Sweatpants Season

by Danielle Allen

  He turned to flag down the bartender and muttered under his breath, “Bitch.”

  With my clutch in one hand and my half empty bottle of water in the other, I clenched my fists as best I could. “You’re the only bitch here.”

  His head whipped around, and he glared at me. “I remember you now.” He stood, looming over me by a few inches before he snarled, “You’re the bitch from a few weeks ago. I’ll get you put out on your ass!”

  I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted.

  “Do we have a problem here?” The deep rumble of Carlos’s voice reverberated through me. His hand rested on the small of my back. “Akila, is there a problem?”

  “No, I handled it,” I replied, staring at Brad’s panicky face.

  “I had no doubt that you could,” Carlos replied. Taking a step toward Brad, he continued, “But I better not ever hear you disrespect her again.”

  Turning his back on us, Brad stormed away in a silent rage.

  I looked up at Carlos and saw his clenched jaw and narrowed eyes burning a hole in the back of Brad’s fleeing head. Even though I didn’t need protecting, there was something sexy about his protectiveness.

  “Carlos.” I touched his arm and shocked myself. My hand dropped from his body when his eyes met mine. “Hey.”

  He swallowed hard. “Hey.”

  Staring at one another, the air felt thin, and my chest felt tight. It was the most intense thirty seconds of my life.

  “I’m going to have to ask you two to leave,” a burly security guard commanded, breaking whatever it was that was happening between us.

  “What?” I took a step back. “Why?”

  “You’re disturbing the guests and you’ve been asked to leave,” the security guard’s tone was stern, and his face was grim.

  “What did we do?” Carlos asked, his tone just as stern.

  Without thinking, I put my hand on his back to calm him down. “Who are we disturbing? We didn’t do anything to anyone. If anything—oh…” The realization hit me, and my mouth was agape. “This was Brad, wasn’t it?”

  The security guard looked around and then lowered his voice. “I don’t know what happened and I don’t care. I just need you two to leave so I can keep my job.”

  “Unless you can give me a reason why we need to leave, I’m not going anywhere,” Carlos responded defiantly.

  The guard’s face became darker and more menacing. “If I tell you to go, you go. Now.”

  “Fine!” I stepped in between the two men, one hand gripping Carlos’s forearm and the other gesturing to the security guard. “We’ll leave, but this won’t be the last you’ll hear from us. You can tell Brad that he can’t hide behind his dad forever.”

  Grabbing Carlos by the arm, I pulled him toward the elevator. We weren’t alone, so we silently rode down to the first floor. We walked through the crowded restaurant, and it wasn’t until we were outside that he spoke.

  “Fuck!” Carlos’s voice boomed, echoing through the parking lot.

  I jumped, startled by his outburst. I remained quiet, but I watched him pace five feet away from me.

  “They had no right to put us out. That asshole disrespected you, but we get put out?” His angry growl made the knot in my belly tighten.

  “The asshole is Brad and his dad owns Koi.”

  “Fuck Brad and his dad.” He shook his head and let out a deep breath. He seemed to be calming himself down and then I saw his body tense all over again. His fiery gaze met mine. “Who is he to you? Why did he disrespect you?”

  “He’s no one to me,” I scoffed. “He’s just someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer. He hit on me and I wasn’t interested. I reminded him that a few weeks ago, he’d tried the same thing and I wasn’t interested then either. He got mad and started being disrespectful. And then you came over and I think he was intimidated, so he had us kicked out of Koi.”

  “This is bullshit. We shouldn’t have left. If I was going to be put out, it should’ve been because I knocked some sense into him.” He scrubbed his hands with his face. “Why were you so quick to leave?”

  I rubbed my arms before crossing them over my chest. “Because I didn’t want them to call the police.”

  “We had every right to be there.”

  “I know, but—”

  “But nothing, we shouldn’t have let that asshole get his way. If he was uncomfortable with us being there, let him be uncomfortable. Fuck him!”

  “He felt threatened and wanted to exert his power,” I pointed out. “It wasn’t about him being uncomfortable, it was about him feeling emasculated. He was mad when I called him on his bullshit, and then when you came over…” I let my sentence trail off as I shook my head.

  “Why didn’t you just walk away? He was clearly an idiot and you weren’t interested.”

  I balked at his words. “This isn’t my fault. He approached me, wouldn’t accept that I didn’t want him, and disrespected me. I shouldn’t have to give up my seat at the bar because he’s an ass.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have had to deal with him at all. If you walked away, we would still be in there and—”

  My jaw dropped. I looked at him incredulously. “You’re putting this on me?”

  “No, I’m—”

  “You’re the one who escalated the situation!” I threw my hands in the air. “You’re the one who came over to me.”

  He stopped in his tracks, shock radiating off him in waves. “I saw a man disrespecting you. He stood up like he was going to put his hands on you. What was I supposed to do?”

  “You could’ve continued flirting with whoever you were flirting with and left me to handle my own business.” I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t need to be saved.”

  “I never said you needed to be saved! God dammit, Akila!” He scrubbed his face with his hands again and let out a growl in frustration. “I’m not doing this with you.”

  Swallowing hard, my chest was getting tighter as each second ticked by. “Well, you shouldn’t have insinuated it was my fault that we were kicked out.”

  “I didn’t! It was that asshole’s fault we were kicked out. All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t have entertained his conversation for as long as you did.”

  “So now you’re telling me who—”

  “I’m not doing this with you!” he burst out, clearly annoyed with me.

  “I’m not doing this with you,” I returned petulantly, taking a step toward him. “You swooped in to ‘rescue me’ from a man who said he got his dating advice from The Lost Boys.”

  The information seemed to catch him off guard. “What?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “So, before you try to say that I should remove myself from situations so I won’t get disrespected, let’s acknowledge the fact that he felt emboldened to disrespect me because he listens to your show.”

  He shook his head. “We’ve never told anybody to call women bitches. I don’t know what happened before I started with the podcast, but there’s never been a situation when we’d tell anyone to do what he did.”

  “But you do call them basic looking spinster chicks?”

  He seemed momentarily caught off-guard, so I continued.

  “Disrespecting a woman and belittling her appearance because she calls you out. Hmm… sounds exactly like what Brad did.”

  “I would never disrespect…” His voice lowered and there was a turbulence in his eyes I’d never seen in anyone before. “I would never do that. To you or anyone else.”

  The sharpness of his tone took my breath away. My mouth was dry. He looked more than offended. He looked hurt. Licking my lips, I didn’t know what to say. I was at a loss for words.

  Seconds ticked by before I weakly muttered, “Okay.”

  He just stared at me, not speaking. His handsome face was stony and expressionless.

  “I believe you,” I whispered faintly.

  He remained silent.

  The air between us was thick and I
felt like I was suffocating. His eyes said so much—none of which I could decipher. I didn’t know why it affected me the way it did, but his gaze hurt.

  Clearing my throat, I looked away. “We can report him and Koi to the business bureau. We can leave reviews online. It’s okay—”

  He took a step toward me. “No, it’s not okay, Akila,” he interrupted me, his tone gruff. “Fuck him and Koi. We had an assignment. This wasn’t just a social outing, we were here for work.”

  His words hit me like a punch in the gut. I didn’t even think about that. It hadn’t occurred to me that Brad’s temper tantrum negatively impacted our work. My mouth was agape. “Shit,” I cursed, hands on my hips.

  He laced his fingers together and rested his intertwined hands on his head. “Whatever this is, isn’t going to work,” he sighed, his voice riddled with resignation. “Not like this.”

  My stomach twisted. “What do you mean?”

  A car slowly approached, loudly blasting a pop song I’d never heard before. He dropped his hands and took another step toward me, moving out of the way of the empty parking spot he was standing in. The car continued to another spot, but Carlos remained in his new position, a foot away from me.

  I stared at his profile as he looked around at our surroundings. My eyes traced the sharp edges of his face, the perfection of his nose, the precision of his haircut, the sexiness of his beard.

  Without warning, his head turned, and his eyes landed on me. There wasn’t a hint of amusement in his expression as he took me in. The tightening between my thighs, I expected. The way my heart fluttered was unexpected.

  Even though we were closer than before, his voice was low, almost vulnerable. “Having a byline in Re-Mix will make it easier to get my book reviewed. I need the free promo, free publicity, free marketing. This job opportunity will open doors like nothing else I’ve ever done. I need this.”

  He was open and exposed as he explained the importance of his work with Re-Mix. Because he was being transparent, I felt like I should do the same.

  “Same here. This is my livelihood. This job isn’t just a stepping stone or an opportunity to me. This is my dream job.” Taking a measured breath, I continued in a hushed tone. “I need this to go well. I can’t lose this job. It means too much to me.”

  “Then we’re going to have to work together and not against each other. Between photography class and then this co-series writer assignment, we can’t win if we keep doing this. Not like this. Not successfully.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “I know.” I let my eyelashes flutter open. “I know. Something has to change. We need to have a civil conversation.”

  “Then let’s talk it out.”

  I looked him in his eyes and kept my voice as even as possible. “Every time I think about Date Night with The Lost Boys…” I shook my head. “I get angry.”

  “You know my voice. You know I’m not saying those things,” he pointed out softly, stepping forward. “The show has three different points of view so that there’s something for everybody.”

  “But you are associated with them,” I explained as calmly as possible. When he sighed, I stepped a little closer. I wanted to reach out and touch him but resisted the urge. “I understand your point, Carlos. I know you’re not saying the words. But City Boy sets the tone of Date Night and he represents everything that I’m against. I know he’s your friend, but he’s the worst. So, when I think of The Lost Boys, I think of the tone that’s set. And unfortunately, City Boy is setting that tone.”

  “And when you see me, you associate me with what City Boy has said.”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that fair to me? We have so much on the line and you’re judging me based on someone else’s thoughts and opinions.”

  “If you sit in the car knowing your friend is robbing a bank, when the police come, and the car is pulled over, you’re going to jail too. You may not get as many years because you didn’t do the actual crime, but you’re guilty by association.” I lifted my shoulders in an apologetic shrug. “Same rules apply.”

  The corners of his lips turned upward slightly as he tried not to be amused. “Akila, you drive me crazy.”

  “And you get under my skin.”

  “You’re judgmental,” he pointed out.

  Bristling, I jutted my chin to make myself a little taller. “Well, you’re complicit.”

  “You’re argumentative.”

  “You’re hypocritical.”

  He licked his lips. “You’re frustrating.”

  The pull deep in my gut twisted at the sight of his tongue passing over his full lips. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and it unintentionally rocked me a little closer to him. “You’re defensive.”

  “You’re difficult.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  His eyes flicked down to my lips while he licked his own again, slower. In a hoarse whisper, he admitted, “Working with you is hard.”

  My heart pounded in my chest. “The feeling is mutual.”

  We weren’t touching yet, but my entire body hummed with the anticipation of his lips on mine. It was clear that the energy between us was as toxic as it was magnetic. I knew it was in my best interest to walk away. Even as we were listing the qualities we didn’t like in one another, there was something pulling us together. We went from a car length apart to mere inches. And as much as I told myself I didn’t like him, I couldn’t explain why every square inch of me yearned to be touched by him.

  I have to walk away, I told myself as I held his gaze.

  I told my feet to move, but they didn’t listen. Instead, they remained firmly planted in place. We were either going to continue taking shots at one another or he was going to put those beautiful lips against mine. Either way, I knew I needed to leave.

  “When we asked you to leave, we meant the premises!” the security guard roared, startling us apart. “Don’t make me have to call the police.”

  “Have a goodnight,” I called over my shoulder as I jumped in my car.

  Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. What just happened?

  Chapter Ten

  I couldn’t sleep.

  And not because I ran away from Carlos and barely said goodbye when the security guard yelled at us. And not because I stopped at a diner for dinner and the ice cream float I ate was messing with my stomach. And not because Meghan had her sex playlist blasting from her room. And not because I wrote a scathing review of Koi and posted it online. Although any one of those reasons could’ve kept me awake any other night, I couldn’t stop thinking about what that almost-kiss with Carlos meant.

  As I laid in bed, I tried to think about what I was going to tell Luna Daniels, but I kept thinking about how badly I wanted Carlos to kiss me. I forced my thoughts to the fact that I didn’t get to experience the full singles happy hour to give it an authentic review, but every time I blinked, all I saw was Carlos Richmond.

  Do I like him? It doesn’t make any sense. Yes, I’m attracted to him, but we had a moment, and that’s ridiculous because he’s a Lost Boy! He doesn’t see anything wrong with that so I can’t like him… can I? Do I? Oh my god… do I?

  There was something about him that was unlike any other man I’d ever dealt with. He treated me as his equal. He didn’t like me, but he respected me. He didn’t sexualize me, but it was clear he was attracted to me. He didn’t agree with me, but he didn’t shy away from debating me. He was associated with a group that I hated on principle alone. But his interactions with me were respectful, kind, and protective. Except when we were at each other’s throats. And even then, those exchanges were sexually-charged and raw.

  Raw.

  Giving in, I imagined what it would be like to have him kiss me. I fantasized about what his hands might have felt like on my body. I considered how big his dick could be. My body stirred, my nipples hardened, and my panties dampened.

  As my hands slipped under my t-shirt, I let my fingertips skate along my smooth skin. Closing my eyes
, I imagined my hands were Carlos’s hands. I made my way to the apex of my thighs. With visions of his hands, mouth, and dick pressed against me, I was just about to touch myself.

  “Oh!” I gasped, eyes flying open.

  My phone vibrated loudly against the wooden nightstand for the second time. Grabbing it, I sat up in bed and then gasped again.

  Sorry for the late notice, but it just occurred to me that you are not on the staff email. Bring your notes and your unfinished drafts to Re-Mix tomorrow at six o’clock. We’re having a staff meeting and I want to see what you have so far. Because it’s short notice, I won’t hold you to the fact that these meetings are mandatory. But I do hope you can make it. Luna.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed as I reread the short email from Luna Daniels twice.

  I went through a range of emotions. I was excited. I’m going to be meeting with other staff members of Re-Mix. I was nervous. I’m going to be meeting with other staff members of Re-Mix. I was panicked. I’m going to be meeting with other staff members of Re-Mix…and I don’t have any notes from tonight!

  I spent ten minutes trying to think of excuses I could tell Luna that wouldn’t get me fired or make me look incompetent. I had my integrity and I didn’t want to lie. I planned to just tell her the truth and hope for the best.

  And then it occurred to me.

  The truth.

  Guided by moonlight, I hopped out of bed and turned on my laptop. While it started up, I grabbed my phone and scrolled down my contact list. Taking a deep breath, I drafted and sent a late-night text message.

  Akila Bishara: Hey, sorry, I know it’s late. But did you get the email from Luna?

  Carlos Richmond: Yeah, I just got it. I might not go to the meeting. I need to buy some time.

  Akila Bishara: This job is important to us both and I think we should go. I have an idea for our articles. Can I give you a call?

  Carlos Richmond: Yeah, that’s fine.

  Fiddling with the edge of my shirt, I listened to the phone ring. Something shifted between us with the conversation in the parking lot. But after the security guard yelled at us, I barely said goodbye before I hopped in my car and left. I groaned. He hadn’t even picked up the phone yet and I’d already started freaking out.