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Authors: Shana Burton

BOOK: Catt Chasing
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Chapter 14
“These roads seem to go on forever,” whined Catt, looking out of the window as Jamal drove them toward what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
“According to the GPS, we should hit civilization in about an hour or so.” Jamal's phone beeped, indicating an incoming text message. “Can you check that for me?”
“It's from Oni.” She read the message. “She wants you to e-mail her the spec numbers or something like that. She says she deleted it by mistake.”
“Okay, scroll through my phone and click on my e-mail account and forward the e-mail from Oni. It should have yesterday's date on it,” instructed Jamal.
Catt began scrolling through the phone. “I see it.” She forwarded the e-mail to Oni. The phone beeped again. “You've got another text. You want me to check it?”
“Yeah, it's probably Oni again to let me know she got it.”
Catt looked at the message. A look of disgust swept over her face. “Eww,
what
is this?” she squealed. She held up the phone, which had a picture of a woman spread eagle on the screen.
He glanced at the picture with a simper. “You came equipped with one, so you know what it is. A more appropriate question would be
whose
it is.”
“According to the message attached to it, it's yours.” Catt frowned. She scanned through the other pictures in his phone, which included more naked and scantily clad women in various poses. “Do these women have no shame?”
“Why should they be ashamed of their bodies?”
“I didn't say they should be ashamed of their bodies, but they should be ashamed to send their genitals via text message.”
“What's wrong with taking some sexy pics? It's fun.”
“No, it's sleazy, and it's trashy.”
Jamal smacked his teeth and eyed her with skepticism. “So you've never taken or received some buck-naked pictures?”
“No. That's disgusting. I don't like porn.”
“It's not porn. It's . . . celebrating your sexuality.”
“Are you serious? In this day and age, a picture like that could end up on the Internet or get forwarded to the wrong person. Before you know it, the whole world will know things only your gynecologist is supposed to be privy to!”
“You have to be selective about who you send them to, and if they're really racy, you don't put your face in the shot.”
She rejected either option. “I don't need coaching in proper naked picture etiquette, thank you very much.”
He snatched his phone back from her and began dialing. “You're way too uptight, Catt. What's so terrible about embracing your sexuality and injecting a little fun into your life?”
“I try to live holy, Jamal. Taking nasty pictures and sending them to my friends isn't part of that process.” Her phone vibrated. She checked it and her eyes widened to the size of saucers. She abruptly ejected the phone from her hands. “
Eww!
”
Jamal howled, laughing.
Catt looked down at the image on the phone in horror and a little fascination. “Oh my God, is that you?”
Jamal nodded. “Impressive, isn't it?”
Catt covered her hands with her face. “Oh my God, why did you send me that? Why didn't you warn me?” She let down the window. “I think I'm going to be sick!”
Jamal laughed again. “Lighten up, C.C. I'm just having a little fun with you, that's all.”
“Watching me suppress the urge to throw up through my eyeballs is your idea of fun? Why would you think my definition of fun would be getting flashed by pictures of your . . .
package!
Why do you even walk around with that in your phone?”
“For moments like this,” he retorted.
“Is
this
what you show women when you meet them? Is giving a woman your business card considered passé now?”
“It's my way of giving 'em something to look forward to.”
Catt shook her head piteously. “You're such a pervert!”
Jamal took his eyes off the road for a moment to watch her. “Look at you all out of breath over there. Are you in shock or intrigued?”
“Are you kidding me? That's way more of you than I ever wanted to see.” She picked up the phone and promptly hit Delete. But not before taking one last glimpse. “Now, we can pretend that never happened, although I'm afraid that image may be permanently burned into my brain.”
“Catt, every woman I know has taken at least one naughty picture of herself. You really need to try it. It's liberating.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “And exactly
who
would I be taking it for?”
“For you! It's an ego boost, like saying to the world, ‘Yeah, I'm sexy, and I know it!'”
She shot her nose in the air. “I'm not that vain. Not to mention that I don't like looking at myself naked.”
Jamal seemed shocked. “Why not?”
“Jamal, come on.” She sighed. “You said yourself that I'm not what you'd consider modelesque.”
“It doesn't matter what I think. I'm just some dude you work with. What matters is what
you
think.”
“I don't think I'm ugly or anything like that. I just don't feel all that sexy, not with this extra weight on me,” she confided to him.
“You can look good naked at any size. It's all about attitude.” He thought for a moment. “I'll tell you what. When we check into the hotel, I want you to go into the bathroom, take all your clothes off, and take some pictures. I guarantee it'll give you a whole new lease on life.”
Her mouth flew open. “Are you
serious?
”
“Shoot, yeah! It'll do you some good to tap into your inner Playboy bunny.”
“I think I'll pass on that one. Once we check in, I intend to take a long, hot shower, finish reading Proverbs, and go to bed.”
“Catt, I admire your commitment to Christ and holy living, I really do, but you've got to live a little sometimes. I keep telling you, there's a whole life outside the church and the office.”
“I know that!” she snapped.
“Then act like it! While you're taking that shower, go on and take a picture.”
“No, thanks. I'm not in the habit of doing things that I know I'm going to regret later.”
“Don't say I never tried to help you bring sexy back,” said Jamal.
Catt dozed off. When she awakened, Jamal was taking their luggage out of the truck and preparing to check into the hotel.
She stuck her head through the window and called to him. “You need some help?”
“I got it. Why don't you go on and get the room keys. I'll catch up with you in the lobby.”
After getting them checked into separate rooms and agreeing to meet for dinner in the hotel's restaurant in an hour, Catt and Jamal parted ways.
Once in the room, Catt stripped down and turned the shower's hot water on full blast. She scrubbed away the grime and dirt of the day and emerged from the shower feeling like a new woman.
Catt caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror as she toweled off. She looked directly into the mirror, then turned for a profile view. Her body wasn't perfect, but her skin was smooth and tight. She admired the structure of her arms—thick but not flabby—and the roundness of her breasts. Her thighs had a little cellulite on them, but that was okay. She'd always loved her shapely golden legs, which hardly ever required shaving. No one could argue that she had a pretty face. She smiled at the image in the mirror. She actually looked good naked, good enough for a picture even.
Catt stealthily reached over to her phone lying on the sink. The thought of taking nude pictures was exhilarating, like running naked through the sprinkler.
She angled the cell phone in the mirror to take the most flattering position of herself. But she was nervous, and the first few shots came out too blurry. Eventually, with a steady hand, she'd taken one that didn't look half bad. It was kind of sexy.
She
was kind of sexy.
She posed in seductive positions like the women on Jamal's phone. Catt decided to take her newfound confidence and sexiness a step further. It was risky, but she was in that kind of mood. She snapped a picture of herself with her towel draped over her private parts but still revealing enough skin to know she wasn't wearing anything else. She went to “recent” on her phone and hit Jamal's number, giggling like a schoolgirl as she sent the picture to him. She figured he would get a kick out of the picture and even more, that she had the nerve to follow through with taking it. The giggles, however, quickly turned to gasps when the phone registered a message that read “Successfully sent to Daddy.”
“
What? No!”
she cried. She frantically searched through the phone trying to see what went wrong. It soon became apparent that her nervous hand accidentally pressed her father's name instead of Jamal's.
“Oh my God! Oh, Jesus! This is not happening!” she wailed. She glanced at the picture again and cringed when she thought about what her father's reaction would be to seeing it.
Catt threw on a T-shirt and jeans and hightailed it to Jamal's room across the hall. She banged on the door with the force of a SWAT team.
Jamal swung open the door. “Are you crazy? What's wrong with you, beating on my door like that?”
Catt shoved him aside and barged into the room. “You're such as idiot, Jamal! I can't believe I listened to you!”
“What?”
Catt slammed the door shut. “I took those stupid pictures like you told me to.”
Jamal beamed and gave her two thumbs-up. “Good for you! So what's the problem?”
She huffed and puffed as she paced the floor. “I knew listening to you could only result in disaster!”
“Calm down! Why you got your panties all in a bunch?”
She snorted. “That's a little hard to do considering that I wasn't wearing any!”
Jamal sat down on the bed. “Now, you've got me
really
interested. What happened?”
Catt took a deep breath. “Like I said, I took the freakin' pictures!”
“And?” he pushed.
She sat down next to him. “And I tried to send one to you—just for laughs, that's it!”
His eyes bulged. “For real?” He promptly began scrolling through his phone.
She covered her face with her hands, mortified. “Except I sent it to my dad by mistake!”
Jamal roared with laughter. “You did
what?
”
“I was nervous and hit the wrong name,” explained Catt. She fumed watching him laugh. “Shut up, Jamal! It's not funny!”
“You're right. It's hilarious!”
She punched him in the arm. “This is all your fault, you know.”
“Wait a minute. I only told you to take the pictures. I didn't say anything about sending them.”
“I guess I got caught up in the moment,” said Catt in a small voice.
Jamal grinned at her. “But it felt good, didn't it?”
“Yeah, it did,” she admitted—“until I realized I sent pictures of my breasts to my father. I feel completely humiliated right now.”
“I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell him your phone was hacked or something.”
“You want me to lie?”
“Do you want to tell him the truth? That you were taking freaky pictures to send to me?”
Catt thought it over. “You have a point. Perhaps honesty isn't the best policy in this case,” she conceded.
Jamal placed a hand on her shoulder. “The important thing to remember here is that you got outside your comfort zone. You did something impetuous and discovered something about yourself you didn't know before.”
She exhaled. “I guess I can look at it that way.”
“And speaking of looking,” his lips curved into a mischievous smirk, “you gon' let me see those pictures or what?”
“No!” shrieked Catt. “Nobody's ever going to see those pictures!”
“Except your dad, you mean.”
She sucked her teeth. “Very funny.”
“Maybe not so much right now, but I guarantee you're going to look back on this and laugh,” he assured her.
“That day can't come soon enough!” Catt was startled by her phone vibrating. She grimaced when she looked at the caller ID. “I guess we don't have to wonder whether my dad got the picture.”

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