Heard It All Before (28 page)

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Authors: Michele Grant

BOOK: Heard It All Before
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28
After the Dance
Roman—Sunday, February 5, 3:11a.m.
 
 
I
let my head fall back against the pillows as Jewellen slid down my body. She was turning me inside out, had been all night long. We pretty much came in and marched straight upstairs to her bed. She stripped me down and said, “I'm only gonna say this once, so listen good. I'm sorry for bringing up the name of an old lover in your bed. I'm sorry for playing games. I'm sorry if I take you for granted sometimes. I'm sorry I get insecure and lash out. I'm sorry. Far as I'm concerned, no one compares to you. You're it for me—past, present, future—you hear me, Romeo?”
“I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I let it get so far. I just wanted—”
“You wanted to be right and have me admit it.” She dropped the halter on her dress.
My concentration on the conversation slipped a little bit, but I dug deep for the answer as she raised her leg to unstrap her shoe. “Shallow of me, I know, baby. But I felt like—”
“Like you're always the one who gives in?” She finished with the shoes and starting rolling down her thigh-high panty hose.
I nodded. “Yeah, but it shouldn't be that way; we should talk, not walk.”
“If I hadn't come to get you tonight, would you have called me?”
I watched as she shimmied out of her strapless bustier thing. Even though my next words could affect my shot at handling the goodies she was displaying, I decided to be honest. “I'm not sure.”
She stood in front of me with nothing but some wispy panties on. “Pride. Hmm. It's gonna break us if we don't learn to bend. Fair enough, at least now I know where I stand and I know what I've got. I've still got you, right?”
“Anyway you want me,
Bijou,
” I replied, and reached for her. Enough words.
We got a nap in round midnight. I kissed her awake a minute ago, and she was taking her time turning me inside out.
“So tell me something, player?”
I groaned as she took me in her hand and started a diabolical stroke. Ah, hell.
“Hmm?”
“You want light licking with teasing nips or strong, steady sucking?” She demonstrated both.
“Ah, that's evil, Miss Jewel.” Maybe it was my imagination, but damned if Miss Jewel wasn't getting real good at this. Christ, mighty good.
She lifted her head for a second. “Want that I should stop?”
“Doncha dare,” I ground out as she started in again.
“Sure I'm not still on restrictions?”
“Jewel ... evil,” I hissed.
“Just ... a ... little ... quid ... pro ... quo,
'tit chou
,” she whispered in between licks. Girl had a mean streak a mile long. As if she sensed my thought, she sped up a little and added a tickling thing with her finger.
“Yeah, uh-huh. Like that right there, baby.” I was getting into the rhythm when I could have sworn I heard a banging sound.
She lifted her head again and I groaned. “Do ... NOT ... stop.” Not now! Damn, it
was
a banging sound. Like on the front door!
“Do you hear that?” she asked me, sitting up and reaching for a robe.
“Yeah, damn it all. Who the hell is it at three in the morning?” While she went downstairs, I opened the dresser drawer she had given me. My stuff was still in there. I pulled on some shorts and ran to follow her. That time of night, I would be opening the door. I stepped in front of her and looked out the peephole. “I'll be damned—it's the fly girl.”
Jewel frowned at me. “Renee's here? Now?” She reached around me, keyed in the alarm code, and opened the door.
The fly girl didn't look so fly. Her hair was all over the place, her makeup was streaking down her face, and her clothes didn't match. She had on purple sweatpants, a bright red shirt, and green tennis shoes. Something had to be real wrong; fly girl didn't step out the crib without matching from tip to toe.
“Girl, what is it?” Jewel asked, and led her inside. I would have let her stand outside and spill the story. Wouldn't you know that Renee's damn crisis had to interrupt my reconciliation? I was just about to apologize the hell out of Jewel.
Renee flung herself down on the sofa and started sobbing. Jewel exchanged a look with me before kneeling beside her. In time, she sat up and extended her hand to Jewel. “It's gone, homegirl. Gone!”
Jewel blinked up at her, not understanding. I got it in a heartbeat. Greg wised up and dumped her phony ass. And look at her, she was more concerned over losing that damn rock. She came up in here busting up my shit and said, “It's gone.” Not
he's
gone, but the damn ring. Jewel looked over at me, and we exchanged knowing glances. I shook my head and went upstairs. In my opinion, she got exactly what was coming to her perpetrating ass. Thought it best I didn't stay down there and share my opinions.
 
 
Renee—Sunday, February 5, 3:20 a.m.
“Girl, I f'ed this up bad,” I told Jewellen.
She sighed and sat down next to me. “Just tell me what happened.”
My voice was raw from screaming and crying. Took a deep breath and broke it on down.
“Beau and I went upstairs to one of the suites to have a drink.”
“Renee!” Jewellen looked disappointed.
“Don't judge me, Jew-Ro.”
She put her hands up. “Okay, okay.”
I continued. “We just sitting there drinking champagne. I said it was delicious; he said it probably didn't taste as good as me. I asked him if he wanted to find out, and one thing led to another.”
“One thing led to another?! You invited him to—”
“I know what I did, Jewellen.” I just couldn't help myself. In retrospect, my timing could have been SO much better. “Anyway, I told him to lock the door but—”
She gasped. “Wait a minute ... Greg walked in while Beau was—”
“Yeah,” I cut her off. “He and Roni Mae walked in. Beau was naked and rock hard, just doing his thing. Girl, that boy ...” I shivered just thinking about Beau's fine ass. Talented fine ass.
“Renee, focus! Greg walked in with Roni Mae?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he say?”
“I don't recall exactly, you know? Couldn't have been good. He took my hand off Beau's head, slid off the ring, and left.”
“Did you go after him?”
Okay, this part I felt bad about. I knew the right thing to do was to run after him, but I was in an awkward position and felt it was probably best that he cooled down for a minute. “I thought I'd give him time to cool off.”
Jewellen looked at me like I was crazy. Then her eyes went wide. “Darnella Renee Nightingale, PLEASE do NOT tell me you finished what you were doing with Beau before going after your fiancé?!”
When she put it like that, I felt shamed. I dropped my eyes.
She sighed again, deeply this time. “So after that, what happened?”
“After I, um, finished up in the suite, I went downstairs. Gregory wasn't there, and Roni Mae was gone. I went home, but he wasn't there. I just knew he'd be there waiting for me so we could fight it out. I called everywhere. He's not answering his cell. I can't find Roni Mae. I finally changed clothes and drove around looking for him. I can't find him, girl. I can't find him!” I started crying again.
“Let me ask you one thing, Renee,” she said softly. “Was it worth it?”
“If you are asking if it was good—”
“Hell no, I'm not asking if it was good! I am asking you if getting done by Beauregard Montgomery was worth losing your marriage to Gregory Samson?”
“Girl, please, did you not just crawl out of your sex sheets with the younger Montgomery?” I had to point it out.
She hopped up. “Renee, Roman is my boyfriend. Neither of us hurt ANYBODY else by being together. Are you crazy or just delusional?”
I hopped up too. “You supposed to be my girl. You supposed to have my back!”
“I am—I do—but that also includes calling your ass on the carpet when you are wrong. I mean, you DO know you're wrong, don't you?”
I hung my head. It was all starting to sink in. “I know, I know, but I can fix it. Greg loves me. It was just this one time. He'll forgive me. It'll be okay.”
Jewel didn't say anything, just looked at me all crooked.
“What? Rome took your ass back!”
Jewellen got angry. And Jewellen angry is no joke. “You have lost your mind! Why do you keep pulling Roman into your shit? Here's the deal: You messed up. Bad. You landed the guy you always wanted to land, but you just couldn't help yourself from wanting a little more. From being a little greedy. What's bad is this: Everybody knew it. Everybody saw it. Everybody, including Greg, warned you. And you did it anyway. That boy probably did love you; he asked you to marry him. Did you even think about that tonight? He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. You think Beau is gonna give you a ring?”
She wasn't helping. I was tired. My head hurt, and I just didn't want to think anymore tonight. “Just help me get him back. Tell me what to do.”
She shrugged. “I can't imagine. I'm tapped out. I got nothing.”
Now I was angry. “I come to you with the biggest problem I've ever faced in my life and this is what you got for me. You got nuthin'? Are you shitting me?”
She shrugged again. “I'm sorry. I don't know what the protocol is for begging and groveling my fiancé to take me back after I slept with a guy he specifically told me not to sleep with. They didn't teach this in my etiquette class.”
“Oh, you got jokes. I'm in pain here. I'm losing my man, and you got jokes?!”
She put her hands up. “I'm not joking. I don't know what to tell you. If begging and groveling doesn't work, I hope you can get your deposit back on the church and the caterer.”
I felt like she was being bitchy for no reason. “Kiss my ass, Jewellen.”
“Alrighty, then, on that note ... I was actually in the middle of something when you dropped by. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm here for you, but I honestly don't know what to say right now.”
Wait a minute—she was blowing me off for Roman? “You in such to hurry to lay under that ruffneck that you would send me back out in the street on the worst night of my life?!”
“Renee, before we say stuff we're gonna regret, you should head on home. See if Greg returned any of your calls. I'm always here for you. But right now, you need to get your head right.” She walked toward the door.
“That shit is cold, Jewellen. Thanks for your support.” I slammed out of the house. Climbing into my car, I checked my cell phone. No missed calls. It was five a.m. and I was alone.
 
 
Jewel—Sunday, February 5, 5:03 a.m.
I shut the door behind Renee and leaned back against it. God, I was tired. What a mess. I walked up the stairs and slid into bed beside Roman. Thank God he was here.
“What time is it, baby?” he asked me. I had missed that voice.
“About five; go on back to sleep.” I snuggled up next to him.
Instead, he turned over to face me. “How'd it come down? Was it Beau?”
So, he had known. “It was Renee but Beau helped. A lot.”
He winced. “Caught with the pants down?”
I nodded. “Red-handed, or in this case, red-tongued.”
“Ouch! Not the oral! Greg walked right in on it?”
“Him and Roni. Right on in.”
“Whew, that had to hurt. Bad way to go down.”
“No pun intended.”
He reached his arm over and pulled me to him. “You got jokes.”
“Yeah, apparently.” I sighed, snuggling into him as I reached for the phone. I punched in the number and waited.
“Hello?” a wide-awake voice answered, just as I assumed.
“He's there, isn't he, Roni?”
Silence was my answer. Just as I thought.
“I don't have to tell you you're just adding grease to the fire, salt to the wound? Renee just left here. She's been looking everywhere for Greg. She's real broken up.”
At this, Roni spoke. “I don't give a shit! I don't wanna hear about her! She can keep looking. God, Jewellen, if you could've seen her laid out on that table.”

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