Chapter 20 #3
“I-I don’t know what that means,” I admitted with a shy laugh. Alannah was a gamer when she had the time, but I’d never gotten into it. Outside of Corey, I didn’t know any other gamers.
“Call of Duty,” Gray tried to explain.
The idea of the game was familiar, but I didn’t get it. So I took another sip of my wine. “Okay.”
Gray laughed at me. “How about we get together some time and I can show you the ropes? Fair?”
It was a promise of more with still no added pressure.
“I’d like that,” I said.
“Okay, so video games for me, and what else for you?” Gray picked back up.
“I’m a little movie buff. I run a blog where I do movie reviews.”
“That’s cool. Do you really go in, or are you light with it?”
“I try not to be pretentious and super picky, but if a movie’s bad, I’ll break it down as best as I can,” I said. “What’s your favorite movie?”
“Uh…” He sat back and peered up at the ceiling, trying to think after being put on the spot. “Unbreakable, I guess.”
I gasped at the title. “Unbreakable is amazing. Love M. Night Shyamalan.”
Split was probably my favorite of the Unbreakable trilogy.
Sabrina came back to our table carrying a big brown tray.
She leaned down and placed a large plate of parmesan and prosciutto mini tarts on the table.
There were two little sauce bowls filled with optional dipping oil.
Everything looked so good, but something made me stand from the table and shoot Gray an apologetic smile.
“I’m going to run to the ladies’ room, I’ll be right back,” I told him as I gathered my clutch.
In the far left corner of the room was where the restrooms were held, and I made my way straight over to the women’s room.
Inside, the room was vacant, giving me a moment of clarity. I let out a long breath as I walked over to the middle individual sink of a row of seven. In the oval shaped mirror, I found my reflection and I was antsy. Everything was going well, almost perfect, and still I felt empty.
I did the stupidest thing I probably could’ve done; I reached into my clutch and grabbed my cell phone. Ezekiel hadn’t called or texted during this date, but he’d left enough texts to let me know he was probably somewhere worried.
It was a major faux pas, but I went to my call log that showed a red notification illustrating three missed calls, and hit the first banner for Ezekiel’s name and number.
There was a chance he wouldn’t answer. He had to get ready for BLVCKJVCK soon. But even if he did answer, what would I say? Why was I doing this? This was digging myself deeper—
“Hello?” There was a hint of alarm in Ezekiel’s voice on his end of the phone as he picked up right away.
“Hey,” I breathed out, suddenly nervous and ashamed.
I heard him sigh in relief. “What were you, sleeping all day?”
This was Ezekiel, someone who I could be honest with. Chances were, he wouldn’t even care about my date. “Uh, no, I spent my morning with Paisley and she set me up on this date, and—”
“You’re on a date?” he interrupted, his tone changing from relief to surprise.
“Yeah, I kinda snuck away to return your call.”
“So, you’re out right now with someone?”
I pushed a hand through my hair. “Yeah, he’s nice.”
“Oh.” His tone was empty now. “Well, don’t let me stop you from enjoying yourself.”
He was going to hang up and that should’ve been okay, but it wasn’t what I wanted.
I paused. “I mean, he’s nice but I…I don’t know.”
“How fast can you get here?” Ezekiel cut in, wanting to know.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not repeating myself.”
I paused, pulling my phone away from my ear and staring at it, watching the time of our call tick by. There was no missing the edge in his voice. “I…I don’t know.”
“Figure it out.” He hung up and the call ended.
My mouth fell open and I stared down at my phone in disbelief.
Irritation took over and I almost threw my phone.
He could go fuck himself.
I started to stalk back out to the table, but then I caught myself.
Ezekiel had never sounded like that before.
Clipped and monotone. I was pissed as hell at the rude way he demanded I come over and hung up on me, but at the same time, I was aroused by the fact that he was upset.
Alarms were going off and my heart was racing.
Gray was nice, promising even, but I did not want to play video games with him.
As much as I wanted to leave, a stubborn part of me refused to give in just yet. Instead, I took a calming breath and headed back out to the table where Gray was waiting.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
He was a handsome man. One with ambition and what seemed like a clear and honest heart. On paper, he was exactly what I was looking for.
It was just too bad I was stupidly caught up on someone else. Someone who made me feel desirable, sexy, smart, and capable.
“Everything’s great,” I said. And I wished it was.
We had nice conversation as I picked over my dinner. Gray was easy to talk to and seemed sincere enough, but there was no downplaying how distracted I was. How I was anticipating the moment the date was over.
“We’ll have to do this again sometime. I had a nice night, Nastasia,” Gray was saying as he helped me from my chair after paying the check.
I gave a shy smile, nodding along, knowing I more than likely would not be seeing him again. “Thank you, I had a great time as well.”
To think, I was closing the door on what was probably a sure thing to take a risk with a self-confessed commitment-phobe.
I would kick myself for it in the morning, but I allowed Gray to walk me out to my car and see me off. Once on the street, out of Room’s parking lot, I made my getaway with an inkling of regret in my stomach.
For the night, I pushed my failed date to the back of my mind as I made it over to The Millennial.
I was on fire, driven wild with electric currents buzzing throughout my body as I entered the lobby.
The first thing I wanted to do once I set eyes on Ezekiel was smack the Black off him for the way he’d spoken to me on the phone.
Yet, as I stood on the other side of his door after riding the elevator, all that fire bubbled over to pure nerves and anxiety.
I knocked once, leaving my fist on the door and questioning my sanity.
That single knock was all it took, because soon the door was moving, leaving my fist to fall to my side.
Ezekiel was on the other side, offering enough space for me to cross through his threshold. Dressed in a long-sleeved thermal and black pants, he didn’t look too happy to see me.
And then my anger started right back up as I marched inside past him.
“First of all, fuck you for the hickey. Second, I have every right to see who I—”
My words never got out because in seconds he was taking my arm, spinning me around, and grasping my face and kissing me.
My back met the nearest wall as I let out the longest moan.
Yesss.
His body was against mine and his lips were stealing my own. Consuming me until all I could think about was him. God, it felt so good. Better than I’d ever imagined he’d feel to kiss.
All too soon his mouth was gone from mine as he lowered his attention to my throat, planting kisses there as his hands peeled the straps to my dress down.
Oh.
He trailed his tongue around his hickey and my knees buckled beneath me.
Wasting no time, Ezekiel dipped down and picked me up, going and carrying me over to his bedroom. We were in the door a minute before he whisked off my heels and tossed them to the side.
He set me on the bed and I immediately I got up on my knees and reached for his shirt.
Ezekiel swatted at my hands, and a glare in his eyes had me settling back.
He was in control.
In a blur, he’d reached back and tore his shirt off and it disappeared somewhere on the floor.
Ezekiel resumed his mission as he pushed me back and crawled up my body, making me clench my thighs together.
He peered down between us at the action and shook his head. Soon, his lips were on mine and I moaned into his mouth. I wanted this. All of this. So, so bad.
Once more he left my mouth and traveled elsewhere, his teeth grazing my skin as he did so.
Slowly, painfully, Ezekiel kissed from my neck to my cleavage as he pulled my dress down from by body.
I lifted my hips up to help him take it all the way off.
To speed up the process of what I wanted, I reached behind myself and undid my bra and quickly flung it to the side.
The sudden air caused my nipples to pebble as I lay before Ezekiel ready for what this was, not caring about what happened after.
For a moment he stared at me, taking me in. And then he resumed his trail of kisses, starting over at my breasts. It was gradual and agonizing, bringing me to the brink, ready for a release. It was like he was a patient student, taking his time to learn my body. And I loved it.
When he reached below my belly button he paused. The silence was loud and I could feel a charge in the air.
With his eyes on me Ezekiel tore off those delicate lace panties I so meticulously picked out. The anger in his eyes told me all that I needed to know, as if it weren’t already clear: he was jealous.
“UH!” I jumped at the first contact of his lips between my thighs, of his tongue spreading me open and sweeping over me.
His right hand found my right breast and he squeezed gently, his left hand was under my left knee, keeping it pushed back as he continued tasting me.
“Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Zeeeke,” I whined as I felt a storm building deep in my core.
The focused concentration on my clit as he sucked it into his mouth had me shuddering and shaking. Slow laps and hard sucks. It was a tortuous cycle. Before long, I was pure liquid, a sensation above consciousness. Ascension. But that wasn’t enough for him.
Cold air hit me as Ezekiel raised up. I could only see the ceiling, but I could hear him taking off his pants and soon his boxer briefs.
He came back on me as he leaned over and dug something out of his nightstand. The sight of a square foil packet was all I needed to see to know what was coming next.
But it wasn’t that simple.