Going Down

“What’s that?” I asked, hoping that she would say that she loved me, too.

“I guess I’ve always known how you felt about me. And I’ve always known that I felt it, too.” CJ put the car in reverse and backed out. It wasn’t I love you, too, but I would take it.

I went back in the house and found Zack and Tee in the kitchen. Tee was pouring drinks and Zack was rolling a blunt. They were both laughing. “I see you found the weed,” I said, and leaned against the counter.

“Yeah,” Zack said. “In the cabinet over the refrigerator. Does the lady of the house know you smoke weed?”

“Yes, and she smokes, too.”

“Not CJ,” Tee said, and put a drink in front of Zack. “Sure you won’t have one?”

“I’m sure. Like I said, I’m giving that oil a rest for a while.”

“I can’t understand that. The lady of the house probably was in no mood to go from one drunk to another,” Zack said.

“Right. Now, what’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Tavarus said, and sat down. “Me and Zack was just trippin’ on how we were both fucked by the same woman.”

“Anybody I know?”

“You know somebody named Tyhedra Crawford?” Zack asked, and lit the blunt.

“I’m gonna need that drink now.” I sat down at the table and Zack handed me the blunt.

The three of us sat around that table, and each of us told the others about our Tyhedra experience. Not about the sex we’d all had with her, but about how our Tyhedra experience had changed each of our lives for the better.

Tavarus found his music and was back together with Carmen. I didn’t see that happening. Zack worked out some issue none of us ever knew he had with Angelique. They both said that us getting together and forming a business, something that I always thought would be good for all of us, would be like a dream come true.

“What she do for you, Chris?” Zack asked.

“Don’t tell me she got you and CJ together,” Tavarus said.

“No, nothing like that. Tyhedra made me a better businessman. She taught me a lot about how to present myself to prospective clients. She was the one who helped me stabilize one of my big accounts and turned me on to some new ones. That made it possible for CJ to come on board full time, and for us to be in a position to make the offers we just made to the two of you.”

“Sounds like she dropped CJ in your lap to me. And having CJ always was your dream,” Tavarus said.

“I guess you’re right,” I reluctantly agreed, even though I didn’t want to admit it. Tyhedra had, in her own way, given me an opportunity to have to two things I wanted most in life.

“Hey, Chris. You think she knew that we were all friends?” Zack asked.

“I can’t remember calling y’all by name.” I didn’t even want to think about that. Even though the three of us had sexed the same woman in the past, I didn’t even want to entertain the idea of them having sex with Tyhedra. I had begun to develop real feelings for her, and she for me. At least it felt like that. If she didn’t abruptly put the brakes on it, maybe things might have turned out different.

Maybe the fact that she was having sex with two of my friends, and who knows who else, was the reason she ended us the way she did. I would never know, and maybe it was better that way.

“I think we need to find out,” Tavarus said.

“I think so, too,” Zack added.

“Why?” I want to know.

“I just wanna know,” Tavarus said.

“I wanna thank her,” Zack said.

“So how you gonna do that?” I asked. “You just gonna call her and say, ‘Hi, Tyhedra, are you fuckin’ all my boys?’ ”

“Something like that,” Tavarus said, and pulled out his cell.