The Company We Keep (10 page)

A
bout ten minutes after Reuben had left the room with Mia, Reuben and Carla returned to the dining room, where Teri and Nicole were still holding court, chatting with two young brothers.

“Excuse me, young bloods,” Reuben said, smiling from one of the young men to the other, then at Teri who looked bored beyond belief. “You won’t get out of this house until you dance with me,” he told Teri. He grabbed a relieved-looking Teri by her arm. He pulled her into the living room where music, mostly old-school golden oldies that he had recorded the day before, oozed from an entertainment center facing the fireplace.

Most of the guests were still in the living room. Before Reuben could get halfway through a dance with Teri, Harrison tried to cut in. As soon as he tapped Reuben on the shoulder, Reuben shook his head. Teri was so weak in the knees by now she felt like she was going to hit the floor.

After the song ended, Teri attempted to leave the floor, hoping that Harrison still wanted to dance with her. But another man grabbed her by the arm as soon as Reuben released her. Three slow dances later with the man’s erection pressing against her pelvis like a Gatling gun, she left the floor, shaking her head and
smiling. She was feeling better than she’d felt in a long time. Slow dancing was a long way from fucking, but just being in a man’s arms had felt good. The thought gave her a warm feeling all over. She smiled at Nicole, who was now dancing with two men at the same time. Teri laughed to herself, wondering if she’d be going home without Nicole again.

She didn’t have to look long to spot Harrison again. He stood a few feet in front of her clutching a bottle of champagne that had a red ribbon tied around the neck. She was impressed to see that it was Dom Perignon, Carla’s favorite. But she was not surprised. Harrison was one of the most dapper and sophisticated men she’d ever met. She watched as he handed the bottle to Carla. After Carla kissed him on the cheek and walked away, Teri started to move in Harrison’s direction. But she was not fast enough. Mia popped up out of nowhere and had Harrison on the dance floor within seconds. Her bold move didn’t bother Teri half as much as Harrison’s reaction. He wrapped Mia in his arms for a slow dance. And from the look on his face, you would have thought that he had just died and gone to heaven.

Disappointed, Teri turned her back to Harrison so she would not have to see what she didn’t want to see. But she saw something else that she didn’t want to see anyway. Dwight Davis stood in front of the fireplace surrounded by half a dozen women. The way they were drooling over him you would have thought that he was the Messiah. And he was enjoying every second of it.

Teri was disappointed to see that Nicole was one of the women drooling over Dwight. She let out a deep sigh and went out to the front porch because she knew that if she watched that spectacle any longer, it would make her sick. As soon as Nicole moved away from Dwight, Carla whispered in her ear, “Look but don’t touch.”

“Excuse me?” Nicole said, slurring her words.

“I could be wrong, which is rare, but I think our girl Teri still has a thing for Dwight.”

“That’s not what she told me,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “You know, I’ve known Teri most of my life. I can’t believe she
told you about her little fling with Dwight and didn’t tell me until recently.”

“She didn’t tell me,” Carla said with a mysterious look on her face. She didn’t wait for Nicole to speak again. “I know things before they happen and then some,” Carla reminded.

Nicole gave Carla a pensive look. “I hope you’ll have as much insight about me as you do Teri. I could use all the help I can get.”

After a few minutes on the front porch chatting with people she had not seen in a while, Teri returned to the living room. Harrison was nowhere in sight. But Mia was dancing with Dwight this time, twisting her ass and dipping forward like she was having a spasm, swinging her coal black, waist-length hair from side to side.

Reuben was still looking for Eric. Eric had been present for more than an hour, and he’d been busy doing what Reuben had paid him to do: take as many photos of his guests as possible. Eric Graves was twenty-eight but because of his cute, round baby face and dimpled left cheek, a lot of people thought he was at least five years younger. His girlfriend, Yvette Staples, was with him, in a short, tight white dress that belonged on a stripper.

Yvette was a more ghettolike version of Mia, but she was more attractive than Mia. Her large green eyes and a pert nose in the middle of a heart-shaped face had opened a lot of doors for her. Usually to some leering man’s bedroom, though. She used her good looks for all the wrong reasons, which usually meant short-term affairs for profit.

She had had a few that had lasted only a few days. Yvette was tall and slim enough to model and had tried it for a few weeks last year. She got bummed out after only three weeks. There was way too much hard work involved for her. All that running around from one job to another just about wore her out. And having to compete with a slew of other heifers for jobs was not her thing. She was the kind of woman who wanted everything handed to her, and on a silver platter if possible. But her biggest obstacle was her ignorance. She honestly thought that because she was pretty and only twenty-three, all she had to do was sit back and let things
happen. Instead of being more proactive in securing a better life for herself, she had the nerve to think that somebody was going to discover her and give her the life she felt she deserved. Eric was all right for the time being. But she wanted more than a man with a Mickey Mouse photographer’s job and the dead-end ass life he offered her. However, she’d decided that she’d get as much mileage out of him as possible. She firmly believed that if she hung out with him long enough and the people that he interacted with, her dreams would eventually come true.

But until that happened, she would have to drag along as a cashier in a punk-ass discount store in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in L.A. And it wasn’t even a dollar store, but a
ninety cent or less
store! After six years and no raises in two years because of her tardiness and frequent absences, she was getting desperate. That’s where she’d met Eric three years ago. He had come in to purchase some Advil on his way home from his wife’s funeral. A severe headache brought on by grief had sent him to her. Standing in her checkout line on a slow day he had told her how his wife, Lynn, had been diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago and died. Two days after his wife’s funeral, he returned to the store to buy more Advil. That was when Yvette went in for the kill. She asked him for a ride home, and they ended up in a motel. Yvette knew the “power of the pussy” so once she got him into bed, he was dog meat. Poor Eric didn’t know what hit him that night. But things had changed over the years. Yvette no longer went out of her way to please him. Now it was all about her.

She’d been living with Eric for more than two years now, helping him raise that nappy-headed brat of his. Other than a damn good fuck, he didn’t do a whole lot for her. She would have moved out of his place a long time ago if she could have. But other than a cramped shit house in South Central with her alcoholic parents and six siblings, she had no place else to go. In the meantime, he had to do. She’d continue to eat a Happy Meal until somebody placed a filet mignon on her plate.

“Are we going to dance or what? All this time we’ve been here,
all we’ve done is roam around from one side of this room to another,” Yvette whined to Eric. From the sour look on her face, she was not happy. Her nose twitched when she was happy, sad, angry, or lying. It was twitching so hard now that she looked like a rabbit.

“Y
vette, please check yourself. I told you before we left the house that I’d be working. I didn’t come here to dance. If you want to dance, you can dance with anybody you want,” Eric told her. “And I wish you would stop all that whining. Go get yourself another drink.”

“Drink? This shit they serving up in here ain’t nothing but some glorified Kool-Aid,” Yvette complained. She waved a flute with just a few drops of champagne left in it in Eric’s face. “I want me some beer.”

“There’s a liquor store down the street,” Eric retorted, a cloud of anger crossing his face.

Yvette’s jaw dropped. “Fuck a liquor store. I ain’t spending a dime of my money on no liquor store with all this free shit they got up in here.” She looked like she wanted to laugh, and would have if Eric had not given her such a harsh look.

“Baby, there are some pretty important folks here. Lots of contacts,” he told her.

Despite the fact that Yvette was actively looking for a bigger meal ticket than Eric, she still expected him to show her a good time.

“Contacts, my ass,” she said with a sniff and a wave of dismissal.
She paused long enough to finish the drink she claimed she didn’t like. “That’s all you ever think about these days. What about me and you having some
contact
?” She giggled and rubbed her body against him. Eric got an instant hard-on and he gently pushed her away. “What about us having some damn fun?” He shook his head in mild disgust when she let out a loud belch, even though she immediately excused herself.

“Baby, I am having fun. Do you hear me?” he told her, looking around to make sure none of the other guests were listening and looking.

“And I want you to have even more fun,” Yvette whispered in his ear. Despite the fact that Yvette was so tacky in other areas, she knew that the best way to get inside a man’s head was through his dick. She gave Eric a quick massage between his thighs, making him even harder. She didn’t bother to look around to see if anybody was looking, because she didn’t care. Even though she had literally fucked Eric out of his bed and onto the floor before they left for the party, her little gesture was about to make him explode in his pants where he stood.

Reuben and Teri rescued Eric from embarrassing himself. “Man, I have been looking for you all evening,” Reuben told him.

Eric cleared his throat and gently pushed Yvette to the side. “Well”—he shrugged—“I’ve been here all evening.” Eric leaned forward and kissed Teri gently on the lips. “You are looking as beautiful as ever.” He paused, released a mild moan, and kissed Teri again. Even though it was obvious that his show of affection was nothing but a platonic gesture, it made Yvette seethe.

“I want you to get a few shots of me by the fireplace. And if I can track down that woman of mine, I’d like to get quite a few shots of us together. And then a few of me with my man Dwight Davis. First, get one of me and my girl Teri,” Reuben ordered.

You would have thought that Yvette had suddenly become invisible. The only woman that Eric and Reuben were interested in now was Teri.

“That bitch,” Yvette muttered to herself, following behind them as they plowed through the crowd and strolled over to the fireplace.

After posing for half a dozen shots, two by himself, two with Carla, and two with Teri, Reuben decided to set out to find Dwight.

“In the meantime, Teri, do me a favor. Track down Harrison for me,” Reuben said with a puzzled look on his face. “I had wanted a few shots of me, Harrison, and Dwight together. But Dwight is playing the player role. He will pose only if he’s the only ‘star’ in the picture. He can’t stand the thought of Harrison stealing his thunder.”

“So why do you want me to find Harrison then?” Teri wanted to know.

“Because I want him to be ready when Eric finishes up the shots with Dwight and me. I don’t want to spend the rest of the night looking for him, Eric, or anybody else. Shit,” Reuben snarled. He had become so impatient, his jaw was itching.

The party was really blasting now. A few more guests had arrived. Even though Teri was enjoying herself, she kept glancing at her watch. She had no idea where the hell Nicole was. The last time she saw her, she was huddled in a corner with Carla and they appeared to be having a very serious conversation.

Before Teri could move from her spot a large familiar hand appeared in front of her face. For a moment, it seemed like it was disembodied. Her eyes traveled up the arm to see who it was connected to. Dwight had become like a boomerang. He just kept coming back. He held an hors d’oeuvres in front of him with his other hand. “Try this, baby. Prawns dipped in wine and wrapped in bacon.”

Teri didn’t even bother to give Dwight another brush-off. They seemed to have little effect on him, anyway. Besides, she was too tired. And since she knew in her heart that it was over between the two of them, she saw no reason not to give Dwight a little leeway from time to time. He had taken all he could take from her—which included a small chunk of her love and time—so she felt she had nothing else to lose. She took the snack from between his
fingers and slid it into her mouth. “It is good,” she said as soon as she swallowed.

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” Dwight told her, looking in her eyes in a way that made her wish she had brushed him off now.

“Thanks, but that’s all right,” she said, moving away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harrison a few feet away, still with that damn Mia. Dwight took Teri’s hands in his and pulled her closer to him. So close that her titties were smashed against his chest.

He gently lifted her head. He was at least a foot taller than she was, but the way he had her positioned their eyes were just inches apart. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“What about?” Teri glanced to the side again. Mia had left Harrison and was now in another man’s face. She was glad to see that Harrison was looking at her and Dwight.

“We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. I’d like to discuss a thing or three with you.”

Teri shrugged and gave Dwight a dry look that he didn’t appreciate. “I can’t imagine what that could be,” she replied, moving back. “Don’t you have enough to discuss with Mia?”

“Who?” Dwight actually looked like he didn’t know who Mia was. He gave Teri a thoughtful look. “Oh, her! Shit,” he yelled, waving his hand and snapping his fingers. Then he said slowly and seriously, “Baby, you are worth about five of her.”

“Is that right?” Teri questioned, with both eyebrows raised. “Well, let me circulate a little bit and if I can think of anything I want to discuss with you, I’ll let you know.” She didn’t even give Dwight the chance to respond before she disappeared into the crowd. But the look on his face said it all. He had the long face and sad eyes of a puppy that nobody wanted.

Reuben and Carla had overheard the conversation between Teri and Dwight. They looked at each other and shook their heads, amused and confused. They had never seen a man as high and mighty as Dwight slide so low, so fast. Had his face drooped any lower, it would have been on the ground.

“Ow! I’m scared of Miss Teri. That sister could bring down
Telestar,” Reuben muttered, his hand on his wife’s waist. He gave her a quick peck on the neck.

“And without even trying that hard,” Carla added with a nod.

As much as Teri wanted to find Harrison and be close to him, she didn’t try that hard. And she didn’t have to. Harrison found her.