Sugar

by S. L. Jennings

  Ms. Hargrove turned on her heels and stormed away as Daylin dropped into the front seat of her car, wrapping her mind around Ms. Hargrove’s curse, one that was totally undeserved.

  Chapter 9

  Near the hallway, murmuring doctors, humming machines, and footsteps muffled by cloth covers filled the air leading to the operating room.

  “C’mon, Baby. Stay with me,” Maurice whispered in Faye’s ear as he laid his forehead to hers.

  “Mr. Wilson, we need you to step outside,” one anxious nurse said as she pulled him away from his listless fiancée.

  Maurice had spent the last evening cooking Faye’s favorite chicken cesar salad and homemade lasagna, which they ate by candlelight. An after-dinner foot massage and bubble bath followed. Faye had expressed to Maurice that she wasn’t feeling her best. She hadn’t felt the baby move in a day and thought a walk would help the baby wake up, but her swollen feet and even more swollen belly made for a short yet exhausting stroll.

  “This is the only kid you’re getting from me, Mister,” she teased, giggling.

  Those words ricocheted in his mind as he peered at their stillborn son swaddled in a bassinette that had been near his mother before the doctors took her away, trying to save her life.

  Maurice paced the worn beige and green linoleum squares praying for Faye’s speedy recovery. An older Asian man dressed in navy scrubs appeared from the room. Pulling down the facemask, he exchanged a silent glance with Maurice.

  “I’m sorry.” Dr. Cho’s monotone voice sent a chill coursing through Maurice’s body. “We’ve done all that we could do.”

  Maurice continued to stare as if waiting for a more specific phrase before giving up hope.

  “Mr. Wilson, your fiancée couldn’t be revived. She died on the table.”

  The words he didn’t want to hear, but the only ones that allowed his unshed tears to fall. Every sound that came after those words faded into background noise. Maurice sucked in a deep breath, swung his arm back, and hit the hospital wall. Pain radiated from his shoulder and down his back and still the ache wasn’t greater than one in his heart.

  The dusty blue sky opened, and rain poured as Maurice trudged his way up the sidewalk through the manicured lawn to the home that once inhabited his dreams of a family. Collapsing onto the leather loveseat near the front door he pulled his cell from his sweatpants and scrolled through the pictures of him and Faye. Tapping on a photo of Daylin with a wide smile sitting back to back with Faye donning a foxy grin at the company picnic caused his heart to skip a beat. He swiped the screen, tapped on contacts, and scrolled to Daylin’s name.

  “The number that you are trying to reach is currently not accepting calls at this time,” announced a robotic voice.

  Heaving as he sat his elbows on his knees Maurice tapped a corner of the phone to his forehead. The ringtone alerted him to an 800 call to which he hoisted the phone and threw it into the sixty-inch flat screen TV across the room, shattering both devices.

  Chapter 10

  Nearly a year had passed since Elijah’s death and Daylin finally felt strong enough to move away from the vestiges of grief. Online classes and meet-ups became a way of life as she pursued her dream of becoming a fashion designer.

  Life became brighter as she advanced from being a customer service representative to a role as a mortgage underwriter at Lakeside Financial Corporation where she had been employed for nine months. Daylin flourished since she no longer had to make sudden call-offs to work or go to great lengths to hide the black eyes, bruises, and burdens from a twisted love.

  Daylin’s career life was in full bloom, but opportunities for jumpstarting her social life were scarce given that Elijah’s jealous and violent behavior and threats made against anyone who dared to help her had forced Daylin to burn every bridge that had been built since childhood.

  Ten years of having only Elijah and his family as the only source of interaction proved to be lonely in the relationship and even lonelier in his absence. The social media smear campaign spearheaded by Elijah’s mother drove Daylin to live in another city. Not even the family members who favored her had reached out to offer support. The strong-willed matriarch had a vice grip on her family.

  Daylin had also broken ties with Maurice. As much as she was happy for her friend, she couldn’t help the jealousy that came when she thought of the beautiful life she knew Maurice would have with Faye. He was everything she needed Elijah to be and it would never come to pass.

  She had never imagined a life without Elijah or Maurice for that matter, but for all that she had gone through, things were looking up.

  While perusing her Facebook page on a lunch break, Daylin looked through the events near her.

  “Concert with Kim Waters,” she said quietly to herself. “Paint and Pour butterflies … hmm. Speed dating … tonight at seven. This could be fun.”

  Daylin quickly inputted her information as she checked the time—3:35 p.m. A smile cracked her face for the first time since she could remember. Her newfound motivation set the pace for getting her work done.

  Daylin had let a good life pass her by long enough, but now she was ready for all of the joy it had to offer.

  The warm night air charged Daylin’s confidence as she stepped out in black stilettos and a fitted black dress, with earrings and bangles that sparkled like stars. She hadn’t been out on a date of any sort since high school—a much needed change from her ordinary routine of studying and Netflix for the evening.

  Jazz music and the sweet aroma of nag champa filled the upscale retaurant that housed two rows of tables end to end with chairs lining each side. Men in suit and ties and women dressed to the nines lined the walls of the worn red brick interior awaiting the signal to move when their numbers were called to meet potential lovers or possible disaster. The host of the event, a man whose sepia complexion, bulging biceps, and broad chest gave every woman in the room a reason to be out of order before the event began, called for the first group to take their seats.

  Daylin slid into a chair across from a young flaxen-haired man. His green eyes sparkled as his gaze strayed away from her face to take in Daylin’s curvy, but athletic build.

  The host explained the rules for the evening and gave each pair a ten-minute time limit.

  “Hi, I’m Daylin,” she said taking the lead.

  “Wow. Great name.” He smiled. “I’m Brian.”

  Conversation about work and interests came easy—ten minutes wasn’t long enough when they managed to get in a joke or two between favorite pastimes and the worst movies they’d ever seen, before time was up. Daylin and Brian exchanged numbers before Brian shifted to the next seat where a woman with the look of an Instagram model gave Daylin a once over and a smirk that signaled she’d be the one taking Brian home tonight.

  Toward the end of the event, Daylin had collected three numbers from a few promising matches and there were still a few more suitors to meet. She dropped the tickets into her clutch when a familiar face from her past slid into the chair across from her.

  “Hey, Beautiful,” the mellow bass voice greeted Daylin.

  “Maurice? What are you doing here,” she asked, looking over her shoulder. “Should I be looking for the Cheaters van to pull up? Where’s Faye?”

  Maurice roared with laughter causing the couple next to them to snap their attention in their direction. Soon silence and glassy eyes replaced that laughter.

  “What’s wrong?” Daylin asked, resisting the urge to reach for his hand.

  “I was certain that I wouldn’t see anyone that I’d have to talk to about this, but here you are.”

  “About what?” she asked Daylin waited for Maurice’s response.

  “Remember I told you that Faye had been ordered on bed rest?”

  “I recall,” Daylin affirmed, sensing good news was not forthcoming.

  “Faye had preeclampsia,” Maurice explained, his Adam’s apple shifting. “The doctors said my son had died a day or two before we
made it to the hospital. After doing all that they could do to save her, they said she gave up her will to live.”

  Daylin tried to keep her jaw from going slack, hearing the report.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “All Faye talked about was having a child.”

  Maurice nodded.

  “It’s been almost a year and I’m doing better,” he said, his lips turning up into a feeble grin. “God knows best, right?”

  “That’s what I’m told,” she whispered delighting in the awesome sight of him, her smile putting a sparkle back in his eyes.

  The two gazed into each other’s eyes while the chatter from other pairs and music surrounded them. Maurice reached for Daylin’s hand, his thumb caressing hers.

  “What have you been doing since the last time we talked,” Maurice asked but she barely heard him. His tender touch sent a delicious chill up her spine.

  “I took a few online classes few months ago. Studying fashion design, doing a lot of sketching and upcycling different clothes,” she said with excitement. “I really want to put together a fashion show, but I haven’t found all of the models I need. I want to use all body types, you know?”

  “I can understand that,” Maurice said, leveling a heated gaze.

  “What about you? What have you been up to?” Daylin laced her manicured fingers with Maurice’s, surprised at the heat that rushed through her body.

  “I spent some time wrapping my mind around my loss,” he confessed. “Then I went back to work. Bought a new house, sold the old one. Sometimes I’d chill at the club, hoping to find someone looking for the same thing I’m looking for. All of the women that I’d meet didn’t know that the Buckeyes are the best team in life.”

  Daylin roared with laughter at the familiar football rival’s dig.

  “Perhaps if you told the truth and admitted the Wolverines were the best team you would’ve found someone by now,” she teased as she shrugged, grasping his hand a little tighter. Daylin had forgotten how comforting Maurice’s touch was and now, more than anything, she didn’t want to let it go.

  “I really missed you, Daylin,” Maurice whispered. “Missed how we could talk about anything. I really missed you at the OSU vs U of M tailgate when Ohio beat Michigan by seven points.”

  Daylin tossed her head back and roared with laughter. “Here you go again.”

  She smiled and she cocked an eyebrow, observing the desire in his eyes, something that she had only seen in rare moments when they were just friends.

  “Where did you go after you left town?” Maurice asked focusing on Daylin’s lips. “Life has been really hard without you.”

  Daylin knew an explanation was in order, but silence fell between them for the first time since the start of their conversation. She searched those piercing gray eyes down to the full lips to his sculpted jawline and back to his heated gaze. Their time limit coming to an end, she had no desire to move on.

  “Gentlemen, prepare to move to your next date at the sound of the chime,” the host announced.

  Maurice held firm in his seat, signaling for the next man to move to an empty chair on the opposite side of him. The man, who looked like he had just walked from the Giorgio Armani runway, stood too close for Maurice’s comfort.

  “Excuse me, my man,” the tenor voice asserted, “I believe it’s my turn to have a moment with this beautiful queen.”

  Maurice looked the man up then down, then glanced over at Daylin who, also looking at the man, offered him a sly smile and shook her head.

  “You’re interrupting my date,” Maurice countered. “There’s another beautiful queen waiting for you to take this empty seat in front of her. While you’ve been standing here, you’ve wasted two minutes of her time that she’ll never get back.”

  The man’s nostrils flared as he pushed past Maurice, peering over his shoulder as he reluctantly slammed into the empty seat.

  Daylin and Maurice snickered, scanning the crowded space. She already knew that there wouldn’t be another man to take Maurice’s place.

  “There’s a question on the table,” he said, searching her face. “Where did you go after you maxed out a brother’s credit card and kicked him to the curb?”

  “I did no such thing,” Daylin snapped back, giggling. “There was a balance of $2,694 when I gave you the card back. I should’ve held onto the card so that you could’ve paid for the drink I needed after OSU cheated to win that game,” she joked, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

  “C’mon, Daylin,” Maurice chided. “I needed my friend and she left town with no forwarding address. No phone call. Nothing.”

  Daylin flickered her gaze—she knew he deserved an answer.

  “Maurice, everything had gotten to be too much,” she said, trying to rationalize her absence. “I had to get away from Elijah’s family. I deactivated all my social media accounts and activated new accounts under a different name. And … ”

  “And?” he repeated, an edge to the echo.

  “I spent my life trying to please and accommodate a man that was never going to be happy,” she explained, dropping her gaze to their hands. “That life ended. I had a new lifetime to begin and there you were. You were always my friend and then I realized I wanted my friend all to myself, all of the time.” Daylin lifted her gaze to meet Maurice’s, his smoldering gaze causing her heartbeat to quicken. “You and Faye were happy with a baby on the way. As happy as I was for the two of you, I couldn’t stay. I wanted you in my next lifetime and I couldn’t have you.”

  Maurice listened, still caressing Daylin’s hand, not knowing how to respond. He loved Faye and never imagined his life without her or their child, but every casual Friday at the job Daylin wore one of many pairs of fitted blue jeans that caused his gaze to linger and his imagination to roam.

  “Maurice, I’m really sorry” Daylin whispered.

  “Gentlemen, it’s time to meet the next possible love connection,” the host of the event broadcasted once more and rang the chime.

  A man with brown skin and short locs approached and watched the couple, waiting while they continued to be engrossed in their own conversation.

  Daylin slipped her foot out of her stiletto and stroked Maurice’s firm calf with her purple painted toes.

  “I’m sorry, Maurice,” she said, fixing her gaze on his. “Can you forgive me?”

  Maurice squeezed Daylin’s hand as her foot traveled up his leg. He narrowed his beaming eyes on Daylin as a smile crept across his face. Shifting in his chair he adjusted his position as Daylin’s foot reached his hearty erection.

  “Well?” she mouthed, one eyebrow raised as she bit her bottom lip. Daylin’s gaze traveled his upper body, catching a glimpse of his heart beating through his blue striped button up. “Can you? Please?”

  Potential partners who wanted a chance to impress Daylin threw their hands in the air, one motioning to the host of the event to come and address Maurice’s transgression.

  “Excuse me,” the host snapped. “You need to move right now, before I call security.”

  “Are you ready?” Maurice asked, ignoring the host and the line of men waiting for his chair. Daylin’s smile was all the answer he needed. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered, giving himself a minute for the bulge in his pants to wane. “I’ve already made my choice.”

  Chapter 11

  Daylin’s feet left the ground as she wrapped her legs around Maurice’s waist. Slipping her tongue past his full lips she tasted the Hennessy he sipped from the evening.

  Maurice took in the scent of her perfume as he laid Daylin across a teal satin jacquard comforter that covered the sumptuous king sized bed. Floor to ceiling charcoal silk panels hung against the hand-painted heather gray and slate striped walls that served as the backdrop for large Picasso style painted canvases. Mirrored bedside tables flanked either side of the black velour tufted headboard that donned several fluffy pillows of varying hues of green.

  Daylin’s gaze followed Maur
ice as he moved about the room closing windows and curtains. Her heart picked up its pace as she drank in his every motion.

  “I’ve missed my friend,” Maurice confessed as he joined her on the bed. He delivered a kiss to Daylin’s supple lips. “I want to explore something more with you.”

  A smile split Daylin’s face and her heart leapt for joy. She had only dreamed of meeting a man who embodied Maurice’s kindness toward her, but she never imagined that having the real thing would ever happen and feel this good.

  “I’d love that,” Daylin concurred as her fingers traced the features of his face.

  Maurice stood at the foot of the bed and took in the beautiful sight that Daylin was, even fully clothed. Placing a heated hand on her luscious thighs, he caressed her skin while planting butterfly kisses. Lifting the hem of her dress, a devilish grin spread over Maurice’s face pleased with her choice of scarlet red lace panties.

  “May I have the honor,” his voice taking on a husky tone, one smooth finger slipping underneath the top of the closely fitted material.

  “Not yet,” Daylin said biting her bottom lip. She shifted her position to her knees and unbuttoned Maurice’s shirt exposing a chest that only God himself could’ve carved. Slipping her purple polished fingertips under the crisp fabric, Daylin removed his shirt. Her eyes traveled from his shoulders, over his chest, and down to his ripped abs. A sassy eyebrow flew up as she peered at the bulging erection that was still covered by slacks.

  “Damn,” she whispered as her fingers traced the lines of his abs.

  Maurice leaned in and crushed Daylin lips as he reached under her dress and cupped his hot hands on her round ass.

  “Not. Yet.” Daylin said pulling his hands away from her body, her eyes fixed on his gaze, her core wet, aching to know him more intimately.

  Maurice moaned as Daylin nipped the earlobe. His eyes closed as he enjoyed the sound of her breath against him. Electricity coursed through his body as her tongue slipped behind his earlobe and down his neck.