16. Milan Rivers
MILAN RIVERS
For a few seconds after I woke up, I stayed still beneath the covers, trying to remember where I was. Then the night before came rushing back all at once. The picture outside my door. Vice showing up. Packing a bag. The private elevator opening directly into his condo.
Then him...
I opened my eyes and found him lying beside me, one arm stretched beneath my pillow while the other rested across my waist. He was still asleep, which surprised me. Vice seemed like the kind of man who woke up before the sun just so he could tell everybody else they were behind.
I quietly studied him, taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t catch me staring.
Without the serious expression he wore most of the time, he looked different.
Younger. Less like the man who walked into every room expecting people to move and more like somebody who had finally allowed himself to rest.
My eyes moved over his face before dropping to the tattoos across his chest. I remembered touching them the night before, tracing lines with my fingers and tongue.
The memory sent a warm sensation shooting through me, and I quickly looked toward the windows as if the city outside had suddenly become more interesting.
This was the first morning I had woken up beside another man in over ten years.
That should’ve felt strange, but it didn’t. Instead, what felt strange was how comfortable I was.
Vice shifted beside me, his arm tightening around my waist before his eyes opened. He looked at me for a second without saying anything, and I couldn’t tell whether he was fully awake until he gave me a lazy grin.
“You been staring at me?”
“No.” I lied. “I just woke up.”
“So did I, and you was looking at me.”
I rolled my eyes, even though I had already been caught. “Maybe I was making sure you were still breathing.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. You’re old.”
Vice stared at me like I was crazy. “I’m thirty-four.”
“Exactly…” I tried to get up but he pulled me back to him.
“Say some more shit.” He said as he started tickling me, causing me to scream. I laughed as I pressed one hand against his chest.
Still laughing, I said, “You woke up talking crazy.”
“You were the one pretending to be asleep while I looked at you.”
“I wasn’t pretending.”
“Sure…”
Vice rolled onto his back and brought me with him until I was lying across his chest. I should’ve moved, but his hand settled against my back, and I stayed where I was.
The room got quiet again as my mind drifted to a place I didn’t want it to go, and the longer I lay here, the harder it became to ignore the questions running through my mind.
Vice must’ve felt the shift in me because his hand stopped moving. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Here you go.”
I lifted my head. “What does that mean?”
“It means something on your mind.”
I rested my chin against his chest and looked at him. “What happens now?”
“You stay here.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about us.”
Vice’s expression changed, not enough to make him look uncomfortable, but enough for me to know he understood exactly what I was asking now.
“What about us?”
“I don’t know.” I sat up, pulling the sheet higher around me. “Last night happened, and I just want to know if we’re pretending it didn’t when we get out of this bed.”
“Why would we do that?”
“I don’t know, Vice. That’s just what people do…”
“I don’t…”
The answer came without hesitation, and something inside me relaxed.
Vice pushed himself up against the headboard and looked at me. “You think I brought you here just to get you in my bed?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop looking like you waiting for me to say some foul shit.”
I glanced down at the sheet, embarrassed that he could read me that easily. “I’m not waiting on anything.”
“You are.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I just don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”
His face softened slightly. “I ain’t yo’ ex.”
“I know that.”
“You keep saying it, but every time something feels too good, you start looking for where it’s gonna go wrong.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then stopped because he wasn’t completely wrong.
Evan had made me question things I never used to question.
A nice gesture felt like it might come with strings.
Trusting somebody felt dangerous. Even being happy made me nervous because I knew how quickly that could change.
Vice reached for my hand. “Last night wasn’t just sex to me.”
My eyes moved back to his.
“I wanted you before you came here,” he continued. “You staying in my house ain’t why it happened, and you being scared ain’t why either.”
“I wasn’t scared of you…”
Vice smiled and pulled me toward him again, but this time I didn’t settle against his chest. I moved closer and kissed him.
The kiss was slow and easy, nothing like the urgency from the night before. Vice’s hand moved beneath my chin, holding me there for a few seconds before I straddled him. Instantly, his dick hardened beneath me.
Reaching over to his nightstand, he pulled out a condom and ripped it with his teeth. I eased up, giving him room to roll it on and once it had it on, I eased down on his dick, letting him stretch my pussy.
Vice’s shit wasn’t just long, but it was thick as hell too. To be honest, I knew it was big because of the big dick energy he carried. He had that walk and charisma about him that gave it away, and I was right.
“Ahhh… Mmmm,” I moaned as I took my time riding him.
He smacked my ass and grabbed me by the back of the neck, pulling my headed closer to his face. “Ride this shit.”
“Shhhh… Oh my… Shit, Vice.”
“Mmmhmmm.” Grabbing me by the waist, he started guiding me back and forth, picking up the pace as he continued talking shit. “Yeah, I’m about to be in this pussy all day.”
I let out a giggle through my moan. “I thought you had to work…”
“Yeah, I’ma work this pussy…” With that, he rolled us over so that he was on top, taking my legs and putting them on his should. He kissed my ankles and since I was a woman that liked every inch of her body licked and sucked, I eased my toes into his mouth.
Vice had licked me from the front to the back, from top to bottom last night, so me putting my toes in his mouth was right up his alley.
Oh, and a bitch had sucked his dick, too… Sucked it so good that I had his toes curled.
Once we were done and we both had exploded, I said, “Yeah, I’m ‘bout to hope in too.”
We showered together and even had another quickie, with him fucking me from the back… I could definitely get used to this.
By the time I finished getting dressed, the smell of food had already reached the bedroom where my clothes were.
I followed the smell into the kitchen.
He stood near the counter wearing gray sweats and no shirt, unpacking food from several containers. I paused before he noticed me, letting my eyes move over his back.
“Staring again?”
I rolled my eyes and walked further into the kitchen. Ignoring his question, I asked, “You ordered all this?”
“You was hungry.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“You always hungry after work.”
“But I’m not coming from work.”
“You still hungry.”
Unfortunately, he was right. I sat on one of the stools while he fixed two plates. “Do you cook?” I asked him.
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes meaning never?”
“Nah, sometimes meaning when I feel like it.”
Vice slid a plate in front of me before sitting on the stool beside mine. He started eating just as his phone started ringing on the counter. He looked at the screen and answered.
“What you got?”
I knew it had to be Mace from the way his expression changed. The ease from a few seconds earlier disappeared, and Vice straightened slightly as he listened.
“You sure?” he asked. A pause followed before his jaw tightened. “Send me the address. Don’t go by yourself.”
Vice looked toward me while Mace said something else.
“Nah. I’m coming…”
He ended the call and set the phone down.
“What happened?” I asked.
He stared at the screen for a second before turning toward me. “Mace found somebody Sam was looking for before he died.”
“Who?”
“A retired doctor from Grady.”
“Oh, wow… But what does the doctor have to do with him?”
“Don’t know yet. Sam searched his name a few days before the shooting.”
Vice stood and carried his plate toward the sink, although he had barely eaten anything. I watched him move around the kitchen, and it was obvious his mind had already left the room.
“Is that where you’re going?”
“Yeah… I’m ‘bout to meet Mace there… I gotta go.”
“I know.”
He moved around the counter, stopping in front of me. “You staying here.”
It wasn’t really a question, but I nodded anyway. “Where else would I go?”
“Just making sure.”
“I’m not leaving.”
His hand settled against the side of my neck before he kissed my forehead. The gesture surprised me more than if he had kissed my mouth. It felt softer. More personal.
Vice then stepped back and headed toward the bedroom to get dressed.
I finished eating while waiting for him, trying not to think too hard about what the doctor might tell him.
Vice had told me last night that Sam had been digging into his mother, asking about the father he had never known and searching through records old enough that most people had probably forgotten they existed.
Whatever he found had gotten him killed.
That was enough to make me nervous about Vice walking straight into the same thing.
He returned wearing black jeans and a dark shirt, checking the gun at his waist before pulling his jacket over it.
“You expect trouble?” I asked.
“I always expect it.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Getting off the stool, I walked toward him. “What if this doctor is setting you up?”
“Mace already checked him.”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t scared enough to do something stupid.”
Vice looked at me for a second. “You worried about me?”
“No. I ask everybody about getting set up before they leave.” He just smiled and shook his head as he reached for his keys, but before he could turn away, I touched his arm. “Be careful, okay.”
“I will.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
I studied his face, wanting to believe he had control over whatever was waiting for him. Vice always sounded sure of himself, but Sam had probably felt sure too.
“Go find out what Sam died trying to tell you,” I said.
Something shifted in his expression.
He leaned down and kissed me, slowly enough that I felt it long after he pulled away.
“Lock the elevator after me,” he said. “And you don’t have to worry about anybody coming up.”
I nodded. He stared at me for another second before nodding.
I followed him toward the elevator and watched as he entered the code. The doors opened, and Vice stepped inside before turning to face me.
“I’ll call you…”
“Okay.”
The doors started closing, but he stopped them with one hand.
“What?”
I frowned. “What?”
“You keep looking at me like you wanna say something.”
I thought about denying it, then changed my mind. “Come back in one piece…”
His face softened.
“I will.”
This time, I believed him.
Vice let the doors close, and I stood there until the elevator disappeared from the screen.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, I had entered his condo with a suitcase and no idea how long I would be staying.
Now I stood in the middle of his home, waiting for him to return, and leaving was the last thing on my mind.