Once a Dog Always a Dog!

Chapter 5

Chris had been my right-hand man for as long as I could remember. Whenever I was in a crisis situation he was usually the first person that I would reach out to. And with Cheyenne putting me out of the house, I definitely was in a crisis situation. But as I figured he would, Chris took me in with open arms. "So my nigga is putting his jersey back on! Ha-ha! Yeah, baby! That's what I'm talking about." "Chris, this is serious, man. Cheyenne ain't playing this time." Chris made his way to the bar in his dining room and poured us both a glass of Hennessy. He didn't mix it with soda nor did he put any ice in it. "Drink that. Just gulp it down. Don't sip that shit." I listened to Chris and I drank the Hennessy as he instructed and he did the same. "See, that's grown men shit right there. Here, drink some more of this shit," he said as he poured some more liquor in my glass. "Listen, Kha'Darious, you my man, so you know I can tell you what's up without you trippin'. And what the problem witchu is that you was in retirement and you came outta retirement on a whim. You came out all rusty and shit and you fucked up!

That's all that happened; nothing more, nothing less. But the main thing is your ass is back in the game, you feel me?" Chris was always gonna be Chris and he wasn't gonna change or conform for nobody, so I had to respect him for that. At the same time, it didn't make sense for me to try and get him to understand any of the guilt or anxiety I was feeling because he wouldn't have been able to process it. "So Kierra is off the chain? Fill a nigga in!" I was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol and I had a nice buzz. "Whaaaat? Yo, her body is sick! She's a young, tender twenty-year-old thing, so you know it was bananas! And she looks good as hell too." "Say word! She's only twenty?" "Yeah, I mean when I first saw her I was thinking she was like twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but she showed me her license and she's only twenty years old, and her body is tight as hell even after one baby. The stomach is still flat and her titties are still standing up." "So you saying you met the chick in the bank, invited her to the book signing and the release party and hit it the same night? Yo, my ass needs to start writing fucking books! That shit is crazy." "It's that The Unit affiliation. That's what she's seeing, and that's what got her open like that," I explained. 

"So the hell what! Play that shit up to your advantage. Matter of fact, take my ass witchu to the next book shit that you got going on so some of this shit can rub off on my ass," Chris said with a laugh. Me and Chris continued to drink Hennessy and get drunk with each other. The more he drank the more foolishness he spoke and the more of a negative influence he became. "Kha'Darious, you ain't ready to die, right?" I looked at him and just shook my head no as I tried to figure out where he was gonna go with his statement. "'Cause you know what they say about a dog that tastes blood. After he tastes blood you either gotta kill his ass or let him loose to go wild and do his thing. You tasted blood with Kierra, and since you ain't ready to be put down it's time to turn your ass loose!" As soon as Chris was done talking, my cell phone rang and I saw that it was Kierra. I started to let her go to voice mail because I really didn't want to be bothered at all. But I picked up anyway. "What's up, sexy?" I could tell that Kierra was cheesing through the phone.

"Nothing. I'm just checking up on you. I just got off work so I was seeing what you're up to. Did you get my message I left you?" "Nah, I didn't even check my messages yet. I got back and went to sleep so I was really in chill mode." "Oh, okay, so that's what's up. But listen, I was thinking about coming up there this weekend to see you." Oh, hell no! I remember initially thinking to myself. If there was one thing I didn't need, it was for Kierra to become a bug-a-boo. And she was already showing the signs of a bug-a-boo, blowing up my phone with messages and now she was asking to come check me. I was sure that Kierra had picked up on my hesitation and she jumped right in to break up the awkwardness. "Well, I mean I got family in New York, so I was gonna come see them and then I was hoping that we could see each other again," she added. "Yeah, okay, definitely. Just let me know if it's definite or not and we'll link up. So where does your family live, what part of New York?" "Oh, well, the majority of them are in Harlem. What about you, where do you stay?" "In Great Neck, out on Long Island, but—" 

"Oh, so you a baller for real," she added with a little chuckle. Chris was signaling for me to hang up the phone and waving his hands back and forth across his throat. "Listen, Kierra, let me hit you back later on, okay?" "Okay, baby, no problem. Just make sure you call me," she said before we both hung up. "That was the Chicago chick?" Chris asked. I nodded my head that it was as I got up and poured me another drink. "Yo, Kha'Darious, you already smashed that. What the fuck are you making love on the phone with her for now? Stick and move nigga, stick and move. And why the hell are you telling her where you rest at?"

"Good pussy will make a nigga do anything!" I replied. Chris looked at me and tapped my drink with his, and he chuckled. "Yo, since your ass like to make love on the phone, I got somebody that I want you to speak to," Chris said as he dialed a number on his cell phone and handed it to me. "Who the fuck is this?" "Just talk, nigga!" I looked at Chris's cell phone and I could see the name that he had dialed: Layla. A big smile came across my face as Layla picked up.

"Hey, Chris," she said, obviously expecting it to be Chris since it was his number that was calling her. "What's up, Layla? This ain't Chris, this is Kha'Darious," I responded. "Kha'Darious? Oh my God! What's up? How are you?" She was obviously glad to hear from me. As the night would play itself out, I was gonna find out that not only was I gonna be glad to hear from her, but I was also going to find out that Chris was right about a dog getting that taste of blood. See, because with me, Kierra had been that taste of blood, and I was ready to let loose and like a crazed dog in heat I wanted to taste some more blood and now I had my sights set on Layla. Again, I was using that unique ability that I was not proud of, to shift my feelings of guilt and thoughts of love for my wife to one side of my brain. By doing that I was able to operate as if I had no conscience at all.