The Beauty Within (15 page)

reaction to him that she’d avoided him for weeks, and it hadn’t helped he’d

been her prefect assigned to her group of freshmen. It wasn’t until he had
forced

her to contribute in one of the meetings they’d held that some of his mystifica-

tion dissipated, and soon he’d become her closest confidante outside of

Wendy.

Here he was, a senior and brilliant, trying to become the first in his family

to graduate college and go to law school to boot, who thought about serious

things and went out of his way to make her comfortable with him and the

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Savannah J. Frierson

school that had really touched Tyler. It also hadn’t hurt he was tall, broad, and

sexy, but since she’d firmly put him in the older brother/yeah right! category,

she’d managed to remain unaffected by it.

That was, until he had kissed her.

It had happened her sophomore year, and he’d been walking her from the

law school library where they had studied together. She’d been talking about

how lucky she was to have gotten a dorm on campus, but he’d seemed distant

throughout her entire one-sided conversation. Sensing this, Tyler had mum-

bled a goodbye and started for the door, when he’d grabbed her bicep, tugged

her back to him gently, and kissed her softly. He’d pulled back to gauge her

reaction, but she hadn’t said anything, simply going into her building, up the

stairs to her room, and then to her bed.

She had the distinct desire to do the very same now.

“Can I at least get the cut.”

“Why are you even in Durham? Shouldn’t you be in Raleigh? Apparently

since they have the best everything—including and especially women.”

“Tyler—”

“Get. Out.”

Quincy moved closer instead. “It can’t be this way forever, Tyler. We need

to talk—”

“I thought you said everything you needed to say on the phone
six years

ago
—!”

“Not everything…look, if you won’t give me a cut, I understand, but can

you at least meet me for dinner?”

“For what?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“About?”

Quincy touched her chin softly, and she gasped softly. “Us.”

She eased her chin out of his grip and looked at the counter space separat-

ing them.
Us?!
This Negro had some nerve!
Six years later and he was acting as if

he’d only been on a long vacation in the interim.

“You’ve been on my mind a lot recently,” Quincy admitted. He didn’t move

closer, but by the way his eyes bored into her, closer proximity wasn’t neces-

sary. “I’ve missed you so much, Tyler. Can we meet? Talk? We can even go as

friends if you’d like—”

“Make sure it’s some hole-in-the-wall place so nobody sees you with me—”

“Tyler, stop. I’ve never been ashamed of you—”

“
Get. Out!
” She was so close to crying, and she wouldn’t give Quincy the

satisfaction. Why did he have to sound so damn sincere? She’d been there; she

remembered the phone call, and the lack of communication in the years

afterward. What did it matter he’d remembered her penchant for staying late

and taking customers who would come a few minutes after closing because she

couldn’t bring herself to turn them away? What did it matter he spoke in the

The Beauty Within

81

voice he would use any time he was trying to convince her how wonderful and

smart and capable she was? He was playing low and dirty and she didn’t

appreciate it at all.

Nor did she appreciate the fact he’d snuck up to her and his touch still

made her feel what she’d felt when they had been together.

“I don’t need a haircut,” he confessed, his dark brown eyes darting over her

face. “I just needed to see you again. Please? Have dinner with me…”

Tyler’s breath became shallow, and as hard as she tried to look away, he

held her captive. They were so close, all she would have to do was lean forward

and brush her lips against his, wonder if the kiss would make her feel as she

had in the past…as Gunnar had…

“No…” Tyler moaned, closing her eyes.
Damn
Quincy!
He must have some

sort of sensor when it came to her, for only now, when she was
really
interested

in another man, did he come back to completely confuse her.

She was interested in Gunnar?

“Why me? Why
now
?” she asked mostly to herself.

“Would you believe it took me this long to drum up the courage?” Quincy

asked on a chuckle.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Tyler murmured honestly. This whole

evening was surreal to her. She just wanted to be alone now to process every-

thing.

The backs of his fingers caressed her cheek again, and the flutters inside

her intensified. “Here,” he began, reaching into his breast pocket and pulling a

business card. He scribbled numbers on the back before putting the card in her

hand and closing his over it. “My contact information and my private cell

phone. Call me. Anytime. I’m staying with some friends until Sunday, but

Raleigh isn’t a thousand miles away so…” He squeezed her hand and stepped

even closer so they were only a breath apart. “Please, Tyler Marie. Dinner?”

“I’ll think about it,” her mouth said before she could stop it.

The smile he shone made him appear years younger and the man with

whom she’d first fallen in love. He kissed her cheek lingeringly and bent his

mouth to her ear. “Thank you, Ty,” he whispered, and with a final graze of

knuckles against her cheek, left the shop.

Tyler operated on automatic from the time she cleaned and locked up Soul

Cuts to the moment she stepped foot in her home. She looked down at her

hands to see how violently she trembled, and she sent a silent thankful prayer

to God that she’d made it home safely. What in the world was going on? Not

one, but
two
men, so different in appearance and demeanor, and yet…

She went into her room and changed, her stomach too in knots for her to

eat. After slipping under the covers of her bed, she picked up the cordless

phone and dialed.

“Hey, Ty—”

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Savannah J. Frierson

“He kissed me, and then
he
came in the shop and kissed me, and now I

don’t know what to do because he kissed me, but he came back, and now—I

just—oh, Wendy, what should I do?”

“Uh…wha?”

Tyler laughed, realizing she’d bum-rushed her sister with the details. She

took a deep breath and repeated everything slowly, making sure not to leave

anything out so her sister could give her the appropriate advice. When Tyler

finished talking, Wendy didn’t speak immediately.

“You still there?” Tyler asked.

“Unresolved sexual tension.”

“For?”

“Both, but it’s more than sexual with Quincy.”

“Yeah…” Tyler agreed slowly, unsure if it weren’t more than sexual with

Gunnar, either. She really enjoyed his company, though during the past few

meetings she’d practically choked on the sexuality he emanated.

“He was wrong to come at you like that, and with Gunnar there too? I’m

sure that was
fun
!”

“Why now? Why
now
after all this time? Quincy must need something; but

I already gave him everything, most of all my heart, and he gave it back shat-

tered. I don’t know if I have anything more to give—”

“No, it’s your turn to take,” Wendy decreed. “Answers. I think you should

meet him and demand them of him.”

“But the feelings—”

“Baby girl, you never got any closure! And the fact he dropped that on you

during daddy’s funeral…too many emotions jockeying for space. You should at

least hear what he has to say.”

Tyler pursed her lips, not liking the idea at all, yet unable to deny she was

very curious about what Quincy had to say. Maybe she should; she hadn’t

really been able to move on because she hadn’t officially closed that chapter in

her life, but she didn’t want to revisit those pages, either. Something that had

started so beautiful and wonderful had ended badly, and the ink still wasn’t

dry enough for her.

“I’ll think about it,” Tyler murmured, unable to give Wendy, Quincy, or

herself a suitable answer.

“Don’t rush it, girl. And if you think you’re not ready to see him this week-

end, then don’t. Like he said, he only lives in Raleigh, not Tokyo!”

Tyler laughed quietly and bid her sister goodnight, more confused than

ever.

She managed to avoid both Gunnar and Quincy until her training session

with Gunnar at his home. She was more nervous this time than she’d been

when he’d first come to pick her up. When he greeted her at the door, he stared

at her for a few moments before murmuring a greeting and turning away from

her.

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83

It was a clear sign this session wouldn’t go well.

Gunnar was short with her, impatient, almost as bad as he’d been when

they had first met. Gunnar had quite a temper, and it didn’t help Tyler’s own

emotions were raw. He didn’t insult her, but he wasn’t as gentle in his touches

as he usually was, and he made it a point not to look into her eyes whenever he

spoke to her.

The final straw was when Gunnar grabbed her wrist a little too roughly as

he positioned it on the handles of his weight machine, and she yanked her hand

away. “
What
is your problem?”

To his credit, he didn’t play dumb, instead clenching his jaw and avoiding

looking at her, again. That frustrated Tyler even more and she huffed. “Men.”

“
Men
?! Women aren’t all sunshine and roses, either!”

“Oh!”

Gunnar decided to invade her personal space by straddling the bench on

which she sat, facing her. He was so close she could feel his breath on her lips

and their noses almost touched. His gray eyes were tempestuous, yet still

beautiful, and they drew her in.

“Who was he, Tyler?”

She blinked. “Who was who?”

“That guy from the shop. Who was he?”

Tyler dropped her eyes from his and shrugged. “An old friend.”

Gunnar snorted, shaking his head and bringing his face closer to hers.

“He’s not old and he certainly wasn’t looking at you like a friend should!”

That comment annoyed her, especially because he was right. “
You
don’t

look at me like a friend should, either, sometimes!”

“
That’s
because I don’t
want
to be your friend!”

Tyler jerked as if she’d been slapped, that eerie feeling of déjà vu overcom-

ing her. “I see…”

“No,” Gunnar said, grasping her chin with a tenderness she hadn’t felt from

him all day. “You don’t see, and I can’t understand why because it’s as plain as

day! I want to be more than that with you, and you want to be more than that

with me; but for some reason you can’t, and I know whatever that reason is,

that guy from the shop has something to do with it.”

Damn his perception!
“Simple as that, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Because it’ll be so easy for us to be more than friends? What? Trying to see

if the rumors are true about fat girls? Black girls? A little exoticism in your life

before you go back to skinny white girls named Becky and Holly?”

Gunnar recoiled from her. “What’s gotten into you?”

Tyler was shaking violently, her mouth moving before she could censor

herself. “I’m not interested in being your little experiment, Gunnar Daniels. So

you go find someone else to try to butter up, okay?”

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Savannah J. Frierson

Gunnar blinked at her, his face red and his eyes blazing with silver heat.

“Fine.”

Within her, Tyler felt the sob that was an exhalation away from a com-

plete breakdown, so she held her breath as she gathered her belongings and left

his house. It didn’t matter she hadn’t finished the session yet, all she knew was

that she needed to leave so he wouldn’t see her cry.

Nine

Tyler cursed her weakness, her confusion. She also wished Wendy would

keep her mouth shut sometimes. Had Tyler needed to know Gunnar had gone

on a date with an ex-girlfriend over the weekend? No, she had not. In fact,

Tyler had had much fun imagining Gunnar was just as miserable as she’d been

all weekend, especially since she was sure she’d gained twenty pounds inhaling

two boxes of Girl Scout cookies while sitting on the couch watching the TCM

channel.

She hadn’t eaten the box Gunnar had given her, though. She couldn’t bring

herself to do that yet.

It wasn’t any of Tyler’s business who he dated, anyway. They weren’t to-

gether, and she had no claim over him and vice versa. In fact, that was what

Wendy had said Damon had said when he’d talked to Gunnar on the phone,

but Wendy had apologized that she didn’t know anymore because Damon had

figured out Wendy was eavesdropping from the kitchen.

“‘Call my cell’, he said,” Wendy grumbled with a look of indignation. She

was sitting in the barber’s chair as Tyler touched up her hair the Wednesday

following the dreadful training session. “That Negro had Gunnar call his cell

phone so I couldn’t listen anymore! How rude!”

“Rude?”

“Yes! And
then
, he wouldn’t tell me nothin’, talkin’ ’bout it was a ‘private