Chapter 11
Eleven
Brick
“ H ey, shugga. It’s good to see you again,” Miss Dana said when she opened her front door.
I returned her smile and leaned in for a hug.
“Hey, Miss Dana,” I said, before she stepped to the side, allowing me to enter her home. I followed her into the living room. Reggie, who was sitting in a recliner adjacent to their television, stood when we walked in.
“How ya doin’, man?” he asked, offering me a hand. I dapped him up.
“Wassup, Reggie? I’m good.”
“What’s your plan for baby girl today?”
Taking a seat on the sofa, I ran a hand across my head. “I planned a lil surprise for her at Glass Garden.”
“Oh, she hasn’t been home since that place opened up,” Miss Dana said. “She’ll love it.”
Just as she said that, Dy emerged from the hall.
“I’m hopin’ so,” I replied, taking in my Doll’s beauty. She was rocking an oversized tan sweater that was bunched up at her elbows and a white tennis skirt that showed just enough to make my focus blur. She topped her fit off with some kicks and crew socks that made her whole vibe effortless.
The gold hoops in her ears and the chains layered just above her collarbone took me back to the middle school Dylan who loved gold jewelry and lip gloss.
Her vibe was comfortable. She wasn’t trying to impress, but somehow, looking away from her was an impossibility.
Dy looked good as fuck, and I was sure she knew it.
“Wassup, Doll?” I said, standing. Her cotton candy scent invaded my nostrils as I moved closer to her, and it took all the self-control I possessed not to bury my face in her neck when I pulled her in for a hug.
The stiffness in Dy’s body as she embraced me threw me way off. I would have chalked it up to her trying to remain respectful in front of her people if it weren’t for her quiet tone when she said, “Hi.”
I released her so that I could see her face. She wore a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes as she gazed back at me.
Something was clearly wrong, and my gut was telling me it had something to do with me.
But what could it have been? We didn’t get to talk much yesterday, because she spent the time with her parents.
She hit me up pretty late last night to say that she was going to spend the night at their house instead of mine.
I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now that we were together again, I realized there was a clear shift in her energy.
“You all right?” I asked.
She dropped her eyes briefly. When she lifted them again, she looked past me before meeting my gaze.
Nodding, she gave me another veiled smile. “I’m fine. You’re ready to go?”
Fine my ass.
I didn’t believe that at all, but I figured we needed to get out of her folks’ house before having a real conversation about whatever was going on, so I reached for her hand. For a millisecond, she hesitated before slipping hers into mine.
“Take care of our baby girl,” Reggie called behind us.
As we headed out of the room, I replied with, “Always.”
Once we made it outside, I opened my passenger door and helped Dy into my car silently. It wasn’t until I pulled away from the curb that I decided to speak up.
Glancing over at her, I asked again, “You all right?”
Dy was staring out of the passenger window, and it took at least ten seconds for her to look at me.
She sighed. “I will be. I’ve just been in my head a little.”
“In your head about what?”
“Can we talk about it later? I wanna enjoy this date with you.”
I was a stubborn nigga, so I wasn’t really trying to accept her putting my access to her thoughts and feelings on hold. I wanted to enjoy our date, too, though, so I decided to let it go, . . . for now.
With a nod, I said, “Cool. I planned something that should help pull you out of your head. At least a lil bit.”
She raised a brow.
“Really?”
I winked at her. “Hell yeah.”
“Oh my goodness. I saw this place from your balcony but couldn’t figure out what it was. It’s beautiful,” Dy said as we drove past the iron gates.
Glass Garden was a dome-shaped conservatory that was surrounded by lush greenery and glass walkways.
I had never been, but I did my research on nice places to take my lady the day before.
When I saw all the flowers and shit, I knew the place was right up Dylan’s alley.
I was sold once I realized I could rent out a portion of the venue for a private evening with her.
I parked in front of the valet area before stepping out and rounding the car to open Dy’s door. Once I helped her out of the car, I gave my keys to the driver.
“Come on, Doll,” I said, leading her past the valet area and to the ticket booth.
“Welcome to Glass Garden . Do you need tickets, or have you already purchased them online?” the woman behind the booth asked.
I have a private reservation for two. It’s under Brixton Ellis.”
We waited as the woman got to work on the computer in front of her. A few seconds later, she was smiling and handing us lime green tickets.
“Here you are. Please follow path number four, and you’ll find an attendant at your reservation spot at the end.” She pointed to a sign that read Path Two , and we thanked her before heading there.
We walked through several rows of tall ass bushes and followed a path that was lined by small lights. Dy was quiet, but she remained close to me as we walked. Her fingers brushed against mine, and I took advantage of the contact by grabbing her hand and lacing our fingers together.
“Have you been here before?”
I glanced at her. There was something woven into the question that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I heard a hint of jealousy in her tone, but that couldn’t have been it. Dy was it for me, and I didn’t need her thinking otherwise.
“Nah, I haven’t. I wanted to bring you somewhere that we could experience for the first time together.”
She smiled softly. “This was a great choice.”
We finally made it to the end of the path, and like the woman said, there was a man in the Glass Garden uniform waiting with his hands behind his back.
When he noticed us approaching, he took a step forward and smiled.
“Good evening. You must be Brixton Ellis and Dylan Davis?”
“We are.”
He nodded politely and said, “Right this way.”
He led us to the garden’s wine tasting lounge. It was built into a corner of the dome and gave a speakeasy vibe. For the next few hours, Dy and I had the place to ourselves. Already in the lounge was a man playing the piano softly in one corner and a dude standing behind the bar.
“I love this so much,” Dy said, almost whispering.
I leaned over and kissed her cheek, glad to see that she blushed right on cue.
“I’m glad,” I replied against her ear. Our attendant led us to the bar, which was lined with candles and had a charcuterie board with cheeses, chocolate, fruit, and bread on it. We took our seats.
“Good evening, Mr. Ellis and Ms. Davis. I am Andrés, and I’ll be the one spearheading your wine tasting experience, if that’s okay.”
“Sounds great,” Dy said, with more enthusiasm than she’d had since I picked her up from her mom’s house.
Andrés nodded. “All right,” he said, “today, we’ll be exploring six different pours. We’re going to get started with something light and end on a bold note.”
He pulled out two glasses and the first bottle of wine. He explained what type it was as he poured us up. I could barely focus on my glass because of how drawn I was to Dy’s juicy ass lips wrapped around hers.
She closed her eyes and gave a low moan of approval.
“This one would be bomb with some sushi,” she finally said.
“Look at you, sommelier in training,” Andrés said with a laugh. I cut my eyes at Dylan, and her ass was blushing. I tasted the wine, and it was cool, but I was more of a cognac guy myself. Wine never really did it for me, but I would do anything to make my Doll smile.
Glass by glass, dude walked us through the stories behind the wines. He told us where the grapes came from, how long they aged, and all kinds of other shit. I tried to pay attention, but Dylan’s face as she focused on the lesson was much more intriguing to me.
She is so damn beautiful.
Her cardigan fell slightly off her right shoulder as she swirled her glass of Malbec.
Her face was much more relaxed now, and she wore a comfortable smile.
Her eyes were low, but when she placed the glass to her lips, she closed them completely.
To say that I was obsessed with this woman’s beauty was a major understatement.
At some point during our tasting, a waitress came from out of a door behind the bar and took our food orders. By the time we were finishing our last glass, our plates were coming out.
We both ordered a ribeye, but Dylan’s was cooked medium while I ordered mine medium-well.
Andrés poured us another glass of Dylan’s favorite during the tasting, before disappearing behind that same door.
As soon as we were alone again, the tension between us that had disappeared during the tasting returned to the room. We ate silently for a while, until I placed my fork down and turned toward her.
I watched as her breath hitched, and she cast her gaze downward. Placing a hand on her thigh, I gently turned her barstool so that she was facing me.
She was looking everywhere except me, but I ended that when I lifted her chin with my fingers.
“You’ve been quiet since I picked you up. Something’s on your mind. Tell me what it is.”
She glanced at the door behind the bar and bit her lip, hesitating. For a minute, she didn’t answer me, and I was fully prepared to make my request again, when she finally spoke up.
I wasn’t sure what I expected to her to say, but it damn sure wasn’t her next words.
“I saw LaShontae yesterday.”
And there it was.
Her tone was low, and her eyes were glued to mine. She didn’t have to say anything else for me to understand how badly I had fucked up.