Thirty-Three
“ H ey, Michael just got off the grill and we’re about to sit down and eat while we drink a little bit. Jeremiah is on his way over and I just wanted to reach out to see if you could make it.”
I hear the pleading in Jaz’s voice. She wants me to come over and hang out with the crew just like we used to do. I have so many memories of sitting on her and Michael’s couch with a glass of wine in my hand, the two of them connected at the hip while Jeremiah sat on a chair by himself. We would talk about so much, but there was never a night when the topic of conversation didn't shift to me and my love life at some point. The embarrassing change of pace would ultimately be followed by a toast and a shot, honoring how my life was a train wreck being watched in real time. Then we would go back to laughing and acting like we didn't just spill my business out in the streets for all to gawk at. It has happened so many times that I could predict at what point in the night the toast would take place, and have time to fix my makeup in the bathroom to hide the flushing red of my cheeks. I love my friends dearly, but now that I have Rome, I'm not interested in being talked about or toasted to. Rome and I will toast to us on our own time, and the rest of the world doesn't have to take a shot for us. We’re good.
“Umm,” I start, and I hear Jaz suck her teeth. My constant rain checks might be starting to annoy her, but she just doesn't understand. How could she? She has had Michael for so long. “I’m sorry, Jaz, but I'm not going to be able to make it. Rome invited me over, and I guess he has something planned. I’m already at his house just waiting for him to get out of the shower.”
There’s a brief moment of silence over the phone as if someone died, before Jaz sighs.
“Oh. You're already at his house,” she says, totally devoid of her usual joy. “Here I was thinking that I could catch you right after work so you could change into something comfy and come right over.”
“Nah, I left the office and came straight here,” I reply.
Another moment of silence.
“Alright … okay … that’s cool. Well, we all hope that we get to see you sometime soon,” she says. “I feel like it has been a minute since we hung out. Jeremiah and Gerald are getting serious now, too, and he has been talking about all of us meeting him. We were sort of hoping we could all get together and meet his man at the same time that we meet yours. I know you're in this crazy honeymoon phase, but don't forget about us, Nia.”
Now it’s my turn to suck my teeth, but I make sure my tone isn't as harsh as my emotional reaction is. “I’m not forgetting about y’all. We just have really bad luck with our timing. It seems that every time you and Michael want me to come over, Rome and I have already made plans. I'm not doing it on purpose.”
“Are you sure? Because Jeremiah says you still have to hide your relationship from everyone at your office. Maybe it’s becoming a habit to keep it all under wraps. But we’re your friends, girl. You don't have to hide from us.”
“I'm not hiding,” I snip, unable to keep my annoyance from leaking into my voice this time. “Look, I don't expect you to understand since you've had your happily ever after for so long, but mine is brand new and it consumes my time. I’m not doing anything on purpose or trying to spend less time with you, and I know you're used to me being able to just pick up and run over there whenever you call because I never used to have anything going on. I was the poor single friend whose love life was a circus to be laughed at, but that’s over now, and I'm not going to let anything stand in the way of what Rome and I are developing. So, please don't take it personally when I can't just come running whenever you call.”
“Nia,” Jaz responds, but it almost sounds like a question—like my words and voice don't actually go together. “Okay, I don't know what’s going on, but you know that I'm happy for you. You can't be mad at me for wanting to hang out with my best friend. I just miss you, that’s all. But I understand what this means to you, so you go enjoy your night with Rome, and give me a call whenever you want. Okay?”
“Whenever I want? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Another sigh, this one long and stuffed full of exasperation.
“Nothing, Nia. Have a good night. Talk to you later.”
“Yeah … okay, I’ll talk to—” I'm cut off by the sound of the call coming to an abrupt end. She hung up.
What the hell just happened? Am I doing something wrong, or is my best friend expecting me to remain exactly the same way that she has always known me to be, when my life has changed too much for that? I understood all the times I called her over the years, hoping we could hang out, but she and Michael had something going on. I didn't knock her when she got married and I didn't get to see her for weeks afterward. I understood. So why can't she do the same for me? I'm finally happily occupied, and she wants me to still be single and free. Well, I’m not, so they’re just going to have to adapt to the new world.
“Everything okay?”
Rome steps out of the bathroom wearing a white tank top and black workout pants, his hair slicked back as the hair on his chest glistens in the light. His lust-inducing fragrance wafts out of the bathroom as he steps out looking like a god, water soaking his shirt and making it stick to his stomach. My eyes immediately fall to his abs, somehow still visible through the fabric of his wet shirt. I was upset before he opened the door and stepped out, but his presence pushes it all back like a bodyguard protecting his most cherished asset.
I swallow hard and let out a long sigh just trying to steady myself. “Umm, yeah. It’s fine. I was just talking to Jaz on the phone.”
Rome raises an eyebrow as he walks over to the bed and lowers himself onto the front edge. “And is everything okay with her? You haven't mentioned her much lately.”
I reach across the bed and rub the top of his hand. “Thank you for caring about my friends,” I say with a small smile. “And I don't know if everything is okay or not, but she and I will talk and work it out. She just wants more from me than I'm able to give right now.”
“I understand that,” Rome says, nodding a long. “But I hope it’s not because of our relationship.”
“Well,” I say, dragging it out as I shrug. “It sort of is. Jaz has been my best friend my entire life, and she wants to be in on everything that happens with me, and usually I’m willing to let her, but it’s different now. I've always been the single friend with infinite time on my hands because I didn't have anyone to do anything with, while she was living her best life with her husband. Now that I'm not as free, it seems to have shaken our foundation a bit. But she's still trying. She even mentioned something about wanting to meet you.”
Rome clears his throat and sits up straighter. “She wants to meet me?”
“Yeah. Would you want to meet my friends?”
“Umm, sure,” he says, sounding anything but. “Yeah … we would just have to schedule a time to do it. Yeah … that’d be, uhh … yeah, that’d be great.”
“You sure about that, Stuttering Stanley?” I say with furrowed brows and a forced playful smile.
Rome climbs all the way onto the bed and throws his arms around me, knocking me back against the headboard. “Of course I am. I would love to meet your friends. But right now I'm thinking about you. I have plans for tonight.”
“Oh, is that right?” I ask rhetorically. “Do those plans involve us going downstairs?”
Rome nuzzles my neck, then says, “Actually, no. As much as I would love to take you into the playroom and tie you up, I think I just want to reward you for being so incredible. So, when I invited you over tonight, it wasn't to fuck you. It was to pamper you.”
“Pamper me? You know I'm not into ABDL.”
Rome laughs. “Not pampers . I want to pamper you. You know? I want to take care of you. Massage your back. Massage your feet. Rub your shoulders. Bring you wine. I just want you to feel good and taken care of with no strings attached. Sex is off the table.”
“It’s off the table ?” I blurt out with wide, crazy eyes. “You can't do that.”
Rome’s eyebrows jump through the roof. “Oh, I absolutely can. Because … who’s in charge?”
I smile like the devil himself. “You are, Sir.”
“And I can do whatever the hell I want to you, can't I?”
“Absolutely,” I answer, suddenly feeling like I want to forgo the pampering and swap it out for bondage and orgasms.
Rome grins. “That’s right. Now take off everything but your bra and panties, and lay on your stomach.”
As a tsunami wave of bliss washes over my heart, I forget all about my tense conversation with Jaz, and I smile. “Yes, Sir.”