Chapter 22
Scrambling away from the door, I frantically snapped my bodysuit in place and then pushed my skirt down to cover myself. Ahmad wiped my juices from his mouth and beard, and although his face appeared dry, his beard was shinier. Tucking his semihard dick back into his underwear, he yanked his pants up and buckled his belt.
Another round of knocks, and then the doorknob jiggled again.
Putting his finger to his lips, he indicated for me not to speak.
I made a face and nodded. What else was I going to do besides be quiet?
My birthday was the next day, and I had no intention of rolling into my thirties in jail. I had no interest in a public lewdness charge and being held in lockup on the weekend of my party. I wasn’t even completely sure what we did was a crime, but I knew that if someone walked in on us, it would’ve been a problem. I glanced up at Ahmad and saw the contrition in his expression.
He grabbed a bunch of tissues and wiped the evidence of our lust from in front of the door. The damp spot on the floor no longer looked like what it was, but it certainly left a mark.
After tossing the tissues in the trash, he put his ear to the door. After listening for about thirty seconds, he turned to me.
Staring at my lips and then my eyes, he uttered, “Let’s give it a minute.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Okay.”
After a moment of silence, he said, “It drove me crazy to see you with him.”
His admission made the air in the room seem thicker. Our mouths gravitated toward each other. His breath on my face made my skin tingle. His words made the rest of my body tingle.
“Is that why you followed me?” I wondered breathily.
“Yes.” He nodded, his lips just barely brushing mine. “To tell you he’s not right for you.”
“Oh?”
“He’s not your guy.” His lips lingered against mine. “And I can tell by the way you came all over me that you know he’s not your guy, too.”
A rueful smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
“And I saw him running his game on you, and that shit looked like it was starting to work,” he continued. He shook his head, causing his nose to rub against mine. “I had to stop it.”
His words hit me in layers.
The raw emotion and intense conviction in his words, his tone, his expression was sexy. But it felt like jealousy was all there was to it.
And that didn’t sit right with me.
At all.
My best friends had pointed out that Ahmad seeing me with someone like Ty would make him jealous. And I knew that because I was keeping my distance, he was going to be in his feelings. But the idea of his jealousy that boosted my ego as I got dressed for my date and the reality of his jealousy spawning the best sexual experience of my life was vastly different.
The sinking feeling that consumed me was overwhelming, and my smile melted as the realization hit me.
I was about to respond when the door rattled again, followed by a knock. “Ahmad?!”
“It’s Asia,” he whispered, checking his watch. “It’s been twenty minutes, so I have to get back out there. We still need to talk, though.”
“Oh, shit,” I hissed, my eyes widening. “Twenty minutes? I have to get back out there.”
He leaned back and assessed me. “Back to imitation Shaw Lockwood? That’s not your guy.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe not, but it’s still rude. I should at least—”
“You don’t owe him anything.”
My brows crinkled. “I know I don’t. But it’s common decency.”
“So, you’re going back out there? To him?”
“Yes. It’s the right thing to do.” I studied his face. My heart thumped vigorously as the wheels in my head turned. “You really pulled me in here just to get me away from him, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“So, you saw me walk away and you followed me, dragging me in here and…” I licked my lips as a chill ran down my spine as I thought about the sex.
Before I could finish my statement, he replied, “I had to stop it. I had to stop you from making a mistake. He’s not your guy.”
Flashing back to something he’d said before, I felt sick. “By any means necessary.”
He nodded. “By any means necessary.”
“Wow,” I muttered under my breath, reaching for the door handle.
“Whoa, what?” He looked perplexed as he lifted his hands in surrender. “What was that?”
“Nothing,” I told him, shaking my head. “It doesn’t matter. I have to go.”
“Aaliyah, we still need to talk—”
“I have to go.”
“Aaliyah,” he growled as I swung the door open.
Asia stood wide-eyed with her keys in hand. “I, uh… Oh, um… Well, damn!”
Surprised, I was frozen in place.
Looking from me to Ahmad, she took a step back. “A man in baggy jeans and a loose-neck T-shirt fell over and had to be escorted out by security. But don’t worry, big bro, I took care of it while you were taking care of Aaliyah.” She cocked her head to the side. “Very professional.”
My face heated with embarrassment. I didn’t know what to say, so I shook my head. “Sorry, I have to go,” I said, finally getting over the shock.
“I knew you two had feelings for each other,” Asia snickered.
“We were talking,” Ahmad started to explain.
Ignoring them both, I quickly walked away. Maneuvering through the crowd, I found my way back to Tyrone.
“Hey,” I greeted him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not feeling too well.”
Ty’s face went from annoyed to sympathetic. “What’s wrong? It wasn’t the nachos, was it?”
“I’m not sure, but I just want to thank you for a nice time. I’m going to head out. I have a car coming.”
“Hey, hey, hey…” He stood up and pulled cash out of his pocket. “I’m not going to let you walk out of here by yourself. What kind of man would that make me?” Looking over his shoulder, he signaled for someone.
When I saw who it was, my stomach lurched.
“What’s up?” Ahmad asked. “What can I get for you?”
“The bill,” Ty answered just as the live band started playing. “We’re about to head out.”
“You’re leaving?” Ahmad shifted his eyes to me. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Ty answered.
“I need to get out of here,” I said at the same time.
“I can send your waiter over with the bill,” Ahmad replied through clenched teeth.
Ty shook his head, handing him three fifties. “It’s cool, man. This should cover it. I need to get this beautiful woman home.”
His face hardened as he took the money. “Okay, then.”
I started to explain. “Well, it’s—”
“The sooner we get this paid for, the sooner I can get you home,” Ty interrupted me, grabbing my hand.
Before I could react, Ahmad was already stalking his way back to the bar.
I sighed, sliding my hand from Ty’s. “I’m sorry. I need to leave now.”
“I’m only parked a couple blocks that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction of my building. “I’ll get my change and then take you home.”
“It’s okay.” I held up my phone. “My ride is already here, and I’m”—I put my other hand to my twisted gut—“not feeling well.”
He nodded with understanding. “Okay, I’ll get my change and settle up, and then I’ll call you and check on you.” He stepped up and brought me in for a hug. “It was good to put a beautiful face to a beautiful voice.”
I hugged him back. “Thank you. It was very nice meeting you.”
“You sure you don’t need me to walk you out? If you give me five minutes—”
I pulled away from him. “I’m sure. My ride is right outside. You get home safely.”
Our waiter came over with the check, interrupting our conversation. As Ty explained that he’d given the money to someone else, I said a quick goodbye and then darted out of the bar.
I didn’t want Ty to come out and see me crossing the street, so I made a beeline to the first available taxi I saw. I needed to make a quick grocery run anyway, so I went to the store to clear my mind. Forty minutes later, I was being dropped off in front of my building with five bags’ worth of snacks.
“Ayeeeeeeeeeee!” A woman who appeared to be about the same age as me held the door open as I approached. “Okay, outfit! Okay, hair!”
I grinned, nodding toward her dress because my hands were full of bags. “I see you, sis!”
“I see you!”
“Thank you,” I told her as I passed her. “Enjoy your night!”
“I sure will. That’s why I’m wearing these heels.”
“And you look good in them!”
The brief interaction with the woman put me in such a positive headspace. I’d spent the last forty-five minutes stewing over my week. In a seven-day period, I’d had a falling-out with Ahmad, a pseudo breakup with Lennox, and a promising date with Ty that ended after I had sex with Ahmad in the middle of it. Is it me? Am I the problem? I wondered as I entered my apartment. Because what is happening?
Pouring a glass of wine, I put the groceries away and concluded that it wasn’t me.
Ahmad pretended to be married… only to tell me that it was a decoy because he wasn’t looking to date… only to fuck me in the back office because he got jealous.
Lennox liked to hear himself talk… and he forgot my birthday.
Ty seemed cool, and I still found myself distracted.
Ahmad was the common denominator. Ahmad was the problem.
He was supposed to look out for me. He was supposed to help me in my dating journey. He was supposed to be my friend.
“I should’ve just left the bar that day,” I muttered as I poured a second glass. “If I would’ve gotten up and left after being stood up, I wouldn’t be dealing with any of this bullshit.”
The longer I thought about that, the madder I got.
But when I looked at the clock, I refused to enter my thirtieth birthday in a bad mood.
I inhaled, filling my lungs with air, and then I exhaled everything that was bothering me. I tried to expel the thought of Ahmad, but the soreness I was experiencing made it difficult. And even acknowledging the soreness made me remember how good he felt and how hard I came. The myriad of emotions he evoked in me made me feel off-kilter.
I needed to center myself.
I put on some music, drew a bubble bath, and lit some candles. Sinking into the water, I didn’t have much room to lounge the way I wanted to. But the bubbles were nice, and the vibe was relaxing. When the clock struck midnight, I was bombarded with text messages and calls. Smiling, I responded to each of them.
“Happy birthday!” Jazmyn and Nina yelled in unison as soon as I answered the phone.
“Thank you!” I told them.
“We had a whole thing we were going to do on your voicemail,” Jazz stated. “We didn’t expect you to answer the phone.”
I lifted my foot and used my big toe to add more hot water. “When have you known me to bring a stranger to my place?” As they agreed, I continued, “Besides, my date ended a couple hours ago.”
“Okay, so details,” Nina insisted. “How was the date with that fine-ass superhero?”
“Superhero?” Jazz laughed. “What did I miss?”
“I saw his picture, and he immediately reminded me of that actor Shaw Lockwood!”
While Jazz reacted and demanded a picture, the mention of Shaw Lockwood made me think of Ahmad.
“So, what happened?” Nina asked me. “I know you said you weren’t going to bring Tyrone home tonight, but did he qualify for birthday dick?”
Placing my phone on the ledge of the tub, I reclined back so my head hit the tile behind me. “No. I don’t think so.”
“How did he blow it?” Jazz asked.
“It wasn’t him…” I closed my eyes. Flashes of moments in that office with Ahmad flickered like a highlight reel. I shook my head, hoping to stop seeing it… and feeling it. I cleared my throat before I continued, “It was me.”
“You blew it?” Jazz’s confusion was evident. “How? Why?”
“It was the bartender, wasn’t it?” Nina speculated.
Using my toe to add more water to the tub, I remained quiet.
“It was!” they yelled in unison.
“I don’t know what happened,” I began, my stomach twisting as I started to tell them the story. “Ty looks even better in person than he did in his pictures. He brought me roses.” I gasped. “The roses! I left them at the table.”
“He got you roses, and you left them? And you enjoyed talking to him, but you ended the date early?” Jazz paused. “Are you okay?”
“No!” I wailed, covering my face with my hand. “I was enjoying my date with Ty. He was saying the right things. He was being respectful, but he was giving me that look that let me know that he could get real disrespectful if I asked him to. He asked me questions, remembered things about me, and wanted to stay and enjoy the live music with me.”
“This sounds like your dream date,” Jazz commented.
“And then Ahmad happened,” I continued.
“I knew it!” Nina yelled.
“The petty part of me was enjoying the fact that Ahmad was in his feelings,” I admitted. “I was enjoying my date, enjoying the attention he was giving me. And then every time I looked at the bar, there was Ahmad—staring dead at us.”
Nina cackled. “I love it. I live for it.”
“So, what happened next?” Jazz probed impatiently.
“I was doing what I said I was going to do. I ignored him. I gave my time and attention to my date and minded my business. And then I thought I might have food in my teeth, so I excused myself before the performer came onstage. The line to the bathroom was long, so I walked back out and…” I squeezed my legs together and shifted in the water. “Ahmad was there.”
“Oop!” Nina reacted.
“He wanted to talk. I told him we didn’t have anything to talk about. He grabbed me and pulled me into an office down the hallway, and we got into it. I said some things. He said some things. He apologized. I didn’t accept his apology, but I… I guess he made some points.”
“Like?” Jazz pressed.
“Like the fact that he didn’t feel the need to explicitly tell me about his marital status, because he only saw me when I was on dates.”
“That’s true,” Nina agreed. “Shit. He’s got you there.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “So I don’t know what happened, but before I knew it, we were kissing.”
“Holy shit!” Jazz screeched. “You two kissed?!”
“And his hands were all over me and mine were all over him, and”—I squeezed my thighs to relieve some pressure—“then he asked me if I needed to come.”
“What?!” Nina screamed.
“And I did.” I shook my head in shame. “So, he made me.”
I wasn’t embarrassed to tell my friends what happened. They were my best friends in the world, and they wouldn’t judge me. The shame I felt was because I made rash decisions that I didn’t usually make. Even in the past when I was sexually frustrated, I would figure something else out.
I never had random hookups.
I never had unprotected sex.
I never had sex with anyone who didn’t have feelings for me.
I never had sex with someone when I was supposed to be on a date with another man.
Everything I did was out of character. But from the way my pussy throbbed at the thought of what happened, I knew if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
“You and the bartender? Holy shit! I see those pent-up sex consequences turned into successes!” Nina cheered. “I knew it! I knew it! I fucking knew it! I have questions… Was it good? Would you do it again?”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… I have questions, too. How did you two not get caught? Where were the other people who worked in the bar?”
“His dad owns the bar, and I think the only people with keys to that office are him and his sister. I don’t know if anyone heard, but we didn’t get caught. I mean, we kind of did. His sister saw us coming out of the office afterward, but she doesn’t know for a fact what happened,” I answered.
There was a moment of silence. “So, you’re not going to answer my questions?” Nina burst out.
“I don’t regret doing it, but that was so irresponsible and reckless. I should not have done it. And if I had better control over my body, I wouldn’t have.”
Jazz laughed. “I guess that answers one of your questions, Nina.”
I closed my eyes as my best friends laughed at me. “It was the best sex I’ve ever had in my life,” I confessed quietly. “I’m literally sitting in a tub now trying to forget the impression he left on my body.”
They were loudly hooting and hollering, and if I wasn’t in distress, I would’ve been amused.
I answered their questions, and when their excited confusion was satiated and their questions were answered, I finished the story. “And then he pulled out, and a couple minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was his sister. His break was over, and she was looking for him.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… He pulled out? Does that mean you had unprotected sex?” Jazmyn asked, putting the context clues together.
“Not Aaliyah James,” Nina hollered. “Not Aaliyah James getting it raw from the sexy-ass bartender! Not Aaliyah James getting it raw from the sexy-ass bartender while on a date with the sexy-ass superhero!”
“Not Aaliyah James having a Nina Ford kind of night,” Jazmyn added.
“Hell yeah! That’s my girl!” Nina cheered.
Begrudgingly, I laughed at their outbursts.
“But it won’t happen again,” I told them.
“You wanted birthday sex. You got pre-birthday sex,” Jazmyn pointed out. “And you said it was good—”
“No, no,” Nina interrupted. “She said it was the best sex of her life. The. Best. So help me understand, since this man you said was a great friend with great energy—and, Jazz, you haven’t seen him, but the man is a ten—gave you the best sex of your life—which means the dick was a ten, too—how and why are you not going to do it again? Why are you starting your thirties off making bad decisions?”
“He only fucked me because he was jealous,” I explained.
“I’ve seen the way that man looks at you,” Nina countered. “There’s no way he only fucked you because he was jealous.”
I shook my head even though they couldn’t see me. “He admitted that he only came and got me because he didn’t like seeing me with Ty.”
“He said that?” Jazz wondered skeptically.
“Yes.” I pulled the plug to drain the water. “And I asked again for clarification, and he doubled down. He said he wanted to stop me from making a mistake or a bad decision or something like that. He said Ty wasn’t the guy for me, because before I got there, he was hitting on someone. And then he proceeded to give me what I needed so I didn’t get it from Ty.” There was a tightness in my chest that made me uncomfortable. I cleared my throat. “So yeah, his sole reason for everything that happened was because he was jealous.”
“Well, we knew he was going to be jealous,” Jazmyn reasoned. “You’d been ignoring him, and he’s been wanting you all summer. But do you really think that was the only reason?”
“Yes.” I pursed my lips and sat up in the empty tub. “Mainly because he said so.” I rose to my feet and repositioned the phone. “But also because he said he wasn’t interested in dating.”
“But how did it feel?” Nina asked. “He said what he said, but people can say anything. How did it feel?”
It felt good.
It felt natural.
It felt right.
Swallowing hard, I turned the shower on and let the water rain down on me.
“Hold on!” I yelled out as I closed the curtain to keep the phone dry.
I rinsed my body off as I listened to my best friends recap what I’d told them. When I turned the shower off, I opened the curtain to grab my towel and the phone.
“It doesn’t matter how it felt,” I finally answered. “The sex was good. But he and I are on completely different wavelengths. If he were interested in something more, it would’ve come up. It never did. And that’s fine. But I know exactly what I’m looking for, and a random hookup isn’t it. So, it won’t happen again.”
“What if—?”
I cut the question off before it could get started.
“It’s my birthday,” I announced. “I have some questions for you… Who are you bringing to the party? And what are you wearing?”
There was a pause.
“Not everyone speak at once,” I joked.
“It’s, um…” Jazz stumbled over her words.
“Oh, so when I was in the hot seat, questions were slipping off the tongue. Now that the tables are turned, the cat’s got yours.”
Nina laughed.
“You, too, Nina,” I replied. “What’s going on with you? Who are you bringing?”
“I’m just bringing a friend,” she answered.
“A friend you’re fucking?” I asked.
“It’s complicated.”
“Mm-hmm,” I intoned. “All of a sudden, everything is complicated.”
We laughed.
“Okay, before we give it a rest, serious question… What are you doing about your date tomorrow?” Nina wondered.
“Well, I guess I’m going to have to show up alone and entertain Marcus.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… Who is Marcus?” Jazz asked boisterously.
“He’s the man my family has been trying to hook me up with,” I reminded them. “He’s the son of my mom’s friend from church. Remember the guy from Aniyah’s memorial party? My mom invited him to the party, and the family is still hell-bent on setting me up with him. It was a whole thing.”
“Oh, I remember,” Nina uttered.
“So, what are you going to tell your parents tomorrow?” Jazz inquired.
“My mom and I have our appointment to get our nails done in the morning, so I’m just going to tell her the truth.”
“It’s about damn time!” Nina clapped. “I’m proud of you.”
“I’m going to talk to my mom at our appointment, and then you’ll both be able to see the fallout when we get to the lake house.”
“Birthday fallout…?” Jazz quipped. “Let’s not claim that energy.”
“There will be no fallout,” Nina said confidently. “It’ll be a happy birthday.”
“No, it will be,” I whispered. “I feel it.”
“I have one more question about the dick…” Nina started.
I sighed. “What?”
“You always said Matthew was top-tier dick. Was Ahmad better than Matthew?”
Throbbing, my pussy answered before I did. “Matthew who?”