by Leach, Kiki
“A little. I haven’t eaten since brunch.”
“Then I’ll make you some eggs, ceviche, maybe. That way we can sit down and talk about how fast, or slow this needs to go.” He held his hand out for her and she took it without hesitation, heading down to the kitchen as they enjoyed each other’s company for the first time as a potential couple.
Part Thirteen
Sheila was on the phone with a local Samaritan who was more than willing to give up all the goods on any and all information she had been looking for on Professor Adrian Samuels, for just the right price. Considering she was willing to pay anything to keep Vanessa out of her hair and Nathan’s pants for as long as she could, she was damn near desperate to bleed her trust fund dry if that’s what it came down to.
Luckily for her, she didn’t have to. Seeing as how people were always quick to give up any bit of information about Vanessa and her past, she didn’t have to scrape too hard or search too far and wide to find someone willing to talk, albeit anonymously, on the whereabouts of the man who had taken Vanessa’s heart, or at least a portion of her panties, post Nathan. She had a pen and notepad in hand, writing things down as they came to her through the phone. This person eagerly revealed various details that only someone intimately involved in the situation would know. When she saw Nathan walking through the door, she tried to hurry the person off the phone as fast as she could.
“Okay. Thank you so much for that information,” she said, glancing at him as he locked the door. “I will do my best to use it wisely. And if need be I can speak with you at any time, day or night?” The person obliged and she nodded. “Wonderful. I’ll talk to you again soon.” She hung up the hotel phone and evasively covered the notepad with the edge of the phonebook. She got up from the table and straightened her skirt. She wasn’t furious or even angry at Nathan for leaving like he did earlier. Once again, she was just glad that he had made it back to her, instead of the more obvious alternative. “How was the gym?”
“Overcrowded, so I just walked around the city. Who was that on the phone?”
“The hotel manager. They’ve been getting calls all day about the scandal from the newspapers. He wanted to toss us out, but I convinced him to let us stay.”
“How did you manage to do that?”
“I threw my father’s weight around. It may not mean so much to some people around here anymore, but it meant a lot to him. I also told him that there was something wrong with the temperature in the room and he said he would send someone up here tomorrow with housekeeping to fix it.”
“The temperature seems fine to me.”
“It wasn’t earlier.”
“Hm.” He knew she was hell-bent on lying, but he didn’t ask any more of it, mostly because he didn’t care. He looked over at the bed, noticing the fresh sheets. “I take it they came back?” he asked.
“Who?”
“Housekeeping. They came earlier but I got too busy to answer the door.”
She lightly lifted her shoulders. “What the hell were you doing?”
“Too much to answer the door. They’re not supposed to come in when you’re in here anyway.”
“But what were you so busy doing that you couldn’t even peek your head out and say, ‘Thanks, come back later’.”
“Who says I didn’t do that?”
“You, obviously.”
His frustration grew. “Look, I’m tired. So I’m gonna take a quick shower and get into bed.”
“It’s not even midnight yet. Don’t tell me that you’re already getting old on me before we even walk down the aisle. Maybe we need to talk about this more than I thought.” She attempted to make a joke, hoping to lighten the mood, but he wasn’t having it.
“I’m aware of what time it is, Sheil’s, but thank you for telling me anyway.” He turned from her and headed to the bathroom, removing his shirt and tossing it on the floor.
She went over and leaned on the frame, watching as he undressed. “We haven’t talked about the kids’ thing, yet,” she said. “Did you still want to talk about that now or later?”
“We can talk about it now so that we don’t have to discuss it again after tonight. Bottom line is, I don’t want kids right now and I don’t think we should have them for at least another few years. It’s too soon and we’re in the middle of starting some things over. Maybe we can see where we are a few years down the line and just go from there.”
Flames engulfed her chest. She was so angry, had she touched something – like his face – she would’ve burned it with just the tip of her fingers. “That bitch really got to you when we came back, didn’t she?”
“What?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Vanessa.”
He groaned. “Don’t do this again, Sheila--”
“Or what?” she asked, never wanting or expecting for him to answer. “Did you go and see her tonight while you were out walking around the city instead of at the gym? Did you find a detour to her house even though it sits on the other side of town? Because that is the ONLY reason you ever seem to get like this. You beg something from her, she blows you off and then you come back here being unrightfully nasty to me and claiming to no longer want children. It’s just like high school all over again with you two.”
“It’s nothing like high school.”
“Yes it is. The only difference being that I have you now and she doesn’t. So I’m the one getting screwed over while she’s getting all the incentives. All but one.” She looked toward his jogging pants and narrowed his eyes. “Was she here earlier?”
“Why would you ask that question?”
“Because I saw her leaving here on my way back. She was running out the front doors in tears. I called out to her but she never turned around.”
“I didn’t see her. Maybe the manager saw her and told her she wasn’t allowed back after last night. Maybe Alexis doesn’t carry as much weight as a former senator.”
He began closing the door in her face and she backed up. She looked over at the table and went back to it, removing the phonebook and picking up the notepad; she stared at the numbers she had written down and smiled.
“I got the goose that laid the golden egg,” she muttered to herself while lifting the pad. “Adrian Samuels. 8825 148th Street. Belair Park, apartment 3A. Phone number 876-555-3315. Jamaica, Queens. New York. So much for still being in that Congo, professor. Can’t wait for you to see what your former student has been up to lately. Or better yet, who.” She hit that notepad against the palm of her hand, knowing that even if it all came crashing down on her head, just the look on Vanessa’s face as her past came back to haunt her present would be worth it.
Part Fourteen
Vanessa had barely slept that night after eating dinner with Maurice, too worried about how she was going to deal with her mother once she saw her again. When her alarm finally went off, she reached over and slammed her hand down on the buzzer, then forcefully knocked the clock over on the floor. She stared up at the ceiling, wishing to God that the day would just end before it even began. She leaned over the side of the bed and looked at the time; it wasn’t even 6:30.
When she finally got up and started getting dressed, she smelled coffee brewing downstairs. She zipped up the side of her black Givenvchy dress and fluffed the curls in her hair after slipping on her red leather pumps. She said a prayer before leaving her room and went down to the kitchen, where Maurice was standing in front of the counter, reading the newspaper with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other. He was partially dressed, in his black slacks and buttoned down blue shirt, though he had yet to fasten a single button. Vanessa smiled and placed her purse on the table, then went over and fixed a cup of coffee for herself.
“Is Nikki still sleeping?” she asked. He slid to the side as she reached for a mug from the cabinet behind him.
“I think she’s gone already. Melanie threatened her about being there on time today.”
“That reminds me, I have to call Alexa
nder and make sure everything’s still in place for her dinner tonight. I just hope he doesn’t try to lecture me like I know my mother will.” She turned to take a look at what Maurice was reading and cringed seeing Page Six. “I’m not in there again, am I?”
“No. But Sheila is.”
“For what?”
“Apparently she talked to a reporter last night about the fight. And they edited it just in time to put it into the paper this morning as their top story.”
“Oh, fuck me.” She poured her coffee into her mug and groaned. “What did she say?”
“And I quote, ‘I would just like to state that for the record, what happened between Vanessa and I was blown far out of proportion.’ Now she’s suddenly British,” he joked. “‘We had a normal reaction after a few too many sips of wine at our five year high school reunion, and some harsh words were exchanged between us. But all is well now and has been since last night. There’s no need to continue generating this even further’.”
“And you did such a great job of doing that by going to the press. She needs a publicist. I know a lot of very good ones in every part of the tristate area. Maybe I can send one to her for her birthday this year along with a big fat ‘fuck you’ birthday cake. Why does she think I haven’t said anything? The more you talk, the more they listen. The more they listen, the more they print.”
“She probably thought she was doing you a favor.”
“She always thinks she’s doing me a favor and once again, she wasn’t. What kills me is that she knows better than to go blabbing off to the press like that! Now they’re just going to jump on it even more no matter what she said to try and diffuse it, because they know we were fighting about Nathan.” She closed her eyes and took a large gulp of her coffee. As she pulled it back, she made a face and cleared her throat. “This needs rum,” she said, her voice hoarse from the heat it provided. She cleared her throat again and turned away from the cabinet, leaning against it the same as Maurice. “I don’t want to face my mother today. I can’t. I feel like as soon as I see her, I’m going to vomit all over the place. And with this dinner tonight… Are you sure you can’t come?”
“I wish I could go to support you, but my boss has been riding my ass for weeks about this ad. They didn’t like the last one so I’ve only got one more chance to make it right. If I don’t get it finished by tonight--”
“You’ll get it finished. I have faith that you will and that it will be perfect and everyone will love it and you will be fine. I just wish that you were helping me instead of yourself….” She furrowed her brows. “That sounded a lot like Sheila didn’t it?”
“A few octaves higher, and--”
“God.” She drank the rest of her coffee and placed her mug in the sink. Maurice noticed how well her body fit in that dress and sat the paper on the counter. He eased up behind and pressed himself against her. She helplessly sank into his arms and turned her face to meet his, their lips just a few inches apart. She shuffled herself against his dick as it began to harden. She bit her lip and shut her eyes, then opened them to look into his. “You’re teasing me by doing this,” she said with a small smile gracing her lips.
“It’s not a tease, V. It’s letting you know that this has always been an option for you.”
“And now I’ve accepted that option and you’re holding it hostage from me.”
He brushed his lips across the side of her neck down to her shoulder. “I want you to appreciate what we have before we go any further.”
“I appreciate you, Maurice, I appreciate you so much.” She whirled around completely and looked down at his body. She ran a hand down the front of his chest and slipped her finger inside the rim of his pants, jerking him closer. “And not just for this, but for everything.” His lips curved up into a suggestive grin and she felt the fluttering in her stomach again. “Will you wait up for me tonight?”
“Always.”
“Kiss me goodbye?”
“Not a chance.” He started to walk away from her.
“Mo.” She slinked a hand around his arm and yanked him back. He laughed and lowered his face down to her throat and suckled her skin. He placed his hands at her back and slid them down her dress, cupping her ass. Her eyes fell shut when he opened his mouth wide and unleashed his tongue onto her skin, tasting, biting. She moved her hands around his waist and up his back, getting lost in the sensation of her feelings as she embraced the softness and pleasure he provided. “Stay with me tonight,” she whispered, her nails gliding down his back as she imagined him fulfilling her every physical desire, as well as emotional. She lifted a leg to wrap around his waist and he stopped himself from going further, pulling back and demanding to look into her eyes.
“V.” He slid a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to meet his. “The idea of making love to you blows my mind. But I want us to be more than that,” he said.
“Says the guy that’s been cupping my ass and pressing his dick against me for the last fifteen minutes? And we are more. We’ve been fifteen years of more, Mo.”
“I just don’t want this to turn into the same thing that you had with Nathan.”
She rattled her head. “Why are we talking about him?”
“Because I don’t want a repeat of the last ten years. I respect you too much for this to become something it shouldn’t.”
Here was the man of her dreams presenting himself in the way she only imagined happening in fairytales, and all she could seem to think about was how long it would take to get his pants off. She rested her hands behind her on the counter, then looked down at his body again and quickly began buttoning his shirt.
“The less distractions the better,” she said. He chuckled. “Maybe tonight I can cook you something after I come back. Or I can bring you leftovers from the restaurant.” She moved her hands up to his collar and began adjusting it. “I don’t want you to think that I’m just all about having sex and no substance with you. I want that, it’s what I’ve always wanted in a relationship. And to have that with someone like you means everything to me. But I haven’t had either in a really long time and I’m trying to remember how to balance it.”
“This is why I wanted to take it slow.” He moved against her and she felt his dick as it remained hard. “It might not feel that way--”
“Right.”
He smiled. “If you were anyone else, Vanessa, I wouldn’t want to take my time because there would be nothing to look forward to after. What we have is rare and I don’t want to change that by moving things too fast to the point where we’ve missed out on everything we were meant to enjoy. So I’m going to finish getting dressed for work and you…” He took her hand in his and bent down to kiss the center of her palm. “You take care of yourself at work today, and with your mother.”
“That’s a hell of a lot easier said than done. Too bad you can’t come with me. Too bad you can’t come with me everywhere I go.”
“I’m there,” he said, his eyes moving downward. “Just like I’ve always been. It just took you a long time to finally realize that.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her throat again. She dropped her head back and moved her fingers into his hair, slightly rubbing his scalp as he kissed her. “I’ll see you later tonight,” he said, his lips still pressed against her skin. She nodded and he backed away, taking his coffee and newspaper back up to his bedroom.
Part Fifteen
Nathan spent most of the morning getting ready for the day as well. He had put on his best suit after a quick shave and was preparing to meet Eddie and his father for an impromptu meeting that morning. He didn’t know what it was for and wondered while speaking with them on the phone if Eddie had informed him of his fight with Maurice. He looked at himself in the mirror and tried fixing his blue silk tie, but he was so nervous that it wasn’t getting as tight as he normally would have done it.
Sheila got up from the bed and poked her head inside the bathroom. They hadn’t spoken since before his s
hower the previous night, but she was going to be damned if he was going to continue being mad at her for something that she felt had nothing to do with her at all, and everything to do with his entire reason for staying in the first place.
She wrapped her robe around herself and watched him fumbling with the loops. “Do you want some help with that?” she asked him.
He reluctantly turned around and she stepped in to patiently fix it for him. “I haven’t tied one of these since I was fifteen, but let’s see if I can remember.” He tried to ignore her eyes while she focused on making his tie as perfect as she could, but when he noticed how sad she looked while doing so, he couldn’t help but feel like he was the reason to blame for it.
“Maybe we shouldn’t stay here,” he said. “Maybe we should just go back to California, have the wedding there just like you want.”
Sheila was taken aback by his sudden change in behavior, eyeing him with great suspicion before returning to the tie. “You’re saying that as you get ready to go downtown to talk about your brand new job?”
“I can always skip it. We could book a flight right now and head back home and no one would care either way.”
“Last night, you didn’t want babies with me and today, you want to leave town?” She finished his tie and pressed it against him, then dropped her hands. “What’s going on with you? Is this all because of Vanessa?”
“Not everything has to do with her, Sheila.”
“Almost everything else does. Are you going to stand here and tell me that she isn’t the reason you suddenly want to leave? She’s not willing to take you back and now you want to get the hell out of town because of it. Is she seeing Maurice?”
“Whoever she’s seeing, it’s not the reason I want to leave town.”
“Then why? Just a crazy coincidence, or…?”
“I was stupid to think that we could make a life for each other here. California is where we need to be in order to have a family.”
