Jessica and Tandy sat in a taxi cab, staring at each other, though Jessica’s glare was focused and ruthless while Tandy’s glare was weakening the longer they stared.

“You’re a fucking rat!” Jessica cursed Tandy for the hundredth time since the taxi stopped in front of Tandy’s hotel.

Tandy sighed sadly “I get how you feel but I didn’t even know Tyrone was still alive when you told me about the guy you liked.”

Jessica stared at Tandy and just shrugged, repeating the same thing she had been saying for the past five minutes “You’re a fucking rat.”

Tandy frowned in frustration “I don’t expect you to understand what Tyrone and I have… it’s something unique and you’re just angry that he actually still loves me!”

Jessica sighed, openly admitting that Tyrone still did have something for Tandy but after what she saw last night, she wouldn’t exactly word it as ‘love’. It was more like an ‘addiction’ if anything.

“What about your husband? Aren’t you like married or something?” Jessica inquired, genuinely curious about Tandy’s wellbeing.

After all, she didn’t particularly blame Tandy for how things went down because she knew that Tyrone, at this point in time, wanted nothing to do with Tandy.

Tandy’s eyes widened but her reply was sharp “What about my fiancé? What does he have to do with any of this?”

Jessica’s eyes widened, finally realizing that Tandy really hadn’t thought the situation through “Your right… he has nothing to do with this… This was just a one-time thing after all. Now that you and Tyrone have it out of your systems, you can go back to being a loving future wife. Tyrone and I will work at the Outreach Center and go back to our lives.”

Tandy frowned, not liking the future Jessica was trying to paint but she said nothing because … well, she had a fiancé waiting upstairs, and truth be told, he was a wonderful fiancé.

Somewhere deep inside, Tandy was indeed trying to purge herself of Tyrone’s influence but she wasn’t sure if she expelled Tyrone from her system or dug her claws deeper into his.

“You have to guide me upstairs. I am a bit unsteady on my feet still.” Tandy requested causing Jessica to roll her eyes and exit the taxi with her arms wrapped around Tandy for support.

Inside her mind, Jessica ran through several scenarios that could rid her of the vixen known as Tandy Bowen.

For an instant, Jessica even thought about taking the stairs and having Tandy ‘accidentally’ fall down due to a ‘spraint ankle’.

-------

Tandy opened the door to her hotel room with Jessica’s guidance and the first thing they saw was Kevin sitting on the couch looking worse for wear.

“Finally… ten million.” He exclaimed in triumph.

Tandy instinctively tried to move to Kevin’s side to congratulate him but her legs gave in causing her to fall onto the floor, out of Jessica’s embrace.

“Fuck!” Tandy cursed, glaring at Jessica as she propped into a sitting position.

Jessica stifled a laugh “Hey… what you looking at me for? You were the one that pulled away.”

“Tandy!!” Kevin shouted, hopping off the couch and reaching Tandy’s side as quickly as he could “What’s wrong… are your legs hurt?”

Tandy wrapped her arms around Kevin’s neck before quickly coming to a realization and pushing him away, gesturing for Jessica to pick her up instead.

Tandy realized that she may or may not have smelled like sex, party, and most all, Tyrone.

Jessica smirked understanding what happened. Truly, Jessica noticed the scent a long time ago but she was hoping that Tandy’s dense fiancé would also notice the scent and keep the vixen inside, away from her and Tyrone.

Jessica helped Tandy to her feet and explained “She just had a minor accident at the club… she wanted to take something too potent for her to handle… she has a very self-destructive nature.”

Kevin frowned “Are you relapsing Tandy? Was it drugs or did you sprain your ankle?”

Before Tandy could reply, Jessica answered in her place “Well, she did sprain something, which is why she can’t walk properly… but she was also high on something else as well, which is also why she can’t walk properly…”

Jessica paused, examining Tandy from head to toe before turning to Kevin “She was very high… maybe too high… I suggest rehab for… I don’t know… maybe the rest of her life? Perhaps somewhere outside of Romania?”

Tandy punched Jessica on the arm and Kevin just frowned, not able to tell if Jessica was joking or if she was serious.

“I fell down while me and Jessica were dancing… that’s it…” Tandy stated, giving Jessica a pointed gaze while tilting her head right, towards the bathroom to show that she needed a shower.

“Perhaps I can take you?” Kevin offered, reaching out for Tandy to enter his embrace so they could shower together.

“No!” Tandy and Jessica yelled simultaneously.

Tandy didn’t want to make it obvious she was cheating by the extent of her swelling and Jessica was just having wayward thoughts about the type of freaky thing rich people enjoyed.

‘Maybe he wants to taste Tyrone from Tandy?’ Jessica thought, blushing as much as she grimaced in disgust.

“Okay! Sheesh!” Kevin replied, grabbing the television remote and increasing the volume of the news channel.

--------

“Yes folks! We are at the scene of the crime, right outside of Bacáu’s newly opened Club – Eternal Dancing. Early this morning, three bodies were found apparently ripped apart in the nearby alleyway. At this time, Police have hypothesized that there is a beast of some kind running around the streets of Bacáu….

We have yet to see the crime scene but judging from the puking of experienced officers, the scene is thought to be extremely horrific. Just what kind of monster could have done this unspeakable act?”

--------

“Jess?” Tandy asked, feeling Jessica’s subtle trembling as she was being held.

“I have to go… here!” Jessica said, tossing Tandy to Kevin and darting outside the hotel room.

Tandy, now held in Kevin’s arms, smiled awkwardly as she pushed him away gently and stood on her own two feet.

It pained her to do so but Tandy wasn’t about to be caught cheating in the stupidest way possible. Tandy shakily walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her just in case.

“Fuck you, Jessica!” Tandy shouted to the Heavens with endless anger in her tone.

After she was finishing cursing, Tandy climbed into the shower to take a bath, turning on the shower and reaching for a phone hidden between two spaced tiles.

“I’m really sorry Jessica…” Tandy whispered, staring at Jessica’s phone with no small amount of guilt on her face.

--------

Jessica stumbled down the hall, desperately holding onto the walls to steady herself.

Flashes of last night started to plague her mind, too vague to truly decipher but the emotions of that night had re-emerged with absolute clarity.

The feeling of helplessness and fear… the feeling of endless anger and pain… the feeling of wanting to hurt someone and the satisfaction that came from doing it…

Without being aware, the feelings of that time temporarily awakened something inside Jessica and before she knew it, her grip had already left an imprint in the cement walls of the hotel.

Jessica gasped, returning to her senses and seeing what she had done “Something is wrong with me… or… it is right with me? I need to talk to Tyrone…”

∞∞∞

Tyrone Johnson (Outreach Center)

After the weird earlier situation with Tandy and Jessica, Tyrone chose the best coping mechanism he could – forget everything.

“So… how has school been going… you on that way to the masters?” Tyrone asked.

Xandra laughed since she knew that Tyrone just couldn’t find the right words “Hehehehehe… Masters isn’t until college… high school is a diploma silly!”

Tyrone smiled and joked “That’s where you are wrong… the really smart kids get their masters from high school like me…”

Xandra frowned, thinking profoundly about Tyrone’s statement “But Jessica said you didn’t even finish high school and that I shouldn’t be as dim-witted as you.”

Tyrone choked on the snack he was nibbling and Xandra smiled slyly but her smile was wiped away the next moment when a loud shout sent her into a panic “What did Jessica say?”

Jessica walked slowly through the door, her panic easing the moment she saw Tyrone but Xandra’s panic only increased at the sight of Jessica.

Before anything else could be said, Xandra could be seen darting away through the backdoor of the Outreach Center, no doubt running away from the battle that was sure to occur between Jessica and Tyrone.

Tyrone laughed “You scare that girl too much… she even ran so fast with her little feet.”

“You tolerate her too much.” Jessica harrumphed “You keep spoiling her… kids these days need discipline.”

“I’m seventeen years old and you’re sixteen years old… Xandra is thirteen years old… I think we all kids still.”

Jessica shrugged, puffed out her almost non-existent chess, and bragged “I have been to a club… has Xandra been to a club? I also slept naked with a guy hugging me.”

Tyrone groaned “Please don’t remind me about that… I spent my entire morning trying to forget it.”

Tyrone and Jessica continued to joke happily for the rest of the day, the earlier feelings of fear had been washed from Jessica’s mind. She could not even remember the reason she wanted to talk to Tyrone in the first place.

The Following Day ---------

Tyrone and Jessica were back to their usual routine of playing and taking care of the kids at the Outreach Center.

With the new funds that came in, The Executives were excited at being able to send ten more kids to high school.

Jessica and Tyrone worked with the kids so it was their responsibility to prep the kids with the tools they required to enter high school.

Most of the kids were orphans or extremely poor and that would usually lead to bullying so Tyrone taught them strategies to deal with such situations.

“Always remember: Violence is never a way to solve things… Ignore it or ask an adult for help.” Tyrone summarized, hoping that at least something stuck with the kids.

The kids later dispersed and Jessica began re-stacking the chairs they used for the lesson.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask… you seen my phone anywhere?”

“You lost it?” Tyrone asked.

Jessica shook her head “I’m pretty sure it's somewhere close by… I’ll message you when I find it, maybe we can go for an outing a bit later… maybe to relax by the lake or mortal combat at the arcade.”

“Fine with me…”

About Half an Hour Later -------

Tyrone was sitting on the roof of the Outreach Center, the sun kissing his skin as he stared at the blue skies thinking about all the changes in his life that had pushed him into his current position.

The tragedy that befell his family was regretful but it also served to send him on a path of helping others… helping the kids… and also meeting Jessica and Xandra, two of his best friends.

He finally understood the way Billy felt when looking at him, it was the same way he looked at Xandra and Jessica… like they could be anything they wanted in the world.

ding

Tyrone’s phone shook him from contemplation, a text message from Jessica had arrived “Meet me at the parking lot near XXXX.”

‘That big ass parking lot?’ Tyrone asked himself, noticing that the invitation was a bit strange.

He didn’t think Jessica could find her phone and run to the parking lot in just an hour but maybe she kept some cash before they gave Kevin’s wallet back to Tandy yesterday.

“Oh well!” Tyrone shrugged, hopping into his bedroom window and exiting the Outreach Center to meet up with Jessica.

Half an Hour Later (Parking Lot) ------------

“Section 5E huh…” Tyrone mumbled, walking from one section of the parking lot to the next. He got dizzier the more winding stairs he had to climb to find Section 5E.

Finally arriving at Section 5E, Tyrone saw no sign of Jessica so he became tense, wondering if someone could have set him up.

Tyrone spun around, ready to dart away but a hand pulled him into the blue van next to him. The next thing Tyrone felt was a hand roaming his body and someone kissing him feverishly along his jawline.

Tyrone clenched his fist, ready to punch but Tandy’s voice calmed him down “Relax… it’s me… I just wanted to get a quickie in today… I can’t remember the one we did yesterday.”

Tyrone signed knowing it was Tandy but that still didn’t stop him from pushing her away “Get off me man!”

Tandy stumbled backward, her body shaking from her withdrawal but it wasn’t from any drugs, it was from Tyrone himself.

The moment Tyrone’s eyes met Tandy’s, he could feel her hunger as if it was his own and his body reacted without his control.

Tyrone took two quick steps forward, pinning Tandy against the airbed on the floor of the van. What followed was the duo ravaging each other’s bodies, the only difference from their previous intercourse being that they remembered every moment of it.

An Hour Later -------

“That was a big mistake.” Tyrone whispered into Tandy’s ear as she snuggled her naked body further into his embrace.

Tandy agreed but she also wanted to it again so she couldn’t admit that “It’s perfectly natural to have sex…”

Tyrone shook his head “That’s not what I meant… you know what I meant. You’re married for God sakes Tandy!”

Tandy smiled weakly “Jessica told you huh?... I am engaged, there is a big difference between engaged and married… marriage means you’re sure, engaged means you’re still thinking about it.”

“Do you know our entire relationship was built on a lie?” Tyrone asked, wishing to get something off his chest “We were never meant to be or anything like that… we were just two fucked up people who fucked up each other’s lives further.”

Tears glistened at the corner of Tandy’s eyes as she turned her body away from Tyrone “Do you really think that?”

Tyrone nodded “I do… do you remember how we met?”

“Of course, you protected me from those football players who were disrespecting me…”

Tyrone shook his head “That’s now how we met… that’s just what you remember, we met about a month before that. You always said you liked the brightness of my soul most about me but let me tell you, my soul was never that bright…

Living in the hood kind of makes you the worse version of yourself sometimes. The good people who come out of the hood are usually only that way because they turn a blind eye to everything they see around them. So the good ones are also the most heartless ones.

One day, Billy and me were invited to this party in one of the neater areas. Zid was a rich kid who always hung with everybody in the hood. We liked him, he was just one of the really cool ones and he always had the best parties cause he could invite the non-hood people.

So we pulled up at this party and that’s when I first saw you… dancing on the floor, freer than any bird I have ever seen in my life. I fell in love with you right then and there… I had heard of you before – the party girl who just had too much life in her small body.

I think you were dancing a ballet- breakdance mixed with some west coast swinging… It was fucking beautiful though. You were probably on some shit and you were chugging alcohol so I figured you were wasted as fuck!

Still, you were dancing and I was vibin and eventually, we were dancing together… you’re probably too high to remember that… I took a break but you kept going and eventually, you attracted the wrong kind of attention... his name was Shimmy, because of how he ‘shimmied’ and shook niggas on the basketball court.

You know… being black in the hood meant that you were born into this culture of no ‘snitching’ so even when you see something wrong happening, you can’t really say nothing about it. I use to watch university girls get tricked into the clubs and become prostitutes. Most of those girls never got out of the business and the ones that did, were broken but I just kept living my life.

Eventually, your morals become whatever they need to be so you survive. It’s kind of like a watered-down version of the Mexicans – they don’t really sell coke to their own people; likewise, as long as too many black girls didn’t get forced into prostitution, nobody really cared about the caramel or white-skinned ones.

So when I saw Shimmy pull up on ya, I was fucking conflicted… you were too frickin high to know what you were doing but you didn’t reject him either. You just danced but I could tell you were uncomfortable. I tried to pull up on him, push him away from you but…

I didn’t try really hard, only a small bump since to be honest, I was scared of that dude. Everybody knew Shimmy had already caught a body in the past. We were gonna fight over you but someone asked ‘you gonna beef over a white chick Tyrone?’…

So I was put on the spot and I had to pick between my morals or some bullshit code that was imposed on me since birth… and lemme tell you, the decision was pretty fucking obvious – my morals or my life? I just walked away, leaving you with Shimmy and his boys to do whatever…”

“Wow…” Tandy mouthed.

“So you see…” Tyrone whispered, shaking his head in shame “Every time I called you a ‘whore’ or said something mean… it was never because of you, I just hated myself for not doing anything to stop it. I should have fought… not for you but for what I believed was right at the time….

Me protecting you from those footballers was never for you… it was for me – to show myself that I had what it took to stand up for myself and others. Our relationship started with you thinking I was brave but I was not… I never was.”

Tandy turned around, placing her head on Tyrone’s chest once more “Actually, I already knew about that. Despite my drinking habits, I never really got drunk enough to forget all my partying times… and the way I remember that story, you didn’t do nothing…

After you walked away from Shimmy, you went around outside and called Brandon who had beef with Shimmy. You knew that Brandon liked me so you told him I wanted to hook up… I remember the fight, the screaming, and how you pulled me out of the way…

The only reason I never brought it up was because…” Tandy’s voice choked at this point before she continued “I didn’t bring it up because the fight didn’t end at the party… Later that week, there was a stabbing incident on the basketball court that killed Brandon.

A week after that, Brandon’s old clique gunned down Shimmy and his little sister who was with him at the time. I knew how bad you felt about causing the entire thing… I thought you hated my guts for forcing you to do it… I never brought it up because I didn’t want our relationship to begin with a tragedy.”

“Tandy, I don’t think we should-”

Tandy interrupted, kissing Tyrone’s chest desperately “We shouldn’t talk about the complicated things right now when we’re emotionally vulnerable.”

Just as Tyrone was about to speak again, he was interrupted by Tandy’s ringing phone. Tandy placed a hand over Tyrone’s mouth and answered the phone call with her other hand.

“Hello?”

“Okay… I am coming home in about fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks babe.”

By the time Tandy finished her brief phone call, Tyrone was already dressed and exiting the van, not even sparing time to give her the disappointed look he usually would.

Tandy slapped her hands against her head “Fuck! You’re such a fuck up Tandy! The phone always stays at home when you’re cheating.”

After finishing her tirade, Tandy got dressed and also exited the van, not forgetting to stop at a nearby hotel and take a bath before heading home.