Playthang

by Janine A. Morris

  Donovan was resting on the side of the bed with the televisionturned to a football game. He instantly turned to Jordan when she walked into the room.

  “You OK?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Jordan said with a smirk.

  “You ready to go back down, or do you want to chill for a bit?” he asked.

  Jordan paused for a moment to think. She wasn’t sure if spending time in his hotel room was the classiest thing she could do, but at the same time she didn’t feel like seeing all the people who had witnessed the brawl looking at her again.

  “We can chill for a little bit and then go back down,” she said, thinking to herself that was the best choice for a happy medium.

  “OK, relax,” Donovan said as he kicked off his shoes.

  Jordan placed her purse on the desk and sat on the bed on the opposite side of Donovan. She removed her BlackBerry from her clip and began to send a text out informing Dakota and Chrasey of what had happened. She hesitated to tell Tayese just yet, because she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to explain her being at a hotel with unclaimed Donovan. Once Jordan finished typing and sending her text, she placed her BlackBerry on the nightstand to await their reaction to her story. Once she placed it down, Donovan turned over and looked her right in the eyes.

  “You know, I’m not just telling you now because we are in my hotel room, I was hoping you caught on from the first night I met you, but I am really feeling you.”

  Jordan froze momentarily. She was thinking to herself, Yeah, what an inopportune time to tell me. She was trying to take a millisecond to figure out what to say back.

  “Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if it was strictly business or if you were feeling Tayese or what. I was just going with the flow.”

  “Tayese? Nah, Eddie is feeling her though. I had my eye on you. I did want to do business with you, but if I had to choose one, my heart says no.”

  Jordan giggled at his cute game.

  “Your heart says no?” she asked. “You got that from some Jodeci song or something?

  “No, I’m serious. I really like you, so I would prefer that we get to know each other better and see where things might lead,” he said, shrugging off her innocent insult.

  “I’m not against that,” Jordan replied.

  Donovan scooted over a bit closer to Jordan, and Jordan instinctly backed up some.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your personal space.”

  Jordan realized how her reaction came off, and although that was what she meant to do and how she normally would respond, she remembered that she was supposed to be a new Jordan. She had to ask herself what she was running from, why she was moving away from this fine black man that could possiblygive her some great loving right here in this nice plush hotel room where no one could hear her scream.

  “No, not at all. I’m sorry. I was just caught off guard,” Jordansaid as she eased back into her original position.

  As soon as she was done, Donovan leaned in to kiss her. When their lips and tongues met, Jordan could feel her body’s uneasiness and tried to mentally calm herself down. She chanted in her mind, Relax, you’re an adult. Live a little, or combinationsof it. Moments later, Jordan had eased herself into his arms, while his tongue eased its way around her mouth. Jordan had no complaints; Donovan surely knew what he was doing with his tongue, lips, and fingertips as he caressed her lower back. Jordan resisted as long as she could before her body gave in to the attention.

  30

  There wasn’t much on Jordan’s mind the past twenty-four hours other than her rendezvous last night with Mr. Donovan. By the time she got home, she knew there was no way she was getting to work on time. Sure enough, Jordan awoke at 10:30 AM, and by the time she showered, got ready, and drove in to the city, she walked into her office at 12:30 PM. Lucky for her, she didn’t have any clients scheduled to come in. However, she did have a client coming in at three that she still hadn’t prepped for. Jordan knew she was being irresponsible,and she couldn’t afford to lose money in her practice becauseshe was handling a lot of bills on her own. Jordan knew she had to get back on track, and soon.

  Once she got to work, her mind kept wandering back to the details of their yummy time together the night before. It didn’t help that her two silly, high school–minded friends kept sending her random e-mails making jokes and asking intimate details about the episode. Jordan couldn’t help but laugh at their questions and comments, but on the inside she was feelinga little solemn about the whole thing. She had to rememberboth Dakota and Chrasey had someone at home to keep them “honest,” so to say, and she couldn’t help but feel in a way that she’d become the damsel of the group.

  Jordan opened one e-mail that was sent from Chrasey: “What is going on with you? You’re fighting in clubs, having sex with randommen, you have the complete 360.” Before Jordan had opened it, Dakota had already responded, since all three of them were cc’d on the e-mails. Dakota’s e-mail read “I told you, Jordanis the younger version of Stella Got Her Groove Back lately.” Jordan laughed to herself when she read what they wrote, but at the same time she knew she had to laugh to keep from crying.

  Jordan headed toward her office door to go inform her assistantthat the last few files she went through were not updated.As she made her way closer to the door, she heard her assistant announce over the intercom that she had a Shakai on line one. Jordan stopped in her tracks and paused; she slowly turned back around and headed for her desk as she tried to fully recall the person known as Shakai. It only took a second to remember that Shakai was the young man from the cab ride the day before.

  “Hello, Ms. Moore speaking,” Jordan said as she answered the phone.

  “Hello, Jordan?” he replied.

  “Yes, this is she,” Jordan responded, pretending as if she was still assuming she was on a business call.

  “Hi, it’s Shakai, the guy from the taxi ride the other day.”

  “Yeah, I remember you. I’m glad you called.”

  “It was nice meeting you the other day.”

  “Yes, it was nice meeting you too.”

  “Did you think I would call this soon?”

  “Actually, no, but I was hoping you would.”

  “Well, are you free any time this week? Maybe we can meet up.”

  “Tomorrow night I can do dinner.”

  “How is eight?”

  “I have a seven o’clock meeting. Let’s shoot for nine.”

  “OK, see you at nine.”

  Jordan was about to hang up the phone when she realized that they didn’t make a definite plan.

  “Wait!” Jordan said. “Where are we going to meet?” she added.

  He laughed, realizing how silly that was.

  “Do you have any place in mind?”

  “I haven’t been to Mr. Chow’s in a while.”

  “OK, so let’s go there.”

  “OK, I’ll see you at nine.”

  Jordan hung up the phone and quickly entered the date in her BlackBerry. She then got up and headed back toward her office door. She initially forgot what she was going out there for, but then she remembered she had to talk to her assistant. When she got to the hallway, Jackie wasn’t in sight. Their intern,Hewan, was sitting nearby, looking over some documents. Jordan asked if she had seen Jackie, and Hewan told her that she had stepped out for lunch. Jordan was a bit annoyed becauseshe had told Jackie time and time again to notify her when she left for lunch. However, instead of making a big deal, Jordan just left a message with Hewan about updating the documents.

  Jordan went back into her office and took a moment to reflecton her plans with Shakai and again on last night. She tried to think to herself how many guys she’d be dating at one time if she continued on this path. It would only take a few guys more before it became a roster. It would be different if she had not become sexually involved with more than one of them at once. She told herself that with Shakai she would try to keep it from getting physical for
as long as possible. Marcus had been in Jordan’s mind numerous times, but she tried extremely hard to keep her feelings from getting involved. Marcus was beginningto call more frequently and send more intimate texts, and although Jordan tried to deny it, she liked Marcus. Still, Jordan refused to allow herself to get hurt again, so she wasn’t willing to not see Donovan and Shakai, or anybody else she met for that matter. Besides, Jordan was confident that Marcus probablyhad some friends of his own, just like Jayon did.

  31

  Jordan took the night just to spend some time alone and do nothing. She had come a long way from the girl who hated going to clubs, wasn’t big on partying, and was against casual sex. Lately, these things felt like they were more important than her career and family, and at one time that’s all that mattered. When Jordan was home alone, she couldn’t pretend that her newfound way of life was making her happy. She felt empty inside,and she knew that she was doing all these things to fill the void. Of course, she knew that these guys could not fill the void of her child, husband, and best friend. Although she hadn’t given up on her child, she had given up on her husband and best friend and all men that pretended to be honest. There was a point when the thought of her son ending up with a girlfriendand treating her wrong made her feel a certain way about him even, but she had every intention of teaching him how to be a better man.

  Jordan had run a bubble bath and placed her iPod in her Bose speakers; she went to her R&B playlist and headed into the bedroom to get undressed. Jordan had a television in her bathroom, but she wanted some time to just relax. No television,no stressful thoughts, nothing. Just some candles, some soft music, some hot water, bubbles, and Jordan time. The thing was, most of the time Jordan didn’t like being alone, because she had to reflect on all the wrong she was doing and all the wrong that had been done to her. It was just easier to keep busy and try to distract herself. Well, rather, it had been easier.

  Jordan had sunk into the hot tub and begun skimming through a magazine. Usher’s latest album was playing, and Jordan was actually feeling at peace with herself. Just as she started to hum along to one of her favorite songs, her doorbell rang. Jordanglanced up at her BlackBerry and noticed she had no missed calls and couldn’t figure out who could be at the door. She wasn’t expecting anyone, so she decided to ignore it. The bell rang again, and after a few more seconds the curiosity got the best of her. Jordan stood up, grabbed her towel, and dried off. She put her robe on and headed downstairs.

  “Who is it?” she yelled.

  “Marcus,” she heard from the other side of the door.

  Jordan wasn’t sure what to do. She was standing there in her robe and didn’t know if she should answer the door or make him wait. She figured it would be rude to make him wait, and since he had seen all she had anyway, it didn’t make a real big deal either way. Jordan walked up to the door and opened it; Marcus was standing there dressed in all brown.

  “Sorry to show up unannounced,” he said as soon as Jordanopened the door. “I hope you didn’t forget I was stoppingby.”

  “I didn’t hear from you, so I wasn’t sure if you were still coming by,” she said.

  “I would’ve called first, but I was walking by your house and thought I’d just stop by now,” he added.

  Jordan giggled. “You sure you weren’t trying to run into my ex again?” she joked.

  “You got jokes. I’ll come back later if you want.”

  “It’s OK; I was just taking a bath.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “No, not a problem at all. Come and sit down.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind waiting for a bit.”

  “Sure, take your time.”

  Jordan headed back upstairs to the bathroom. She was tempted to continue her bath and just make him wait, but she knew that was rude. Still, she wanted to at least rinse off since she had rushed out of the bathtub. Jordan went into the bathroomto let the water out of the tub and then walked into her bedroom to get some clothes out of her drawer. By the time she was done, the water was pretty much out of the tub, and Jordan turned on the shower. She hopped in and began to lather up with soap. A couple of moments went by and she heard footsteps. She peeked her head around the shower curtainand noticed Marcus walking toward her. At first she was extremely startled, realizing that this man could murder her right here in her own home and nobody would know.

  “Marcus,” she said in a high-pitched voiced.

  “I’m so sorry to scare you. I just got excited sitting downstairsthinking about you up here naked.”

  Jordan tried to laugh, but that didn’t completely ease her nerves. Marcus began to remove his shirt, and it was then that Jordan realized what he had in mind. She was feeling a little nervous but liked his idea. Showering with a man was a bit personal, Jordan felt, and having to be mindful of her hair gettingwet wasn’t the sexiest love scene, but Jordan couldn’t objectto spontaneity. She had sex with Jayon and Omar in the shower before, but that was it and it was not often. Still, the sight of Marcus, with his built upper body, made her willing to try it again. Within seconds, Marcus was fully undressed and stepping into the shower with her. As soon as he stepped in, he wasted no time at all and began to kiss her and let his hands wander all over her body. It didn’t take long before Marcus had Jordan bent over like a scene in a porno. It wasn’t the shower that Jordan had in mind, but after a few strokes she wasn’t complaining.

  32

  “I’ve never had sex with two guys in one week. I need to see a counselor,” Jordan said in a low, crackly tone.

  “Yes, you do. I don’t know what has gotten into you,” Chrasey replied quickly.

  “Calm down. It’s not that serious.You just need to get over this Jayon thing quick before you hurt yourself,” Dakota said.

  “It is serious. Jordan has been bugging out since she caught Jayon cheating,” Chrasey replied.

  “That’s what I mean. She is not built for this and needs to knock it off,” Dakota said.

  “Hello? I’m right here. I can hear you two,” Jordan interjected.

  The ladies laughed.

  “I know that I’m not built for it and that this has just been my way of forgetting Jayon,” Jordan added.

  For a moment, Jordan’s honesty kept the women silent. They all knew how it felt to be her; they had all experienced the pain of betrayal. Better yet, they had all wanted to throw caution to the wind and live in a place where no pain could hurt them. Hell, it was Dakota’s creed at one point, for years to be exact, until David came along. For Jordan, it was the exact opposite. She always had her heart on the line. She always believedthat if you gave your all, good things would come your way. She also believed if you were honest and loved wholeheartedly,that love would conquer all, but on two different occasionswith the two men she trusted most, she was proven wrong.

  “Trust me, Jordan, we know what you are going through. We have all been there at one time or another,” Chrasey said.

  For real, Chrasey was just there not that long ago when she was infatuated with Trevor.

  They all giggled, but Jordan quickly got serious again.

  “I know, ladies, but I think I’m losing myself. When Marcusleft here last night, I felt so cheap and so outside of my body. I have to admit I was ashamed,” Jordan said.

  “Why? You said you like him,” Dakota asked.

  “Yeah, I do. I guess that means I like Donovan too, who I just had sex with two nights ago, and Darren, who I was with last week.”

  “Yeah, girl. You are on a roll,” Dakota said, laughing. “I think you got me beat.”

  “You better be using protection, that’s all I know. You are too grown to be out there carrying on like some high school floozy,” Chrasey said.

  “Thanks, Chrasey,” Jordan said. “Not only am I a floozy and a ho, but I’m dumb too.”

  “Nobody said all that, but you seem all caught up in the moment, and I can’t tell if you’re u
sing all of your senses.”

  “Yes, I am. Of course I am using protection.You think I’m trying to be on the Maury show, trying to find out who the baby’s father is or something?”

  Dakota had been there before and she knew there wasn’t anything fun about that.

  “For real, it is not cute not knowing who the father of your baby is. There is nothing more that reads whore across your forehead,” Dakota laughed, trying to make fun of the situation.

  “Well, thank you, ladies, very much for your comforting advice and kind words,” Jordan said in a sarcastic tone.

  “Stop it, J, we are just messing with you,” Dakota said. “You have to understand this seems unreal, us having to lecture you. The tables are so turned we don’t even know how to handle it.”

  “Shut up,” Jordan said with a giggle. “I gotta go; I will call you guys later.” The girls didn’t put up a fight to keep talking; they had been on the phone long enough.

  Jordan hung up the phone and went back to watching television. She had spent most of the afternoon getting Jason’s room nice and tidy for when he came home next week, and she was taking a break.

  About an hour had gone by when her cell phone rang. It was Marcus. Jordan looked at his name in her phone for a few seconds before she decided to not answer it. She put the phone back down and lay back on the couch as she was. She waited for the call to ring to voice mail, and she finally started to pay the show she was watching attention again. She tried to pretendthat she couldn’t care less that he called, but she could feel her curiosity wondering if he would leave a message. She didn’t have a real reason not to answer, other than him possibly wantingto come over and her not wanting company. Besides, with Jason coming home soon, he wouldn’t be able to come over much at all anyway. Things were going to have to change. She had put Jason through enough, and she didn’t want to have him seeing different men come and go out of his mother’s life.