Authors: Fiona Zedde
Tags: #African American Women, #General, #Romance, #Erotic Fiction, #Adult, #Love Stories, #Fiction, #Lesbian, #Lesbians
A Taste of Sin (20 page)
It was easy to forget that it had been almost five years since they’d seen each other. That time had been good to him. If anything, he looked more prosperous and more handsome than the last time. A few more flecks of gray dotted his thick hair, only adding to the already “distinguished” look. His smile was wide and white and the body beneath the charcoal gray suit looked trim. The lawyering business must be good out in California.
“Desiree. Look at you!”
And look at you, you smug asshole.
Dez served him up one of her own bullshit smiles and stepped inside the suite. “How’s it going?”
Dez served him up one of her own bullshit smiles and stepped inside the suite. “How’s it going?”
Warrick seemed taken aback by her casual greeting. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like they were long-lost friends or anything.
“I’m doing well,” he said. “Come on in. You’re the last to arrive.”
Good
. She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door.
. She shrugged off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door.
“So how are things in your life, Desiree?” He closed the door and adjusted the drape of her jacket on the rack. The tiniest sneer in his voice betrayed that he had his assumptions about Dez’s life and didn’t care to hear her version of things.
“Same as always, Papa. Real good.” She bowed, a mocking tilt of her head that she knew reminded her father of Aunt Paul.
Warrick had never liked her aunt and liked her even less when Dez had turned out to be a dyke, too. As a child, Dez had gotten used to his offhand, and often unkind, remarks about Paul. They were easy to ignore because Paulette had given less than a piece of rat shit what he thought. But she never thought that one day his cruel remarks and disgusted looks would be directed at her. Dez learned the hard way.
She came out during her arrogant phase. Even when she knew that her father couldn’t deal with what he scornfully called her “alternative lifestyle,” Dez still brought a girl home. Someone sweet and feminine, undeniably gorgeous with her big Afro and pillowy body; but still a dyke. Mia was sixteen and had already been plucked several times before the fourteen-year-old Dez got a hold of her. Dez had boldly walked her into the family’s house, shared peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and giggles over the dining table before taking her up to her room for the sticky, teenaged version of “show-and-tell.” When the two girls emerged, breathless and glowing almost two hours later, they bumped into Dez’s father. Warrick’s nostrils flared, like he smelled the dyke on them. Then he walked past as if Dez wasn’t even standing there. Her stomach and her face fell, but she turned to Mia with a carefree smile and asked the older girl if she wanted to go for a dip in the pool.
She ran to her aunt later that day, finally giving into the tears that had threatened at that one poisonous look from her father. Paul patted her shoulder then made her a root beer float. When Dez could finally speak without dissolving into hiccupping tears, her aunt made a simple offer:
“If you want to hang out with your girlfriends, bring them here. You know that you have the whole attic to yourself. Just give me some warning so you don’t give this old dyke a heart attack when I hear strange noises over my head.”
The teenage Dez had shuddered. “As if I’d do anything with a girl when you’re in the house. That’s too weird.”
Her aunt only laughed. Not long after that, Dez wanting to bring girls home wasn’t an issue anymore. Her father filed for a divorce and moved out.
“Mama. Derrick.” Dez greeted her family with a properly somber nod.
Her brother and mother stood next to the high window with drinks in their hands, like someone had just finished making yet another inane comment about the view of the city and they were looking at it just to be polite. Claudia’s face was slightly pinched, but she looked like she was handling the situation well enough. Derrick nodded at his sister, but said nothing. It was probably better that way.
Dez smiled at her father’s wife who sat on the couch watching their exchange with calm eyes. Tall and elegant, she could have been any society woman Dez encountered on the streets of Miami. Her skin was pale, like milky tea, but she was still beautiful with her high, wide cheekbones and straightened hair that fell just beneath her breasts. Like her husband, she wore a suit. A Chanel in burnt gold that made the best of her complexion and mirrored the color of her eyes.
“Desiree, this is Sushaunna. My wife.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Dez bowed over her hand, lightly kissing the scented skin. “Sorry about my slight tardiness. I had something come up at home.”
“You weren’t late at all,” Sushaunna said in her slightly accented English. “We were all just getting to know one another.” Her smile was a gentle appeal for friendship. “And please call me Susha.”
Dez smiled back. “Great. Then let’s get this party started.” “We’re going to be over here in the parlor,” Warrick said.
“After you.”
Dez brought up the tail end of the procession to the pretentious little sitting room with an expansive view of Biscayne Bay. Lights glittered off the water. A table sat prepared with platters of finger food—cheeses, fruit, vegetables, even caviar and crackers. The tall bar opposite the gigantic window seemed fully stocked. There were enough chairs in the room to accommodate everyone and then some.
“Help yourself to anything you want.”
This is too fucking weird.
Her father walked around like some benevolent patriarch while his family seemed perfectly willing to go along with it. Dez poured herself a hefty glass of scotch.
Her father walked around like some benevolent patriarch while his family seemed perfectly willing to go along with it. Dez poured herself a hefty glass of scotch.
“Would you like me to freshen your drink for you, Mama?” she asked from the bar.
“Yes, please.”
She took her mother’s glass of white wine and topped it off.
“Before you got here, darling, your father was just telling us how he wanted to give Sushaunna a tour of the city. She’d never been here before.”
“It’s a nice town. I’m sure you’ll love it,” Dez felt obliged to say to her stepmother as she passed Claudia her wine.
“To tell the truth it reminds me a little of some California cities I’ve seen. I’m sure there’s not much difference.”
Derrick grunted. If Miami were a woman, he would have married her by now. He loved the city with a passion that few understood. To him, La Bonita was like no other city on earth. “I wouldn’t say that,” was all he said.
Dez chuckled from behind her glass. “So, Papa. What brings you to our fair city? I thought you were done with us forever.”
Warrick glanced at his daughter, her spectacular height and handsome, dykey looks, and hated her. Or at least that’s what Dez thought. “I could never be done with this place,” he said. “After all, my children are here. And Claudia, the woman who I considered my best friend for a long time.”
“Hm. I guess I wasn’t clear enough.” She swirled the pale amber liquid in her glass. “What are you doing here and why did you want us all to come?”
“Isn’t it enough that I wanted to come?”
Dez shook her head but forgot to smile.
“I’ll not stand here and be interrogated by my own daughter.” Warrick finally put away his fake smile.
Susha spoke up. “Rick thought it was time that I met his first wife and his other children. The twins’ grandparents are in town for the week and could babysit for us, so it was the perfect time for Warrick and me to come see you.”
There was a new set of twins. Dez hadn’t heard that. They, she and Derrick, had been replaced, too. She noticed the faintest twitch of Derrick’s jaw but knew the fucker wouldn’t say anything.
“And,” Susha continued with a faint lowering of her voice, “he told me about your being ill, Claudia. I wanted to tell you in person that if there’s anything that I can do for you, just ask it.”
“Thank you.” Claudia’s mouth tightened. “But God willing, I won’t be needing anyone’s help with that for a long time, if ever.”
He talked about his old wife with his new one. Yet hadn’t said a word to Derrick or Claudia about these twins—only that he had new children now and he was well and truly settled in California. Bastard. Claudia must be aching.
Dez’s phone rang. She fumbled in her pocket for it, answering without checking the caller ID. Whoever it was, she would talk to them. It had to be better than this farce playing out in front of her.
“Hello?”
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
“What?”
“If that’s all you have to offer, I’ll take it. The ride could be fun.”
Victoria.
A puff of breath, thick with relief and anticipation, left her mouth. Dez made brief excuses to her family as she turned around and left the room. “All right. Can I come over tonight? I’ll bring a copy of my STD test results.”
A puff of breath, thick with relief and anticipation, left her mouth. Dez made brief excuses to her family as she turned around and left the room. “All right. Can I come over tonight? I’ll bring a copy of my STD test results.”
Victoria laughed. “No. It’s not going to work that way. How about dinner? Maybe some dancing. A little wooing first. I know it’s just fucking, but let’s not dispense with the foreplay.”
Dez laughed at herself. “You’re right. Um . . . tomorrow after you close up. I’ll meet you. We can go out after.”
“Okay. See you at the store.” Her giggle flirted with Dez through the phone. “We can trade test results then.”
She took a deep breath before going back inside. The Nichols, old and new, were getting along splendidly. No one seemed to even notice that she had stepped out of the room. Susha and Claudia sat closely together on the couch talking like old school chums while Derrick and their father stood at the bar refreshing their manly drinks and talking shop. Lovely. Dez picked up her glass of scotch and walked to the window.
Beyond the blue-tinted glass, city lights beckoned. They made her long to be outside, away from this generic hotel suite and the fake smiles and awkward silences. Was she the only one who wondered why they were all here in the first place? What was Susha thinking here in this hotel room faced with her husband’s old family? Did she have doubts about Warrick? Did she wonder if he would leave her, the mother of his new set of twins, for someone with a firmer belly and more looks than sense? Dez would never do that to anyone. Despite what her mother said, that was one thing that Dez did not share with her father: If she made a promise, she didn’t turn around and take it back later on. She avoided that trap by never making any at all.
She deliberately shook off her grim thoughts and turned her attention back to the conversation going on in the room. Claudia said something about Susha’s children, connecting them to Dez and Derrick in a deliberate and cheerful way. It literally made Dez ill to see her mother be nice to this . . . man.
“Desiree, darling.”
She looked at her mother.
“Susha was just wondering where the best places are to go couture shopping in the city. What do you suggest?”
“That depends. Is Warrick paying?” She shoved herself off the wall and went to join her family.
After too many hours of small talk and strong drinks, Warrick’s old family left him to it at the hotel. Under her children’s watchful eyes, Claudia called some of her friends to meet her at a cocktail party nearby. She said that she needed something cheerful after the dismal gathering she’d just left. Dez saw her off with a frown.
“I hope she’s all right.”
Her brother wasn’t worried. “Mama will be fine. She’s a lot stronger than either of us gives her credit for.”
Dez made an uncertain noise.
“Come out for a real drink with me. I need to wash the taste of all that bullshit off my tongue.”
She looked at him in surprise. Did Derrick just offer to spend more time in her presence? Willingly? “Sure.”
They went to a bar nearby, a straight one, of course, that had enough eye candy to keep Dez entertained. Cigarette smoke curled in the air around them, snaking into their clothes and hair. At their quiet table, Dez sipped her rum and Coke and watched the parade of scantily clad women with surprisingly little interest. Her mind strayed to Victoria, lingered on the memory of her mouth, her lush breasts. No one in the bar seemed nearly as fuckable. Ah well. She turned to her brother. Derrick moved his tumbler of scotch around on the table.
Dez suddenly realized that she could count the facts she knew about the adult Derrick on one hand: He could have damn near any woman he wanted. Claudia trusted him and, as if that wasn’t enough, he was brilliant. Fresh out of law school and having aced the Florida bar exam, he got hired by one of the top firms in Miami and was already their golden black boy. If she cared enough, Dez could have been jealous. But there was only one thing she cared about now.
“Your daddy is a serious piece of work, isn’t he?”
“Tell me about it. He’s changed.” Derrick chuckled, but it was without any real humor. “I used to want to be like him in the worst way.”
No shit, Mr. Lawyerman with the penthouse suite and thousand-dollar suits.
“But tonight when he flaunted his new life in front of us, his new twins, his gorgeous new wife with the Berkeley education and the foreign accent, I wanted to kill him. I’ve never seen Mama look so hurt.”
No shit, Mr. Lawyerman with the penthouse suite and thousand-dollar suits.
“But tonight when he flaunted his new life in front of us, his new twins, his gorgeous new wife with the Berkeley education and the foreign accent, I wanted to kill him. I’ve never seen Mama look so hurt.”
“Where the fuck were you when he dicked us over the first time? Did you forget the divorce? Him leaving us?”
“Shit, Dez, we were just kids. Besides, even then I knew that things happen between a married couple that aren’t necessarily any one person’s fault.”
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