by JN Welsh
Nyah nodded, all her attention focused on centering her emotions to complete the ruse. “I should get going. My performance is early afternoon and I don’t want to have a sloppy bow.” She gestured with her hand and arms. “It was great meeting you, Izzy.” She turned to Tommy and waved like a swarm of bees attacked her. “Good to see you again, Tommy.”
“Take care.”
Nyah’s anger boiled. How stupid she must be to believe that Tommy only wanted her. Back on the cruise he’d expressed that he was the one getting hurt. Well, he tagged her first.
In her cabana, she body-slammed her suitcase onto the bed and yanked out a set of clothes for her performances. She cursed Tommy as she pulled off her shirt and kicked her skirt clear across the room. She showered and tugged on a nightshirt and underwear. That’s when a knock sounded on her cabana door.
“Nyah?” Tommy called her name softly.
She was too angry to give him the benefit of the doubt. Right now, his ass was guilty as fuck and she didn’t want to talk. She pulled the covers over her head. Tomorrow was performance day, something she’d looked forward to for so long. She didn’t care what it took, she wasn’t going to let Tommy, Izzy or anyone steal her joy. She would reckon with Tommy like she did everything else. On her own terms and in her own fucking time.
* * *
Nyah rolled her bass to the door of her cabana. She called for a pickup to meet Trinidad at the modern art tent. Her morning had been rough at best. She’d woken up grumpy and it took her at least an hour to sweep her feelings about last night aside to enjoy this moment.
She opened the door to wait for her ride and Tommy paced back and forth. “Shit,” she mumbled. So much for the dust settling over her heart.
“I didn’t think you’d let me in.” He approached her like she was a biohazard. With a lot of caution. “Can we talk?”
She kept her response brief. “I’m waiting for my ride.”
“Nyah, just give me a minute to explain.”
“I’m getting ready to perform. Something I’ve been looking forward to. Don’t you dare ruin this for me.”
“I’m not trying to stress you but I can’t let you go, believing that something happened when it didn’t. You’ve got this all wrong.”
“What do I have wrong? You went out with your ex last night, right?”
“Yes, for dinner and drinks.”
“So I’ve got it right,” she said and her ride pulled up in a similar golf cart to the one she’d taken to meet up with Trinidad yesterday.
The driver hopped out. “Nyah Monroe?”
“Present.” She offered him a weak smile.
“Let me help you,” Tommy said.
The driver also tried to assist as he warily regarded the situation.
“I got it.” She dragged her bass, lifted it, and gently placed it into the back of the cart. “I do it all the time in the city. I don’t need your help.”
“Izzy is my ex, yes, but she’s also friends with those close to me. We never dated.”
“I know. You just fucked?”
“Do you two need a minute?” the driver asked.
“No. I’m on a schedule,” she explained and slid into the back seat.
“We were supposed to meet up for drinks after I had dinner with you but when that plan changed.” He blew out a chest full of air. “We just talked to put some closure to it all.”
“So you want me to believe that you were just giving her a friendly hug when I stumbled upon you two?”
“Izzy’s a big flirt, but for my part, yes,” he stressed. “Where’s the trust? I know you’re mad but think about it for a second. I came to Artistique for you, not to hook up with my ex. If I wanted to hide from you, then why would I be saying goodbye to Izzy close to your cabana? I thought you were back. I was coming to see you because you are who I wanted to be with last night.” He dropped his tone and peeked at the driver, who focused on dodging pedestrians who walked the same road to the festival grounds.
Tommy had shared so much with her but seeing him with Izzy had struck a nerve and all her trust issues rose to the surface like they had the night at Rebel. He may have done something extremely stupid but deep down she didn’t think that anything had happened between him and Izzy.
“Nyah, look at me,” he pleaded. “I would never disrespect you like that.”
She shook her head.
“Look at me, angel.”
She did.
“If me and you are going to do this, I need you to trust me.”
“I do, Tommy, but the optics? Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”
He touched her arm. “Extremely incriminating. Guilty, Fuckboy-ish. I can go on, but I promise you, there is nothing between Izzy and me. That page turned a long time ago. I needed to close the book so that things wouldn’t continue to be awkward when we got around each other.”
“Nice literature analogy.”
“You’re really picking this moment to bust my balls again?”
She shrugged.
He took his hand in hers. “We okay?”
She intertwined her fingers with his. “Yeah, we’re okay.”
“We did pretty good last night, didn’t we?” he teased.
“I gotta admit you saved me and yourself, because I was coming in pretty hot.”
“I don’t know what I think about your jealous side yet, angel.”
“I’m not jealous.”
He scoffed. “Yeah. Okay.”
“You’re one to talk. Mike from The Boiler. Ring a bell? How about Trinidad...and he’s gay and happily married.”
“Point taken.” Tommy leaned back and rested their meshed hands on his lap. “Maybe we both need to work on trust.
“Maybe we do.” In the past Nyah hadn’t had a problem with jealousy, but no one had ever made her feel the way Tommy did. Her reaction to Izzy just confirmed how much she cared about him and with that came the fear of possibly losing him. Her mind started down a doomsday path.
“Are you ready for this?” Tommy asked, interrupting the deep thoughts and reminding her of why today was destined to be great.
“So ready.”
“You look beautiful, by the way,” he said softly and she turned into a gooey mess. The linen white headband she’d wrapped around her large Afro matched her maxi dress. The brown wood of her bass would complement her outfit and her skin to create its own art piece.
“Thank you.” She blushed.
“Can I kiss you? You know...for good luck and shit?” he whispered.
“Yes.” She offered him her lightly glossed lips. Tommy pressed his mouth against hers, his tongue quickly seeking to play. His teasing caresses apologized as much as they aroused a forgiving song in her heart and warmed her center.
“Tommy,” she moaned.
“You should have let me in last night,” he said, and his low and husky tone made her hotter than the humid festival grounds. “The things I wanted to do to you.” He unraveled his fingers from hers and his hand gathered her dress upward until he slipped underneath and stroked her thighs. Her legs opened on autopilot and her back arched in anticipation of his touch.
“You mean...the things I would have done to you.” She meant her words to have more power but under his pleasing hand they were weak with desire. The scent of grass, as the golf cart wheels ran over the already flattened blades, filled her nose as she inhaled.
The golf cart came to an abrupt stop and as Tommy’s hand withdrew from its upward trajectory, her skin called for his return as if it had a voice.
“That was beautiful,” the driver said to them. “It’s the Artistique magic.”
“Umm...thanks.” Nyah smoothed her black and white angle-striped maxi dress while Tommy chuckled like a high schooler.
Tommy smirked as he handled her bass. This ti
me she let him help her.
“Complimentary pomegranate, mango and lemon smoothie?” a young woman from one of the nearby vendor stands asked.
“Of course.” Nyah plucked one of the containers from the travel tray and sucked on the straw. “Mmm.” She offered some to Tommy, then halted. “There’s no dairy in this, right?”
“One hundred percent vegan.” The woman smiled.
She pushed the straw at Tommy’s mouth and he sucked in a mouthful.
“It’s good.” His hand found her ass and lingered there for long, delicious seconds. “Thanks for making sure I don’t get the dairy shits.”
She choked on her drink and covered her mouth to keep her smoothie from spewing all over him or her white and black outfit as she laughed.
They progressed toward the open tent, where Nyah saw Trinidad by the stage with his husband Pierce in front of the gathering crowd.
“Nyah.” A female voice that she recognized immediately called to her. She almost dropped her smoothie when her eyes tracked down two people she never thought she’d see at Artistique.
“Hey girl, hey.” Gladys greeted her with a hug and Evan trailed behind her.
“Heeeeeeeyyy!” Nyah said. She patted Gladys’s back like a grandmother. “What are you two doing here?”
“We thought we’d surprise you. I know you were keeping the thing with Trinidad on the down low, but I knew you’d love the surprise. Someone has to be here to support you.” Gladys smiled over at Tommy. “Though it looks like you’re covered.”
“This is definitely a surprise,” Nyah agreed.
“Hi, Gladys.” Tommy greeted her friend with a friendly hug. “Nice to see you, too, Evan.”
“You too.” Evan’s face was splotched with rosacea from the heat. “When I heard you were playing with Trinidad, I had to see it to believe it.”
“I see the location hasn’t changed your musical snobbery.”
“Nope,” Evan said. “But I know you’ll represent the philharmonic well.”
Nyah gasped at the compliment, as well as the shock of having both Evan and Gladys here.
“I’m going to bring your bass inside,” Tommy said. “See you guys in there.”
“Thanks,” Nyah said and Tommy’s soothing smile relaxed her just a bit.
“I’ll go find us a spot.” Evan followed Tommy.
Gladys linked arms with her. “I’m so glad I get to see you do this. You’re happy I came, right? This isn’t freaking you out, is it?”
Of course it is! “Not at all. I’m happy to see you. Where are you guys staying?”
“At an Airbnb in town. The shuttle is so convenient. We can go back and forth quite easily. Are you staying at one of those pretty cabanas?” Gladys winked. “With Tommy?”
Nyah was about to cultivate a beaut of an answer that wasn’t quite a lie but not the direct truth either when Tommy came running out to her.
“Gladys, can you excuse us for a second?” Tommy didn’t wait for Gladys’s permission and pulled Nyah away by the elbow.
“What’s up?”
“I’m going to need you to take a deep breath. I promise you that everything will be okay.” His voice dropped to that deep, serious, slightly horrifying tone.
“Tommy?”
The next words he uttered sent her into full-on panic mode. “Your parents are here.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Nyah played on autopilot for the first half of her performance with Trinidad as her parents’ and Gladys’s beaming faces were up front and center. She managed to relax into her instrument after she surrendered to the fact that her parents, her philharmonic musicians, and Tommy had collided in one place. Her parents would want to have dinner when she’d need to play for the Artistique stage. How would she explain Tommy’s presence to her father? Would Gladys and Evan pick up on her being way off? How would she extricate herself from Trinidad’s invitation to play again later when, technically, she should be free and the “friends” she’d said she had to do the festival thing with were actually here?
Tight shoulders equals a tight bow. If she didn’t soften her muscles, she’d seize up and play sour notes. She relaxed into her instrument. Present. Be present. It’s only you and Big D up here with Trinidad. No one could help her now but herself. She regarded the art their music represented and the notes flowed through her.
She looked at Trinidad and their improvisation swirled together like the art around her. There it is. She’d still have to contend with everyone when their performance ended but right now, she and her musical companion created a special moment for the guests.
After their performance she and Trinidad bowed to the applause and as she stared into the faces of her peoples her mind tried to create exit strategies.
She hugged her parents. “I didn’t know you were coming. I wasn’t supposed to see you both until I went to Florida.”
“Your dad is doing a fundraiser in Columbus, so we thought we’d just change our ticket to get here to see you,” her mother said excitedly.
“I hope we didn’t freak you out, baby girl. When you told us you were playing with Trinidad, we wanted to be here.” Her father hugged her shoulders.
“No. Not at all. I was just a little surprised. I’m so happy to see you both.” Nyah was happy to see her parents but how was she going to manage all these people?
“I wasn’t expecting to see this guy. How’re you doing, Tommy?”
“Great to see you, Pete.” Tommy shook her father’s hand.
“What brings you to Artistique? I didn’t think this was your scene.”
“I have an artist playing here and ran into Nyah and decided to stay for her performance,” Tommy said. It was kind of the truth but Nyah hated that either one of them was put into this position to work the angles of the truth.
“Cool. Anyone I know?” her father asked.
Internally, Nyah cringed.
Gladys and Evan bounced over after a quick hello to Trinidad. “That was such an inspiring performance, Nyah,” Gladys interrupted and hugged her.
“Do you really think so?” Nyah asked honestly, given her tense start.
“I often bust your chops, but the improvisation was remarkable,” Evan said.
“Someone gimme a phone so I can record this. Evan just gave me a compliment,” Nyah said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Evan blushed and Nyah started to see a better side to him. Perhaps Gladys’s positive impact had sunk in.
“He’s right. You did great,” Tommy said.
“Thanks,” Nyah said, and she couldn’t avoid her mother’s evaluation of her and Tommy.
“Nice to see you again, Mr. Monroe, Mrs. Monroe,” Gladys said and hugged them.
“You too, Gladys. We didn’t think we’d see you until the fall session when we come for our annual trip to New York to spend the holidays with Nyah,” her mother said.
“Yes. I look forward to those visits, but it’s a treat to get to see you sooner.”
Nyah had to admit that, despite her stress, it was nice to see her people together like this. “Should we all get lunch?” Nyah asked.
“That sounds delightful, since me and mom are flying out this evening for Ohio,” her father said.
One down. Nyah relaxed. Now all she had to do was figure out how to part ways with Gladys and Evan. Does she use Trinidad? Tommy?
“Yeah. Evan and I want to check out the rest of the festival so lunch would be great. Plus I’m sure you want to hang out with—”
“Great, let’s go into town.” Nyah grabbed Gladys and interlocked arms with her. “My folks don’t know about me and Tommy, so let’s keep that under wraps, okay?”
“Oh. A secret. I got you covered.” Gladys nodded.
* * *
Lunch had gone off without a hitch and Nyah and Tommy found their way back to her caba
na, where she breathed a sigh of relief.
“You okay?” Tommy asked.
“I guess,” she replied. “I mean, that could have all gone so much worse. That my parents aren’t even staying and Gladys had Evan to romp the grounds with are what’s saving me right now.”
“You handled that all very well.” He sat next to her and she snuggled into him. “Don’t get too comfortable. You have a performance in a bit and I have to go make sure everything’s set up. So don’t get any ideas,” he teased.
“Me? You’re the one who pulled me into your arms.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He stroked her arm. “Really, though. I know you got a lot of surprises today.”
Living these two lives is starting to catch up with me. Over lunch, the guilt of her lies had surrounded her at a round table, with each smiling and excited face looking back at her. “I promised myself to tell Gladys about Queen Roe when I got back to New York. Seeing her here, so supportive... It makes me question if I’m doing all this the right way.”
“Hmm,” he offered. “And your parents. Any plans on telling them?”
She tensed and he massaged her shoulder. “One reveal at a time.”
“So I guess that answer is no?”
“For now, yeah.” She nuzzled her nose into his chest and inhaled his cologne. Her arm reached over to embrace his middle and he kissed her forehead.
“Thanks for not bailing. You could have easily left and let me handle that on my own.”
“That never even crossed my mind. We’re in this together.”
She looked up into his face and his warm eyes met hers. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
He kissed her lips a few times, then got up. “I gotta go change and get to your performance site. Your pickup will be here in just over two hours. Just enough time for you to go over your set and get dressed.”
“And have a quickie.” She licked her lips.
Tommy thought about it and looked at his watch, then inched toward the door and looked at his watch again. “I should get going.”
“Okay.” She smiled.
He left her cabana. She valued his commitment to his duties but she would have liked to sink onto his dick after such a triggering afternoon. A few minutes later a knock sounded on her cabana door. She opened and Tommy strode in.