck.  He does it in a way that is clearly eager.  I can tell that he wasn't grossed out by that kiss.  No matter how reluctant he is to have this conversation.  This isn't the way you act when you are grossed out with something.

"I'd like that..."

~

The night comes.

I'm sitting there waiting for Keon like a fucking idiot.  I don't know what is getting over me.  The last time I liked a dude this much I got my heart broken.  I feel like this is all going to happen again.

Maybe Joyous was right.  Maybe I should just move out.  Suddenly there is a knock on the door.

I get so excited that I run to the door.  I'm expecting to see Keon but then I realize there is no reason Keon should be knocking on the door of his own apartment.  When I get to the door I'm surprised to see Brian of all fucking people.

"Man what the hell you doing here?" I ask.

"Your sister said you were staying here.  I been looking for you."
Brian's eyes are red.  At first I think it is drug related but then I realize it isn't.  Brian has actually been crying.  This is making it even more weird that he shows up at Keon's house at night time with tears in his eyes.

"For what?"

"I just...needed someone to talk to.  Someone who understands."

"Listen after the shit you pulled at my family's house, I have nothing to say to you," I respond, "You are foul Brian.  You straight up lied."

Brian sighs.  He seems overwhelmed with emotion and I am wondering why he thinks I would give a fuck out of all people.  He should have stayed wherever he was with Jamila.  Maybe she would be sympathetic while she was high off god knows what.  I was looking at him crossing my arms as cold as ever.
"He told me he wanted to be with me," Brian explains, "I shouldn't have lied.  I just believed everything that Jamison told me."

"And let me guess.  You got a little too close, so he dumped your ass?"

"Worse."

"How much worse?" I ask him.

"He has another lover," Brian explains.

"Boy or a girl?"

"Boy...I think...no.  I know.  It's a boy."
I raise my eyebrows.  This is actually interesting.  I wasn't a fan of gossip but when it came to my brother Jamison there was no amount of dirt that I was not willing to collect.

"How do you know for sure?"

"His lover found out about us.  Gave him an ultimatum.  I only know because I know the bellboy at the hotel we used to go to.  The bellboy let me know all the dirt Jamison has been doing.  When I confronted Jamison about him...he just dumped me."
"How do I know you aren't on some bullshit?" I ask.

"He says they are at the hotel right now..." he tells me.

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"Give me the address..."

~

It would probably be considered shady but I was going to get my revenge on the whole family.  I pull up to the hotel.  It's a shitty ass hotel in the middle of the ghetto.  When I pull up I can see guys going in and out of rooms.  I remember the hotel really well.  This is the place I lost my virginity back in the day.  It's called the Ditch.  The Ditch was the hotel that people used to go when they were on the DL.  I remember when I lost my virginity here I was scared to death of getting caught.  All the gay guys looking for a hookup or trying to reconnect with their own hookups would come here.

The weather is cold.  It's freezing outside.

"What's up sexy?" a guy says as I walk past his room, "Come in man.  I got that long dick for you.  I'll fuck you good.  Real wet.  Real long in that tight hole."

I ignore him even though the guy is kind of fine.  I'm not here for that.  I have a camera in hand.  I'm here for revenge.  My father thought his son was this straight pastor's child who did no wrong.  I was going to expose him once and for all.

I get to the second floor of the outside hotel.  The bellboy is there.  It's the same bellboy that Brian was friends with.  Brian didn't have the balls to come here himself but he was more than willing to give me the bellboy's number.

"You got the money?" he asks me.

I hand him a 50.  Supposedly that's all it costs for a bellboy to "lose" the master room key.  He points over to the room that Jamison is in.

I start walking towards the room.  My camera is in hand and I'm shaking and nervous but I'm beyond ready.  When I get to the door I quickly put the key in the door.

I open the door.

I start snapping pictures almost immediately catching Jamison in the action.  I'm finally getting my proof!

I was FINALLY getting my redemption!

And then I realize who Jamison is laying in the bed with.

"Fuck!"

"Really Keon?"

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