Chapter 20
“Y’all did what?” Paisley was in shock Saturday morning as we sat in her apartment rehashing my night. She was wearing a large T-shirt that obviously wasn’t hers, and by the sounds escaping her bedroom, I knew we weren’t alone.
There was no time to focus on that. The spotlight was on me. And for good reason. Ezekiel and I had finally blurred that fine line and I didn’t know what to think. He’d texted me as soon as he woke up, a friendly greeting as he checked up on me, but I hadn’t responded.
When I got in to shower last night I was in total shock to discover a hickey on my neck. I should’ve seen the red blotch coming after vivid memories of Ezekiel’s mouth on me carried me all the way home on the drive back from his condo.
Touching it as I sat with Paisley, I didn’t know what to do.
“We had a moment in the photo booth, that’s what,” I said.
“How was it?” Paisley was full-on nosey before she gave me her real opinion.
I grabbed my purse, going and digging out my copy of the strip of photos I’d stashed in my wallet. My eyes immediately went to Ezekiel’s hands in the pictures. Hands that made me feel way too good.
A large part of me was ready to experience the real thing, no matter the consequences. And that was reckless.
Paisley leaned over. “Is that the evidence? Let me see.” She held up her hand. “Is anything hanging out?”
I managed to loosen up and laugh as I handed over the strip of photos. “No, but it’s erotic enough.”
Paisley’s eyes lit up as she peered at my pictures. “Damn.” She handed them back and scratched at her head, unable to shake the images either. “Yikes.”
“Tell me about it,” I agreed.
In the distance, the door to her bedroom opened but no one came out. Paisley paid this no mind as she sat focusing on me.
She had been quiet the whole month I’d been talking to Ezekiel, giving little comments here and there, but I could tell she was bursting at the seams now to spill her internal thoughts.
“Okay, what’s your general consensus on this?” I dared to ask.
Pity swept across my best friend’s face along with a look of firmness that let me know she was going to give it to me raw for my own good.
“I think tonight you should go on a blind date with Gray,” she announced.
“This ‘thing’ with Ezekiel was a bad idea from the start. Slowing down and getting to know each other just to decide on a one-night stand versus a friendship? Girl, uh-uh. You should’ve known from the beginning that was a recipe for disaster.
All this time getting to know Eazy is just gonna make you want to be with him, and once y’all finally do have sex and he ups and does him, you’re going to be walking around feeling stupid. ”
It was harsh, but I couldn’t deny the truth in her words.
Getting to know Ezekiel had been a bad idea.
Spending all this time with him had been a bad idea.
I felt too comfortable and at home with him, and knowing he didn’t do commitment should’ve been a red flag enough to just get the one-night stand over with or walk away completely.
But I hadn’t done that, and here I was.
“A blind date?” I repeated, cringing at the thought.
“You want serious, you want love, and you want commitment,” Paisley listed my desires on her hand. “You’re not getting none of that from Ezekiel.”
Footsteps echoed across her hardwood floor and a look up found my finally laying eyes on Sloan Strickland. He came out of her bedroom in a pair of gray sweats and a white beater. The material of the tank top hugged his well-defined pecs and abdomen. He also spent a few days of the week at the gym.
“Ezekiel?” he questioned as he crossed over to the open living room and TV area. “Don’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“He says as he precedes to eavesdrop,” Paisley mumbled as she leaned back into her sofa cushion.
Sloan shot her a curious look. “Isn’t that the guy who hooked you up with the Ladies’ Night gig?”
“That’s the one,” Paisley said dryly.
Sloan came back to me, his hazel eyes gentle and kind. “What’s wrong with him?” He suddenly turned and thumbed a finger over his shoulder toward the bedroom. “Didn’t mean to listen in, but I was getting ready and happened to hear some of what you said.”
“Ezekiel doesn’t do relationships or commitment,” I spoke up.
Recognition soon settled across Sloan’s face. “Ah, I see.”
“Yeah, and the last thing Nas needs is to be strung along, giving it up and loving on a man who’s not hers,” Paisley concluded.
Sloan didn’t protest. “I hear you. Seemed like a straight dude though from what you said, P.”
Paisley gazed at her nails. “He a’ight.”
Sloan rolled his eyes and came back to me. He held his hand out as he leaned over toward me. “Apologies, I’m Sloan. Paisley’s—”
“—old friend,” Paisley cut in quickly.
Sloan stole a long look back at Paisley before returning to me, offering up a smile.
We shook hands and I switched gears from my love life to theirs. “You went to Georgia State, too, right?”
“Uh yeah,” Sloan responded. “P says you went for two years?”
“Dropped out before my junior year,” I said trivially. “But, back to you, where have you been all this time? Paisley said you guys dated when you were twenty.”
The softest smile touched Sloan’s features.
Seeing a man become bashful never got old.
“The longest year of my life.” He gestured to himself.
“After we parted ways, I got my degree in architecture. I lived in Atlanta for a while, working out there. It wasn’t until recently that something hit me that I needed to come home.
Atlanta’s fun and happening, but Belmont is home. ”
“And where does Paisley fit in, in all this?” I wanted to know as I folded my arms.
Sloan chuckled as he glanced at Pay. “You said you were the bad cop.”
“We’re versatile,” I spoke up. In a lot of ways, Paisley was the tough one, the bodyguard, the guardian, but when it came to Paisley, I could be all those things and more. She was close to me like a sister. Sometimes I felt guilty for being closer to Pay than to my own sister.
Sloan didn’t break a sweat as he came back to me, standing tall and firm.
“To keep it simple and cut to the chase, Paisley’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.
I’ve been missing her ever since we split.
Back then we were right for each other, but timing was off.
I regret breaking up, but at the same time, I’m thankful to have taken time to grow on my own and realize who I was and what I wanted.
Work wise, I was happy in the A, but coming home and seeing Paisley, it all just feels right. ”
“Isn’t he sweet?” Paisley said flatly. She didn’t look impressed or moved.
“Stop being so mean,” I chastised.
Sloan laughed. “It’s okay, because at some point, you gotta leave. And then it’s just her and me.”
Paisley couldn’t fight her smile as she bit her lip. She was doing this on purpose, trying to get a rise out of him by being dismissive. Paisley was tough as nails, I had a feeling, while vulnerable for him, she wasn’t about to let Sloan play with her heart.
“Careful,” was all the warning I would give to Sloan.
“Yes, ma’am,” he swore as he bobbed his head. He looked down at Paisley, causing her to squirm. “Y’all want something to eat?”
“Omelettes, please,” Paisley pouted.
Sloan took off for the kitchen across the room and I shot Paisley a thumbs-up.
“I’ll pass,” I said.
Sloan looked over his shoulder from his search in the fridge. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Sloan went about collecting ingredients from the fridge to prepare his omelettes and I went back to Paisley.
“So I should just let it go, huh?” I asked.
The look in Paisley’s eyes told me she wasn’t about to coddle me. “With quickness.”
I sighed as I sunk into my place on her love seat. “I mean…you are right.”
“Listen, how about tonight I set you up on this blind date, catered by me, and you just go out and see what happens? Gray could be the one or he could not be, you won’t know unless you get out there.”
As if knowing what I was discussing, my phone rang, a call from Ezekiel. I didn’t bother to answer it.
Paisley was right about everything. This was a mess, and I wanted more, more than what Ezekiel was willing to give me.
It was no one’s fault but my own for getting myself into this situation.
I was a selfish lover, not wanting to share at all.
I couldn’t be his friend-with-benefits, because he wasn’t the monogamy type.
It was a brutal pill I’d have to swallow here and now before I got in too deep.
Shéc was officially closed until we came back from our vacation. I tried not to think about all the potential business we were losing. We’d postponed shipments until next week even. It was time to focus on rest and relaxation.
Perhaps starting with a night out with a potentially nice man.
“So, a blind date?” I gave in.
Paisley perked up and clasped her hands together. “Yes. Gray is thirty-one. He’s real polite. Kinda on the shy side, but I sense no toxicities—and that’s exactly what you need.”
He was shy and not arrogant—although a certain someone’s cockiness was a bit sexy.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to let it go.
This date could lead to nowhere, but the point was to get back out there.
I did want to go out again. I missed dates, spending time alone with someone, snuggling, and being loved.
I was due for a romance movie for Nasty Noir and perhaps this would put me in the right mood to endure one.
“Okay,” I decided, throwing caution to the wind.
Paisley eyed my phone where it lay beside me. “My one true warning is to not tell Ezekiel.”
My stomach knotted up. “Why?”
“Because then you’re checking in with him. Giving him a heads-up. Until there’s an official title or relationship, you don’t owe him anything.”
She wasn’t wrong, but not telling him didn’t feel right. Doing this behind his back didn’t feel right.
The irony in feeling like I was betraying someone I had no ties to. Why be loyal to someone who couldn’t be loyal to me?