by Jada Pearl
“Are you looking for someone?” she asked him with a sexy smile.
“Tina, you must have knocked on the wrong door. You know good and damn well I am not letting you in my room. So please stop…now!”
“When did you become so mean?”
“The day your ass decided someone else was the one for you. Now leave me alone, or you might get your wish and see how mean I am.” Nico tried to close the door, but she put the bottle in it to keep it open. He looked at her like she had lost her mind.
“Tina, please don’t test me,” he told her through clenched teeth. He held his phone a little tighter. He decided not to do what his gut said. Shontell was watching, and he didn’t want her to see him as less of a man because of his actions.
“Why is it that SHE can have your attention and I can’t?”
“You can’t be serious.”
“But I am. I am a ten, and what is she?” Tina said, pouting as she stood in the door. Nico could smell that she had been drinking.
“A thousand, compared to you. She has more class, style, and grace than you can even hope to learn about.” He glared at her as he again tried to close the door.
“Now I am going to ask you nicely one more time to leave me alone. My time is too valuable to waste it on you,” he said. He yanked the bottle from inside his door and from her hand. He tossed it in the hallway and closed his door. He held the phone up and saw that Shontell was crying.
“Shontell, baby. What’s wrong? Why are you crying? It’s not about Tina, is it?” She nodded her head and then put a finger up as she placed her phone down for a second. The screen went black. He could hear Tina out in the hall yelling and cursing. She was drunk. Things like this didn’t happen to him—Dennis, yes; him, no. Shontell still hadn’t come back to the phone, and he was getting scared. He didn’t understand her tears. He hoped that she didn’t think anything was going on between them. He wouldn’t jeopardize their beginning nor disrespect her in that way. He let out a sigh of relief when she came back into view. She had taken a minute to compose herself.
“Are you okay? Are you going to tell me why you are crying?” he asked in a small and desperate voice. When she didn’t say anything, he started to panic.
“I hope you weren’t thinking that I was doing anything with her. I promise I wasn’t. I…” he tried to tell her. He sat on the edge of the table in his room, running his hand back and forth over his head.
“Nico, Nico. Stop and listen, please. No, I didn’t think you were with her. I’m reacting to your actions. The way you wanted me to see that you were being truthful and honest with me was just different. I never had that experience. It wasn’t as if you had to prove it to me otherwise. The act itself was heartwarming. Thank you for that,” she told him when she interrupted what he was saying. He wished he could touch her. He needed to have her in his arms. He realized that God put them together for a reason. They both needed to learn some things and he was showing out lessons on their behalf.
“Shontell, I am sorry that your ex and the ones before him hurt you. I can’t take away what they did. But I can show you how a real man can love and treat a good woman, like yourself. I would rather lose my voice than hurt you or mess up what I have found in you,” he told her into the screen. He was about to say something else when the banging on his door got louder. He stood up and walked a little closer to his door. They could hear Tina being dramatic. He needed to diffuse this situation. He sighed and he reluctantly told Shontell that he needed to take care of the situation before it got ugly.
“Yeah, go handle that. I will try and stay up. I am more drained than I was when we got on here.”
“Yes. I second that, beautiful.” They ended their call. He opened his door and saw Dennis, Martin, and the two hotel security guards. He started to close his door, but thought better of it as he stepped into the hallway and joined the other men.
Karma Is A Bitch
Shontell
Shontell went to put eye cream on her face. She was way too emotional lately, and her face was showing it. She held onto the sides of the sink, and she put her head down and said a silent prayer. Her mind went back to the last few days. On one side, she was exactly where she always wanted to be. She hoped she never had to see again what was on the other side. Why does it happen that way? When a person finally moves on and tries to have a real life, they can’t because someone always wants to throw a monkey wrench in it. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She was being given this chance by luck. She was over Jesse. The situation with Jesse and Ebony had nothing to do with her. She was going to stick with that until she saw otherwise.
Shontell finished her nightly regime and was headed to bed when she heard someone knocking on her door. She sighed because she felt that this was going to happen. She walked slowly to the door as she prepared herself for whatever it was that this man was bringing to her door at 1 a.m. She opened the door, and he was leaning on the pillar. She could smell the alcohol before he even said hello. She instantly regretted her decision.
“Jesse, why are you at my house at 1 a.m.?”
“I…I…just wanted to talk to you,” he slurred as he tried to make his way into her house. She placed her hand on his chest and stopped him. He gave her a dejected look.
“You’re drunk! So what makes you think I am stupid enough to let you in?”
“Because I love you. I have never stopped loving you.”
“If you love me so much, then why are you hanging out with Ebony?” Jesse looked ashamed. He opened his mouth and then closed it. He looked down at his feet.
“That’s exactly what I thought. You know what? You are a grown man. Do as you please,” she told him as she got ready to close her door.
“Please…please…don’t close the door. I need to be near you,” he barely whispered into the night air. Shontell didn’t want to care. She wanted to slam the door and go on with her life. Jesse was her monkey wrench, and he didn’t even know it. She walked over to where he was and helped him to her couch. She took off his shoes, and then she went to grab a blanket. When she came back, Jesse was out cold. She spread the cover over him and went to lock her doors. Shontell got into her bed and tried to sleep. She looked at her phone and expelled a long breath. She had to be at her meeting in four hours. How in the heck was she going to be able to do this? She closed her eyes and was determined to fall asleep.
Shontell awoke with a start. Why did she smell coffee? Jesse! She recalled his unexpected appearance last night. She got up and dressed for her meeting. Walking into her kitchen, she didn’t feel comfortable with what she saw. Jesse was making breakfast, and his back was turned to her. She cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned around and gave her a big smile. He handed her a cup of coffee and then placed the cream on the counter. She sat on the stool and didn’t say anything. She wanted to see if he was going to say anything about earlier. The room remained silent. Shontell looked over her notes as she sipped her coffee. Jesse finished cooking and placed her breakfast in front of her. She took a forkful and put the rest of her things in her bag.
“When did you start cooking?” Shontell said to him as she tasted more of the food.
“Don’t act like I didn’t cook for you,” he told her as he bit into his bacon.
“Whatever. Your meals were very few and far in between. But thanks.”
“You’re welcome, but I want to apologize about last night. I shouldn’t have come here like that. That won’t happen again,” he told her.
“Oh, I know it won’t happen again. Jesse, you have no claim to my life anymore. If you want a friendship from me, you need to let me get used to you being around. A friendship is all we will ever have. I am not going backwards with you.”
“Shontell,” he whined looking at her like she had just broken his heart.
“Don’t Shontell me. If you can’t abide by that, then all bets are off,” she told him as she got off up the stool. She didn’t care that he didn’t like what she said, b
ecause that’s the way it had to be.
“I have a meeting, so we need to get going,” she told him as she started to straighten up. Shontell did her walk-through to make sure everything was in place since she was going straight to the airport after the meeting. She didn’t want to leave anything. Shontell walked over to her door with her suitcases and her garment bag. She stood there waiting on Jesse. His driver pulled up, and they walked out seconds later. For a moment, it felt like old times, but it wasn’t. There wouldn’t be any sweet goodbyes. She gave him a light hug as he got into the waiting car. Then she got in her car and pulled off. Neither of them saw Ebony a few cars down the street.
Ebony
Ebony parked her rental car three houses down from Shontell. She was reading her magazine and looked up when she heard voices. She glanced towards Shontell’s house and did a double take. What the hell?!! Jesse was coming out of Shontell’s door. What was he doing there? She almost got out her car and confronted them. But if she did, she would lose Jesse for good. What’s going on? Karma was a straight bitch, she thought. Should she have expected this? Was she losing Jesse? Had he spent the night there? There was a reasonable explanation, she told herself as she continued to try and make herself believe what she was saying.
Ebony could have had her pick of men, but yet she put up with the scraps that Jesse threw her because she broke her own cardinal rule. She fell in love with him. She knew that even though he didn’t say it, he loved her too. He had to. He couldn’t sex her body the way he did and not feel something for her. She reached over and grabbed a napkin and wiped her eyes and nose. Damn it. She hated it when she let him get her. She didn’t like feeling weak. Her phone buzzed and she rolled her eyes at the sound. She wouldn’t even pick the phone up.
Looking at her watch, she began to fidget. At this point, all she wanted to focus on was getting this over and done with. Shontell should just be finishing that meeting. Her flight was scheduled to leave at eleven. Every time she looked at her house, she saw Jesse coming out of that door. They didn’t hug with passion, so maybe it was platonic. She shook her head because she was doing it again. She was excusing his behavior. She needed to divert her mind. She turned the radio up and began to hum the song absently. Ebony drummed her fingers on the wheel. She was too antsy. Ebony looked in front and in the back of her for activity. She was ready to do this and get it over with. She got out of her car and put on her sunglasses. She headed to the house. Ebony quickly made a detour, because she needed to make sure no one was watching her. Most of the neighbors knew her and her car. That’s why she had on the glasses and the hood. She decided to walk the block and then come back around to the house. The morning’s brisk air made her walk faster.
It took her about fifteen minutes to do the walk, and she was out of breath. She needed to get back in shape. She headed up Shontell’s driveway. As she took her keys out of her pocket, she felt her phone buzz again. She looked at the screen and sucked her teeth. She looked around, trying not to look suspicious as she inserted her key. The key wouldn’t turn. She took her key out and tried again. She shook her head in disbelief. Shontell had changed the locks! She thought back to the call she received from Shontell yesterday. She messed this up, and she didn’t know how to fix it. Damn it, now what was she going to do? She started to leave the porch, but instead she looked around. She didn’t know for sure what she was expecting to see. Could there be something of Jesse’s out there? She needed to think. Her heart was pounding so loud that she couldn’t even hear the birds chirping. She went to see if she had changed the extra key as well. Feeling for the key, she retrieved it. Trying the key in the side door, she was met with the same resistance. Ebony threw the key in her frustration, and then regretted it. She went to where she thought the key had landed, but she couldn’t find anything. She heard a woman’s voice close by and panicked, quickly forgetting about the key. She needed to get out of sight, and she cursed under her breath when she heard a woman’s voice call her name. How did she see her? Her luck couldn’t be this bad. She turned and looked at Shontell’s mother.
“Ebony, what are you doing here?” the older woman asked her, looking like she knew she was up to no good.
“Um…well…I was hoping to catch Shontell before she left.”
“Is that so? Then, why are you back there?” Ebony thought quickly as she didn’t know what to say to her.
“I forgot my key, and when she didn’t answer I was just going to put this paperwork on her counter,” she lied with so much ease that even she believed her own lie for a minute. She waved the papers and started walking in Ms. Lydia’s direction. She handed the generic documents to her, glad she had thought to bring them out the car.
“I guess since you are going in there you can take them.”
“Yes, I guess I can. Say hello to your mother for me, will you?
“Yes, ma’am,” she told her, waving as she high-tailed it back to her car. She knew that she was watching her. She waved to Lydia as she drove off, and the woman returned the wave but kept watching her. What was she going to tell Jesse? She couldn’t go back to him empty handed. He told her that he didn’t want to see her otherwise. She pulled over and laid her head on the steering wheel. She needed to get herself together. One thing was for sure—she wasn’t going to tell him anything until she boarded that ship. She wanted to distract him until they left in a few hours, and she knew exactly how to accomplish that. She thought of the new lace and leather body suit she had just purchased.
Playing The Fool
Jesse
Jesse was still kicking himself for what he had done earlier. He didn’t remember how many drinks he had. He knew his antics had cost him more than any record deal. Shontell made it clear that she was done. He couldn’t blame her after he came over there drunk. He pulled out the only picture he had of her. It was one of them. It was their engagement portrait. He stared at the picture until he heard a knock on his room door. He stood up and felt dizzy. Bracing himself, he held on to the chair for a quick moment. It was very rare that he got that drunk. It seemed that everything that had happened in the last few days was slowly sneaking up on him. Maybe it was time for him to slow his life down. But could he? Especially with the resurrection of his career, he could make the changes that he needed. He had to face the fact that he might get all he wanted but Shontell. He wasn’t ready for that. He looked through the peephole and instantly got pissed. Ebony was one of the most incorrigible, but sexiest women he had ever come across.
“Ebony, you are going to get enough of ignoring me. And what are you doing here anyways?” Jesse didn’t care if she knew that he was irritated. He opened his hotel room door wider for her and walked back over to his bed. He flopped on it and grabbed the aspirin bottle from his bedside table. He swallowed two aspirins dry. His head was still hurting from his hangover, and he wasn’t in the mood for her right now. He literally groaned when he remembered that she was going on the cruise with him. He knew that was a huge mistake. Jesse could get out of it. But he knew that, in the end, it wouldn’t be in his favor. He needed to end this relationship with her. He watched her walk in and over to him. She was wearing a black trench coat.
“I thought we agreed not to see each other again until we boarded the ship, Ebony,” he reminded her in a low voice. She smirked at him, while she did what she wanted to. She kneeled in front of him and placed both of her hands on his knees opening them so her sleek body could fit comfortably. He didn’t want to look at her, but her aura made her impossible to resist.
“I know you said that we should lay low, but I needed to see you. I won’t stay long. Besides, the lobby was empty,” she told him in a voice he wasn’t familiar with. It caught him off guard.
“What are you up to, Ebony?” he asked, as he observed her through slit eyes, while she pushed him back slightly. She hunched her shoulders and then licked her lips.
Jesse’s eyes roamed Ebony’s body as she stood and began to undo her buttons. She unfastened the co
at belt. It fell to the floor, and he immediately got hard. The woman had a banging body. She always got mistaken for the singer Brandy, and she got a kick out of that. Jesse wished she had Brandy’s mentality. She wasn’t needy like Ebony was. He bit his lip, as she turned around and gave him a good view of her ass.
He never should have taken this thing with her so far. He thought about what Shontell said to him on the porch. He had a feeling that it wasn’t going to turn out in a good way. He didn’t know why he was thinking of Shontell when Ebony was so willing to please him in ways that Shontell would never have agreed to. He couldn’t deny the sex was off the chain. Ebony did the things he had only seen in porno movies. The woman was skilled. Even with all that, she couldn’t hold a candle to his Shontell. He loved Shontell, and he realized he probably always would. He needed to make her see that he loved her too, no matter how many times she refused to give them another chance. He didn’t want to let go of Shontell.
He felt that Shontell still cared for him. She showed that care last night. She didn’t let him stay out on the porch like she could have. He smiled at the thought.
Ebony leaned over him and kissed him…bringing him out of his thoughts …sucking his tongue hard. He loved it rough, and she knew it. He pushed his thoughts of Shontell out of his mind, but he knew he still had work to do when it came to her. He flinched when she bit his chest. She pulled him up and bit him on his nipple and stomach, as he watched her slide down his body and land on her knees. She reached up and unbuckled his belt, as she used her teeth to unzip his zipper. She took him into her mouth in one smooth motion. He groaned, as he held onto the back of her head. He felt his legs turn to jelly.