Chapter Twenty-Six
Twenty-Six
Sometime before ten o’clock that morning I regained my senses, opened my eyes, and found myself splayed out, buck naked in between the silk sheets of a king-size bed.
I blinked, thinking this must be a dream, because Noah wouldn’t let me use his silk sheets on that godforsaken, backbreaking futon of his.
I tried to look to the left, but that only started my head to hurting, so I looked up and was met by my own disheveled reflection in the mirrored ceiling above me.
Where the fuck was I?
Slowly, carefully, I sat up and looked around.
There wasn’t much else to the room. A nightstand, empty except for a glass of water.
I looked over the edge of the bed and saw that my Kenneth Coles were safe and sound and placed neatly together on the carpeted floor.
I turned my head to see that my purse was hanging from the knob of what I assumed was a closet door.
And on the chair beside it my pants suit was draped.
Now my head was pounding and the bright morning light that eased through the floor-to-ceiling windows did all but blind me as I tossed the covers to the side, cautiously threw my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up.
The room swam, and my stomach turned over for a minute. “C’mon, don’t puke,” I told myself as I tiptoed over to the chair and retrieved my jumpsuit. I then moved back to the bed, sat down, and slipped my shoes on. Up again, I eased my purse from the knob, opened it, and examined the contents.
Everything was there.
I moved to the only other door in the room and pulled it open.
Stepping into a large, open, white-walled space, my feet fell on hardwood floors and the clicking sound of my heels sent an echo as loud as an explosion.
I froze, terrified as I stared at the long sheer white curtains that billowed in the soft summer air flowing through the open windows.
I eased myself up onto the balls of my feet and moved on.
Two large white and blue pinstriped sofas sat in the middle of what was the living area, and an entertainment center covered nearly one half of the wall.
My eyes darted around the room in search of an exit, but I could see nothing but walls, and then my eyes fell on another long hallway.
Holding my breath, I crept forward, as silent as a snake moving through high grass. Halfway down the hall I could see the beginnings of a green and gold granite kitchen counter. The sound of a flushing toilet froze me in my tracks.
There was no way I could cover the distance back to the bedroom in time, so I looked wildly around for a closet to duck into, but there was nothing around but solid white walls.
Shit!
A sound came from behind the kitchen counter, and then I heard a heavy sigh that was distinctly female.
I stood there praying for God to make me invisible.
A woman walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway. Her back was to me, and I held my breath for good measure as I began tiptoeing backward.
Just as I took my fourth step, Abimbola appeared from a door in the hallway.
He was dressed in green bikini briefs and his body looked as if it were chiseled from stone. “Well, good morning, Chevanese,” he said with a big broad smile.
The woman swung around, her eyes locking with mine. “Oh, yes, good morning, Chevanese,” she said, offering me a sunny smile.
“I’m Cassius,” the woman said, walking toward me with her hand extended. She was beautiful—striking. So good-looking that I forgot not knowing where the hell I was and started mentally processing her look so that I could imitate it sometime in the near future. Well, if these two didn’t kill me.
I cautiously offered my hand.
“Well,” Cassius said as she took my hand in hers, “nice to finally meet you.” She leaned in and kissed me on my left cheek and then my right. She smelled rich. I inhaled deeply. I loved that smell.
“Um, s-same here,” I stuttered.
Abimbola approached and threw his arms around Cassius’s waist. Pulling her into him, he kissed her neck and then looked at me and said, “You were quite ripped last night. You wouldn’t…or couldn’t tell me where you lived, so I brought you here.”
My eyes swung from Cassius to Abimbola and then back to Cassius. I must be still sleeping, I thought as I gave my head a vigorous shake.
“Are you okay?” Cassius asked. “Can I get you some black tea, or maybe some coffee?”
“What the fuck is going on here?” I heard myself say.
Cassius made a face, undid Abimbola’s arms from her waist, and strolled into the kitchen. Abimbola turned and watched her walk away before turning back to me again.
“You must have put some shit in my drink,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at him.
He must have, because I was a woman who knew how to hold my liquor.
“Well, no, it’s like I said: you had too much to drink,” he repeated and calmly folded his hands across his massive chest. “And just so you know, you removed your clothes yourself.” He winked. “I was the perfect gentleman.”
I tried to think backward, but there was nothing.
This was too weird.
I started past him and down the hall. In the kitchen I caught sight of Cassius seated at a glass table, sipping from a mug and flipping through the paper. “It was nice meeting you,” she said as I moved toward a blue door at the end of the hallway.
“Yeah, likewise,” I said sarcastically.
I’d been wrestling with locks for a few seconds when Abimbola moved in behind me and his large hand gently brushed my hand away.
“Let me,” he breathed as he expertly maneuvered the locks and then turned the doorknob.
The door magically sprang open, and I was about to sprint into the hall when I heard him say, “Please, take this money for a taxi.”
Money?
I slowly turned around to see a hundred-dollar bill clutched in his hand and waving in my face.
“Thanks,” I muttered and snatched it from him before shooting through the hallway door that said EXIT above it in bright red letters.
I took the stairs three at a time until I found myself out on 17th Street. I sucked in air as if I had been holding my breath for hours and willed my heart to stop running a marathon in my chest.
After I caught my breath and the strength in my legs returned, I moved briskly up Seventh Avenue until I hit 34th Street, all the while trying to figure out what had just taken place but mostly trying to remember what had happened after my fourth glass of Cristal last night.
I remember coming out of the bathroom, having another glass of champagne, and then…and then nothing. My mind was a total blank. I smacked myself on the forehead. I am so stupid, I thought as I hustled along. I broke one of my own rules: never leave your drink unattended.
But I actually hadn’t. I mean, it was a fresh glass.
Yeah, that Negro put something in my drink—one of those date rape drugs.
As the thought of rape entered my head, my feet came to a screeching halt.
Had I been raped? I looked down at my crotch. It didn’t feel like anything had been up in there.
Maybe he brought you home for the woman , an ominous voice whispered in my ear.
“Yeah,” I said out loud. “Maybe she just ate me out all night,” I blurted at a passing woman and her boyfriend.
I shook my head and started walking again. No, no. None of that had happened. It’s like he said, I had too much to drink.
But what about the woman? the eerie voice came again.
A sister, a cousin, maybe.
Have you ever seen sisters and brothers behave like that?
Yeah, in that movie Flowers in the Attic.
What the hell did I care who she was? I was alive, safe, and unscarred, and, plus, I had money!
Macy’s loomed in front of me, and after I looked around to make sure that neither Cassius nor Abimbola was following me I ducked into the entryway and into the store.
Shopping always helped me to think, and I had a hundred dollars to spend.
I rolled the money in my hand, but it felt strange.
I moved to the beam near the escalator to examine the bill.
The way things were going it was probably counterfeit.
But when I opened up my hand, I realized that it wasn’t just one hundred-dollar bill, but two!
“What the fuck did I do to deserve this?” I said aloud, and the early-morning shoppers eyed me warily and clutched their pocketbooks as they moved past me.
Two hundred dollars? Already I could feel my head clearing.
I jumped on the escalator and yelled: “To the shoe floor, my good man!”