She nods slowly, like she’s not really buying it.
“Your parents have a home, no? Can’t you stay with them or in a hotel? If it’s just a visit.”
“You know better than anyone that having a place of your own is so much nicer, and I’ll continue to pay rent.”
She waves her hand in front of the screen. “It isn’t the money, you know this. I don’t care about the money. If I did, you wouldn’t be paying half of what the apartment is worth.” The little slip tells me I was right.
“I could have Fred hook me up with the owner’s information and ask him or her directly if you think that’s okay.”
She smiles like she’s been caught in a lie.
“Okay then. You can keep the place.”
“Thank you, Antonia.” I try to exude as much gratitude as one can through video chat. “I know you’re busy.”
“No, no.” She waves her finger in the camera.
The evil grin on her face tells me she isn’t done with me. I just hope her dirty mind is thinking doesn’t involve nudity.
“I have a favor, too.”
“Uh, okay.” I brace for whatever humiliation she’s about to lay on me.
“Lenny Niemeyer is meeting with designers at a cocktail party in San Francisco. I want you to go there and convince her to meet with me.”
Lenny Niemeyer is one of Brazil’s top swimsuit designers, and Antonia has been trying to work with her for years.
“I…I don’t even know how to get invited to something like that,” I mumble. “When is the party?”
“Now. I’ll text you the name of the bar. It’s a casual meet and greet. Men like you don’t need an invitation—not with that face.”
“What do I say?”
“Tell her she’s a fool not to work with me. Brazil is a mecca for beach fashion. California is…” She grunts in disgust. “College kids cannot design couture.”
I like her last comment. I bank it to use for later and agree to try. I’ll go to the bar, speak to this woman, and do my best to convince her Antonia is the next big thing—a favor for a favor.
The best part of this fiasco is choosing my outfit. Bumming around in jeans and t-shirts is nice, but I get off on dressing up. I decide on a Prada two-tone blue polo shirt with the Gucci jacket I lifted from the fashion show. It fits like a glove, even with the extra pounds. My jeans, not so much. I opt for a loose-fitting pair of Diesels—there’s no way I’m squeezing my ass into skinny jeans. Lastly, I slip on a pair of Versace Colorblock sneakers, because you can pull off a “casual” shoe when they cost just under a grand.
I get the text from Antonia. The bar is in the fashion district, probably an old warehouse turned brewery. I order an Uber and head downstairs.
“Looking sharp, youngblood!” Fred is standing by the desk with a fly swatter. “Looks like you’re catching a big fish tonight.”
I pound his fist. “You know it.”
I miss this feeling—cocky and sure.
Leeyan has me all soft and gooey. Okay, not all soft.
After one-and-done for so long, I forgot what new sex was like, how good it feels to explore someone’s body for the sake of doing it. You’d think after three or four times it gets repetitive; it doesn’t. Every time was better than the last. Thinking about her gets me hard.
I adjust my junk as the Uber pulls to a stop outside my building.
“How ya doin?” The driver is male, dark-haired, and foreign. “Nice shoes.”
“Thanks.” I don’t like to chat, so I take my phone out and pretend to check something important like Facebook.
“There’s a little traffic—are you in a hurry?”
I look at the parking lot in front of us.
“No, no rush.”
We move one block in fifteen minutes. I could walk faster. To pass the time, I decide texting Leeyan is safe.
She replies immediately.
Me: What’s up?
Leeyan: I was just thinking about you.
Me: Good things?
Leeyan: Bad things.
Me: Bad meaning bad or bad meaning good?
Leeyan: :P
She asks about work. I ask about Lulu. I even bring up the weather as I work up the nerve to ask her if she wants to come over tonight.
Leeyan: Can you do me a favor?
Me: Anything
Leeyan: I bought a dresser on Offerup and I need someone to help me bring it upstairs when it gets delivered today.
Theo must be out, otherwise she wouldn’t be asking me to come over.
Me: Sure. When is it going to be delivered?
Leeyan: In an hour.
Fuck my life.
Leeyan: I don’t want to leave it on the street. Someone will totally steal it and I can’t just sit outside and wait for Theo to come home.
Me: Where is he?
Leeyan: I don’t know. He said he had a job. If you can’t make it that’s fine.
Me: On my way.
I jump out of the Uber and head to the underground trains. It takes less than twenty minutes to get to Leeyan’s place. The closer I get to her street, the more I sweat. When I can see the building, I text her and tell her to come down.
Me: I’m here.
Leeyan: We’re at the park.
We, meaning her and Lulu. Now I know this is a bad idea. The park is directly across the street from Leeyan and Theo’s building. If he comes home, I’m busted. I keep walking, because seeing her is worth the risk.
I walk up the path to the playground, which is packed with strollers and little people. I spot Lulu standing at the top of a structure. I follow her gaze and find Leeyan.
She’s beaming as she watches her daughter play, and her smile doesn’t falter when I stop in front of her.
“Hi.” She motions to hug me then stops and holds up a melting purple popsicle.
“Hi.” I stop myself from touching her. “Is this a good idea?”
I look back to where Lulu is holding court.
“Yeah, we’ll say you were stopping by to see Theo and we ran into each other.”
Sounds reasonable.
We sit on a bench where Leeyan can keep an eye on Lulu. She’s in a long black and white striped skirt, tied in a knot on the side. A black bra is visible through her white t-shirt, and the afternoon breeze tousles her now brown hair. I take a lock between my fingers.
“No more pink?”
She turns to look at me, pulling her hair from my hand. “Lulu said the moms at her school don’t have pink hair.”
“She’s such a tyrant.”
“I probably shouldn’t indulge her, but I want her to like me.”
What’s not to like.
“How are things going otherwise?”
“Not bad. I think she’s warming up to me a little more every day. I wish I came to see weeks ago.”
If she had, we never would have hooked up. I’m an asshole for thinking this, but I’m glad she waited, and I got have Leeyan to myself. As an only child, sharing was never my forte. When I dated in high school and college, the women I chose would give up all their free time to spend with me. Magic dick. Even if being with Leeyan were an option, I don’t think it would work out if I had to share her with Lulu. The kid always comes first, even a selfish prick like me knows that.
“How’s your Portuguese coming along?” The question has a touch of bitterness, like she’s reminding me I’m leaving.
“Saudades de você.” I tell her I miss her.
The statement pulls her attention from Lulu.
“Damn,” she breathes. “Say something else.”
“Não consigo parar de pensar em você,”
“What does that mean?”
I lie because I don’t want to admit the truth, I’m falling for her.
“It means, I’ll miss you when I leave.”
Her lips form a pout, not a sexy one. Okay, a sexy one. She brings the popsicle to her mouth and slurps off the excess liquid.
“You sucked tha
t like a pro.”
She smiles in spite of herself. Leeyan is trying to be the right thing, act the right way, even if it goes against who she really is. Her hair, the outfit, it screams hipster mom.
She licks her finger and looks around for a trash can. “I can’t deal with this anymore. I’ll just get her a new one.”
“I’m kind of enjoying the show. Watching you lick a popsicle…it does things to me.” I lean in close until my nose is in her hair.
“Typical male fantasy.” She walks to the trash a few feet away with a wiggle in her hips. When she returns to the bench, she sits a little closer.
“You know the key to a good blow job is making the woman think it was her idea.”
“Who said anything about a blow job?”
“A dick in your mouth can be a good thing.”
“For who?”
She inches away, and my first instinct is to pull her back.
“You and Theo never…”
“We didn’t have that kind of relationship.”
I nod toward the playground where Lulu is bossing around some older kids. “You were fucking—that much is obvious.”
“Sex and blow jobs”—Leeyan holds her hands as if each word is sitting in a palm—“not the same thing.”
“Oral sex is sex,” I argue. “You’ve had girlfriends.” I consider saying the words I’m visualizing in my head, but having a boner in a park surrounded by kids—not cool.
“That’s different. Girls are different.”
“That’s sexist.”
“How does that make me sexist?”
“You’ll lick a vagina,” I whisper the last word as a gay couple walks by with their Chinese daughter and French bulldog. “But you won’t suck a dick—sexist.” I mime doing a mic drop.
“This isn’t a gender equality issue, it’s a preference,” Leeyan insists. “I’m not saying I would never suck a dick.” Her cheeks flush. “I’m just saying it isn’t happening tonight.”
There’s always tomorrow night.
Leeyan gets a text from the delivery company and we head across the street to her building. Lulu doesn’t question why I’m there; she doesn’t know any better. She does insist on holding both of our hands so she can swing between us as we walk, which turns into her refusing to put her feet down, so we end up deadlifting her the entire way home.
While Leeyan signs some paperwork, I go upstairs and hang my Gucci jacket in the hall closet. It’s worth more than all the furniture in this apartment combined.
The dresser isn’t as heavy as she thought, and after we navigate it through the narrow door, we’re golden. The apartment is directly above Theo’s and is laid out the same way with a long hallway and hardwood floors. We carry the dresser to the only bedroom.
“I think that corner works better,” Leeyan directs.
We move it near the window.
I scoot it back until it hits the wall. “It’s pretty small for a dresser.” It’s white with three drawers, kid-sized.
Of course—it’s for the kid.
“Perfect.” Leeyan gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Gio.”
“My pleasure.” I give her a sexy smile, the one that makes her knees weak. I hesitate then start to pull her close. When she doesn’t object, I take her in my arms.
“What were you saying about pleasure?” she asks flirtatiously. She snuggles against me. “Damn, this feels good.”
“I thought maybe you were over it.” It being me.
She grabs my ass. “Not even close. What about you?”
I press my hard-on into her stomach. “What do you think?”
Something in the living room falls with a thud. Leeyan pulls away, remembering who she is, and runs out of the room.
It will never just be us again. Even if we steal a day or night alone before I leave, she’ll always have Lulu on her mind. Lulu will always be first. That’s fine, but I don’t want to compete with a kid. It isn’t in my nature. I sure as hell won’t wait around for crumbs.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
Oh fuck.
Antonia doesn’t know if I made it to the party or not. I can tell her I was late, or they wouldn’t let me in. She’ll never believe that, though. I hate to use my parents as an excuse, but I’m desperate.
“Hey,” I answer, pretending I’m out of breath. “I’m almost there. My mother called…”
She’s speaking Portuguese; she’s pissed. “Não pode fazer um favor, idiota!”
I only pick up the last word. Idiot.
“It’s too late! She already left.”
How does she know that unless she had someone else at the party? If that’s the case, why did she need me?
“I ask a simple favor, Giovanni, one, and you fail. What else will you fail at doing?” She inhales. I imagine her pacing with a cigarette pinched between her perfectly manicured fingers, her hair blowing in all directions. Antonia is wild, in her style and in her personality. “It was perfeito, perfect! Nicolette had it all set up. You just had to show her a good time!”
Lulu appears in the doorway. I hold my finger to my mouth so she doesn’t speak. She rolls her eyes then closes the door.
“Who is Nicolette?”
The question throws her off.
“What? Nicolette is Nicolette. She works for me.”
“If Nicolette was there representing you, why did you need me?” I want to hear her say it, hear her admit it.
“Gio, baby, what do you mean?”
“You asked me to go to the party and convince that woman to work with you, but clearly you already had someone there who did that. What would I bring to the table?”
“To the table, nothing.” She pauses, takes another drag. “To her bed, something.”
“So you’re pimping me out now?” I imagine what my life will look like a year from now: me doing favors for Antonia in Brazil. “Is the job at the club even real?”
“Yes! Of course. You think I’m lying? You don’t want to come to Brazil now?”
I sit on the edge of the bed and look around Leeyan’s bedroom. Will I ever be allowed to sleep here? Will I ever be welcome? We’re straddling a line that should never be crossed. Once Theo finds out, shit gets real. Losing my best friend isn’t something I know how to handle, and Brazil is my exit strategy. Even if Theo hates me at first, he’ll get over it while I’m gone. Distance makes it easy to forget.
The door creaks open slowly. Lulu’s tiny hand appears holding a chocolate chip cookie. It dances in the air, taunting me. I walk over and pluck it from her hand. She closes the door.
The little gesture makes me smile. It also reminds me that I’m not the kind of guy who plays stepdad, and definitely not to my best friend’s kid.
“Gio, are you still there?”
“I’m here and I’m still in.”
After I end the call, I find Leeyan brushing Lulu’s hair in the living room.
"Hey, so we were going to get Thai food.”
“Gio likes coconut rice,” Lulu informs her.
The little shit is right.
“Great. Let me finish her hair and we’ll go. I’m buying,” Leeyan insists.
“I can’t stay. I have an appointment.” I let her think I have a money job.
Her smile disappears, and she stops brushing for a split second. “Oh.” She nods and resumes brushing. “So, that’s it then? Things just go back to how they were before?”
Before? Before what? Before you showed up and fucked me in every way a woman can fuck a man?
“I need to focus on Brazil.”
“I see. Well, I need to focus on this.” She keeps brushing.
I tap the side of the door. I really want to punch it because this is so much harder than it should be. Saying goodbye was always the easy part.
“Bye, Gio!” Lulu dismisses me.
“Bye, squirt.”
“I’ll tell Daddy you came over.”
“NO!” Leeyan and I shout, making Lulu jump a little.
Leeyan does damage control. “Gio already called Daddy and told him he stopped by, so you don’t have to tell him Gio was here, okay sweetie?”
“Okay.” Lulu continues brushing her stuffed elephant. “Can we get ice cream too?”
“Absolutely.” Leeyan kisses Lulu’s head.
Her eyes meet mine. She’s torn. So am I.
As much as I want to make her mine, I know I have to let her go.
Chapter Seventeen
My apartment is back to normal: clean, cold, uncluttered. I walk into the kitchen where no less than three dirty dishes sat in the sink at any given time when Leeyan was here. She always had a fresh pot of coffee made, a ball of hair on the bathroom floor, more hair in the shower, on the sofa, and sometimes even on the coffee pot. It was like living with a German Shepherd…an incredibly cute, sexy—
No. I can’t go there.
I’ve reclaimed some normalcy. I want to keep it that way. I’m working less side jobs, focusing more on the gym, and prepping for my move. I already spoke to Josie; she’s going to call me as soon as she receives a credible offer. A buyer from out of state is interested in the house, sight unseen, and if he turns out to be legit, my parents could be homeless in less than two months. I won’t offer them my apartment until the last minute, when they have no choice but to take it.
I walk into rehearsal and drop my bag on an empty chair. All the guys are here—Dain, Rico, Thor, and Theo. Percy is sitting in the corner on his phone, and Ivy is on her laptop pulling up our new music. We’re recycling an old cowboy routine to a popular new country song.
“Hey G.” Percy is beside me with his hand out.
“What’s up?” I take his hand in greeting. “You ready for this?”
He’s cocky. “I can do these moves in my sleep. We need to get more inventive.”
I must be getting old, because I like our stale routines. “You’re lucky to even be here. I wouldn’t push my luck.” I slap the back of his head. “What’s going on with you and your girl?” I’m thirsty for some drama that isn’t mine.
“Man, she’s trippin.” He slaps the air in front of him. “I think she was lying about the baby. After I told her I wouldn’t quit—”
Side Game (Men of Trance Book 2) Page 15