Chapter Eleven
“What’s Going On” Marvin Gaye
Zyair shot the ball through the hoops. He was out with his boys, and they were wrapping up a game of two on two.
“So, what’s up?” Thomas asked him as they settled on the bench. “Are we going to catch a bite to eat or what?”
“Let me call Champagne and see if she’s cooking today.”
“See, man, you’re lucky as hell. A home-cooked meal. Maybe I could come over for dinner.”
Zyair didn’t want to tell Thomas that there was no way Champagne was letting him come and eat her precious food, at least not today. She was still pissed off at him, and from experience, he knew she could hold a grudge.
Since the incident that put her in that space with Thomas had just happened a week ago, it would be at least another two weeks before she even allowed him to eat her food.
Zyair, Thomas, Harrison, and Judge went out to a strip club the week before, and Zyair had to admit, a good time was had by all. Champagne never asked where they were going or what they did. There seemed to be little concern on her part. Zyair felt like a lucky man. He’d re-earned her trust, or so he thought.
To Champagne, it just took up too much energy to wonder what he was doing when he was out with his boys. If she did that, it could and would drive her crazy. It did once before, and she didn’t want to go that route again. She decided to let his past infidelity be just that, a thing of the past. After all it was years ago, and it had taken her quite some time to get to this point.
Shit, from experience she’d learned that if you search you will find, and that when you go looking, you had to be prepared for any and everything. That’s how she’d found out he was cheating before, by snooping. What made it so bad was that this was the only time she’d followed him around.
She felt at the time that she had the right. Zyair wasn’t being as attentive as he normally was. They were into year two of their relationship and had settled into a routine, sort of like their current circumstance. The phone calls every few hours had stopped. The “I’m just checking on you to see if you need anything” had stopped. The “I just want to spend time with you, and let’s have lunch together” had stopped. Even the good night phone calls.
On top of all that, the sex was almost non-existent, and the oral had dwindled. He no longer took the time to feel her, to smell her, lick her and be one with the pussy. Instead he would go straight for the clit, plucking it like it was a chord, like he was thinking, Okay, let me hurry up and make her cum so I can get mine.
Now this stuff, she could have slipped by a little, because she knew and understood that relationships often went through its peaks and valleys, its highs and lows. She’d decided that’s what was happening, and a little more work and a lot more conversation could tum it around.
What made Champagne doubt this concept and think a little more was going on than she wanted to admit was the constant phone calls from his friend Divine.
Zyair was hosting an event for her company, which was just starting up. She was calling him an awful lot, more so than any of his other clients. It seemed like 75 percent of the time when the phone rang it was her. Champagne was a little bothered by it, and she let him know. Of course, he told her she was imagining things.
But being a woman, Champagne knew she wasn’t crazy. She felt it in her gut that this chick wanted her man, and once again when she brought it to Zyair’s attention, he dismissed it.
Well, late one night Divine called. Champagne listened while Zyair talked to her. The conversation sounded more personal than business.
The second they got off the phone, Champagne asked, “What the hell was that about?”
“Oh, she’s just going through some things right now and needed to discuss them with someone,” he told her.
“Well, she need to discuss the shit with someone other than you. You’re doing business with her, you’re not her damn friend.”
What Champagne didn’t know was that Zyair and this Divine chick grew up together. For some reason he’d withheld this information from her, and you know when information is withheld there’s always more to the story.
Champagne ended up finding out from Thomas. Yep, he was always involved in some shit. She’d overheard him and Zyair talking. They were sitting in the kitchen and Champagne had just walked in the room.
“Man, I saw Divine the other day. She’s come a long way since college. She’s looking good, man.”
Champagne turned around in time to see Zyair giving Thomas a look. Of course, she couldn’t let that go. “What’s going on?”
Zyair had this real dumb look on his face. “What are you talking about?”
Champagne put her hands on her hips. “Thomas is talking like you both knew her in your past.”
Zyair knew he was busted. He didn’t know why he just didn’t tell her from the gate that Divine was an old friend. He tried to play it off by sounding nonchalant. “Oh, I thought I told you we went to school together.” Champagne politely asked Thomas to leave, before ripping Zyair a new asshole. That night he slept in the spare bedroom.
Over the next few weeks, Champagne found herself going through his pockets, looking at his calendar, doing things that were so out of character for her. But she couldn’t help herself, she was out of control. She had to know if her gut instinct was right.
One night while Zyair was asleep, she got hold of his cell phone and figured out his password, which wasn’t too hard, seeing most men used either their birth date or numbers from their social security number for their code. Well, she found the evidence she was looking for. On his voice mail was a message from Divine expressing how wonderful last night had been, even if it was a mistake. She expressed her feelings for him and asked him, didn’t he know how good they could be together, in and out of bed, and to please give her a chance.
Unable to take anymore, Champagne went into the bedroom and woke Zyair up by pushing him off the bed.
“What the—”
“I knew it, I knew it,” Champagne ranted and raved. She shoved the phone in his face. “You tried to play me. How could you do this to me?”
Of course, he tried to act like he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Please, Zyair, don’t play dumb with me. You’ve played me enough. I heard your little love message.”
Zyair took the phone out of her hand and retrieved the message. As he listened, Champagne grabbed her belongings and started to leave.
Jumping up out of the bed, he apologized and apologized. He begged her to stay, saying he could explain, that it only happened one time.
Well, once was enough. She left him.
Zyair did everything in his power to get her back. He begged, sent flowers, kept showing up at her office at her house, discontinued all business with Divine, and lost money because of it.
Eventually Champagne forgave him and returned.
Thomas knew about the affair, and even though his loyalty lay with Zyair, she couldn’t help but feel like he should have stopped him. After all, she was the one that helped him get his endorsement deal, she was the one that, when he got into a bad accident, assisted Zyair in taking care of him. She was the one that cooked for him and thought of him like extended family. That had changed over the years, though, because whenever something went down, Thomas either knew about it, was around, or was a part of it.
The night when Zyair got ready to leave she actually asked him where they were going and he told her, “To a strip club.”
She wanted to ask if she could go as well, but she knew better. One, he was going with his boys, and two, it would give away the fact that the conversation they had earlier that week, the whole sex-with-a-female thing, was still on her mind.
That night at the strip club, Zyair and his boys were drinking and taking in the scenery when two strippers approached them and asked if anyone wanted a lap dance. Normally this was something Zyair didn’t do, but after one too many drinks and seeing that the
other fellows were with it, he decided, what the hell. Simply put, Zyair got caught up in the moment.
The next day they were all at his house watching a game. Champagne was with a client at a premiere, so they had the house to themselves. Harrison started joking with Zyair, “Yo, man, you should have seen your face when that girl was all on you.”
Thomas laughed. “See, that’s just what a man needs, a lap dance at the end of the day.”
Once again Champagne walked in when Thomas was opening his mouth. Everyone shut up immediately when she gave them all the evil eye.
“So, you didn’t tell me you got a lap dance, Zyair.”
That’s right, Champagne was putting his ass on blast in front of all his boys.
“Um-um, Champagne,” Thomas said, trying to break the tension, “it was his first time. We thought it would be a good joke.”
Champagne gave him the look and said, “Oh, really?”
Two minutes later his boys were all leaving. Champagne went upstairs without saying a word, leaving Zyair sitting on the couch waiting for the dam to burst.
Champagne didn’t know if she was angry, aggravated, or what. She took a quick shower and decided to confront him on the lap dance.
Zyair hadn’t moved from the spot he was in. He was still watching the game.
“So you got a lap dance, huh? You let some stankass ho that’s been dancin’ all night, niggas been feelin’ all up on her, lookin’ in her pussy—she was probably all sweaty and shit—and you let her get on you?”
Damn! When she said it that way, Zyair felt disgusted with himself. There was no way he could deny it, because she’d heard what she heard.
He decided to just make her understand that it really wasn’t that serious, that all the other fellas were doing it, and that the truth of the matter was that he really didn’t derive any pleasure from it.
“You expect me to believe that?” she asked.
He knew she wouldn’t but it was still halfway truthful. The excitement of a honey rubbing up against him was exciting for a second, but then after looking around and seeing that numerous other people were getting the same thing done, and wondering how many people she’d been up on put a damper on the mood for him. It didn’t soften his hard-on now but mentally he wasn’t there. So instead of saying another word, he decided to suck it up and take the cursing out. He was wrong and he knew it.
* * *
So here Zyair and Thomas sat, Thomas wanting to come over for dinner, that is, if Champagne was cooking, and Zyair knowing damn well that, even if she was, he wouldn’t be welcome. As a matter-of-fact, he wouldn’t be welcome for a hot moment.
Deciding to change the subject, Zyair looked around to make sure no one was within listening distance. “So, what do you think of open relationships?”
Thomas raised his eyebrows. “Why are you asking me that? I know you and Champagne ain’t thinking about no shit like that.” He thought Zyair would be out of his mind to even consider it. There was no way in the world, he would let another man get all up in his. No way in hell.
“Nah, man, I was just asking, trying to get your opinion.”
“Why would you want my opinion on something like that?”
“Just trying to make conversation. Damn! I overheard two of my employees talking about it.”
Thomas didn’t believe a word Zyair was saying. For one, Zyair never talked about his employees. I mean, he didn’t really befriend them like that, and Thomas was having a hard time believing Zyair would eavesdrop. He just wasn’t that type of man.
Thomas knew something was up but if Zyair wanted to play the conversation this way, he’d let him. He knew Zyair too well to believe this was some hypothetical.
Damn, Thomas thought, I never would’ve thought Champagne had the freak in her like that but shit, one never knows. Zyair’s a lucky man. He’s got a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets.
“Well, what do you think about it?”
“What specifically are you asking me?”
Ready to let it go, Zyair told him, “I’m asking you about open relationships—switching, swinging, threesomes.”
Thomas nudged Zyair. “Come on, come clean with me. You and Champagne, y’all into that? Is that what this is about?”
Zyair didn’t know how much he wanted to tell Thomas, because Thomas sometimes blurted things out. “I’m just curious.”
“What? You ain’t satisfied with Champagne?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. It’s just that after listening to my employees it got me to thinking.”
“Boy, don’t fuck up what you have. You know you almost lost her once and you damn near went out your mind.”
“I ain’t gonna mess up. Just humor me. Damn! You’re getting all emotional over my issue.”
After looking at Zyair for a second or two, Thomas said, “Man, I don’t know. Even though you’re just saying you’re curious, I don’t really see Champagne being down with something like that. I’ll say this, though—If I had a woman and that was something I might could get away with, I would. I’m only talking about the threesome thing, the having two women—hell yeah. But the whole swinging aspect of it, letting another man get with mine, oh, hell no.”
Zyair laughed. That’s definitely not what he was talking about. After ending the conversation, Zyair called Champagne to see if she was cooking.
She was, and Thomas was not invited.
Chapter Twelve
“I’m Every Woman” Chaka Khan
Champagne stood at the door of her new office and felt an overwhelming sense of pride, and fear. Pride because she was going out on her own and fulfilling a dream, making an idea a reality, fear because she had no idea how this would turn out. She knew she was more than capable of doing the job, or running her own business. She knew her skills were up to par and she also knew that if she didn’t know what to do about something, she could figure it out. She knew she had the goods to deliver. It’s not like she was a novice in her field, she was one of the best.
Unlocking the door and taking the first step was an emotional event. Personal Touch, Inc. was her very own place of business, and that’s just what she planned on giving each and every one of her clients. She would treat each and every one of them like they were her only clients. She knew that’s what everyone said, especially when they were starting a service-based business, and it often started that way, only to wear off. But she’d vowed to offer a service with integrity.
Because she had some money saved and Zyair had fronted her what was considered an investment, she would be able to hire a secretary/receptionist and an assistant. The secretary would be there to type letters, brochures, make appointments, things that could be done in-house. The assistant would be someone that could run errands and assist in the handling of clients, someone she could depend on.
Zyair asked her, “Are you looking for somebody with experience, or somebody new to this business?”
“I’m looking for someone new and hungry, someone eager to learn, someone willing to grow with me, not someone who thought they knew more than me.”
When Zyair wrote out the check to her, she kept thanking him for the loan. Finally, after going back and forth about the money she decided to listen when he said, “Just take the damn money, girl. It’s an investment in our future together.”
After listening numerous times to Champagne talking about how she wanted to do this on her own, Alexis told her, “Girl, your man loves you. He worships the ground you walk on, and with him helping financially, you will have a leg up on other businesses just starting out. What you need to do is be thankful for his generosity and that you have a man that has the money to help you fund your dream. Shit, this will allow you to hire people and everything.”
When Alexis, the one who never cursed said, “Shit,” Champagne almost passed out. This was another sign of Khalil being a bad influence. Alexis had even started to dress sexier. Her clothes were getting a little tighter, and she even showed cleava
ge a little more now. Champagne knew that these changes had to do with him but that was neither here nor there. Now was not the time to concentrate and worry about what Alexis was doing. What she needed to do was get prepared for the interviews she had lined up.
There was a coffee shop right down stairs and the plan was to meet the prospective employees at the office and if she liked them, they would go downstairs and continue the interview. If the first impression was one she didn’t like, she’d wrap it up and send them on their way.
Glancing at her watch, Champagne noticed she had about thirty minutes before her first interview. There would be four interviews. Zyair told her she was taking on a lot, but she knew that she could handle it. All she had to do was pace herself. Her first interview was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., and she had them scheduled an hour and a half apart, her last interview coming up at 2:30. Okay, maybe she did bite off more than she could chew.
Champagne walked into the office, which had three rooms to it, the reception area, a small office for her assistant, and a much larger office, her space. Her office faced the front of the building and when she looked out the window, she could see the goings-on on the street below.
Champagne couldn’t wait to furnish her office. She’d already chosen her colors, different shades of blue. She even had one of her past artist clients coming to paint a mural of a sunset for her. Thankfully her career choice was a creative one, and it allowed her to not be stuffy or have a conservative work space.
Tomorrow she would go out and start looking for furniture. She’d concentrate on her office first because she anticipated it being her home away from home. For the reception and assistant areas she would get the basics. Maybe later down the road, when she was a little more established, she’d go splurge.
Today for the interviews she had two chairs facing one another and a table, where they could fill out a personality questionnaire. She wanted everyone that would be working with and for her to vibe. She wasn’t sure if this personality test thing would work, but she was going to find out.
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