Ethic

by Ashley Antoinette

He would rather appreciate the value in a dinged-up quarter than accept a shiny penny. Dolce was shining but her worth was insignificant.

but she was young, jail bait; and at 17, she wasn’t ready for what he offered at 25.

The reward for a good life lived was to meet that soul that was intended to be your mate.

People loved the ones that couldn’t love them back.

she was headed to the car of a big fish - Lucas. He wasn’t as major as Messiah, but he was getting money and was a respectable catch.

He was effortlessly deadly, callously calculating, and unforgivingly deceptive.

“A man takes care of his woman. If this is about a woman, then a man would be at her side.

A real man never puts himself in a position to leave his woman. Murder is 25 years to life. Is this some street shit between you and him? Or some kind of show of love for a woman? Because, if it’s for love, you got it backwards. Love keeps you at her side, healing wounds.

“Alani, let me help you, baby. You need to sleep.” The voice behind her belonged to her aunt, Nannie.

I’ll do anything. Anything… Anything… No woman, especially a black woman, should have to do anything to keep anything;

His height, his sturdiness, behind her was what she needed. It was what every woman needed… a man to carry the weight when it got too heavy. Too many black queens were forced to play the role of king because of the absence of the men in their lives.

“I have to treat you like a customer, Alani, because if I don’t, I start to wonder what you taste like,”

“You want me to fuck your pain away, and under different circumstances, I would oblige you because you’re lovely as fuck, but that’s not possible. I would just pile more hurt on you. You’re not crazy. We had a smooth time the other night. Normally, that would lead to something else, but this is a dead end. That’s why I’m treating you like a customer. I’m not the man you think I am. I’m not the good guy in your story.”

She was born differently, and she doesn’t realize it’s the rocks with the most flaws that turn into the finest diamonds.”

A woman couldn’t change a man. He had to change himself. For the right woman, he would.

“It’s gon’ take way more than a pie to thank him for this one. Better give that boy some pussy.”

“You don’t have to fix my life, Ethic. I just really enjoy when you’re in it. It’s about the only thing I enjoy these days.”

“A man that have you cooking food he doesn’t provide is not a man,” he said.

Did he purposefully arouse her? Did he want her to soak through her panties? Did he know that he was close to making her orgasm, without even touching her? What type of super negro is he?

She was a pretty bitch, so she could be boring. A man had never made her want to try too hard, but for this type of dick, she would pop her pussy on a handstand if it meant she could have it forever.

She liked to say when, where, and how; but with Ethic, she felt safe. With Ethic, she felt lucky, and she was in it to please, instead of to receive.

Alani had never experienced anything so pleasurable, so uninhibited, so natural. It was like he was the first man and she was the first woman. Together, they were figuring out their symmetry. This was that Adam and Eve shit; the stuff God got a refund on after the bitch ate that apple.

A man without a woman was half of a man, emotionally stunted, and overcompensating in every area of his life to make up for what he lacked in companionship. A king could not reign without a queen to keep him strong. If man was the walls of a house, holding everything up, bearing the weight of all that inhabited it, his woman was the foundation. You could tear down walls, but a foundation was rock solid.