10-80: Line of Duty Series (6 page)

“
M
rs. Henry
, are you busy today?” I asked, while adjusting the phone on my shoulder.

“No, honey. What’s going on? Is everything alright?” Her normally high voice was much higher.

“No, no. Everything is fine. I, uh, have a date and wanted to know if you would go shopping with me. I don’t have anything to wear and, uh, I’m on a tight budget.”

“Oh, D’asia. You have a date. Wow, honey. Oh sure, come on over and we’ll go right away.”

I smiled.

She was always so sweet and honest. I always said, she’d cut you with a smile. It might hurt, but it wasn’t from a place of malice, meaning it would heal nicely.

Quickly, I headed over to her house. Mr. Henry was there too. After I had walked in, he smiled at me and said, “Date? Huh? Anybody I know.” I opened my mouth to answer, then he interrupted and said, “Before you lie, I already know that cop has an eye for you and I already talked to him about that shit too.”

Oh my God!

“You did,” I gasped.

“Sure did.”

“Mr. Henry, what’d you say?” I went over to him.

“Just to mind his p’s and q’s. He knows the shit you could encounter with that and he as well. You ready for that, D’asia? Huh? Cause that shit could get ugly.”

“Oh, hush, bae. Let the girl live. You did.”

“I know, but that shit came at a cost, mama. You know what the fuck I’m talking about.”

She glided over to him, and caressed his arm with an appeasing tone. “Look, we girls got this. When we need your manly help, we know where to find you.”

“You’re sassing me, woman?” He said with a smile, as he kissed her on the lips. “You know what I do to sassy women.”

“Okay,” I said loudly and moved towards the door.

“Oh stop,” Mr. Henry said. “Like you ain’t never seen nobody kiss before.”

I put my hands to my ears and said, “Lalalala.”

They laughed.

Mr. Henry tapped Mrs. Henry on the butt as she scurried out of the kitchen. They were one of the cutest couples around. I loved to watch them together. It gave me hope.

On our trip to the mall in Brooklyn, she helped me pick out more outfits than I could afford. She disguised this by saying since we were the same size it was for her and I could borrow them indefinitely. At first, I was very uncomfortable with this, but like Mrs. Henry, cut with a smile.

“Your mama’s not here, so you have me and I love ya. You do me the pleasure of doing this. I may not have a daughter, so indulge an old diva.” She smiled.

“Old?” I said, shaking my head. “You’re the most stylish person I know. Old doesn’t even fit into your category.”

“Oh, you are sweet.” She chuckled.

We left with five outfits, five pairs of shoes, new panties because she said I’d probably
get some
. Apparently, she noticed the way Ryan was looking at me as well. So, she had no doubts, I would be
getting some
. She even bought matching brasserie sets and a nightie. God, I loved that woman. Just when I thought it could not get any better than that, after some good ole’ Popeye’s chicken, we went and had our eyebrows threaded. It hurt like a bitch, but the outcome made it all worth it.

When we arrived back, she made a quick stop to her house, then came back outside to put something in my bag. I didn’t pay any attention to it, until I was pulling out all of my clothes to see that she dropped a pair of earrings in there. I sent her a quick text to tell her thank you. Over the past five years, she had really come through for Zee and me. She and Mr. Henry. They even came to our graduations. One day, I would repay them. It was not clear when or how, but I would.

Z
ee was staying
with the Henrys again because they didn’t want me to worry about him. Plus, Mrs. Henry, wanted to ensure those panties were put to good use. Ryan texted the location of where to meet him. A subway station on the west side because he did not want me traveling to Brooklyn by myself. It was odd having someone look out for me or worry about my safety. The Henrys did, but that was from a distance and that was mostly because I did not tell them anything. A guy looking out for me, on the other hand, was very weird.

He was already there, when I exited the bus, smiling and leaning against a 4x4 SUV. Who had an SUV and lived in Manhattan?

“Hey sweetness!” He was all smiles.

He was dressed in khakis, brown shoes and a button-up cobalt shirt that reflected from his gray eyes.

Sexy
.

Slowly, I walked towards him and said, “Hey, yourself.”

“Come here.” He did not ask.

While I contemplated on whether to come or not, he pushed off the truck and nabbed my wrist, pulling me to him. My body collided with his as he leaned back on the vehicle. With our noses rubbing against each other, he whispered against my lips, “couldn’t wait to see you.”

The smile that formed on my face had to break the barriers of what an actual face should be able to do. I was sure all of my teeth were showing and ensuring that the corn from Popeye’s was not embedded between them was a plus. This was so foreign. I didn’t have flings or boyfriends or guys with benefits. I surely didn’t meet them and rendezvous anywhere. Well, not anymore. And I most certainly, did not have cops who were white, kissing me on the west side of Manhattan. I had a goddamn EBT card. What was I doing here?

As I pulled away, he wrapped me up tighter and said, “No backing out now.”

He must have seen the fear in my eyes.

“Do you really think we should do this? I mean, look,” I motioned my hand around the busy business district. “This is a little too much for me. Sneaking around and all that shit.”

“Listen, we don’t have to sneak. I’ll pick you up, kiss you and grope you wherever I see you. That’s just not alright with you, right?”

“You have that luxury, Ryan. I can’t do that shit and you know damn well I can’t.” I was about to get mad.

“No, no.” He held me tighter. “We are about to go out, have fun, eat, dance, whatever you want. But we are not about to have this argument now. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”

“I just don’t think we…”

He cut me off by putting his lips over mine, ever so softly with a light touch, as if he was waiting for me to stop him. When I didn’t, he slid his tongue inside my mouth and merged the two of us again. When I loosened up, he pulled back, kissed my nose, then my forehead.

“Not tonight.”

“Okay.” I whispered.

“Good, let’s go.”

Ryan helped me in the car and we drove to Brooklyn with little traffic. We pulled up to the elegant restaurant and he passed his keys to the valet driver. So it was a valet-exclusive restaurant. I was so glad I went with the flare black dress with blue heels and matching earrings. Mrs. Henry had texted back that those were another set I could have because they went perfectly with the shoes.

He reached out for my hand, after my door was opened. When I reached the ground, he pulled me in and whispered, “Did I forget to tell you that you looked absolutely stunning?”

Once again, that crazy killer clown smile took over and I could not help it. The man definitely earned points for charm.

“Thanks.” I whispered.

Once we were seated, we searched the menu for a bit, but after trying not to react to the prices, I stopped looking.

“Do you know what you want?” He asked.

“No, I’m not really all that hungry. Maybe I’ll get a salad or something.”

He frowned, then said, “D’asia, you knew we were going out. You ate before you came?”

“Uh, yeah. I was not sure where we were going and I was not sure if I would like the food or not.”

He dropped the menu and asked, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed.

“Sweetness,” he sighed. “I wanted us to go out, eat, and have fun. Everything is on me, so you can just relax. I also wanted to go dancing after this. Can you do that?”

“What kind of dancing?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Dancing, like at a club. You know the types that play music.”

“What kind of music?” I asked slowly.

“All types of music.” He answered in a mimicking tone.

My lips pressed together as I thought about what that meant.

“Well, I’m not entirely comfortable with you covering the bill. So let’s just pay our part and we’ll see how the evening progresses to see if dancing is in the cards.”

His face contorted, when he said, “Are you fucking kidding? You’re with me. You won’t pay for shit and the evening will go just fine.”

That was said with steely and resolute determination. God help the man or woman who tried to stand in his way of making the evening go by with anything but fine. I quickly pressed my lips together again and picked up the menu. Nothing stuck out, so I asked, “What are you getting?”

“Leg of lamb with asparagus.”

“Fine, I’ll get the same.”

“Good! What kind of wine?”

“Something red.”

He smiled at me, then said, “Good choice.”

As we progressed through the meal, talking about our childhoods, recent events, his lack of siblings and my only brother. We laughed, joked and actually had fun. When he was not bossy, he was actually quite comical. I had yet to ask him about his career choice, but that was the huge elephant in the room, that both of us danced around all evening. Once we were finished our food, including dessert, we left and both had doggie bags. The leg of lamb was not only huge, but delicious. It was my first time eating it and I was hooked.

As Ryan promised, after we left the restaurant, he drove us to Club XX where Biggie’s
Hypnotize
was blasting in the warehouse on the north side of Brooklyn. It was the most diverse set of people I’d ever seen at a club. White, Asian, Hispanic, Black and every other nationality was present in this warehouse and everybody was dancing with everyone. My mouth must have been open because Ryan closed it with his forefinger and thumb.

“What?” He asked.

“Nothing, this place is huge.”

“Yeah, it’s very popular in Brooklyn and it’s drug-free. I would not want to have to arrest anyone on my night off.” He laughed.

“Hmm,” I murmured as I did not find that funny at all.

His arms wrapped around me, so my front was to his.

“What’s wrong?” He asked me again.

“Noth…”

Janet Jackson’s,
All For You
, came on interrupting my lie of nothing being wrong. I yelled in his face, “This is my song!”

I broke from him and started strutting to the intro in the midst of the crowd. My smile had to be off the radar as I recited the words and danced with my hands up. When I turned around, Ryan was smiling and dancing with his hands up as well. I turned around and backed into him, his arm clamped around my waist as I danced in his cocoon. Then I pushed off him and moved around him, whirling my hips and mouthing,
it’s all for you
. Eventually, he grabbed me and pulled me to him as we both danced together. When I tried to push away from him, he pulled me back, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and sang,
soon you’ll be having fun…it’s all for you…come over here and get some
in his ear. His grip tightened around my waist and I felt his lips on my neck, then his teeth.

Oh shit.

I kept singing in his ear as he swayed us to the song until it switched to another fast beat song. We kept dancing, while he feasted on me. He was marking me. I should have been mad, but I loved it. Being marked by him. Once he loosened, I pulled away while still holding his hands and danced. His gray eyes were like that of a wolf’s; sharp, focused and all on me. I felt like his prey and that was hot as shit. A reggae song came on and I buried my ass into his crotch and started to gyrate all around him. The white man could dance because not only did he keep up but he smacked my ass to urge me on. At one point, the people around us were cheering us on, as I dipped low to grab my ankles, while shaking my assets for him to enjoy.

When that song finally changed, they announced it was for the lovers. Ryan pulled me to him, so I buried my face in his chest, while he wrapped his arms around me with both hands resting on my ass. He whispered in my ear, “I want you D’asia.”

My response was to squeeze his middle tighter, then he said, “No, I want you for keeps.”

He would get no response for that because I didn’t know what to say. We still didn’t know each other, still hadn’t really spent time and he had all these declarations and wants and shit. I was trying to finish school, get Zee out of high school, and get us both out the projects. A man was not in the picture, until I could get out of my situation. And a damn, white cop was not in the picture as well. I guess it should not matter that he was white or a cop, but in my world - both of those mattered. We didn’t live in Brooklyn on the prosperous side, where interracial couples were welcomed and encouraged. Like this club. We lived in the projects and white was a negative. A cop was even worse. That could put us in danger. People would think we were snitches or worse, sleeping with him to get information. Oh, hell no. There would be no declarations from me.

“Relax, sweetness.” He squeezed me tighter.

Shit, my mind wandering, must have caused me to tense up. I relaxed a little, then he said, “I’m willing to settle for one day at a time, starting with tonight.”

My lips remained closed as there were no more words to be shared in my opinion. After another hour of dancing, sweating and gyrating to ensure he was in the mood. He must have had enough because he tagged my hand and damn neared pulled me out of there. I was teetering behind him, in my four-inch heels, so I yelled, “Slow down.”

He turned around, picked me up in his arms and carried me out of the club.

“Ryan, put me down.” I giggled.

“You’re walking too slow.” He kept moving.

“Oh my God.” I sighed and wrapped my arm around his neck.

When we reached his car, he put me down and pressed his body against me fully.

“Zee is sleeping over the Henrys?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I breathed as his breath caressed mine along with the scent of arousal resting between us.