Boss

by Tracy Brown

  He nodded. “Thanks.”

  “But don’t make a habit of drinking like this. I know it’s your friend’s birthday. And I’m sure it felt good to drown out your troubles for a little while. But don’t get used to this.”

  Troy nodded. A slight smile crept across his lips. His mother would like Sydney, he decided. She had already mastered the art of subtle nagging—a skill his mother was famous for. “You’re right,” he said. “Good advice.” He sat up, a little woozy still, but better now that he had gotten so much out of his system. He cleared his throat. Changing the subject, he asked, “What’s your story, Sydney?”

  Sydney thought about it. “Well … I have a brother. Malik. He’s older than me.”

  “Y’all close?” Troy asked.

  Sydney shrugged, unsure. “I guess so. I’m closer to my cousin, Destiny. Probably just because we’re both girls and it’s easier to relate to her. We grew up practically side by side. Our mothers are sisters, but they’re complete opposites. But my grandmother kept them together when she was alive. She was always the mediator. My mother traveled a lot and I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house. And my aunt Pat worked all the time. So Destiny would be there, too. I guess you could say growing up with her was like having a sister who didn’t live with me all the time.”

  Troy nodded. “You and your cousin are close in age?”

  Sydney nodded. “Two years apart,” she said. “Destiny’s older. She didn’t go the college route, though. She’s working as a medical assistant at the same hospital where my aunt Pat works. They’re so close.” Sydney smiled wistfully as she said it. “It’s not like that with me and my mom.” Her smile faded. She often envied her cousin Destiny for getting the “cool” one as her mom. Aunt Pat was funny, down-to-earth, and so easy to talk to. Sydney’s mom, Georgina, was much more self-absorbed, much more concerned about image and reputation. “Not that my mother is mean or anything,” Sydney clarified. “She’s just not the warm and fuzzy type.”

  Troy nodded again. “How about your father?”

  Sydney’s expression changed and Troy noticed. She averted her gaze. “He’s in jail.” She looked down as she spoke, not wanting to see any sympathy in Troy’s eyes. “But it’s cool. My brother and I still have a relationship with him despite all that. And my mother somehow manages to make it all work out.”

  Troy could tell that she wasn’t really cool with it at all. He tried to imagine Sydney as a young girl growing up in the hood while her mother struggled to make ends meet. “Your mom sounds like a strong lady.”

  Sydney smiled then. “She is. That’s where I get it from.”

  Troy didn’t doubt it. “Seriously. To raise an honor student, pretty much by herself … that’s impressive.”

  Sydney was proud of her mother for that. “My grandmother helped, too. She died earlier this year, so I know how you must feel about your mom. Losing Gran was the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with so far.” She sighed. “But at least she’s not suffering anymore. I try to live my life so that she would be proud of me. I understand what you were saying earlier about wanting to prove society wrong and debunk the stereotype. I feel the same way. Drinking, getting high, having sex. That’s not for me. I didn’t want to be a statistic so I don’t do those things. I’ve never wanted that type of lifestyle. That’s why I came to Howard out of all the schools I was accepted to. I wanted to be around other black students like me, who want more for themselves and for our race. People who want to be part of the solution, rather than contributing to the problem.”

  Troy listened to Sydney speaking so passionately and felt his respect for her soar. But there was one piece of information that she had divulged that piqued his interest. “So, you’re saying you’re a virgin, Sydney?”

  She felt instantly horrified. It hadn’t been her intention to reveal that nugget. She replayed her own words in her head. “I never said that.”

  “You said you don’t drink, get high, or have sex.”

  “I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that I never had a drink in my life. I just don’t do it all the time.” Sydney fought to keep her voice under control. She was mortified.

  “You ever get high?” Troy was smiling at her.

  Sydney shook her head. She never had. “Just forget it,” she said, praying that he would let it go.

  Troy sat up, grinning now that the conversation was getting good. “You ever had sex, Sydney?”

  Sydney felt hot suddenly. “That’s none of your business,” she said, surprised herself at how embarrassed she was. She stood up and began gathering her books. She felt silly now for waiting around for Troy to tutor her while he was out getting drunk with his friends instead, for having a crush on this fool, and for still being a virgin in a world where it seemed that everyone was happily getting fucked except her. “It’s late. I gotta go.”

  Troy stood up to try to convince her to stay. He was enjoying the time he spent with her. He wasn’t sure what it was about Sydney, but she had his full attention. She wasn’t as exotic-looking or as outgoing as some of the other girls, but it didn’t matter. There was something he found sexy, even comforting about her presence, and he wanted to keep her there with him for as long as he could. But he stood too quickly and the room started spinning. As he looked at Sydney and prepared to mouth the word “Wait,” bile rose up in his throat. He squeezed his lips shut to block the surge and his cheeks puffed up like a fish’s. Troy’s eyes widened in horror and both he and Sydney scanned the room frantically for somewhere he could let loose. Finally, Sydney grabbed a nearby trash can and thrust it in Troy’s face just in the nick of time. A flood of vomit surged forth while Sydney held her breath and tried not to smell the foul stench. The whole scene was disgusting and the grimace on her face illustrated it. Troy finally expelled all that he could and fell back on his bed, weak and breathless. He lay there in silence for a long time before he found the strength to manage a conversation.

  “You’re trying to kill me just because I asked a question.”

  The statement was so absurd that Sydney cracked up laughing and Troy joined in.

  “What the hell did you drink tonight?” She held her nose against the odor.

  Troy groaned in agony. “Everything!”

  D-Bo came back to the room then and, on entering, balked at the stench and the sight of his clearly ill friend.

  “Yo, you are really fucked up,” D-Bo observed, eyes wide.

  Troy let out a long, deep sigh. “I’m never gonna drink again.”

  Sydney scrunched up her lips in disbelief. “Yeah, right. That’s what they all say. Until the next party.” She looked at D-Bo and shook her head. “He’s your responsibility now. You’re the one who let him get like this.”

  D-Bo shook his head. “It ain’t my fault. He has to have like three or four drinks before he can get his nerves up around females.”

  “Shut the fuck up, D-Bo!” Troy’s voice was muffled with his face pressed against the mattress. But Sydney still detected the urgency there. She smiled. Was Troy Mitchell shy?

  “Next time I see you with a drink, I’m gonna slap it out of your hand,” she said.

  Troy shook his head slowly with his eyes closed. “I feel like shit.”

  Sydney watched him and wished she could make it better. “Get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning,” she said. She gathered her things and walked over to his bed. Gingerly, she touched his arm. “I’ll come and check on you when I wake up.”

  Troy watched her leave. He didn’t want to see her go. But he watched as she turned back to him one last time. She flashed her prettiest smile before she shut the door, leaving him anxious for morning to hurry up and come.

  * * *

  After Troy’s drunken episode, he and Sydney spent a lot more time together. He tutored her and she became so adept at statistics that she began to challenge him from time to time. It was an odd occurrence for Troy, being attracted to someone intellectually as opposed to physically. Not that h
e wasn’t attracted to Sydney’s natural beauty. But what piqued his interest most of all was the fact that she made him think. Few of the girls he came in contact with bothered to see past his good looks and notice that Troy possessed intelligence and a drive for success that was unusual for a young man his age. He and Sydney grabbed lunch together on the regular and would get lost in conversations about any and everything. She told him that she loved to paint, a hobby she had picked up during sleepaway camp one summer when she was a little girl. He offered to let her paint him in the nude and then couldn’t stop laughing when she covered her face, hysterical at the thought.

  Sydney challenged his way of looking at things. Yet she wasn’t afraid to let him take the lead if he knew more about a particular subject. She wasn’t just smart, she was creative and spoke in broad strokes and bold colors. She fascinated Troy. He admired her ambition and her brilliance, especially coming from such humble beginnings.

  “I want to win a Pulitzer Prize someday,” she told him once.

  They had been in Troy’s room and she had been helping him pack for the Christmas holiday. Their relationship had blossomed into a close friendship ripe with flirtation but no action. Neither of them had made a move toward taking their relationship a step further. Instead, they allowed the chemistry between them to grow to a fever pitch.

  “I think you can do it,” Troy said. He threw several pairs of balled-up socks into his suitcase.

  “I know I can.” Sydney folded his T-shirts neatly and imagined life as the recipient of worldwide acclaim.

  Troy smiled. “You say it’s me, but you’re the cocky one.”

  Sydney pretended to be offended. “I’m not cocky. I just have high self-esteem.”

  Troy nodded. “You should. You got it going on.”

  Sydney felt her pulse quicken. She wanted Troy in the worst way. They hadn’t even shared a kiss, despite the signals she thought she had been giving off that she was available. She was aware that she was falling for him, but she hadn’t been bold enough to risk rejection by being the first to take things further. Until now.

  Maybe it was the fact that they were going home for four weeks or that she just wanted to know what it was like to be a woman in the truest sense. There was certainly no mistaking the electricity between them. For the longest time Sydney had felt an unmistakable thrill whenever Troy was close to her. If their arms brushed accidentally, a spark shot through her body, hardening her nipples instantly. When their eyes locked, she detected a hunger in him that made her long to be devoured. As she stood folding his T-shirts, she looked at him and could no longer stand it.

  “Troy…”

  He was piling pairs of jeans on top of his dresser. He didn’t stop, but answered, “What?”

  Sydney cleared her throat. “Before we go home … I want to lose my virginity.” The voice didn’t sound like her own. It was bolder, more certain of it than she truly felt. Sydney couldn’t believe she’d had the courage to utter the words.

  Troy turned to her and stared. He swallowed and she watched his Adam’s apple shift.

  “You sure about that?” he asked at last.

  She nodded, aware that she had never felt this vulnerable before.

  Troy stared at her, taking her all in. She was nervous. He could tell by the way she gripped the T-shirt in her hands for dear life. Truthfully, he was afraid of what Sydney made him feel. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt for a female before. He wanted to protect her the way that a big brother would. He was able to talk to her like she was one of his boys, but at the same time, a part of him wanted to ravage her and to make her scream his name. He was confused by what was going on inside of him and didn’t know how to respond.

  He licked his lips. Several thoughts came to him at once. Sydney was definitely the unexpected object of his attraction. His flirtation with her had been harmless and innocent. Unlike Sydney, Troy was no virgin. He had gotten his share of panties from the “light, bright, and almost white” girls that he favored along with most of his peers. Sydney often chided him about his preference for girls who stimulated his dick but not his intellect. And, now here she was, giving him the green light. He wondered if she knew what she was in for.

  Troy seemed to hesitate. “Why me?” he asked.

  Sydney wasn’t sure how to respond. She had been holding out for true love and she wasn’t sure if that was what she felt for Troy. What she did know was that his presence, the sound of his voice, the feeling of his touch against her skin—those things made her stomach flip and caused her heart to race. If this wasn’t love, it was the closest thing she had ever felt.

  “I like you.” Her words seemed insufficient. “I trust you.” Her voice was soft, but she had never been surer about anything. Troy was the one she wanted to give herself to.

  Troy stared at her silently for a few moments. Then he began to clear his bed, removing the suitcase he had been packing. He fluffed his pillows and dusted off his sheets before he faced her. He looked at her questioningly, though he said nothing. He walked over to the door and locked it, aware that a locked door was the unspoken signal between him and D-Bo that they were entertaining female company.

  Sydney held her breath as he crossed the room to her. He palmed her face gently with one hand, looming over her for several tense moments. Finally, he leaned in and kissed her slowly at first. He seemed to hesitate again, stepping back a bit and looking down at her. He took her hand in his, a sexy smile teasing one corner of his mouth.

  “I like you, too, Sydney.” He licked his lips. “A lot.”

  He glided his thumb across her hand in one smooth stroke and it sent chills up her spine the likes of which she’d never felt before. With that one gesture, he left her feeling woozy. Suddenly he stepped in close and kissed her with so much passion that it left her breathless. She had never been kissed like this.

  Troy scooped her up easily in his arms and set her down on his bed just inches away. His kisses intensified. He fisted her hair in his hands, not too roughly, but enough to let her know that he was in control. Sydney responded to him with intensity, her hands roaming his chest, his face, arms, his back … and then!

  Sydney’s eyes flew open in shock. She had felt the pressure against her thigh while he was kissing her and had convinced herself that she was imagining things. But there was no mistaking the length and considerable girth of the penis that she held in her delicate hand. Even without having much experience with dicks, she could tell that this was a very large one. She had jerked her boyfriend Jason off back in high school a time or two. But that felt like child’s play now that she felt the weight of Troy’s penis in her hand. She wanted to flee, but how could she? Troy was clearly too excited to turn back and his kisses were making her feel slick between her legs in ways that she never had before. Sydney felt like she was somehow floating outside of herself. She moaned softly, her body trembling in a mixture of fear and bliss.

  Before she realized it, he was peeling her out of her shirt and standing back to admire her in her pale pink bra. The color against her brown skin made his dick jerk forward in excitement. Sydney gasped. Troy looked at her and for a fleeting moment she thought she saw pity in his gaze.

  He stepped toward her and slowly unhooked her bra. He could feel her heart racing as he slid it off and stroked her breasts. His hands were firm, but his touch was gentle, as if they had all night. She closed her eyes and lost herself in his rhythm. After a few moments he stopped and stood back, admiring her body with an unrelenting gaze.

  Subconsciously, she covered her breasts with her shirt. “I—”

  “Let me see you,” he interrupted. “Don’t cover yourself.” He caught the urgency in his voice and stilled it. “Please.”

  He watched her lower her arms shyly. He almost felt like he was dreaming. This was too good to be true. Who knew she was hiding a body like that under all those clothes? “Damn,” he breathed. “You’re beautiful, Sydney.”

  She relaxed a little.

&nbs
p; His expression conveyed his reverence for her. In his eyes, Sydney was special, pure. And she was letting him touch her. The thought of being the first man she allowed inside her body felt like a privilege and he had never been as aroused as he was right now. Still, he willed himself to take his time.

  He stroked her nipples with his thumbs and bit her lower lip, sucking it softly in his mouth.

  Sydney sucked back and again gripped his dick in her hands in disbelief. She didn’t know how she was going to handle this thing. But she figured, she might as well come to grips with it—literally. Troy seemed surprised by her boldness, but he didn’t stop her. Instead, he let out an encouraging growl and climbed on top of her. They peeled each other out of their jeans in a tumble of belt buckles and zippers. Sliding their ankles free, they came together, raptured by the feeling of their bodies pressed together, skin against skin.

  Sydney gripped his back and sucked on his neck. Troy pulled her panties to the side and slowly slid his middle finger inside of her. Sydney tensed a little, clinging to it, beckoning his finger further. She was so, so tight. He sank his finger a little deeper within her walls and felt her practically pulsating around it. Her pussy felt so warm and wet. He stroked at her clit, strumming her pain with his fingers. Sydney got lost in the feeling and closed her eyes. Troy handled her body like it was a work of art. He was fully in the moment with her and the realization touched her so deeply that she fought the urge to cry.

  He took one nipple in his mouth and then the next, never losing his rhythm between her legs. Sydney pulled him toward her and kissed him deeply, hungrily. She wanted him so badly. Troy urged her legs apart and sat back, watching his own hands work her pussy expertly. Sydney watched, too, and she couldn’t believe herself. What kind of magician was he?

  Without warning, he bowed his head between her legs and bit the inside of her thigh. She gasped at the sensation. Somewhere between a tickle and a pinch. He kissed her inner thighs, gripping them tightly in his hands. Suddenly, he spread them wide and began to eat her hungrily. Sydney moaned, so gone. A million rapturous thoughts raced through her mind at once. She watched him eagerly devouring her, and he was so incredibly good at what he was doing. Troy’s tongue danced inside and out of her. She gripped his head and spread her legs even wider. It only made him lick and suck her pussy harder, softer, then harder and again softer, in such a perfect way that the tears she’d kept at bay before plunged forward now. Sydney cried as she came in his mouth.