Intensity (10 page)

When I looked again, she smiled real wide, tilted the canister upside down, and squirted a mouthful of whipped cream inside, swirling it upward in a curly-cue sundae topping design. “You’re nuts, you know that?” I sat in my original seat, far away from the loony-bin side. Her manic, full-mouth giggles made me laugh too. I watched her, amazed she didn’t choke on the massive amounts she’d jammed in there.

After she swallowed several times and licked her lips, she set her hands on her hips and demanded, “You’re gonna help clean up, right?”

“You started it, you should have to do it. But since I’m such a
nice
person, I’ll lend a hand,” I said in a sickening sweet way.

“We better get started then. I’m sure Linc’s wondering where you are.”

My grin vanished, turning into a jaw-crunching scowl.

“What’s wrong?” She sat beside me, tucking her legs underneath and pulling my hand into her lap in a comforting gesture. “Spill it. That’s what girlfriends are for.”

“Okay.” I glanced at the TV, contemplating what I wanted to say. “When I woke up, he was gone. That’s not unusual since he works out in the morning. He left a note saying he wouldn’t see me until tomorrow night.”

“Hmm, he’s not the chatty type. So I don’t know what to tell ya.”

I remained quiet, curious about where he could’ve gone and not sure what else to say. We’d known each other for six days, but it felt longer. Sleeping alone tonight would feel strange. His naked body molded to my back and hand between my breasts seemed like the most natural thing in the world, as if a ritual had taken root and been growing for a hundred years. The first couple nights, it unsettled me, but by the third, he became my very own made-just-for-me-heated-blanket.

The attraction, the desire, the need to be with him got harder to ignore. Even with my firm plan in place, his daily presence messed with my head and my body. So far my job involved bartending and sleeping in his bed every night. No sex. What did that mean?

Mylaynee’s sweeping under my feet brought me out of my daydream. I didn’t even realize she’d gotten up. “So you gonna sit there all night and pout like some lovesick teenager?” She pointed to the messiest spot, where I’d thrown the fruit. “You have to clean that side.”

“You know…” I bounced up and took the broom from her hands. “You sound like a pain-in-the-butt big sister.”

She pecked me on the cheek and then pinched it. “Thanks, lil’ sis, love ya.” Her mega-watt smile and sweet declaration lightened my heart.

I pulled her into a bear hug, and knew right then and there I had a friend for life.

An envelope under the door revealed my first paycheck—woo-hoo! I made it one week. Good to his word, the check had one thousand dollars written across it. With the eight hundred I’d made in tips, my net turned out triple what I would have earned catering in the same amount of time.

Later, I’d do some calculating and figure out which bills to tackle first. I’d have to hire an attorney or private investigator in the future and deal with my biggest headache. Just thinking about it made my blood boil. The longer I let the issue go unanswered the worse it got. Avoiding it for much longer wasn’t wise, but dealing with it now wasn’t possible either. I’d buried the past a long time ago, and if I opened the wound now, it would bleed me dry. Yeah, like it hadn’t already.

I glanced down at the check and the LBJ, Inc. stamped in the corner. How did it work, I wondered? He’d have to conceal this place from the IRS. A dummy corporation? I chuckled. What the heck did I know? Mylaynee mentioned he’d been doing this about eight years. What would make him do it? It wasn’t like you woke up one day and said, “Hey, Mom and Dad, I want to go into business. Oh, by the way, I’m gonna open a sex club.”

Aargh, I had tons of things to accomplish today. On the agenda, jog to the bank, deposit the check, and get some bills paid.

Plan formulated.

And executed.

I stepped off the elevator and found B.B. pounding on my door.

“Is something wrong?”

She whipped toward me and crossed her arms. “You got some nerve, bitch,” she ground out between lips colored a disgusting Pepto-Bismol pink.

Not this again. First Tanya, now her. Well, I had enough of this bull. “Is there a problem?” I asked in a sugar-sweet voice.

She spat out through clenched teeth, “He. Is. Not. Your. Man.”

Huh?
Honestly, if I didn’t want to make things worse I would’ve laughed in her pissed- off face. My rule, avoid confrontation. I took a few steps back, tightening my muscles for any impending attack. “If you have a problem with that you need to take it up with Linc, not me. I’m here to do my job.” Irritated by this whole ordeal, I turned my back on her and tried to fit the key in the door. Not finished with me, she grabbed my shoulder and shoved me, knocking it out of my hand and blocking my entry. I growled, “Don’t touch me again,” and bent down to pick up the key. As soon as I clasped it in my palm, she stomped her wedged sandal on my curled hand, crunching it into the carpet.

When I glanced up, she clenched the door frame and exerted more pressure, cementing my hand to the floor. “I’m the only
exclusive
he’s got or needs. I’m his woman—before…” Crunch. “during…” Grinding harder. “and after.”

Abrupt and to the point I warned, “I’ll tell you what, take your foot off my hand right now, and I’ll let you walk away…
without
a bloody face
.”

She tilted her head back and burst into a throaty cackle, grinding her shoe along my knuckles and scraping the protruding bones.

Every muscle in my upper body tightened, and on a full-force upswing, my fist blindsided her snickering mouth, landing a roundhouse punch to her nose.

Multiple reactions resulted almost simultaneously—she screamed bloody murder, cupped her nose, removed her shoe from my aching hand, and began to creep backward as blood gushed down her shocked face.

As I straightened from my bent position, doors opened at her screeching. I flexed my sore knuckles, willing the blood flow to return. B.B. entered her apartment, leaving a disgusting bloody trail along the tan carpet.

Mylaynee rushed down the hallway that still echoed with faint wails and positioned herself next to me, my supportive friend. The other women took in the after effects and closed their doors. Evidently they weren’t concerned with the altercation or didn’t want to get involved.

“What the hell happened?” She looked between my face and B.B.’s door, shaking her head at the red stream.

“You wanna come inside? I’d rather not discuss it out here.” Not waiting for her reply, I turned the key, leading her to the living room. She sat next to me on the sofa as I plopped my feet on an ottoman and reclined my head on the back of the couch. I looked at her and shrugged with nonchalance. “She pissed me off.”

“Uh, you think? What’s that about?” she inquired, smirking like an eager child in a candy store loaded with an armful and anticipating a night filled with juicy treasures.

“She has a problem with me and Linc. I told her to take it up with him. She didn’t like my answer and crushed my hand with her foot. I warned her, she didn’t listen, so I clocked her.”

She twisted toward me and confided, “She’s got a thing for him, been wantin’ him a long time.”

“Figures.”

“She hasn’t been here long, but we never hit it off. I don’t like her and the other girls don’t either. She’s worse since she got buddy-buddy with Tanya. Those two are trouble.” She shook her head and advised, “I’d steer clear if I was you.”

If she thought so, then I would, but I hadn’t done anything to invite their anger. “I’m not here to create problems, but I’m not gonna let anyone bulldoze me either. I’m here to work, that’s it.”

“Girl, your job is fucking hot.” She fanned her face. “He keeps his distance, and that just makes him more irresistible. Fair warning, it’s not just B.B. gunnin’ for him.”

“Hmm…has he been with any of them?” Uncertain whether I wanted to know or not, but unable to help myself, I watched her face for the slightest revelation.

She leaned closer, setting a hand on my knee and confided, “I know they’ve tried. I’m not gonna lie. They talk about clients and experiences. As long as I’ve been here though, I’ve never seen
him touch any of them that way. Except
you
,” she emphasized, pinching my chin and shaking it.

I stared at a nonexistent spot on the wall, finding her claim hard to believe. What man wouldn’t indulge? No way a sexually charged male like Linc could resist. Although, he sure did with me. Shoot, maybe he wasn’t attracted to an average woman…or virgins.

Mylaynee squeezed my knee, pulling me out of my disconcerting thoughts. “Don’t worry about it, Serena. Whatever happened before you is in the past. When you two are in the same room he can’t keep his eyes and hands off you. I can tell you feel something for him. Just take it slow, see what happens, okay?”

My eyes closed, and I confessed, “He’s getting to me. I’m inexperienced and maybe that’s all it is—a crush—lust, but it scares me. I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I don’t even know what this is.” I sat up and clasped my hands together, making them hurt worse. As I rubbed them I tried to explain my convoluted feelings. “It’s different here. I mean, he’s paying me…and B.B., she says they’re together.” I watched Mylaynee, hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

She folded her legs up, tucking them behind her on the couch. “First, B.B. is full of shit.” A gush of air left my lungs. “Second, he’s paying you, yeah, but think about it this way. You’ve been bartending, right?” Not waiting for a reply she continued. “So he’s payin’ you to serve drinks. Claiming you as exclusive, to me it’s like he wants you to be his girlfriend.” Her words dug in, but I still didn’t speak. “Don’t think about what he’s payin’ you for. That isn’t what you should focus on.”

I processed what she said and tried to put it in some perspective. But with the drama in the hall and a never-ending hurricane named Linc, my brain twisted and whirled.

Caught in the middle of a storm, my response had been nothing…for now.

The office door opened, and Tanya exited, followed by a much shorter, stout bald man and Linc. As they wove through the lounge, Linc’s eyes remained steady on mine. He tipped his chin up, acknowledging me, and followed them out.

Damn, that couldn’t be good. I bet B.B. spouted a bunch of bull about her condition. What would Linc say? Would he be upset?
Oh God
, would he fire me?

Crap, I didn’t have time to think about it. I still had plenty to do and the doors would be open in a few minutes. My attention redirected, I got back to work.

Paulette and Sage worked alongside me. They seemed nice, so I invited them to stop by and hang out sometime. I planned to be here a while, so I’d rather make friends, not enemies. Hmph, after the B.B. fiasco, I’d be lucky to still have a job.

Couples gathered on the dance floor and the temperature in the room got hotter in more ways than one. Dirty dancing I’d never seen before even in movies kept pulling my attention away from the three rows thick of non-stop orders. Clients acted like they’d been in the desert and were suffering from dehydration. Everyone drank a lot, including the women. No wonder—gyrating and twerking took a lot of muscle energy. Lord forbid they cramp up and lose out on an impending orgasm. Geez, my virgin eyes couldn’t take much more. Maybe I should take notes.