"Since when did I turn into a damn party planner?" Rio asked, not expecting an answer but of course Shaw had to make jokes.
Almost a week had passed since Rio ended things with Natalia and he hadn't heard a word from her. One would think it gave him relief, but it didn't. He half-expected her to show up at the most random times and maybe destroy something. She hadn't. Not yet at least. She hadn't even brought his clothes by, but Rio didn't complain because he really wanted nothing else to do with her. It was quite the contrast with Beth. He wanted everything to do with Beth.
They still hadn't really talked about what was going to happen with them next, they just let things flow.
Beth: I'm rethinking what we talked about. Not sure that's a good idea.
Rio: It is.
Beth: I don't have anything to wear.
Rio: I'll give you the money to buy something.
Beth: Don't do that.
...
Beth: Rio, I don't want your money. Don't do that.
Rio:Done.
"Can you get outta your phone for a second, Mr. Party Planner?" Shaw asked, shaking his head.
Rio obliged and stuck his phone in his pocket.
"Alright. What is it?"
"Pussy takes your head outta the game."
"Yo, chill with that. I'm here, ain't I?"
A minivan pulled into the driveway of the house they were parked across the street from. Out of the van stepped a slender brunette woman before the side door slid open and revealed two miniature versions of the woman and an older boy. The woman struggled to get groceries out of the back of the van while the kids grabbed her keys and ran into the house. After a few trips back and forth, the woman went into the house and stayed. Rio and Shaw gave it a few minutes before getting out and making their way to the front door of the house.
All it took was a couple of knocks and the door opened. It was the woman.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"We're hoping you can. We're in uh, business with your husband, but we haven't heard from him in a while." Rio answered.
"We hope everything's okay." Shaw added, turning his charm up a notch.
He and Rio had been charming their way through things and out of trouble since they were kids. They couldn't have been more than 10 years old when they escaped big trouble the first time. As children, they didn't make the smartest decisions about who to hang out with in their neighborhood. There was a group of boys a little older than them that decided to take Rio and Shaw into their crew.
It didn't take either of them long to figure out that crew was nothing but a whole lot of trouble. They picked fights and left Rio and Shaw, the youngest, to take the punches. They were okay with that though because they seldom did it around adults so they never got in trouble for it and it toughened them up fairly quickly. They were also the ones sent to corner stores and the neighborhood candy lady's house to utilize the "five finger discount".
They never got caught and they were aware that it was because they were so cute and charming, they looked harmless. But one day, they got tired of being the runts handling what they considered the dirty work back then. But oh, if young them met adult them, they would see things could get a lot dirtier.
Rio and Shaw rode their bikes down the street to the candy lady's house. They dropped their bikes in her front yard and knocked lightly on the door.
"Hey, Rio. Hey, Shawny Boy." she greeted them as she opened her front door.
"Got any hot pickles, Ms. C?"
To this day, they never knew what her name was. Everyone in the neighborhood only called her Ms. C and they always figured the C stood for "Candy lady".
"For my favorite boys, I have anything. Go around back."
She closed her front door and met the boys in her backyard. They followed her into the metal shed she unlocked and eyed the variety of candies, chips, cookies, and other treats.
While she talked with Rio and tried fishing a pickle out of the huge nearly empty jar, the sound of Shaw digging through the container of blow pop suckers ceased and she saw his hands go into his pockets.
"You better be looking for money in those pockets of yours." she warned, looking sternly at Shaw.
Both Rio and Shaw's eyes got as wide as saucers as they stammered, trying their best to vocalize an excuse that their brains just weren't coming up with.
As Shaw pulled the bubblegum filled lollipops from his pocket, Rio spoke up.
"They made us do it."
"What? Who made you? Those boys who ride around this neighborhood just looking for someone to bother or something to mess up?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am." Rio answered.
"We didn't want to, Ms. C. But we knew we couldn't say no." Shaw added.
"You boys are better than that. You hear me?"
"Yes ma'am." they answered in tandem, puppy dog eyes gleaming in Ms. C's direction.
"You two get what you want and go home. I'll handle those boys."
They did as she said. They got to Rio's house and sat at the kitchen table to enjoy their pile of snacks. It wasn't long after that, that they spotted Ms. C walking towards the house across the street. The house where a pile of bicycles laid in the yard; the house where the crew was.
She beat on the front door until it opened, then they went and hid in Rio's room because the last thing they needed was to be spotted by one of their boys. But from the ass whooping they received the next day, they knew Ms. C had spilled the beans and they learned that day to never ever snitch again.
"Everything's fine. Come on in." the brunette woman replied.
They entered and followed the woman to the kitchen, where she invited them to sit and asked if they'd like anything to drink or snack on.
"I'm sorry. I'm Lisa, Martin's wife. I don't think I've met you two before."
"I don't believe so. We're mostly behind the scenes, making sure funds are good and whatnot." Rio said.
"Mommy! Mommy!" one of the mini versions screamed as she ran into the kitchen, her spitting image following quietly behind her.
"Hey, girls. We have company so let's use our inside voices." Lisa told them.
"Wait a second. You two look a lot alike. Did your parents clone one of you?"
From their reaction, someone would think Rio just told the most hilarious joke known to mankind.
"We're not clones." one laughed.
"We're twins." the other snorted.
"These are our girls, Olivia and Sophia. MJ is our boy. He's upstairs, annoyed with his family like most 14 year old boys."
"MJ's boring!" Sophia turned her face towards the staircase and yelled.
"We're not." Olivia added in a serious tone.
"Go get Mommy's phone out of her purse, please. I'll call Martin and let him know you two are here."
"No, no. No need. We just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong." Shaw quickly replied.
"That's so thoughtful of you. At least let me text him and see where he's at."
"If you insist." Rio said, relaxing into his seat.
Once she had her phone in hand, Lisa sent a quick text to Martin asking where he was. It didn't take him more than a minute to reply.
"Oh, he's with some of his buddies at the country club. You sure you don't want me to tell him to hurry home?" she asked.
"I'm sure we'll get up with him soon. Thank you though."
They got back into the truck and headed to the country club. They hadn't been there long before they saw Martin and a few other men exiting the building and walking towards the parking lot.
"Marty!" Rio stepped out and yelled, making the men turn in his direction.
Rio and Shaw walked over to them as Martin tried to tell his friends he'd catch up with them later.
"What...what are you doing here?" Martin asked.
"You're surprisingly a very hard man to track down, Marty."
"But we had a little help." Shaw added.
"Yeah, we paid a little visit to Lisa. She was nice enough to text you for us."
Martin's face dropped and any color it had left immediately.
"That MJ definitely looks like you, but those twins...Sophia and Olivia? Little versions of their mom, man."
"Rio." Martin choked out under his breath.
"Can we get a minute with Martin? It's business." Shawn asked of the gentlemen watching them suspiciously.
They slowly walked away until they were into their cars. Neither Shawn nor Rio looked long enough to see if they left because they didn't care. They had been patient enough not to do anything too damaging to Martin yet and a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.
"Where is my wife? Where are my kids?" Martin asked, voice shaking with fear just as much as his body was.
"You think we would hurt your kids? Marty, you don't know us at all."
"Rio, this is too fucking far."
"Too fuckin' far? You ain't seen too fuckin' far. You keep dodgin' my calls and I'll show you."
"Rio, leave my family out of this."
"I will if you just keep your mouth shut and do what you need to do. Go wait at the store, I got a drop on the way."
Martin's face looked like he had more to say, but Rio couldn't care less especially with his phone vibrating in his pocket and him knowing exactly who it was.
"We done. I got better shit to do." Rio said, walking away.
Beth: Why'd you send that?
Rio: Buy something nice.
Beth: No. I don't want it.
Rio: Be there later.
It wasn't long before he found himself standing at her front door, knocking before the door opened and he saw her face.
"I'm sending that money back to you." Beth told him as he sauntered through the door and into her kitchen.
"Why? If you ain't got nothin' to wear, then go buy somethin'."
"I don't want your money."
"I know you don't, but I want you at my ma's party. No excuses." he whispered.
His face was so close to hers that it didn't take much more than a whisper for her to hear him very clearly. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed his body into hers. She tucked her bottom lip into her mouth while greedily eyeing his. She took a deep breath like inhaling his scent satisfied her more than anything.
"I have to go get the kids from school." she said.
"What's stoppin' you?" Rio asked, smirking.
"You. This." she answered, pressing her hips even further into his.
"I'm not doin' anything."
He lifted his hands up as if to show his innocence in this situation, but he moved them to kitchen island with his body.
"Just because you're not using your hands doesn't mean you're not doing anything."
He gripped the edge of the island, bringing his mouth to hers. She smiled into their kiss, then parted her lips, inviting his tongue into her mouth. He felt like he could get drunk off of her kisses and he happily swallowed her moans, having no problems with her intoxicating him.
He moved his hands from the island to her hips, then made his way up her body, caressing her breasts before resting his hands on the sides of her neck. He knew he should stop because he was getting hard and she didn't have time to get him off.
She laid her hands on top of his before pulling away from his mouth.
"You feel that?" he asked her, his erection pressing against her.
"I do. I have to go, but I owe you one, okay?"
"Hell yeah, you do." Rio replied.
After much convincing on Rio's part, Beth finally went to a few boutiques until she found a gorgeous black dress that fit her magnificently. Rio wasn't satisfied until she bought shoes and jewelry as well, but she made sure to send him what money was left. She could tell that he didn't like how stubborn she was being about keeping the money, but they got over it pretty quickly. The night finally came and she seemed as nervous as a middle school girl going to her first big dance.
"Is this too much?" Beth asked Rio as they walked up to the wooden gate leading to his parents' backyard.
"Those ain't never too much." he answered, eyes roaming from her ample cleavage to her glowing face.
He opened the gate and was happily greeted by a gang of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends as he walked over to the table where Rita and Tomas were seated.
"Mami, Pops, this is Beth." Rio announced, a sense of pride evident in his voice.
"It's nice to meet you both. And happy birthday. I hope you don't mind Rio dragging me here." Beth said nervously.
"Of course not. And thank you." Rita replied.
"No one can beat this beautiful woman right here, but you look wonderful."
"Thank you." she said, smile on her face.
"Make yourself at home, eat, drink, have fun."
Within a couple of hours, Beth felt like she had met a million people and had a million names and faces to remember. She and Rio made a game of it: at random, he pointed someone out and Beth had to name them. If she got it right, he took a shot. If she got it wrong, she took a shot. They were about even when the alcohol started catching up with them so they had to stop.
Beth did just as Rita suggested. She ate, she drank, she had fun all night.
Nearing the end of the night, Rita and Tomas stood front and center on the dance floor that had made their backyard its temporary home. They were beaming, soft lights shining on them, giving the beautiful floral arrangements scattered around tough competition.
"She wants to thank you, but she's done enough talking and crying for tonight." Tomas spoke into the mic he was holding in his hand, his other hand holding Rita's.
Beth hadn't noticed how much Rio looked like his father until that moment. She glanced over at him before turning her attention back to his parents.
"I've known this woman since we were 18 years old. I knew then I would marry her, but she didn't decide to marry me until we were 20. I don't know why she couldn't make up her mind sooner."
The smiles and laughter of everyone in attendance was radiating pure awe.
"We have been married for...how many years, Rita?"
"I wouldn't dare say." she answered into the mic, making everyone laugh.
"The point is that when you know, you know. I took one look at her and knew. I heard her voice and knew. I saw her smile, I heard her laugh, I witnessed her determination and kindness and her love and I knew." Tomas continued.
Rio put his arm around Beth's waist and rested his hand on her hip.
"There isn't anything I wouldn't give up for her or go through for her. Which is why I'm wearing this suit in my own backyard. I love you, mi amor."
They shared a few quick kisses as everyone applauded.
Slow music faded in and they passed the mic along before embracing one another and swaying to the music. When the song ended, another began and guests began to occupy the dance floor.
"Come on." Rio whispered into Beth's ear, softly grabbing her hand and leading her onto the dance floor.
Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you
Embrace me, you irreplaceable you
He had to admit that nothing felt as good as having her in his arms and he was sure that she felt the same way.
Just one look at you, my heart grew tipsy in me
You and you alone bring out the gyspy in me
He could hear her singing along and she sounded beautiful. Rio soaked in the moment because only time would tell what would become of them. He understood that so much would work against them and he refused to be in denial about that.
Beth lifted her head and looked him in the eye.
"Thank you for tonight." she told him.
"Nah. I'm the one should be thankin' you, Beth."
She smiled and kissed him, her hands on either side of his face, keeping his lips pressed against hers. It was like she could taste how sweet her name was coming from his mouth.
Eventually, the crowd dwindled and the party came to an end. When Rio got to Beth's house to drop her off, saying goodbye seemed out of the question to both of them so she went inside and relieved the babysitter before making sure the kids were asleep and calling Rio to come inside.
They both undressed and stepped into the running shower, warm water flowing over their bodies as they sensually kissed one another. Rio stared at Beth like she was a work of art and she did the same to him. He was rock hard by the time they finished their wet make out session so she dropped to her knees when he turned the water off. She looked up into his dark, lust filled eyes. The way Beth ran her nails down his thighs had his dick at attention. She took him into her hand, hot and heavy, before licking up the underside of his erect penis.
A shiver ran through his body.
When she got to the head, she took it into her mouth, slowly and softly sucking as her tongue pressed against the tip. She let the saliva and precum gathering together drip down his shaft before stroking it with her hand. She took more of him into her mouth while her hand continued to work him. She hummed and it caused a vibration that was so delicious to Rio's member, making his hips jerk a little.
She pulled him out of her mouth with an audible pop and brought her free hand up to join in rhythm with her other hand. When she looked up at him this time, he was laser focused on what her hands were doing.
After a few more strokes, she lowered her head back down, taking him back into her mouth. She kept going until her lips met her single hand that gripped the bottom of his shaft. She gagged when he hit the back of her throat and she could tell that he was trying to hold back and be gentle with her.
Gripping the back of his thigh with one hand and working his cock with her other, she kept him at the back of her throat for as long as she could. When she finally pulled back to catch her breath, the look of amazement on his face was taken as a compliment to her.
"Damn, mama." he moaned, looking at her face now.
She smiled up at him before putting her mouth and hand back to work. And now that he knew how much she could take, he didn't hold back. Running his hand through her hair and stilling it, he held her in place while he pumped in and out of her open mouth.
"Shit, I'm about to come." he groaned when she ran her fingernails own his thigh again.
She moved her head back, only working the tip with her mouth now, and began quickly stroking him with both hands. He grunted and she felt thick ropes of cum shoot into her mouth. She happily swallowed the contents before slowing her hands down. He was shaking at the tiniest bit of movement from her hands as he softened.
He placed his hand under her chin and pulled her up to him.
"You fuckin' amaze me." he complimented before kissing her.
Once they dried off, Beth completed her nightly routine and slipped into some silk pajama shorts with a matching top. When she lifted the covers to join Rio in her bed, she saws that he didn't have single piece of thread on.
"Rio." she laughed, getting into bed anyway.
"What? I ain't got nothin' here to wear." he explained.
"So this is what you came up with?"
"And 'cause this dick might need some attention later tonight. You so full of surprises, I don't wanna wait too long to get to the next one."
She shook her head and moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest. She heard Rio lightly snoring, then fell asleep herself soon after he did. Both of them amazingly satisfied just to be wrapped up in each other.
