Fascination Street

by Bridget Midway

  “Inez, since it’s a little slow, do you think Julie would mind if I take a little break?” Zora asked her dumbfounded friend.

  Inez volleyed her gaze from Evan to Zora. “You know this guy?”

  Zora nodded. “He’s my neighbor.”

  “Again, can you get me in your ‘hood? Between your man, the last guy that came in here and this dude, you are surrounded by hotties.”

  Inez’s loud declaration embarrassed Zora but made Evan laugh. Instead of waiting for an answer, Zora grabbed her purse.

  “Just tell Julie I went out for a little while. I’ll be back in an hour.” She looked at Evan. “Or so.”

  “Take your time. Please. And tell me some details when you get back!”

  Zora pulled Evan out of the building before Inez could say anything else inflammatory.

  “Nice girl,” Evan said.

  “No, she isn’t.”

  Evan led her to his Hummer but Zora stopped at the passenger side. “Before we head, can I make a call?”

  “Sure. Not a problem. Calling Grant?”

  “Uh, yeah.” She punched in some numbers and walked to the back end of the truck for some privacy. When she heard a click on the other end she didn’t wait for a response. “Lunch with Evan. What should I have?”

  A pause lingered before Brax responded, “Do you know where he’s taking you?”

  “Um, no. Should I ask?”

  “No, it’s fine. If you go somewhere where they serve salads, get a garden salad, only spinach leaves, not iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, no cheese, no bacon bits, no crutons.”

  “Dressing?”

  “No. Plain. You’ll drink water. You have a choice between applesauce, Jell-O or a cup of fresh fruit for dessert if those items are offered. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “No, thank you for calling me. How are you feeling?”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Actually, pretty good.”

  “Good. That’s all that matters.”

  Evan started the truck and Zora ended the call. Calling Brax seemed ridiculous at first. But the night that Grant blew his top over the bed she wanted to down a box of cookies. As soon as she’d reached for them, his business card fell from the top of the fridge to the floor. On a whim, she’d called him and told him she wanted to eat some cookies. He’d demanded she drink water with lemon juice and for her to come over to his house and walk on the treadmill since he didn’t want her running into Grant while he was cooling off.

  It’d only been a week but she already felt different, both emotionally and physically. She no longer feared Brax. She could understand how Lynia depended on him so much.

  “Everything cool?” Evan asked as he waited for her to belt herself in her seat.

  “Yes, just fine.” She put her cell phone into her purse.

  “Let’s go.”

  Evan made small talk as he took her to God knows where. The further he drove, the less she said in her answers, until he finally stopped at a park.

  “A park?” she questioned.

  “Yeah. It’s nice out. Thought you might like the fresh air.” He hopped out of the truck and came around to her side.

  Damn it! She didn’t have enough time to call Brax to tell him the change of plans. What if Evan didn’t pack a salad or any of the dessert items? What if he didn’t even have water?

  Evan opened her door. Zora smiled politely but thought of ways to duck out of the lunch date. Cramps? Headache? Jealous boyfriend?

  Evan grabbed a large picnic basket and a blanket. “Shall we?” He offered his arm to her.

  He was so charming, Zora didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Regardless of what he offered in the basket, she wanted to know more about this man, her neighbor.

  She took his arm and followed him to a large tree. Perfect for July with the hot noonday sun overhead. After spreading out the blanket, he helped her sit on it and encouraged her to remove her shoes.

  “I can’t believe you’ve been in the neighborhood almost a month and this is the first time we’ve actually sat down and talked.” Evan opened the basket.

  “Uh, yeah. Talked.” She tried peering over at the contents but couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t smell anything either except for something that vaguely smelled like strawberries but she couldn’t be sure.

  “I mean, we’re right next door to each other. No reason why we’ve waited so long to have a sit down, you know?”

  “Yeah, sit down.” Now she was starting to sound like a parrot. “Look, I should tell you something.”

  “What’s that?” Evan set out several containers in front of her, then pulled out two bottled waters.

  “Um, you probably won’t understand this but I’m on this diet.”

  “Diet. Yeah, I can dig it.” Evan opened one of the containers.

  Dark green spinach leaves filled the bowl. Then he opened the second container. Tomatoes.

  “You were saying something?” Evan asked, then removed the lid from a third container with two compartments, one holding carrots, the other cucumbers.

  “You talked to Brax, didn’t you?” she asked as soon as he showed off a bowl of strawberries, grapes, chopped up bananas and pineapples.

  “Of course. How else do you think I found out where you worked?” He laughed.

  Feeling a bit foolish, she playfully punched him on his arm. “Here I was panicking because I wasn’t sure you would have the foods I could eat.”

  “So now you know I have a sense of humor. Come on. Eat up.” He handed her a paper plate. He let her grab her portions first before he served himself.

  Once they started eating she got comfortable with him. She asked him how he and Garland met. It shocked her to hear the story of their stormy relationship, how he didn’t like or trust her.

  “In our relationship,” he began, “if you don’t have trust, you’ve got nothing. It’s crucial to everything that we do, every decision that’s made. It took a while but I trust that woman with my life.”

  Zora nodded, then sighed.

  “Grant has a lot of issues with trust, even now,” Zora said as she picked through her salad.

  “I can tell. Brother is strung tighter than a guitar string.” Evan finished off his water and grabbed another bottle from the picnic basket.

  “I just have a feeling he’s hiding something from me.”

  “You mean like you’re doing with him?”

  She blinked. “No, I’m not. What are you talking about?”

  “Yeah, okay. And for best actress for ‘Queen of Denial’, I give you---”

  She cut him off. “Hold it. You think I’m in denial about something?”

  “I know it’s not your love for Grant. That’s real. You can see it in your eyes.”

  Zora settled back down and listened to him.

  “And I know you’re digging what’s going on in the neighborhood.” He winked.

  Heat rose up her neck and consumed her face until she had to finish off her bottle of water.

  “But I watched you for a while at your job. Sister, you are not happy. What’s up with that?” Evan touched Zora’s hand.

  She was going to pull it back when she looked in his soulful eyes. He wasn’t being presumptuous. He was being kind, down-to-earth, real, honest.

  As though she needed to, her hand grasped his. “I could do so much more, Evan. It’s going to sound silly, but I’ve always wanted to be a hair stylist.”

  “That doesn’t sound silly to me at all. So why aren’t you doing it?” His grasp tightened.

  “Grant just started his job. I didn’t want to start a new career until he got settled in his.”

  “Bull.”

  She tried pulling her hand back. “It’s true.”

  “It’s a cop-out and you know it. Baby, life is now. It’s not a year or two away. Live it to the fullest. That’s what I love about our arrangement on the Street. I don’t have to wonder about what it would be like to have sex w
ith other women. I can do it. I don’t have to imagine what a threesome or an orgy would be like. Done it. Don’t live your life imagining what could have been. Do it now. Have no regrets.”

  His deep voice and true words wrapped around her like a comforting blanket. Zora leaned forward, needing to be close to him and wanting to kiss him to thank him. Her skin tingled just looking at him. Then it felt itchy and now painful.

  “Oh, my God.” She wiggled.

  “What?”

  “Oh, my God!” Zora leapt to her feet and pulled at her shirt and pants. “Get it off! Get it off!”

  Evan stood and pulled up the back of Zora’s shirt. “Red ants!”

  Without thinking of his own safety, Evan picked Zora up in his massive arms and ran with her like she was a doll to a pond. Taking a giant leap, he submerged them both in the water.

  “They won’t drown. But it’ll get them off of you.” He pulled up the back of her shirt and wiped his hand down her bare back.

  Zora ignored the cheers from the kids on skateboards and the strange looks from the other park goers to wipe off the insects from her belly. Until the park ranger came over to them, she was content to be attended to by Evan.

  As Evan explained to the ranger Zora’s dilemma, she continued splashing water over her upper body, dousing her shirt like she was competing in a wet t-shirt contest. Even with the ranger’s stern warnings and dirty scowl, Evan handled the situation calmly and in control. Zora never thought she could feel so secure with another man besides Grant.

  Evan helped her out of the murky water and looked her over again even as a gush of water poured from her pants and her shirt that now weighed a metric ton.

  “You all right?” he asked and stared into her eyes to seek truth.

  “A little embarrassed but not being eaten alive by ants anymore.” She wrapped her arms around her body. Despite the sun, she felt chilly in her wet clothes.

  “Come on, butterfly. Let’s get you dry. I think it’s safe to say you shouldn’t be returning to work like this.”

  “No, I guess this wouldn’t be good for the reception desk.”

  Evan took her hand and took her back to the truck. From the back he pulled out a bath sheet and gave it to her.

  “Wait a sec.” He opened the passenger side door. “Give me your clothes and wrap yourself in the towel.”

  She swallowed. “Get undressed here?”

  He smiled. “I’ll cover you up.” Like a shield, he held the sheet up in front of her body.

  Tentatively at first, Zora kicked off her sneakers, then removed her jeans. A summer wind blew through and cooled her legs. As soon she got her shirt off, Evan swaddled her in the towel and helped her into the truck. He gathered her things, started the vehicle and turned the air conditioner on low as to not freeze her.

  Running back to where they had picnicked, he collected their items. Zora watched him. She could see how Garland fell in love with him. Strong, attentive, smart, a good listener. He was the total package. And speaking of package, the image of what hung between his legs entered her thoughts as he walked back to the truck. What it would be like to fuck him.

  Evan loaded the items in the back of the truck. Zora looked in the rearview mirror and caught him removing his shirt. That’s right. He was soaked too. Surely he wouldn’t be removing his pants too.

  He slammed the back door and came to the driver side. With the black-and-red blanket wrapped around his waist, he assumed the driver’s seat.

  Zora couldn’t help but laugh at him.

  “Hey, I gave you the only towel I had.” To top off the ridiculous look, he put on his sunglasses.

  “I’m not laughing at you.”

  Just as she scanned his body, Evan glanced down at himself. She brought her gaze up to his.

  “Yeah, I am laughing at you.” Zora couldn’t contain her laughter but Evan took it in stride.

  “I’m not the one who sat on an ant hill in the first place.” He headed down the road back to their houses.

  “I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t put the blanket there in the first place.”

  “Honest mistake.” He winked.

  Zora wasted no time in calling work on her cell phone and letting them know of her afternoon mishap. Just like she had, Julie laughed and told her it was okay if she took off the rest of the day.

  When Zora disconnected the call, she brought her attention back to Evan. “So where is your lovely wife right now?”

  Evan split his attention between the road and her. “You mean you don’t know?”

  She shook her head.

  “I thought she told you, considering Garland made the decision after you two talked last night.”

  Garland had come over and it wasn’t for sex this time. She’d pulled Zora outside to the backyard and asked her how Grant was doing. Zora had told her just about the same thing Zora had just told Evan during lunch except she did mention that she thought he was having problems at work.

  “I didn’t tell her anything different than what I told you,” Zora said.

  “What about Grant’s job?”

  “What about it?” Then it hit her. “No!”

  “Yeah, my honey is probably there right now with your man. I think my wife actually likes you and Grant. She hates that he’s so uptight.”

  “Oh, no. I should call and warn him.” Zora stopped and set the phone on her lap. “But what if she’s already there. Fuck!”

  Evan put his hand on Zora’s to either prevent her from calling or calm her down. “What do you think she’ll do? Beyond what you may think, my wife is a good woman.”

  “I know.” Well, Zora tried to convince herself of that.

  “She won’t do anything to hurt your man, all right?”

  Letting out a ragged breath, Zora closed her phone, settled back into her seat and hoped for the best.

  ***

  Grant was relieved his work week was almost over. Stephanie hadn’t come around him at all today. Dressed down for casual Friday, he felt comfortable. And he had ‘toy night’ on Fascination Street to look forward to when he got home.

  Rubbing his eyes, he tried clearing his mind for the rest of the day. Staring at the numbers on the monitor, he caught the image of someone standing behind him. With the curves he suspected it was Stephanie. He kept his eyes forward.

  “So is this what you do all day? Stare at a computer screen?”

  That voice wasn’t Stephanie’s. Afraid to look, Grant shook his head, hoping he was just imagining things.

  “You heard me.”

  Swiveling in his chair, he came face to breast with Garland. Wearing a tight, knee-length black leather skirt and a tight white sleeveless shirt without a bra so that her dark pink areolas showed off, Garland put her hands to her hips.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with you. I talked to Zora last night---”

  “Oh, so that’s what you two were doing in the backyard. You were discussing me?”

  “We weren’t talking about your talented tongue.”

  Eyes appeared over cubicle walls with Garland’s last statement. Grant jumped to his feet and corralled her away from his co-workers.

  “I don’t need fixing or help. I’m okay.” Grant hoped he sounded convincing or at least angry enough to scare her away. Who was he kidding? King Kong couldn’t scare Garland.

  “I can’t believe you’re the same guy who gave me the best oral sex, even better than my husband.”

  A few women in the secretarial pool walked by Garland when she made her complimentary remark.

  “Is there a filter to your brain?” Grant scratched his head. “You understand this is my place of employment. How did you get up here anyway?”

  Before she could answer, a voice he did recognize called for him.

  “Shit,” he said and bowed his head.

  “Your break was over fifteen minutes ago,” Stephanie said as she
barreled toward him. She stopped and stared at him, then turned her attention to Garland. “And who are you?”

  Garland smiled. It was as though she’d discovered the cure for the common cold. “Why look at you with your crisp little haircut and tight little suit.”

  Oh, God. Grant needed to find a hole to crawl inside and hide.

  “I beg your pardon?” Stephanie said with a hand to her chest.

  “You heard me, honey and better yet, half of this floor will hear me when I tell you this. Your little wannabe Domme act is not fooling anyone. You don’t want to rule over this man. You really want him to take your uptight little ass in your office, pull up that Sears special skirt and fuck the shit out of you. Am I right?”

  Grant would have gone back to his desk at this point to pack up his things but watching Garland stare down his boss proved to be too much fun to ignore.

  “If--if you don’t leave now, I’ll--um, I’ll--”

  Grant had never heard the Queen of Ice stutter.

  “You’ll what?” Garland pressed. “Call security? Go ahead. Not going to change the fact that after you degrade this man on a daily basis you find yourself holed up in the women’s bathroom or at your desk with the door closed masturbating your heart out, does it?”

  “Get her out of here. Now!” Stephanie turned on her heel and, with less vigor than before, retreated to her office.

  Grant took Garland’s arm and headed to the stairs. In the stairwell, he confronted her.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked.

  “There’s a big difference between being a bitch and being a Domme. Your boss may be a bitch but she’s not dominant.” Garland leaned against the railing. “And if you weren’t so in love with Zora, you would pick up on the fact that she wants you.”

  “You’re out of your mind.” He tried ushering her down the stairs but she wriggled from his grip.

  “No, I’m not. I can see it. I can smell it. The woman is hot for you.”

  “That woman, as you call her, has given me nothing but hell from the first day I started working here. She hates me and wants to see me fail.”

  “And you come in day after day, proving her wrong, right?”

  “It’s my job.”