“It reminds me of the first time you ever made me a drink, right here in this bar.”
I kept wiping the same damn spot on the bar.
“You smiled when you saw me, thanked me for helping you get that drunk fool into the room. You were happy to see me that night.”
I’m happy to see you now…too happy. “Yeah, well, things were different back then.”
“You’re right. They were. Back then, I was married to a woman I never loved, and you were…”
“Yeah, I was.”
“So…you really don’t have a man now?”
I sighed, finally raising my eyes to meet his. “I really don’t.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“You’re divorced?” I asked, because I had to know.
“Yes.”
“How? I mean…” I glanced around to be sure we were still alone. “I thought you couldn’t divorce her. I thought she was blackmailing you.”
“She was, but she…can’t or won’t use what she knows against me now.”
I leaned across the bar, moving in closer to him and getting a nose full of his familiar cologne, the bergamot and pineapple notes making me a little woozy. Still, I managed to utter, “Oh.”
Licking his lips, he stared into my eyes for a moment before saying, “Yeah.”
My eyes remained glued to his as if he had some kind of spell on me, and maybe he did, because I opened my mouth to speak again but lost my words.
He stared at me for a long moment before reaching up and resting his big hand on my left cheek. “You are still so beautiful, Claudette. You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on, and I still want you so bad, baby.” His voice was low, rich, sending vibrations from my ears to my core.
“I never thanked you for…” I murmured.
“No thanks necessary.”
Someone tapping on the other end of the bar snatched my attention from him and lifted the fog of privacy that had settled around us. The warmth of his hand left my face, and his minty breath and cologne vacated my nostrils as he sat back and tugged at the collar of his suit jacket. I stood upright, sliding my eyes down the bar to see a man sitting there, one of my regulars. I shifted my gaze back to Truth, and he gave me a smile as he lifted his shot glass to his gorgeous lips.
“I…I’ll be back,” I stammered.
He nodded. “Looking forward to it.”
*****
Two years earlier…
A few days after I first met Truth Ebo in the flesh at that benefit, he came to The Royale’s bar and ordered a drink from me, his eyes drinking me in as he enjoyed his cognac. We shared small talk that evening—he asked about Craig, I asked about his wife, and an hour after he took up residence at the bar, he left. There was nothing extraordinary about that interaction at all, and I didn’t see him again until Craig and I ran into him and Tiana at a nightclub, Truth’s nightclub—Ignite.
Well, the run-in was intentional. After we arrived in one of his daddy’s limos, Craig made sure word got to Truth that we were there which insured us free access to VIP. Craig was the cheapest rich nigga I’d ever had the displeasure of knowing.
Anyway, we were not only invited to VIP, but we were quickly invited to join Truth and Tiana at their table where it first became evident to me the butterflies that only flooded my stomach in his presence were real, and I wasn’t imagining the light-headed feeling I’d first felt at the benefit that morphed into a headiness in the penthouse suite, and jumped a hurdle to become wet panties at the bar. Truth was probably ten years older than me, a living legend in my hood, and drop-dead gorgeous, a girlhood crush in technicolor.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and Tiana noticed.
“Skinny? Your name is Skinny, right? Nice to see you again,” she said, her voice oozing with fake civility.
“Nice seeing you again too, Sri Lanka.” I knew her name and she knew mine. She was mad about me ogling her man, but shit! I couldn’t help it, and he was staring at me, too, so it seemed he liked my skinny ass.
“Slim,” Craig slurred. Yeah, he was already drunk, making me ask myself why I’d agreed to go on this date. Oh, yeah, he hadn’t really given me a choice.
“Her name is Slim,” Craig repeated his correction.
“Oh yeah. Right.” Tiana said, shifting her eyes to Truth who was still burning holes into my flesh with his gaze. So she elbowed him.
In response, he jerked his head around to frown at her. “The fuck you do that for?”
Tiana heaved a loud sigh. “My name is Tiana, Slim. Like the princess.”
I gave her a slow nod. “Oh yeah, right,” I muttered unenthusiastically.
“Shit, what y’all drinking? I’m ready to get tore up in this bitch!” Craig announced.
“Looks like you got a head start, huh?” Truth asked, eying Craig with disgust.
“Shit, had to. Slim’s ass decided to start some shit with me tonight before we came here, but we made up, didn’t we, baby?” He leaned in close to me, planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek.
I fought not to cringe and didn’t answer him. I didn’t know he really expected one until I felt him softly pinch my thigh under the table, making me jump a little, and then he slid his hand up my thigh, inching his way to my pussy.
“Yeah, we did,” I forced out, my face tight as I put my hand on top of Craig’s, stopping his progress. I could feel Truth’s eyes on me again, but I didn’t look at him.
Three shots of very expensive rum for Craig and several minutes of extremely lackluster table conversation later, Craig was all over me, grabbing me, kissing me, promising to “tear my ass up” once we were alone. His face was in the side of my neck when Tiana excused herself to the restroom. A soft snore soon told me that Craig had fallen asleep with his heavy body burdening mine.
“He’s an asshole.”
Truth’s voice made me lift my eyes from the glass of wine I’d barely touched to his handsome face.
“Who?” I asked, as if the answer wasn’t obvious.
“Your nigga.”
“He’s your friend, so what does that say about you?” I countered.
Truth shrugged. “The same thing it says about you, I guess.”
In response to that, I said, “Your wife’s a bitch. She thinks she’s better than me. I can tell.”
“Her thinking’s fucked up. Hell, she thinks she’s better than me, too, and I know that’s a got damn lie. Ain’t nobody better than me.”
I shook my head. “You’re no better than him,” I said, tilting my head toward Craig. “Arrogant, think you’re the shit because you got money.”
“I don’t think a damn thing, Claudette. I know it, and so do you. That’s why you can’t stop staring at me.”
With wide eyes, I hissed, “You keep staring at me!”
“Because I like what I see. A lot.”
“How does your wife feel about that?”
“I don’t know and don’t give a fuck either.”
“Wow, you’re a piece of shit.”
“Maybe, but you want me.” He leaned across the table and smiled at me. “You want me to fuck you. I know you do.”
“You don’t know shit about me or what I want.”
“Yes I do.”
“I have a man, remember?”
“That’s what you think he is? A man?”
“A better one than you are. At least he’s not a cheater.”
Lifting his eyebrows, he asked, “You sure about that?”
I wasn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “Fuck you.”
“I told you, you wanted to.”
I’d had enough, and well, my pussy was drenched because I did want to fuck his cocky ass, so I shook Craig’s heavy ass until he stirred.
“Shit, did I fall asleep?” he mumbled.
“Yeah, call your driver or whatever. I’m ready to go.” I slid out of the booth, making Craig drop to the seat.
“Got damn, Slim,” he groaned. “Give me a minute to get
my head right. You just gonna drop my ass on this seat like that? Fuck!”
“Sorry, I’m just really ready to leave, baby,” I crooned.
He managed to sit upright and grinned at me. “You ready for this muhfuckin’ summer sausage, huh?”
I fought not to roll my eyes, painted on a smile, and said, “You know it.”
A few minutes later, I was dragging him out of the club without uttering another word to Truth Ebo.
Truth
Now…
I stayed at the bar that Sunday night until her shift was over, watched her clean everything up, count the money in the register, and disappear through a door next to the bar I’d never noticed before. I assumed that was where the bar manager’s office and the safe were. When she stepped out of that office, her eyes quickly found me, although she didn’t move a muscle as she said, “Uh…I’m leaving now.”
“You gotta leave now?” I asked.
“Well, the bar is closed. You…want another drink or something?”
“Nah, I don’t want a drink, Claudette. I want your time. I want to talk to you, and since you won’t give me your number and I’m sure you won’t let me drive you home, I’d like to talk to you here.”
She moved a little closer to me. “So you’re assuming I need a ride home?”
“Do you?”
She slid her hand up and down the strap of her purse. “Come on.”
With lifted eyebrows, I said, “Come on?”
“Yes. Come on and take me home.”
I actually felt nervous as I opened my car door for her. That only got worse when she slid beside me to climb in, and her scent surrounded me. She’d always smelled so good, and it wasn’t only her cherry-scented bodywash or the coconut oil she put in her hair or the shea butter she put on her skin, it was just her. Her pheromones and shit. She smelled fucking divine.
I had to take a deep breath to settle my nerves after I climbed in beside her, because Claudette was it for me. She was my fantasy, my dream, and I was determined to make her come true.
“You still staying in the same spot?” I asked, as I started my car.
“Yep,” she said, sounding unhappy about that fact.
“Claudette—”
“I haven’t been with anyone since you.”
I dropped my hands from the steering wheel. “You…haven’t?”
“I haven’t. I haven’t wanted to.”
“Claudette—”
“I know you keep coming to the bar because you think I’m what you want, that I’m some kind of prize, but I’m not. I’m stupid and weak and—”
“Claud—”
“I am. I really am.” Her voice broke a little with that last statement.
“Stop it. Stop that shit. Ain’t none of us perfect. You know I’m not, and you are a damn prize. Your heart is a prize and I’m tryna win it. I…I’ve missed you, baby. I’ve missed the hell out of you these two years.”
She shook her head. “The next thing you’ll be saying is that you love me.”
“I do,” I confessed. “And you know I do. Haven’t I shown you that?”
Her wet eyes met mine. “Truth…”
I reached over and rubbed a finger over her nose. “I love you, Claudette. Shit, I think it was love at first sight for me, because from the moment I first saw you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, knew I’d do anything for you.”
Her eyebrows were in a tangle as she spoke. “Truth, I don’t know what to say.”
“You could say you love a nigga back since I done laid my heart out here for you. Tell me I’m not in this shit alone, baby.”
“I…”
Before she said some shit that would fuck my head and my heart up, I let her off the hook. “You’re still not ready for me, are you?
“I don’t…I don’t know.”
I sighed. “That means you’re not. Look, I’ma just fall back, give you some more time.”
A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her pretty cheek. “I’m sorry, Truth.”
I wiped her tear away, kissed her forehead, and said, “It’s all good, baby.”
Then I drove her home in silence.
4
Claudette
I was off on Mondays, had been since being hired at The Royale more than three years earlier. Usually, I used the time to wash my abundance of black slacks and black polo shirts—my work uniforms. I also caught up on my shows, immersing myself in episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, Orange is the New Black, or Power and eating junk food while painting my nails or conditioning my hair. If I had the energy, I’d hop on the city bus and run a few errands, and if my mom had been riding me, I’d put on something conservative and attend whatever revival she insisted I show up to. But this Monday, I couldn’t seem to climb out of my bed any more than I could clear my head of visions of Truth.
Truth.
What an appropriate name for a man like him—blunt, direct, difficult to accept.
Truth was…everything I’d ever wanted and nothing I ever believed I needed, a hero wrapped in an irresistible brown package and infused with enough arrogance to make a girl like me nauseous. He wanted me. That was obvious, plus he’d said so. He also said he loved me, and although I didn’t want to believe him, I did believe him. Honestly, I wanted him, too, and I loved him. I really did.
My phone vibrated against my coffee table, making me shift my eyes from the sandblasted ceiling of my tiny efficiency apartment to see who was calling me—my mom.
“Hello?” I answered, placing my phone on the bed and lowering my head to meet it.
“Hey, sugar! Wanna go to revival at True Fire Holiness Macedonian Lighthouse Church of God in Christ our Savior with me tonight? We can grab a late dinner afterwards at the Pink Café. My treat.”
“The Pink Café? Uh…sure,” I responded, a small smile popping onto my face.
Truth
There was this one time I went to this spot in my old hood, The Pink Café. They had the best salmon croquettes in the world and this special mango ginger tea that I swear was addictive. I loved that place and gave them my business as often as I could. As an added bonus, Tiana hated it, so I didn’t have to worry about her tagging along.
This particular night, about two weeks after Claudette had to drag Craig’s drunk ass out of my club, I was sitting in my regular booth at the café, in the darkest corner of the place where I knew I wouldn’t be bothered by the kids who thought they wanted to be me when they grew up, not knowing there was nothing glamorous about my life or how damn miserable my rich ass was at the time. When she walked in, I was staring down at my phone, and I’m not sure what made me raise my head. Maybe it was her energy or that magnetism that was embedded in her, the thing that kept her on my mind from the moment I first met her. Whatever it was, I was thankful for it, because just seeing her lifted my mood.
I watched her and an older woman sit in a booth near the door and licked my lips like a damn lion stalking his prey. Not many people outside the hood knew about this place. She was from my hood? That thought made me want her even more. It meant she knew the life, was familiar with the struggle. Hell, at that point, I decided we were kindred spirits, fucking soul mates.
After the waitress took their order, I waved her over to me, and said, “I got their check.”
She lifted her eyebrows and smirked at me. “You know she got a man, right?”
“Who?”
“You know who, negro. And you got a wife.”
“Look, Dana, just bring me their check and I’ll be sure to include a fat tip for you.”
She gave me a salute. “Yes, sir.”
Claudette’s back was to me, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to take my eyes off her. Shit, the back of her head was a pleasant sight in and of itself. I was obsessed and I knew it, but what the fuck could I do about it?
I sat there and observed as she and her tablemate ate, as she beckoned Dana to their table, and then as she snatched her head around to look at me after
she was presumably informed that I’d picked up the tab. When she rolled her eyes at me, I gave her a smile. After what appeared to be a heated discussion between her and Claudette, the older lady with her waved me over, and it took all of my cool not to jump up and run to their table. Instead, I strolled over to them, grabbing a vacant chair from a nearby table and setting it at theirs.
“Good evening, ladies,” I said, focusing on the older woman, who upon closer inspection, had to be related to Claudette. Closely related. Same high cheekbones and small dimple in her chin. Shit, she was beautiful, too, but not as beautiful as Claudette.
No one was as beautiful as her.
“Good evening!” the older lady greeted me. “And thank you for paying for our food. That was so sweet of you!”
I smiled. “It was my pleasure, Miss…”
“Seedra, Seedra Wynn, and this is my daughter, Claudette.”
I took the older woman’s outstretched hand and kissed it. “Truth Ebo.” Then shifted my attention to her daughter. “Claudette Wynn?”
She nodded, refusing to look me in the eye.
“Girl, where are your manners?” her mother scolded.
Through a deep sigh, Claudette uttered, “Thank you, Mr. Ebo.”
“Seedra! Girl, is that you?” a shrill voice coming from the front door filled the restaurant.
“Maggie?!” Claudette’s mother shouted, and then she was asking me to excuse her as she hopped up from the booth, following the lady to another table where the two of them instantly fell into a lively conversation.
“What do you want from me?” Claudette asked, in a low voice.
With raised eyebrows, I leaned closer to her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what’s with you paying for our food? You think that earned you my pussy?”
Reclining back a little, I replied, “I would hope your pussy would be worth more than a couple of meals at a hole-in-the-wall in the hood.”
She finally lifted her eyes to meet mine. “Your wife know you’re here all up in my face? Doesn’t she care about how you look at me?”
Should've Been Page 2
