Boss

by Tracy Brown

  Troy had her right where he wanted her and he knew it. His dick was rock hard as he came up for air. He fumbled around in his things for a condom. Sydney watched him, spent. She wondered where he found condoms big enough to accommodate him and wondered if they came in sizes. If so, surely he was an XXL. A mixture of fear and anticipation filled her. She was about to go through with it. She prayed that it wouldn’t hurt too badly.

  Finally he pulled a condom out and unwrapped it, rolling it over his girth. Then he climbed on top of her and looked into her eyes.

  “Tell me if I hurt you, alright?”

  Sydney swallowed hard and nodded. Another tear slid from her eye and she was embarrassed. Before she could wipe it, Troy kissed it away. Then he kissed her softly on her lips. “I’ll stop when you tell me. Okay?”

  Sydney nodded again and held him tighter. Troy kissed her deeply. He rubbed the head of his dick against her entrance, nudging it slowly within her walls. Sydney held on for dear life. She groaned against the pain and felt him draw back a little. She was grateful that he was being patient. She had never been more afraid in her life.

  “Okay,” she whispered to herself. She felt him resume his slow and methodic thrusting, urging himself slowly deeper and deeper inside her. He took his time, gently pressing himself further until they both felt the dam break. Sydney cried out softly and Troy growled deeply in animalistic pleasure as her creamy slickness surrounded him. His rhythm was perfect, slow and steady, pushing himself gently deeper with each stroke. Slowly, the pain was replaced by pleasure and she gripped him tighter. Troy let out a throaty growl again as Sydney began to rock with him. He couldn’t believe how wonderful she felt. He had never experienced anything like this. It was something like magic. He came in long, glorious spasms of ecstasy, holding Sydney tightly in his arms.

  Together they lay breathlessly for several moments. Troy couldn’t believe the sensations his body was feeling. All of his sexual experiences thus far had been with women who were no strangers to it. Even the most seasoned among them had a hard time accepting all of his girth inside of them. He definitely hadn’t managed to get all of himself inside of Sydney and still she had given him the most explosive orgasm of his life. He had never been with a virgin before. He felt himself getting aroused again and wondered what kind of voodoo she possessed inside of her. Reluctantly he slowly slid out of her and then kissed her softly. He looked at her speechlessly, then cleared his throat.

  “Wow,” he said. He looked at her, concerned. “You okay? Was it okay?”

  Sydney smiled. “Okay” was an understatement. “Yeah,” she answered. What she had just experienced surpassed every one of her expectations. She couldn’t describe what she was feeling if she tried.

  “I never…” Troy struggled to find the right words. “I see you every day, but I feel like I’m seeing you for the first time.”

  Sydney didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

  He touched her hair, such a lovely mess on her head at the moment. “That was like … I don’t know. That was special or whatever.”

  Sydney smiled shyly. “Special or whatever.” She knew that for macho Troy that was quite a statement.

  “How do you feel?” he asked her. He needed to know. Because right then he was feeling something so intense that he might have described it as true love if he didn’t know better. In fact, part of him wondered if he indeed did know better. He felt vulnerable and it was an emotion he was incredibly unfamiliar with.

  Sydney searched for the right words to answer his question. She wanted to say that she felt the closest thing to love she’d ever known. But she wasn’t sure if it was the real thing. And she certainly didn’t want to scare him off with the L word so soon after their relationship had taken such a serious turn. Still, she had no doubts about what they had just done. She wanted to tell him that she liked the way he made her body feel, but that he fucked her mentally every day. But she was too embarrassed to say those things out loud. Instead, she said, “I feel good.”

  “How long were you thinking about this?” The question had been lingering at the back of Troy’s mind ever since Sydney had offered her virginity to him. He stared at her, her face still aglow from the way he had made her feel.

  Sydney met his gaze. “It’s like I said before. I like you. And I trust you.” She hesitated. “Can I trust you?” she asked softly.

  Troy smiled at her, the way that always seemed to melt her heart. “Yes, you can. Definitely.” He licked his lips, eyeing her seductively. “I like you, too.”

  He kissed her, and Sydney held on to him for dear life. She got lost in the moment, the feeling of his skin against hers, the motion of his tongue in her mouth. A breathy moan escaped her as he pulled her on top of him and palmed her ass in his strong hands.

  A sudden knock at his room door interrupted their romantic moment. Sydney’s eyes widened in horror. The last thing she wanted was to be caught buck naked in a guy’s room like so many other girls on campus. The gossip and whispers would be unrelenting if word got out that the Goody Two-shoes in Drew Hall was giving it up to cocky Troy Mitchell. She gripped the sheet and held it tightly against her body as she dismounted him.

  Troy climbed out of the bed and watched as Sydney scrambled for her clothes. He smiled at the sight of her naked body, wiggling into her clothes nervously.

  “Relax,” he said. “It’s probably just D-Bo.”

  Sydney continued dressing in a rush. She didn’t want the whispers that would inevitably ensue if D-Bo or anyone else found out that she and Troy had crossed the line. She watched Troy pull on his sweatpants and head for the door. He slid his feet into his sneakers and hesitated, allowing her time to finish getting dressed before he opened it.

  D-Bo stared at Troy with an expression of disbelief. “Yo, my dude! You been in here for like two hours! I ain’t never seen this door locked for that long. You good?”

  Troy fought the smirk that crept across his face. “Yeah. Can’t you come back later?”

  D-Bo balked at the suggestion. “Later? Nigga, we leaving tomorrow. I gotta pack my shit up, too.”

  Troy glanced back at Sydney. She slid her feet into her Reeboks and grabbed her belongings. With embarrassment etched on her face, she approached him.

  “I’m gonna go,” she said softly. “I need to pack, too.” She peeked sheepishly at D-Bo and saw the shocked expression on his face. Clearly, he hadn’t expected her to be the girl responsible for Troy’s locked door.

  A broad smile spread across D-Bo’s face. “Sydney, wow! How you doing?” His tone was mischievous and she felt her face flush with embarrassment.

  Troy noticed and tried to put her at ease. “You don’t have to leave, Sydney.”

  She shook her head, more anxious than ever to get out of there. “I’m gonna go finish packing,” she said again.

  Troy sighed. “Alright then, I’ll come by your room afterwards.” He leaned down and kissed her gently on her lips. Unlike Sydney, he had no reservations about anyone finding out about their new relationship. He was feeling her, and at that moment he didn’t care who knew it. He lingered with her there, smiling down at her, their faces merely inches apart, clearly reluctant to see her leave. D-Bo cleared his throat and snapped him out of it.

  “I’ll see you later,” she said softly. She avoided making eye contact with D-Bo as she walked off toward her room. She realized that she needed to take a shower. Part of her was tempted to let the scent of Troy linger on her for hours longer. But the stickiness between her thighs was aching to be cleansed and she wanted to address that immediately.

  Floating from the euphoria of what had just transpired in Troy’s room, Sydney entered her own to find Keisha sleeping. Though it was early in the evening, Keisha was exhausted from the day’s classes and her late nights spent grinding herself on top of D-Bo. Sydney crept slowly through the room, gathering her shower caddy and a change of clothes before slipping back out and heading for the bathroom. She picked her favo
rite shower stall and lathered up, her mind on repeat over what had happened only minutes ago. She wanted it to happen again and again.

  As she washed, she noticed the trickle of blood that streamed down the drain with the sudsy water. She couldn’t believe that she was a real woman now, no longer a virgin. She thought about what this meant for them. They hadn’t discussed it. But the way he looked at her before, during, and after they made love was something new. She knew for sure that something had changed between them. She wondered how they would define their relationship from now on. Then she wondered if defining it was necessary at all. She imagined that they might just fall into a rhythm the way they had in bed. She wanted to feel his lips on her again, feel his stiffness deep inside of her where no one else had ever been. As she toweled off and slid into a pair of clean panties and her Howard sweats, she thought about the way he looked at her. It made her smile.

  She entered her room to find Keisha wide awake now.

  “Hey, Z.” Keisha sat on her bed with her back against her pillows, her legs pulled up against her chest.

  “What’s up, sleepyhead?” Sydney put her things back in their place and tossed her dirty clothes into her hamper.

  “Troy came looking for you,” Keisha said.

  Sydney’s eyes darted in her friend’s direction. “He did?”

  Keisha nodded. “He said to tell you he couldn’t wait for you to finish packing. He’s waiting for you downstairs in the lounge.”

  Sydney couldn’t fight the wide smile that snuck up on her. “Oh,” she managed. She tried to act nonchalant, but her awkward body language gave her away.

  Keisha beamed. “You did it with him, didn’t you?”

  Sydney’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?”

  “You heard me!” Keisha’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  “Did what?” Sydney fought the urge to laugh.

  “Don’t make me hurt you!” Keisha glared at her roommate mockingly.

  Sydney pressed her lips together to keep from smiling any harder.

  Keisha stared at Sydney unrelentingly. “Tell me!” she demanded. “Did you give it up to Troy or not?”

  Sydney could no longer fight the broad smile that stretched across her face. She nodded. “Yeah,” she admitted at last. She threw herself onto her bed and hugged her pillow tightly. “Keisha, seriously, I feel like I’m dreaming. I still can’t believe it!”

  Keisha scrambled to the edge of her own bed and squealed with delight. “Sydney! Tell me everything!” Truth be told, Keisha was a little envious. Sure, D-Bo was cute, and he thought the sun rose and set with Keisha. But there was no denying the fact that Troy was sexy as hell.

  Sydney let out a wistful sigh, as she replayed the night’s events in her mind. Still, she knew better than to divulge too much. Aunt Pat had often warned Sydney and Destiny to be careful not to tell other women too many details about their relationships. “A woman will hang on your every word, and the whole time she’s plotting on taking your man. You better keep your cards close to your chest! Don’t let them bitches know any more than they need to know!” Aunt Pat’s words resonated in Sydney’s mind like a distant echo.

  She smiled at Keisha. “It was perfect,” she said. “Romantic and sweet.” She smiled dreamily. “Perfect.”

  Keisha’s smile faded and the expression on her face turned skeptical. She hated to rain on her friend’s parade. But she didn’t want to see her get hurt.

  “Be careful,” Keisha said. “I’m not trying to blow your high or anything. But Troy might be kinda out of your league. He’s a player. Don’t forget that.”

  Sydney glanced at Keisha. Her heart sank at the suggestion that what had just transpired between them had been anything short of magic. The way he looked at her, the way he clung to her, the passion and intensity in his touch. Those things couldn’t have been faked.

  Seeing the crestfallen expression on Sydney’s face, Keisha backpedaled a little.

  “I’m not saying that you can’t look out for yourself…”

  Sydney sat up, swung her feet around to the other side of her bed, and nodded. “Good,” she said. “Because I got this.”

  She grabbed her room key and headed for the door. “I’ll be back later,” she called over her shoulder.

  Keisha watched her go and hoped that her instincts were wrong about trouble. Something told her poor little Sydney was in over her head.

  By the time Sydney made it to the student lounge to meet Troy, he was dozing off in a corner while SportsCenter played on the overhead TV. Sydney walked over and gently touched his face. He looked even more handsome than usual. Troy stirred when he felt her touch. He smiled as his eyes opened and settled on her.

  Sydney Taylor, he thought. Who would have known she had all that going on underneath her bookworm exterior?

  “You running from me?” he asked. He glanced at the clock on the wall. An hour had passed since he had gone looking for her.

  “No.” She sat down beside him. “Not at all.”

  Troy sighed. He gestured toward his cell phone at his side. “My pops called me a little while ago. He’s upset. My brother got himself into some trouble. It’s no big deal, but my father’s pretty pissed off. He’s going to send somebody to pick me up first thing in the morning so I can get home and … you know, help them deal with it.”

  Sydney frowned without realizing it. Troy was vague with details of what sort of trouble his brother had found himself in.

  “What can you do to help?” she asked. Smart as he was, Troy was just a college kid. She wondered what contribution he could make to whatever trouble his brother was in.

  “The usual,” he answered with his trademark smile in response to Sydney’s gentle probing. Then he shrugged. “Keep them from killing each other.”

  Her eyes widened. She shifted in her seat eagerly. She loved a good story. Tucking her legs beneath her, she rested her chin on her hand as she leaned on the arm of the sofa. “What’s the story with that?” she asked.

  “My brother Wes is a real live wire,” Troy explained. “He likes to push the boundaries.” He touched Sydney’s face tenderly. “Don’t worry about it. When I get home, I’ll help everybody sort things out. That’s what I do.”

  Sydney smirked at the reemergence of Troy’s cocky side. What had once repulsed her was now a sexy side effect of his ability to disarm people with his intelligence and his charm.

  They escaped to Troy’s room, equipped with condoms, snacks, and a mixtape of slow jams he produced from out of nowhere. He had persuaded D-Bo to spend the night in Keisha’s room. Troy was eager to steal every precious moment with Sydney before they headed home for the holidays. They made love in all the ways young lovers do. And Sydney was gone, falling in love with the man who would take her heart and shatter it in a thousand pieces.

  ONE COLD WINTER

  December 2006

  The holiday break had been incredible so far. Christmas was fast approaching and Sydney had no idea what she could give Troy besides her heart, which he already owned. Each day, Troy seemed to find new ways to woo her. They caught a movie or two, though they spent most of the time kissing and touching each other in the darkened theater. Once they went to the American Museum of Natural History and walked amid the displays with their hands intertwined. He enchanted her with his deep conversation, attentive silence when she spoke to him, and gentle kisses in between. The cocky genius from her math class was just a front, she realized. Troy Mitchell was really a calm and thoughtful man who was loving her like she was the only woman in the world.

  They slipped away every couple of days to Aunt Pat’s apartment. Georgi’s overbearing ways had sent her daughter fleeing to her aunt’s house so often that Pat had given her a set of keys. When she grew weary of trying to live up to Georgi’s high standards, Sydney went there. Aunt Pat was often at work, doing double shifts at the hospital to make extra money, and her cousin Destiny would often be out with her friends. Sydney seized those opportunities to st
eal away with Troy, doing naughty things in her aunt’s apartment with him. They made memories together during that cold and snowy winter break. Once Troy surprised her, renting a suite at the W for the weekend. She had little trouble convincing her mother that she was going on some college retreat for extra credit. That weekend had been one for the record books. He had made her come alive.

  Sydney’s mother had become distracted lately by a man she was dating. He was vice president at a bank in Midtown and he was occupying most of her time these days. Georgi was out on the town with him several nights a week, relishing the feeling of being on the arm of a powerful man again, which was a natural aphrodisiac for her. For once, she was so distracted that she was giving her daughter a much-needed break from her constant scrutiny.

  For Troy, it was more than just a physical thing. He was consumed by thoughts of her when they weren’t together. She was nothing like the other girls he knew. Most of the ones he’d encountered had been shallow, self-serving, always with some hustle, some angle. But there was none of that in Sydney. She wasn’t naïve. Not really. But she had an innocence that made him feel protective of her. He wanted to show her the world. His world. The one where he was the prince, groomed for greatness on a level that his father and his uncle had only dreamed of. He could tell that Sydney had fallen for him and he was feeling the same way. He decided to invite her to his uncle Don’s holiday party. It would be the first time he ever brought a girl home to meet his family.