by Tracy Brown
Ishmael smiled back, pulled her close, and kissed her passionately. He was beginning to wonder if he had met his match. Robin smiled once more. “Can’t take it?” she asked with a smirk, still grinding her hips but slower this time.
Ishmael liked a challenge. “I can take it,” he assured her.
Robin wanted him to prove it. She began to ride him once again with the same intensity as she had moments prior, and Ishmael did all he could to hold back. He didn’t want to give her the benefit of knowing how she had him. He bit his lower lip, willing himself to hold back his orgasm. Noticing this, Robin began to bounce up and down on his dick, her breasts jiggling enticingly. Ishmael reached for them and stroked her nipples and then he felt it. He couldn’t hold it any longer.
“I’m gonna come!” he roared, wrapping his arms around her waist and thrusting himself deeper inside of her. She could feel him exploding within her and she clung to him breathlessly. The two of them lay together afterward, breathing heavily and reveling in the feeling. Silently Robin leaned over and kissed Ishmael’s luscious lips. Then she sat up and slowly walked to the bathroom, her legs feeling like spaghetti.
Ishmael heard Robin turn the shower on and he lay there, dazed. She had been blowing his mind for two straight nights, and each time was better than the last. He felt weak and had never felt that way after sex before. Usually he felt energized and ready for more. But not with Robin. She took all that he had and then some!
When she came out of the bathroom, she strolled over to the bed naked and he watched her. She bent over and picked up her clothes and began to get dressed. Ishmael immediately protested.
“You don’t have to leave so soon,” he said. “It’s not like I got shit to do, and your son is with your sister, so—” He caught himself sounding like a bitch and cleared his throat. “I’m just saying if you don’t want to go I’m not forcing you to.”
Robin nodded. “I wish I could stay,” she said. “But I have a paper to hand in tomorrow and I have to finish it.” She pulled her T-shirt over her head and leaned over to kiss Ishmael on his soft lips. “I’ll call you when I get off work tomorrow.”
Ishmael nodded, wanting her to stay but not wanting to beg. He watched her slip her feet into her Coach sneakers and waved at her as she walked out the door. When she was gone, he asked himself what had come over him. Robin was making him weak.
Ishmael sat up in bed and looked around the room. They had made love with such intensity that the room was a mess, the lamp was knocked over, and the condom had broken. He smiled at the memory. Robin was one hell of a woman.
He stood up and stretched and then walked over to his computer. He needed to stop thinking about her, since she seemed to invade his thoughts more and more each day. He hadn’t been back to the home he shared with Nina since their fight at Charly’s shop. Nina had shown him such an ugly side of herself that he no longer looked at her the same way. When he had first gotten with her, what he’d loved about her was her softness, her disdain for drama, and her independence. Those things were gone now, and he was turned off. He logged onto the Internet and checked out his e-mail messages—nothing important besides a few e-mails from former coworkers and some party invitations. He thought about Robin once again, wondering when was the last time she’d been out to a party, and then he chastised himself for even caring. His relationship with her was physical, nothing more. After all, she had a child and Ishmael wasn’t eager to get involved with someone who had a kid. What he needed was some time to be a single man again—no commitments, no responsibilities to anyone but himself. He went to his MySpace page and immediately smiled. He read Celeste’s message, reached for his cell phone, and dialed her number.
Celeste was just getting into work two hours late after her overnight date with Bryson. Her cell phone rang as she slipped into her office and shut the door. She kicked off her Jessica Simpson heels, trotted over to her desk, and picked up the call. “Hello?” she answered.
“If you miss me, then why did you leave without saying good-bye?” Ishmael asked, a smile still plastered on his face.
Celeste stopped dead in her tracks and felt her heartbeat quicken. She had wondered if he would actually call her, but she certainly hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. “Ishmael?” she asked, although she knew that it was him.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s good, Celeste? Damn, it’s been a long time since I heard your voice.”
She sat down at her desk and crossed her legs. “I know,” she said. “What made you look for me on the Internet? I figured you forgot about me a long time ago with all those women in New York to keep you company.” She wasn’t joking. She knew that Ishmael was a notorious ladies’ man. Although they’d shared an unquestionable chemistry, she figured that in the years since she’d left both Ishmael and Rah-lo had surely moved on.
Ishmael let her know that she was mistaken about both of them. “Nah, I could never forget about you,” he said. “Neither could Rah-lo, apparently. I hear he’s on his way to find you.”
Celeste gripped the phone tighter. “Find me? What are you talking about?”
Ishmael walked away from his computer and went and stretched out across his bed. “He left Asia and I haven’t heard from him in days. Asia’s been calling me off the hook trying to get me to tell her where he went, but Rah-lo hasn’t told me shit. I keep ignoring her phone calls and she keeps leaving me these long messages telling me that he left her to run off and find you and that she ain’t giving him up without a fight, yada yada.”
Celeste couldn’t believe her ears. “You’ve gotta be kidding. Why would he think he could just come and find me after all these years? I moved on with my life. I’m not going backward.”
“Not even for me?” Ishmael said it without thinking about it.
Celeste didn’t answer right away. She frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”
Ishmael wasn’t sure what he meant. But he knew that Celeste held a very special place in his heart. “I mean you don’t have room in your new life for an old friend like me?”
She smiled. “Well, obviously I do. I gave you my phone number after all.” She knew that Keisha had actually sent him her phone number, but Ishmael didn’t need to know that. “But getting back to your boy,” she said. “Where is he supposedly looking for me? He didn’t come down here to Atlanta, did he? He must be crazy to think he can find me that easily. This isn’t such a small town.” Celeste searched her memory for ways that Rah-lo could find her. She had been careful not to reveal her whereabouts before she left town. And she hadn’t been in touch with any of their old crew since she left.
Ishmael shook his head. “I don’t know. All I know is what Asia said. And I haven’t heard from him in days, so he’s definitely up to something.” Ishmael didn’t want to talk about Rah-lo anymore. His loyalty to his childhood friend had begun to wane. Now that Rah-lo had all but disappeared, leaving Ishmael to pick up the pieces and carry on their business, he knew that it was time for him to branch out for good. While Rah-lo was out chasing Celeste, Ishmael got busy chasing paper. And to add insult to injury, he had gotten to Celeste first. In Ishmael’s mind, Rah-lo had blown his chance with her. Now there was nothing standing in the way of Ishmael connecting with Celeste on a more intimate level—or so he hoped.
“You got a man?” he asked.
Celeste logged onto her computer and thought about Bryson and the wonderful time she had with him last night. “Nope,” she said. “But I’m not looking for one, either.”
Ishmael laughed. “I hear that.”
For close to half an hour they talked like old friends and caught up on each other’s lives. Celeste was shocked to learn that Ishmael had been with Nina since the last time they’d spoken years prior.
“Nina? What made you get with her? She never really seemed like your type.” Celeste wondered why she was so bothered by this revelation.
“So what’s my type?” he asked.
“I don’t know. But not Nina. I would�
�ve expected you to be bored with her by now.”
Ishmael laughed, wondering if Celeste knew how right she was. “Well, it’s about to be over between me and her. She’s been bugging out lately.” He recounted Nina’s encounter with Charly and subsequent confrontation with Robin.
Celeste sighed. She didn’t miss that type of drama at all. When Celeste had first met Charly—in a hair supply store in Staten Island—the two of them had become friends. Celeste thought Charly was fun and witty. When Rah-lo gave Celeste Dime Piece, she had brought Charly on board as one of the stylists. It was then, working with her closely every day of the week, that Celeste began to see how much trouble Charly really was. When Nina applied for a job as a stylist, she and Charly had clashed almost instantly. Robin had been a good addition to the team because she was always desperate to avoid beef and bullshit. That is, until Ishmael came in the shop and set all three of them at one another’s throats.
“See?” Celeste said. “That’s the shit I had to get away from. All three of them are nothing but trouble.”
“Robin’s not so bad,” Ishmael said, defending her. “But those other two are a handful.”
Celeste thought she detected affection in Ishmael’s voice when he mentioned Robin. “Are you still screwing all of them?” Celeste asked.
Ishmael laughed. “Nah,” he said. After all, he hadn’t slept with Charly in years. Two out of three was better than all of them. “I’m a changed man.”
Now it was Celeste’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, right!”
Before she knew it, an hour had passed and Celeste was terribly backed up with work. Then she saw her second line ringing and she recognized Bryson’s number. She smiled. “Ish, I have to go,” she said. “I’m late for a meeting. Can I call you another time?”
Ishmael sucked his teeth. “What kind of meeting do you have on a Friday afternoon?” He shook his head. “Don’t play with me. Your man is there or something? He’s on the phone? I know you got a man.” Ishmael was smiling, teasing her, and he knew she hated that he knew her so well. “What’s his name?”
Celeste chuckled. Ishmael had seen right through her white lie. “His name is Bryson and I just had my first date with him last night. I like him, though.”
Ishmael smiled. “Bryson? What is he, a politician or something? Does he wear slacks and penny loafers?” he teased.
“Okay, I’m hanging up now,” she said.
“All right, all right. I didn’t mean to make fun of ole boy. He’s probably very nice. But I thought you said you didn’t have a man.”
“He’s not my man. It was just a date.”
“So when can I call you back? It’s twelve o’clock, so your little lunch date should be over by one—”
“Excuse you! Since when do you decide how long my dates should be?” Celeste couldn’t help smiling. Ishmael was still overprotective of her after all this time.
“Don’t make me fly down there,” he said, hoping she would extend an invitation for him to do just that.
Celeste almost did just that but thought better of it. “Well, if Rah-lo brings his ass down here you may need to come and get him so I don’t have to shut him down. Seriously, Ish, tell him that I left that part of my life behind. I don’t want to be caught in a love triangle anymore. He’s not ready to leave Asia and I’ve outgrown all that shit, for real.”
Ishmael hoped she hadn’t outgrown her attraction to him, too. “I understand.” He hesitated, wondering if he should say what was on his mind. Throwing caution to the wind, he went for it. “Yo, I might have to come down there next week to do some business and shit,” he said. “Why don’t you let me stay at your house so I don’t have to pay for a hotel?”
Celeste held the phone, speechless. Was he serious?
“You can say no,” he told her. “Your silence is making me feel bad.”
Celeste laughed. “I’m sorry. You just caught me off guard with that one. I mean … yeah, I guess so. I don’t see why that would be a problem.” She frowned, suddenly wondering if this was all a setup. “Ish, did Rah-lo put you up to this? ’Cuz if you’re trying to find out where I live so that you can tell him—”
“Nah!” Ishmael asserted, slightly offended. “I see you still think I’m one of Rah-lo’s soldiers.”
“I’m not saying that, Ishmael.”
“It’s all right. I guess the last time we saw each other that’s exactly what I was. But a lot has changed since then. I’m doing my own thing now,” he said. “Rah-lo will always be my boy, but I get money by myself. And I don’t do his dirty work anymore. He handles his business and I handle mine.” Ishmael knew even as he said it that he wasn’t telling the whole truth. Rah-lo had no clue that Ishmael had gone into business for himself, and Ishmael preferred it that way for the time being. He and Rah-lo had established a very successful hustle together. Ishmael didn’t want to fuck that up. Instead, he would get money on the side to supplement his income until his own client base grew larger. The last thing he wanted was to piss Rah-lo off.
Celeste bit her lip, wondering what she should do. “All right then. Yeah, you can stay with me if you want to.” She wondered why her heart was racing at the mere thought of it. “Just make sure your boy don’t find out. I don’t want to see him, Ish.” It might be hard for her to resist the urge to do all the things she had fantasized about doing to Ishmael once upon a time. But she thought she was up to the challenge. Rah-lo, on the other hand, was not so easy. Celeste feared that if she saw him again she would fall back in love, and that was the last thing she wanted.
Ishmael smiled, happy that she had said yes. Seeing Celeste again was exactly the change of pace he needed in his life. “I got you,” he said. “I’ll call you tomorrow so you can give me all the info so I can come down there.”
They ended their conversation, promising to talk again tomorrow. When she hung up the phone, Celeste thought about all that he had said. Was Rah-lo really looking for her? Had he really left Asia? As Celeste got to work, she wondered why part of her—deep down inside—felt hopeful that Rah-lo would indeed come looking for her. She wanted to believe that she was over him, but deep down she knew that wasn’t the case. And what about Ishmael coming to visit? She wondered what his true intentions were. She reasoned that it would be nice for the two of them to catch up as old friends. After all, all they had ever been was friends. So she questioned herself as to why her heart was galloping in her chest at the mere thought of seeing him again.
CHAPTER TEN
Friend or Foe?
Ishmael’s cell phone was ringing, and PRIVATE CALL was displayed on the caller ID. He hesitated to answer it, but since he hadn’t heard from Rah-lo, Ishmael picked up the call, hoping it would be him calling. “Yeah,” Ishmael answered, entering the house, thrilled that Nina wasn’t home, and kicking off his Timbs. He was only there to gather up some of his things so that he could head back over to his sanctuary.
“What up?” Rah-lo said. “I been laying low for a few days. You hear from Asia?”
Ishmael switched on the lamp in his empty living room. “Hell, yeah, I heard from her! How the hell you gonna leave town without telling me, son?”
“Son?” Rah-lo knew it was just a figure of speech, but he didn’t appreciate Ishmael’s tone. Who did he think he was talking to? “First of all, who the hell said anything about leaving town? I’m over here at my spot on Howard.”
“You’re still on Staten Island? I was just over there the other day—every day! Nobody’s been answering your door.”
“I wasn’t here. I was over at this shorty’s crib for a little while, but I never left the Island.”
“So, why does your wife think you went to Atlanta to find Celeste?”
Rah-lo frowned. “Is that what she told you?”
Ishmael was confused. “Hell, yeah, that’s what she told me! She said you told her that you were going to find Celeste. That day when I helped you move your stuff when the shit jumped off with Neo. She said you told her that. Then
I didn’t hear from you for all these days, so I thought that’s what you did.”
“I went somewhere to get my mind right. I deaded Asia, but it had nothing to do with Celeste. Asia’s crazy. She got it stuck in her head that I left her so I could find Celeste, but I never told her that shit.” Rah-lo shook his head in frustration. Asia drove him insane sometimes.
Ishmael was relieved that Rah-lo wasn’t chasing after Celeste after all this time. “Still. You haven’t checked in for days. There’s still business we gotta handle out here. And you couldn’t even call to tell me what was going on?”
Rah-lo calmed down a little. “I didn’t have time to stop and think about who I should call. I had to get away for a minute.”
“Well, your wife has been calling me for days, yo.”
Rah-lo thought about it. He hadn’t considered the position he was leaving Ishmael in. Not only did he have to keep business running smoothly in Rah-lo’s absence, but Ishmael had to deal with Asia’s bullshit also. “You’re right. I ain’t mean to leave you stuck like that. I just started thinking about how much I gave up, trying to be a good father to my kids. And I love my kids, Ish, but I don’t love Asia no more. I had to go. Then to find out she was fucking with Neo … finding him in my house. I needed a minute to myself.”
“I can understand that. But why does Asia think you were going to find Celeste? She left years ago, so it’s not like you could just go find her and pick up where you left off. Celeste won’t want to hear that shit after all this time.” Ish’s tone was slightly hostile, and he didn’t realize how obvious it was.