by Roy Glenn
“That depends on the customer,” I answered, trying not to trip over my own words.
“So, you run a customer-driven business?”
“Right,” I said. “Victor, would you mind holding on a minute? I got a call on my other line.” I put the phone on mute and left him there for a while.
When I got back on the phone, Victor was more interested in my life as a stripper than knowing what products I carried.
Ah, men.
“Nina, you begin to interest me, and not just ’cause you were a dancer. Although that is a major factor, I am really enjoying this whole conversation.”
“Well, I’m glad I’m able to amuse you.”
“You never did say what you looked like. Describe yourself to me.”
“I’m twenty-five; just turned, in fact.”
“Happy belated birthday,” Victor said.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m brown-skinned with long, shoulder-length hair. A lot of people think I’m Puerto Rican ’cause my hair is wavy. I’m about five-seven, taller in pumps, and I won’t tell you how much I weigh.”
“A woman thing, I guess.”
“You know that. But I assure you that you won’t be disappointed when you see me.”
“I consider this a good thing. I’ve been on blind dates before. Most turned out to be nights I’d soon forget.”
After a bit more small talk, I told Victor I was tired and I would call him the next day, and maybe we could get together. Victor, on the other hand, didn’t seem too excited about meeting me in person. He kept saying that he had some business to handle the next day. If I’m nothing else, I am persistent, and I wouldn’t give up until I got my way.
The next day, I was on the phone with Victor, and I was talking about him coming to get me for dinner, drinks, or whatever. I was going to meet the man behind the voice.
Ten
“Victor?”
“Nina?”
“Come on in.”
“Thank you.”
“Well?” I said, standing with my hands on my hips.
“Yeah, I can see where you could pass for Puerto Rican. You’re very pretty. No, that’s an understatement too. You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you, Victor. You’re a very handsome man yourself. Have a seat. I’ll be ready in a minute,” I said and went into the bedroom. Very handsome was an understatement too. This man was sexy as hell. His voice was just the tip of the iceberg.
We rode around for a while and talked. Once we settled on a place, we went inside and took a seat at the bar. I ordered my signature rum and Coke; I had to cut loose them Blue Muthafuckas. Victor ordered Remy Martin, neat. That means straight, if y’all didn’t know. I didn’t.
We had the usual amount of uncomfortable, getting-to-know-you conversation over the first drink. The conversation turned back to the night before and his lack of enthusiasm about meeting me. “That’s because I’ve had blind dates before and they never turn out to be about anything. But I’m flattered just to be here. Women that look like you don’t usually do this. Getting a man definitely ain’t your problem in life.”
“I tried to tell you,” I said with attitude. “I knew you wouldn’t be disappointed.” But the truth was, I didn’t have a man and I was lonely.
“I don’t think that disappointed is a word that applies to anything about you, Nina.”
The way he looked at me when he talked, the sound of his voice, and the way he ran his tongue over his lips were moving me in ways that only Lorenzo had. We ordered a second round of drinks and a very interesting, not to mention tasty, spinach dip. “I’m glad I decided to call you today. I needed this. I’m enjoying myself.”
“I’m glad you called too,” Victor said and reached for my hand. “And I’m glad I came to meet you, Nina.”
The whole time we were there, Cedric was blowing up my phone. He’d started calling again when he got a hold of my new number. He told me that he broke into my mailbox every day waiting for my cell phone bill to come, so he could get the number. I didn’t know if that was true or not, but he had it. Each time I felt it vibrate, I’d look at it and keep talking. Except once. “Excuse me, Victor. This may be some money calling.” I walked out to the lobby and answered the phone. It was Cedric calling from another number.
“’Bout time you answered your phone, Nina.”
“What do you want, Cedric?”
“I wanna see you.”
“I don’t hear from you for a month and now you start blowin’ up my phone, talkin’ ’bout you wanna see me?” I cursed him out quick and went back inside and rejoined Victor at the bar. My phone rang again. I looked at the number, and rolled my eyes before returning it to its resting place. I looked up and caught Victor staring at me.
I smiled. “What?”
“What you doin’ to that man, Nina?”
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, right. You’re not doing anything to him, but he can’t go twenty minutes without calling you.”
“I talked to him,” I fired back with an attitude. “I told him I was busy and I’d talk to him later.”
“Well, you know later means different things to different people. I guess to him, later means in twenty minutes.” I rolled my eyes and took another sip of my drink. “No, Nina, you turned that man out and now he can’t stand the thought of anybody being anywhere near you. So, I will ask you once again. What did you do to that man?”
I still didn’t offer an explanation, but I did smile a confident, yeah-I-got-the-nigga-pussy-whipped smile. Quietly, though, I wished I didn’t.
“You should be careful who you throw that monster on. He might start stalking you,” Victor commented casually.
“I been stalked before. Not by him,” I quickly lied again, “but I’ve been stalked before.” It was becoming a pattern, but if I wanted to be honest, I would have to say that Cedric was a stalker. For some reason, I felt compelled to lie to Victor.
“Somehow, I’m not surprised,” Victor said, sounding disappointed.
“I know what you’re thinking, and it wasn’t like that.” I smiled and shook my head. Suddenly it was important that he understood and not be disappointed in me. I really liked Victor, and not just because he was so damn fine. When I was in college, Victor was the kind of man that I said I was going to marry and spend the rest of my life with. “For real, I never even kissed him. I was just fourteen. He was just obsessed with me. Callin’ me all the time and shit.”
“So, what you’re telling me is you never even kissed the guy, but he was stalking you? That’s strong, Nina.”
“All we did was talk on the phone a few times. He was one of my cousin’s friends. That’s how I met him. He used to come by with my cousin all the time, but he used to sit outside. So, one day I told my cousin to invite him in, you know, ’cause it wasn’t polite to have him waiting outside. After that he just started callin’ me. I talked to him a few times, more not to be rude than anything else, and from that he thought we were going together. Finally, I had to tell him that it wasn’t like that, and that’s when it started. He would come by the house and my moms would tell him that I wasn’t home, so he would sit outside for hours before he’d get tired and leave. At first it was funny, you know, but then I started getting worried. I told my cousin that he needed to talk to his friend, but that didn’t do any good. My father threatened him, but he wouldn’t stop.”
“How did you get him to stop? Or is he still at it?”
“No, silly. I finally had to call the cops. They told him he was goin’ to jail if they had to come out there again. You ever been stalked?”
“No, not like that. I’ve had some people that didn’t take the fact that it was over too well. I’ve had to call the cops a couple of times. Had a broken window or two, but not a sustained stalker.”
“Big as you are, you had to call the cops on some woman?”
“Damn right. If I did anything, I mean looked at her hard and she called the police, she could say anything and
they’d lock my dumb ass up. Black man ain’t got no win in court. Especially a big black man. No, Nina, I’ll call the cops at the drop of a dime.”
By the third drink we were both pretty comfortable with one another and were enjoying each other’s company. I was really feeling Victor—or maybe it was my anger with Cedric. I don’t know. We ordered another round of drinks and I said, “Let me run something by you.”
“What’s that?”
“I wanna spend the night with you. I know you said you got stuff you need to do, so if you can’t, I’ll understand.”
“But you’re not used to men telling you no.”
I smiled. “No, I’m not.”
“I see this.”
Eleven
“I just need to stop by my house to pick up a few things. I won’t be but a minute,” I said. “You got any thing to drink at your house?”
“Sure. I always keep a little something around the house.”
“You smoke weed?”
“Yes.”
“Got any?” I asked with a smile.
“No, but that’s no problem. I always know where to find something to smoke.”
“I get my drink on and smoke a blunt, and it’s on. I may even dance for you.”
We drove back to my apartment, then we swung by this spot, picked up a couple of dimes, a few blunts, and continued on to his house. I rolled a fat blunt and we smoked most of it along the way. By the time we got there, I was pretty fucked up. He told me to make myself comfortable and that he wouldn’t be gone long.
When he got back to the house, The Best of Sade was playing. I had his living room lit with candles and had changed into a sheer, black robe with a black teddy underneath. I had rolled another blunt, had two glasses and the bottle waiting. I was asleep on the couch and didn’t hear him when he came in.
Like Prince Charming, he kissed me softly on the cheek and I woke up. We talked for a while and then “No Ordinary Love” started to play. I smiled and said, “Let me show you something.” I stood up and began to dance for him. My movements were slow and seductive, and I could tell he was loving every minute of it. I ran my fingers through my hair and down my body. I pulled down my teddy just enough to reveal a hint of nipple. I danced my way close to him—close enough for him to touch. As he reached for me, I turned around and bent over.
He stood and started to move in unison with me. I stopped and turned to face him. “No, baby. You sit down and relax. This is my show.”
He gladly obeyed my instructions and sat quietly, watching each movement of my body in anticipation of what was to come. I smiled and eased the robe off my shoulders, then began to tease him with it. I leaned forward and gently ran it along the back of his neck and between his legs. One of the straps on my teddy fell off my shoulder. He quickly ran his tongue over my nipple. Just as quickly, I moved out of reach. I continued to dance, each movement more seductive than the last, and I knew I was making him want me even more.
When the song ended, I took a sip of my drink and lit the blunt. When “Kiss of Life” came on, I started to move again in perfect time with the music. I danced; a drink and a blunt in either hand.
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” he said and poured himself another drink.
“Maybe once or twice,” I said as I slowly allowed my teddy to drop to the floor. I moved toward him again, and this time I allowed him to touch me. He ran his hands along my skin while I moved. My arms, my legs, and my stomach were fair game, but like any good seductress, I always moved slightly out of reach each time his touches approached the more sensitive areas.
“Please Send Me Someone to Love” caused me to glide like wind toward him again. I stood before him and eased his back against the couch. My head began to spin, and I felt myself getting caught up in the erotic excitement of it all. Or maybe it was just the cognac and weed; I didn’t seem to care. I eased myself down on him and my eyes opened wide. I had never felt anything so hard, so long, and so fat. It felt like he was contoured to fill me up. I ground my hips into his. I pinned his shoulders against the couch and stared in his eyes.
I felt paralyzed; eyes wide open in disbelief at the sensations he was creating with each subtle movement of his body.
I got up, finished my drink, and poured us both another glass. When I went into the kitchen to get some ice, he took his shirt off and followed me. I got up on the counter and he came to me. I tasted his tongue. It glided slowly and smoothly over mine. I broke our embrace and he spread my legs. He kissed my inner thighs; then tasted the wetness between them. I held his head in place while his tongue slithered along my lips and made circles around my clit. My grip grew tighter, my thighs twitched, my stomach muscles locked, and my head drifted back in quiet ecstasy.
After awhile, he said his knees got weak and we headed for the bedroom. We got as far as the hallway before we were doing it on the floor. Once we finally made it to the bed, he smiled and touched my face. I smiled at him and rolled over. He ran his hand over my shoulder and down my arm. He moved closer and his hands continued to glide along my body. He kissed my back. I began to move in response. I rolled into his arms and he kissed my lips. It wasn’t just the quick exchange of tongues we had experienced earlier. He kissed me delicately and methodically, pressing his lips against mine. His lips were soft.
I drew him closer to feel his skin against mine. I opened my eyes and he kissed my cheeks, down to my neck, then up to my earlobes. I closed my eyes and he guided his tongue along my eyebrows; then kissed my eyelids. When he flicked my lashes, I opened my eyes. I put my hand on his chest and gently pushed him on his back.
He laid spread-eagle across the bed and I crawled across to him. I looked at his manhood again—gawked at it actually—and contemplated going down on him. I had broken all the rest of the rules, so why not that one too? I thought as I straddled his torso. I grabbed hold and guided him inside me. He smiled and placed his hands on my ass. My hands dropped to his chest. He spread my cheeks and slowly moved me up and down, inching deeper and deeper inside me. The deeper he got, the wetter I got. Soon, I was sliding up and down on him effortlessly. He didn’t move at first; he seemed very content to allow me to work at my own pace. My pace was slow and steady. There was a true rhythm to my movement, almost musical.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of his stiffness inside me. The thickness of him filled me, the warmth of him inside me—long and stiff—excited me. My hips shook. I began to quiver from the inside. I stopped moving, tried to slow my roll, but I couldn’t. My entire body was quivering uncontrollably. For a second, maybe two or three, I felt like I was outside of myself. My excitement only proved to intensify the motion of my hips. He held me tighter; began to move with me. When I felt him throbbing inside me, I was no longer able to control myself. “Yes, oh yes!” I screamed as we thrust our bodies against one another. I could hear him moaning quietly, his face twisted and contoured. He throbbed and I felt him expand. My fingers dug into his chest. His body became rigid; I pumped harder. His mouth was open; his eyes were locked on mine now. I knew I had him.
Twelve
We were both pretty exhausted after that, and our drinks were pretty watered down. He went back to the living room to get the bottle and the remainder of the blunt. On the way, he stopped to put the CD player on random, then returned to the room. As he handed me a drink and the blunt, I glanced at the clock. It was a little after midnight. “Thank you,” I said and lit the blunt with one of the candles I had set out earlier.
I wondered, what do you say to a naked man you met on the phone the night before? Up until now, we hadn’t had any problem talking to one another. Now, there was an uncomfortable apprehension that slid in between us. We smoked the blunt and drank our drinks in silence. That is until my cell phone rang.
Thinking that it was Cedric calling again, I answered it with fury. “Hello!”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Teena asked.
“Nothing. I thought you were Cedric.�
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“Cedric? Now there’s a name I ain’t heard in a minute. How did he work his way back in the picture?”
“He didn’t, but for some reason he’s been callin’ and bothering me all night, that’s all. What’s up?”
“You busy?”
I looked at Victor. “Yes, very busy.”
“Then you shouldn’t have answered the phone, bitch.” Teena laughed. “Come make this money.”
“What money?”
“This five thousand I got sittin’ in front of me. And before you ask, no, I don’t have enough product to handle it, and no, it can’t wait until tomorrow. So, get your greedy ass up and come make this money.”
I looked at Victor again. Normally, I wouldn’t have had to think twice. Five grand? Shit, I would jump and run for a grand. This was five grand sitting and waiting for me to come get it. I was greedy, but what I was more, was satisfied and looking forward to getting some more. Still, I had to be practical. “Where you at? I’m on my way.”
After Teena told me where to meet her, I apologized to Victor about having to run out on him in the middle of the night, not to mention in the middle of great sex. I got dressed to meet Teena. Victor looked at me strangely while I got dressed. He had never asked me again what product I sold, and I never volunteered the fact that I was a drug dealer, so he was probably wondering what somebody could say to make me jump up and run out after having such great sex. I walked up to him in bed, kissed him, and apologized again. “Victor, I’m real sorry about havin’ to leave you like this.”
“It’s okay. Really, Nina, I understand that you gotta go do …” Victor said and paused—“whatever it is that you gotta go do.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, Nina. I understand.”
“Good,” I said and started to leave the room. I grabbed my purse. “Get up and walk me to the door, Victor,” I said, smiling when he got out of bed. “Damn,” I said with my eyes focused. “You make a sistah wanna strip down and get back in the bed.”