Gentle Intensity

“White man cocky nuh big. Relax.”

Vaya rolled her eyes at her older cousin. “Mi nuh give a fuck if him cocky microscopic. Mi still a virgin. This did fun while it last, but Bianca mi nuh waa dweet.”

This argument had been going on for the past hour. At first, going out with men—flirting with them—then ditching them was all fun and games. But after her last encounter with one of the men, Vaya closed off and didn’t want anything to do with her cousin or her shenanigans. The lune had tried to force himself onto her and it wasn’t something he willingly stopped either. She had managed to knee him in his more delicate regions and almost squeezed his eyes into his brain before running away with his wallet. That man more than likely developed a hate for Jamaica and its women due to that interaction.

Bianca was a stripper with what Vaya liked high connections. Both with legal and illegal people. A part of Vaya wondered how this woman wasn’t dead yet. She carried so much drama anywhere she went... But how could she hate on her favourite cousin? Even if the reckless female would do crap that probably caught her in problems at times. But it was never anything too awful thus far though, since they were both still alive.

“Please nuh? You’re exactly his type. Yuh know me would a do it mi self. But mi a white gyal comparing to you.” Her big cousin pleaded.

This was true. While Vaya had a creamy chestnut complexion, Bianca barely had any melanin. She had other negroid features though, those being her massive full hips whilst her rear was what people referred to as “white gyal batty” for not being with the most roundness to it. Other features would be hair tightly curled hair, but it was rather light in comparison to the average black woman’s dark strands. She was an odd combo, but she was beautiful all the same. Vaya however, had a smaller body frame and not-so-big hips, yet a fairly big arse that pulled admiring eyes as well as envious stares.

Vaya stared at her older cousin with a deadpan, “Anca yuh a twenty-six and you been a fuck from yuh thirteen and yuh want me just dash my virginity give a white man mi deven know? You claat yuh head mama?”

“Nuff money in a it.” Anca countered. “Swear. You a get paid in US too. The man dem rich baaaaad. A just one night alone. Yuh not even have to use yuh mouth or nut’n. Just turn him on and have sex with him. Yuh naa guh breed and mi swear him clean. Mi check everything out aready.”

“Mi look like a cow behind me drop outta, don’t?”

“Please?”

Vaya exasperated with a sigh plopping her body unto her mattress and corner-eyed her cousin who climbed over her body on all fours.

“Pleeeeaaassseee? The money good fi a one-night ting.”

Closing her eyes, she exhaled as she thought about it. Vaya lived with her mother while her father remained unbeknownst to her. Not that she cared much. Judging by her mother, she wouldn’t want to meet the monster it would take to tame the woman. Her mother barely even wanted to give her money to go to school. Paying the yearly fee was no problem, but when it came to the daily expenses of lunch money, materials for school projects, homework, transportation fee and anything else that would pop up. The woman moved sluggishly with it all.

Vaya didn’t have to hear from her mother’s mouth to know she was a burden to her. A large sum of money didn’t sound too bad. Maybe she could start a small business while in school. She was already hiding and selling candy at school and around her community. If this money was right, maybe she could expand into something a tad bigger.

“How much money suh? And how much money yaa get out deh mek yuh a gwaan suh extra?”

Vaya watched as the grin rose up her cousin’s round face. “Mi a get fifteen gran fi recommend yuh and yaa guh get forty.”

“Fi one night?” Her eyes widened.

“Exactly!” Anca exclaimed sitting up on the thighs beneath her. “While you a flirt with the man mi ago link with him friend dem and callek e money. When them see you them ago decide if wi get e deposit r not. Just use a condom and yuh good. Promise.”

“Anca, I’m a virgin. Remember.”

Anca fanned her off. “At least yuh ago get paid fi yuh virginity. Memba wah happen to mi sake a so-called love?”

“Yea.” Vaya frowned remembering that. She was rather young when that happened, but she remembered clear as day the tears Bianca released. The screaming she did. She had gotten pregnant for the man she loved, but he refused it because apparently he “pulled out” every time. That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was when he came running back for sex the moment he heard she lost the baby... Bianca took him back, and then he cheated... Multiple times.

Leaning to hover her face Anca smiled, pecking her cousin on the nose. “This way your heart won’t break. I promise this ago all good. Nothing naa happen to yuh. Yuh going Uncle Vincent workplace. The bar lounge a Pegasus hotel... Yuh a dweet?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Already knowing this would end to be a yes, Bianca grinned as she crashed her cleavage into Vaya’s face having the poor girl scream bloody murder.

Collin Westle felt somewhat shame doing what he was doing. Embarrassed even. But if he proceeded with this at least he would be a rich bastard.

His mind wouldn’t pull from the fact it was time to get married and not to a sweet, small-town girl like he’d always imagined. No. He had to get married to Veronica Chase. A start-out small-town girl, yes. But she got washed away into the money life when her father resurfaced. Became a spoiled brat that seemed to have no empathy.

If only his mother could witness him now. In a Caribbean Island he knew nothing about with his best friends, drinking in an attempt to drown out this whole wedding bull at his very own bachelor party.

Even as the music he didn’t like blared throughout the room, he found himself smiling to it. He didn’t even know what dancehall was until his friends kidnapped him and brought him to the country, he had only thought the country had reggae and Bob Marley. He also thought all the people would’ve had tobacco hanging from their lips with thick unkempt dreadlocks protruding from their scalps.

Wrong was the understatement. The music was vulgar and fast and their people looked well, like what any other black people he’d ever seen in his life with just a different swagger. One thing he had to admit? The women were beautiful. With all shades of browns, some with an obvious mixture of ethnicities, others with subtle or even none.

There was this one he just couldn’t keep his hazel eyes off of though. A chestnut beauty, with medium-length straight hair and a pair of thick-toned lips he would like to get to know.

He wouldn’t act on it though... At least he thought he wouldn’t. His best friends had a different plan the moment they spotted him glancing at the beauty a fourth... Maybe the fifth time.

“What are you waiting for?” Christopher, the closest of his three friends asked.

This caused Collin’s eyes to peel away from the girl with hesitation. “What are you on about?”

“You’ve been glancing at that little thing since she sat there.” Chris’ large hand came down on his shoulder gripping it firmly. “Go talk to her. Loosen up a bit. You need it if you’re gonna marry the spoiled sap of the South.”

As much as he never saw his fiancé in a loving way he didn’t enjoy when people would give her negative names, his brows furrowed as he looked to Chris. “Why can’t you stop calling her out her name? She’s done nothing to you.”

“She sucks the joy out of everything. Do you not see what we had to go through to get you here?”

It was a strong truth. Veronica was a rather strict and pessimistic woman when it came to anything to her known as too fun, or better yet referred to as chaotic. A bachelor party was exactly that in her eyes. Collin did feel it was a bit much having him kidnapped right in front of her like that. Poor woman probably had a heart attack, but thanks to the bag over his head he didn’t even get to see how she was. The guys wouldn’t even have him look at a phone much less touch one for him to give her a quick call.

“I’m still getting married to her. So could you be a lil bit nicer to her?”

Chris shrugged shocking Collin with a strong nudge in the back. There was a loud exclamation that left him just as the song switched. Attention yanked towards him standing in between his friends’ table and the bar where the beauty sat on a stool. As the new song began to pick up Collin slowly looked over to the beauty he had been eyeing since he got in the hotel’s bar lounge. Her dark brown eyes surveyed him with an innocent tilt of her head.

“Go.” Chris mouthed the moment his best friend looked back at him with a glare even his other two friends were making shooing motions for him to proceed.

Mumbling under his breath he went on forward. His eyes absent-mindedly took in the beautiful island girl’s attire before him. She wore a golden-yellow spaghetti-strapped blouse tucked into black, high-waisted shorts with a pair of strapping yellow slippers that wrapped up her legs. Her face wore little to no makeup, just some lip gloss that made her luscious lips pop, a tiny smudge of black liner beneath her almond-shaped eyes accompanied with mascara and her thick brows neatly shaped. Her button nose being the cutest he’s ever seen had him strangely wanting to pinch or touch it.

“Howdy, ma’am.” He smiled sweetly at her.

His southern accent delayed her response as her brows furrowed. “Yaa one a dem cow bwoii deh weh mi see pon TV?”

That took him off guard a bit. All the Jamaicans he’s met so far, only spoke standard English to him, most of them were tour guides or worked for the hotel, but he heard nothing passed the typical waa gwaan phrase as well as the no problem mon.

“I’m sorry. I ain’t really get that.” He chuckled nervously.

The brown-skinned beauty smiled at him and shook her head, “Sorry. Bit of a reflex for me to speak patois. How may I help you?”

Even with her ditching her dialect her tone and accent had his heartstring buzzing with delight. Her voice was soft even as she spoke loudly for him to hear over the music. Something angelic could be a word to describe it. Collin wasn’t sure what to say to her though. He flirted with women multiple times back home, but those women were just that, back home. Would the same work on the women here? He didn’t know, but what he did know was that honesty never failed him yet.

“I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you are, ma’am.”

The compliment had her head tilt as she eyed him from head to toe. He really did look neat and clean in his light blue jeans and white button-up, his ‘tie’ looking like an adjoined shoelace around his neck. There wasn’t much that could be told about his hair though since it stayed covered with a beige cowboy hat matching the timberlands on his feet.

“I know that already, but thank you.”

Collin’s eyes slightly widened at that. Not wanting to pass judgement he didn’t pull away and called her conceited or rude. Her facial expression seemed to remain pleasant with the confident words though. “You look handsome. But I bet you already know that too.”

“Why thank you, ma’am.” He smiled at her comment and then looked to the empty seat beside her. “May I?”

“No problem. What’s your name?”

The conversation went swimmingly after that. They learned each other’s names, downed a few drinks, got informed a bit on each other’s likes and dislikes and... Well, Vaya, the dark-skinned beauty somehow convinced Collin to find himself on the dancefloor.

Vaya took him by his rough hands and pulled him away from the barstool. His three friends saw this and had themselves making unnecessary noises to cheer him on. It was bad enough the lounge wasn’t packed to have him hidden from their gazes and foolishness. They’d never let this down, but he found himself not wanting to disappoint his new friend.

“So, what do I do to this kind of music?” He asked looking down at her.

Watching Vaya look back to the bartender she gave instructions in her dialect. Collin only caught unto the words change and music. And as he thought, the music changed to something slower, it was still Caribbean, reggae seeing the tempo was different. Smiling Vaya turned to him with her hands on his muscular chest. “Just relax and move with me, yea? You’ll do fine. Yuh look like yuh can use yuh waist likkle bit.”

“The only thing my waist can do is bend and help me lift. I don’t usually dance.” He admitted with a light frown as she laced her hands to the back of his neck. Her thumb traced a small line back and forth just at his nape as she looked up at him. “That’s fine. We’re going slow. And I won’t pull any tricks on you then. I’m sure you’re good with rocking from side to side for a while?”

This was when his large hands found the small of her torso, peering down at her browns seeing tiny black specs decorate her iris, “how do you think this night will end?”

“Hopefully with you inside me,” she whispered with a rise on her toes. Her short nose barely brushed his long one as she smiled at his widened eyes.

“We don’t know each other well enough.” He told her.

He couldn’t help but feel some kind of guilt now. His hands on her waist, her soft breasts pressed up against his body while her lips were so temptingly close. Her eyes were so dark, yet inviting. Coaxing him to risk it all and simply fall into her brown pools. His increased heart rate didn’t help either, it must have been felt pounding through his ribcage with the anticipation he felt having her like this.

“And?” The sultry whisper passed her lips lightly brushing her nose’s tip against his.

Collin exhaled, “I’m still to marry. This feels wrong.”

“It does?” The innocence in her tone had Collin hold in a groan. He knew she was far from that now, but she still managed to hold it just enough to have him wrapped around her pinky.

All of a sudden, that anticipated kiss met him. Her full lips lightly pressed against his, making his fingers twitch into her waist. He didn’t kiss back though nor did he pull her away. In his own way, he revelled in having her lips on his. The man didn’t even realize how his eyes fluttered to a close at the sweet act. Not until she pulled away.

Her voice coaxed his eyes to open and her pretty face graced his vision as she smiled sweetly at him. “Did that feel wrong? Be honest with me.”

“It felt good, Vaya.”

Vaya pulled him closer right then. Her lips connected with the skin below his ear. She could feel his muscles tense. A small chuckle left her when he shivered at the feel of her tongue against him.

“Touch me, Collin.”

Collin gulped. “I’m already touching you.”

“Doesn’t it feel better touching me here though?” Her inquiry came with her gently guiding his hairy arms to stretch further around her. His palms oddly at her toned rear. “Don’t you like feeling me like this? Grab it. Go on.”

Not wanting to bring much light to himself due to his growing erection, Collin glanced around the lounge.

It was empty. Only the bartender remained there not even paying much mind to them. When did his friends leave? Did they really leave him stranded with the seductive black woman? Not that he hated the idea completely, but they didn’t even say anything to him.

Casting his eyes back on the beauty before him he filled his palms with her cheeks with an eagerness that slightly startled her. She laughed though. Her teeth lightly went to grazing his strong dimpled chin. “Doesn’t that feel good too?”

“It does.”

“Ready to take me to your room? I promise I won’t bite again until you ask me to.”

Feeling her small hands rest on his broad chest, he slid his hands up. One resting at the small of her back and the other found her small chin between his index finger and thumb, “you’re a persistent and naughty little thing, Vaya.”

“Mi reach pon yuh naughty list aready?” she derided, slipping a hand to the front of his restricting pants. “That’s not the only thing I want to get on.”

“I think you might have that wish granted, baby girl.”

“I’d have it no other way.”