Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers Book 1)

by Jones, Christina C

  It didn’t take me long to find one.

  I saw Olivia, sitting down at one of the elevated bar-height tables along the perimeter of the club. The room was dark, brightened every few moments by the flash of a strobe light, but those tables each had a little individual spotlight, thanks to the sconces on the wall.

  She was grinning hard as hell – smiling bigger than I’d ever seen. As much as she came out, Olivia wasn’t really a party girl. She forced herself to do it to be seen. When we first met, I’d had to drag her out after one too many complaints about being bored with just doing work and school. She’d attached herself to me – going out when I did, getting her nails done at the same place, shopping where I did. She took that little push I’d given her and ran with it – hell, she even dressed better than me now. I didn’t mind it, but it bugged the shit out of Devyn. I just saw it as her blossoming.

  And blossom, she had.

  Her grown ass had been painfully shy about men when we met, but now here she was, half-shrouded in shadows, giggly pleasure illuminated on her face while some dude whispered in her ear and kissed on her neck. In public.

  I shook my head, even though the sight brought about one of the very few smiles I’d been able to summon today. Student had unquestionably surpassed the master, because I was nowhere near bold enough for that.

  I kept sipping from my drink as I weaved my way to her through the crowd. The emcee announced that Dani was about to get on the stage, and I wanted to be front and center for that. I could say hi to Liv first though.

  “Olivia!” I called over the din of the crowd when I was a couple of feet away, and realized there was a rail separating me from the area with the tables. I would have to walk around to a short staircase to get to where she was. She looked up, and I waved, then wiggled my eyebrows at her as I cut my eyes toward the guy she was with, who was apparently a vampire and trying to suck her damn neck off.

  Her eyes went wide when they landed on me, and I giggled, and nodded. “Busted!” I mouthed at her, and laughed. “Fast ass!”

  That crazy wide eyed look still hadn’t left her face, but she slid her eyes away from mine and over to her new boy toy. Her lips moved – she said something, but not to me, and just as Dani Renee’s band played their first notes, he detached himself from her neck, turned around, and looked me right in the face.

  My smile died on my lips, and I hopped that fucking railing with my drink still in my hand.

  “Well this is cozy.” I stopped right in front of the table, looking back and forth between her and Grayson. “When exactly did this happen?”

  “When you decided to stop being a good gir—”

  “Shut the hell up,” I snapped at Grayson, who’d taken it upon himself to answer a question that wasn’t directed at him. “I’m not talking to you. Fuck you. I’m talking to the bitch that’s supposed to be my friend.”

  I turned my scowl back to Olivia, who looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and die. At that moment, I wanted that for her too.

  “Reesie, I—”

  “Don’t call me Reesie. Friends call me Reesie. It’s Reese for you.”

  She swallowed hard, her eyes darting around like she was looking for an escape. “Okay. Okay. I… um… I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’m sorry! He just started coming to the library after you introduced us, and… and… ”

  “And what? You slipped and fell on his dick? Come the hell on, Olivia! I mean… I know we aren’t best friends, but come on! I’ve never been anything but cool with you, and you do this?”

  “Why are you so mad?” Grayson drawled, and when I looked over at him, he was wearing a dumbass smirk. “You barely wanted me anymore anyway. Consider this moving on… no harm done.”

  “No harm done?! You could have given me something from this… ugh!”

  I took a deep breath, calming myself from screaming for everyone to hear that Olivia had screwed a good 10% of the male population in our city. For one, she was within her rights to screw whatever single men she wanted. For two, that was her business, and unlike her, I wasn’t a grimy enough bitch to spread her information just because I was pissed.

  Directing my voice at Grayson, I sneered. “Your corny ass better hope like hell that no harm done is true.”

  He chuckled. “Your prissy ass isn’t going to do anything.”

  “Keep thinking that,” I nodded, giving him an ugly smile, and then turned back to Olivia. “Let me give you one last little tip - I hope you don’t think you won some sort of prize with this fool. He did this shit to me? He’ll do the same to you.”

  Finding the nerve from somewhere to get an attitude, Olivia scoffed. “But I’m not you Reese. You taught me some stuff, yeah, but you can’t teach what you don’t know… how to keep your man. I’m good.”

  On the other side of her, Grayson laughed, and in front of me, a sly grin crept onto Olivia’s face. Behind me, the emcee announced the end of Dani’s set, and the realization hit me that I’d missed the whole reason I came out. On today, of all days.

  And these jackasses thought it was funny.

  Okay.

  I glanced down at my half-finished drink, then back up at Olivia. I’d watched plenty of trash reality TV in my free time, and seen those women act up. Enough to think that a drink to a woman’s face because you were upset was a silly thing to do.

  So I threw it in Grayson’s stupid, smirking face instead. And while he was coughing and sputtering and cursing about the soda and alcohol burning his eyes, I slammed the glass down on the table, turned to a shocked Olivia, and yanked the bar stool right from under her legs, sending her crashing to the floor.

  Now, I had the barstool in my hands. I didn’t plan to do anything with it except put it down, but somebody must have thought different because it was snatched away. A few seconds later, big arms were gripping me from behind, dragging me away from the scene while I wriggled and fought.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” A familiar voice demanded.

  I was put back on my feet in the crowded back parking lot of the club, and turned to see Devyn’s brother, Eric, standing behind me with an exasperated scowl. He worked security for Refill, and we playfully called him “Big E.” Because, well… he was big. He was also a teddy bear, but he tucked that away here, because this was work. Here, he wasn’t allowing any nonsense to go down.

  “Fighting again, Reesie? Is that what’s happening, we’re going back to that now?”

  “No, Eric I just—”

  “Just what?”

  “I wasn’t fighting—”

  “It looked like fighting, the way you laid that girl on her ass, and looked like you were about to knock her head in. You’re lucky I’d already spotted you, or no telling what-”

  “There’s plenty of telling what!” I screamed, and Eric stopped, putting his hands on his waist. “I’m telling you now, I wasn’t about to do anything to her! I mean… yeah, I threw the drink in his face, and yanked the stool out, but that’s all. And I’m not sorry. I hope her ass bone is sore as fuck tomorrow.”

  “Reesie,” Eric scolded, even though he was trying not to laugh. “That’s still not okay. They could press charges, and you’ve worked too hard to get back on track for some bullshit to mess up your life. Right?”

  I swallowed hard. “Right.”

  He pulled me into a hug, and I settled into his arms. He easily enveloped me in his large frame, squeezing me tight. “I know this time of year is hard for you, but… come on. Don’t self-destruct, aiight?”

  I nodded as he let me go, trying my best to blink back tears.

  “You’re lucky this happened where it did, so you didn’t have a big audience and make a scene. I’m gonna go back inside, talk to my people, see about smoothing this over. You… go home. Now.”

  I let out a deep breath as he went back inside. That little half of a drink had definitely worn off, and now the little bit of a happy vibe I’d been building was completely gone, and I felt like shit.

&nbs
p; I shouldn’t have done that.

  It wasn’t cool.

  But… a little smile crept onto my face at the memory of Olivia’s expression as she fell off that stool. She definitely hadn’t expected me to do that, while she wanted to play smug about screwing my boyfriend. It didn’t matter if I didn’t want him – he was mine until we broke up, officially. I was actually madder at her than I was at Grayson, because you weren’t supposed to do your home girls like that. If it was just some random chick, whatever. But she knew damn well we were together, had asked me about him and all.

  I shook my head.

  That was probably why she was conveniently clueless the other day. Grayson wasn’t going up there to study law. More like anatomy. Hers.

  Oh, and I was pissed at him too. This city was huge – he could have chosen someone else. Or no one else, until he broke up with me because he wasn’t feeling it, because that was what adults with decency did.

  You sure weren’t thinking about decency when you were flirting with and – literally – showing Jason Wright your ass.

  I stopped in my tracks as I headed down the sidewalk, passing droves of people out to have a good time on Friday night. That was certainly true – I hadn’t been thinking about anything about getting a reaction out of Jason. When I was around him, Gray barely even crossed my mind… but intuition told me he and Olivia had been screwing around long before my eyes started to wander. Not that multiple wrongs meant taking a left made sense, but it certainly made me feel less guilty about it.

  But overall… screw both of them. I didn’t need either of those trash bags in my life.

  My stomach rumbled a little as I made my way back to my car, and instead of heading back to where I was parked, I went the other direction. The streets got a little emptier, buildings got a little older, people outside got a little more… hood. But that was alright.

  I knew exactly where I was going.

  seven.

  I grinned as soon as I walked into Sammy’s BBQ and bar, inhaling the smoky aroma – a blend of cigars, swishers, and the smoker out back where they prepared the best damned ribs this city had. For a long time, I hadn’t been allowed to come to Sammy’s, specifically because of the “bar” part. My dad would bring the food home to us, but it was well after I was grown that I actually stepped foot inside when it was occupied at night.

  Sammy, the namesake and owner, was standing at a table just beyond the entrance, laughing with a group of guys playing poker. I spoke to a couple of people I knew, but hadn’t seen in a while, as I approached, and then tapped him on the shoulder. He turned with a pleasant grin, probably thinking I was a just a regular patron with a question or something. As soon as recognition dawned on him, that grin turned into a big smile, and he pulled me into a hug.

  “Jay Wright! If I ain’t know better I’d think I’d seen a ghost. Where the hell you been?”

  I stepped back, shaking his hand as he clapped me on the shoulder. “I been in the army, dude. I’ve been all over.”

  “Well I know that. I’m talking about since you been back. Your daddy told me two months ago you were coming home, but you shole ain’t brought your ass down here to eat, catch up, nothing!”

  I shook my head. “My bad, Sammy. Just been getting acclimated to a different lifestyle.”

  Sammy rolled his eyes. “Acclimated? Now see, that’s the little fancy ass college coming out in you.”

  He and the whole table of poker players laughed at that, and I couldn’t really do anything but laugh too. I knew it was nothing but love – Sammy drove my mother to the hospital to deliver me, with my brothers in tow. That was back before the dealership was a thing, when my father was working late shifts, overnight to make sure we ate. Sammy was my father’s friend, and damn near like an uncle to us. I would accept the little lightweight clowning with a good attitude – I should have come to see him sooner.

  I stood there talking for a little bit longer, before a flash of something pink in my peripheral caught my attention. My eyes went a little wider, and I excused myself from Sammy to go investigate.

  I was just about to walk away when Sammy caught my arm, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “Proceed with caution, young buck. That one’s a spitfire.”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “I know.”

  She was sitting at the bar, nursing a glass of something dark. Her focus was so intense on the ice in her glass that she didn’t even look up as I sat down. She knocked the rest of the drink back, and then motioned at the bartender for another.

  “You’ve had enough,” Lana told her, gently placing a glass of ice water on the worn, but well-polished bar. “How you doing baby?” she said to me, smiling. Lana was Sammy’s wife, and one of the first crushes I’ve ever had.

  “I’m doing alright. Water for me too please.”

  She nodded. “Coming right up.”

  I turned to where Reese was sitting, and looked her over. Sammy’s wasn’t a dump by any means, but it was comfortable. It was worn, well broken-in. They made their business on people who stopped in to take out food, but the inside was for the neighborhood folks, honestly. It was the type of bar old heads came to play poker and smoke cigars. Reese was out of place.

  “Nice boots,” I said, leaning forward to see her face, partially obscured by her braids.

  She turned toward me, just a little, enough to see that her eyes were red. “Thanks.”

  “Let me guess, trouble in paradise? Surprised to see you slumming on this end of town.”

  “Okay,” she said – slurred – and then climbed off her barstool on obviously wobbly legs. “I’m not about to sit here and take shit from you, ‘kay?”

  “Yeah, I hear you princess,” I said, standing up to catch her around the waist as she stumbled a little.

  “Get your goddamn hands off me.”

  I shook my head. “I will, after I sit you back down. You’re not clearheaded enough to be out in this neighborhood at night by yourself.”

  She sucked her teeth. “I’m not stupid, Jason. I wasn’t leavin’, I was goin’ to the otha end of the bar to get away from you, stupid.”

  “You know each other Jay?” Lana asked from across the bar. “I was trying to monitor how much she had, and thought I cut her off at the right time… until she opened her mouth just now.”

  I chuckled. Reese sounded like she’d taken a muscle relaxer or something, and was having trouble moving her mouth.

  “Yeah, I know her. Unfortunately.” Reese mumbled something that sounded like fuck you, and I shook my head again. “I’m gonna take her to sit down. Can you send two catfish baskets over to the table please?”

  Lana smiled. “Sure will.”

  She cursed me out the whole way there, but I managed to wrangle Reese into a booth-style table. A waitress came by and I ordered more water, urging her to drink it, which she thankfully did. A couple minutes later, our food was dropped off.

  “You eat catfish, right?” I asked, then popped a French fry into my mouth. “I know it’s salmon, or sushi, but this is how we do it around here.”

  She looked up at me with a sneer, but otherwise didn’t respond. Instead, she grabbed the bottle of Louisiana hot sauce from the table, opened it, and loaded her food down before she began going in.

  Guess that was my answer.

  We ate in silence for several long minutes, and then finally, she spoke up. “You know I’m not that drunk, right?”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me.”

  She gave me a look, and then bit into a hushpuppy. “I’d barely eaten anything today. I’m definitely a little tipsy, but more than that… just hungry.”

  I scoffed, but she did sound better already. And I’d been hungry enough before to feel lightheaded and discombobulated, so maybe that made sense too. But still… I wasn’t all the way convinced.

  “So why were you drinking and crying? Was I right? Something happened with your little boyfriend? Somebody was looking at you and he tried to kick their ass? You
saw he wasn’t worth shit?”

  I was just messing around, trying to bait her into our normal dynamic, but she shook her head, knocking back a gulp of water. “No. Well, I did see that he wasn’t shit, but I already knew that. Today was confirmation. Caught him with my frie—no. Caught him with a trollop I thought was a friend.”

  “Trollop?” She shrugged, then savagely bit into a piece of heavily buttered Texas toast, and I chuckled. “Man,” I said. “You’ve got to admit that it’s nice to be so privileged that a cheating boyfriend is the extent of your problems. That hit you so bad that you had to come to the regla’ black folks side of town to drink.”

  Again… I was mostly just messing with her, but from the look on her face, she wanted to reach across the table and choke me. She finished chewing the bread in her mouth, then took a long sip from her glass before she fixed me with a glare.

  “My father died today. Not like, today, but six years ago, today. It’s not a fucking good day for me. I picked myself up, got out and did something, trying to cheer myself up. Trying to forget. So to find out today, of all days, about that shit? Yeah, I came to have a drink, okay?”

  Shit.

  “Reese, I—”

  “These are my father’s people! Sammy and Lana. Lana was my father’s cousin. They knew him, they know me. I came here to feel close to him, not to get fucking judged by you. Not today, Jason. Yeah, I got a little bougie in me, from my mother side of the family, but I’ve got a little “neighborhood” in me too. This is home, just as much as the campus side of town. I came to hurt around my family, not to “slum”. So fuck you.”

  By the time she finished that little mini-monologue, she had tears streaming down her face, and I felt like shit. It was clear that she’d been crying already when I walked in, from her eyes being red, but actually seeing her face wet made my damned chest hurt. Her tears turned to quiet sobs, and I started to slide out of the booth to try to comfort her, but she looked up with scowl.