V is for Veronica Ch. 04

His guttural growl travels through me.

When he moves his hand away, I slump against him my cunt pulsing between my thighs.

"HELLO YOU TWO BETTER NOT BE BACK TO FUCKING!" The screech comes from downstairs. "I'M FUCKING WAITING!"

"MAKE COFFEE BITCH!" I call down. Rakeem is covering my head in kisses amidst his chuckles, and I am in heaven. I don't want to go downstairs.

"SERIOUSLY! SIN BEGÜENZA!" comes a shriek from downstairs. I cackle low.

I look at Key's serene face. His eyes flutter open and he smiles. My God.

"You catch that one?" I ask, kissing the corner of his mouth.

He nods, and a sleepy smile crosses his features, "Shameless."

Hahahaha, word. That we are.

***

I pull down three mugs, and put on a pot of coffee. Correct, we are the only house on the block without a keurig.

Janessa is sitting at the kitchen table aggressively scrolling social media. She hasn't been posting lately and her ridiculous and thirsty followers have noticed.

She has her feet in Key's lap and he's painting her toenails. She's still been sulky and sad, so what does Rakeem do? Gives her a pedicure.

"Café?" I holler.

"Light and sweet," mumbles Janessa.

"I'll make mine," says Key.

"Boy," I warn.

"Some cream," he laughs. I smile to myself. We are in way too deep, but I can't find it in me to care right this second.

Janessa peers at us both, taking a minute away from her phone.

"So, what the fuck is going on with you two? Are you the reason she's ignoring me?" She purses her lips. Rakeem winds a tissue through her toes to keep them separate. Janessa pauses. "Damn you good at that."

Key smiles and gives her foot a squeeze.

Janessa stares at him, but he's concentrating. I hide a smile. She slowly looks at me and squints.

"When did you start fucking around?" she arches a thick shapely brow. She's so pretty.

Wait, what? I burst into flames and die.

I reincarnate.

"Janessa, what the hell is the matter with you, cara de culo?" I exclaim.

Key, to his credit, just keeps working on her toes, the only indication that he heard her is a small smile he's trying to bite back. I see him mouth 'buttface' to himself and shake his head.

"Most of the dudes you bring around are little boys," she sucks her teeth and crosses her arms.

"First of all, shut your mouth before I shut it for you, and second of all, we were talking about you," I point at her with my spoon and circle it around. "Don't change the subject please. What the hell is going on with you? You've been is such a funk." She's still deeply messed up and hasn't been right since I saw her earlier this week.

She sniffles and then swallows hard.

I blink at the crack in her facade. "Damn, are you about to cry?"

Janessa wrinkles her nose and purses her Cupid's bow lips in response. "No."

"If you think you are, can you tell me? I want to catch your tears and sell them," I tease.

She flicks her cat-like gaze at me, her light brown eyes glimmering with unshed tears. There's mirth in those coppery depths though, and I grin.

She grins back.

"There's my pretty bitch," I coo and she laughs.

She's a mess. Relatively, anyway; Janessa would never willingly be seen outside her bedroom without being fully put together, so when I say she looks like shit I mean in relation to herself cuz bitch always looks good.

Even in her current emotional state, bitch could cut a man with her eyeliner wing, her eyebrows are sculpted without a hair out of place, and her lip gloss is perfect. Janessa doesn't often cry, and even if she did, her shit is waterproof anyway. She's only wearing a light Bb cream instead of a full face and her jewelry only consists of her name plate necklace, hoops, bangles, and her grandmother's ring.

Her SHIT CLOTHES look better than my GOOD clothes. A mens wifebeater--crisply white, her cropped black hoodie that's off-the-shelf-black without any trace of fade, and sweats that look brand new with no pilling, though I know for a fact they ain't new. The only time I see her dressed further down she's asleep. And still she's a knockout.

My gaze lingers on her.

Is that a tear?

"FUCK!" she swears, screaming. The acoustics of my mom's house are dope, you can hear the scream back into last week.

Rakeem winces and looks at me. I press my lips together.

Key gently places her foot down and brings her other foot onto his lap. He winds the tissue around her toes and begins to paint. She has such tiny feet. His hands are so big. My stomach does weird things watching this.

"Argh," Janessa rests her head on her hand, talons raking through her hair. She's wearing it long and pin straight these days, but she's cute in anything. Is that a keratin treatment? I want a Keratin treatment.

I bring their coffees and sit next to Rakeem, across from Janessa.

"So what's really going on?" I rest my chin on my hands looking at my two favorite people. I'm feeling weirdly blissed out.

Janessa hesitates and looks at Key.

I blink.

"Damn, this shit's gotta be weird," I give her side-eye.

Key laughs. He sets her foot down, finished, and leans back in his seat to sip his coffee. How does he make everything look so good? I just...want to put my mouth on him.

Janessa sticks out her feet and looks at her toes in appreciation. "Damn, Rakeem, you ever think of getting a part time as a Korean?"

Coffee almost goes through my nose. "Janessa! Why are you so fucking stupid all the time?!"

"If I ever open up a nail salon I'ma name it 'Get Nailed'," she hehehes. I roll my eyes.

"I can honestly say I have not," he raises his eyebrows, amused. He grins wide, "You flatter me."

Janessa stares up into space, already spaced out, pulling her fingers one by one until she's popped them all. I glance up at the tiled ceiling and wonder if she's counting them.

"Sooo...not Mikey related?" I clarify softly.

"Fuck that, Mikey don't have exclusive rights to this pussy," Janessa sniffs. "He eats ass like a pro, though."

Key and I share a look and burst out laughing. He waggles his eyebrows at me and I laugh harder. I want to kiss his face all over but I refrain.

I've never eaten ass before but suddenly I want to try.

"You know what, let's go back to what the fuck is goin on with yall--how long have you two been--" she whistles, makes a rude hand gesture with her slender fingers and raises her brows.

I cackle. "We got itches to scratch you know."

Key looks amused. Janessa huffs. "Well, I likewise itch, bitch, where's my booty call? I can get by with a little help from my friends, too, okay?"

"Alright, gata, come on over," I push my seat back and pat the table. "Sit right here, I'll make a meal out of you."

For a second, it's almost as if she gives me a lust filled gaze, but it's gone. I wish I may, I wish I might. But this is sober Janessa, and sober Janessa doesn't play with girls.

She gives me the finger, her bangles singing on her wrist and crosses her arms like a pouting kid. She sticks out her full bottom lip. I resist the urge to bite it. I shrug and scooch back in, "Your loss. Call me when you're ready to hit the high notes."

I catch Key's assessing gaze. I waggle my tongue at him and he breaks into a smile. I could literally spend all day looking at him. He brushes my hair out of my eyes. Dang, I'm feeling it hard.

Janessa claps her hands suddenly and sits up, jolting me out of staring dreamily at Key. Her eyes light up with that impish glee that always makes me smile. It makes her look like a fairy with her rounded button nose and her full lips. When she smiles her top lip hooks sharply upwards at the corners, furthering that otherworldly feline look to her.

"You so pretty," I croon. "Even when you're crazy."

She waves her hand at me dismissively.

"That's true, you're always crazy," I tease.

"Shut up, you know what we need?"

"No," Key and I say simultaneously, except he's answering her question and I am rejecting her out of hand because I know she's about to pull out some bullshit.

"We need to get out-"

"Nope," I shake my head.

"We gonna go to the club," she continues, ignoring me.

"No," I say firmly. Not again. Nope.

"We will be each other's wing individuals," she squeals.

"Definitely not."

"And then we all get laid and fuck our worries away," she claps her hands thrilled with her idea.

Rakeem quietly sips his coffee.

"You're part of this plan, zaddy," Janessa informs him.

His head snaps up, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights, "Me? Why me?"

"PUSSY, MY MAN, LET'S DRIVE THE CHOO CHOO CHOCHA TRAIN," she hoots.

I'm horrified.

"You getting pussy, too?" he smirks at her. Under the table he squeezes my thigh. I squirm. I skim my hand over the crotch of his jeans.

"Child, I already have one, what I need two for?" Janessa tosses her hair. "It's that bitch that likes the two for one taco discount."

"You're really focused on where I put my mouth today, bitch. Saddle up or shut the fuck up," I snap. I'm getting nervous because when she gets pointed like this, things can get ugly.

"Que que, I'm just saying it like I see it, pero whatever," she examines her immaculate nails, her fingers and wrists glittering with jewelry.

She looks between us, and I frown.

Key apparently finds her very entertaining.

"Why the fuck you lookin at him like you 'bout to marry him?" she looks at us both pointedly, her face strangely twisted.

"I am not," I defend. "I'm looking at you, heffer."

Key looks concerned and puts his hand on Janessa's. Janessa's eyes fly up to his face, and she squints like she's solving for pi. Maybe she is. It wouldn't surprise me.

"You upset about this?" he asks softly, genuinely.

Oh God, that's a mistake. Here we go.

Her face softens for a moment, her eyes getting round and wide. Then she pulls her hand back and crosses her arms staring at him with such malice, I feel like I have whiplash.

"Why didn't you tell me you started dating Rakeem?" she accuses me, ignoring his question yet answering it the same. I blink. This is not the direction I was expecting her to go in. I was expecting her to grill him.

"Key and I just have an agreement," I exclaim. "We're just fuck buddies, nothing more, it's not a big deal."

Key gets up abruptly and brings his mug to the sink.

"Key??" Janessa blinks. She looks at his back as he washes his mug. "Rakeem has a nickname?"

I open and close my mouth. She looks weirdly angry?

"Yes? So?" What is fucking happening right now?

Janessa glares at me, and then her expression changes with a mean little smile. She looks over at Rakeem. Oh, I see, it's just a two for one today.

"Stop it," I warn her.

She ignores me.

"Guapo, how come we never talk like this, eh? Forget her, she's loud y loca, come over here and I can show you what a good time looks like," she coos at Key, her princess smile turning into her wicked step sister smile.

I cross my arms. I fucking hate it when she gets like this, she's trying to get at me and I'm not taking the bait.

Rakeem chuckles, and I hear him say, "I can multitask, why don't you come here and show me?"

What?!

She and I both gasp, her in absolute fucking delight and me in shock. He doesn't look back at us but I can hear his sexy laugh in his chest. This is bothering me and I don't know why.

"Janessa," I snarl.

She looks at me with her feline eyes, and I can see the challenge in them. Janessa slides out of her seat a smug smile on her painted lips.

"Janessa, stop!" I hiss.

"What did you say? Just scratching itches, mas nada?" she glides over to him. I stare in horror. I did say that. It's a necessary lie that kills me every time that I have to deny how deep I've gotten so he can have the space he needs.

Why is she punishing me?

Janessa's hands slide under Key's shirt from the back. I realize he's moved onto the rest of the dishes in the sink because he's the best. For the first time in ever, I really wish Janessa wasn't here.

He doesn't seem to react to her.

"Woooow," Janessa murmurs, running her long nails along his spine and muscles. My jaw drops. She pushes his tee up and up and he pulls it off the rest of the way for her.

What?! Is he punishing me too? I feel my chest tighten.

She snickers when she looks back at my face.

"Nice," she coos, tracing the angel wing pinion on his left shoulder blade. She traces the lines over to his bicep, examining his half sleeve.

"Who is Samuel Harris?" she asks, looking at the cross with the big banner over it. I know exactly what she's looking at, his body is a map I've memorized.

"His dad," I snap. She looks at me and the angrier I look, the more satisfied she gets.

Key dries his hands and turns around, leaning back against the sink with his arms crossed. I catch his gaze but it's completely neutral and reveals nothing. He's killing me, shirtless and far away.

Janessa runs her fingertips along the roses and sunbeams of the sleeve. "How'd he die?"

"In service," I hiss. Key is watching me with intensity, and I see confusion in his eyes. It's taking every part of me to not scream at them both. I can feel my face get hot. "And it says Still I Rise on his fucking forearm which is a poem from Maya Angelou."

"You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies," she begins to recite the poem by rote. Of course. Her fucking robot brain and insane memory.

I'm panicking.

"You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise," she purrs. "Why do you know him like this, Vivi?"

The way she says it is sultry and sexy and I can't breathe. She slides her nails down his biceps. It feels like my head is going to break in half.

Key's gaze is glued to me and I hate that he's seeing me like this. Why do I get this feeling like he's waiting for me to say something?

Janessa tugs apart his arms to get a better look at his chest and he rests his hands on her hips almost automatically. He's still looking at me, but he tugs her toward him the slightest bit.

My blood boils and his jaw tightens. I don't understand what's going on and I feel the itch of my angry tears.

She says something to him I don't quite catch and he nods. Her fingertips skate across his pecs to his sibling's names imprinted over his heart and I realize that I'm standing with my hands balled into fists and my teeth clenched.

"Stop!" I shriek.

Key's expression still gives nothing away though I know he can see every stupid fucking reaction I'm having and see that I am ready to rip my best friend off him. I am so fucking embarrassed and infuriated. He slowly raises an eyebrow and straightens some, worry crossing his features.

"You know, I súper get why this is the dick you finally chose to ride," she slides her palms over his abs and squeezes his chest. I freeze. He doesn't miss her phrasing. His gaze drifts to hers for the first time, confusion deepening.

Oh my god, Janessa. Please no.

My hands fly up and cover my mouth.

"Janessa, shut the fuck up!" my voice is so shrill I sound like a little kid and I hate it.

"Did you know that about her?" she coos, running her thumbs over his nipples, and he shudders and my mouth is dry and I can hear a ringing in my ears and I see her mouth move more but I can't hear her--

She has his attention now and he's looking into her gorgeous face. She presses up against him and I'm paralyzed. I can't see her hands. I see his lashes flutter and mouth part ever so slightly. Is it shock? Is it arousal? What is she doing?

My eyes are burning. Why am I freaking the fuck out?

He grabs her by the shoulders and gently but firmly pushes her back to stare into her face.

I can't hear, I can't hear.

She laughs her pretty bell-like laugh. Her hair, pitch black and glossy and smooth shimmers down her back and brushes the swell of her perfect ass. I imagine his hands on it, her thong disappearing. I'm coming apart at the seams and yet I'm fucking wet.

I can't find my voice. This is my worst nightmare.

She pushes up onto her tiptoes which is almost laughable, but she pulls his face down and whispers in his ear, and I can only imagine what it is because his eyes snap to mine immediately piercing my soul. His eyes round and he stares at me in shock.

She didn't tell him, did she? My ears ring.

"Just ask Asa," she lilts.

Oh my God, she told him. This is going to ruin everything.

"Janessa!" I cover my mouth with my hands.

She turns his face to hers and gives him a closed mouth kiss. I can't tell if he's returned it or not, because I burst into tears and almost trip over my chair scrambling to get out of the kitchen.

He's halfway across the room to me and she's standing with her hands on her hips, staring at my face accusingly with no sympathy, her own eyes red and glassy.

"Why are you being so cruel with me? Both of you?" I cry and Janessa's face softens, and Dr. Jekyll returns. Her face is flushed and guilty.

Key's arms are almost around me but I shove him before he can get to me, and he stops in his tracks, looking wounded. It makes everything worse. Infinitely worse.

"Baby?" he breathes. He reaches for me.

I slap his hand away. "I am NOT your BABY!"

Rakeem recoils and takes a step back. I cover my face. This is all going wrong. I didn't mean to do that.

"Rakeem," I try, but he's crossing the kitchen and he's grabbing his shirt off the floor and pulling it on. He's grabbing his keys off the counter.

"Key, wait," I step forward realizing with a panic that he's leaving. "Wait, Key, I'm sorry! Please, don't go."

I reach for him and he steps back. He has his hands up in surrender, palms out. He looks at Janessa and bites his lip.

"Look, there's a lot happening here," he says finally. "And it's not my business. But I'll text you later, b--Veronica."

I cover my mouth and nod, and Key heads out the door.

Gone.

It's silent. Slowly, I turn and look at Janessa, furious. She's staring back at me with her eyes actually wet.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I growl.

"What?" she sneers. Hyde's back.

Or is he? I can't make sense of the broken hearted look in her eyes. She blinks it all away.

"You just fucking told him about my fucking baggage?" I exclaim.

"How can you abandon me?" she yells and shoves me. What the actual fuck?

I'm gonna slap the pretty off her crazy-ass face. I shove her back and shout, my voice shrill, "Keep your hands off me! What the fuck is wrong with you lately?"

Janessa lunges and we go crashing to the kitchen floor as she uses my weight against me. We drop hard with her on top and hot tears are spilling from her face.

I automatically stop; seeing her cry is low key terrifying. "Janessa? God, what is going on?"

She's straddling me covering her face with her hands.

"How could you?" she cries out. She tries to slap me but I bring my arms up to protect my face and her hand smacks across my forearms. I can't even recognize her right now. We both used to get in trouble for fighting but never with each other.

I'm not gonna fight with my hands, I'm not gonna fight with my hands, grown women don't fight with their hands. I bite my lip hard and will myself to stay in control.

"How could I?! How could you?" I bark. Okay, mostly in control. "You're my sister! What the fuck is even happening?"

"I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING SISTER!" she screams, tears streaming down her face. "SISTERS DON'T LOOK AT EACH OTHER LIKE THAT."

What? Like what? My world is spinning and crashing around me. She slaps my arms with less strength, but I can't feel it anyway.

"I don't understand," I whisper.

"Having an entire relationship that you kept from ME, from me!," she sobs. "You're supposed to tell me everything!"