Chapter 2
TWO
leo
“Oh, God. Oh God!” Vanessa shouted in my ear, clinging tightly to my back. “Oh my God.”
The silk sheets on my bed crinkled beneath us, emphasizing my movements as I moved in and out between Vanessa’s clenching walls.
“Oh, baby, ohhhh, right there!”
“Mmm-hmm,” I groaned, my body quivering over her as I guided us both through a slow-building climax.
I could feel her nails digging into my back like she was trying to claw out a mound of clay. The pain mixed with the pleasure, making me roar my release into the pillow beneath her head.
“Oh God, you’re so good,” she exhaled, then pressed her lips to my shoulder. “My goodness.”
That was my name every time Vanessa and I spent time like this. God. I was her God, and I loved that shit so damn much.
I lifted myself just enough to roll off her and onto my pillow, but Vanessa gripped my back and wrapped her legs around my waist, keeping me in place.
“Mmm,” she moaned, pressing another kiss into my shoulder. “Don’t move.”
I sighed out a laugh, putting in a little more effort to break free from her hold. I finally succeeded, rolling to my side and relaxing on my pillow, my eyes fixed on the ceiling as I caught my breath.
She was on me a second later—her leg, at least—as she draped it over my thigh.
I tried to keep my annoyance to myself.
Vanessa was a woman I met at a club during one of my paid appearances. She was Halle Berry in the ’90s fine. Same short cut and all. Men in the club were damn near offering to pay her rent for the next five years when I spotted her in VIP, seeing no one but me, eyeing me like a bald eagle.
She was bold but still knew how to play it cool, which I liked. The thing I didn’t like, though, was her penchant for being clingy. That night, and every other night for the past two summers, it showed.
She moved in closer, angling her lips toward my neck before shifting to kiss my lips.
“Damn, baby,” I mumbled. “Can I catch my breath on my own for a minute?”
“No,” she said through a moan, pecking another kiss against my lips. “Because whenever we’re done, and I don’t keep my hands on you like this, you leave.”
I scoffed a laugh. “That is not true.”
“What you’re denying is what’s not true,” she said back.
My room looked every bit like the hookup we just had: wild and disorderly. Clothes were strewn here and there, sheets disheveled under the dim morning light filtering through my slightly opened curtains.
“Want to grab breakfast?” she asked, her voice soft against me.
“Hmmm,” I started, “I actually have somewhere I have to be in a couple of hours.”
“See?” she said, sitting up and snatching my bedding to cover her breasts.
I sat up too. “See, what?”
“Leo, every time we hook up, you conveniently have somewhere to be right after.”
She wasn’t completely wrong. Last night when Vanessa called me to hang out, I didn’t decline. I knew I had my friend Tyrell and his wife Kendra’s baby shower to attend today, but I still said Vanessa could swing by… because I knew I’d have an event to run off to.
Women be knowing. Because how Vanessa knew I was running off soon after hooking up was beyond me.
Vanessa was a beautiful and accomplished woman, working as a personal stylist for some of the most notable politicians around New York City. I met her in her hometown of Atlanta two years ago, when I visited one of their clubs after a game. I was there for a paid appearance.
She relocated to New York shortly after we met and has been here since. At night, at the clubs, she knew how to let her hair down as a socialite. She was fun, but I simply didn’t see this thing we had going on being more than fun.
I kicked my legs off the bed and reached for my boxers—one of the strewn garments on the floor. “I have a baby shower to go to this afternoon.”
She kissed her teeth.
“It’s been planned for months. I’m one of the hosts.”
“If you knew you had somewhere to be today,” she started, “why didn’t you tell me that when I asked if I could come over to spend the weekend, Leo?”
“Because…” I shrugged. “I didn’t think you meant the whole weekend.”
“I sure as hell didn’t mean a night, Leo!”
“Okay.” I held a hand up. “Aight, I apologize for not keeping it real with you and letting you know I had plans for today, okay?”
“No, it’s not okay,” she argued, turning more to face me. “You do this all the time—”
Our back and forth was interrupted by my phone ringing. I turned to see Ivy’s name sprawled across the screen.
Vanessa saw it too, expressing her annoyance by kissing her teeth. “And now this bullshit.”
“What’s up, Ivy League?” I said, answering the phone.
Ivy sighed on the other end. “I really hate when you call me that.”
I chuckled, my gaze lifting long enough to see Vanessa scowling on my bed, her eyes locked on me in a death stare.
“Uh…” I turned away from her glare. “What’s up?”
“Can you pick me up a little earlier than we discussed?” Ivy asked. “The cake is ready for pickup, and I’d feel a lot better if we got it now instead of later.”
I smirked. “What could possibly happen if we got the cake at the time we agreed on?”
“You mean the time you told me would be the best, even though I said it wasn’t? The time I didn’t really want to go with in the first place, but gave in to avoid going back and forth with you? That time, Leo?”
I snickered while shaking my head.
Vanessa cleared her throat behind me.
When I turned to look her way, she rolled her eyes and snapped her neck. “Were you not doing something?”
“Aight, cool,” I said into the phone, eyes still on Vanessa. “I’ll be there in an hour.”
Vanessa sucked her teeth so loud.
“Be here in half an hour,” Ivy said back.
Ivy. Always so damn extra.
After a really bad first date and double date we’d gone on with our friends, Ivy and I decided we’d do better as friends—and we did. We had a lot in common. Both lovers of sports, we connected over shit-talking and placing bets on games.
And while we had a friendly rivalry, Ivy was one of the most supportive people in my life. She’d been at every home game of my career, from college to now. These days, she’d often shout at refs from the sideline, completely forgetting she was working.
I loved that the most about my little homie.
“Half an hour?” I laughed. “Didn’t I just say I just got up?”
“Not my problem,” she sang into the phone. I just knew she was wearing one of her little smirks. “See you in half an hour.”
“Ivy—”
Before I could protest anything else, she hung up the phone.
I laughed to myself while removing the phone from my ear. “This woman is a trip.”
I turned to see Vanessa staring me down from her spot on my bed. For a split second, I had honestly forgotten she was still here.
“Welcome back, after your visit to cloud nine,” she said, balling her lips right after her words left her mouth.
“Vanessa, chill.”
“Chill?!” She kicked her legs off the bed. The moment she was on her feet, she walked my way. “I just watched my boyfriend light up while talking to another woman.”
“Whoa.” I held a hand up in front of me. “I am not your boyfriend.”
“Why is that, Leo? Hmmm?” Vanessa folded her arms over her chest. “We have been dating each other for two years now.”
I shook my head. “We have not been dating.”
She scoffed.
“Look, Vanessa,” I started. “You can say what you want about me, but you can’t say I’ve been leading you on. I’ve told you from the start, relationships are not my thing, baby. My career is. So…”
She kissed her teeth.
“While I respect your feelings, let’s maintain an air of honesty about what we’ve got going on, aight?”
“Which is?”
I glanced over at her.
“What are we, Leo?” she quizzed. “Because I swear I see you show more affection to your friend than you actually do the girl you’re fucking. Unless you’re fucking Ivy too.”
I snorted a laugh, which turned into a bellyful chuckle. “Yeah, aight. I assure you that fucking ain’t happening with Ivy and me. At all.”
“Well, the way you talk to her sure makes it seem like you want to.”
“Ha!”
“And the way she loves talking to you,” Vanessa continued, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she wants to, too.”
“Aight, enough.” I clapped my hands once. “Like I told you, Vanessa, I gotta go, baby.” I approached her, bending my knees to be at her level. “While I would love to go back and forth with you—because you look so damn beautiful when you’re pissed at me…”
She tried to fight her smile but couldn’t resist, rolling her eyes and looking away instead.
“As you heard, I have to go.” I pressed a kiss against her forehead before turning away and heading to my bathroom. “I gotta hop in the shower.” I glanced at her over my shoulder. “You’re more than welcome to join me.”
Her face lit up.
“But we gotta make it quick,” I informed her. “I’m not trying to have Ivy waiting.”
Vanessa’s smile melted right off her face. “No thank you, then.”
My smile faded too, but I didn’t let myself stay in that feeling.
It’s like I said: Ivy was a punctual and by-the-book kind of woman. She was cool, but she didn’t play with the things she was responsible for. I respected that, and I respected her.
And despite Vanessa’s feelings about my relationship with Ivy, she and I were never—and could never be—what Vanessa suggested we were.
I shook my head while snickering. “Just trippin’,” I said as I turned the knob on my shower’s stall, watching as water spilled out overhead. “As if Ivy and I could ever.”