Cutting Loose (10 page)

Was she strong enough to face the kind
of things people were going to be saying to her if she followed through with
things? Could she possibly see herself falling in love with a white guy or
anybody for that matter?

 Brett noticed she stopped walking and
turned around. He walked towards her and asked, “Sabrina, is everything okay?”

She couldn’t answer him. All she could
do was look at his handsome face and looked into his hazel eye that told her he
could sense her worry.

They were face to face. She looked at
him and said, “I don’t know if I’m ready for this yet.”

He waited a beat. “What is it that
you’re not ready for?”

“An interracial relationship and all the
drama that comes along with it. I don’t think I can handle it.”

At this point, she half-expected him to
laugh in her face or maybe even walk off raving like a lunatic or some other
form of reaction that wasn’t so great . She just knew she blew things already.

Even with the way his calming eyes told
her otherwise, nothing in the world could have prepared her for what was about
to happen next.

Brett gently put his arm around Sabrina
and said, “I understand exactly how you’re feeling. How? Because like I told
you at the club, I’ve dated outside of my race before. Yes in the beginning it
was scary but I had to learn to roll with the punches and be strong. I can be
strong enough for the both of us. Yeah people are going to say they don’t like
seeing us together but who cares about what they think. I don’t care about
anybody’s opinion that isn’t relevant.” He paused and added, “See me, I’m a
rebel and I like to break rules. I hate rules and restrictions.”

Sabrina carefully listened and
considered his every word. She didn’t know why, but something about him was
drawing her to him like a magnetic force. She should have known she was going
to end up having this conversation with him sooner or later but she didn’t
think it would be so soon. But since it was all out in the open and she sensed
that she could trust Brett to be there for her along the road they had ahead of
them, something told her to just let it all go and stop being so
straight-laced. And the fact that he was a rebel sounded so sexy to her.
Besides, there was no point in ruining a good thing before it even started. It
was plain senseless.

“Thank you for understanding. I haven’t
been on a date in two years, so I’m a little wound up.”

“No problem.” He paused. “Two years?”

“Yes, two years,” repeated Sabrina.
“That’s not funny you know. Two years of bullshit, I should add.”

“Damn.” Brett laughed. “Well, forget
about that fool. He obviously didn’t know how to treat a woman. Come on, let’s
have some fun.”

Sabrina chuckled. “I’m ready.”

They strolled into the bowling alley and
rented their bowling shoes and got their bowling balls. Sabrina just knew the
night was going to be very eventful; from the moment she started walking in her
shoes she damn near slipped on the slippery floor. Thank goodness Brett was
able to hold her up with his strong arms.

“If you bust your ass can I laugh at you
without you getting mad at me?” teased Brett once they sat down.

Sabrina chuckled. “No, you can’t.”

“You’re no fun.” Brett continued to
laugh with an image of Sabrina slipping and falling on her ass running through
his mind.

She looked down at the bowling pins and
asked, “So how does this work, like how do you score points?”

“It’s simple; you take the bowling ball
and you try hitting as many pins as you can in one hit.”

“That sounds pretty easy. I can do
that.”

He looked at her manicure nails and
said, “I sure hope so with those long cat claws of yours.”

She giggled. “My nails aren’t all that
long.”

She held them, out in front of her and
asked, “Do you think they will get in the way?”

“Maybe.” He stood up with his bowling
ball and said, “Let’s go find out.”

“Here we go.”

Sabrina just prayed like hell that her
nails didn’t break. She just got them done, not to mention the investment she
put into them.

Brett was the first to go, so of course
he had to show off his expert bowling skills and managed to knock down all the
pins on his first try. He made it look so easy.

“Your turn,” he smiled and said once he
came back. “Let’s see what you got.”

How hard could it be? She asked herself
as she picked up her pink bowling ball and stepped up to the black line. She
had somewhat of an idea as to what she was supposed to be doing besides trying
her best to knock down all the pins on her first try. It would have been nice
if her ball wasn’t so damn heavy, or maybe she was just a little weak in the
arms?

She should have known that her nails
were going to get in the way but she wanted to give it a try anyway just for
the hell of it. Plus, she wanted to show off a little bit. Hell, a lot. From
the moment she put her four fingers in the holes and positioned herself in a
weird stance, she felt she was doing something right, even if Brett was
laughing up a storm behind her. In one instant she was holding the ball with
her strong arm an in the next, the ball flew out of her hand and rolled passed
all the balls without hitting a single one.

“Damn, that was horrible,” Sabrina said,
burying her face in her hands. “I didn’t even hit one.”

“Aww, don’t worry about it,” Brett said
coolly. “You’ll get better at it. You’re not going to flip out are you?”

Sabrina removed her hands from her face.
“Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re
impatient. Remember, I did see you live in action not once, but twice.”

She smiled at the flashback she got when
they first met in the grocery store and she let her temper get the best of her
then and when she was at the club.

“Those were two totally different
scenarios.” She turned to the screen and said, “Anyways, Mr. Big Shot, you’re
up.”

He stood up and stretched. “Alright.” He
grabbed his bowling ball and said, “Come over here for a sec. I want to show
you something.”

Sabrina got up and walked over to where
he was standing. “What’s up?”

“I want to show you my technique. You
might not get it on the first try, but hey, it’s worth trying.”

She didn’t know what was going to happen
next or even suspect things were going to get interesting. That was until Brett
led her to the line and handed her his bowling ball. Then he stood behind her
and said, “See the arrows on the floor?”

“Yeah,” she answered shyly, not even
looking. She was too busy feeling the body heat that was building between them
as she felt his strong, smooth hands on hers.

“See, the arrows are a guide to knocking
the pins down. So basically all you have to do is line up the ball with the
arrows and hit the pin right in the front.”

She didn’t care about a word he was
saying. All she cared about was the intense arousal feeling she was getting as
she felt Brett’s crotch rub against her backside. And his cologne. His cologne
was driving her crazy. She just prayed the moment would last forever.

She brought herself from her thoughts to
reality, where Brett was speaking.

“See how easy that was?”

“Um, yeah,” said Sabrina, fanning
herself with her hands. “It’s getting hot in here. I think I need to sit down
for a minute.”

“Are you alright?” Brett asked
immediately rushing to her side to help her sit down. “Can I get you some water
or something?”

Sabrina managed to respond, “Uh, I think
I’ll be all right.” She added, “Could you please bring me some water?”

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll be right back.”

Once Brett took off to retrieve her
water, Sabrina took a moment to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t believe how
embarrassing that was. Getting all hot and bothered for no reason. Sure, she
hadn’t felt a man’s touch in what, six months? Was there a law that said she
couldn’t take a little joy in copping a feel on a man’s crotch without feeling
bad about it?

She smiled to herself and began to relax
her tense body at the thought of how good it felt when Brett was standing
behind her, rubbing up against her. Even if he wasn’t doing it on purpose it
was definitely leaving an impression that she was interested in seeing him on
another date.

Brett returned with two cups in one hand
and a platter of French fries in the other. He sat the drinks and food down on
the table and said, “I hope you like French fries.”

“Are you kidding?” said Sabrina,
snatching up a fry and nibbling off a piece of the salty goodness. “I love
French fries.”

Brett smiled. “Wow. Me too.”

Sabrina sipped on her ice-cold water and
looked at the scoreboard.

“Damn, Brett. You’re kicking my ass.”

He chuckled and said, “Yes, I sure am.”
He paused and added, “I have a deal; whoever wins gets to pick what we do on
our next date and the loser has to front the bill. How does that sound?”

Taken aback by his boldness, Sabrina
damn near chocked on her water. “Hold your horses, cowboy. Who said anything
about a second date?”

His face turned serious. “Oh, I’m sorry.
I just assumed that since we are having such a good time that a second date
would be obvious.”

At first, she posed the question as a
tease, just to see how he would respond. And to her surprise, his he reacted
just the way she thought he would. In the back of her mind, she was elated to
go on a second date with him.

“Well, your assumption was somewhat
right. I must admit that I am feeling a little connection between us. So, a
second date would be perfect.” She picked up a fry and said, “I think you’ve
got yourself a deal.”

Brett smiled and extended his hand.

“Shake on it?”

Sabrina shook his hand and made the deal
official, knowing damn well she was going to lose the bet just for her lack of
bowling skills. All in all, it was a win/win situation for her because she was
going to be seeing him again and she was going to be able to enjoy his company
versus spending another long night at the office to avoid facing an empty
house.

Brett stood up and said, “Well, on that
note, let’s get back to the game.”

He went over and grabbed his bowling
ball. He stepped up to the line, paused for a moment and rolled the ball down
the lane with much force.

“Strike!” he roared when he came back to
Sabrina with a big smile on his face. “Getting nervous yet?”

“Not even close,” laughed Sabrina,
getting up to retrieve her bowling ball. Sabrina got into position and threw
her bowling ball down the lane with much difficulty, not hitting one pin.

“Damn it. Another gutter ball,” she
murmured after taking her seat. Sabrina glared at Brett and said, “Okay, fine,
you win. I give up.”

Brett wrapped an arm around her and
asked, “You’re giving up already?”

“Yes,” she sulked, not looking even
looking at him. She knew she was terrible at bowling and for a first date,
things weren’t going like she thought they would. In the few minutes she sat
there with his arm wrapped around her, his warm body next to hers, she felt
like she was staring to melt away and it didn’t matter how angry she was
feeling at how terrible her mood had changed in one instant.

Brett held her tighter and said, “Don’t
worry about it. Everybody sucks their first time.”

“Oh, God,” laughed Sabrina as a dirty
image of herself and Brett making love on the floor passed through her mind,
making her think about how their first time being intimate would be. Seeing
that she never in a million years saw herself sleeping with a white guy, the
thought intrigued her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said nonchalantly, still
not looking at him. She knew if she took that chance she would be igniting the
fire that was slowly building inside of her that was yearning to be set free.
She stood up and said, “Let’s finish this game while the night is still young.”

Brett stood up as well and said, “Okay.
Don’t start crying when I beat your butt.”

“Puh-lease!” she laughed out loud. “I’m
a big girl—and big girls don’t cry.”

Several moments later, Sabrina held onto
what little remained of her self-esteem after getting her butt kicked.

“I thought you said big girls don’t
cry,” said Brett after they game was over and they were back in his car heading
off to their next destination.

“I’m not crying,” Sabrina said coolly. “I
think something flew in my eye.”

“Let me get it for you,” he said,
cupping her face in his hands. He gently held her eyelid open with his thumb
and blew into her eye lightly. “All done.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Sabrina couldn’t help but feel like she
was starting to like Brett much more than she expected to, given the fact that
she was scared out of her mind in the first five minutes of their date. Then
there was the point in which she got her ass handed to her when Brett beat her
effortlessly in bowling. She kept taking glances at him from the corner of her
eye as they drove to wherever, wondering what it was that in store for her.

Sabrina relaxed and put her thoughts
aside once Brett told her that he was taking her to a nearby art gallery. Once
there, they walked around and looked at the paintings in the show room that
were from famous painters and some artifacts that had been preserved over the
years.

Since Sabrina wasn’t that much into art
or anything culturally near it, she sipped on the free wine that was available
and tried to have a good time. Satisfaction came from seeing the excitement in
Brett’s face as he eyed the artwork and asked questions about this and that.

After the art gallery they went to and
ice cream parlor and shared a couple laughs and small talk about nothing in
particular.

It was a quarter after nine when Brett
finally dropped Sabrina off at her doorstep.

“Thanks for a wonderful evening,”
Sabrina said, slipping her key into the keyhole and turning to face Brett at
the same time.

He smiled and replied, “You’re very
welcome.” He inched his way closer to her and closed the gap between them.

“Um,” Sabrina started to say but lost
her train of thought as she found herself staring into Brett’s green eyes as he
stared back into hers, predicting her next move.

In one instant she was thinking about
pressing her lips against his, and in the next she was locking her door and
running upstairs to her bedroom.

Chapter Nine:

House Call

As if her life wasn’t complicated
enough, she had to deal with the constant naughty dreams she had been having
ever since the night she went out with Brett. She felt like a schoolgirl who
had never been kissed before. She knew it had been a while since she felt the
touch of a man’s lips on hers, but damn it, Brett took the cake. He had to be
the best kisser she had in a long time.

Just thinking about the way he put his
hands on her waist and pulled Sabrina into him and pressed his soft, luscious
lips onto hers made her head spin. Constantly throughout the day she had to
remind herself that it was only a kiss that lasted five seconds, maybe even
longer, that she interrupted when she freaked out and lost her mind. She didn’t
even know why she freaked out the way she did but she did know that she was mad
as hell at her own self for being so irrational.

“Should I call him first or should I
wait for him to call?” Sabrina asked as she shuffled in a circular motion
around her desk at work.

“It depends,” said Raquel. “See, if you
call him back, you’re going to seem desperate to see him again. But if you wait
for him to call, then it will be a lot easier, that way you don’t look clingy,
you know?”

“Yeah,” said Sabrina coolly. “That’s
true, and I don’t want to seem clingy.”

Raquel pondered for a minute. “He sounds
like a really nice guy. And where did you say you met him?

“At the grocery store in the wine aisle,
and then I ran into him again at a club.”

“Wow. Talk about fate.” Why did everyone
keep saying that?

Sabrina looked at Raquel and said, “You
don’t actually believe in that crap do you?”

Raquel looked as if she was offended and
said, “Heck yeah, I do. Are you serious?”

Sabrina laughed. “Girl, c’mon. I bet you
be reading those horoscopes and living by every word they say.”

“I do,” she said matter-of-factly. She
reached into her pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and asked, “What’s your
sign?”

“Why?”

“Just tell me. Please?”

Sabrina paused and said, “Libra.”

Raquel scanned the paper she was holding
and said, “Today you should not hold back and take risks because that certain
someone will be waiting for you.” Raquel looked up from her paper and squealed,
“Oh my goodness that was so sweet!”

“Raquel,” said Sabrina, “I pay you to be
my assistant, not give romantic advice.”

“I know,” said Raquel. “But does it hurt
to take a little advice?”

“Last time I took your advice, my hair
started falling out.”

Raquel laughed. “Oh, yeah. Well, that
was different. Anyways, I think you should wait a couple days and if he doesn’t
call you first, call him up with some fake excuse just to see him. Trust me,
I’ve done it plenty of times and it worked most of the time.”

Sabrina smiled. “I’ll think about it.
Meanwhile, I have work to do and so do you. Is Camille in her office?”

“Um, I think she went out a while ago.
She said something about needing fresh air or something.”

“Okay. In that case, I need you to call
up the photographers and have them confirm the photo shoot tomorrow with Tyson
Beckfrod and Iman at ten A.M. Also, I need you to reschedule the meeting with
Tyra Banks from three-fifteen to two-thirty then I need you check with Sean
about tomorrow’s staff meeting.”

“All right, I’m all over it, chief.” She
smiled and added, “Can I get you some coffee or anything while I’m out?”

“Um, that’s okay. Thanks anyway.”

After she was done at the office she
didn’t get home until after nine thanks to Camille being a bitch by making the
meeting they had scheduled for two hours go on for an extra hour and a half
because she wasn’t satisfied with the way things weren’t turning out in her
favor and she had a millions things on her plate and not close to being
finished.

She hated getting home late but she
really couldn’t do anything about it. She went upstairs to her room and peeled
off her clothes and took a hot shower. She wanted to stay up and read a novel
to help her sleep but she passed out before she could even think about what
book she wanted to read.

***

Most people spent their Saturday’s at
home cleaning up their place or even relaxing and taking it easy. Then again,
most people weren’t like Sabrina who spent her Saturday’s working from her
laptop. She knew she didn’t need to be working today but she was still waiting
to see whether or not Brett was going to call her first.

Cassandra and Larissa both called her up
and begged her to go to Key West with them for a weekend of partying but
Sabrina wasn’t up for that game anymore. Not when she had Brett on her mind
24/7 invading her thoughts. At first she tried to fight it but then she decided
to just go with the flow and let whatever was going to happen between them do
just that.

She put her laptop aside as she listened
to a song off of her copy of Mary J. Blige’s latest album, Growing Pains and
fell in love with the track “Hurt Again.” She rocked back and forth and was
crooned by the smooth, slow beat and found herself singing aloud, “I’ve been
there, and I’ve done that and I promise never to get hurt again. Never again.”

After about the tenth time of playing
the song back to back, she thought about how she was going to protect herself
from enduring the bullshit she had to put up with in the past.

A teardrop fell from her eyes and she
regretted even thinking about Carl. So she drowned her tears in the loud music
that was thumping from the speakers of her laptop, Mary J. Blige telling her
not to be moping around and that she was liking what she saw when she walked
past the mirror.

Instinctively, Sabrina got up and stood
in front of her own mirror and said aloud, “Do I like what I see when I walk
pass the mirror?”

It would not have been such a hard
question to answer if she really did like the reflection that stared back at
her, showing her bloodshot eyes rimmed with tears. She sniffled and wiped her
eyes. She went upstairs to her bedroom and straightened herself up. She was
sick of torturing herself for no apparent reason at all.

She went into the closet and stumbled
across a box labeled Carl’s Junk and immediately grabbed it off of the shelf
and heaved it down stairs to the living room. Then she dumped everything out of
the box and stared at the contents that made her want to vomit. All the gifts
and other material things she gave to Carl over the years stared at her and
exasperated her even more. Months ago Carl had agreed to pick up the rest of
his crap but since he neglected to do so, he left Sabrina no other choice but
to dispose of it.

She didn’t hesitate at all to toss it
all in a garbage bag and put it outside. She didn’t need anything reminding her
of her past with a liar and a cheater when she had a new beau in mind. When she
was back inside her spirits were lifted and she felt like she was ready to make
the first move instead of waiting on Brett to come around.

She picked up the phone and listened to
the dial tone for a few seconds as she pondered what she was going to do to get
Brett to come over and how she was going to do it. Then she had a brainstorm.

She remembered Raquel’s suggestion and
found herself messing around with her seven-year-old desktop computer that she
put in the garage ever since it crashed years ago and never had the time to
throw it away or try to get it repaired. She remembered reading Brett’s
business card and seeing that he was a computer technician and knew just about
everything about computers.

“Hi, Brett. I didn’t catch you at a bad
time did I?” asked Sabrina after she called him up some ten minutes after
building up enough confidence.

“Uh, no, not really. What’s up?”

She sighed. “Nothing is up with me, but
my computer is acting up and I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Do you think
you can come over and take a look at it?”

He paused and said, “Um, sure. When is a
good time to stop by?”

“Now would be fine, if you can work that
out in your schedule.”

“No problem. I’ll be there in about half
an hour.”

“Perfect.”

She hung up and jumped for joy.

Immediately, she went upstairs and took
a quick shower, fixed her hair into a nice ‘do so it fell to her shoulders, she
sprinkled on a dash of perfume, tossed on a cute top and a pair of skimpy
jeans.

When the doorbell ring some moments
later she jumped up from the couch and peered through the curtains in the
living room and saw a blue-and-white van with the words “Service by Deltour”
written in bold black letters across the side.

She looked through the peephole and saw
him standing at her door dressed in a white dress shirt and navy blue slacks.

Sabrina opened the door and said, “I’m
glad you could make it.”

He smiled and said, “I’m off the clock
right now so consider this as a favor.”

Sabrina smiled back and stepped to the
side. “Come on in. It’s hot today.”

When he came inside she led him to her
office where her piece of shit desktop computer sat. She intentionally left it
unplugged to add a little more drama, but hoping not to make herself look like
a fool.

“How long have you had this computer?”
he asked with a wrinkled faced. “It looks outdated.”

She suppressed a laugh and replied, “Uh,
I’ve had it since oh-one. Is that bad?”

He scratched his head and said, “I’d say
so.” He walked over to the computer and started examining it. He mashed the
power button and waited for it to respond.

“You might want to plug it in first,”
Sabrina said coolly.

He looked at Sabrina and said, “Hey, I
am a professional.”

“Sure about that?” teased Sabrina. “You
could have fooled me.”

She could tell he wanted to say
something but she walked out of the room and went to the living room.

After a good fifteen minutes or so she
went back to the office to check on Brett, or just to be nosey.

“Any luck figuring out what’s wrong with
it?”

“Not even close.” He straightened up and
turned to Sabrina and asked, “Do you remember when the last time was that you
used the computer?”

“Um, about a couple months ago,” she
lied quickly. “I was checking my email and then the screen turned black and
some words came across the screen.”

He looked at the monitor and said, “From
the dust it has collected, I can tell it’s been a while. So, you say you saw
words on the screen. What did they say?”

“I don’t know what it said verbatim. I
think it was something like the system has reached a critical level and
something else about rebooting the system.”

“Hmm,” Brett said as he stared at
Sabrina and scratched his chin. He took another looked at the computer monitor
and back at Sabrina and asked, “Did you have any virus protection software
installed on the computer?”

“No, I don’t think so. Why, you think it
was a virus that attacked the computer and caused it to crash?”