She physically cringed, having to ask Khalid for anything. It was bad enough she was in his damn car, damn near about to pee on herself.
“Sure, no problem,” Khalid answered. He pushed the button that started up the Aston Martin. For the first time, he paid attention to Racquel’s license plate. “Delta Sigma Theta, huh?”
“You got a problem with it,” Racquel challenged.
“Not at all,” Khalid smirked. She knew what he meant. Khalid was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. She noticed the crest on Khalid’s umbrella. His fraternity was the first African American fraternity in the US in 1906. Her sorority was the second African American one established in the US in 1911. There was long-standing Black Greek history about Men of APA with the women of AKA, the first Black female sorority established in 1908. An Alpha man and a Delta woman? Almost never. The smirk remained on Khalid’s lips as he checked the side view mirror. He waited until the coast was clear before easing the luxury ride onto the thoroughfare.
Having grown up in Atlanta, Khalid was very familiar with downtown and was able to navigate onto the interstate and off in a matter of minutes to the nearest chain convenience store that would have a decent restroom. He pulled right up to the door, so Racquel wouldn’t have far to go. He looked in her direction and noticed that she had tightly crossed her legs one over the other and was doing the quick rock, signifying that her bladder was not her friend. Fortunately, the rain slowed sufficiently enough for Khalid to jump out of the car without grabbing the umbrella so he could open the passenger side door. She already had it opened and was stepping out by the time he got there. She’s not used to dealing with a real man, Khalid surmised as Racquel blew past him on her way into the store.
What are the chances, he thought as he waited for her under the awning. His mind flashed back to Langston Hughes High School some ten years ago when he and Rocky walked the halls of the same honors hallway. She didn’t like him then. Khalid never knew why, but he was too busy living his best senior life to bother himself with why Rocky always gave him an attitude whenever their paths would cross.
“Nothing’s changed,” Khalid hummed as he watched Rocky sashay out of the store and made her way back to the car. The rain had stopped entirely at this point. He meandered to the passenger side and waited to see if she was going to give him the chance to open the door. She cut her eyes in his direction just as she reached for the handle and then paused, resting her weight on one foot impatiently as he stepped around her to open the door.
“Thanks,” she grumbled as she passed him.
“Absolutely,” Khalid replied, extra nicely.
After closing her door, Khalid rounded the front of the Aston Martin and lowered his lengthy frame into his car, closing the door behind him.
“Where shall I take you?” He asked.
Racquel had given it some thought when she was leaving the ladies room. It didn’t make any difference if Khalid knew where she lived. It’s not like she would ever run into his ass again. It had been ten years since the last time she’d seen him even though they lived in the same city. She fully expected that it would be another ten years before she ever had to look at his face again.
“8742 New Vista Road,” Racquel muttered.
She acted like it hurt, Khalid chuckled to himself. Reaching up to the dashboard, he activated the navigation system and spoke Racquel’s address aloud.
“Destination locked in,” the car replied.
“Don’t forget your seatbelt,” Khalid reminded as he started to back the car out of the parking space. He didn’t, though, until Racquel reluctantly snapped the seatbelt and then unceremoniously turned her face away from him, focusing on nothing in particular outside the passenger side window. Now that the pressure in her gut was gone, she felt a different kind of feeling swirling around in her belly. At first, she wasn’t sure what it was; however, she quickly decided it was the flutterings of abiding disdain for the man sitting way too close to her.
Since the rain stopped, Khalid didn’t hesitate to drive faster than he had before. The roads were still somewhat slick, but he carefully drove just above the speed limit. The faster he could get Racquel out of his car, the faster he could go on with the remainder of his evening. The only noise that could be heard inside the car was the random instruction given by the navigation system and the hum of the engine. More than that, there was tension in the car thick enough that it was nearly stifling. She was doing her best to avoid him, Khalid was doing his best to focus on the road in front of him, neither willing to be the first to initiate idol conversation. That’s the only kind of communication those two could possibly have given their history, meaningless, idol conversation, more like dagger throwing and dodging daggers. That’s more like what words spoken between them had ever been.
When Khalid navigated the Aston Martin into Racquel’s neighborhood, her posture shifted. She leaned forward, and her eyes eagerly roamed the street in front of the vehicle. She wanted him to drive faster, to press the thirty-five mile per hour speed limit, and risk a ticket to get her home as fast as possible. It was only then that Khalid paid attention to where he was. The neighborhood was familiar to him, and when he pulled in front of the address Racquel provided, he knew why.
“This is the same house you lived in when we were in school, right?” He asked, pulling up to the curb.
“Yeah, it’s my dad’s house,” Rocky replied, not waiting until the car fully stopped before unlocking her seatbelt.
“Do I even need to bother trying to open the door for you, or are you going to jump out before I put the car in park?”
It was the first time Khalid saw a smile on Rocky’s face.
“Fine, Khalid,” she mumbled. “I’ll wait,” she said, trying not to let the smile extend any further than it already had.
As Khalid exited the car, he was wearing a smile of sorts, too. Racquel’s eyes trailed him as he moved. He always did have swagger, even in school.
“Cocky ass,” she mumbled just as Khalid opened her door.
“I’m sorry?” He asked, hearing something but not sure what Racquel said.
“Huh?” She quipped, acting as if she said nothing.
There was a moment when Racquel dared to look Khalid in the face, their eyes haphazardly connecting. She looked at him. He looked at her. Neither winced nor dropped their gaze. Racquel felt the fluttering in her belly again and had to drop her eyes, stepping away from him hastily.
Khalid watched as her hips swayed from side to side as she sashayed up the walkway.
“Thanks,” Racquel called out as she got a safe distance away. She dared to look over her shoulder as the word passed through her lips. Yep, Khalid was watching. She tried to act like it didn’t matter that she was just grateful to get the hell away from him. Yet, as she made her way to the front door, Racquel was keenly aware of his presence and his gaze.
Chapter Three
Khalid tried not to stare. This was a woman who never liked him. Then he had to check himself. The person that never liked him was a girl from ten years ago. The woman walking away from him now didn’t even look like the same person, well, not body wise. Racquel’s face was pretty much the same, yet, as Khalid dragged his eyes away from her form and moved around to the driver’s side of the car, he had to admit that even her face showed signs of maturity and not in a bad way. Racquel always was pretty. She had doey eyes, full lips, deep brown melanted skin, naturally curly hair that she wore close-cropped, which for the times back in high school was bold. Most girls back in the day who the guys thought were hot or cute or girlfriend material wore their hair long, even if it wasn’t all theirs.
A smirky smile eased across Khalid’s lips as he opened the car door and slid in. Those were the days, he thought, taking one more look up the walkway to make sure Rocky was safely inside. Why did he care, Khalid thought to himself as he turned on the ignition, put the Aston into gear and pulled away from the curb. He cared because, despite her rough exterior and salty
disposition, Racquel Alexander was still a lady.
Khalid’s eyes lazily traveled to his dashboard. He had already left the office late, and now, with the distraction of Racquel, he was two hours later heading home. His stomach growled, reminding Khalid that he hadn’t eaten anything since much earlier in the day. He was ready to be home. Thankfully, the rain had not returned when he jumped on the highway headed to the subdivision he lived in. Although many singles like the activity of the city and liked to live close to the action, Khalid much preferred the quieter, more neighborly feel of the burbs. Traffic was relatively light for early evening in Atlanta. Khalid was grateful for that. It made his commute time much quicker than it ordinarily would have been. Within thirty minutes, he was pulling into his driveway, pushing the button to activate the three-car garage attached to his eight thousand square foot home he had built just a few years before.
Khalid was already loosening his tie by the time the garage door opened. He unbuttoned the first button of his custom dress shirt as he eased the Aston Martin into the garage, next to the Mercedes Maybach GLS and down from the LandRover Jeep he drove when he took the occasional excursion on rough roads. Not that the Atlanta streets weren’t rough enough. Khalid liked to drive off-road sometimes, and the Jeep was the perfect vehicle for that. By the time he turned off the ignition and struck the button for the garage to close, Khalid already had the car door opened and was easing his frame from inside. He pushed the car door closed as he moved towards the garage door that led into his expansive kitchen. As soon as Khalid pushed the door open, he heard two familiar signs that reminded him he was home: one was the alarm system, he quickly disabled, and the other was the pitter-patter of canine feet.
“Hey girl,” Khalid hummed as his dog, Queen, ambled in his direction. Queen was a brindled Presa Canaria weighing in at a hefty 110 pounds. When she stood on her hind legs to greet Khalid, her tag wagging furiously, her front paws rested on his chest. They were almost face to face. Queen was so big. She loved him fiercely, and the feeling was mutual as he rubbed her cheeks with both hands.
“I hope you’ve been a good girl today,” Khalid hummed as she panted from excitement. Only after their habitual greeting ended did Queen lower herself. She didn’t go far. Khalid kicked off his loafers, lining them up against the wall, and then took off his suit jacket, hanging it on the coatrack. Queen was Khalid’s shadow. She moved when he moved and not a second before. She was the ultimate protector and the Queen of the house, no pun intended. As Khalid made his way across the kitchen and then across the family room towards his private quarters, Queen padded right alongside him. As Khalid entered through the french doors that led to the hallway that led to his bedroom, he finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled the tail from his tailored slacks. By the time his socked feet met the plush black carpet of his bedroom, Khalid fully removed his necktie and took off his shirt and undershirt in one smooth move. Khalid took a seat on the chaise at the foot of his bed and removed his socks. Queen sat down right next to him. He patted her head as he pulled out his cell phone and keyring that rested in his pants pocket.
“Girl, if you could turn on the shower for me, that would be amazing,” Khalid hummed as he stood to his feet, unbuckled his pants, unzipped them, and let them fall to his feet. He stepped out of them, making sure to line up the crease before laying them across his bed. In his boxer shorts, Khalid sauntered to the attached bathroom. It was one of his favorite parts of the house to design. The heated, Whiteoak marble floors resembled wood but were made entirely of marble in hues of dark gray, bone, with hints of gold that grounded the bathroom beautifully. Along the full length of the longest wall was the walkthrough shower with benches on both ends for the steam sauna built into the system. There was a rectangular deep soaking tub in the center back of the room, bordered on one end by a see-through fireplace, with stones as the igniting factor instead of wood. The sinks appeared to grow seamlessly from the floor with the outer casing constructed of the same marble, contrasted by sleek, quiet close drawers underneath the raised sinks in polished steel. The environment was immediately relaxing. Queen must have felt the same way. She had her own rug in the corner of the bathroom that she went to and stretched out on. She would stay there until Khalid moved to another space.
Khalid reached in and turned on the symphony of shower heads with jets from the walls as well as a rain shower overhead. Stepping out of his boxers, Khalid stepped into the shower and allowed the heated water to assuage his body from all angles. He stood there for the longest time, not soaping up or anything, just standing and allowing his body to relax.
Racquel.
The thought of her jolted his mind. He didn’t see her as the annoying girl in school who acted like he was the worst person on the face of the earth. When she flashed through his mind this time, it was at the moment she smiled for the first time in his car. Khalid hadn’t realized or didn’t allow himself to accept that Racquel was beautiful, even in school. She was still rocking her hair short and curly, and it was still a good look for her, highlighting the exotic lines of her anthracite face. Khalid shook his head and stepped under the rain shower. There was no sense in thinking about Racquel in other light other than the one he had always seen her in. When Queen rolled over on her back and stretched out, it brought Khalid all the way back to the present. He chuckled at Queen’s antics and then went about the business of washing up, scrubbing all remnants of the outside world from his skin.
Only after he was thoroughly clean and completely relaxed did Khalid turn off the water jets and step out of the shower. The faux fur black rug that sat in the middle of the room welcomed Khalid’s feet as he reached over to the heated towel rack and selected a bath towel to dry himself with. After wrapping the towel around his waist, Khalid moved towards the door.
“Come on, girl,” he called to Queen. He really didn’t have to. Once she saw Khalid move, Queen rolled over to a sitting position, and when he moved, she moved. Khalid paused briefly in his walk-in closet and pulled a tee shirt and sweat pants from the dresser. He crossed over to the bed and picked up his cell phone. Then, Khalid made his way back to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. His stomach growled loudly, reminding Khalid that it was time to eat. He pulled two porterhouse steaks from the fridge along with the fixings for a salad.
“Oven or grill,” he asked, turning to Queen. When she tilted her head like Scooby-Doo, Khalid laughed out loud.
“Grill it is,” he laughed. It didn’t take long for Khalid to prepare the meat. With pan and spatula in hand, Khalid padded to the furthest end of his kitchen and slid back the seamless glass door that led to his private back yard. The patio extended the full width of the house, and the built-in grilling system, pizza oven, and mini kitchen sat right outside the gourmet kitchen in the house. Once the meat was put on the grill, Khalid hit a switch on the wall, and the backyard was illuminated in soft lighting. He strolled to the lounger that was just a few feet away and stretched out. Queen stretched out at his feet. It was one of their favorite places to hang out. Khalid was an avid swimmer. He loved the water, as evidenced by the lap pool, jacuzzi, and Olympic sized pool with beach entry. He designed the pool to have single jets of water at several points along the width and length, much like a fountain effect on a large scale. The water also changed colors due to the strobe lighting built into the system.
The backyard was absolutely peaceful. Khalid leaned his head back on the cushioned rest and cradled his head by lifting his arm and bending his arm at the elbow and sliding his large hand behind his head. A warm breeze glided through the yard, wafting aromatics from the grill. Khalid closed his eyes, feeling the gentle breeze against his skin.
It took an unexpected bark from Queen to bring Khalid back around. He had inadvertently drifted off to sleep just that quickly. His eyes popped open and drifted towards the grill.
“Shit,” he huffed, lifting his tall frame from the lounger and crossing over to the grill in just a few steps. Lifting the lift, K
halid waved the smoke that billowed up and, once cleared, took a look at the meat.
“Whew,” he breathed, seeing that the steaks weren’t burned.
“Thanks, girl,” he said to Queen, who moved closer to him when he got up so quickly.
“Dinner is ready.”
Khalid removed the steaks from the grill and turned off the power. He and Queen went back into the kitchen, and she sat attentively as he moved around, getting a plate for himself and then taking one of the steaks and putting it on a cutting board.
“Here you go, girl,” Khalid said, scraping the steak on top of Queen’s dog food and sitting it down on the floor next to the kitchen’s island. She didn’t start eating immediately, instead, waiting until Khalid sat down at the island to eat. After saying a brief prayer and blessing the food, Khalid took his first bite.
When his cell phone rang, and Khalid saw the name attached to the number, he took a second to wipe his hands on a napkin before answering it.
“What’s up, Big Bro?” Khalid asked.
“Your nieces,” Israel replied.
“Man, I can’t wait to see them again,” Khalid smiled.
“Any time, bro, any time.”
“Remember you said that,” Khalid laughed. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much, man, just checking in.”
“That’s cool,” Khalid nodded.
“Have you talked to mom today,” Israel asked.
“Nah, not today,” Khalid replied. “I was late leaving the office then got held up with some other stuff,” Khalid went on.
“Well, apparently, some mail of yours went to their house instead of your new address,” Israel replied. “Mom claimed she didn’t open it, but she did mention that there was something there from Langston Hughes.”
“Our high school?”
“Yep,” Israel answered.
When he laughed out loud, Israel was curious as to what that was all about.
“You will never believe who I ran into today,” Khalid chuckled.
Khalid Page 2
