Placing her pen and tablet on the coffee table in front of her, she grabs her phone and dials Gerard’s number again. Thinking it is only going to go to voicemail again she’s surprised to hear him answer “Hello Lena. How are you doing?” “Well, I’m fine now that I’m talking to you. Are you okay Gerard? I’ve been trying to contact you for the last few days, but you never returned my calls.” “I’m sorry, Lena. I had something to pop up suddenly, and I’ve been dealing with it.”
Feeling a bit uneasy, he clears his throat and continues. “So were you calling to confirm our date tomorrow night?” “Yes, that is if you still want to go out.” “Sure. I always enjoy spending time with a good friend. Patrick asked if we would like to have dinner with him and his wife, Lovely. If it’s okay with you, I will let him know we will accept their invitation.”
“That sounds fantastic, Gerard. I always enjoy spending time with Lovely and Patrick. But if you don’t mind once we have dinner, I would like to have a personal discussion with you about our friendship. I want to know what you expect to happen between us.” “Yeah, I want to talk to you about that as well. How about I pick you up around six? Patrick said dinner is at seven. That will give us enough time to drive across town to their penthouse.” “I’ll be ready. See you then Gerard.” “Yes, you will Lena” he replies back with laughter in his voice. “Goodbye” and he disconnects the phone conversation.
As Lena places her cell phone on the table, she smiles feeling a little better after speaking to Gerard. Her date with him is confirmed giving her one less thing to worry about. Now she needs to hear from Tura to make sure they are still going to the Delta Sigma fraternity Christmas party.
Lena’s phone vibrates on the table, and she grabs it seeing Tura calling. “Speak of the devil” she answers. “Girl, where the hell have you been hiding?” “Oh, I’m sorry” Tura replies with an attitude. “I think my mother is still out of the country!” “Girl, please!! Someone needs to stay on your ass especially when you go missing in action for a few days.” Her guard up, Tura blows in the phone before saying “I wasn’t missing Lena! I’ve had things to do. Besides if I told you what I’ve been doing, I would have to listen to one of your hypocritical lectures. You’re hearing from me now so go ahead and get whatever you have to say out of the way!”
“Tura, I don’t know what’s has crawled up your butt, but you need to check yourself. For one, we are best friends who look out for each other. We never go hours let alone days without talking to each other. Secondly, you never hide things from me so why all of a sudden are you being so secretive now?” Lena says a bit loud having an attitude herself.
Tura wasn’t backing down; her mood sour she answers “Because I know you won’t like what I’ve been doing the last few days. I don’t need to hear a speech from you or have you making me feel like I’m some child getting chastised!” “I’m not that terrible Tura” Lena sighs feeling offended. “Oh yes you are Lena, and if you don’t believe me, I will prove it. I’m going to tell you what I’ve done, but you have to give me your word you won’t give me some drawn out sermon about how foolish I’ve been or your unsolicited opinion on the matter. Believe me; I’ve beaten myself up over the whole situation. I don’t need someone reminding how reckless my actions have been. Do we have an agreement?”
Lena rolls her eyes and answers back “Yes, I promise but I don’t want to hear what you have to say over the phone. Where are you now?” “I’m in my dorm room at the moment, why?” “I want you to come over to my house. Bring whatever clothes you’re wearing to this fraternity party tonight, and we will hang out for a while before getting dressed to shake what God has blessed us with at the club. We can talk face to face about whatever it is you’ve done and feel I will be opinionated about.”
Tura doesn’t answer right away thinking about if she still wants to go to the party. “Are you still on the phone Tura?” Lena asks. “Yes, I’m here. I’ll be over in a couple of hours.” “Okay I will see you then,” Lena says. “Holla” Tura replies back before ending the call.
CHAPTER 11
True to form, a couple of hours later, Tura pulls her Mustang GTO into Lena’s driveway wishing she hadn’t agreed to come over to spill her guts. Her mind and body are tired from being with Gerry for the last three days and nights. As she thinks back on their time together, Tura doesn’t know how he got up early every morning like clockwork and went to his job after they stayed up the majority of the night screwing each other brains out.
The only reason why their secret tryst ended was due to prior obligations they committed themselves too. Plus some alone time was needed to figure out what is going on between them. Do they have genuine feeling for each other? Was it love at first site or great sexual chemistry between two people and nothing more meaningful?
What she wished they hadn’t done was deciding not to exchange contact information. Gerry wanted to and was very vocal about this part of the agreement. In the end, he understood she needs time to wrap her head around what’s going between them. Now Tura wishes she had listened to him. It would be good to hear his baritone voice over the phone. But in the end, it was a mutual decision not to stay in touch. If their feelings for each are real, they will meet at the same Chinese restaurant the following Monday around the same time and take things from there.
Tura thought once she was away from Gerry, all the unexplained emotions she‘s experiencing would disappear. He would be a distant memory, and she could move on with her life; getting back on track to the way things was before they hooked up. It turned out not to be the case, and her life will never be the same again. Knowing she won’t be waiting at his home when he returns from work so they can discuss what happened during the day and make passionate love over and over has her heart hurting. Tura feels nothing but sadness and realizes she’s been bitten by the love bug. She can’t handle the separation from Gerry. Discussing it with Lena will be difficult because the way it all came to be. Hopefully, her friend will be able to give her unbiased advice on what she is feeling and why. Tura knows Lena is her friend and even though she may not like how the situation happened, Lena won’t judge her for getting caught up with a stranger finally admitting to herself she’s fallen in love with Gerry. At least she hopes that how things will go when they talk.
Sighing heavily, Tura pulls down the visor checking in the mirror to make sure she doesn’t look like she feels. Putting a smile on her face, she grabs her MCM garment and leather luggage bags, gets out of her car, sighs again and slowly makes the walk of shame to Lena’s front porch. Tura takes one more deep breath, rings the doorbell and waits for her friend to let her inside. She didn’t have to wait long. Lena opens both the front and security doors shaking a bit as the coldness of the winter weather as the wind passes through her body. “Girl come on inside before you freeze. It feels like the temperature has dropped from earlier this morning. From the way the clouds are looking in the sky, we may get more snow to add to what we already have.”
Tura smiles and quickly walks inside shivering a bit herself as she grasps how cold it is. With the door closed, Tura feels the warmth of Lena’s home soaks into her as she looks at her friend. She smiles recognizing how much she missed talking to Lena the past few days. Lena smiles back and says as Tura takes off her coat “Girl, I’ve been worried about you. It doesn’t feel right when we don’t talk to each other. And it’s not like you not to call or at least text me. Come on in and sit down so you can tell me all the juicy details of what you’ve been up to these past few days.”
Tura gives a fake smile at Lena’s comment. After hanging her coat on the stand by the door, she follows Lena down the hall to the den. When she enters the room, she drops her luggage by the door and lays her garment bag over the back of one of the barstool chairs and joins Lena on the sofa where she is now sitting.
Stalling to keep from answering Lena’s question she says “I can’t believe your friend Lovely left you the majority of her furnishings. How’d you get so lucky
to find a friend like her? The décor is beautiful. As soon as you get the Christmas decorations done, it’s going to look very nice. Are you going to put a tree in here and the living room?” “I was thinking about that” Lena answers. “I didn’t want to do too much. But I think Tami will love having two trees with presents under both. We struggled so much when we were still with Wayne. Tami didn’t get very many gifts. This year I’m going all out. Being in our new home for Christmas and not having to worry about my baby not getting all she’s asked Santa to bring her is a blessing in itself. Since I’ve been working for Ms. Maddy making a decent salary, I was able to save so much money. It will be our best Christmas ever and you my friend will be here to enjoy it with us.” “I’m looking forward to it too” Tura happily admits.
Lena looks anxiously at her friend and says “Okay now that we’ve gotten the discussion about all my Christmas plans out of the way, tell me what you’ve been up to Tura. What’s really going on?” Tura takes a deep breath and begins. “I’ve been having my time occupied by a new guy in my life Lena. You’re not going to believe what I have to tell you. Once I divulge everything, all I ask is you please not judge or criticize me for my recklessness.” Lena looks at her friend with concern. She scoots a little closer to Tura grabbing her hand squeezing it. “Tura,” she says “I may get on to you from time to time about things, but it’s only because I love you and I care. I consider you a part of my family, like my sister, you know. I could never judge you about the things you are doing, have done or will do in the future because it’s not my place to do so. Believe me, when I say I’m not a perfect person, so you have nothing to worry about on my end. Besides once you tell me, I can discuss what’s been going on in my crazy life these past few days.”
Getting alarmed and with concern showing in her eyes, Tura asks “What happened, Lena? Is Tami okay? Is something wrong with Moma Elsie or your sister Zelma? Are your other siblings in Michigan all right?” “Calm down girl. Tami is fine and still enjoying her sleepaway with the Zavalas. Moma and Zel are good along with Zachary and Marilyn and their families.” “Well, you can’t just say something like that and not tell me what’s going on. Tell me the details, and we will talk about my situation afterward.”
Lena looks at Tura knowing she’s stalling, but she needs to talk to her about what happening with Fahim, so she nods her head in agreement. Taking a deep breath, she begins her story starting with the situation with her ex-boyfriend. Several long minutes later and once Lena is finished relaying the details, Tura’s eyes are wide as saucers not believing what she’s hearing. “Seriously, Lena? How did he escape from prison? Did the DA’s office or someone from the warden’s office contact you regarding his escape? What did he do when you saw him at your door?”
Bringing up what happened on Monday once again has Lena upset, and Tura sees it on her face. Now she is squeezing Lena’s hand giving her comfort. “Let me start from the beginning, and she spits out everything that happened with Wayne after they talked on the phone on Monday. Afterward, Tura couldn’t believe what she’s told. Things like this didn’t happen in real life and only on TV.
“Fahim saved your life? Oh my god! Did you call the police? How was Fahim able to stop Wayne from getting to you?” Lena proceeds to tell Tura more of what happened, and afterward, Tura is at a loss for words. It was so hard to believe. All she can say is “Girl, you for real? All this happened? I bet you’re glad Fahim pops up all the time like he does. That was a blessing in disguise. Hell, the police telling you they weren’t able to contact you was a crock of shit. If Wayne could locate you, they could have as well if they wanted to. They have their ways believe me.” Lena shivers thinking again what might have happened if Fahim hadn’t shown up and says “Well it’s all over now and Wayne is back in jail hopefully for good.”
“Where is your knight in shining armor now? You would think he would be all up under you especially after saving your life. You know showing you some of that fabulous Latin love” Tura asks curiously. Lena blushes and sighs at the same time remembering the steamy lip lock she and Fahim shared. Tura notices Lena’s reaction and asks “You and Fahim made love didn’t you!” Lena blushes again quickly explaining “We didn’t go that far Tura, but we did share a very steamy kiss. Tura, Fahim had me tingling all over, and my kitty kat was definitely feeling the heat. My feelings for Fahim are so intense, and I’m all confused how I can have them and still want to pursue a relationship with Gerard. They are completely opposite men; bringing up the other situation I’m dealing with.”
Tura frowns and asks “What else has happened, Lena? Are things between you and Fahim shaky or something?” “I can honestly say I don’t know” Lena replies with a heavy sigh. Looking at her friend she says “I finally took your advice and talked to Fahim about Gerard and how I want to date them both for a while longer to see where things may go. But I need to back up a minute and tell you what Fahim said to me before I told him that.”
Tura sits very still waiting to hear what’s has Lena rattled. Taking another deep breath, Lena continues explaining to Tura the conversation she had with Fahim. Once she’s told her more of their conversation she adds “Tura, Fahim is familiar with Gerard, but all he would call him is my white boy toy. He accused me of stringing him along in case things don’t work out between Gerard and me. It was awful scene ruining our lovely time together. He brought over breakfast and even made freshly squeezed orange juice. What man do you know does something like that and saves your life as well?” Tura shrugs her shoulders as her answer thinking about Gerry cooking for her when they were hanging together.
Looking at Lena, she says “He actually told you he loves you, girl? He said to you he’s in love with you?” “Yes, Fahim said he never thought about giving up being single and settling down until he met me. I’m the reason he’s in town so much. He makes all these visits from New York just to see and be with me, Tura. Now I’ve thrown a monkey wrench in the mix wanting to pursue whatever is going on between Gerard and me.”
“So have you examined how you feel about Fahim?” You did tell me your feelings for him are strong. Do you love Fahim, Lena?” Tura asks. “Yes, but I’m scared Tura. You know the story what I went through with Wayne. I’m not saying Fahim is anything like him, but I’m petrified to give my heart and my love to another man exclusively. I don’t want it broken again or to be mentally or physically abused by another man the way Wayne did. I know Fahim will never do those things, but I’m not ready to take that chance even if he makes me happy, and treats me like I’ve always wanted to be cherished.”
Sighing she continues “Fahim makes my body react in ways Wayne never did. Even the very limited make-out sessions I’ve experienced with Gerard doesn’t make my body react the way Fahim does to mine. And I admit I’m being selfish. Since I haven’t heard from him after our heated talk on Monday, I realize how much I looked forward to talking to and seeing him all the time. I didn’t think he would just stop popping up or calling me regularly. I miss him stealing kisses or bringing flowers. I believe I messed things up between us Tura. I really, really miss Fahim.”
“Aww, Lena. Believe me, Fahim hasn’t given up or walked away from you. He’s giving you some space I guess to figure things out. You now understand he’s the man you want and need in your life; that he’s the man you love. So what are you going to do about Gerard? And how does he fit into this scenario?” “That’s the thing Tura; I don’t know. When he called me a few days ago to set up our date for tomorrow, I called him back several times to confirm I would be available. But I was never able to reach him, and I left multiple messages on his voicemail. Since I wasn’t able to get in contact with him, it made me wonder if he’s moved on and was seeing someone else. The date is tomorrow night, and I had planned on asking him if he is still interested in spending time with me. If he is, I want to see where his mind is on our friendship moving forward romantically. I feel something for Gerard, but after the passionate scene with Fahim, I’m questioning w
hat it is exactly I feel for him. Hopefully, our date will put things into perspective. I hope it won’t be too late once I do determine its Fahim I truly want to be involved with giving my love and heart to forever.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve made your decision Lena,” Tura says with a smirk. “Have you thought about calling Fahim, you know, taking the initiative, so he will at least know you are thinking about him?” “Yes Tura, I’ve thought about doing that, but then I chicken out scared of how he will respond.” “Lena you know how you feel and as you’ve pointed out, Fahim may not know where your heart is or how you feel about him. You need to call him now and ask how his day is going. While you are talking to him, I’m going to take my stuff upstairs to my room to give you some privacy. When I get back, maybe you will have a better interpretation of how things are between the two of you.”
Lena leans over and hugs Tura saying “That’s why you are my best friend. You give me some of the best advice when I need it. I’ve missed not talking to you these last few days. Please don’t disappear on my again.” Tura hugs her back and replies “I’ll try my best but you know me and you can never tell which way the wind may be blowing when it come to my crazy life.” “Oh Tura, you’re a mess. When I get off the phone with Fahim, we will talk about what you’ve been up to since we spoke Monday.” “Okay, Lena. Now go call your man and make his day” she replies with laughter. “Girl, you crazy,” Lena says as she picks up her phone off the table and dials Fahim’s digits.
Hypnotic Magnetic Seduction Page 6