Chapter 9 #3
As Jericho opened the door of the coffee shop, every female eye in the vicinity turned towards him.
It was as if an Adonis had entered the building.
He glanced at his phone briefly, then looked up and did a sweep of the room before eventually locking eyes with mine.
His mouth immediately burst into one of the most beautiful smiles I’d ever seen.
His teeth were absolutely perfect. I stood up awkwardly and returned the smile, suddenly feeling embarrassed although I wasn’t sure why I felt that way – I was just as cute as him, if not cuter? ?
Jericho weaved in between the tables, staring at me the whole time, eyes unflinching. I suddenly felt incredibly exposed; almost as if he were sizing me up. He looked like a predator about to attack his prey. His stare was intense; almost intimidating, but equally, incredibly hot.
‘Cassandra. Here you are,’ he said, his sexy, almost-baritone voice permeating my eardrums. I studied his face again; he was thirty-four years old, but he had a charming, youthful look about him. I wondered if he’d had Botox or any other tweakments; he looked good.
‘As I live and breathe, Jericho; the icon herself. It’s lovely to meet you!
’ I managed to utter eventually, opening my arms to give him a hug.
He welcomed my embrace and as we briefly hugged, I noted the intensity of his cologne; it was fresh, yet woody, and smelled amazing.
After a short moment I sat down as he remained standing.
‘Can I order you a drink? What would you like?’ he said. A true gentleman. We loved to see it.
I had surveyed the menu beforehand so knew exactly what I wanted.
‘Aww, thanks!’ I responded, smiling sweetly under his intense gaze.
I couldn’t allow him to intimidate me in any way – I was in control here.
‘Could I please have a medium skinny cappuccino with a shot of vanilla, and an almond croissant?’
‘Absolutely. I’ll be over shortly, sweetheart.’
Sweetheart.
And I was SAT. Was this whole thing transactional?
Sure, but it didn’t stop my heart from skipping a beat on impact.
I took a seat, emitting a low whistle under my breath as I checked him out from behind.
So far, so good. I took out my phone, put it on silent and snapped a sneaky photo of him while he was at the counter and sent it to Sade with the following message:
Babe. Look at this specimen pls. A true FINE BABE omg?! We’ve just started the date, I’m so excited! Also for safety’s sake, we’re currently at the WatchHouse coffee shop behind Bond St station. Love you! xx
Within two minutes, Sade had responded. I briefly glanced at my phone while Jericho walked back with a tray full of our drinks and food. Sade had responded:
Fucking hell, mate. Maybe I need to join OuiMeet too, man. A very FINE BABE indeed, damn! I’m expecting a FULL debrief this evening, keep me updated and remember, you got this, it’s all about you and you’re in control! xxxxxx
I turned my phone over and tried my best to concentrate on this beautiful man who had come to see me. Jericho sat down and passed my almond croissant and cappuccino to me, again while staring at me intensely. What was his game? I decided to match his energy and stare back.
‘Thank you so much, Jericho – if that is your real name?’ I finally said, matching his stare.
‘Ha! Uhhuh … You’re welcome, Cassandra, and thanks for booking me; I’m keen to ensure you have a great time today.’ He took a sip of his beverage, and I caught him stealing a glimpse of my cleavage in my tie-up blouse. I knew it was a good decision to buy it.
‘OK, OK … let’s cut the BS now – do you talk like an AI bot all the time?
You can call me Cassie, by the way, and feel free to be a bit less formal because you’re really giving me double-o-seven vibes at the moment.
Also, is there anything I need to sign? Like a contract or a disclaimer or anything like that? ’
At this, Jericho’s eyes widened as he burst into a grin, then into a bellowing laugh showing his pearly white teeth – the infectiousness of it all automatically made me want to laugh too.
‘You’re hilarious, Cassie,’ he said as he laughed, his shoulders shrugging.
His idiolect had relaxed somewhat at this point – it became less of the Received Pronunciation that I had heard on the phone and was now a little bit more East London.
He continued, ‘And straight to the point too. You’re the first person to mention my demeanour in that way, you know.
To be honest it’s a bit of a persona I created for clients – a lot of them seem to like the whole dapper, suave, Regé-Jean situation, you know? ’
‘Uhhuh. And let me guess … most of your clientele are …’ I tapered off, hoping he would get where I was going with this. He did.
‘Yeah … they are. You’re probably the third Black woman I’ve seen since being on the app, to be honest,’ he replied. I wasn’t surprised by that at all; the prospect of women paying for company and sex in Afro-Caribbean communities was still something that was considered taboo.
‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘there’s no official disclaimer you need to sign; you kinda already signed up to the terms and conditions when you joined the app.
But also, I’ve gotta say, I’m surprised you even felt the need to do this – you’re absolutely stunning.
I hope I’m not being too forward but you have a gorgeous figure. ’
I froze mid-sip at the unexpected compliment, my cheeks burning with a deep blush.
After years of being conditioned to believe my desirability was tied to my weight, hearing that bit of validation felt unexpectedly refreshing.
And though it shouldn’t have mattered, for some reason, the words hit even harder coming from Jericho – an undeniably attractive man.
‘You’re good at this, aren’t you? I bet you say that to all your clients, but I’ll take the compliment anyway,’ I replied, bashfully taking a bite into my croissant.
I wanted to know more about him – starting with his name.
I also needed to be careful, thinking back to the tips I’d read on the various sites before about etiquette.
Don’t be too personal. Surely just asking about his name was fine enough?
‘Speaking of which – if I could ask – what’s the story behind the name Jericho? And what is your real name?’
Jericho took another sip of his drink – his piercing eyes still boring into mine.
He looked hesitant. After a moment, he spoke.
‘Heh – I’m not gonna share my name on this occasion right now, but “Jericho” kinda started off as a stupid joke that eventually stuck.
You know the whole thing in the Bible with the walls of Jericho being blasted down and stuff?
I equated that with me, erm, blasting down women’s walls and er, yeah.
Obviously now I know it’s stupid but the name stuck – and so here we are, I suppose. ’
I looked at him, dumbfounded.
‘Wow. Blasphemous and factually incorrect, what a combo,’ I replied, stifling a giggle. ‘Shouldn’t you have called yourself Joshua instead? He’s the one who blew his trumpet that caused the walls to fall down in the first place; it would make more sense that way.’
Jericho narrowed his eyes before picking up his phone and appearing to search through for something.
‘Shaking my damn head. You didn’t know this beforehand?
Tut tut! Someone clearly wasn’t paying attention in Sunday School it seems,’ I playfully teased, catching his eye as he looked up from his phone.
He broke into his trademark smile again, rolling his eyes.
He glanced at the screen again, a hint of disappointment crossing his eyes, and put the phone down.
‘OK, well … you got me there. I just googled it. I always fell asleep in Sunday school, OK? What can I say?? Anyway, enough about me, this is your time. Tell me about you.’
‘With all due respect, I booked this date to find out more about you, not me,’ I replied, smiling innocently.
‘You intrigued me, Jericho. And I kinda like the cut of your jib. You may not tell me your real name now, but you will at some point. And besides, on the phone you did say that there were a couple of questions that you’d prefer to answer in person so … here we are!’
His smirk was infectious. I’d got him there.
‘You’re quite the curious creature, Cassie,’ he admitted, nodding his head. ‘You’re right; I did mention that – OK, in that case, feel free to ask away, but also just to let you know we’ll be making our way towards the Squid Game escape room in about forty minutes or so.’
‘Thanks, Dad,’ I said, rolling my eyes in mock annoyance. ‘Tryna breeze through the date already, huh? I’m peeping your game, bro.’
‘Heh. Not at all! Look, I’m open to anything within reason – ask away.’
I made a display opening my phone’s app to take a look at his profile on OuiMeet as he looked on, amused. There was an interesting power play situation that was currently happening here, and I enjoyed it.
‘OK! So the last time we spoke, I asked the following questions; what’s the oldest person you’ve slept with, and if you were looking for a girlfriend, have you ever slept with anyone famous, are there any rules or boundaries I should know when it comes to this kind of thing – oh and a bonus one – what’s your job outside of all this?
’ I’d slipped in two new questions, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
Jericho cupped his head in his hands as he leaned on the table, pensive. He had this deliberate way of taking his time when he spoke, making sure the pacing was just slow enough for me to want to hang onto his every word.