Stuck with Him (2 page)

"Penny!"

Kiara wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into deep hug.

"You're okay!" she yelled. Her tears wet the side of my face. Then she pulled back and punched my arm. "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you come back early like everyone else? I couldn't get through to your phone! I even called Linda and she said you decided to stay late. Do you know how worried I was? I even ordered Chinese for you!"

I looked over to the kitchen table and saw three half-eaten boxes of cold noodles and chicken. Next to them were two bottles of beer, one closed, and the other open and nearly finished. I turned back to Kiara and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked. "I got hungry!"

Kiara pulled me inside and slammed the door behind me. The TV was channeled to a "news" station. The headline read, "Who Was the Mystery Woman Found with Matthieu Eamon Dufour?" I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.

"What happened with you and that guy?"

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it," I said. I took off my coat and flung it on the couch.

"Nothing?" Kiara asked. "There is no way I would be stuck with that guy and nothing would happen. He's
fine
."

I clenched my jaw. Couldn't she just get off the topic?

"Yeah well, he's not my type." I grabbed the bottle of beer and took a long swig before plopping onto the couch.

"Really? A super hot billionaire is not your type?
Right
."

I turned the TV back on, changed the channel, and raised the volume until I couldn't hear Kiara's chattering anymore.

"Look," I said, "there's nothing to say. So let's just change the subject."

Kiara stormed over and stood in front of the television. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.

"Penny, you're going to tell me everything that happened, or you're going to have a fun time explaining to your mom that ever since you left home you started drinking, partying, and getting up to strange antics with white boys in libraries. "

My eyes opened wide. "You wouldn't."

"Try me," Kiara said.

I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't joking, and I didn't have the energy to deal with my strict mom yelling at me over the phone line. Kiara won this war.

I slumped forward, burying my face in my hands.

"Fine…"

That was all it took. Kiara jumped into the couch next to me.

"So, so, what was he like?" she asked.

"He was…" I searched for a word that didn't give away too much. "Nice."

Kiara jabbed me in the side. "Nice? Just nice?"

"Okay, maybe not nice. He was cute. He was… Hot. Okay? He was hot!"

Kiara smiled. "Now that's more like it!"

"He came into the library looking for a rare French book –"

"Sounds like just your type," Kiara interrupted.

"Anyway, we ended up spending too much time looking at the collection and that's how we got stuck. We tried to figure out how to leave. And then one thing led to another…"

Kiara's jaw dropped. She grabbed me with both hands, looking like she was going to jump off the couch.

"No," she said, "you didn't!"

"It's not what you think! I didn't let him hit it or anything. It just got pretty, well, intimate."

"There's only one kind of intimate I can imagine with a guy who looks like that," Kiara said. "So when are you going to see him again? I want to meet him!"

That's when the smile fell from my face. I hugged one of the couch pillows to my chest.

"I'm not, and you won't," I said.

"What?"

"I don't ever want to see him again," I said. "I just want to go back to my regular life."

"You've gotta be out of your mind," Kiara said. She slumped down into the cushions.

"No, I just don't want to get caught up in his nonsense."

"His nonsense? I'd love to get caught up in that 'nonsense.' Girl, you made the wrong decision. That nonsense could have kept you and your whole family fashionable and taken care of. Why would you throw that away?"

I jumped off of the couch and walked to my bed on the other side of the room.

"I'm not gonna talk about it anymore," I said. "Good night."

Kiara didn't reply. She stomped over to her side of the room and pulled out her divider so I couldn't see her. I couldn't even remember the last time she'd used it. Kiara brought it with her when she moved in and we didn't know each other, but once we became friends it almost never came out. Yet there it was, standing between us.

My heart sank a little. Maybe I was being too stubborn. She only wanted the best for me, after all. Wasn't it her who gave me the courage to apply for the job at the library anyway?

I grabbed my towel and hid myself in the bathroom. It would be better if I could just forget about all this. Forget about Matt, about making Kiara sad. Right, what I needed was a long hot shower.

Chapter 3

It took a moment for the water to heat up after I turned on the faucet, but as soon as it did I jumped under the stream. It felt delicious. After being so cold for so long, it was amazing how a little bit of warm water made everything all better.

I let the steam built up around me and the water flow down my skin. I didn't have anything to worry about. The only choices I had were whether to use strawberry scented or chocolate scented body wash.

But then I felt it. His touch. Strong hands pressing into my legs and spreading them wide.

My heart throbbed in my chest. It felt so… so good. Without even thinking, I slipped my hand between my legs.It was a surprise just how wet I was.

Even if I wanted to forget him, my body remembered. In the shower, it all came racing back to me.

Matt's hot lips, burning as they pressed against my own. His cologne mixing with the scent of his sweat as his hot breath panted against me. His desire so obvious as he pressed my legs open and plunged his fingers inside of me.

Just the way I was doing. Just the way I wished he was doing again.

Before long, my breath was ragged. I leaned against the smooth tile, supporting myself as I thrust my own fingers in and out. One hand covered my mouth as I tried not to moan too loud. If Kiara heard, she would never let me live it down.

I wanted my fingers to be his. The feeling wasn't quite right. Mine were too small, too thin, too smooth. Where does a rich boy like that get such rough hands? Where does he learn to make women squirm and scream under his touch like that?

I told myself I didn't really want him. It was just a fantasy. I could fantasize about Idris Elba without ever meeting him, so why couldn't I indulge myself in a fantasy Matt?

Well, my fantasy Matt was done with his fingers. I plunged deeper inside myself and imagined him filling me up. That big white dick I had felt pressing through his pants slid into me up to the hilt.

That was all I needed.

My body shuddered. I almost lost my footing as my legs buckled beneath me and my stomach clenched. My toes curled and a long moan escaped through my fingers despite myself. When it was all over I was limp, wet, and exhausted.

I stepped out of the shower and started to get ready for bed. As I brushed my teeth, a little voice popped up in the back of my mind.

Why not go to him
, it said.

Another voice, angrier, answered.
Because he's a liar. He'll only cause trouble.

What about all that money? It would make life easier.

I don't need his money. I worked hard for what I have. I don't need any handouts.

But isn't he hot?

That's where the imaginary argument ended. He was. I couldn't argue with that. But there was still a problem: he was white. I'd always imagined myself with a black man, raising little brown children. A whole family portrait of brown faces gathered around the table at Thanksgiving. Tiny brown hands struggling to hang up ornaments on the Christmas tree.

I shook my head. What in the world was I even thinking about that for? It wasn't like he had asked me to marry him!

I finished getting ready for bed and hopped under the covers. Kiara was still tucked away behind her screen. Oh well. Maybe she would forgive me in the morning.

Chapter 4

The next morning, a loud noise woke me up from my sleep. With bleary eyes, I swatted at my alarm, but no matter how many times I pressed it, the noise didn't end. That's when I realized my alarm wasn't going off. What I was hearing was the sound of people.

It sounded the way a concert does, or a theme park. A constant roar of human voices, indistinct from one another. But where would that be coming from?

Had we left the TV on? Was it a very strange music track?

I ran over to Kiara and shook her awake.

"Kiara! Do you hear that?"

At first she was too sleepy to reply, but then her eyes went round.

"What
is
that?"

"That's exactly what I want to know!"

We started searching the room, looking under the few pieces of furniture that we had, but there was nothing.

"I think it's coming from outside," Kiara said.

"That doesn't make any sense, why would it be coming from outside?"

Then I saw her face. Kiara peaked behind the curtains, and whatever she saw struck her speechless.

"Kiara?" I asked. "What is it?"

She just pointed out the window. I came next to her and looked outside. What I saw took my breath away.

It was a crowd of paparazzi. As soon as they saw my face, the noise intensified. They started to scream and so many flashes went off that I could barely see. They had the entire building surrounded. I closed the curtain and pressed myself against the wall.

"What. The. Hell." I said. My hands were shaking.

"I think they're here for you," Kiara said.

"Thanks for the newsflash."

"No reason to be
rude
, Penny," Kiara said. Her lips were pursed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," I said. "This is just crazy."

"No shit," Kiara said and walked away from the window.

I slumped to the floor. This was all his fault. Now these crazy people were surrounding my home. How was I even going to get to work?

Kiara paced around our small room. She looked too deep in thought, and then suddenly she stopped in front of me.

"I have an idea," she said, "but you're going to need to get ready to go."

I didn't ask questions. I went through the motions of brushing my teeth and getting dressed as if I was sleepwalking. The entire time my stomach was tying itself in knots. I didn't have any brain capacity to spare for such boring things when my life was being turned upside down.

"All done," I said.

"Good," Kiara said.

She looked out of our peephole, and almost immediately jumped back. She pointed to the door, and I peeked out.

The paparazzi weren't just outside. A few intrepid "journalists" were parked outside of our door, just waiting for me to come out. Just the thought of it made a cold sweat cover my body.

"Okay," Kiara said, "I'm going to take one for the team. I'll distract them so you can go, but you owe me."

She had put on her most serious voice, as if I was supposed to be afraid of that. It was just another thing to add to the long list of stuff I owed her.

I walked over to Kiara and gave her a hug. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me," she said, "I'm doing this because I fully expect to be treated to a dinner at that new fancy restaurant when this all blows over."

Kiara grabbed the handle of the front door.

"Ready?" she asked.

Even though it wasn't quite true, I nodded.

"Good, let's go!"

Kiara flung the door open. Almost immediately, it began. The paparazzi started to yell, trying to get a good picture of me behind her.She threw her arms out wide, blocking their view.

"Get a look at
this
!" she yelled.

I ran down the hallway. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an elegant vase filled with flowers. One of the paparazzi bumped into it and the glass shattered on the floor.

Was that supposed to have been for me? Was it from Matt? I didn't have time to worry about it. I just had to get out of there while Kiara distracted everyone.

Chapter 5

I managed to make it to work without incident. There were no crowds following me, no pictures being taken. A clean getaway.

I was back to the peace and quiet of my home away from home. As I checked in, the head librarian, Ms. Hamilton came up to me.

"Hey Penelope, are you sure you're ready to come back so soon?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "I just want to get back to life as normal, you know?"

Ms. Hamilton smiled and patted my shoulder.
 

"Good. We're glad to have you back," she said.

A few of the other librarians asked me about what happened, but after a while it was back to business as usual. Stock the shelves. Quiet rowdy patrons. Track down missing books. And of course, plenty of time to read in between.

I had almost managed to forget about the whole incident that morning. I was so calm underneath the towers of books that I had managed to convince myself everything was okay. And it was. At least for a while.

It wasn't until an hour before closing that Ms. Hamilton came to talk to me again. I walked into her office, wondering what could be the matter.

As I closed the door behind me, she folded her hands into a steeple on her desk.

"It seems that we have a bit of a problem," she said, "are you aware?"

"A problem?" I searched my brain for what it could be. "I know I spent a little extra time in the lunch room today –"

"No, a
different
kind of problem," Ms. Hamilton said.

She turned to her computer and typed in something on her keyboard. Then she turned the screen to face me. As soon as I saw what was on it, my stomach dropped.

"Do you know these people?"

The screen showed the video feed right outside of the library. It was filled with paparazzi pressing against the door.

"The first one came around lunchtime," Ms. Hamilton said, "and they started filtering in one by one. Now there are so many that the patrons are having trouble entering and exiting the library."