by La Jill Hunt
“That must be it.” She giggled. “But your twelve o’clock has been in the lobby waiting for you. Here is his casework. I think he’s just here to sign off on some paperwork about his settlement.”
“Perfect. I’m going to my office. You can buzz him on back.”
“Great,” Teeka said and activated the buzzer in the man’s hand once Mr. O’Brian walked away from the desk. When the redheaded man brought the buzzer back to her, she took it and stood up. “Right this way. Mr. O’Brian apologizes for the delay, Stanley, but he’s been looking forward to seeing you.”
She used her access badge to take him through a door behind her desk that led them to a long hallway filled with the offices of the higher-ups. Mr. O’Brian’s was at the very end of the hall, and of course, was the largest. The door was already open, and when Stanley walked through it, she shut it behind him.
On her way back to her desk, she hoped that she had missed Keelan and that he’d made his way to his office. Normally, he would stop at her desk around that time and ask if she wanted to get a bite to eat, but hopefully he knew not to do that today. But of course, that was too much like right. When she opened the access-only door, sure enough, there he was.
“Look, Keelan. I—”
She stopped mid-sentence because as she got closer to him, she could see that he was not alone. He was having a conversation with someone in front of her desk. That someone happened to be the woman who had been looking for her man.
When they heard her voice, they both stopped and glanced over in her direction. Once the woman saw Teeka, she gave her a big smile. “Teeka! I came back to ask you what it is you use in your hair. My honey here”—she placed a hand casually on Keelan’s arm—“has been trying to talk me into going natural for months, and I’ve been thinking about it, but I want my hair to look as lovely as yours.”
A fist closed on Teeka’s chest and stopped oxygen from getting to her lungs. Not really, but that’s what it sure felt like. Keelan avoided her eye contact. He stood there in his tan Tom Ford two-button suit that she loved so much, looking as guilty as a kid who’d just been caught stealing in a candy store.
He is her fiancé? Fiancé? He had a woman the whole time? She took a deep breath and tried to save face.
“C–Carol’s Daughter,” Teeka said and cleared her throat. “A really good friend of mine bought it as a gift, and I’ve been using it ever since.”
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome—I’m sorry, I never got your name.”
“Alecia Clout, soon to be Alecia Metoy.” She smiled big and threw her hand out so that Teeka could see her ring. “We’re making it official next month.”
“W–wow.” Teeka’s eyebrows raised at the size of the ring. “That is a gorgeous rock. And next month? How long have you two been together?”
“Since our college days.” Alecia leaned into Keelan and kissed him on his cheek tenderly—the same way Teeka would when she sat next to him while they caught up on their favorite shows. “He moved to Chicago almost eight months ago for work, and I’ve finally made it out here to join him. My father is the CEO of a firm similar to this one in Milwaukee. He’s looking into buying shares at ETCO and maybe even start a merger.”
“So, you two were college sweethearts,” Teeka said out loud, more for herself than anyone else. “Wow. That is a beautiful story. I wish you both . . . the best of luck. Any man would be lucky to have someone as beautiful and fit as you to be their wife.”
“Thank you. Come on, honey, I’m starving! Plus, I wanted to show you a few venues I have in mind for the wedding. Have a good day, Teeka!” she said.
“You too.” Teeka clenched her jaw and sat back at her desk. She refused to look at him. How could he do that to her? How could he lie to her about something so big and for so long? She was surprised by how well she had handled the situation, because her insides were telling her to blow up and cause a scene. She kept her eyes on the computer in front of her and waited for them to leave. The tears were coming, she could feel them. She just needed to hold them for a few more minutes.
“Go pull the car around front, baby. I’ll be out in a second. I need to grab something from my office,” Keelan said.
“Okay, but hurry.”
There were a few seconds of silence, and then Teeka heard the elevator ding. She could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of her face.
“Teeka . . .” he started.
“I have those caseloads for you, Mr. Metoy. They’ll be on your desk when you come back.”
“Teeka, please let me explain.”
“I’m sorry.” She blinked the tears in the corner of her eyes away to nonexistence. “Explain what? How to print out the cases? I know how to do my job, Mr. Metoy.”
“Don’t be like that. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Find out what? That you have a beautiful, thin, and rich fiancée?” She laughed to herself. “I can’t believe I—”
Fell for you, she finished in her head.
“I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how.”
“I don’t see how hard it could have been. Especially if you wanted things between us to be just sex. That was a sure way to keep it like that or end things completely.”
“It’s complicated ,Teeka.”
“Obviously not too complicated. You got what you wanted from me for seven months. I was just the fill-in girl until your princess got into town. It all makes sense now.” She shook her head.
“ T. K.”
When she heard him call her by her nickname, she couldn’t stop the surge of anger that overcame her. “Don’t.” She put her hand up, finally looking at him. She glared into his eyes. “Don’t call me anything but Teeka. Honestly, you don’t even need to speak to me. And if it is about work, you can e-mail it. I never knew you, and you never knew me, okay?”
“No, not okay,” he said with a clenched jaw. “I want to explain everything to you, and you’re going to let me. I’ll be at your house at eight o’clock tonight. Please be there.”
“Bye, Keelan. Baby is in the car waiting for you.”
“Eight o’clock, Teeka.”
He didn’t wait for whatever smart remark was bound to come out of her mouth next. He turned and walked down the hallway, leaving Teeka more confused than she was before.
Know this: I am addicted to you. I have tasted your mind and cannot forget its flavor.
Chapter 4
Teeka
Trying to work when her heart was in one million pieces may have been the hardest thing Teeka had ever done. She was happy that she didn’t see Keelan the rest of the day, because she may not have been able to hold in her emotions. When five o’clock rolled around, she jetted out of the office as fast as she could. She was not in the mood to deal with anyone’s last-minute requests, and if Mr. O’Brian needed anything from her, he would have to wait until the morning.
When she got home, she contemplated calling Lynne and telling her what had transpired after the two had spoken earlier. She changed her mind once she sat on her sofa in the living room. She was still trying to grasp it all, and she didn’t want to voice thoughts that weren’t all the way formed in her mind.
She tried to think back to see if Keelan had given off any signs of being taken. No, not that she could remember. He had always pegged her as a man who was on the dating scene. She didn’t recall him ever acting suspicious when they were together, or even giving her a reason to think that there was any other woman in his life. He told her that the reason he wanted things to stay the same between them was that he was focused on his career and didn’t want anything to get in the way of that. Now she knew the truth.
She sat cross-legged on the couch in front of the television for so long that she didn’t even realize that multiple episodes of Will & Grace had gone by. The television just served as background noise, and before she knew it, the time read eight o’clock on the nose.
/> Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound of knuckles hitting her door made her jump. She looked down at herself and saw that she was still in her work clothes. Her pumps were on the floor in front of the sofa, and that’s how she knew she was distraught. Shoes were not allowed in her living room. They got taken off at the door. She had really been sitting there thinking for hours.
“Just go away,” she said in a barely audible voice. “Just leave me alone.”
Knock! Knock!
Turning off the TV, she got up and stepped quietly to the front door. Standing on her tiptoes, she looked through the peephole, and sure enough, there was Keelan standing on the other side. He was dressed like he was either going to or coming from the gym, and he wore a look of anticipation on his face.
She lowered herself and leaned into the door. She didn’t want to open it, but then again, a piece of her did. The door was cold against her forehead, and she wished she could rewind time to when she saw him in that breakroom. If she could do it all again, she wouldn’t have said a word to him. If she had the opportunity for a redo, she would act like she didn’t even notice him. He would be just another man who worked at the same place she did. The only thing was, none of that was possible. She was where she was, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.
“Teeka, I know you’re there. I can hear you breathing.” There was that voice, the one that just last week sent chills down her spine. “Teeka, please listen. I know I’ve caused you depths of pain that I myself wouldn’t be able to handle. I can’t get the look of your face out of my mind. Please just open the door.”
“Why? So you can look me in my eyes and lie some more?”
“I never lied to you.”
“So, what do you call not telling me you were next in line to tie the knot?”
“Please open the door so I can explain.”
“I don’t want to. You don’t deserve to be in my presence, let alone my space. Go home. Go home to your future wife, Keelan. Does she know you’re here, or does she think you’re at the gym?” Silence. “Exactly. So, you’re lying to her too. You are a real piece of shit. Do you know that?”
“Yes. I do know that.”
“I’m glad you do.” She rolled her eyes and stepped away from the door. “Now, get the hell away from my door before I call the police and report you for harassment.”
She walked through the dining room and down the long hallway that led to her bedroom. If he was going to keep knocking, she didn’t want to hear it. She was going to shut the door and drown him out. Eventually he would get the point. After all, he still had to go home to his woman.
She was almost to her room when she heard the front door unlock and open.
“I tried to give you the option to let me in yourself, but since you want to be stubborn, I guess I’ll let myself in,” Keelan said.
Teeka whipped around to see him standing behind her, holding up his keychain. “You gave me your spare key when you asked me to check on your spot when you and Steve went on that business trip, remember?”
“And you were supposed to give it back.”
“Well, I’m glad I didn’t.” He tried to offer her a small smile, but she wasn’t going for it.
“You can set my key down on the table and leave the way you came.”
“Not until you hear me out, Teeka.” He advanced on her.
She tried to will her feet to move as he walked toward her, but she couldn’t. Just like always, he had this spell over her body. Why? Why, even after what he had done, was she still a victim to his charm? He stopped when he was directly in front of her.
“First I want to apologize for the other night. Your size plays no part in the way I feel about you. I enjoy every piece of you, Teeka, and if a man ever truly makes you feel like you aren’t good enough because of something that you are happy with, then leave him where you found him.”
“Why did you say it then?” she asked.
“You told me you loved me, and I was shocked.”
“So, to counter my words, you hurt me with yours? And why did you lie to me?”
“I’m stupid; I know.” He grabbed her hands and put them to his chest. “I didn’t lie to you, or at least I didn’t try to. At first this was just sex for me, but then I got to know you, and after all of the time we spent together, I guess it was inevitable.”
“What was?”
“Me falling in love with you.”
Teeka froze for a second. Had he just said what she thought? He loved her? She let the initial shock fade before she snatched her hands away and scoffed up at his six-foot-five frame.
“You’re doing it again. Lying. How can you love me when you have a whole fiancée, Keelan?”
“When I moved here, Alecia and I were on the fritz. I honestly didn’t even know if we would be together, let alone get married. She didn’t support my dreams the way that I would hope. I come from nothing and had to grind for everything that I have. She, on the other hand, comes from a wealthy family and has had everything handed to her, so there were some aspects of my life that she didn’t understand. This move to Chicago was one of them. When I came here, it was a fresh start and I was able to reinvent myself.
“And then I met you, Teeka. You were everything that I didn’t know existed in a woman. The moment I felt myself falling for you was the moment I told you that we should keep things as just sex. I know sometimes I came off as a complete asshole, but that’s because if you got too close to me, I would hurt you. Who was I fooling? We still ended up here, right?”
“So, where does Alecia come into play again?” Teeka asked but then decided to answer her own question. “All of those trips to Milwaukee weren’t just to see your parents, were they? You were rekindling what you had with her.”
“I did go to Milwaukee to see my parents . . . but I also went to see her. You are right. She apologized for everything that had happened and said that the time apart had made her realize that she didn’t want to live without me. What was I supposed to do, Teeka? Throw eight years away because I’d been feeling somebody else for a few months?”
“Wow. Get out of my house.” Teeka tried to turn away from him, but he stopped her by grabbing her arm.
“You’re not listening to me, T. K. I’m saying that was my thought process back then.”
“What about now? Do you love her?”
“Yes,” he said. “I think so.”
“You think? Why are you here, Keelan?”
“Because I know that I love you.”
Teeka shook her head at him. She couldn’t believe his nerve! Had he really come to her home to tell her to her face that he was in love with two women?
“Well, she can have you. I don’t want anything to do with you, and I won’t give you the opportunity to hurt me anymore.”
She felt the hot tears on her face and became angry with herself. She was so vulnerable, and the only one who could fix the ache in her heart was still causing it. Why did she even think that someone like him would go for someone like her? Especially now that she knew what kind of woman he liked. Alecia was everything that she wasn’t, and she could see why Keelan proposed to her.
“I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” he said.
“Then leave.”
“I can’t.” He cupped her chin and pulled her close to him. “Because I don’t want to.” He kissed her juicy lips, sucking on the bottom one before drawing back. “Tell me to stop.” He kissed her again, this time plunging his tongue in her mouth before pulling away. “Tell me that you don’t want me.”
“I–I can’t,” Teeka murmured.
“You want me?”
“Yes . . .”
“I don’t think that it’s you that wants me.” He pushed her backward until she was against the hallway wall. Hiking her leg up, he let his right hand travel underneath her skirt and cup her second set of lips. “I think she does. Am I right?”
“No.”
“I’m not?” He immediately removed
his hand, and that caused her to suck air through her teeth.
“I mean . . . yes. No. I don’t know, Keelan,” she pouted. “Why are you doing this to me? You’ve hurt me so bad. I can’t even think straight.”
“Come here,” he said and lifted her up like she weighed fifty pounds.
He wrapped her legs around his waist and locked lips with her once more. She kissed him back with vigor, letting all her emotions seep out through her lips. Somehow, they ended up in her bed with their clothes off and thrown on the floor.
“Unhh!” She moaned out loud when his lips found their way to her nipples. “Yes, suck them like that, baby.”
She didn’t need to tell him twice. She knew that he loved her round, natural breasts, and she enjoyed the extra attention he always gave them when they had sex. That night, though, it was like he was making love to them. He sucked, licked, and nibbled all over them until a puddle had formed between her legs. She parted them, giving him the signal that something else needed attention immediately.
“Fuck me.”
“Not yet,” he responded and then disappeared underneath the covers.
Not needing to ask what he was about to do, Teeka felt his tongue on her clit before she had a chance to catch her breath.
Teeka, what are you doing? He has a woman at home! Tell him to stop right now! She thought. But it feels so gooood! I can’t make him stop. Fuck her!
She didn’t know if it was the pleasure he was giving her or what, but suddenly she didn’t care that he was engaged. All she wanted was for him to get her to where she was going, and if that meant wetting his face up with her juices, so be it. Her hands slid down the comforter until she found his head. She mushed his face into her pussy and ground her hips in an upward motion.
Keelan didn’t miss a beat. He stopped licking and put her whole clit in his mouth, sucking away as she fucked his face.
“Keeelan! I hate you!” she yelled out when she felt the first wave of her climax coming. “You stupid-ass nigga! I hate you—ahhh!” Her back arched and her legs shot up in the air from the power of the orgasm that had overcome her. Her screams were so loud she was sure the tenants next to her knew what was going down in her bedroom.