Who's That Lady?

by Andrea Jackson

  A shrill ringing noise echoed inside her head. “What do you mean?”

  Shonté thrust her finger under Crystal’s nose. “You’ve always trailed behind me picking up the crumbs from my life. My parents, my brother, my college, even my job. I always shared them with you, didn’t I? And now my damned boyfriends! Get a life, Crystal, why don’t you?”

  Crystal could barely hear the end of this speech for the roaring in her ears. “How dare you?” Her voice dropped, vibrating with rage. “How can you look me in the face and say that? When I’ve been beside you every step of the way, picking up the pieces of your life so you could maintain your Miss Perky image. How perky would you be without me to hold your head while you’re throwing your guts up in the bathroom after one of your little parties? All the times I lied for you? How many times did I have to rescue you?”

  The words hung in the air like the glittering rods of a wind chime, echoing with hurt. The flash of torment across Shonté’s face brought Crystal a momentary satisfaction, even as she felt regret at the ugly barbs that came out of her mouth. She loved Shonté. How could they be hurting each other this way? How could she make it stop?

  She had no time to react before Shonté smacked her across the cheek with one powerful swing that made Crystal’s head snap to one side. The burn of the blow on Crystal’s face clouded her vision and finished her hold on self-control. She swung her fists, one after the other.

  Shonté met her head-on, flailing. The two women tumbled over the couch and vanity, pummeling each other, pulling hair, ripping clothes.

  Someone pulled them apart. Through the tears streaming down her face, Crystal saw Trevor watching them with a lascivious grin.

  “You two are great. I’ll take on both of you,” he said.

  “Oh!” Crystal screamed and kicked at him, but someone held her back. An open-mouthed audience of crew, cast and assorted friends surrounded them. Several people grinned, some looked shocked, but they all soaked up every detail.

  Crystal ran from the room. She pushed her way through the bodies and kept going, in spite of the voices calling her name and the hands that tried to restrain her.

  Only when she got outside and the cold air hit her did she realize she was almost naked from the waist up. Fortunately, her car keys were in her pants pocket. She ran to her car, hit the automatic unlock, jumped in. She started the engine with a roar and peeled away, the road a lighted blur through her tears. She went only a couple of blocks before she pulled off into the parking lot of a grocery store, hitting the curb with a jolt. She was shaking and crying too hard to drive safely.

  She sat there for twenty minutes, sobbing and punching the steering wheel in anger and humiliation. What was happening to her? She didn’t know who the hell she was anymore. Her life was falling apart, and she had probably lost her best friend tonight.

  She collected herself enough to complete the drive home to the condo. Inside, she undressed and climbed into bed, confused and lost. This wasn’t supposed to happen. How could she lose Shonté over a so-called man like Trevor Devlin?

  Another thought froze her to the marrow of her bones. What is Key going to think when he hears about this?

  Shivering, she pulled the blankets to her chin, trying to block out all thought.

  She only vaguely registered the sound of the front door opening downstairs and footsteps climbing the stairs. She had a hazy idea that a long time had passed. Would Shonté come in and fight with her some more?

  She half rose up in bed, waiting in dread.

  A tap on her half-open bedroom door. “Crystal?” rumbled Key’s voice.

  The overhead light went on, half-blinding her. She yelped and threw her arm over her eyes. Squinting, she tried to focus on Key standing in her doorway.

  “Shortcake, what’s going on? Shonté is at my apartment, practically hysterical, and saying she caught you humping Trevor.”

  Crystal choked back a half-sob, staring at Key’s furious expression. His jaw was tight and his brows drew together in a scowl.

  “Oh, my God, Key, don’t you turn on me too. I swear nothing happened. He came on to me and I was trying to get away from him and—” Sobs overcame her again and she pressed her fists against her streaming eyes and nose, gasping for air.

  Key crossed the room and sank onto the bed, taking her into his arms. He stroked her back while she made garbled noises in an attempt to explain what had happened.

  Exhausted, she dropped her head in his lap. He continued to soothe with gentle hands on her hair and shoulders. Gradually her tears subsided.

  After a while, she began to talk in a rambling, deadpan stream. “She said I follow her around, living her life. She’s right, Key, she’s right.”

  “Shhh. That’s not true. Don’t worry, she’ll get over this. She’s bound to realize how much you’ve done for her.”

  “But did I do it for her?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know, Key. Maybe deep down inside I was jealous. Maybe I did want to live her life.” Crystal pulled her knees to her chest. “And you.”

  “Me?”

  “Look at me. You wouldn’t even look at me before Shonté made me look sexy. Everything happened when Shonté helped me.” The tears started to flow again.

  She felt the flex and tensing of Key’s thighs as he adjusted to a more comfortable position. Then she realized that his slacks were soaked where her head lay.

  His hand started stroking her hair again. “Shh. I’ve always liked the way you looked.”

  “I don’t want to lose my friends, Key.”

  “You won’t, sweetheart.”

  Soon the quiet stroking lulled her into sleep.

  When Crystal woke up, she was alone in the condo. He must have left after she fell asleep, and Shonté must have spent the night at Key’s. Undressing for a shower, Crystal discovered that she had several blue-ish bruises on her shoulders, sides and legs. Peering into the mirror, she saw scratches on her neck. Quickly she turned away. Jumping into the hot water, she wanted to erase evidence as well as memories of the fight, but she had to content herself with dressing with care and applying heavier makeup than usual.

  When she arrived at Key’s apartment, Shonté’s cold greeting made her heart ache. Key retreated to his bedroom, leaving the two women alone in the living room. Shonté, looking tiny in one of Key’s sweat suits, threw herself on the deep, overstuffed couch and pulled her bare feet underneath her. Crystal’s heart turned over at the sight of a cut on Shonté’s forehead and bruises around both her wrists.

  Crystal drew in a deep breath, steeling her resolve. “Shonté, we need to talk.”

  Shonté shot a sidelong look of anger her way before hunching her body tighter and turning her head.

  Crystal persisted, even though the memory of the fight soured her stomach with mortification. “I don’t know what came over me. I never should have used physical violence against you.”

  After a minute, Shonté nodded stiffly. “I’m sorry I hit you, too,” she mumbled.

  Relaxing a little, Crystal perched on the other end of the couch. “Now it’s time we talk about all the conflict between us the last few weeks. My only desire was to keep you from getting hurt, but I apologize if you feel that I’ve overstepped my bounds. Is that the problem?”

  “Yes,” Shonté ground out between her clenched teeth. “I know you’re smarter than me, Crystal. I know I’ve done some stupid things in my life. But it’s my damn life.”

  She nodded reluctantly. “I know. And if you don’t want my help anymore—”

  “Why would you think that?” Shonté said with a bitter grunt. “You’re always looking out for me, keeping me on the straight and narrow, making sure I don’t screw up.”

  The bitterness of her voice pained Crystal. It seemed that Shonté wanted her to step back, to stay out of her life. Secrets…there had never been any between them before. With a touch of guilt, she realized that she was keeping her own secrets concerning Key
.

  She didn’t know whether to confide in Shonté anymore. She had to find out, but with all the animosity now, maybe Shonté would withdraw further.

  “Are you coming home?” she asked tentatively.

  Shonté gave a curt nod. “I’ll be there later,” she muttered.

  Crystal got to her feet. “Okay. I’ll—just go talk to Key a minute.”

  As she crossed to the bedroom door, Shonté unfolded herself, rose and walked toward the bathroom. Crystal went inside Key’s bedroom and shut the door.

  Key sat on the side of his bed, whitening a pair of athletic shoes. He looked up with a quizzical smile when she walked in. She gazed at him, loving the sexy, street cool look of him in a do-rag, a sleeveless tee shirt, and basketball shorts.

  “You guys okay?” he asked.

  Frowning, she gave her head an impatient shake. “She said she’s coming home. But I don’t know, Key. Things just aren’t the same between us anymore.”

  Key placed his shoes on the newspaper spread on the floor, rose and took her in his arms. She savored the feel of his hands on her hair, his cheek against her temple. Her need for this man overwhelmed her. She wrenched her head up to capture his lips with hers. In moments their breathing came in irregular panting.

  Crystal groaned and pulled away from him. “No, Key. I’ll be all right. I just have to get through this.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair again. “I know you can, Shortcake. I just—”

  Instead of finishing the statement, Key stroked her face, staring into her eyes with a wistful question. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. Don’t worry. Let me help you.”

  Mesmerized, she let him close his arms around her once more with infinite tenderness. His breath wafted across her face as he sat on the edge of the bed, drawing her into his lap.

  Crystal nestled her face into the soft cotton fabric on his chest, inhaling his satisfying, clean scent, absorbing his strength into her body from his warm hands stroking her back and arms. Her hand clenched on a fistful of shirt as the familiar sensation of drowning in her pleasure of him overcame her. How could she be so hooked on him that it felt as if her soul were entangled in his every breath? She could not imagine anything else in life giving her this sense of satisfaction and completion.

  Reluctantly she drew back and looked at him. His eyes were closed and his face wore a look of intensity. She let her fingers slide down his jaw, smiling at him as his lids fluttered open. He turned his head to kiss her palm and then released her from his embrace.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  She stood up from his lap and he leaned back, bracing on his hands.

  With one last look back, she slipped from the room, then went home.

  Shonté arrived later in the afternoon. The tension between them gave Crystal a tight knot in the pit of her stomach. They each retreated to their own bedroom. Crystal wondered if things would ever get back the way they had been.

  * * *

  Shonté called Key a couple of times to talk. He tried to be comforting but he was having a difficult time maintaining his neutrality. He wanted to tell her about him and Crystal, but he knew that Crystal was still too concerned about her uneasy relationship with Shonté. He didn’t completely understand why Crystal was so concerned. Maybe because she’d always been over-protective of Shonté, he thought.

  He arranged to have lunch with Crystal on Tuesday. He intended to talk about coming out into the open, but once he had her in his car, his intentions changed.

  She clambered into the car, pushing her hair out of her face and smiling at him. Something indefinable in the swing of her head or the shape of her lips or her soft scent struck him straight through the heart, immobilizing him with raw need. When she leaned over to kiss him hello, he grabbed the back of her neck and tried to merge his lips with hers. Crystal ignited just as quickly, urging him on with caressing hands. He broke away with a gasp, holding her jaw in one hand.

  “My place?” he rumbled.

  Crystal nodded, licking her lips.

  In record time, Key made it to his parking lot. They got inside the apartment and as far as the couch. They didn’t even take off their clothes. He pulled up her dress and devoured her while he held her knees pressed back against the cushions so that she was completely open to his hunger. When she screamed in frenzied orgasm, he stood, ripped open his pants, paused long enough to find a condom packet in his wallet, rolled it on, then slammed himself into her, barely in time for a consuming eruption that nearly made his heart stop. No finesse, no foreplay, not even a fond embrace. Afterwards, they wheezed with laughter while they staggered around trying to get themselves presentable to go back to work.

  Sitting in his office on Tuesday afternoon, Key smiled to himself in reminiscence. He couldn’t keep his mind on the pile of papers he was trying to grade. Even a quickie with Crystal was something to savor.

  Key chuckled. This was crazy. He was crazy for her. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of his woman. He hadn’t craved like this since Monica, his first love. No, he realized with piercing clarity, he’d never felt this way about anyone. The thought of Monica was like the echo of a story he’d once heard.

  He tipped back in his chair and swiveled around to stare unseeing out the narrow window of his office. Crystal. The thought of losing her sparkle made him hurt. So far, he’d been letting her set the pace of their relationship. Well, dammit, he wanted some kind of commitment now. If nothing else, this secret creeping around was getting old.

  He was ready to tell the world that she belonged to him. He wasn’t going to let her give him any crap about how they weren’t compatible either. He didn’t care what her psycho-babble said; he knew that no other woman was going to do it for him. He wanted her to move in with him.

  He had a feeling that he needed to organize his arguments, however, to make her recognize that they were a dynamic physical match, as well as convince her that their friendship was an asset in their relationship. If he had to, he’d use her love for his family. As a college professor and coach, he’d never be wealthy but money wouldn’t impress Crystal Taylor. Still, he could point out to her what his support would mean when she went back to school for an advanced degree. He’d support her emotionally too. Who knew her better than he did?

  True, he wanted to make love to her. But he planned to have much more than that. He wanted someone to belong to him, someone who would care about him for all of his life. He was so close to having it now that he couldn’t blow it. Crystal had come to care for him; he was sure of that.

  Yes, all he had to do was get his arguments in line and wait for the perfect opportunity to blow her away.

  He reached for the telephone on his desk.

  “Hello, beautiful.”

  As usual, her blood rushed to her womb at the sound of his voice. Today was his long day of classes at the university so she wouldn’t be seeing him. Crystal welcomed this call on her office phone.

  He continued. “I want you to find something fancy to wear tomorrow night, because I’ve made reservations to take you to a nice restaurant in Durham.”

  “Wow. It sounds special.”

  “It will be.”

  “What about Shonté?”

  “You know, Crystal, we can’t keep sneaking around like this.”

  She sighed. “I know, Key.”

  “I’d like to talk about this tomorrow night.”

  She agreed and hung up her office phone. Her smile faded as she thought about what he’d said.

  He was right, of course, about sneaking around. There was no good reason to keep their affair secret. But reason didn’t calm her anxiety about what Shonté would say. Would she be glad for them? Would she be angry? She decided she wouldn’t say anything until she talked to Key tomorrow night.

  * * *

  Crystal chose her black sequined pantsuit that had served her well for many dressy functions. The satin lapels of the jacket sparkled with the glitter of sequins. In the past she
’d worn it with a silk blouse or camisole underneath. But tonight she decided to leave her skin bare behind the deep vee of the jacket. Glitter lotion gave her chest a subdued sparkle.

  When she came out of her bedroom, she ran into Shonté on her way upstairs. Crystal waited nervously. Although they had both apologized for the fight over Trevor, the tension remained and they hadn’t been speaking much.

  When she reached the top, Shonté looked her up and down. Her eyebrows crawled upward.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “I’ve got a date.” Crystal’s voice came out breathless. She sounded guilty to her own ears. I need to tell Shonté about me and Key and get it over with. But the words wouldn’t come out.

  “Anyone I know?” Shonté asked in a snide tone.

  Crystal’s spine stiffened. “None of your exes,” she said in a cold voice.

  “Then tell me who.”

  “I don’t have to tell you.”

  “Really?” This time Shonté managed to make the word sound like an accusation. Which was really unfair, Crystal thought, since she had agreed to stay out of Shonté’s business.

  “It’s just kind of complicated. But I’ll tell you soon.” She moved to the top stair. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

  Shonté didn’t answer. Crystal bounced down the stairs and out the front door to drive to Key’s apartment.

  CHAPTER 15

  Crystal got a pleasant charge when Key opened his door dressed in a dark blue wool jacket over an ice blue shirt and slacks. His hair had been freshly braided in a slightly different pattern, which looked as sophisticated and sexy as always.

  She put her hands on his chest. “Um, baby, you look good enough to eat. Are you sure you want to waste half the night driving to Durham?”

  He pulled away, taking her hands in his to caress. “You tempt me, woman. But I want to make this night special. I’ve never taken you on a really romantic date. I have to correct that.”

  She let him lead her to the car, anticipation sparkling through her. An hour later, they arrived at the French restaurant in Durham. It was located in a small house on a quiet street of store-front businesses. A valet took the car and they stepped inside, where Crystal succumbed to the atmosphere of intimate luxury. A fire crackled in the massive stone fireplace in the center of the room. A smiling maitre d’ led them to a table next to a window that overlooked the patio where bronze pole lanterns cast pools of light on the flagstones. Above the hedge rimming the property, stars sparkled in the midnight blue blanket of sky.