Syeesha was still conjuring the nerve to talk to Trina. How much could she say? That confidentiality agreement was no joke.
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“Two weeks. Leaving day after tomorrow. And you’re still stalling.”
Syeesha bit her lip. “I’m gonna be out of a job soon.”
“What? Why? I thought you were getting along great with Jade. That’s what you said in your e-mails. I’m still pissed it took you so long to tell me you were laid off in the first place.”
“I didn’t want to worry you.” Syeesha tucked her feet beneath her. “As far as the new gig goes, let’s just say the nature of my job has changed.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Jade wants me to do something that pushes the boundary of my morality.”
“Oh God.” Trina rolled he eyes and sat on the floor, still organizing the contents of her luggage. “Let me guess. She wants you to tell a caller she’s on another line when she’s really sitting right in front of you. Or worse, she wants you to omit a bunch of nobodies from a party invitation.” Trina placed the back of her hand on her forehead in dramatic fashion. “The horror!”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, thank you very much.”
“Is it illegal?”
“No.”
“Are you or anyone else going to get hurt?”
“Not physically, no.”
Trina was taking this whole thing better than she’d anticipated, but then again, why wouldn’t she? She’d always been the one who bucked the rules.
“What do you stand to gain if you do it? You keep your job?”
“Actually, no. I don’t keep my job because she didn’t really hire me to do my job.”
“She’s gonna fire you? Fuck that, sue the bitch.”
“She’s offering me six figures.”
Trina stopped folding a black cover-up and looked at her.
“Are you serious?”
Syeesha nodded.
“Six figures?”
Syeesha nodded again.
“A hundred thou?”
“More.”
“Two hundred thou?”
“I’m not going to say exactly how much.”
“You’re seriously torn as to whether you should walk away from that kind of money?” Trina sounded almost insulted that Syeesha could even express doubt about collecting that kind of cash.
“It’s not as simple as you think.”
“Six figures. No one gets hurt. And you get to walk away like nothing ever happened with money in your pocket. Is that right?”
Syeesha sighed, but didn’t respond.
“Only a fool would walk away from that, Sy. And considering the fact you’re already flunking out of law school, I’d say this is a chance for you to prove that you’re not.”
***
Chapter 23
Back in her own apartment, Syeesha kicked off her shoes and opened a container of yogurt. She didn’t want to think about Jade for the rest of the weekend. Nor her sister’s reaction to Jade’s proposition. And she especially didn’t want to think about the other nights of school she’d skipped. How much longer could she pretend that becoming an attorney was a welcome dream instead of the reality: a looming nightmare?
“Scram!” she sneered at Monster. The cat lay on the windowsill, oblivious to anyone who wasn’t her mistress. Syeesha ignored her and padded to the front room with bare feet, tuned the TV to the Lifetime Movie Network, and prepared to do absolutely nothing but fantasize about Christian while watching one addictively formulaic movie after another.
She covered herself in a blanket and curled into a tight ball on the sofa. An hour into the movie she drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Ringing jarred her out of her sleep. Syeesha fumbled for the cordless phone on the table beside her.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“Put Kiki on.”
“She’s not here,” she replied and hung up.
Before she could get back into her comfortable position, the phone rang again.
“What?”
“Hey, you hung up pretty quick there.”
“I told you Kiki’s not here.”
“Maybe I don’t want to talk to Kiki this time. Maybe I want to talk to you.”
“Not interested.” Syeesha was just about to disconnect the call when she heard him say, “Just a minute, girl. Damn. I just want to apologize for the other night.”
“What other night?”
“Me and Kiki . . .”
Oh, right. The techno opera . . .
“No problem. Gotta go.”
“And,” he continued hurriedly, “I just want to compliment you on your work. It’s really pretty good. Not enough fucking for my taste though.”
Syeesha froze.
He couldn’t be referring to . . .
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“That romantic shit you’re writing about the bounty hunter. It ain’t half as shitty as Kiki said it was.”
Her hands turned to ice. Syeesha threw off the blanket and stood.
“You read the story that’s saved on my laptop?”
“Got it right here. You want me to read you my favorite parts?” He laughed into the phone.
Syeesha ran into her bedroom and looked on her bed for her laptop.
It was gone. She must’ve forgotten to lock her door.
“You bring it back to me right now.”
“Kiki was just borrowing it. Said you wouldn’t mind if she brought it over. Wait. Hold on. I think this might be her at the door right now.”
Syeesha paced the room as she heard low murmurs over the phone and a muffled curse from Kiki. Her hands began to tremble. Years of writing was on that computer and she had no backup. If anything happened to it . . .
“Sy?” Kiki said. “Don’t be mad.”
“You had no right, Kiki. I want it back now.”
“I was just borrowing it. I’ll bring it back in the morning.”
“You will bring me that laptop now!”
Chuckles from the guy in the background made Syeesha’s blood spike higher.
“You know, I really don’t like your attitude, Syeesha. I’ll come home now or what?”
Kiki didn’t value much in this world. But as Syeesha fumed, she thought of one thing that Kiki did value above all else. Syeesha dropped the phone from her ear and walked into the kitchen. Monster was still perched on the windowsill.
Syeesha targeted Monster in her sights and wiped the sweat beading on her upper lip. Slowly, she put the phone back to her ear and purred in the sweetest, calmest voice she could muster, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”
Silence on the other end.
“You wouldn’t.” Kiki’s voice quivered.
“I want my computer here within the next sixty minutes or you’ll never see this fucking cat again.”
“I can’t get over there in an hour.”
Syeesha dipped her fingers in the standing water in the sink and flicked it on Monster. The cat arched her back and hissed as if she’d been struck by lightening.
“Okay!” Kiki yelled. “I’m on my way, you lousy—”
Syeesha hung up the phone and paced around the apartment. She didn’t have it in her to do any real harm to the stupid cat, but she had had to think of some way to show Kiki she meant business.
She’s got sixty minutes exactly or . . .
Or what?
She had an idea.
After five minutes of planning and twenty minutes of pacing, Syeesha heard Kiki burst through the front door. The laptop case dangled from her shoulder.
“Where is she?”
“You had no right putting your hands on my computer.”
Kiki dropped the bag from her shoulder. It landed on the hardwood floor with a hard thud. Syeesha rushed to retrieve it. Kiki jumped in front of her and pointed her finger in Syeesha’s face. “Don’t you ever threaten my cat again.”
“Take
your finger out of my face or lose it.”
Kiki lowered her finger but took another step forward. “Just so we’re clear, I hate living with you just as much as you hate living with me. You’re a snobbish little prude. Thinking you’re so much better than everyone else.”
Syeesha took a deep breath. “Let’s try to be civilized about this, okay? We hate living with each other and this is my place. The only way we’re going to be happy is if we never see each other again. So why not just leave?”
Kiki stepped around her and called, “Monster? Come to Mommy, sweetie.”
No sound from Monster.
Kiki whipped around to face Syeesha. “Where is she?”
“Are you going to agree to leave?”
“Where is she?” Kiki demanded.
Syeesha shifted her weight to one leg and crossed her arms. “Did you know that you can kill a cat by feeding it aspirin? Just like that.” Syeesha snapped her finger. “Dead.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Hell hath no fury.”
“But you’re not a woman so that wouldn’t exactly apply to you, now, would it?”
Monster hissed from the bathroom.
“Oh my God!” Kiki yelled. “Is that water I hear running?”
Kiki pushed Syeesha out of the way and ran into the bathroom. Monster was inside her plastic carrying case, which Syeesha had placed inside the bathtub. Steaming water trickled from the faucet.
“Monster!” Kiki yelled. She shut off the faucet and removed the dripping carrier from the tub. Kiki freed the cat from the carrier and came back into the living room. Then she lunged at Syeesha like a woman possessed.
Syeesha felt Kiki’s hard fist connect with her upper lip. She stumbled backward, surprised by the force, and landed hard on the floor. She tasted blood. When she looked up she saw Kiki massaging her hand.
“You punched me? What the fuck are we, fifth graders?”
With eyes wide with rage, Kiki grimaced and stepped forward with her high-heeled black boots, aimed at Syeesha’s face. Thinking quickly, Syeesha grabbed her foot and yanked it toward her, causing Kiki to lose her balance and bringing her down on her behind.
Syeesha scrambled over to Kiki, ready to give her a swift punch in the face, but Kiki was fast, and shoved her backward with a foot to Syeesha’s chest. The heel on the boot felt like a knife piercing her skin. With a hard thud, she hit her head against the wall.
“You tried to hurt my baby,” Kiki whined.
Kiki pulled herself from the floor and grabbed Syeesha’s hair as if she were trying to rip carpet from a floor. Syeesha cursed aloud at the pain. Tears clouded her vision. Blindly, she let her hands search behind her until it finally connected with something. Her laptop case. She lifted it with all her strength and hammered Kiki on her hip. Kiki cried in pain and fell to her knees.
“You violated my privacy, Kiki.” Syeesha climbed to her feet. “Not nice.”
Kiki grabbed the spoon from the yogurt cup on the coffee table and threw it at Syeesha. When Syeesha brought her hands up to block her face, Kiki was up in a flash and stunned Syeesha with an open-handed slap on her cheek.
Syeesha cried out in pain. But before she could process a thought, she lunged forward, wrapping her hands around Kiki’s thin neck. She plowed Kiki backward until she fell on the sofa. Kiki’s eyes bulged. Her arms slapped the air wildly.
Is this really happening? Am I really fighting with my roommate?
When Syeesha saw red, squiqqly veins appear in Kiki’s eyes, she released her.
Kiki leaned her head back on the sofa and rubbed her neck.
“Don’t ever touch my things again,” said Syeesha. Tired and battered, she shuffled to her bedroom without waiting for Kiki’s reply.
***
Chapter 24
“Hold still.”
“Is it gonna burn?”
“No,” Christian said, “it’s peroxide. It’s all I could find in the bathroom.”
“How bad is it? I’m afraid to look in the mirror.”
“Hold still, I said.” Christian dabbed her cut lip with the moist cotton ball. “Not too bad. But it’s definitely cut. She got you good.”
Syeesha touched the scar that sliced through his brow.
“Are you ever going to tell me how you got this?”
“In eighth grade there was this quiet kid in my class who got picked on all the time. At lunch, a guy we called Blade tripped him. Food went one way and the kid went another.”
“What was his name?”
“I don’t remember. He hit his nose on the floor, and it started bleeding. Kids laughed. I was pissed. And scared of Blade just like everyone else, but in that moment I was mostly just pissed. So I said something. We had words. We fought. I discovered why they called him Blade.”
“Was it bad?”
“Not really. Thank God he didn’t get my eye. He got kicked out of school, and last I heard he’s doing eight to ten for burglary.”
“So you’re a hero. Great. Just what I need.”
He grinned and kissed her softly.
“I gotta get out of there.”
“You know I’d like you to stay here but it’s cramped enough with me and Jonesy.”
“I wasn’t trying to hint at anything.”
Syeesha looked around his bedroom. Everything was in its place, but he was right, there was only enough room to breath.
“Not to mention how miserable it’d be for you to live with two guys.”
Christian tossed the cotton into the trash and sat next to her on the bed.
She turned to him. “I don’t think living with you would be miserable. I can tell you’re a neat freak, just like my sister. On second thought, maybe it would be a little miserable.”
He chuckled. “I am a little obsessive.”
Christian touched the crease in his slacks. Then he walked his two fingers from his leg to Syeesha’s thigh. It reminded her of those old Yellow Pages commercials. He played with her fingers. “What’re you going to do?”
His soft touch felt like the warmth of a candle. But she had to stay focused. Making out with a girl with a bruised face was probably the last thing on his mind.
“I don’t know. There’s so much I have to think about right now. I don’t want to deal with any of it.”
“Like what? School?”
“Uh! Don’t add to the list.”
“Tell me.”
With little prompting, Syeesha told him Jade’s plan.
Fuck it! she thought. If the word hits the street then Jade can sue me for the shirt on my back.
She remembered the shoes.
Fire-engine-red Louboutins.
Did Jade buy me those because she wanted to or were they a bribe?
“Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“I said, you told Jade to go to hell, right?”
“Not in so many words, but I refused.”
Christian placed a finger beneath her chin and turned her face to his.
“I love who you are.”
“Right now, I’m battered and confused.”
“Right now you are beautiful and vulnerable and totally willing to let me exploit the situation.”
She giggled as he moved closer. Her face hurt, but the rest of her felt like pudding—all soft and malleable. His tongue slipped inside her mouth. After all these weeks, she still thought he tasted succulent, like a ripe papaya bursting with juice.
Christian eased her tank top over her head and suckled her neck. She was intoxicated by his scent. Clean, like perfumed soap. Heat flared inside her and she shivered at its strength. Christian must have sensed her desire because he snapped off her bra and eased her onto her back. His fingers were smooth as a feather against her skin. Agile caresses of his tongue enflamed her entire body. She arched her back, urging him to take the whole of her inside his mouth. Seemingly intent on driving her mad with desire, Christian dispensed with her shorts and thong and stroked two strong fingers within her. In. O
ut. In. Out. When she couldn’t restrain herself any longer, Syeesha cupped his head with both hands and pushed him from her breast.
Christian tracked kisses down her torso. Syeesha pulled at his shirt until it slid easily over his head, revealing a sculpted back and defined shoulders. Christian hiked her legs over his shoulders and leaned his head down, licking her with a nimble tongue until she cried out his name in unrestrained pleasure.
***
Chapter 25
“Up already?”
“I’m an early riser,” she said. “It’s a curse.”
“You going back over there this morning?”
“Yep. Gotta go back sometime.”
He turned onto his back. “Let me know what time you want to go. I’m gonna get a little more sleep in.”
“Mind if I turn on the TV? Will it bother you?”
“I’m willing to suffer for your happiness.”
She smiled. It’d been a long time since she’d felt so incredibly delicious, inside and out. Despite her sore lip, the rest of her felt as though she’d been through an intense workout. A dull ache lingered over her body. But it was worth it considering the trifecta of orgasms she’d enjoyed the night before.
Syeesha flipped through the television in search of visual cotton candy. Which meant nothing heavy. No news. No pundits. No unsolved murders. She had enough heaviness going on in her life, what with the very real possibility that she’d be back to collecting three hundred bucks a week in unemployment very soon if she didn’t find a gig to replace the one she had.
Think again, Toots. You can’t collect unemployment if you quit. Damn. No wonder everybody hates The Man!
Christian turned onto his side, his back toward her.
“When I said I was willing to suffer you spared no expense.”
“Hmm?” Syeesha realized she’d flipped to MTV. “You don’t like KaCee? I love this song.”
Syeesha watched as KaCee writhed on top of tables, urging the object of her affection to understand how she feels about him.
“There’s really no limit to what the recording industry will do to make money,” he said. His head was buried beneath a pillow.
“You’re seriously picking on a dying animal?”
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