Sample of "The Songstress"

Sample from the chapter titled: "The Songstress"
-an excerpt from "Glass Goddesses, Concrete Walls" by Keith Kareem Williams

As I come closer to the finish line with this novel, I'll be leaking shorter samples than before. However, I'll never stop giving readers tantalizing tastes of what I'm cooking up for you. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.

Pin was the one who introduced me to a songwriter named Tia. We called him "Pin" because he was as slim as a twig but had a disproportionately large head on his shoulders. He had ambitions to become an R&B singer having been blessed with an amazing voice. However, he had been cursed with looks that record labels wouldn't find very marketable. All the same, he soulfully serenaded his share of pretty women right out of their panties. "They close their eyes and pretend that I'm handsome," he would always tell us. I suspected that Tia had been one of his victims which is what made my entanglements with her so awkward at first.

At night, I would have the entire office to myself at work so my friends would occasionally stop by to keep me company. One night, Pin came by and introduced me to Tia whom he explained had been working with him in the studio. She was good company and right away she fit right in. All three of us laughed and talked while my night mercifully flew by quicker than it normally would have, thanks to good conversation. They were both polite enough not to make me feel like a third wheel but there was that unmistakable familiarity between them that only came from a man and woman when they knew each other intimately. I have never been a man to desire any woman that one of my friends had already touched so I only saw her as one of the fellas. As soon as Pin was off to use the men's room, Tia made sure that I saw her as much more. He hadn't been gone for two minutes before she pulled up a chair right next to my desk.

"You're really a cool person. I like you," she told me and I can't say that I wasn't thrown off by her boldness.

"Thanks," was all I could think to say. Any more words than that and I would feel as if I was crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed. It didn't appear as if she cared as much as I did about boundaries.

"You're a cutie too," she said and leaned in close enough to me put her elbow on my thigh. The way she did it was so smooth that it had to be the most seemingly unintentional, intentional thing I'd ever seen a woman do.

"Thanks," I answered again.

"You look like the cat that swallowed the goldfish," she giggled. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just thought that you and Pin…"

"Me and Pin what? Yes, we have. So what? We spend a lot of time in the studio together. He's a man. I'm a woman. Things happen. Music, smoke and sex to pass the time. And don't think I don't know that he has a girlfriend."

"Yeah, but still…"

"But nothing. Pin is not my man," she laughed as if I sounded ridiculous. "You think too much."

At that point, I didn't know what to think. Was she a wanton slut who would screw any and everybody? Or, was she a bitch trying to spite Pin? Whatever she was, she was strikingly easy on the eyes. Still, as pretty as she was, what I remember most about her is her voice. It was raspy for a woman but melodic and smooth, almost like honey and gravel. I was surprised that she had never thought about singing the sings she would pen herself. She asked me for my phone number and I gave it to her, seconds before Pin walked back in the room. I knew that I shouldn't have but there are certain women in this world that all men find difficult to deny. Tia the songstress was one of them.

They both stayed with me until my shift was almost over. Right before they left I stopped Pin and told him I needed to speak to him in private about something.

"Wait for me in the car," he told Tia and tossed her the keys to his red, Dodge Laser parked outside. She winked at me and flashed a mischievous grin before she turned to leave.

"I'll call you later," she said to me as she walked out and I realized that she really didn't give a damn if I told Pin about our conversation or not. All the same, he was my friend so I felt obligated to let him know what Tia was up to.

"I have my woman at home so it doesn't matter to me," he laughed after I told him everything. "Just be careful. She can be a little emotional. Ok, you've been warned."

"Once I was alone, I shut down the office and went home. I didn't necessarily believe Pin when he said he didn't care. All men are territorial to a degree, even with their random mistresses. If I crossed the line and entertained what Tia was inviting, things would always be awkward between us, no matter what he said. All of this I pondered after I got out of the shower and lay in bed. The phone rang and it didn't take Tia long to invite herself over to my place. She claimed that she only wanted to hang out but at one o'clock in the morning there was only one type of hanging out that took place between adults. As I waited for her, I couldn't get comfortable with the situation. It just felt wrong on many levels. I wasn't moral enough to tell her to stay home and I wasn't ruthless enough not to fully enjoy the anticipation of her visit. A million moral reasons to stop this before it started passed quietly though my mind while a few immoral, lust-filled ones screamed for me to just give what she was really after. It has always been tiring work wrestling with my own conscience. I was about to fall asleep when my doorbell rang.

When she walked through the door I could see in her face that she was high. There was something sleepily sexy about the drowsy red of her eyes. She looked even prettier than she had when I first met her earlier. It made me smile to think that she had made the extra effort to get all dolled up just for me. As soon as I closed the bedroom door behind us she sat on the bed and started rolling up more weed. Before long, thin wisps of smoke swirled into all kinds of shapes everywhere in the room. It felt more like we were hanging out in the clouds instead of a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. She smoked while I tossed back glass after glass of cognac. I used to drink so much of it back then that I hardly touch it now. I've since developed an intimate relationship with clear liquor instead. We didn't know each other well enough to share our troubles but we were with both there with our share of pain combined and in attendance. I politely kept to my side of the bed, full of liquor and she relaxed on her end, full of smoke. She offered me a pull and I passed my cup so she could take a sip. We slid closer together and for that moment, nothing else existed. Before long, all of the liquor had gone to my head and I needed to lie down. When I tried to, she grabbed me roughly by the front of my shirt.

"Now you know that I didn't come all the way over here to let you fall asleep on me did you?" she whispered in the voice that I had begun to love the more I heard it. We took everything off and prepared to let the entire world slip so far away from us that nothing else really mattered. There was no fear, no shame, no pain, no guilt and no past. I can't honestly say that I know how or when I got her naked. What I do remember is how she felt once I was inside her and out of all the women I've known, most of them would be hard-pressed to outdo her in that department. She was warm and wet enough that I felt everything, even with the condom on. That had to qualify as magic. Her long, smooth legs up in the air looked like they could touch the ceiling, at least from my perspective. Drunk and high out of our minds we rocked and swayed together, feeling more like we were floating than having sex. The sounds she made were high-pitched and shrill which annoyed me more than turned me on. It was a relief when she grabbed the pillow and screamed into it while I put everything in her every possible way. She had that familiar look of surprise on her face women sometimes gave me when they hadn't expected all that they got from me. I never knew if I should be flattered or insulted. To a degree it implied that they had come into my bedroom with low expectations. All the same, I preferred to be underestimated than fall short of expectations.

I lost track of time but I know that it was almost daylight when we finally stopped. The alcohol in my system along with the knowledge that she had slept with one of my friends kept me from reaching my sexual peak or in other words, I hadn't climaxed. She wanted to take a break but I could tell that she was upset that she hadn't quite satisfied me. I knew I couldn't sleep comfortably with her next to me but I wasn't ruthless enough to ask her to leave. I would have to be in school a few soon anyway so I decided that it wouldn't kill me to lay down with her for an hour or two.

Of course, I overslept and only blind luck opened my eyes. I had a help from the sliver of sunlight that managed to slip through the dusty blinds in my bedroom window. I rolled over to shield my face from it and forgot that Tia was there until I bumped into her. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up. The time on the cable box made me jump up to get ready to leave. I let her sleep for the moment. After I got out of the shower, I couldn't take my eyes off of her while I ironed my clothes. The bed sheet barely covered her. She was still topless but at some point that morning she must have put back on her panties. The way they were halfway off her hips would make it so easy slip them all the way down. I was already late for class so a few more minutes wasn't going to make much of a difference. I've never believed that women couldn't feel their lover's hands on them when they were supposed to be asleep. Their cooperation betrays them. Once you slip your fingers under the waistband of their underwear, they tend to ease their hips up off the mattress. When you slip your hands between their legs, they spread their thighs to accept your touch. Once you touch them in their most intimate places they make you wonder if they're wet from the dreams they were having or from the things you're doing to them. Eventually they let you know that they know what's happening when that first subtle sigh passes through their lips. That is how Tia found herself bent over the edge of my bed.

***Hope you enjoyed this sample. Please pardon any typos or errors. This is an unedited version.***

In the meantime, while you're waiting for "Glass Goddesses,Concrete Walls" to drop.....here are my other titles, all available on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0063K6JJC