Close Quarters: A Novel (Zane Presents) (10 page)

Malik went straight to his room and closed the door. I was in the kitchen getting a bottle of water when the buzzer sounded. I went to unlock the door and left it slightly open for Ellis, then returned to the kitchen.

I heard the door close, and called out, “I’m in here.”

He strode into the kitchen. We met in the middle of the room and shared a brief kiss. Ellis slowly pulled the baseball cap from
my head and tossed it on the table. He caught my eyes and held them hostage under his glare. “Did you enjoy the game?”

“It was my first baseball game. I’ve never been to one before. I had a really nice time.”

“How about Malik?”

“It was a playoff game. What man wouldn’t enjoy that?”

“A man that knows there are more important things in life than baseball. Someone who works hard, and if necessary late, to be successful.”

“Malik works hard, Ellis. And since when is it illegal to go to a game? Most people take time for recreation or haven’t you noticed? Probably not because
you’re
always working.”

“So now you’re defending him?” he said a bit louder than necessary.

I backed up a step and crossed my arms. “Lower your voice. I didn’t realize I needed to defend Malik.”

“I don’t like his influence over you,” he said in hoarse whisper. He looked me up and down. “Look at how you’re dressed.”

“They’re called jeans and a sweatshirt. How would you have preferred I dress for a baseball game?”

“I would have preferred if you didn’t go. I would also prefer that you don’t live with another man.”

This was a first. Ellis had never complained about my living situation. I wasn’t particularly interested in having that conversation in the kitchen. I led him to my bedroom and closed my door behind us. “Listen, Malik and I have been roommates for over a year now. Why is it a problem all of a sudden?”

“You’re about to be my wife.” Ellis sat down on the bed. “It isn’t appropriate for you to be living with another man.”

“We’re roommates—that’s all—appropriateness isn’t an issue.”

“I want you to move in with me.”

“Why now?”

“Why not now? There’s no point in waiting until after the wedding.”

I sensed the cement drying on Ellis’s plan. I had no intention of living with him before we were married. The problem with Ellis was that the more you resisted him the more persistent he would become. I went to him and sat on his lap. “Sweetie, how was your day?” I began rubbing his shoulders. “You seem tense. Let me give you a massage and we can talk about this later.”

Some of the tension drained from his face. I kissed his forehead. He exhaled heavily. I kissed the tip of his nose and he closed his eyes. I unbuttoned his shirt, then slid it down his arms. Ellis pulled his hands out of the sleeves, dropped the shirt on the bed and then took off his undershirt. I knelt down and slipped off his shoes. “Lay back,” I said.

He did what I asked. I straddled him and then began massaging his temples. I leaned over and nuzzled my cheek against his, whispering in his ear, “Turn over, baby.”

I sat on Ellis’s firm ass and used the palms of my hands to knead his lower back. I worked my way upward, applying pressure in the right places.

“Saturday night we’re going to Le Cirque for dinner,” he said with his face partially buried in the pillow.

I kissed his shoulder. “I’ll wear something sexy.” I trailed butterfly kisses down his back. I pulled my sweatshirt over my head, unhooked my bra and pressed my naked breasts against his back. I inched upwards and kissed Ellis on the neck. I sucked his earlobe into my mouth. Ellis moaned. There was a knock at my door. I groaned.

Ellis rolled over and put his hands behind his head. I had to rise up slightly to avoid rolling with him. We were shirtless and silent.
Malik knocked again. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around my breasts.

“Answer it,” Ellis said through clenched teeth. “See what he wants.”

I put my sweatshirt back on and then climbed from the bed. I opened the door a crack and slipped into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind me. “What is it, Malik?” I said, struggling to speak low enough for Ellis not to hear us.

“Have you seen the key for the storage room?”

“What? You’re disturbing me over a key?”

“Disturbing you—”

“Yes,” I hissed. “Ellis is in there.”

“My bad, Mel. I thought he left.”

“Yeah, okay, Malik.”

“Seriously. I didn’t know. But since you’re out here, can you tell me where to find the key?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s on the damn hook where it always is.”

I went back inside my bedroom. Ellis was getting dressed. “Don’t go, Ellis.”

He stopped buttoning his shirt. “Lina, you’re moving out of here.”

I slinked over to him and tried to undo his buttons. “Fine. We can discuss it later.”

He caught my hands, then leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “There’s nothing to discuss. You’re moving. That’s it.” Ellis opened my bedroom door and I followed him down the hallway.

Malik was standing in the kitchen, holding the key up for me to see. “You were right, I found it.” He nodded at Ellis. “Hey, man, what’s up?”

Ellis barely acknowledged him with an aggravated grunt. Malik opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head, warning
him to keep quiet. I trailed Ellis out of the apartment and down to the front door of the building.

I grabbed his arm and stopped him before he stepped outside. “Ellis, wait a minute.”

He paused with his hand on the doorknob. I wrapped my arms around his waist from the back and rested my face against him. He put his arms over mine.

“I’ll think about it, okay?”

He turned around and faced me. “My future wife does not belong in a two-bedroom brownstone, in Brooklyn, with a thug.”

“There is nothing wrong with Brook—”

“I’m not going to debate this.”

He opened the door and went down the stairs.

I stood in the doorway. “Can I at least have a good-night kiss?”

Ellis lingered at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, then smiled. He came back up the stairs and kissed me long and deep. He pulled away and gently chucked me under the chin. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

“I’ll pick you up at six on Saturday.”

“I’ll be ready.”

Ellis kissed my hand and I held on to his.

“Call me when you get home.” I reluctantly released his hand and watched him walk to his car.

He called out from the sidewalk. “Go back inside before you get mugged.”

I waved him off. Mugged. Ellis ascribed to every negative stereotype about life in Brooklyn. He tooted his horn as he drove by. I locked the door behind me and went upstairs.

Malik was in the living room, sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. “You wanna watch this movie with me?” He held up a DVD case for some horror flick.

I wanted to be mad at Malik, but I wasn’t. It was his nature to be an annoyance on occasion. There was no point in letting it get to me. “Only if you’re going to make some popcorn with lots of butter and I don’t mean the microwave kind.”

“Damn. First I have to get you snacks and beer at the game and now I have to actually pop you fresh popcorn? You’re a high-maintenance date.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Date?”

“You know what I mean.” Malik brushed past me and went into the kitchen to make my popcorn.

I
poked my head in Kai’s office. She was at her desk, talking on the phone. She mouthed for me to come in. I went over to her bookshelf to inspect her menagerie of advertising and marketing guides while I waited. Her walls were covered with framed posters of some of her accounts.

“Mr. Denton, to what do I owe this early morning visit?”

I turned around. “Good morning, Ms. Cooper. I stopped by for a sugar fix to start my day.”

Kai pursed her lips. “The vending machine is down the hall in the break room.”

I laughed. “I went there first, but I couldn’t find what I needed.”

She seductively eyed me for a moment. “I have what you need right here.” Kai reached into her desk drawer, then tossed a Hershey’s Kiss at me.

I scrambled to catch the little piece of chocolate candy.

“That ought to take care of your craving,” she said, giggling.

“For now.” I winked at her. “I really came in here to tell you that I’ll swing by your place at five tomorrow evening.”

“I’m glad you brought that up. If it’s okay, I’d rather meet you at your place. I have an earlier engagement and won’t be returning home. It would be easier if I just met you, instead of you picking me up.”

“Works for me.”

“I’ll be at your apartment no later than five-thirty.”

“See you then.” I walked to the door, unwrapped the candy and popped it into my mouth. “Thanks for my sugar.”

Kai’s laughter bubbled out as I shut the door. A couple of the fair-haired boys walked by as I exited Kai’s office. I straightened my tie, then smirked at each of them. I’d let them speculate until they got up the nerve to confront me with whatever they were about to start gossiping over. But I wouldn’t tell them a damn thing. The same competitive guys that barely wanted to speak over who was getting what account, would break their necks to talk to you in order to get in your business.

I headed to my office, pleased with the recent dynamics of office life.

C
harlee and I weaved our way through Bergdorf Goodman in search of an outfit for my dinner at Le Cirque. I didn’t have to bend her arm too much to get her to meet me after work for a little shopping. Charlee was trying to push a long georgette dress on me, but I was leaning toward a short silk, strapless tiered dress. I was carrying it around like a child carries a teddy bear, forming an attachment. I hadn’t seen anything that compared to its vibrant coral color.

“How much is that dress, Melina?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Charlee lifted the dress from my hands and peeked at the price tag. “Fifteen hundred dollars?” she said, her eyes wide enough to fall out of their sockets. “You’re going to pay fifteen hundred dollars for this dress?”

“Yeah, why not? I work every day. If I want to buy something nice for myself, then why shouldn’t I?”

“Girl, you will probably wear this dress one time and then forget you even own it.”

“You may be right, but as long as I’m fabulous in it tomorrow night, that’s all that matters.”

“Spoken like a woman engaged to a millionaire.”

“You know better than that. Ellis’s money is Ellis’s money. I spend my own money on me.”

Charlee gave me a dubious look. “You told me yourself that Ellis deposits money in your account every month.”

“Yes and I also told you that I have never touched that account.”

Charlee looped her arm through mine and spoke in a hushed tone. “So how much money is in there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t keep track of it.”

She yanked down on my arm. “Stop lying. You know how much is in there.”

“I don’t,” I said with amusement in my voice.

“If I guess, will you tell me?”

“Perhaps.”

“Okay, is it more than ten thousand dollars?”

I nodded and kept perusing the racks.

“Is it more than fifty thousand dollars?”

Again, I nodded.

“Seventy-five thousand?”

“Yes.”

“Is it more than—”

“There’s five hundred thousand dollars in the account, Charlee.”

Charlee stopped walking, which tugged me backward since her arm was linked with mine.

“Close your mouth and let’s go to the fitting room, so I can try this on,” I said, dragging her along with me as I crossed to the other side of the store.

Charlee sat on the chair in the dressing room while I changed. “If you have that much money sitting in an account, why haven’t you used any of it to grow your business? You have been talking about expanding your firm for years. More than anything, why did you let Malik move in if you didn’t have to?”

“Because I need to maintain my own identity. My own sense of self. The money Ellis puts in my account is a drop in the bucket
for him. He doesn’t miss it. But it’s a way for him to have influence over me and my life. I like working hard to make my business a success and I’ll take the bumps and the bruises that go along with it. I never set out to have a cushion or a safety net for the choices I make. I don’t want Ellis’s money to influence my decisions. I decided that I needed a roommate so that I could free up more money to invest back into Trinity. I don’t want to live my life knowing that my achievements are a result of Ellis’s money, and not my own blood, sweat and tears.”

“You are one crazy chick. I would be all up in his pockets.”

It was comforting to know that I’d be well taken care of as Mrs. Ellison Harlow III, but my life as Melina Bradford was my own. I was responsible for my own well-being. I didn’t expect everyone to understand or even agree with me, however, I could hold my head high knowing I hadn’t relied on the success of someone else to get by.

I wasn’t sure what I’d do with the money in my account, but two things were for certain. It wouldn’t be used until I married Ellis and it’d be used for a good cause. Maybe I’d use it as a college fund for our children; I didn’t know. All I could say was it wouldn’t be used frivolously.

“Zip me up.”

Charlee slid the zipper closed. I did a slow spin in the mirror, and then I turned toward Charlee. “Now tell me this dress isn’t worth every penny.”

“Well, now that I know just how many pennies you have . . . ”

I turned back to the mirror. “Unzip me.” I was taking my teddy bear home. I put my clothes back on and we went to find a pair of shoes to match the dress.

I held up a pair of Christian Louboutin heels. Charlee shook her head. I put them down and kept hunting.

“Have you spoken to Giselle?” she asked.

“Not since lunch the other day. You?”

“Last night. She was okay. A little tired.”

“I still can’t believe she’s pregnant.”

“Me neither. She spent the entire conversation trying to convince me how excited she was about the baby. I thought she sounded as if she’d been crying.”