Talk a Good Game (17 page)

“
Excuse me,” I said and the two
men inside turned and both greeted me with a smile. Naturally, they
were captivated by my beauty.

“
I noticed the sign was gone from
the window. Did someone buy this space?” I asked.

The carpenter in white bib
overalls nodded. “Yep, some management company took it off the
market yesterday.”

“
Damn,” I scowled. That was truly
disappointing.

“
Hey, haven’t I seen you in the
restaurant next door?” asked the one with a hammer in his
hand.

I nodded. “Yes, and this space
would have been perfect for expanding.” I turned and was heading
toward the door when he called after me, and I paused.

“
Hey, I have a contact name if you
want it.” Before I could respond, he reached inside his pocket. “He
dropped by this morning and left his card.” I took the black
business card from his hand and gazed down at the name on the
card.

“
Alphonso
Rucker
?” I looked up. “He owns this
space?”

He nodded. And I felt like someone
had just punched me in the stomach. “Yes. He
’s
planning on opening a store.”

“
Yeah, a tacky store,” I mumbled
under my breath. “Thank you.”

I stormed out the door. How dare that bastard buy
the space next door to me! His hip-hop gear and hoodlum clientele
would be bad for business. Sure he was the top real estate
developer in the city, but his name was also linked to several
crack houses and juke joints, not to mention his little tacky
clothing shops.

I unlocked the door and stepped
into the restaurant. We didn’t open for two more hours and that was
a good thing. I was pissed off!

The lights were still dim up front
but the kitchen was in full swing. I heard music and laughter. I
stormed toward the back. “What are y
’
all so damn
happy about?” I didn’t mean to snap but I wasn’t in the best of
mood.

Mimi was beaming with pride.
“Jamie got accepted into barber school.”

I put my feelings aside and smiled
over at my cousin. “Good for you!” I said. “You decided to follow
after Brice?”

With his head lowered, he nodded.
“Yep.”

“
Well I would
have rather you worked for me but I
’
m sure my
knucklehead brother will be glad to have you working at his shop.”
Brice owned a large barbershop off Providence Road. Everybody went
there to get their hair cut.

“
No doubt he will.” April then
clapped her hands. “A’ight everybody. We need to get back to work.
I need to smell cornbread and black-eyed peas.”

I patted Jamie on the back so
he
’
d know just how proud I was of
him then moved out the kitchen and down the hall to my office.
April followed.

“
You look pissed.”

She never did miss much.

I flopped down in my chair. “I am.
Guess who got the space next door?”

Her brow quirked as she lowered
onto one of the chairs across from my desk. “Who?”

It pained me to say it.
“
Alphonso.
”

“
What!” she screamed.

“
Exactly.” I was
so mad I couldn’t do anything but shake my head. That man was
determined to get my attention. “He
’s
probably still
pissed I kicked him out my restaurant.” After Kaleb got done acting
a damn fool in the restaurant that evening, Al started blowing up
my phone most of the night. Luckily, Kaleb hadn’t
noticed.

April gave me a curious look. “So
what are you going to do?”

“
I
’
m going to his job to see him,” I
announced with a stubborn tilt of my chin. Trust and believe
nothing was stopping me from getting what I
wanted.

“
You know
that
’s
what he wants you to
do.”

I swung a jeweled wrist in the
air. “Yeah, I know, but he also knows how badly I wanted that space
to expand my restaurant.”

She shook her head. “All this just
to get your attention? Your coochie must be dipped in gold or some
shit,” she added with a laugh and despite feeling some type of way
about the situation, I joined in.

“
Yeah girl.
It
’s
all about the power of the pussy. Unfortunately,
I
’
m gonna have to use her to get
what I want from Al.”

After April left my office to check on lunch, I sent
Alphonso a quick text and invited him to the restaurant for lunch.
He texted back.

I’ll meet you at your house
instead.

I thought about it for all of thirty seconds before
I replied then I grabbed my purse and headed home to set the
stage.

* * *

Will I ever learn that some men are not to be played
with?

Two hours later I was trying to
remain calm when what I wanted to do was crack that fool over his
head. It
’s
not often that a woman finds
herself in a compromising position when another man shows up. Why
the hell didn’t I stick with my original plan and have Alphonso
meet me at the restaurant? If I had then I would be surrounded by
witnesses instead of hiding in the bathroom of my
townhouse.

After Alphonso had texted he would meet me at my
house, I hurried home and decided to create a scene of
seduction.

As soon as I arrived, I lit several candles, turned
on some soft music and then searched my clothes for something
slutty to wear. I settled on a tight red number with no bra or
panties and had just lubed my pussy with oil when I heard the
doorbell.

I swung it opened and screamed
when I realized who was standing on my front porch.
“Kaleb!”

“
Why you look so surprised?” he
said suspiciously as he pushed past and stepped inside my living
room.

“
Be… because I was just getting
ready to call and tell you to come over,” I said. Damn, I was
quick.

“
No you weren’t,” he said like he
knew what I had really been up to.

“
Yes, I was. I wanted to surprise
you. I decided to take the day off and was going to see if you
could come and spend the afternoon in bed with me.”

Honey came in the room sniffing
around his feet. “Hey Honey,” he cooed and his face softened for a
few moments while he rubbed him behind the ear, but it didn’t last.
“Where you get that outfit?” he asked as he suddenly realized what
I was wearing was hot.
Really?

I struck a pose. “I bought it at a
lingerie party a while back and have been waiting for the perfect
opportunity to wear it.”
I gave a coy smile.
“I
thought today was perfect, don’t you think?” I sashayed over to him
and started loosening his tie. “I
’
m horny. For
once I
’
d like my man to fuck me and be
able to scream as loud as I
’
d like.”

“
You
know
I have a
son.”

Goodness, don’t remind me. “Yes, I
know but sometimes I want my man all to myself.”

I guess I must have said the right
thing because he started grinning and unbuttoning his jacket. “Hold
up.
Let me
go take a leak.
”

I nodded and started backing up
toward the stairs. “Okay, I’ll be upstairs waiting.”

He was already walking in the
direction of the half-bath near the kitchen when he suddenly
stopped and swung around. “I’ll just use the bathroom
upstairs.”

Damn.

I struggled to keep a straight
face and took his hand and led him up to my bedroom. We stepped
inside and I felt nervous sweat start beading along, my forehead.
My cellphone was on the side of my bed, and I just prayed it didn’t
ring before I had a chance to shut that damn thing off.

As soon as Kaleb shut the bathroom door behind him,
I dived onto the bed and grabbed my phone. My fingers were shaking
so hard it took three tries before I was able to unlock the screen.
By then I heard water running on the other side of the door.

Don’t
come. My man
’s here.

I quickly hit Send, turned off the ringer and tossed
the phone back onto the nightstand just as Kaleb yanked open the
door, like he was expecting to catch me.

“
What are you doing?”

“
Nothing,” I said and hoped
Alphonso received my text in time.

He walked over to the nightstand and glanced down at
my phone. Sorry Charlie, I stop receiving text notifications the
last time I caught that fool holding my phone.

“
What were you doing, texting your
man telling him not to come over?” It was more a statement than a
question. You could see the distrust in his eyes. What the hell
happened to him that he was so insecure when it came to women and
relationships?

“
Now why would I do that when my
man is right here?” I stood my ground.

“
Jae… who were you
texting?”

“
Okay,
whatever.” I rolled my eyes because his jealousy was really
starting to get on my nerves. I rolled off the bed and gazed out
the window in time to see Alphonso driving slowly past my
house.
What the fuck?

“
Babe?”

I whipped around and stepped over
to Kaleb before he even had a chance to look out the window. If he
saw a car out front I would never hear the end of it. “Sweetheart,
let
’s
quit wasting time. I want to show my man how much
I care about him.” I took his hand and led him over to the chair to
the right of the room. “Have a seat.” The further he was from that
window, the better. I just prayed Alphonso kept right on
going.

I then moved over to my iPad on
the dresser, searched through the music until I found what I was
looking for then turned it on and watched as
Kaleb
’s
mouth dropped.

A couple of months ago I had
decided to dance for this dude I was dating and had choreographed a
striptease to Ciara
’s
Body Party
. I dumped his ass long before I got to perform it so what
better time to showcase my skills than now.

I was gyrating my hips and licking my lips and Kaleb
was so caught up in watching, he forgot all about my cellphone and
instead was watching as I lowered my panties to my ankles.

“
Damn, babe.” His eyes were ready
to pop out of his head.

“
You see something you like,” I
purred and tossed my panties at him. I was so bad. I removed the
outfit and approached him wearing nothing.

By the end of the song Kaleb
exploded from the chair and backed me over onto the bed. As soon as
I fell onto the mattress, he lowered onto his knees. “How about a
little afternoon snack?” he said.

“
Mmmm, lunch is my favorite meal
of the day,” I cooed.

While he feasted between my legs, I laid there with
my eyes closed, knees spread, moaning on cue. My mind was
elsewhere. I still needed to see Alphonso and get that space
back.

“
Babe?”

“
Hmmm,” I mumbled.

“
Who
’s
that knocking at the
door?”

My eyelids flew open and I jerked
upright on the bed sending Kaleb crashing to the floor. “Oh,
sweetheart… I
’
m so sorry!” I said, while I was
scrambling to my feet.

Kaleb rose with that suspicious
look in his eyes. “Who
’s
at the door
Jae?”

I was already heading to the
closet for my silk robe, avoiding eye contact. “How the hell should
I know?” I swung my arms inside and was tying the belt as I said,
“But let me go down and see.”

“
Uh-uh. Hell no! My girl’s not
going to the door, dressed like that. I’ll get it.”

I was so busted I couldn’t do
anything but nod. As soon as he walked out the room my heart went
into overdrive. I moved over to the window to see if I saw
Alphonso
’s
car and spotted it parked at
the corner.

Stupid! Stupid!

I raced into the bathroom and locked the door behind
me. There was no telling what Kaleb was going to do when he saw
Alphonso standing on the other side of the door.

It wasn’t long before I heard
heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. “Babe!”

Oh shit!

I flushed the toilet and pretended
I didn’t hear Kaleb. I had no idea where Alphonso was. Probably
laid the fuck out on my living room floor.

“
Jae, where you at?” he called
from on the other side of the door.

“
I-I’ll be out in a
moment.”

Frantically I looked through my bathroom drawers for
something sharp just in case that crazy mothafucka tried to lay me
out as well. Damn! The only thing I could find was a nail file.