Committed to You (23 page)

“And then I kicked you out of our bed,” he countered.

“Well you
both
have to kick me out of the bed now.”

“No, I don’t think that’s how it works. If I say give us some space, then give us some damn space.”

“You know what, Jay? I wasn’t even coming to the bed for you. I came for Evie.”

Pipe laughed.

“Well you don’t come for her unless you get through me,” Jay sneered.

“Well apparently no one is coming if—”

“Guys!” Pipe clapped his hands. Jay and I turned to him. He took another sip from his cup. “Are either of you even aware that Evie has escaped?”

We looked back at the table. Just as Pipe said, she’d disappeared. Sometime during our yelling, she’d snuck out of the room.

“Somewhere in this hotel is a naked and wet black woman, wearing a towel and screaming for assistance.” Pipe pointed to the door. “I suggest one of you help her get her key to the room and then maybe you can settle it among yourselves on your floor.”

“No, we should give her space,” Jay suggested.

“That’s fine. However, I think I’ll need some space too,” Pipe said.

“Is that your nice way of kicking us out of your suite?”

Pipe nodded. “I’m just saying. All this talk about sex is making me want to bring out the knives. I’m about to slice and fuck anybody who’s still in here.”

I didn’t exactly understand what Pipe was saying, but I chose to follow Jay as he booked it out of there.

A door slammed shut. I hoped it was Pipe closing the front entrance to his suite. I didn’t want Jay and Cynthia to return.

I had hidden in the bedroom.

As soon as Jay and Cynthia started with the madness, I decided to get out of there. I’d given them too much in this lifetime—my time, energy, tears, resentment, jealousy, sex, etc. If a person could name it, I’d probably spent it in our awkward relationship.

I don’t have anything else to give those two. They have to drain someone else.

Being inside of Pipe’s room was like being inside the mind of a well-dressed psycho. Three platinum mannequins dangled from the ceiling. One was a woman with a body leotard themed in the American flag. The other was a man with no shirt on and leather chaps. The final and most disturbing of the three wore a plain business suit, which was fine. The problem was the huge black dildo glued to the center of his forehead. When I first saw it, Pipe had called him the mythical unicorn, the perfect man that others say exist, but he’s yet to see.

Surprisingly, the rest of Pipe’s room boasted a lavish chic that only he could make work. The mannequins should have made the space appear gaudy and outrageous. For some reason they were sort of the focal point. From the crimson red carpet to the royal blue walls and sheer white curtains, the whole room coordinated with the American flag body suit on the female mannequin and made it pop. All three of the lamp shades in the area were leather and matched the color of the other mannequin’s chaps. Finally, paintings of unicorns hung on every inch of the wall. Beautiful images. Some were illustrated. Others displayed oil paintings of unicorns galloping through fluffy lavender clouds as golden sunlight hit their glittery, spiraling horns.

“All clear,” Pipe yelled from the living room.

I crawled out from under the bed. Yes. I not only hid in Pipe’s room, I rushed my behind right under his massive, king-sized, tiger-printed atrocity.

“Are you aware of the things that are under your bed, freaky boy?” I tightened my towel around me. “I can’t even begin to analyze what I saw under there. I’m going to have to take another shower.”

“Hey, no one asked you to crawl under there.”

“You have double sided dildos next to stuffed animals. That’s just wrong, Pipe.”

“My niece comes to play here. The stuffed toys are hers. I think. Well some of them are.” He handed me another cup of wheat grass. “She leaves her toys behind. Some get kicked under the bed and my cleaning lady, who I keep too busy, forgets to check under there.”

“And the double-sided dildos?”

“Don’t ask about their stories unless you want to use them.”

I raised my hands in mock defeat. “Nope. I’ve had enough sexual titillation for this week.”

“Me too.” He collapsed on his bed and lay on his back. “Why did you hide?”

“Why would I deal with that craziness? What were they even fighting over? It’s insane.”

“Apparently, Cynthia thinks you two have something between you.” He patted the bed as if signaling me to lie next to him.

I finished my cup, placed it on his gray stone night stand, and got in next to him, resting my head on his chest. He shrieked and repositioned me on his arm. “The cuts were minor but they still hurt.”

“Did the doctor redo the bandages?”

“Yeah. He said I did a good job cleaning the cuts.”

“Due to the alcohol.”

He snorted.

I stared down at his toes. Silver served as the nails’ background. Turquoise and yellow polka dots decorated each toe. A simple copper ring I’d bought him when we were teenagers adorned his big toe on one foot. He rolled onto his side and began playing with my hair. Between the swim and the morning shower, it sat on top of my head in a bushel of curls and fuzziness.

“Why do you know how to fix your cuts so well?” I asked.

“Why did you run from them today?”

“My question first.”

Letting out an exasperated breath, he quit touching my hair and returned to his back. “I like edge to my sex. Frederick has taken me on a journey through the edge.”

“And have you liked what you saw?”

“Some. The rest is too much for me.”

“I’m scared to know what would be too much for you.”

“I’m not that bad, Evie.” He closed his eyes and gave me a weak smile.

“Baby, you were dangling from the ceiling with blood dripping from your chest. That was a scene from a horror flick and it scared the shit out of me. I thought a serial killer had broken in and we’d just caught him as he took a break.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“No. It was worst.”

There was complete quiet for a while. Pipe normally talked a lot. He enjoyed being the center of attention with the spotlight shining on him wherever he went. To lie next to a silent and sad Pipe, with bandages securely hidden under his shirt, was to witness the unforeseen—a tornado whipping through and knocking down the skyscrapers in Manhattan, a blizzard in Los Angeles, a tropical storm in Cairo, Egypt. I didn’t like my Pipe silent and depressed, I needed him happy and fixed.

I’m going to kill that bastard.

“I love you, Pipe.”

“I love you too, more than you would ever know.” He pulled me in for a hug, making sure to not let me get too close to his chest.

“Do you feel like talking about it?”

“There’s not much to say. Frederick watched me run out of the club with Jay, figured I was hiding a lover, and dialed me to meet him at my room. He showed up and instead of arguing like a normal person, he pretended to be okay with everything. I suggested we should have sex. He wanted to use the chair.”

“The chair?” I arched my eyebrows.

“That thing I was hooked in when you came.”

“He helped me in and used the wire to pull me up in the air. Once he closed my mouth up, I knew something was going to be different, but … ”

“But what?”

“I just kept thinking that he would never hurt me. He would never take our playing too far, that he loved me too much to destroy my trust and try to break me.” A tear fell from his eye. I wiped it away. He cleared his throat. “He took the knives out and just showed me the sharp edge of their blades. Any other time that would’ve been part of the sensuality of the moment—my heart would race as he slid the cold metal against my skin, not cutting me, but allowing my body to feel the power within his hands.”

“But last night was different?”

“Yes. When he showed me those knives, he stared into my eyes and told me that I’d broken his heart and that now he would break mine.”

I’m going to kill him. He’s lucky I have no idea who or where he is.

“Were you thinking he was trying to … kill you or injure you badly?” I asked, just adding fuel to the fire inside of my chest.

“No. But the cutting was enough. When it comes to knife play people don’t really get cut. The knives are more props or sexual toys. They have their use, but they’re not the end prize. It’s the fear and loss of control that fuels the moment and pumps life into the sex that occurs afterwards. To cut the person after they’ve given their body freely to you is like cheating with someone’s sister right in their spouse’s bed. It’s cruel, disgusting, and wrong. He wasn’t supposed to cut me. The blade was never supposed to tear through my skin.”

More tears came. This time I didn’t wipe them away. They needed to remain on him, those streams of his sadness that flowed down his face and made his cheeks glitter in the sunlight. This feeling needed to imprint in his mind, so he would stay away from this bastard, Frederick. I knew Pipe well. I could tell him to stop, argue that the guy was crap, and beg him to list to me, but none of it would work. Like Jay, Pipe saw the best in others, when most would’ve given up long ago. I doubted this would be Frederick’s last chapter in Pipe’s life, but I hoped that this twisted love story between them would dwindle down to an ending soon.

I can’t take much more of this.

“Has he called to make sure you are okay?” I asked.

“No. He doesn’t need to. That was his doctor who showed up last night. He always keeps him on standby when we do something like the knives. I’m sure the doc reported my status to him.”

“Have you two done other things besides knives?”

He had the nerve to show me a wicked grin. “Of course. Are you asking me to show you right now?”

“No fucking way. I’ve done enough weird things to last me for a while.”

“I heard. Cynthia said you two kissed, and it must’ve been really hot.”

“It was a moment of insanity.”

He targeted me with his gaze. “Bullshit.”

“We were drunk and high and—”

“You don’t kiss anybody if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter how high or drunk you get. You’re forgetting all the times I’ve watched you drunkenly punch guys in the testicles for just touching your ass as you walked by.”

“That’s disrespectful.”

“Sure, but those guys were huge. Anyway, we’re getting off of topic. What’s going on with you and Cynthia?” Pipe asked.

“Nothing.”

“She thinks there is something there.”

“Friendship.”

“Nothing more?”

I bit my lip. “No.”

“You’re lying. You just don’t want to deal with being bi-curious.”

“Nope. I would rather walk the path of boring college nerd. I liked that path a whole lot.”

“It’s too late. You’ve been off that path for years. You go back to normalcy, and people are going to point and kick your ass back to crazy land.” He rose a little, leaned my way, and sniffed me. “Hmmm, you even smell crazy, just like I love it. I think I’m catching subtle hints of lesbianism.”

“Oh shut up.”

“You know your aura is—”

“Don’t start, Pipe.”

“Seriously, your aura has always been this beautiful shade of indigo mixed with a little sea green. I read a chart that it meant you’re loving, devoted, and accepting.”

“Does my aura say I’ll be rich one day?”

“I’m not sure. Auras surround all living things. They’re a multitude of information about the beings past, present, and future. I should get trained in reading them or something.”

“Or something.”

“I wish you weren’t so jealous of my powers.”

“I wish you weren’t hurt, so I could punch you in your chest for being so goddamn ridiculous.”

He laughed and finally cleared away those tears with the back of his hand. “So tell me something, when are you leaving today?”

I tensed. “How did you know I was leaving? The plan was for all of us to stay until Sunday then go down to Cynthia’s dad’s funeral.”

“You’re already trying to get out of staying in your mind. I know you. Cynthia and Jay have finally pushed you enough.”

“And plus you can read my soul.”

“Not soul. Auras. Stop mocking my mysticism.” He kissed my forehead, then my nose, and each cheek. “You want to leave today don’t you?”

“Yes. I planned on breaking it to Cynthia tonight. Being here with Jay and her has been too much. She’s emotionally exhausting and he’s … ”

“Too sexy not to fuck every time he begs?”

“Yes.” I twisted my lips to the side.

“If you leave, then I leave too.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“I’m done with Miami for a while. Frederick is Miami and right now I can’t handle either one. While I went off to get wheat grass, I talked to my other mother today about what was going on with Frederick. She told me to come on home. I told her I would fly out there tomorrow.”

I covered my face. “Please, tell me you’re not talking about my mom. Please tell me that somewhere on this earth is another woman who you call your second mom.”

“Mrs. Elaine would also like you to hear a nice message from her.”