My buddy Joe invited me out to celebrate his birthday at this “hole in the wall” bar and grill named CJ’s. Joe was a successful real estate broker, but he still had a lifelong fondness for such urban public houses as this one. Despite its reputation for danger and the scarcity of “marrying types” women to be found inside, you could find him at CJ’s almost every Friday night. I must admit, an appreciation for such places is something we had in common. People call it slumming when educated, professional people hang out in such places, but I have always felt as at home in these type of joints as I am in pillow padded plush soul lounges and velvet roped upscale jazz clubs.

When I was a kid, my Brother and I would spend the weekends with my Dad. He would often take us to such a neighborhood place during the daytime to get a “split” or a hamburger or to play the big basketball video game on the wall. Even during the day, the place would still be full of neighborhood drunks and various other persons of interest. People would pass away the day at the bar or conduct their breadwinning enterprises from inside the joint. The place was no stranger to drama during the day though. From time to time, the owner Mr. Clyde would have to club some cat over the head with a bat for disrespecting his fine “old lady” Miss Peaches. Occasionally, women would even duke it out if one of them found her “old man” hugged up in the booth with some broad.

In those days though, good kids were cherished by all adults and everybody in the neighborhood knew and looked out for Willie's, handsome, smart, well behaved little boys. So no harm would ever come to us, even in a place like that. These were very poor working class people, but that didn’t stop my Dad’s stumbling drunk friends from reaching into their pockets to give us a quarter each to buy a “Moon Pie” or play another arcade game. Every Friday night I would lay awake in my Dad’s bed, wondering what he was up to down there. Many years later, I would find out for myself exactly what took place in those forbidden places, between twilight and dawn.

I arrived at CJ’s later than my buddy said he would be there, but after walking around a few times I didn’t see him. I didn’t see anybody else I wanted to meet either so I decided to leave and come back later. It was relatively early still, so I figured I’d to go hunting at a few other places.

Another good thing about these types of fine establishments found on the Westside is that they somehow managed to serve my Tanqueray and cranberry juice cocktails for $2 each. The clubs on the other side of town charged three or four times more for the same thing. This made such places very convenient for having a couple drinks before and after hitting the well-heeled nightspots Uptown or the exposed brick wall bohemian haunts Downtown. Also, the women that frequented these lively watering holes tended to live very close by, which made it somewhat easier to get to know them better.

After making a few stops around town, I was disappointed that I didn’t find anybody else I wanted to make friends with. I decided I might as well head back over to CJ’s. I made my way inside and stopped just a few feet from the front door. I figured if I didn’t see my friend I could just walk right back out. I didn’t see him right away. I also could see that not too many new women had found their way inside the club since I was there before. As I was standing around though, I checked out this woman walking in my direction as if she was about to leave. As she got closer though, I could see she wasn’t leaving. She was headed straight towards me. She stopped right in front of me and touched me on the arm. With a big longingly shy smile on her face, she looked up at me and said “I was hoping you’d come back.”

She told me her name was Faye and this was her first time at CJ’s in years. I was pretty sure I’d never met her before. Now in those days it would not be beyond the realm of possibilities for me to know somebody very well and not remember what they looked like. As we continued to talk though, I decided that if there was going to be some drama it would have happened by now, so I started to feel a little more at ease. I must admit I was a little flattered, but the unexpected attention still seemed kind of strange. When I was there the first time I didn’t notice her and I thought I had checked out everything in the club. Despite the opportunity that presented itself, I continued to look for Joe as we talked. Finally, I spotted him sitting in the corner with some other guys. I told her I saw the guys I was here to meet, so I had to cut our conversation short. I said it was nice to meet her and I would say bye before I left.

I made my way through the crowd of Friday night just got paid neighborhood revelers, greeted my boy with a “Soul Brother hug”, gave him some dap and wished him a Happy Birthday. “Derek!!!! What’s up boy???? Good to see you. Get you something to drink” he said as the Black and Mild cigar dangled from his lips. They hadn’t been there long, but they had managed in a short time to build up a very nice collection of empty 40 ounce bottles, red plastic cups and a mountain of Newport butts in a gold metal ashtray. Somebody handed me a cup right away. I guess they thought I had some catching up to do. Little did they know I was pretty far ahead.

Before long, I shared with them the story of what happened when I walked inside the club. I pointed out the young lady sitting at the bar. She’d been sitting there all night long, talking to the female bartender. Now I must admit, she wasn’t that graciously graced in the “grill”, but she did have a very nice body with a tight little ass. Regardless of any shortcomings, she looked good enough for them to give me their late night ghetto “brew crew” seal of approval. I guess that was all the encouragement I needed. Besides, I was really drunk now and a little horny, so it didn’t take much to set the wheels of lust in motion. They continued to encourage me with their various ghetto colloquialisms that all basically translated into “Dog, I’d hit that ass if I was you.” So after a little while longer, I bid them all a farewell and a good night and proceeded to the bar to do what I “had” to do.

As soon as I walked over, she told me she was glad I came back because she was about to leave. She introduced me to the bartender Gayle, who worked there nights, but who she knew from their day job. We said goodnight to her friend and proceeded out the door to her car.

We talked for a while as we leaned against her ride. After we exchanged phone numbers, I promised her we’d see each other again. I really wasn’t intending to see her again, so I decided to get in her car on the passenger side with the intention of closing this little chapter tonight. Even though I took a bit of a chance, she found my drunken intrusion into her personal ridespace quite charming and curiously flattering.

Within a few minutes of telling several time tested lies, I leaned forward and gave her a lethal kiss on her neck. In no time we were fogging up her windows kissing and groping each other like Joanie and Chachi in the parking lot of Arnold’s Drive In. There is something that really turns me on when I look at ladies’ wide open legs when she’s sitting in the driver’s seat of a car. Especially when they’re driving some really fast fly shit. The thought of this little 5’2 chick with her nice little ass handling this big Mustang Boss 5.0 made my dick hard as Chinese arithmetic. I couldn’t help but reach up under her skirt and stick my finger up in her tight, hot pussy. One of my thick fingers stroking back and forth made her flow like a beer tap in no time. She was so wet now that I was able to push in another finger. I wanted to get her used to the thickness of the new stick she would soon be driving. Then I took her left hand off the top of mine and I placed it on my zipper. We unzipped it together and she reached inside my jeans and cupped her small hand under my balls. She started stroking them like they were precious black pearls.

I was too drunk to remember where I was or even who I was with, lost in the oblivion of this delightfully unexpected chance encounter. After a few minutes though, it dawned on her that we weren’t parked very far from the front door of the spot. Apparently we had been providing light entertainment for all of the other patrons who were making their way to their cars after leaving the club. I really didn’t give a fuck, but she was a little embarrassed. Anyway, we stopped and got our shit together. I got out and came around to her side of the car then I leaned inside her window and kissed her softly on the cheek. I promised that I’d see her tomorrow. Of course I had to see her again now. It would be the only gentlemanly thing to do.

As soon as I walked into good old CJ’s Saturday night, I saw a sweet looking lady with a nice little body wave at me from the bar. I started walking towards the bar since – I guess that was her. She introduced me to her friend again, as if she was the one who was too drunk to remember me. We sat at the bar and made awkward small talk like we were on a blind date. I ordered a couple of Tanqueray and cranberries as we continued to chat. I noticed her and the bartendress kept smiling and giggling at each other and they continued to trade certain gestures and head nods while we talked. Eventually, she worked up the nerve to translate their naughty little sign language to me. She told me her friend lived close by and we could go to her house if I liked. “We could get to know each other a little better in private” is how she coyly stated it. I’m not sure why they thought I needed to be convinced.

We walked inside of her girlfriend’s little rented house, but I don’t think Faye had been there before. She didn’t seem to know which bedroom belonged to Gayle. Eventually, we decided on the room with the clean white sheet covered mattress, lying on the floor with no box springs or frame. I was so excited. This shit was gonna be raw. I soon realized though, that she had something very different in mind.

As we began to undress each other, I was in a bit of a rush. I started to unzip her jeans so I could finally go to work on that little heart shaped ass, but she held both my hands and gently brought them down to my sides. As she unbuttoned my shirt, she kissed me softly across the chest from top to bottom. The pace suddenly slowed to a crawl. We began to exchange tender sensual embraces and deep penetrating soul melting kisses as we peeled away each other’s clothes. Once there were no more layers to uncover or places to discover, I cradled her in my arms and guided her down gently to the mattress. We twisted and tangled into an indistinguishable heap as we writhed and slithered into a corporeal knot.

After exploring each others bodies from all angles with tender touches and unrestricted tongues, we were now face to face once again. She stared deeply into my eyes as if she’d found something she was searching for. Then she wrapped her legs around my hips and dug her fingernails into my shoulders like a cat stuck in a tree, that was holding on to a breaking branch. I arched my back like I was the King of the jungle and thrust my scepter deep into her delightful Garden of Eden, until her river flowed endlessly like the Nile. We spent what seemed like an eternity on this sacred nocturnal safari, exploring everything that was possible within this clean white sheeted oasis.

We finally came to rest and lay motionless in the dark. As we lay still on this strange mattress that was now baptized in perfume and alcohol and sweat and tears, the silence finally broke as she began to speak. She wanted to tell me about herself and her life and why she was out last night at CJ’s. I tried at first to derail her groove by talking about how good the pussy was and asking her how many times she came. She answered my question, but continued to talk about herself, her life and why she was at CJ’s last night. I didn’t really want to get into anything heavy, but I couldn’t ignore that what we had just shared went well beyond casual sex.

Faye told me that she had gotten to know the bartender who worked in some other capacity at the AIDS hospice where she was a nurse. She had already told me about her job when we talked on the phone earlier today. I found it truly fascinating. I didn’t even know such places existed and was shocked to know one existed in a city like Houston. I was even more shocked at how many patients in those early days of the epidemic she said she was responsible for taking care of. Even though I wasn’t looking for love off in the “juke joint” I knew she was different from the other girls up in CJ’s last night. I realized that it took a very sweet, compassionate, loving – a special person to do that kind of work. Like I said though, I wasn’t looking for a soul mate at the hole in the wall.

Then she told me that her friends from work insisted that she needed to get out and meet somebody "new". Apparently all she did was work, come home from work and take care of her kids after taking care of dying people all day, every day. Then she would wait for her husband to get home so he could beat her ass every night. Yes, she was married and I already knew that too.

She told me his name, but I blocked it out as soon as she said it. She met him in college, back when she was a cheerleader and he was a jock. Now she was a nurse with a job she loved and kids she adored. He was a washed up athlete who hated being married and couldn’t find any other work except being a security guard. She said that this made him so bitter and cruel that he felt it necessary to whip her ass to the point she was too sore to go to work every day, but she did. One night, somehow she found out he was fucking around with another woman. He certainly hadn’t been fucking her in quite a long time, so she was a little pissed. She decided to confront him about it. Somehow she expected that he would show some remorse and ask forgiveness for being out fucking some trick while she was at work all day making money to take care of the family. Instead she says that he kicked her ass from room to room until she finally ended up lying on the ground in the kitchen unable to move. Then he stumped on her back and left her lying in the middle of the floor motionless as he walked out the door. She managed to pick herself up off the ground and clean up the house and herself, because the kids would be home from school soon. I was ready to kick this motherfucker's ass.

I asked her why didn’t he just leave and of course she said that he told her that he didn’t want anybody else to have her or any other man raising his kids. Even though I was mad as hell, I remembered that I had been fucking this man’s wife who barely knew me for the better part of the night while her kids were God knows where. I decided that maybe I should gather a few more details. She continued to tell me about her years of abuse and frankly, it was almost more than I could stand. Despite the small fact that I might be wrong for fucking this man’s wife, I was still sincerely motivated to whip his Black ass. I asked her though, where was he right now while she was out all night with me. Much to my surprise, she told me that he was up the street working security at Grogan’s Groceries, a few minutes away from the club.

I didn’t know what to think now. Was she telling me the truth???? Was she just looking for somebody to set him up???? Was she just plain old crazy???? I decided that she must be telling the truth because no woman would make up a story like that. I was like “Okay cool, I’ll go whip his ass for you right now.” After about another hour or so….we got dressed and headed up to the parking lot of Grogan’s.

She parked on the other side of the lot from where he was standing. There was more than one “Top Flight” security officer standing out front so I confirmed which one he was. She pointed out her husband as the one leaning against the rail on the side street end of the building, with his back foot up on the rail. She asked me what I was going to do???? Since he was no bigger than any other dude I had ever scrapped with – I told her, “I’m gonna go whip his ass like I said.”

As I got out of the car though, I decided that I still couldn’t just walk up to this dude on her word and start going upside his head. So I got the bright idea that I would walk through the store on the end where the car was parked and come out on his side. Then I would start a casual conversation with him. I’d figure out a way to tell him what I knew and then I’d whip his ass.

Sure enough I came out of the automatic doors and walked right in front of him. Suddenly something dawned on me though. It occurred to me that I might lose the advantage of being the only one who was in a rage if he knew that I just finished fucking his wife in the ass a few minutes ago. How could I tell him that I knew his wife because I had spent the last three or four hours since he started his shift, with the mother of his children’s legs wrapped around my waist. So I decided I would first ask him for some directions.

He didn’t look at all like what I was expecting. “Brother uh, do you know how to get to Chickamauga Avenue???? I asked. To my surprise, this brute, this bully, this ogre, this coward walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder so he could kindly point me towards the street. I thought he was about to point at his wife’s car and ask me “Didn’t I just see you get out of that car over there????” Instead this man gave me the most detailed, clear and thorough directions I had ever received in my life. He seemed to take pride in his work even though this wasn’t really even part of his job. Complete with pointing and hand gestures, this dude seemed to be genuinely concerned that I make it safely where I was going. I was stunned and not sure what to do next.

I had just learned this man’s entire life story over the last few hours. Even though it was almost 4am and he was standing outside in the cold at a job he hated and waiting ‘til 7am so he could go home to his other miserable existence, he managed to muster the concern it took to give me thorough directions to some place I had no intention of going to. Where was the monster I was looking for???? I on the other hand, I was standing in front of him with the scent and the taste of his wife all over me and still feeling moist places on my body from her yet to dry feminine essences. Suddenly, I had the strange feeling that his wife was sitting in the car praying that I take care of a problem for her that may not be quite what I was led to believe. It was at that moment that I thanked him and walked back towards his wife’s car. When I got to the car, she asked me what happened. I told her I just wanted to size him up – for next time.

I wish I could tell you that was the last time I saw her, but it wasn’t. As we continued to see each other I learned that her stories were indeed true. I wish I could tell you I eventually took care of her problem for her, but I didn’t. As I came to know her better, I realized that nothing justified his abuse, but he also had a story of his own. I wish I could tell you I feel bad now about fucking that man’s wife, but I don’t. I learned that night that life can be complicated and sometimes very cruel. Sometimes stealing a few tender hours with somebody in a dark strange room is as good as life ever gets.