CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The Brockhurst Golf and Country Club was exactly as Toya would have expected it to be.
From the moment the valet opened the door for them, until they were walking down a long, palatial atrium that led into the restaurant, nothing but gold and marble and every kind of big and opulent-bordering-on-gaudy magnificence that overwhelmed the view.
But as soon as Grayson interlocked her arm with his arm and the ma?tre d escorted them to their table, all eyes seemed less on the view, and all on her.
Some of the club members were staring her down.
She knew why. By all indications Grayson didn’t parade his ladies around town.
He might have taken them to various places for sure, but he wasn’t going to have his hands on them in any way possible if he did.
But he seemed to want them to see that Toya belonged to him, which even she was still trying to process. She was as surprised as they were.
But once they sat down and lunch was eventually served, the mood shifted and everybody minded their own business and forgot about Grayson and Toya. Which was absolutely fine with Grayson and Toya.
“Love it?” he asked her.
“It’s nice,” she said.
Grayson laughed.
Toya didn’t get it. “What?”
“This is considered the most exclusive place to dine in all of Maryland, and you say it’s just okay?”
Toya smiled. “I’m just being honest. The food could use some seasoning, and all of this gold everywhere looks like . . .”
“It looks like what?”
“Like the designer was trying too hard. I don’t know.”
“What you’re saying is that sometimes less is more.”
“Not sometimes,” said Toya. “In this case, every time,” she said, and they both laughed.
But their gaiety was soon interrupted by a visitor at their table. Toya immediately saw the resemblance. It was Grayson’s father, the man she was depending on to help her legal situation.
But as soon as she saw him, and by the way he was staring at her, she knew her hope was as flimsy as her confidence.
Grayson didn’t bother to stand up. So neither did she. “Hello Father.”
But Sebastian was still staring at Toya. “So this is the woman with the gold between her legs? So this is that jailbird Quineisha?”
“First of all,” Toya said, “I’m not a jailbird. Second of all,” she added, “my name is Jameesha Latoya Morgan. It is not Quineisha.”
“And you know it,” Grayson pointed out.
“I don’t care what her name is. Why is she here? Why is she at my club?”
“Last I looked it was my club too,” Grayson said. Then he added: “She’s my girlfriend. That’s why she’s here.”
When he said the g word, Toya could just feel the hate oozing from his father. “You must be joking! You could have Charlotte. You could have Dena. But instead you want this hood rat hoodlum you had to drag out of a jail cell? Have you taken leave of your senses, Grayson?”
Some of the patrons at other tables were glancing over. Toya would have thought that would be enough to stop his rage. He lowered his voice, alright, but that rage was still there. “This is her first and her last visit to my club. Do I make myself clear, Grayson?”
“The only thing clear is your nastiness,” Grayson said. “And she’ll visit this club any time she wishes to visit it. Good day, Father!” He said it with a lowered voice, too, but with clenched teeth.
Seb was about to snap right back at his son, but he was interrupted. “Governor Carrington!”
It was a tall man walking toward their table. “I thought that was you!”
Seb put on his best smile, even though Toya and Grayson could still feel his hatred, and then he turned toward the guest. “Hello, Parker. I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age!”
Parker glanced at Toya and Grayson. Even he seemed a bit embarrassed. But he smiled and gladhanded Seb and then both men made their way toward the smoking room.
“So that’s your father,” Toya said.
“Unfortunately yes.”
“That’s the man that’s going to help me stay out of prison?”
Grayson exhaled. “Unfortunately yes,” he said.
“That man would rather help a dog than help me. And guess what? I would rather help a dog than help him.”
“Good,” Grayson said. “And you keep it that way.”
Toya looked at him. “Keep what that way?”
“Never let your guard down,” he said. “And don’t worry about your situation. That’s for me to worry about. And I’m not worried.”
Toya didn’t know how he did it to her, but she smiled. Somehow being with Grayson made her feel safe. And protected. “Yes sir,” she said.
Then Grayson snapped his fingers to signify they were ready to order, and a waiter hurried to their table.
But as they waited for their food to arrive, Charlotte walked in. And as soon as she saw Grayson, she hurried over.
Toya didn’t know who she was. But she could tell by his body language alone that Grayson knew her well. “Hello Charlotte.”
“What are you doing here?” Charlotte asked. “I haven’t seen you at the club in I can’t remember how long. And who’s that?”
As soon as she said those words so dismissively, Toya braced herself. Here we go again, she inwardly said. Do these people wake up and choose hatred?
Charlotte looked at Toya and didn’t wait for an introduction from Grayson. “I’m Charlotte,” she said. “I’m Gray’s girlfriend. And you are?”
Toya didn’t expect her to say that word. Not that word! Especially since Grayson had just told his staff that she was his girlfriend. She looked at Grayson again. “Your girlfriend?”
“Yes,” Charlotte said.
“No,” Grayson said. Then he angrily looked at Charlotte. “And you know it!”
“I’m the one you spend time with. I’m the one you take to the opera with your parents and you take to other functions. If I’m not your girlfriend, who is?”
“You know the nature of our relationship, Charlotte, so stop playing games.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m moving on.”
Toya could tell she was angry. “And when were you going to let me in on this change of plans?”
“Charlotte, stop it at once,” Grayson said. “Don’t pretend you don’t know our arrangement. And the fact that we had none.”
“But you could have phoned me.”
“Me phoning you and letting you know I’ve moved on is not a part of any plan ever. I told you from the beginning that you will know when I’ve moved on because I will have moved on. No phone calls, no drop-bys. Nothing. Then you’ll know.”
“That’s not right,” Toya said.
An obviously hurt Charlotte looked at her right along with Grayson. “What’s not right?” he asked Toya.
“If you don’t want to be with her anymore, you could have at least phoned and told her so.”
“She understands how it works.”
“Ah kiss my ass, Grayson,” Charlotte said angrily. “You’re as awful as your father.”
“And you’re as awful as your mother.”
Charlotte gave him another hard look. Then she looked at Toya. “Don’t think you’ve arrived,” she said. “Just like he’s doing it to me, he’s going to do it to you as well. So don’t gloat.”
“I’m not gloating,” Toya said and looked into her small, sad eyes. And then Charlotte left in a huff.
But the way Grayson handled the entire affair didn’t sit right with Toya. And after dinner, when they got back into his Mercedes and were on their way back to the house, she told him so. “Are you going to move on from me and not let me know too?”
Grayson didn’t understand. “What?”
“The way you did Charlotte. When you get tired of me, are you going to do me that way too?”
“No!”
“Why not? What’s the difference?”
“What’s the?” Grayson couldn’t believe she asked that question. He checked his rearview mirror and then pulled over to the side of the room. Once he placed his car in Park, he turn to her. “There’s a world of difference,” he said. “You’re my lady.”
“But what does that mean when that woman thought she was your lady too?”
“She knows better. She was my bed partner and nothing more. Just as every woman before her was. And nothing more. But, Latoya, you’re my girlfriend. You’re mine. That’s the difference!”
He’d never said those words to anyone before. They touched Toya on a deep level too.
“Everybody else is in the basement. You’re in the penthouse. You’re it,” he added, and that was enough. Toya unbuckled her seatbelt and hurried into his arms. And they kissed for a long time.
When they came back up for air, Grayson smiled. “Before the cops pull us over,” he said, “let’s go home.”
She laughed. And he drove them home.
That night, they made love again. And it was even more special, and more passionate, than the time before.
If that was even possible.