Southern Comfort (9781622863747) (16 page)

Without saying a word Devon leaned in, pressing her lips against Willow's. Katrina's mouth dropped open. Willow was astonished, not sure of what she should do. Devon pulled back with a drunken smile on her face.

“I think I'm going to throw up now.” Devon sluggishly stood up. Katrina held on to her friend.

“I'm going to walk with her. I'll be right back,” Katrina said to Willow. Willow nodded as she shot the last of her drink.

Willow watched the band and the people dancing on the dance floor. It was different from the dance clubs she went to in London. The old school music had a bluesy vibe that she enjoyed but was new for her. Willow nodded her head to the beat until she felt someone sit down in the seat next to her. She turned her head to see the man who was staring at her earlier.

“I'm sorry but this seat is taken.” Willow was nervous. She didn't know what the man was going to try.

“Now you know you are too fine to be a dyke.” The man's breath smelled like weed and hard liquor.

“Excuse me, but I would like for you to leave now.”

“Aw don't be like that. I'm just letting you know you got better options.” The man touched her on her thigh. Willow jumped up from the table.

“Please leave my table immediately,” Willow forcefully commanded, which only upset the man more.

“What you too good for a real man?”

Teri appeared. She put her arm in front of Willow. “Come on, Willz, it's time to roll.” Teri took Willow by her hand.

The man grabbed Teri's arm. “I ain't done talking yet.”

“Let go of me, bro,” Teri demanded.

“Fuck outta here.” The man pushed Teri with so much force she fell to the floor. Willow helped her up.

Pissed, Willow pushed the man who jerked her by her arm.

“Don't ever put yo' hands on me,” the man yelled, shoving Willow in her head until she fell over the chairs.

Two men close by pulled the guy back as Teri helped Willow up. They watched as one of the men argued with the drunk man until he pushed the guy causing him to punch the drunk man, knocking him to the floor with one punch. Security arrived out of nowhere, dragging the unconscious man out of the club.

“Hey are you all right? Are you two all right?” the man who came to their rescue asked.

“Yeah, I think we are okay,” Teri replied as she checked on Willow.

Katrina and Devon walked out of the bathroom. They noticed the crowd gathered around their area. Feeling that something was wrong they fought their way through the crowd.

“What happened?” Katrina ran up putting her hands on Willow's shoulders.

“It's okay. The fucking prick pushed me.”

“Who fucking pushed you?” Katrina was filled with rage.

“Dude, it's okay. They kicked him out.”

“Thank you, sir, for helping.” Willow shook the man's hand who came to her rescue.

The group thanked him immensely and sent a bottle over to his table before heading out of the club. They saw the man still surrounded by the police. One of the security guards checked to make sure Willow was all right.

 

 

The group walked into Devon's house. Devon sat down at the first chair she could get to. Willow watched as Katrina walked past them without saying anything and headed straight to the guest house.

“Thank you, guys, I had a lovely time.” A tight smile covered Willow's face.

“Yeah, right,” Teri said as she made herself comfortable on the couch, grabbing the throw blanket off the back and covering herself with it.

“No, I really did; it was rather exciting. Thank you again for taking up for me.” Willow patted Teri on her shoulder before exiting the room.

Willow could see Katrina sitting on the edge of the bed, deep in thought. She walked in, pulling the uncomfortable shoes off and flinging them to the side.

“You must put some of that music on my playlist. I can have a Memphis playlist.” Willow smiled trying to break through the tension in the room.

“Are you really okay? Let me see your arm.”

Willow sat on the bed next to Katrina. Katrina examined the scrape on her arm. She got up and grabbed a bottle of peroxide from the bathroom. She let a little bit of the liquid drop on Willow's arm causing tiny bubbles to appear. Katrina blew on the scrape. The air was cool, causing Willow's body to shiver.

“I'm really okay, Tree. Don't be upset.” Willow placed her hand on Katrina's thigh.

“I am mad at myself. I should have been there. I can't believe I wasn't able to protect you.”

“You were taking care of your friend, which was just as important. I was okay.” Willow rubbed her hand against Katrina's thigh.

“I still should have been there.” Katrina's eyes blurred. The idea of anything happening to Willow was maddening to her.

Suddenly she could see clearly again. She truly did care about Willow, so much the idea of anything happening to her scared her. She knew in that moment that she didn't want to lose her.

“Willow,” Katrina muttered under her breath.

“Yeah,” Willow replied as she stood up.

“It's you. I want to be with you.”

Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. Katrina stood up, walking over to her surprised girl. Katrina had lifted Willow's chin with her finger, pressing her lips against Willow's. Katrina pulled Willow's body into hers. Nothing else mattered; she wanted to be with Willow more than ever.

Katrina traced the edges of Willow's body with her fingertips, tasting the salty sweetness of her skin, getting lost in her curves. Their bodies intertwined, becoming one as they gave themselves to each other unconditionally.

Katrina had never been so sure about anything in her life. Willow was the one she wanted to be with. As they woke up, bodies tangled together, she knew that fate brought them together, and even though she would always care about Saura, her heart no longer belonged to her.

“So you know Teri is expecting something awesome for her birthday,” Devon's voice echoed through Katrina's car speakers bringing Katrina out of her own thoughts.

“I know, things are set, we are doing dinner at the restaurant. I am preparing a special meal for us, all her favorites. Do you think we should invite the Victoria chick?”

“I don't know,” Devon responded. “You know she might want to find some new booty that night.”

Katrina pulled on her street. She let out a loud sigh.

“Oh what's that all about?” Devon questioned.

“I just hope this girl doesn't do anything crazy,” Katrina said as her house came into view.

“I mean you know she is going to be mad, but what's the worst that could happen?”

Silence filled the car. They both knew that things could go really bad. Katrina pulled into her driveway.

“Oh I really don't want to do this.”

“You got to,” Devon's voice echoed through the car. “Go ahead and get it over with.”

“If I call you back you better answer the fucking phone. I might need you to call the police.”

Devon laughed but Katrina knew she was dead serious. She knew Saura had a mean streak in her; she just hoped she didn't let it out today. Katrina turned her car off and got out. She headed to the front door. She put her key in the door, turning the knob as slow as she could.

Saura came from the back of the house when she heard the front door close. She wasn't expecting Katrina 'til later. As she walked closer and saw the look on Katrina's face, she knew something bad was coming.

“Saura.” Katrina stood in the doorway. “We need to talk.”

Saura shook her head. She didn't want to hear whatever it was that Katrina wanted to say to her. She could tell from the straight-faced look on Katrina's face what was about to happen, and she wasn't ready for it.

“Saura, please, sit down.”

“No, I'd rather stand.” Saura stood in the hallway entrance with her arms folded tight.

“I don't really know how to tell you this, but—”

“No, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that you are leaving me for her.”

“It's not that I'm leaving you for her, but, Saura, I just don't think this is going to work anymore.”

“That's bullshit!” Saura hit her hand against the wall.

Katrina knew things were going to get worse. She braced herself for the meltdown.

“Don't you walk in here and tell me that you are leaving me. No, I don't accept that. I won't.”

“Saura, you left me!” Suddenly the familiar anger filled Katrina's body. “You popped back up and yes, I really did think very hard about giving this a second chance but the truth of the matter is you left, you gave up on us, and I moved on. Period, point, blank.”

“You don't just move on like that. You can't do this to me. I came back here for you. I gave up my agent and a career I could have had for you.”

Katrina shook her head. “You didn't give up for me. You gave up because things weren't going the way you expected. You really expect me to believe that if you would have landed some dream role that you would have thrown that opportunity away for me?”

Saura paused. She didn't want to admit the truth. She did hate Los Angeles and she hated going on cattle call auditions where there were hundreds of other girls just like her. In Memphis she was sought after, she was the
it
girl. In Los Angeles she was just another face in the crowd.

“Katrina, please, it's me. This is us. We built this life together. You can't throw it away; don't do this.”

Saura rushed up to Katrina. She grabbed her arm. Katrina stood still, her feet planted firmly on the ground. The tears streaming down Saura's face didn't have the effect that Katrina thought they were going to have. She knew for sure in that moment that she was completely over Saura in that way.

“Saura, please, can we try to part ways on good terms? I will help you get your own place and everything. I don't want you to hate me.”

“You don't want me to hate you?” Saura cocked her head to the side.

Katrina watched as Saura paced the floor. She finally sat down on the couch without saying a word. Katrina felt uneasy as she watched Saura staring into space. She didn't want to say anything, fearing she might blow up.

Saura suddenly looked up at Katrina. She nodded her head up and down, over and over again. Her legs were shaking. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Katrina wondered if she was about to try to fight her. She pulled her cell phone out just in case she needed to call Devon real fast.

“You know what, fine. I'm not about to do this with you.” Saura stood up. “You want to be with the bitch, go be with the bitch. But know something: I am done. Do not come crawling back to me when you realize that she isn't all you expected her to be. There will never be another woman as good as me.”

Katrina didn't know what to think. Saura went from ten to zero in a minute. Katrina didn't move from her spot. She couldn't say anything. Saura had the right to be pissed.

“I know you don't want to hear this but I really do care about you and I will always. I hope one day you can come to realize that I never wanted to hurt you.”

Katrina stood there for a moment as she watched Saura move about as if nothing had happened. She didn't respond; she just casually walked back to the bedroom. Katrina thought about going back to check on her, but decided it was best to take her exit.

Katrina quickly left the house. She got in her car and pressed Devon's name as soon as her Bluetooth connected to the car.

“Do you need police?”

“I don't think so.” Katrina sat in the driveway staring at her door. She expected Saura to come running out with a baseball bat.

“She took it okay?” Devon questioned.

“I honestly don't know what to make of it. But I'm getting the hell out of here before she changes her reaction.”

Katrina drove off, staring at her house in the mirror just to make sure she didn't see anything crazy.

 

 

Teri watched her ceiling fan spinning slowly around. She hated that Victoria was still on her mind. In one week a woman managed to get under her skin; things like that didn't happen to her. While her friends mocked her for her choices in women, Teri knew the reason she chose to date the women she did. She knew she would never want to settle down with the ratchet girls she dated. They were in and out and that's how she liked it.

Victoria was different. She had all the things she would want if she were to ever really date a woman. She didn't want to admit it, but she did fantasize about having something real with Victoria one day. Teri allowed the possibility of a real relationship enter her mind. She opened her own Pandora's box and now she needed to find a way to close it.

Teri suddenly felt weak; she felt as if she wasn't herself. She allowed Victoria to break the confidence she had in herself. Teri thought about it: yes, Victoria was sexy and powerful, but in the end she was just another woman. She knew she just had to keep telling herself that.

Maybe it was the fact that she was turning thirty-three in a few days that had her on edge. Was she finally getting the itch for a sense of normalcy in her life? Why didn't she crave a relationship the way her friends did? Maybe deep down she wanted to come home to someone. Teri shook her head; she didn't want that. Did she?

She climbed out of bed and walked to her kitchen. Her refrigerator was almost bare. She had been living on fast food and take out for a while. Even the meal she had with Victoria was delivered by her favorite Chinese place. She picked up her phone; she realized how bad it was that she knew the delivery restaurant's number by heart.

An hour later her doorbell rang. She grabbed her wallet and headed to the front door.

“Hey,” she said opening the door while trying to simultaneously pull money from her wallet.

“Hello.”

Teri looked up to see Victoria holding her takeout bag.

“Don't worry. I already paid for you.” Victoria smirked.

Teri grabbed the bag from her. She held up twenty dollars. “Keep the change; and you can go too.” Teri leaned against her wall.

Victoria's devilish grin only infuriated Teri. How dare she act smug toward her?

“Oh, Teri, don't be like that, love.” Victoria walked past Teri and into her living room.

Teri couldn't believe the audacity of Victoria. She watched as she switched in her short shorts that were hugging her ass just right. Teri shook the erotic thoughts out of her head. She was going to finally put this woman in her place.

“All right so obviously I let you get away with this shit a little too much. But this showing up at my crib and thinking that you are running anything dealing with me is about to end right now.” Teri walked into her living room.

Victoria picked up a bottle of wine from her wine rack. She read the label, nodding her head in approval of the rare bottle of wine. “This is nice. Why haven't we drunk this yet?”

“Are you crazy? Seriously? Because I'm really starting to think you are bat shit crazy.” Teri took the bottle from Victoria and sat it back on the wall.

“Oh come on, Teri, don't spoil everything. We were just starting to have fun.”

“I don't have fun with bitches who get dick on the regular,” Teri calmly said as she tried to ignore Victoria's fragrance that was working a number on her senses.

“Touché.” Victoria nodded her head again. “I guess I deserved that.”

Teri sat on her couch. She wasn't going to back down. But Victoria was looking very sexy in the tight pants and the little black tank looking like a backup dancer in Beyoncé's “Crazy in Love” video.

“Okay so yes, you are right, I was wrong for not telling you. I just saw you and knew I had to have you. I want to keep having you. Why does this little thing have to affect what we have? I mean we were just fooling around.”

Teri knew Victoria made a valid point. It wasn't as if she had never messed with a married woman before. The married ones were always the easiest because they would have to always go home afterward. “The difference is you didn't give me the option. I don't play that shit. What if your husband would have caught us?”

“That would never happen.”

“How do you know it?”

Victoria sat on the couch next to Teri. “Well for one he still lives in Atlanta. He's a surgeon at Emory.” Victoria put her hand on Teri's thigh which Teri immediately moved. “Second I am very careful with what I do.”

Teri's head cocked to the side. “What you do? Oh so this is some regular stuff for you. Tell me just how many women are you fucking at the hospital?”

Victoria pushed Teri. She didn't mind the attitude but she wasn't going to allow her to treat her like she was some type of slut.

“Okay so I get that you are mad, but can you please stop acting like a jealous bitch?”

“What did you just call me?” Teri's head snapped around at Victoria.

“You heard me. In the end, Teri, we are just fucking. I picked you because I thought you could handle that. I mean what did you think was going to happen? We were going to fall in love? Ha!”

Teri didn't know why Victoria's comment made her feel like shit. Teri wanted to smack the smug grin off of her face. “First off, fuck you, and second off, you say that that shit as if I am some kind of bullshit, nothing-ass chick. Plenty of women would be more than happy to be with me.”

“I'm not most women,” Victoria replied.

“What makes you so different?”

Victoria stood up. She stared at Teri who truly didn't see the point she was trying to make. “Teri, okay. Yes, you have a nice thing going here, but seriously, look at me. I graduated top of my class from Yale Medical School. I am currently considering positions from some of the top medical facilities in the country.”

“Are you trying to say you are better than me?” Teri felt her hands starting to tremble.

Victoria shrugged her shoulders. She picked up her thousand dollar bag. “Look, none of this matters. Can we just drop it?”

Teri never felt so small before. She wanted to spit out all her details, tell Victoria how she got into all types of prestigious colleges but chose Rhodes because she wanted to stay in Memphis. She wanted to tell her how she could work in any hospital in the country but chose to stay local because she wanted to, but in the end she knew it wasn't going to matter. Nothing she could say would change Victoria's opinion. She was just a dyke from Memphis with a lower pay grade than hers.

“You need to get the fuck out of my house, and never fucking contact me again.” Teri looked Victoria directly in her eyes. She wanted to make sure she understood just how serious she was.

“Oh, Teri, don't be like that. In the end all that matters is that we were having fun.” Victoria tried to put her arm around Teri who quickly pulled away.

Victoria pulled her keys out of her purse. She looked at Teri glowering back at her.

“Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm going back to Atlanta. See I have a few amazing offers on the table so I'm going to go back home and decide where I want to go. I thought we could have a good-bye fuck but I guess that isn't going to happen.”