Whiskey and Regret

by Danielle James

  “He doesn’t date?” I quizzed.

  “No. I’m sure he has ways of…releasing tension but it’s never important enough to be on his schedule.”

  “So that should be enough for you to know nothing is going on with us. I’m not on his schedule.” I forced a smile but inside I wondered what it took to be important enough to get penciled in on the senator’s schedule.

  “I’m sure he doesn’t schedule late-night hookups though, Xari so what the hell is going on?” Before I could open my mouth and lie to her again, her phone chimed. She pulled it from her Louis bag, which I approved of, and checked the notification. “Speak of the devil. See? This is what I mean. I get his schedule updates in real-time, so I know if I need to rearrange things for him.” I came to peer over her shoulder.

  The block for today was littered with meetings, phone calls, and blocks of time for him to sign and review papers. After 4:00 PM, it read:

  Clear all appointments after four. I need to be home for personal reasons.

  -E.F.

  I blinked a few times and tried not to smile too hard. Navy’s lips dropped into a frown. “I wonder why he wants me to clear his schedule. Frankie doesn’t get dropped off until seven tonight and I already reworked his time slots not to go past then.” She tucked a chunk of hair behind her ear and blew out a frustrated breath.

  “I’ll try to get home earlier tonight so I can see you before Frankie gets home.”

  I heard Evander’s promise in my head and I knew that’s why he wanted his schedule cleared after four. I couldn’t tell Navy though. She would have a field day. Shit, she was already having a field day and I hadn’t said a word.

  “Just move his schedule around.” I shrugged and went back to searching my DM’s. I had tons of them telling me Damon Philips posted my video but I didn’t see anything from him.

  “I hope everything is okay,” she muttered as she moved things around on her screen.

  “I’m sure everything is fine. Maybe he just wants to chill out before Frankie gets here.” The lowest parts of me tingled thinking about him clearing his schedule for me. I would definitely make it worth his while.

  “Or maybe he blocked off time to come home before she gets here so he can have time with you. Alone.”

  “What?” I laughed as I scrolled through my messages. I had to focus on something else because Navy knew how to pull the truth out of me and I wanted to keep my affair with Evander quiet. I didn’t want to fuck up the NDA I’d signed and I didn’t want to break his trust.

  “Xari, I know you’re fucking him. You worked your voodoo and now he’s under your spell.”

  “Or maybe I’m under his. I mean, if we were fucking. Maybe I’d be hypothetically under his spell.”

  “Oh my god. You two are really doing this. I have to act like I can’t see it. Ugh. You know I can’t pretend. I never have been able to pretend.”

  “There’s nothing to pretend about, Navy.”

  “I can’t believe you’re lying to me. I know you.” She finally looked up from her phone and leveled me with a glare. “You can’t say anything because you signed the NDA.” Her voice was full of revelation. “That’s why you’re not telling me, isn’t it? You can’t talk about anything that happens on River Bend Drive.”

  I flicked my eyes back to the screen and like a beacon of distraction, I saw a message from Damon Philips. “Here!” I shouted, hopping up and down. “Oh my god, Navy, look! It’s from his account. It’s verified.” I pointed at the checkmark beside his name and Navy gawked at me.

  “Oh. My. God. Read it!”

  “Okay, okay. It says Hey, I heard from a few people who follow your page closely that your name is Xari Lucas and you’re a beast with the harp. Do you play at weddings? Let’s link-up. I’ll give you my fiancé’s information.” I reached a trembling hand to my slack mouth and tried to steady my breathing.

  For so long I’d played the harp without looking for notoriety. I loved the way playing made me feel. I loved the sounds and the music I made. I lived to top myself every day. Eventually, I wanted to get a job doing what I loved but that was it. Being noticed by someone huge like Damon was astounding and beyond anything I ever wanted.

  My posture stiffened as I started to reply. I had no idea what to even say in response. Navy placed her hand over mine and said, “Wait. Don’t respond yet. You need time to breathe.”

  “He sent this like two hours ago. I have to respond now.”

  “No, you don’t. Take ten minutes and center yourself.” She rubbed my stiff shoulders and breathed in and out slowly until I matched her. “Let’s sit. Make some coffee and let’s go to your room. I’m going to call Senator Freeman and figure out what he wants me to do with the rest of his day.”

  I wanted to talk to Evander too but not because I wanted to know about his day. I wanted to tell him about going viral and ask his opinion about how I should handle it. I loved listening to the way he broke problems down. It was like every challenge was a chapter for him to plot out.

  I made coffee for me and Navy, then motioned for her to follow me to my room. After she got off the phone with Evander she sighed. “Okay, I can shift all his stuff around and then we’ll talk about how much you should charge for your harp playing services.”

  “Yeah. I was wondering about that. Navy, I’ve never had anyone want to pay me to play before. Not like this. I’ve been on talk shows and stuff but I’ve never done a private event. I never thought about it as something I could do.”

  “Are you serious right now? Girl, you’re amazing. I had no idea why you weren’t charging an arm and a leg to play at weddings and parties in the first place.”

  “I don’t know either.” Adrenaline buzzed through my veins. “I need to call Evander,” I blurted. Mindlessly, I dialed his number while I sipped on the mug of hot coffee. I didn’t realize Navy was staring at me until I felt her curious gaze burning through my skin.

  “Xari, is everything okay?” His deep voice soothed the nerves nipping at my insides.

  “Yeah…are you busy?”

  “I’m always busy but I make time for what I want to make time for.” I heard voices in the background and then in the next second, it was silent.

  “Evander?” I asked, frowning.

  “I’m here. Now, what is it? Frankie okay?”

  “Frankie is fine.”

  “Okay, so what’s going on?”

  “Remember last month when you told me to figure out a way to make extra income?”

  “I do. You never did your homework assignment, Miss Lucas.” I bit my bottom lip and wrangled the smile trying to burn its way onto my face.

  “Well, does it count if I turn it in late?” I asked, trying not to purr like a happy kitten.

  “Let’s hear what your idea is first.” I heard the suave smile in his voice and it made my thighs tingle.

  “What do you think about me playing at events?” I stroked my neck thinking about how good his mouth felt there.

  “I think that’s an amazing idea, Xari. You could make a lot of money doing events on the weekends.”

  “You think so?” I smiled and bit my bottom lip.

  “I do. You’re amazing on the harp. Almost as amazing as you are on my dick.” His voice turned hot and it licked my ears with flames. I glanced at Navy who was staring at me like a fucking creep and angled myself away from her. I knew my face was turning red.

  “Wow…Thank you, Evander. That means a lot coming from you.”

  “Ah, Navy must be near you. Can she hear me through the phone?” He asked. I paused to see if she would respond. She didn’t. She was staring intently though.

  “No.”

  “Good. Then keep a straight face while I speak, okay?”

  “I can do that,” I nodded like he could see me.

  “Good girl. I’m leaving work at four. When I get home, I want you in something sexy. No panties. No bra. Ready to obey.” Defiance wanted to leap from my mouth but I was supposed to be quiet.
I cleared the unspoken words from my throat and forced a smile so it would come through in my voice.

  “You know me better than that, Evander,” I purred. I realized my mistake when Navy’s eyebrows jerked to the top of her forehead.

  “I know you must like spankings if you don’t plan on doing what I tell you to.”

  “That’s a strong possibility.”

  “Do spankings make your pussy wet, Xari?”

  My pussy was wet right then.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “I knew you’d like getting slapped on that perfect ass. That pretty pussy is wet right now, isn’t it?”

  “You know it is.” I smiled down at my hands, trying to shield my face with my shoulder from Navy’s view.

  “Before I go, I want you to find a way to tell me who your pussy belongs to without your sister catching on.” I wanted to ask him if his dick got hard making me squirm the way he did. I already knew the answer though. Evander liked making me uncomfortable. He liked making me bend.

  A light and airy laugh popped out of my mouth. “I told you, Evander…you can borrow it. No problem. It’s still mine though. I’ll see you when you get home.” I ended the call and in the next second my phone chimed with a text.

  DD: You know you fucked up, right? –devil emoji-

  I hid the phone and allowed myself a small smile. I was going to be on pins and needles waiting for him to get home and spank me.

  I blinked away the lust in my eyes and looked up at my sister who was practically punching me in the face with that intense gaze of hers. “He thinks it’s a great idea,” I said, clasping my hands together. “Now, I need to figure out how much to charge.”

  “Xari, I don’t know what conversation you think you just had but I know it wasn’t about playing the harp. Not the way you were blushing and talking. He was saying some nasty stuff on the phone, wasn’t he? Oh my god. You know what…don’t answer that. Senator Freeman has always reminded me of Dad so I can’t see him that way.”

  “Reminded you of Dad?” I barked out a laugh. My father was handsome but he wasn’t Evander. I wanted to point out to Navy that our father didn’t have tattoos where Evander was decorated. Dad didn’t have abs of marble and gold even though he worked out regularly. Our father was nothing like Evander Freeman.

  “I mean not exactly but yes,” she reasoned. “Now you’re talking dirty to him and screwing him…ugh. This is why we can’t have nice things, Xari.”

  “Whatever. You’re reaching. I’m not fucking him.”

  “Don’t fall in love, please. I’ve never seen you in love so I don’t know what your range of craziness is and I’m not prepared to find out.”

  “I’m not going to fall in love, Navy,” I rolled my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Even the word love made me revolt. I never wanted to fall in love with anyone. I was already in love with music.

  “Uh-huh. Whatever. Now, let’s work on this price.”

  We spent an hour working out prices and settled on $300.00 per hour. I had to figure in cost for transporting Sunshine to and from different venues along with outfits because let’s be serious. I had to look fabulous.

  Once we worked out pricing and I set up a PayPal account with my new business name, Sunshine Strings, I responded to Damon Philips’s message.

  Navy looked at me with wide brown eyes that matched my own then she smiled. “I’m so proud of you, Xari! You’re starting to come into your own and it looks good on you. Even if you are fucking Senator Freeman.”

  “Oh my god. I’m not,” I giggled.

  “You are so fucking him. Where’d this hickey come from?” She poked my neck and I swatted her hand away.

  “I burned myself.”

  “Liar. Burns don’t look like that. That’s a bruise from broken capillaries under the skin.”

  “Oh god, Doctor Oz. Calm down. Why do you have to know where every mark on my body comes from?”

  “I don’t. I’m just letting you know that I know what’s going on.” I opened my mouth to protest when my phone chimed with an Instagram notification. Damon responded to my message.

  Holy shit.

  “Oh my god, Navy…he responded!”

  “Read it!” We huddled together on my bed and it felt like when we were kids and we actually got along. She got on my nerves sometimes but there was nothing like having my big sister by my side.

  Damon’s message read:

  I’m all in. Let’s do this. Here’s my fiancé, Nicole’s information. Call her ASAP. 234-432-1155.

  My hands shook as I dialed the number and pressed the phone to my ear. How was this happening so fast? Did things in the celebrity world normally happen that way? Was everything fast like lightning?

  “Hello? Xari?” She already knew I’d call.

  “Hi! Nicole?” My voice squeaked.

  “Yeah, how are you? I’m so glad to speak to you. I saw your video last night and I told Dame to find you. Girl, you’re amazing.”

  My tongue was dry and swollen but I tried to speak anyway. “Oh my god, thank you,” I said, trying not to let on to the fact that my teeth were chattering.

  “So, I see here that you charge three hundred per hour? Do you have an agent or manager?”

  “No,” I frowned. I hadn’t even thought about having an agent until I got a seat as a principal harpist. Until then I was playing to get better. I was playing until I was invited to perform with an orchestra or something else. Never in a million years did I think about booking events. “It’s just me right now.”

  “Can you travel?”

  “If my ticket is being taken care of, then I have no objection to traveling,” I smiled.

  “Oh, okay. I’ll take care of your ticket and hotel plus the hourly fee. The wedding will be two hours long and the reception will be until the bar shuts down. You’ll be paid for every hour you stick around. Can you send me your contract?”

  I didn’t have a contract.

  “Sure,” I said with enthusiasm.

  “Great! I saw on your page that you play a lot of modern music in additional to classical, can you do a mixture like that?”

  “I can. I specialize in nineties R&B for modern music so I can play pretty much anything from that era. Anything else, I’d need time to practice.” Nicole squeaked when I mentioned R&B. I knew then I’d found a kindred spirit.

  We worked out the rest of the details of the wedding, which was coming up in a matter of weeks, then we ended the call. I looked at Navy and said, “I need to figure out a contract. Know any lawyers?”

  “Do you know anything about your boss?” She laughed.

  “Evander? Is he a lawyer?” My face scrunched into a frown.

  “Um, yeah. He went to Howard University Law School, Xari. He passed the bar in 2014.”

  “Shit. Okay, Evander. I see you.”

  “See? He’s not just good for sex,” she said rolling her eyes.

  “Fuck you, Navy. I’m not sleeping with him.”

  “You’re lying. Now, call Mom and Dad, please.”

  “Okay, okay…”

  …

  FIFTEEN

  My head was everywhere but where it belonged. I was supposed to co-sponsor a bill for low-income families to have an equal opportunity for a shot at private school education through scholarships and funding. But all I could think about was going over revisions for my book.

  If I broke it down into fifty pages per day, I could be done in four days. It would be tough but I could get it done if I really sank my teeth into it. Thinking of sinking my teeth into something made me think about Xari’s perfect ass and how soft it was. My fingers melted against her golden silk skin.

  I checked my watch and pushed out a sigh of relief when I realized it was 3:45. I could start packing my shit up for the day.

  “Getting ready to leave?” Apollo quizzed without looking up from his phone. He was so quiet in the corner, I almost forgot about him. He didn’t shadow me everywhere I went but whenever I had an ou
ting or appearance he came along. He also followed me to DC whenever I needed to go.

  “Yeah. Might as well, it’s almost four.”

  “Late to work and early to leave for home.” Apollo made a clicking sound and smirked a little.

  “And what are you hinting at, Apollo?” I asked, pausing to glance at him.

  “It’s interesting how different you’ve been since Xari became Frankie’s nanny.” The mention of her name sent lava through my veins. I needed to see her. She was the only way to satiate my sweet tooth.

  “Different how?” I closed my briefcase and slipped my phone in my jacket pocket.

  “You focus on her a lot. You let her get under your skin and you won’t stop staring at her whenever she’s around.”

  “You mean how you stare at Navy?” I quipped.

  “You’re deflecting. You want to fuck the nanny.”

  Oh, I have fucked the nanny. I fucked her thoroughly.

  “Jesus, Apollo. You must be getting ready to clock out too, huh?” I chuckled.

  “Be careful, man.”

  “There’s no reason to be careful.”

  Lie. Xari was already pulling me in and I hadn’t fucked her more than three times. She was an addiction coursing through me that I knew would have to run its course. It was rare that I found a woman who could match my appetite and intensity. I never thought she’d be wrapped in honey skin, curly hair, brown eyes, and dimples though.

  “If Alexis finds out she’s going to shit a fucking brick,” Apollo grunted.

  “There’s nothing for Alexis to find out.”