His Betrayal Her Lies (14 page)

She glided up and embraced him in a hug. He
could have sworn his heart stopped beating for those three seconds.
“Hello, Kalon. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”

Kalon couldn’t speak. She waited for him to
take his seat before she spoke again. “You look nice tonight.”

Kalon still said nothing. He snapped out of
his trance when he noticed Taylor was looking at him with a curious
stare. “I’m sorry; it’s just that you’re stunning tonight,” he
said.

Taylor blushed. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure if
you weren’t talking because you were mad at me for being late or if
you were just being rude.” They shared an easy laugh. She picked up
her menu.

Regaining his nerve, Kalon revealed, “There’s
something I’ve being dying to ask you from the first time I met
you.”

She put the menu down and looked into his
eyes. “And what’s that?”

“What is your nationality?”

Taylor smiled. “Well, my father is half Irish
and black and my mother is Cherokee Indian,” she said, taking a sip
of her water.

“Oh wow, I was way off. That does explain
your red hair and high cheek bones though.”

“What race did you think I was?”

Kalon braced his elbows on the table. “I
thought you were from Barbados.”

Taylor let out a loud laugh, then immediately
covered her mouth, looking around to make sure no one heard her
outburst. “That’s funny. I’ve heard Hawaiian, half-White, but never
Barbados before. And since my hair used to be fire red in grade
school, all the kids used to call me Pippi Longstocking.”

This time it was Kalon who let out a hearty
laugh. He laughed so loud that other people started to look at
them. Taylor chuckled along with him.

“Oh, I’m sorry to laugh this hard, but that
was funny.” He caressed her hand. “They should see you now. They
would retract that statement.”

She pulled her hand from under his and waved
him off.

Kalon took another sip of his rum and coke
and cleared his throat. “So, Ms. Taylor, what’s the deal with you?
Because I know this is more than just a business dinner.”

“I should be asking you the same thing.
You’ve been so persistent to get me to go out.”

“I’ve told you my agenda. I want to get to
know you better and see where this goes. Tell me something about
yourself I don’t know.”

A baby cried at a table nearby. Kalon noticed
Taylor watching as the mother picked the infant up and cooed to
him. The baby quieted down, and Taylor returned her attention to
Kalon. “As you guessed, there’s a lot about me you don’t know. But
in time, I might be more open about things.”

Assessing Taylor closely, Kalon inquired,
“What do you mean there’s a lot about you I don’t know? I want to
get to know everything about you. And I want to hear it from you; I
don’t go for that he-says, she-says stuff.”

“Let’s just take this slow, Kalon. You don’t
expect a girl to spill everything about herself on the first
date.”

He smiled and wondered if she realized that
she had said date. Not wanting to pressure her, he said, “I’ll let
it go for now. But I’m a man who likes to know what I’m dealing
with.”

Their appetizers came. The rest of their
conversation flowed effortlessly. Kalon got the feeling that Taylor
liked his sense of humor and she felt comfortable around him.

“So Kalon, tell me about your last
girlfriend.”

Buttering his bread, Kalon answered, “To be
honest with you, Taylor, my last real girlfriend was in high
school.”

“Stop lying,” Taylor said playfully.

“I’m not lying. I would never lie to you.” He
prided himself on always telling women the truth, even if it hurt
their feelings. He figured if he was honest up front, then there
would be no room for speculations. “I would like to have a
girlfriend one day; I just haven’t met her yet.”

Sprinkling salt on her garlic potatoes,
Taylor looked at him suspiciously. “You sure it’s not because
you’re so picky?”

“I prefer to say that I’m selective.”

Two tall slender women walked up to their
table before Taylor could get out her next question. “Kalon, you’re
going to sit there and not come over and speak?”

Kalon could feel his face turn red. “Hello,
Patricia. If I would’ve seen you, then I would have spoken.”

Taylor snapped her finger when he said the
woman’s name. Patricia turned in Taylor’s direction, smacking her
lips and rolling her eyes. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Maybe you remember me from the night when
you were here with Kalon and I was here with my two friends.”

“I remember you from that night but there’s
something else.” Patricia tapped her index finger on her lips like
she was trying to figure out a mystery. “It’s like I’ve seen you
somewhere before that.”

“I assure you that you don’t know me.” Taylor
nervously shifted in her seat.

In a voice that almost sounded like a veiled
threat, Patricia said, “I never forget a face; it’ll come back to
me.”

Taylor gave her a half smile.

Kalon interrupted their conversation. “It was
nice seeing you, Patricia.”

“Don’t dismiss me like that, Kalon.”

He felt himself losing his cool. “Is there
anything else? You spoke and I spoke.”

Patricia flipped her straight hair behind her
ear. “Nope. I’m leaving and I’ll see you soon.” She turned to the
other girl who was standing by her side and looking back and forth
among the three. “Let’s go. I can’t believe this fool is going to
act like he doesn’t know me after the night we spent together.”

Taylor caught the waiter’s attention as he
walked by carrying three beers on a tray.

“Is there anything else I can get you,
ma’am?”

“Yes, the check please.”

Kalon waited for the waiter to leave. “Why
are you asking for the check? We haven’t had dessert.”

Taylor reached inside her clutch purse. “I
don’t want any dessert.”

This date had just taken a turn for the
worse. “Wait, Taylor. Why all of a sudden the harsh tone and
wanting to leave abruptly?”

She let out a sigh. “I don’t have time to
keep running into your women and having them be rude to me. You
need to keep a lid on their mouths. I just don’t need the
drama.”

So she was jealous.
He had dealt with
that kind of women in the past and it had left a sour taste in his
mouth. But the way Taylor’s bottom lip slightly poked out actually
made him get a hard-on. She looked like a scoop of chocolate ice
cream when she was mad. All he wanted to do was take a lick.

Stretching his arm across the table, Kalon
placed his hand on top of Taylor’s. “Please let me pay for dinner.
I apologize if I put you in an awkward position but the truth is,
Taylor, I have dated a lot of women. If you go out with me, we
might run into some of them. One thing you should know about me is
I will treat you with respect and never intentionally hurt
you.”

This was a line Kalon spat to all his women
but he actually meant it with Taylor. He felt kind of uneasy about
how truthful he wanted to be with her. He decided to figure it all
out later. “I know this nice Reggae club I’d like to take you to in
Lincoln Park. I’m just not ready for the night to end.”

Taylor put her hand in her lap and smiled.
“Naw, thanks for the offer. I have a long day tomorrow.”

With a puppy dog face, Kalon started whining.
“Ahhhhh, come on, Taylor, pleeeease. Come out with me. I promise to
be on my best behavior.”

He could see the wheels turning in her mind
as she weighed the situation. Finally he heard her say, “Okay, I’ll
have one drink and then that’s it.”

She sounded doubtful and excited at the same
time, like she wasn’t ready to end the night but was afraid to let
things go any further. Kalon threw a fifty dollar bill on the table
and stood before she could change her mind. “Great. You can follow
me. It’s only like thirty minutes from here.”

Helping Taylor up from her seat, he lightly
touched the small of her back and steered her toward the coat
check. When the woman behind the counter gave Taylor her coat,
Kalon handed her a few singles. After he made sure that Taylor was
safely strapped inside her BMW, he hopped in his Maserati and
pulled in front of her to lead the way to their next stop.

* * *

Wild Hare Club in Lincoln Park was crowed,
considering it was a weekday. The small, club had dark, tinted
windows that kept people outside from seeing in. The only lights on
the building were the ones running around the Wild Hare Club sign
posted on the front of the building.

Kalon pulled up to the side of Taylor’s car
and told her to valet park. She got out and turned her keys over to
the attendant outside the club. Standing on the sidewalk waiting
for Kalon to park his car, she noted that the line to get in
wrapped around the block. He soon met up with her and grabbed her
hand.

Getting on her tiptoes, Taylor whispered in
his ear, “This line is too long; maybe we should go somewhere
else.”

He looked down at her and smiled. Tugging her
closely behind him, he walked straight up to the guard at the door
and they embraced in a short hand shake and hug. The bulky man
pulled back the ropes and they walked right into the bar. Taylor
was impressed.

The club was small. Everybody was practically
on top of each other either dancing or talking. There was a
circular bar in the middle of the room and up high were roped-off
lounge seats. Purple, green, and orange lights flickered from
above. The band on stage was made up of some Jamaicans with long
dreads and singing in their native tongue. Taylor knew some of the
music that was being played because Ari listened to it. These were
his people and she started to feel a little guilty to be out with
another man. Although, they were separated it still went against
her principles.

The thought of Maci popped into Taylor’s
head; the guilt she felt about being here with Kalon vanished
quickly.

Kalon led her upstairs to the roped-off
section. The man guarding the ropes let them through and they sat
in a small booth made for two. The music was so loud that Taylor
had to shout in Kalon’s ear. “You must be a regular here.”

Obviously happy that she noticed that he had
pull, he said with an air of confidence, “You can say that. The
twin brother of my best friend and business partner, Ephraim, owns
this club.”

“Oh.” Taylor answered. She sat back against
the padded seats and listened to the music.

“Do you want something to drink?” Kalon
shouted into her ear.

“I’ll take a rum and coke.”

Kalon motioned the waitress over and
whispered the orders in her ear. He scooted closer to Taylor, then
placed an arm across the back of the booth, just above Taylor’s
shoulders, and a hand on her thigh. Taylor kept looking straight
ahead, trying not to let this man know that him being so close to
her was working on all her five senses. They sat like that for at
least five minutes, but to Taylor it felt like hours. With him up
on her like that, she was afraid to turn her head for fear that
they would kiss.

The music became slow and sultry. Couples on
the dance floor got close and intimate. Kalon leaned over and
started blowing on the base of Taylor’s neck. It felt like the
thermostat in the place had been turned up to one hundred. Taylor’s
panties instantly became wet and she felt her clit starting to
throb. She needed to stop him.

As she turned to tell him he was making her
uncomfortable, he kissed her. Lips as soft as cotton and breath
that smelled like cool winter-fresh mints captured her. His tongue
was asking for permission to enter her mouth and Taylor didn’t have
the strength to deny him access. She opened her mouth and Kalon’s
tongue roamed all over, making love to her mouth. Taylor let out a
soft moan. He responded by deepening the kiss.

Her mind became mush and all she could think
about was the way he was making her feel. She felt his hand
squeezing her thigh and working its way under her dress up to her
middle section. Taylor grabbed the back of his neck and this time
she drank from him and sucked on his bottom lip. She felt Kalon
pulling back from the kiss. What she saw in his eyes was pure lust.
He traced her succulent lips one last time with his tongue before
he ended the kiss.

Their breathing was choppy and their chests
heaved up and down. Taylor let out a groan in disappointment but
then felt embarrassed and ashamed. She pulled down her dress and
tried to focus her attention on the stage.

***

The night went on and Kalon never tried to
kiss her again. They never talked about the kiss or what it meant.
They had danced a couple of times then sat and chatted. A few
random women had the nerve to walk up to him and ask him to dance.
Taylor couldn’t believe that they openly did that in front of her.
Kalon had turned them down nicely, telling them he was on a
date.

She checked her cell phone. It was one in the
morning. “Kalon, I think I need to be heading home. It’s really
late.”

There was no resistance from him. He paid the
liquor tab and grabbed her hand. They wove their way through the
crowd of dancers and left. Taylor handed her ticket to the parking
attendant. As the couple waited for her car, Kalon turned toward
her and took both of her hands in his. “I really had a great
evening with you tonight.”

Taylor smiled. “I had a great night,
too.”

“Can we do this again?”

Taylor wondered if she should tempt fate
again. “Why don’t you call me and we’ll see.”

Kalon’s jaw tightened and he dropped her
hands. “Oh, I see we’re back to that again.”

“Back to what again?”

“You playing hard to get. I thought we had
gotten past that.”

Feeling defensive, Taylor fought back. “I’m
not trying to play hard to get.” She waited before she said more,
giving herself time to calm down and lower her voice. “Look, I have
a full schedule the rest of this week and I just need to see when
I’m free again.” She saw that he liked that answer better than the
first one she gave him.